http://soulkerfuffle.blogspot.com/2006/10/view-from-top.html
there's a "counter" article at the end, though I don't think it "countered" anything.
a ton of comments follow, from "man, me too!" to "qq more n00b".
all in all, he did well in describing the ugliness of mmo's addictive side. take from that what you will. it's OFN for anyone that's been playing since mud days, but perhaps it'll show something to those new comers that are slipping down the slope from "casual" to "hardcore".
"end game" in a game that never ends, nice oxymoron in one of the comments.
These games give us a fantasy identity with never-ending "achievements" to aim for. It's a game that imitates life's core human interests and motivations.
When i see people literally discussing their loot and gear for hours upon hours non-stop every day it makes me sad. These are "normal" people who's brains are more focused on fantasy stuff and fantasy achivements than anything going on in the real world.
I also get saddened when i see fathers really caught up hardcore.
On the other hand, there are fathers who play and dont seem to have fucked up their lives. This is a whole new form of addiction and challenge that our culture and experience just isnt used to. We'll adapt with new language, tactics, self-helf industries and eventually media-driven "crisis" talk.
It wont be much longer before the mainstream media catches up to this type of stuff and it becomes a new "crisis" on par with al qaeda, no doubt. I mean, there are definately people fuckin up their lives on par with being heroin addicts but it will be a while before we can even be clear on the real danger.
It isnt the game itself that's dangerous.
All these games do is provide a simple, controllable and more sane alternate to reality. That's the nature of the fun. Whether you enjoy ganking people or loot whoring, you're enjoying something that provides little achievements.
It's no different than counter strike, in that sense.
CS is the ultimate procrastination tool. It's like mine-sweeper. 3 minute rounds... repetitive. Simple. Gratifying. Bite-sized stupid fun.
It's different than most other human games tho, historically, in that the 'persistent world' element gets us so deeply involved and attached to these characters. We also have social attachments in the game. These combine into an entirely new phenomenon that i think folks since the days of Muds/moos saw as an unstoppable force in humanity.
I remember playing muds in 1991ish back in college. It was no different than EQ, WoW, etc. There were hardcore addicts (i was one, briefly, until my drinking and girl chasing desires crushed my mud desires). I remember talking with a housemate back then about this whole internet virtual reality thing.
We used to be like "imagine if this had graphics and was more interactive!!!"
We used to imagine what would happen if the gamers themselves had more means to build the community and the environment themselves, etc. But we also realized how addicting virtual reality was and was going to eventually become.
I see this as something that will honestly spawn a new generation of mainstream media, too. Somebody's gonna figure out how to bring this shit directly into the living room where entire families get hooked on "persistent worlds" and stories.
We're only just beginning.
Game designers are still learning how to develop compelling fantasy universes that are fully interactive and how to tell "interactive stories." Console devs are way ahead in this, obviously, but i think the future is definately in MMOs.
Now, if they can produce games where folks outside china and indonesia can literally survive by playing... look out. COngress is looking into how these games may or may not need to be rethought around the question of taxation. This is the first flash of interest, because these games will start to literally create their own economics on scales not seen yet. Folks will be dropping out of college, out of life... and surviving financially by playing these games... in greater numbers.
Basic game addiction is only the start...
