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MMORPGs - more than JUST a game?
FyreGoddess
Member Posts: 45
We've all gone through it. You buy a new game and lose yourself in it. Friends are made, relationships are formed, quests are completed, and you build your character. Inevitably, something goes wrong, feelings are hurt, harassment happens, and players are told "Get over it, it's just a game." But is it really?
When you invest your time and effort into a social situation like any MMORPG, doesn't it become more than *just* a game? It becomes an extension of yourself and a triumph of the hard work and effort you've invested. Yes, it is an investment of time, money, sometimes even emotions.
Just a game, to me, is when it doesn't matter. Monopoly is just a game because the outcome has little to do with anything else going on. Tomb Raider - just a game. You invest your time, but there's no one trying to take your accomplishments away from you.
In an online environment, anyone you encounter is going to affect you in some small way. Those who affect you negatively are taking away your hard work and dedication to the game. You pay money to achieve whatever accomplishments and you invest time in building up your character.
So how is any MMORPG, just a game?
~FG };^>
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Killer 100%
Achiever 53%
Explorer 33%
Socializer 13%
sounds about right... with my passion for killing and my hate for people
The game is just a game but the people you meet in mmorpgs are real. You are meeting and forming friendships (and sometimes enemies
) with people and of course that will affect you to some degree.
If you are never really affected by anyone you meet in a mmorpg that would seem a little unnatural to me. Often what others say and does affect us on a subconscious level even if we don't consciously realize it.
Of course that doesn't mean you should be going into a depression every time some idiot in a mmorpg turns out to be less of a friend then you thought or anything.
I have met a number of people in mmorpgs that I keep in touch with and have gone on to play other games with. That makes them more then just a game imo.
Ok, whatever this post said before was crap, It's just a game. But it is an involved game. Like the move The Game or whatever it was called.
I have to say, I was all about "HEY BUDDY THIS IS A FRIGGEN GAME" for a long long long time.
Then something happened.
I had played SWG from day 1 through january before quitting, but when march hit, I gave it a shot again for whatever reason (I couldn't remember those reasons 3 days later lol).
I signed in to find that one of my old guildies, from the first rebel guild on our server had died the night before of prostrate cancer.
Thats the first time a game ever got bigger than just a game.
I never knew what he looked like. I never met his family.
But I mourned him.
Now, I know this isn't exactley what I had in mind when I used to think games affecting your life was rediculous, but I couldn't help but feel the complete obsurdity over how that impacted me.
From then on, I've looked at it like, the game is just a game.
But there are other human beings everywhere. You have to always remember that.
When you're camping, pking, pvping, ksing, grouping, crafting, lvling, or just sitting in a populated city.
There are human beings controlling toons all around you. Even when you RP, you've gotta remember that. Those so hellbent on a game being just a game often forget that, and I hope I never do again.
I guess my whole point is, the game IS just a game.
But people are people, and they play too. Sadly, one of the largest downsides we've seen spur from the anonymity the internet gives us, is that we feel we can act or say what/however we please. Sometimes, we act in ways that we would/could NEVER act in real life, and really just stomp people saying "Its just a game" to rationalize it away.
Its a balance. The game should ALWAYS be just a game. But the second you forget that MMORPGs are just a little bit more than that, is the second you start detracting from everyone else's enjoyment.
Nolf - Master Asshat
Someone's gotta do it!
I really hope that *insert game name here* will be the first game to ever live up to all of its pre-release promises, maintain a manageable hype level and have a clean release. Just don't expect me to hold my breath.
MaX PoWeRs dadadadadadadadadadada MaX pOwErs! ! ! ! !
On Time? On Target? Never Quit?
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