Even though I've never personally played an MMORPG, I have been injuriously addicted to a game in the past. While World of Warcraft was still being developed, the addictive-game geniuses at Blizzard already had Diablo II: LoD on the market, and I was completely obsessed. I would sit at the computer for every available hour, pausing only for school, food, and sleep. One whole summer, several breaks, and countless weekends were annihilated in the name of level grinding and item scavenging- the next best thing was never enough. It was only when I took a look at what I'd become did I get truly frustrated with myself and deleted the game from my PC. Though I still occasionally play games, I've taken my experience with Diablo II as a negative one and will never allow myself to be that drawn into a game again. I hold nothing against Diablo; it's a fantastic piece of artwork in its own right, but the way I ultimately ended up playing it was very unhealthy.
Although I've dodged the bullet of MMORPG gaming addiction, many of my friends have fallen hard for World of Warcraft. Several are completely consumed; they must be torn away from their computers to simply hang out for a few hours. When the choice between getting coffee with me or going on a raid in WoW comes into question, the answer is always obvious. To these guys, the real world is nothing more than a support system for their physical bodies to continue playing a game in a world created by someone else. As is obvious, I have a bit of a grudge against those who can't respect the real world and choose to spend all their energy on something fruitless.
Sol Invictus' article really hit home with me, as he describes what it's like to go from being completely addicted back to the world of normal function. Being totally absorbed by a game isn't healthy or productive on any level; as he said, gaming shouldn't cut into everyday functioning. The article Bad Crazy in Internet Space hit on this point as well, mentioning gamers going out of their way in real life to conquer achievements and complete missions in EVE. They'd skip work, lose sleep, and generally allow themselves to deteriorate over longs spans of time to simply progress in the game. He also mentioned certain players spending huge sums of money and committing crimes to get an edge. In short, gaming should be a pleasurable form of entertainment, not a place to hide from reality.
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Hey, thought I would comment on your post still. MMORPG seems like the most taxing title to speak. I'm not even sure why we just don't call it an RPG like the rest of them. So it's features online and multiplayer, but that wasn't enough to classify it huh? it also had to be "Massive" because of the number of players. It's like all those to the X-treme titled things in the 90's. GenXer's always trying to go uber cool. Well, all that to say if the title is so immersing then of course the gameplay would be as well.
ReplyDeleteI love the bit about the real world being a support system. It's so true. Like you, I've never fallen prey to WoW or any other MMO, but I have friends who have. I've even tried to play, and they were all excited about it at first, but when they realized it meant that I expected them to actually PLAY WITH ME, they disappeared. They've tried to quit several times too, but they always go back. There have been temporary replacements, of course. Warhammer Online, Aion, and girlfriends have all momentarily filled the gap, but in the end, it's always WoW. And with Cataclysm just over the horizon, those hooks are only going to penetrate deeper.
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