[MD] Food for Thought

[Dan Glover]

Hello everyone

>From: Laird Bedore <lmbedore at vectorstar.com>
>Reply-To: moq_discuss at moqtalk.org
>To: moq_discuss at moqtalk.org
>Subject: Re: [MD] Food for Thought
>Date: Fri, 05 Jan 2007 16:32:38 -0500
>
>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.

Hi Laird

Like I said, it all sounds like great fun. I'm curious... you say you "met" 
these people. In person? And how do you know they are who they say they are?

>
>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.

I beg to disagee on that. Practice does not make perfect, only perfect 
practice. And if you know what perfect practice is, I doubt you'll be 
playing games.

>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.

I think many people find themselves in unfulfilling positions so they do 
what people in that situation do: they indulge... be it alcohol, drugs, tv, 
games, whatever they can do to take away the sense of hopelessness that 
tends to creep in. Myself, I indulge too, in reading and writing. I see 
Quality in those endeavors.

>
>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.

My son is addicted to RPG's as are his sons. The boys would rather play 
those games than do anything else. Literally. My oldest grandson asked me 
what games I play online. I told him none. He said, well what do you do 
then? And he was serious! To be honest, I don't think it is a good thing but 
they aren't my children.

My granddaughter on the other hand will have nothing to do with games. She 
is a writer. We exchange emails all the time. I never hear from the boys 
though. They are too busy playing games.

Thank you for your comments,

Dan