online gaming addiction

[supersmithy]

Hows about people who meet lovers online? I used to go to a LAN center, where the owner played Sims Online all day every day for a good couple of months. Went in one day, and he introduces me to some american bird he had picked up on the game and flown her over.

Scary man.

[oblivion_6]

I know of at least 3 marriages created through online games, worrying stuff.

[dataDave]

I'd say skill can play a part during some FFXI battles.

One time me and my party took on a Qufim Island Wight when I was a lvl.22 PLD. The battle lasted 15 minutes and the Wight restocked his life up to 100% 3 times. Everyone in the party survived by the skin of our teeth down to L337 timing and judgement.

I think the main reason I got so hooked on FFXI was down to the fact that I didn't want to face the massive mountain of washing up that had manifested during my first 2 weeks of play. The stench after a further 7 weeks (combo'd with one night of downtime when I certainly didn't need it) got the better of me in the end.

[Nijo]

You can finish up with a look at where MMO games are going. I know there's one already where you can use real money to buy in-game kit, plus there's a move towards using advertising in games, having episodic content rather than an initial fee, that sort of thing. Have you read Tad Williams' Otherland series? Not sure you've got time now but at least read the synopsis of the first one.
Oh right, it's addiction specifically. Well, a question for society going forwards: is it ok if "generation www" spends more than half their waking hours online? What are the pros and cons? What happens in 50 years when it becomes normality to have your social network purely online? When Amazon sets up a shop in Everquest 4? How will the economy and laws change in this time? How does the world change when it becomes normality to group with a bunch of mad Koreans to fight some monsters, then hang out in a virtual city for a chat. Will we all learn Chinese/Korean as our second languages?

Stream of consciousness.

[Darwock]

It's not so much skill that's required, more teamwork, co-operation and good judgment. For FFXI anyway, as the only example I'm familiar with. There are negatives obviously, but you could also argue it lets you experience more diverse social situations (short of actually going to war, your average office drone is never going to experience any thing this rich in terms of challenges).

It definitely is addictive, I pulled back from it for a while to sort some things in the 'real world' but lately I've been letting myself get absorbed again. Developers should have a responsibility to prevent the kind of timesink some of these activities become, but they're obviously trying to make a living by prolonging subscriptions.

At the moment, it's this or Eastenders, so why not this. At least it's mentally engaging.

[dataDave]

At the moment, it's this or Eastenders, so why not this. At least it's mentally engaging.

LOL - I'm trying to imagine what I could get done in 30mins of FFXI. I'd probably be half way through sorting out my mog house in that time.

[erhgiez]

I tried playing EQ2 and it just didnt click, I could see how good a game it was, but to do well in it you needed to group with people, and thats where it got me, I wanted to go at my own pace, start and quit when I want to, but when your the main healer of a group you cant just quit halfway through a 2 hour quest as you let everyone else down. so I found myself playing it far beyond what I would normally just so I didnt let other people down..And I HATED that so stopped playing it. My housemate used to play 14 hours a day non stop before he got his g/f that started to scare me but I dont think he was addicted as he would gladly do anything else, I think he just played it becuase he had nothing else to do, he said he mainly used it as a chat room to talk to people and one of his female friends who lived in Italy flew him over to "have a bit fun". I much prefer playing games with people who are in the same room.

[AlonzoUK]

Think you'll find the daedalus project http://www.nickyee.com/daedalus/ very useful.

[dataDave]

My housemate used to play 14 hours a day non stop before he got his g/f

LolZ - How the **** did he get a g/f playing a MMORPG for 14 hours a day?

[Nijo]

Online I suppose. Superior armour and weapons do wonders as ice breakers.

Or there's a game like Planetarion which *really* has a social element. You're bound to your galaxy for the duration of the round, you have to play a good portion of 24/7 if you want to achieve anything, and that 'playing' is pretty much all spent in IRC.
All the online marriages I know are through that game...

[erhgiez]

LolZ - How the **** did he get a g/f playing a MMORPG for 14 hours a day?

Suprisingly hes not a social retard and knows how to get the ladies when we get down the pub on a fri or sat, its really weird one mintue ill be talking to him, then the next hes sucking face, I really dont know how he does it, sadly when I get drunk I become really brash like on friday when we were walking back with some birds one of them had a REALLY small bag and I drunkenly say "Thats the smallest bag I've EVER seen, But its bigger than your tits!", neway ive gone OT

[Purpledump]

Just curious, but how did you fit cyworld into your disseration? I know a few Korean friends who are on it, but its only the Korean blog/community site equivalent of Friendster, MySpace etc. I think you can "buy" or "earn" wallpaper, patterns and graphics, which you can use to decorate your site, trade with people or even send as gifts. I can see the social aspects of it, but there is hardly anything on gaming there.

[jimmbob]

"Thats the smallest bag I've EVER seen, But its bigger than your tits!", neway ive gone OT

Other than live and the odd deathmatch on Steam, I tend to steer clear of online gaming. I'm purposely not buying oblivion for instance, as I know it takes a lot of time and a degree of effort, so no matter how tempting it may look, I must resist. The hours and hours I spend on live at weekends, coupled with the bags under my eyes are enough for me tbpfh.

[deded]

thanks everyone, got lots more **** to be thinking about

in response to the cyworld bit, i only put that in there as i saw it on the news, and from what i could see, it seemed like a stripped down mmorpg (as in, all the quests/levels/blah blah that make it a mmorpg are gone, and you're just left with the social aspect.. this is what i said in the paper) just peoples avatars in those minihompy things speaking to each other. i dunno, i made it fit somehow anyway.

i really want to play mmorpgs, as they look amazing and i enjoy final fantasy and whatever, but as i said in the paper i'm just scared of it taking over my life, as counter strike did about 4-5 years ago, as i get addicted to pretty much everything which i think 'oooh, this is nice'

oh yeah i updated the uploaded file aswell.. 3 days to go until hand in
only 3,888 words to go

[deded]

Think you'll find the daedalus project http://www.nickyee.com/daedalus/ very useful.

man i've raped that site dry for this piece, gotta be a good 50+ references to old mr yee in there