I thought of a cool title for this at 2AM, but forgot what it was.
So, yeah. We'll just go with "MMO stuff".
At any rate, I've been fascinated with The Daedalus Project lately. People have always interested me anyway - I love to know what motivates them, what they're thinking, feeling, doing, etc. So my little gamer self was thrilled to find this thing. I've been reading through it for a little over a week now, as well as reacquainting myself with some other gaming forums, just reading and thinking about why some of these people are the way they are.
Two things are especially interesting to me: romantic relationships formed ingame, and ingame persona vs. RL persona. The stereotypical view of romantic relationships seems to be "That's so pathetic, can't you get a girl IRL?", and I really disagree with that view for several reasons. Granted, there is that stereotypical guy in his 20's, unable to keep a job and living with his parents, and crawling around the internet looking for [cough] partners because it's easier than actually leaving the house. But I find he's a rarity. Right off the top of my head, I can think of three longstanding, successful, perfectly healthy relationships that were formed ingame. Two of them have become real-life, living in the same city, in it for the long haul relationships, and the third will be that way pretty soon. They met through a mutual hobby, just like many couples do, and it took off from there. Granted, it's an unconventional way to begin a relationship - not having met face to face, but it works. The creepy internet stalker and the person who found someone they have a lot in common with are two different types. It's the creepy internet stalker you hear the most about, though, so he becomes the face of internet relationships, so to speak. The normal people don't make much of a splash, they just kinda live their lives.
Not much to say on who you are IRL v. who you are ingame at this point, it's just starting to interest me. As a rule, though, I've found that the more you trumpet your awesomeness ingame (Constantly ranting about how you're the best healer, tank, have the most money, whatever), the more you have to compensate for IRL. It's not a hard and fast rule, there are exceptions, but it seems to hold true for a large part of the gamer population.
I'm very interested in opinions here, that aren't mine.
2 comments:
I am 100 % on your side on that. As for the bragging part as well. Everyone i got to know in game that kept bragging, are the ones who are also looking to be someone they're not and have only a game to actually brag about. Having all of the best things in a game doesn't make you a hard worker despite what you may think. You won't ever be able t put that on a resume or find a really decent job to have finished a dungeon.
Someone once told me that It sucked to be me because i couldn't spend 5 hours straight in front of a computer screen to finish a very long run. Not because I had to work on that day, but simply because I wanted to get off my butt and move a little. Apparently it sucks to be active D:. What I don't like about people like that is that they bring you down to bring themselves up and create a personality for them which doesn't even exist when their computers are turned off.
As for the relationships, I used to think they never worked online... But I was proved wrong on that one, found my one soul mate and soon it'll be a year that we're dating. Meeting him was the best thing that happened to me for the past year. And he's what keeps me sane :D
As for Online Persona Vs Real Life Persona: i think people do at times try to be the best online to compinsate that they arnt as good at certan things offline. the way i act online is not like that i think, i simply try to be my(offline)self. if that means cracking a bad(horrible) joke here and there or slipping in an innuendo while at the same time trying to encourage somone and occasionally going overboard, so be it, thats who i am. deal with it. the only Fasad i'm putting on is that my name is Logen Starlogic and i'm a ladies man. i'm not the slick, trim, moderately buff guy with facial hair that my online persona makes me out to be, i'm a kid who isnt overweight but at the smae time isnt totally fit. and when i'm playing on of my female alts, i try to make it a point to say that i'm a guy when i can.
my brother commonly will jokingly poke fun at my MMO gaming. i dont mind, infact i will commonly laugh at myself a little when i go into a tirade about how the necro was dancing and not BIPing me, so as a result i couldent cast backfire and the party wiped. the way i look at it though is that, yes i am a (little, not su much anymore.) addicted to online gaming, but isnt that better then addicted to somthing that isnt scocial at all? like Television or somthing? i actually like to pride myself that i am one of the few kids my age who doesnt get done with school and promply plops down and starts watching american idol re-runs. sure i plop down and check my email stuff, but then i might play a videogame, somthing that exercises your mind, or even GuildWars, somthing that is still scocial even if it isnt face-to-face. but still i'm not even old enough to drive yet, its not like i have fifty parties i could go to or anything. i dont have THAT many options.
the relationships thing is somthing i find hilarious. not cause its insane, cause its not. because its stupid about peoples reactions to finding a mate via an MMO. i personally think its pretty smart sometimes. i mean these dating sites like True and EhArmony are a bit more rediculous dont you think? you meet the ideal person and maybe you chat a little, then its essentially a blind date. with and MMO its similar, yet different. you actually meet the person ingame, you both like the game so you have comon ground, and you build up a friendship and maybe even a relationship. its more realistic then a dating site, its actually alot like real life. sorta. i mean, you dont have Charr in real life.
i never have actually been in an online relationship yet, but thats what i gather. i mean, i stress again, i cant even drive yet.
sorry aobut my ramblings, but thats how i feel.
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