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What do our games and ourselves as gamers say about life and society?
ozmono
Member UncommonPosts: 1,211
The title ask it all really. What do our games and ourselves as gamers say about life and society?
So the thread isn't too boring here is a dramatic quote that I think can be applied to games very well.
He knows who Rome is. Rome is the mob. He will conjure magic for them and they will be distracted. And he will take their lives. And he will take their freedom. And still they will roar. The beating heart of Rome isn't the marble of the Senate. It's the sand of the Colosseum. He will give them death. And they will love him for it.
Comments
The same sort of thing goes on on these forums. People are never so happy as when there's a big scandal. The whole neverwinter thing has made a lot of people very happy...even if they pretend to be outraged.
What do both say out peoples lives ? That they're boring. That's why we turn to games like these. What we can't have in real life we crave in our fantasy. People want action, excitement and adventure.... but it has to be safe and able to be turned off at a moments notice.
I would reply, but may get banned because someone wont like the truth and report me
I want my games to be fantasy.
Thus, they shouldnt directly say ANYTHING at all.
Indirectly they are about ourselves, of course. But only indirectly.
My urge is to go all deep about this, but honestly, I would just be BS'ing. I think our choice of games tells us where we are in our lives. For instance, there are two scantily clad women on either side of this page as I post this, who are associated with a game that I am not the least bit interested in playing. That's because I not only have a wife, but she is my second wife, and the concept that those two scantily clad females are trying to relate to me is all but lost to reality
In the meantime though, I still think that I am smart, I still wish that I could fight like those martial artists back in those Saturday Morning Kung-Fu classics, and I enjoy being able to go into a mindless state where the only thing I really have to think about at that moment is how I am going to make enough money to eat some imaginary food, or win an imaginary fight. Thus, I am playing AoW at the moment.
Overall as a society I think that it says that some of us are pretty well off while some of us are really slacking and there is really no way to differentiate which one we are just by reading what we type.
For instance, my chores are done. My kids are raised (properly), my mortgage is paid, and I am gainfully employed.
Someone else on this forum might have all that going on but doesn't have to work because they are rich.
Someone else still might have none of that going on and really doesn't think they need to.
There is no blanket we can throw over this aspect of gaming then.
At the bare minimum then all I can say is that we like to be entertained, and that has pretty much been true about a human since masturbation was invented, which I believe was about 5 minutes after genitals were invented :P And that this is our chosen entertainment, no different than those entertained by books, sports, or long walks in the park, albeit not as healthy as that last one.
Cue Admiral Ackbar!
Of course, it should be noted that there are people who won't appreciate that observation, either.
Mods get into weird moods, sometimes.
Self-pity imprisons us in the walls of our own self-absorption. The whole world shrinks down to the size of our problem, and the more we dwell on it, the smaller we are and the larger the problem seems to grow.
Most games are about violence - risk & reward.
Most games have elements of adventure - we like new sensations.
Most games are competitive - it's in our nature to want to improve ourselves, or want to be better than others.
Most MMORPGs have 'guilds' - we feel comfortable with social groupings.
All games are ultimately safe - even 'full loot' games - we like security. It's this lack of real fear which makes it easy to start playing games. The 'risk' in games isn't real risk.
What I find surprising is the lack of sexual themes. Perhaps it's because games are developed with pre-pubertal children in mind.
I think there is a gap in the market for adult games that have more sexual themes.
Kind of freaky this thread popped up because i was thinking something exactly along these lines.
I have noticed over the last few years that gaming is causing a lot of distrust ,anger and just a lot of unhappiness,it should never be this way.
At first glance we might blame the developers but then i thought not really.We should remember that every developer it just out to make a living,some are obviously more well off than others.The market is a very competitive one,you can't really blame them fully for trying what ever means they can muster up to compete in this market.
First we look at ourselves and realize,nobody is forcing us to spend money on any game.So who is to blame for the unhappiness,i think we ourselves after all nobody is forcing us.If we want games to improve we simply have to speak our mind and let it be known that we are not happy with the products presented before us.
Every walk in life there is going to be various levels of quality we should not expect any different from gaming.
I think what it says it that a lot of people need to get outside and quit relying on gaming for pleasure.When i was young i absolutely despised gaming,it was because i did not need it one bit,i was very active playing sports and hanging with friends.Even from the young age of 14 i was already working spare time,so i had every minute of the day taken up,gaming was never a consideration.
Cheerful news??It is summer,i think a lot more people will put gaming aside and do all the fun outdoor stuff,that is unless you live in Southern Ontario" LOL",where humidity makes you cower under the shelter of air conditioners :P.
Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.
The real world is running low on new frontiers to colonize but the desire is still there in our instincts.
We're not a distracted mob, we're runaways, refugees into lands of pure imagination.
Escapism. People's "normal" lives are mostly boring when you get down to things. They want to escape to a world where they can be who they dreamed they could be.
As for the person who mentioned more "sexual" games, I honestly don't think they sell as well as people think they would. Sexual urges tend to be fleeting, so when you're not in a horny mood these themes tend to have far less appeal. On a related note, it's not like some games are missing this theme entirely, look at Scarlet Blade & Age of Conan before it.
It seems we love animals ingame as pet or mount (specially weird asians(i mean many of there games show dominantly Tigers) who love tigers but let them going to brink of extinction?)but in real life many beautiful animals almost to the brink of extinction(tiger again for example).
Explain why we have false admiration for animals ingame but let beautiful creaters dissapear like tigers-gorillas, eagles, grizzle bears, wales or wolfs example a few in real world.
What those this say of us as gamers these days?
That puzzles me with games and real life, do you even care that those beautiful animals soon be nomore?
Course not, there's better pr0n readily available to any 15-year-old.
Self-pity imprisons us in the walls of our own self-absorption. The whole world shrinks down to the size of our problem, and the more we dwell on it, the smaller we are and the larger the problem seems to grow.
Same thing books said a hundred years ago.
We want to live forever but know we won't so we leave a marker.
An Inukshuk was a pile of rocks left on the Canadian tundra.
"So the people will know we were here".
Games are designed to cater to human nature.
Sex is part of our nature.
Some sort of sexual experience could be used as a quest reward.
Conservative, religion can do that so the more fundamentalist countrys get upset seeing nipple(nipplegate) so they censor it.
Only free countrys like netherlands and scandivian countrys have no problem with nature:P
Fantasy themes are popular in MMORPGs.
Books (stories) such as Lord of The Rings are responsible.
This is similar to old fire-side stories and tales.
Lots of games have quests with stories.
So I think this tells us that we like stories.
Particularly stories that explain things.
Self-pity imprisons us in the walls of our own self-absorption. The whole world shrinks down to the size of our problem, and the more we dwell on it, the smaller we are and the larger the problem seems to grow.
The complaints on these forums tell us that games don't quench our thirst for excitement and adventure.
The reason you'd rather play WoW than sweep for mines in Serbia is due to the amygdala in your brain.
The amygdala in your brain is totally adverse to real risk (that could harm you).
Playing WoW etc isn't real risk, so your amygdala doesn't fire off.
Ever react (physically) to your toon falling unexpectedly? Some people react phobically to virtual simulations of their real-world phobias (snakes, spiders).
You aren't incorrect generally, just a making conversation because it's gonna be a long damn day.
Self-pity imprisons us in the walls of our own self-absorption. The whole world shrinks down to the size of our problem, and the more we dwell on it, the smaller we are and the larger the problem seems to grow.
Escapism and how 'free' we are.
Wanting to escape what we find a chore in real life and also doing things in a game we can't (legally). Murder, steal, wreck havok. Unless we're talking about games for like fb or mobile devices where you can just farm all day or breed singing monsters.