Interesting reads about MMORPGs

[MrWaeseL]

Dude, he's the one that said beating a boss in a MMORPG is more of an accomplishment than his entire academic career! His 'friends' are almost certainly people that he only knows through WoW (i.e. not friends)

[angelfromanotherpin]

1200683694[/unixtime]]Dude, he's the one that said beating a boss in a MMORPG is more of an accomplishment than his entire academic career!

Um, no. That's not what he said. He said that he felt a sense of accomplishment greater than he ever had before. That's entirely reasonable. Writing papers just doesn't do it for some people.

His 'friends' are almost certainly people that he only knows through WoW (i.e. not friends)

You just made that up. There's no indication either way in the text, and I know plenty of people who WoW it up with their RL friends.

[technomancer]

And what's the real difference between a friend in real life and a friend online? Your friends in real life probably have less in common with you than your friends online, except for geographic location.

If you define friends as someone that you hang out with often, then hanging out on WoW is little different than hanging out on your couch, playing Halo.

If you define friends by the amount of time you spend talking with them, then my wife is my best friend, followed by a few people at work (that I never see or talk to outside of work, except for chance encounters around time), followed by people online.

I really don't see a major difference between meeting people online, through a game, or in the physical world. Heck, there are a lot of overlap between those three categories.

[Lago_AM3P]

Since I operate a Naval Nuclear Propulsion Plant, I go through significantly more training than other enlisted shlubs.

The process for me was pretty much: generical electrical engineering skills --> genericalical nuclear engineering skills --> operate an old-ass protoype plant --> operate a nuclear power plant on an aircraft carrier FOR REALS.

For step three, I had to qualify as reactor operator. It was one of the most trying experiences of my life and exhausted me. I worked 12-16 hour days shift work, seven days in a row before getting a two-day break for a period of six months.

When I finished it and got my certification and graduated that plant to move onto an aircraft carrier for real.

Since I am not very good with hands-on stuff or with self-paced education, the entire ordeal was a struggle for me. To finish it, I had to give up a social life, eating good food, and exercise. I was tired, out-of-shape, and crappy and completely burnt out. Sound familiar to anyone?

So when someone says that they feel proud of a videogame accomplishment or whatever, I don't judge them, even the process makes them fat nerds. At least they're enjoying the path to accomplishment. I willingly undertook a career move that leaves me even less to show for it than someone who plays WoW all day.

[Lago_AM3P]

While I'm at it, the entire experience at prototype was a negative experience as far as my career moves go.

I learned a lot of incorrect and obsolete things that I had to spend a lot of time correcting when I got to the ship for real. I would've had a head start on the whole thing had I never gone there.

[Cynic]

1200683694[/unixtime]]Dude, he's the one that said beating a boss in a MMORPG is more of an accomplishment than his entire academic career! His 'friends' are almost certainly people that he only knows through WoW (i.e. not friends)

I vaguely remember giong through teh gencon thread where many of you met up for the first time.

there are many meetups that take place due to the online gaming/social environment and in the case of mmo's the two (gaming/social) combine online.

I've met many friends like this. I've contemplated dating through online means (well not anymore obviously {see previous post}) but I was always scared. But I do know many close real seen-in-person, if the distinction has to be made, friends who have done it and have had meaningful lives based around taking the Online offline or vice-a-versa.

I remember a time, when having a pen-pal/ was considered to be a good thing. These days when that barrier (it is one sort of barrier) has been lifted and it allows immediate contact, it is frowned upon.

In fact, if you take an mmo along the lines of virtual life, the title says it.

Granted it is a little more exotic than my fabulously good looking musclebound hyper-intelligent real-self does everyday, it also includes the everyday alongside the exotic.

WoW/Uo/DAOC/EQ/whatever does it exotic rather than everyday but the everyday is brought through the gamer's experience. Get on vent/team-speak and the first thing you'll hear in guild chat is someone mentioning their real life and their experiences. Yes, having a face-to-face social experience is often beyond par but an online social experience is definitely not one worth knocking.

As an extrovert, I prefer the face-to-face, but my wife prefers the online experience. I still love the experiences I've had on MMOs and she still loves hanging out with her friends, but there is a preference and we both think one is better than the other. Obviously it is a subjective experience so we can't optimally say that one is better or just because you have the lesser one, then it is futile or flawed or retarded.

An analogy could be drawn to web-conferencing/phone-conferencing in the professional world. It is a viable alternative to face-to-face conferencing many a time. In fact, I've known some companies like AAA and IBM where even when the people are in the same building, video-conferences/phone-conferences become the norm because of either physical constraints such as space or lack of time to get together or, hell, just because the equipment was present.

it isn't the best analogy but it is a somewhat distant parallel.

[Crissa]

My spouse of ten years (anniversary this July) and I met 'in a game over the internet'.

Friends I met in person and friends I met through other means can keep contact - even though we no longer live near each other - we can continue to play, share experiences, and even daily life because of these 'pixels on a screen'. Some have come, gone, and come again. And so I know far more people because of these connections, and am able to be a far more social being for it.

One of the things we liked to tout at the game store was that people who game (virtually or face to face) live longer lives and report higher satisfaction with their lives.

-Crissa

[JonSetanta]

Those are interesting articles, Bigode.

[Jacob_Orlove]

Oh man, correlations! Did you know that red cars are significantly more likely to get in accidents than other cars? And that men with beards are happier than men without? Or that children of single parent households do worse in school?

These are important and meaningful facts, and clearly have nothing to do with the incomes or temperments or any other attributes of the people who have the given object/quality/behavior.

Or, you know, not.

[Koumei]

1200806650[/unixtime]]Oh man, correlations! Did you know that red cars are significantly more likely to get in accidents than other cars?

This is because red cars go faster.

[Jacob_Orlove]

Koumei: 1
Me: 0

Good game!

[Crissa]

Some correlations have reasons behind them. Some are causal, some are not.

...But red cars still get more traffic tickets, too.

-Crissa

[technomancer]

Arguably, red cars get more traffic tickets because they are more visible, or, perhaps in some cases, the cop merely wants to get a better look at your sweet ride and, well, have you ever had a cop pull you over for one thing (which turned out to be okay) and then search and search until they found something to ticket you for?

[tzor]

1200815015[/unixtime]]This is because red cars go faster.

Bah humbug, my Aqua Ice Prius can go pretty fast.

But honestly why should I want to do that and only get 40 MPG? I'll stick to my slow driving on I 495 (er wait slow on the LIE is like 70 MPH) and get better gas mileage.

(FIXED MY QUOTE TAGS.)

[Crissa]

Someone fix tzor's markup, please?

Generally, that was the thought, mancer, but with the corollary that they also get into more accidents... It probably has more to do with who picks red than the color itself.

But that doesn't really jive with mental health correlations. Generally, if people who do X live longer/happier, perhaps you should look at why you don't enjoy X, even if X isn't specifically responsible for their longevity or happiness. X is obviously concurrent with some effect on their life.

'Enjoy alcohol in moderation' for instance, shows that people who don't go to extremes, and make time to relax and not worry, generally live longer and happier. So why not join them in relaxation or moderation?

'Being outgoing' for instance, isn't just a state of mind - it's something you can pretend to be. Yes, it's stressful to start. But you need not be actually outgoing to reap the benefits of being outgoing.

So once again, you have a correlation that can mean more than one thing, and even so, examining how to bring that part into your life can have benefits.

So game and be social. Even if you're pretending to do that latter. It engages many parts of your brain, and that does have direct causal effect towards longevity.

-Crissa

[JonSetanta]

1200870327[/unixtime]]
'Being outgoing' for instance, isn't just a state of mind - it's something you can pretend to be. Yes, it's stressful to start. But you need not be actually outgoing to reap the benefits of being outgoing.

True that.