My homework HELP ME

[Hirronimus]

FFXI is my first and probably only MMO I will ever play. The day I've started playing it, it went from casual gaming to addictive to time passing activity to social interaction. It undoubtably had profound effect on myself as an individual and my outlook on people in general.

The whole arguement "this is just a game" is played out. I'm not gonna use Ryany's post, because from my point of view it's cynical and obsessive observation. Imo it is a game, just as Soccer or Baseball are games. With 1 difference. You're not facing the opponent under cover of internet annonymity. Annonymity does provide an escape from any form of moral obligation towards fellow gamer, but that only proves the fact that some, not all, people are just assholes.

Kasber brought up a very good point about age diversity in MMOs. With that in mind the values each generation were taught vary and thus represent gaming style of each individual.

Here's a link about 30 something guys' view on online gaming:

http://slate.msn.com/id/2125300/

How FFXI affected me in real? Let's just say I don't spend on alcohol and recriational pharmaceuticals as much as I used to.

[kasber]

How FFXI affected me in real? Let's just say I don't spend on alcohol and recriational pharmaceuticals as much as I used to.

[Niobe]

I large number of people I've met while playing FFXI (my first MMO) use it to help curb thier drug/alcohol useage. Some using gaming as a conduit to quit drinking and partying altogether. Games like this seem to be a way for people to remain social without feeling the pressure to use drugs/alcohol; or simply something to do other than go out and get drunk at the bar. From that perspective gaming can be a far larger help than hinderance.

[kasber]

I large number of people I've met while playing FFXI (my first MMO) use it to help curb thier drug/alcohol useage. Some using gaming as a conduit to quit drinking and partying altogether. Games like this seem to be a way for people to remain social without feeling the pressure to use drugs/alcohol; or simply something to do other than go out and get drunk at the bar. From that perspective gaming can be a far larger help than hinderance.

Agreed, but if you notice there is a clash between those who "used to go out" and those who have always played online gaming. People who always played an online game went to different games with multiple people have their "clique", and anyone not in that clique is treated as an outcast. This in turn makes more cliques and causes this scenario to be a never ending cycle.

A rift is caused between people who have never even met. Who's going to be who's friend? Who's going to get who what item the fastest? and more, as time goes on... This is where the shit-talking, back stabbing, kiniving people thrive. This is what makes them feel whole... shits and giggles on their end. All this does is segrigate people into the cliques and allows them to demolish other's integrity to fill their void.

Like I said about a year ago, a lot of Online games are like high school only worse. Consdering these are older adults, you get the infamous "I'm older i know better" "I have a better life than you" "I have more money than you" attitudes. This is an example of the tarnish this game causes. People can not just keep it in game anymore... "oh i dont like how you play, you should try this"?.. No... it is "I don't like how you play, so these 60 people are never going to play with you.... and assume because I don't like how you play - that you don't know how to play".... and on top of that, they instigate a fight while attempting to bring reality into it - "I know he's not really a bad player, but I have nothing else on him, so I'm going to insult him outside of the game to make myself feel better".... ftw.

[Amalius]

I can agree with the fact this game can be looked at as a high school enviroment. In fact, that is how I look at it, it's a place where you converse with friends daily weekly or what ever. What can be argued is that some people may not see this worse than high school. I honestly like FFXI better than high school because I was more of a social outcast, did not have many friends at my school because they went to a knew when it opened. One of which did play FFXI at the time. At the time they left I was just getting deeper into FFXI and developing relations with people I had met.

How ever, there are those people with different opinions, such as this is worse than high school. In my opinion those are the people who only look at negative comparisons, such drama in high school and drama in game. In reality, where you have people, you will most likely have drama. How ever, in game it is considerably much easier to ignore. /blacklist or what ever it is if we are reffering to a another game. In real life, sure it can be ignored, but it is much easier to instigate. Again views can very on the persons experiences in game and outside of the game.

PS. Endo did you get my PM on priory boards? not sure how much you check our forums

[Endo]

I think Hirro made a post about that a long time ago Kasber, the clique'. It is especially evident in FFXI. I myself have have played since NA release and saw these things materialize. It is really quite interesting that SE put ls in the game as a chat tool. To be able to communicate with diffrent sets of friends. Somewhere along the line that got fuzzy. I am not sure if it was before the NA release, but I don't remember my first ls being the "This ls onry". Then again those were, and and still are my friends so I never really thought about having more then one at a time. Now it is almost like the linkshell you are in represents a group aka clique' of people that you associate with. That may have come from the fact that people, no matter what, always want to have a sense of belonging somewhere. Imagine if every person was in every ls. Can you imagine the chaos there would be just to get things done? Then again would the game function the same except 200 people would be fighting over fafnir drops yet helping each other with the kill.

In theory this can translate to the way the world is now. If every nation would band together to achieve goals, and accomplish things, then there would probably be no war, no status, but in turn how would that help the human race advance if there was no competition.

I have to present my paper today and I thank every single one of you for your inputs. I guess what I have learned so far is that most media, weather tv, movies, radio, video games, and now MMO's will always grab the attention of the mass'. It is a form of recreation, but unlike tv, video games and MMO's create a sense of accomplishment when you win, but can also create a dangerous addiction to wanting to win. The person playing the toon is the same person who goes to get his newspaper from the front porch. When that person logs into his toon, he/she becomes a white mage of taru race ect. It is a good escape from reality, to be able to unwind, and still interact with people and develop social skills. The danger comes when the taru never logs off, and a taru is picking up the newspaper from the front porch. How do we as the gamer make sure that the taru logs off? I dunno. Anyone can say that it is up to the person to make sure that they don't over indulge, but as with a heroin addict how are you going to know enough is enough? Anyway I am going to present this the best I can today, as its only an intro to the final project at the end of the semester. It really is a good thing because this subject started to become very deep, at least for me.

[Hirronimus]

Endo, look up a book named "Simulacra and Simulation". Sorry the writer's name escapes me atm.

[ertyu]

Sorry for the thread ressurection but...

Umm Im doing my senior research project on this same thing and was browsing your forums and found this Would anyone mind if I used some of this in my research? I posted a topis similar to this on my LSs forums and hardly anyone is responding =/

If anyone is opposed to this, more importantly if Endo is opposed to this that's ok, but I would appreciate it ^^;

[kasber]

Send endo a pm i think he got an A on his just use that