I was willing to read the whole thing until you referenced a Cracked article to support your essay. If that was the caliber of your sources, you could have at least managed to get an interview with the Bat Boy over at Weekly World News. He plays World of Warcraft.
--- I ask for so little. Just fear me, love me, do as I say and I will be your slave.
First off, did not bother to read beyond the first paragraph. You need to learn to write. Paragraphs are your friends and not the gigantic ones you construct.
So I suggest you make an effort to edit that long post so it is readable.
Shiymmas I'm genuinely surprised that people took the time to read my entire essay. I wasn't expecting much of a response. I really wasn't expecting a reply as large as yours, but I do appreciate it, thank you. Really? Then you lost me with the idea of posting it here in the first place. I'm not one to be nit-picky, either, but seriously, what "surprised" you about people taking the time to read your essay? I suppose now we all have short attention spans, or are too thin-skinned to read through your essay without dumping it off because it hits too close to home? Give me/us a break. I'm sorry, but those two sentences actually are offensive. It's like a white guy staring into a crowd of black people and saying "you people". It just occured to me that I'm sitting here with exactly that feeling. First of all, while your argument is interesting, I think you're missing my intentions. Sure, people can be fake in real life. I understand this kind of thing is common practice. However, it's only in MMOs and through the anonymity of the internet that you can reinvent yourself at the click of a button. If your baseball friend suddenly wanted to become a skater or cowboy, he would have to put a ton of work into it. Even if he wanted to start talking different or hanging out with a completely different crowd, it would take quite a bit of adjusting. He would suddenly have to alienate those close to him to achieve the reinvention that the internet makes instantly possible. Can those poor people with crappy cars suddenly become rich in real life? No, not quite. This is a flaw in your essay, not my response to it. The way you state your case in the essay makes it seem as though it's -only- through the internet and MMO's that people mis-represent themselves or create new identities, which lead to the thoughts I took from that. It's not as though I sincerely thought you were completely ignorant of the concept that in reality, people do it daily, to your face. It's that it's presented in such a way that somehow the people who play MMO's and do such things are wrong. On that note, I don't think it's that difficult to reinvent oneself as people like to think, but no it's not as easy as buying a new game and logging in. That said, people DO spend large amounts of time creating their alternate personas, and live them in such a way that to find out who some people are can be truly shocking, much in the way that if a billionaire went and lived with the homeless for a time, and made friends, those friends would be floored to discover who the person really was. Which btw, no, poor people can't suddenly become rich, and some people will only ever be capable of so much. I think it's kinda nice that someone can escape such a fate by logging into a video game at the end of a day filled with "meaningless" banal labor. Anyway, I am sorry I came off pretentious and presumptive. It's not something I wanted to happen. Also, you're 100% correct about the ending being kinda bad. I'm not that good at conclusions in papers. I'm sorry, but I don't have it in my to re-write the paper. I've already turned it in, and after spending so much time on it already I think I'll leave it as it is for now.
Frankly, I just think the whole thing's a shame. Like others here have mentioned, such a thing could have gone much further to potentially dispel some of the stereotypes surrounding gamers in general, even though that wasn't your intent. Unfortunately, this whole thing fell short, and I think others are far more capable than I of explaining why (and have done so). My primary beef is that you're still just an outsider looking in with your rose-tinted glasses shading any real picture you could possibly paint in your mind of the people you're trying to examine. All I can say is, "What do you mean by 'you people'?"
BTW, screw the paper. Go pick up an MMORPG, play with your boyfriend, and see how that turns out for you. You may or may not care - it might've been just an assignment you did because you had to and had an easy out with your gamer boyfriend - but it's just about the only way you'll get a clear impression of what it's like, and the type of people and personalities you'll encounter.
"The power of accurate observation is commonly called cynicism by those who have not got it." George Bernard Shaw
What is a cynic? A man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing. Oscar Wilde
Shiymmas I'm genuinely surprised that people took the time to read my entire essay. I wasn't expecting much of a response. I really wasn't expecting a reply as large as yours, but I do appreciate it, thank you. Really? Then you lost me with the idea of posting it here in the first place. I'm not one to be nit-picky, either, but seriously, what "surprised" you about people taking the time to read your essay? I suppose now we all have short attention spans, or are too thin-skinned to read through your essay without dumping it off because it hits too close to home? Give me/us a break. I'm sorry, but those two sentences actually are offensive. It's like a white guy staring into a crowd of black people and saying "you people". It just occured to me that I'm sitting here with exactly that feeling. First of all, while your argument is interesting, I think you're missing my intentions. Sure, people can be fake in real life. I understand this kind of thing is common practice. However, it's only in MMOs and through the anonymity of the internet that you can reinvent yourself at the click of a button. If your baseball friend suddenly wanted to become a skater or cowboy, he would have to put a ton of work into it. Even if he wanted to start talking different or hanging out with a completely different crowd, it would take quite a bit of adjusting. He would suddenly have to alienate those close to him to achieve the reinvention that the internet makes instantly possible. Can those poor people with crappy cars suddenly become rich in real life? No, not quite. This is a flaw in your essay, not my response to it. The way you state your case in the essay makes it seem as though it's -only- through the internet and MMO's that people mis-represent themselves or create new identities, which lead to the thoughts I took from that. It's not as though I sincerely thought you were completely ignorant of the concept that in reality, people do it daily, to your face. It's that it's presented in such a way that somehow the people who play MMO's and do such things are wrong. On that note, I don't think it's that difficult to reinvent oneself as people like to think, but no it's not as easy as buying a new game and logging in. That said, people DO spend large amounts of time creating their alternate personas, and live them in such a way that to find out who some people are can be truly shocking, much in the way that if a billionaire went and lived with the homeless for a time, and made friends, those friends would be floored to discover who the person really was. Which btw, no, poor people can't suddenly become rich, and some people will only ever be capable of so much. I think it's kinda nice that someone can escape such a fate by logging into a video game at the end of a day filled with "meaningless" banal labor. Anyway, I am sorry I came off pretentious and presumptive. It's not something I wanted to happen. Also, you're 100% correct about the ending being kinda bad. I'm not that good at conclusions in papers. I'm sorry, but I don't have it in my to re-write the paper. I've already turned it in, and after spending so much time on it already I think I'll leave it as it is for now.
Frankly, I just think the whole thing's a shame. Like others here have mentioned, such a thing could have gone much further to potentially dispel some of the stereotypes surrounding gamers in general, even though that wasn't your intent. Unfortunately, this whole thing fell short, and I think others are far more capable than I of explaining why (and have done so). My primary beef is that you're still just an outsider looking in with your rose-tinted glasses shading any real picture you could possibly paint in your mind of the people you're trying to examine. All I can say is, "What do you mean by 'you people'?"
BTW, screw the paper. Go pick up an MMORPG, play with your boyfriend, and see how that turns out for you. You may or may not care - it might've been just an assignment you did because you had to and had an easy out with your gamer boyfriend - but it's just about the only way you'll get a clear impression of what it's like, and the type of people and personalities you'll encounter.
You are a complete idiot. I'm sorry, I didn't know I was infringing on your civil rights as a gamer. Good God in heaven I think maybe my innitial impression was correct.
I really can't understand why the gamers are so harsh on you!
I don't agree with some things, but I think that's not the point.
Oh and by the way, maybe you should think about gamers as an hole and not only those who play MMO's.(And of course there are the mature players and the kiddies but by the answers you got you've realised that by now.)
Although MMO's have a strong social component in it, other games can also reveal social behaviours.
Anyway, thanks once again for sharing your point of view and please do try a MMO, its quite an experience.
You are a complete idiot. I'm sorry, I didn't know I was infringing on your civil rights as a gamer. Good God in heaven I think maybe my innitial impression was correct.
Lol, great response! Keep on looking down your nose at the people you don't understand at all. I mean, God forbid someone use an analogy lest it get taken out of context.
Of course, what more can someone expect from a girl? (See what I did there?)
"The power of accurate observation is commonly called cynicism by those who have not got it." George Bernard Shaw
What is a cynic? A man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing. Oscar Wilde
You were given a task to study the subculture of your choice and you selected the MMO community which you had a biased opinion to start off with which was fair enough since you said it yourself that your teacher didn’t state that you couldn’t have one. However, in a study paper, you’re supposed to show that you have learnt something through your ‘studies’ and it didn’t come across that way to me after reading the essay.
I think you were trying to say that through your studies, it changed your view on gamers, but throughout the entire paper, you still held onto your initial beliefs on them (Anxiety for example) and didn’t really seem to be learning anything new or seemed willing to. All the examples you gave were supporting what you initially thought of gamers, and if that was the case you might as well have stuck with your initial thoughts and structure your paper to prove that your judgements were right; that game addiction causes people to become anti-social and lose friends/break up families in real life. But you then tried to turn around in your conclusion and say that there’s something good about online gaming and that it’s a good thing that it’s growing, whilst this is true it doesn’t tie in with the rest of your arguments. You tried to draw a conclusion on something you didn’t truly believe in and so it came off rather pretentious.
I agree also with Nilenya that you really need to work on your structure, it really didn’t come across as college/university standard so if it was then you really need to improve your skills… and also your ability to take in criticism. Despite saying that you’re open to criticism, calling someone an idiot for being offended by what you wrote is not exactly proving it… so much for ‘giving back to the community’.
Comments
I was willing to read the whole thing until you referenced a Cracked article to support your essay. If that was the caliber of your sources, you could have at least managed to get an interview with the Bat Boy over at Weekly World News. He plays World of Warcraft.
---
I ask for so little. Just fear me, love me, do as I say and I will be your slave.
First off, did not bother to read beyond the first paragraph. You need to learn to write. Paragraphs are your friends and not the gigantic ones you construct.
So I suggest you make an effort to edit that long post so it is readable.
Frankly, I just think the whole thing's a shame. Like others here have mentioned, such a thing could have gone much further to potentially dispel some of the stereotypes surrounding gamers in general, even though that wasn't your intent. Unfortunately, this whole thing fell short, and I think others are far more capable than I of explaining why (and have done so). My primary beef is that you're still just an outsider looking in with your rose-tinted glasses shading any real picture you could possibly paint in your mind of the people you're trying to examine. All I can say is, "What do you mean by 'you people'?"
BTW, screw the paper. Go pick up an MMORPG, play with your boyfriend, and see how that turns out for you. You may or may not care - it might've been just an assignment you did because you had to and had an easy out with your gamer boyfriend - but it's just about the only way you'll get a clear impression of what it's like, and the type of people and personalities you'll encounter.
"The power of accurate observation is commonly called cynicism by those who have not got it."
George Bernard Shaw
What is a cynic? A man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing.
Oscar Wilde
Frankly, I just think the whole thing's a shame. Like others here have mentioned, such a thing could have gone much further to potentially dispel some of the stereotypes surrounding gamers in general, even though that wasn't your intent. Unfortunately, this whole thing fell short, and I think others are far more capable than I of explaining why (and have done so). My primary beef is that you're still just an outsider looking in with your rose-tinted glasses shading any real picture you could possibly paint in your mind of the people you're trying to examine. All I can say is, "What do you mean by 'you people'?"
BTW, screw the paper. Go pick up an MMORPG, play with your boyfriend, and see how that turns out for you. You may or may not care - it might've been just an assignment you did because you had to and had an easy out with your gamer boyfriend - but it's just about the only way you'll get a clear impression of what it's like, and the type of people and personalities you'll encounter.
You are a complete idiot. I'm sorry, I didn't know I was infringing on your civil rights as a gamer. Good God in heaven I think maybe my innitial impression was correct.
Thanks for sharing your essay with us!
I really can't understand why the gamers are so harsh on you!
I don't agree with some things, but I think that's not the point.
Oh and by the way, maybe you should think about gamers as an hole and not only those who play MMO's.(And of course there are the mature players and the kiddies but by the answers you got you've realised that by now.)
Although MMO's have a strong social component in it, other games can also reveal social behaviours.
Anyway, thanks once again for sharing your point of view and please do try a MMO, its quite an experience.
All the best,
V
You are a complete idiot. I'm sorry, I didn't know I was infringing on your civil rights as a gamer. Good God in heaven I think maybe my innitial impression was correct.
Lol, great response! Keep on looking down your nose at the people you don't understand at all. I mean, God forbid someone use an analogy lest it get taken out of context.
Of course, what more can someone expect from a girl? (See what I did there?)
"The power of accurate observation is commonly called cynicism by those who have not got it."
George Bernard Shaw
What is a cynic? A man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing.
Oscar Wilde
Good old prejudices and cliches. Life would be boring without them right?
This thread is awsome... Can I use it for my paper on sterotyping?
You were given a task to study the subculture of your choice and you selected the MMO community which you had a biased opinion to start off with which was fair enough since you said it yourself that your teacher didn’t state that you couldn’t have one. However, in a study paper, you’re supposed to show that you have learnt something through your ‘studies’ and it didn’t come across that way to me after reading the essay.
I think you were trying to say that through your studies, it changed your view on gamers, but throughout the entire paper, you still held onto your initial beliefs on them (Anxiety for example) and didn’t really seem to be learning anything new or seemed willing to. All the examples you gave were supporting what you initially thought of gamers, and if that was the case you might as well have stuck with your initial thoughts and structure your paper to prove that your judgements were right; that game addiction causes people to become anti-social and lose friends/break up families in real life. But you then tried to turn around in your conclusion and say that there’s something good about online gaming and that it’s a good thing that it’s growing, whilst this is true it doesn’t tie in with the rest of your arguments. You tried to draw a conclusion on something you didn’t truly believe in and so it came off rather pretentious.
I agree also with Nilenya that you really need to work on your structure, it really didn’t come across as college/university standard so if it was then you really need to improve your skills… and also your ability to take in criticism. Despite saying that you’re open to criticism, calling someone an idiot for being offended by what you wrote is not exactly proving it… so much for ‘giving back to the community’.
nothing
You will be assimilated......