Virtual Friends, Life, and Relationships: Part 2 -- Global Friends

Monday, March 05, 2007 0 comments

One of the things that has often come to my mind as I have played City of Heroes is the aspect of socialization. As in the real life, my experience is that people of similar play styles and outside interests tend to congregate and stay together long those with only casual and immediate intersections of purpose (such as completing a specific mission or leveling their character). It's also interesting to observe how pieces of people's real personalities sneak through in the course role-playing their characters. (I know that some people have made some very astute and accurate assessment of me based on how I've played some of my characters. Yes, I do have considerable trouble doing completely evil characters, but I think that's also a dramatic issue I have that we can discuss at another time.)

Some of the people I game with I'm come to consider real friends, as close as many as I have in real life. We share many of the same common interests, attitudes, and issues. During gameplay, it's not unusual for us to also discuss the latest episode of Battlestar Galactica or the latest Star Trek news. Rather than gathered at a coffee shop, we're gathered somewhere in Paragon City blasting villains, engaging in idle chit-chat about life in general.

In many ways, it's an extension of other chat rooms available widely on the Internet, with the difference that we have already been drawn together by our mutual affection for superheroes and comics. Or the desire to be one. Or something. I can think of few other ways that people from all over world (and I do not exaggerate here) can come together to have fun and talk about things that they enjoy. (The whole time zone thing does it have its drawbacks, though, let me tell you. Just try to schedule a mutually acceptable time for more than three people across as many time zones and I wish you "Good luck" in doing so.)

Is this a replacement for in-person, face-to-face socialization? I don't think so, at least not for all of us. But I think it serves as a worthy (and often more convenient) alternative at times. Is it necessarily a bad thing? I suppose that depends on how it is used and how far it is used as a substitute for real personal communication. Certainly the media has made clear the potential evils and dangers of online-only interaction, but that doesn't make it inherently evil.

To be continued . . .

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Virtual Friends, Life, and Relationships: Part 1 -- The Game's Afoot

Thursday, March 01, 2007 0 comments
vir·tu·al (vûr'cho-o--?l)
adj.
  1. Existing or resulting in essence or effect though not in actual fact, form, or name: the virtual extinction of the buffalo.
  2. Existing in the mind, especially as a product of the imagination. Used in literary criticism of a text.
  3. Computer Science Created, simulated, or carried on by means of a computer or computer network: virtual conversations in a chatroom.
American Heritage Dictionary

Not at all sure where I'm going with this, but here goes . . .
During the past year, I have discovered MMORPGs. Well, one in particular: the City of Heroes/City of Villains diptych. Previously, my online gaming experience had been chiefly limited to Halo 2 team skirmishes during which I normally handed by helmet often by the opposite team. Still, much fun was had.
Then, thanks to my son, City of Heroes was discovered. For those of you unfamiliar with the principles behind MMORPGs, I'll let you peruse the link above for information. The main point being that MMO and RP don't necessarily need both be present, but having them both certainly makes it much more fun and interesting. I originally played for about six months, got bored with the repetitive play, and then started again about six months later.
During this second round, I discovered a group of people who seriously role-played their characters (the RP part of MMORPG). For me, this added a whole new—and missing—dimension to the game. In addition to the gameplay, they posted stories about their characters on a semi-public forum. Can you say all the dangerous keys to feeding addictive behavior?
I've always known that I possessed addictive tendencies and strived very, very hard to divert those with relatively healthy activities, avoiding the abuse of recreational substances. (We can have a discussion about Internet addiction later, thank you very much.) This, however, was simply too tempting to ignore. What writer can resist the opportunity to create and act out their own characters and have a ready and (generally) appreciative audience ready to read their work? (Under synonyms, see: dangerous diversions, time sink, non-paying work.)
So, is that that writing wasted effort? Yes and No. Yes: it is time spent on work that is not being written for potential sale, thus taking time away from writing projects that could be. No: it serves as a good warm-up for the muse and a way to experiment with writing without doing too much damage, and also provides fodder for ideas that could potentially lead to paying work. At least two ideas for novels have come from this effort. (While progress on Battlefield has definitely suffered, at least writing has not stopped completely. Take that excuse/explanation as you will.) What other effects, besides those on writing, has this had?
To be continued . . .
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