[MUD-Dev] Bay Area Press re: UO, the good the bad and the Ugly.

[Raph Koster]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: mud-dev-admin at kanga.nu [mailto:mud-dev-admin at kanga.nu]On Behalf Of
> Myschyf
> Sent: Saturday, June 03, 2000 8:47 PM
> To: mud-dev at kanga.nu
> Subject: Re: [MUD-Dev] Bay Area Press re: UO, the good the bad and the
> Ugly.
>
>
> You know, Raph and the rest of you, this guy is an aberration.
> He's not the normal MUD or MMOG player.

The normal MMORPG player is online 20 hours a week. What else do you do for
20 hours a week? I bet there aren't very many single activities. And this is
the average. Being crude with the stats here, that means half of MMORPG
players are playing MORE than that.

> To get upset over one person's addiction is
> silly.  If it wasn't UO it would be something else for this guy.  There
> isn't anything you could have done to prevent it.

"If it wasn't me pushing heroin, he'd be a drunk instead." :)

Yes, that's overstatement, but I am being deliberately provocative here on
purpose. That argument does not quite hold water for me.

I know full well that the number of people who get seriously addicted to
online games is not large. Heck, when I was in graduate school and first got
intop online games, both Kristen and I EASILY played over 50 hours a week
each. Our schedules got completely out of whack--we'd pull all-nighters
multiple nights a week. But you know what? It was a GOOD experience, because
it helped us get past the fact that we were utterly miserable in Tuscaloosa,
Alabama, not a town I recommend anyone live in.

I've said in the past that often online game addiction seems to fill a void
in people's lives when they need it filled, and serves as therapy. But, and
this is a big but, it serves as therapy if it teaches the person something
about themselves, if they somehow learn new skills (interpersonal,
technical, whatever), if they move past it in the end because the void it
filled is no longer there.

Now, if the game DOESN'T do any of these things, then it's not particularly
socially redeeming. Personally, I like to think that the games I make are
not trapping people but helping them, somehow. At the least, I'd like to
think their effect is neutral. Less guilt in the middle of the night. No
matter how small the percentage of addicts is.




_______________________________________________
MUD-Dev mailing list
MUD-Dev at kanga.nu
http://www.kanga.nu/lists/listinfo/mud-dev