My character would walk around Runescape, or whatever the virtual world was called, and I remember I kept making it mine for specific ores so I could sell them and get as much gold as possible. But then what? I would buy a new sword or armor, but that was it. It was an endless cycle that I loved to go to every day. Now looking back on it and reading a book almost about the exact same thing in college made me laugh. It was almost kind of pathetic that that was what I did every day after school. Yet there are adults that do the exact same thing today. What is that driving force that brings people back day after day to the same thing?
I think that desire is from the ability to simply get away and be someone else, somewhere else. In online, virtual worlds you can be whoever you want to be. That is why they have become so popular and stayed that way for many years. I can definitely see a 3-Dimensional virtual world for gamers in the near future and possibly an immersive one not too far down the road.
I remember when my younger brother was around middle school age, he was also addicted to Runescape. I never understood how he could just spend hours in his room playing a game that I didn't understand, and had no desire to learn about. I guess that immersion in virtual worlds is a part of life that you cannot appreciate or actually understand until you are a part of it.
ReplyDeleteI agree that the primary appeal of these games is that they provide a much needed escape for people. We are often so overworked that it's refreshing to do something just for the simple enjoyment of it. I don't see a problem with playing a game as an escape but when it starts to interfere significantly with real life I think it has gone too far.
ReplyDeleteWell, it doesn't hurt that your friends were on there. I think one of the reasons there's such an attraction like that is when all your friends are on it, Runescape and other MMOs become like a little world only you and your friends now about and understand.
ReplyDeleteThere's nothing wrong with playing for fun. It's when you play to escape your real life problems that you have a problem. It always saddens me when people blame video games for ruining their life, when it was just their method of escape, like drugs or alcohol would be.
I have a slightly snarky claim about why so many college-age students give up "serious" gaming. Naturally, it can hurt grades. Beyond that, as I've said at many an academic meeting, "these young people already have avatars: themselves."
ReplyDeleteThink about the stretches of time you get to play when you are not working. Think of the competition to look good, to drive the right car, and so on. It's not escapist at all; it's a type of augmented reality played out with your own selves in a real-life social scene that is game-like, all to prepare you for the workforce or, for a few, law and med school.
Fascinating. I do wonder, however, if in your 30s many of you, cut off from the campus scene, will again seek some form of "escape" from the duties of job and family.