[MD] Food for Thought

[Laird Bedore]

david buchanan wrote:
> Case asked:
> Has no one here ever played a Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing 
> game?
>
> Dan replied:
> Like tv, it appears to me that RPG's are a Massive Waste of Time. I'm sure 
> it must be great fun for so many people to be playing, but I just can't see 
> the Quality. There are (after all) millions of people glued to their tv sets 
> night after night too, and I don't see the Quality in that either. 
> ...Whatever turns your crank, I guess.
>
> dmb says:
> I don't get it either. Not only have I never played such a game, I don't 
> even know anyone who has. Except for my wife and my dearest darling friend 
> Case, I just don't know that many nerds.
>
>   
Laird adds:
I've played some, Case... well, not MASSIVELY multiplayer, but 100 
players or so, and some games spanned many years. For the sake of time 
and other hobbies I stopped playing them some years ago. It was 
thoroughly entertaining, social, and quite intellectually stimulating at 
times too. Met quite a few very good people through such games. And it's 
surprising to learn of the day-jobs of various players - you get to play 
with people ranging from CEOs to professors to managers to artists to 
mechanics to janitors in motley crews that you wouldn't otherwise get to 
experience.

One way of looking at these games:
Each game can be seen as a microcosm of systems theory... They promote 
learning the inroads in any system, and practice makes perfect. 
Parallels to office politics, academia, social circles, etc etc can be 
easily and accurately made. Understanding and manipulating the complex 
overlap of rules is good critical thinking exercise. Coordinating a 
group of different 'people' with different specialities to reach a 
common and often complex goal is a challenge, and many find it 
envigorating. Perhaps their day jobs or schooling are unfulfilling in 
this regard so they play a game to fill the need instead. Or they do it 
for the social aspects, or the sheer "escape value", or all of the above.

Such games offer a 'sandbox' for testing all sorts of scenarios. Say 
you're unsure if you'd make a good team leader. Try leading a team 
in-game and see how you do. Mix it up, try different strategies. 
Especially for kids it's a good way to try their hand at various social 
and thought experiments without any real risk of screwing something up. 
Good learning tool.

-Laird