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Why do MMORPG.com members like to use analogies?
adiktus
Member Posts: 128
I'm sure many people who have been in this forum for quite some time have noticed that a lot of people here love to use analogies in making a point or in disproving a point. An analogy is definitely a good way to explain a point. However, it is also very much misunderstood by other people. An analogy, even though it may look very similar to the real thing you're pointing out, is still not exactly the same. That's why it's an analogy. As such, it's not even valid to counter an analogy. You must counter the real point, not the analogy.
I mentioned this because some threads become unecessarily long with people trying to prove or disprove something, but using the wrong means to do so.
Comments
Well you see its just like taking a frog and a....
sorry i couldnt resist.
Because i can.
I'm Hopeful For Every Game, Until the Fan Boys Attack My Games. Then the Knives Come Out.
Logic every gamers worst enemy.
Because people think that you don't agree because you don't understand, so they use analogies to take something they think is too complex for you and give you something less complicated to think about.
And when talking about wear, tear, and purchases, cars are most usually used for the analogy.
With over a decade of observing forum behavior and arguments... this is almost always the case. People simply don't communicate well, primarily because the "majority" or "average" user has a large inability to understand others. Most internet users also tend to be young, and along with this comes a more rash, close-minded, small-world stubborn mind unable to empathize with others or communicate rationally.
Age plays a big difference as the young minds battle with older ones, but it's exacerbated by the fact cognitive growth is effected by various forms of intelligence (not just age). So you end up having four people; an immature stubborn child with the mind of a child, a mature intelligent adult with a rational mind, an immature arrogant stubborn adult with the mind of a child, and a mature arrogant child with a rational mind. Two intelligent people (one kid, one adult) and two ignorant people (one kid, one adult) all clashing together.
Now...MULTIPLY this by multiple levels of life experience, other forms of intelligence (such as social intelligence) and learned skills (the ability to communicate effectively) or lackthereof (such as a math genius having a strict mind absent of social intelligence) and THEN MULTIPLY this by the different regions, nations, groups and sub-groups. Finally, top it all off with the vomit that is the intelligence of the internet: a sprinkle of ignorance, a heaping serving of arrogance, and one large douchebag on top.
I come from a very intelligent and well educated family and snooze my way through life successfully due to my ability to assimilate knowledge quickly. (What our society deems as "intelligence"). From what I notice, most other people are not necessarily stupid, but that they do not think at all about what the other person is trying to communicate and due to their low self esteem (typical of teenagers and young adults) see everything as a pissing contest with a "win-lose" view of debate.
Few actually care about facts or providing evidence, but the majority love the drama and in the end everyone closes their browser thinking they "won the internet" and "logically destroyed their enemy with superb intelligence". In the end, the only people who actually won the arguments are the ones who facepalm in frustration at everyone else's inability to understand the winner is the person who felt they just lost because there is no hope of communication or intelligence on the internet.
Oh, and then there's the 40 year old trolls who gang up on a 13 year old kid excited about a developing video game, bullying him because his english and spelling aren't flawless at 13 years old. (That happened to me for several months, as 20-40 year olds bullied me, at age 13, for quite some time; even hacking my geocities websites with insults...) Same types that troll around here and bully others, unfortunately.
Analogies are just given by two types of people..
1) Arrogant douchebags who think little of others, thinking "These people are idiots" and express frustration by trying to simplify a subject the others are too dumb to understand. While their arrogance is disgusting and often blinds them to intelligent replies which they see as stupidity, sometimes they are correct to think "this guy doesn't get it." Unfortunately, analogies do not work, because the problem isn't that they don't understand. The problem is that they aren't even trying.
2) The kindhearted mature mind who believes if they clarify themselves with an analogy, others will understand and it will bridge the gap of miscommunication. Unfortunately this is a very naive mindset as internet people are either too stupid to get it or too stupid/arrogant/lazy to try.
More often than not, I believe it's 99% a case of miscommunication because other people don't try to understand the original poster's concept.
3) Trolls. These aren't a type of people, they are a type of animal. This leaves the original statement "two types of people" entirely true.
I find that no matter what you attempt to do or refrain from doing-- people on the internet are stupid, lazy, arrogant, or trolling. You will ALWAYS, and I mean ALWAYS have someone make a reply to a statement as if they are in the wrong thread. People who are so [whatever] that they read "I just had a baby. I'm a father!" and translate that into "I rape babies" or "I hate WoW" or *somehow* the rant turns political, religious, or permadeath-bashing.
Even when you post in an extremely simple, short post WITH PICTURES...it still isn't enough to bridge the gap between those who read "I just had a baby!" and translate it into "I rape your baby!" I believe the reason why is because people do not actually read what others say and instead simply hit "reply", usually based on irrational assumptions or the title name.
The simple fact your post isn't a SINGLE line of text, means a large portion of readers won't even grasp your concept, and thus any reply those readers have will be irrational.
To be honest, for most (stupid/lazy/trolling) people...if it isn't a single sentence, it's TLDR. Unless of course it's a long paragraph boasting about their epeen strength.
These replies explain why many people use analogies.
http://personalitycafe.com/intp-forum-thinkers/63479-how-often-do-you-use-analogies-examples-convey-your-ideas.html
And they read the entire paragraph meticulously in an attempt to find a clever way to insult his spelling and/or grammar, or any other perceived "flaw".
This was an interesting read but I disagree with this statement, you can read and learn and assimilate knowledge a lot but be very clumsy in situations where intelligence is needed. Knowledge is facts, if you start thinking a lot over things and knowledge is used as a fuel then you can acquire wisdom. Then we'll have to argue about "intelligence" or how "intelligent" people will use what they know to make profitable things but in the big scheme they actually do stupid things to themselves and others. Like creating attractive stuff that no one really needs but everyone will buy, and destroy the planet in the process. Or are following a predetermined pattern of their nation/society/family/social group background and think they actually achieved something in the end when they are perfectly at their place and did what was expected of them. To do what you were supposed to do and be considered by others or by yourself with arbitrary criteria isn't being "successful" imo.
Wisdom is when "society", "intelligence" and "knowledge" don't mean anything anymore. It's a new level of conscience, it seldom happens, it's a long and individual process and can be for some people a sort of "grace" (not in the religious meaning).
I personally use analogies a lot myself. The unfortunate thing about analogies is that some people just use poor analogies that compare the wrong aspects of the two different situations, while others just plain dont understand the comparison, or they dont want to understand, and instead try to twist the analogy to fit their own agenda.
Basically, for me anyway, it comes down to me not being a very good teacher. I dont really care if peoples opinions differ from mine, but it bothers me when people dont understand where I'm coming from. Unfortunately its not always that easy for me to explain my way of thinking to people.
Are analogies overused sometimes? Yes
Are the also helpful sometimes? Absolutely
More like anal orgies ?
(although I find the mmorpg.com crowd far more mature than on other sites)
***** Before hitting that reply button, please READ the WHOLE thread you're about to post in *****
Analogies wrere good enough for Yeshua, they're good enough for me.
"True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde
"I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
So very true! Just because I understand what point they are trying to convey doesn't mean I have to either agree with it or care about it.
This reminds me so much of Axehilt. He takes analogies literally and then tries to find a way to twist it around on you but never ends up addressing the topic you actually wanted to discuss. He always changes the conversation to something entirely different. Best troll or huge jerk? Not sure.
Analogies are really only useful if the other person is sincerely trying to understand you, ie in cooperative conversation, as opposed to antagonistic conversation like an argument.
I really appreciate also people who totally understand what you mean but disagree and are capable of seeing the distinction between that and disagreeing with something you didn't understand.
Ah, yes, the ever-present "Analogy Nerds". I met people like that as far back as 25 years ago on BBS forums and they're simple folk who lose sight of the actual issue and focus on the analogy, saying words to the effect of "it isn't quite like that, it's more like this." They seem to think the analogy must be exact to the Nth degree and present what they think is a better analogy... thus the thread loses any real relevance from that point on.
What they fail to understand is that analogies only have a degree of correlation anyway. The way I was taught this, aged about 6 or 7, was that "Hand is to Palm as Foot is to Sole" which sounds fine to just about everyone, but even then there's only a degree of correlation. Strictly speaking the palm is 'the inner surface of the hand between the wrist and fingers', whereas the sole is 'the undersurface of a person's foot' (both definitions from Qxford Dictionary). The dictionary definitions are correct and so, TO A DEGREE, is the analogy. It's an illustrative device, and the majority of us understand this and accept it for what it is. Some people genuinely just don't grasp this and never will. The best thing to do is to ignore them, leaving them alone to wallow in their nitpicking stupidity and move on.
Actually the best response is to argue back with them using progressively less descriptive analogies until their brain explodes.
Analogies are better than taking an arrow to the knee!
Amirite?
Amirite?
*crickets
I want a mmorpg where people have gone through misery, have gone through school stuff and actually have had sex even. -sagil
You beat me to it. *grin*