...latest fad or the future of gaming?

future downfall of our society.

I don't know one person in real life who plays these and isn't a sad, lazy, failure.

No offense to those of you who do. I'm just saying the folks I know.

I never bought one nor had the urge to. However, the upcoming MMO game that lets you be a superhero looks kinda interesting, but it was supposed to come out a year ago until it was delayed. Does anyone know what I'm talking about?

If everyone in the game is playing a superhero... wouldn't they cease to be super and just be normal people?

That's why Star Wars Galaxies makes it insanely difficult to actually become a Jedi.

Originally posted by FilmHobbit
future downfall of our society.

I don't know one person in real life who plays these and isn't a sad, lazy, failure.

No offense to those of you who do. I'm just saying the folks I know.

::Sniffles::

Originally posted by Tripolie
I never bought one nor had the urge to. However, the upcoming MMO game that lets you be a superhero looks kinda interesting, but it was supposed to come out a year ago until it was delayed. Does anyone know what I'm talking about?
I know what youre talking about, trip. Lemmie see it i can find a link...

And hobbit... thats the same thing that confused me. maybe some people can play as villians? that would be cool.

Originally posted by smeagol wants fishess
And hobbit... thats the same thing that confused me. maybe some people can play as villians? that would be cool.
Ok, but still everyone has super powers and if everyone has them the powers cease to be super right?

Strange concept... and ill concieved it sounds.

Well theres NPCs...

anyways I got the lowdown. look for the City of Heroes thread.

I read in PCGamer that people can't play villians but there will be tons of NPCs playing villians and regular people.

I could care less, because I never play or have any interest really in multiplayer online games.:)

You read PC Gamer, Trip?? Great mag!! Sooo funny!

Long live the Coconut Monkey!!
http://www.pcgamer.com/images/coconut_shirt.jpg

I didn't get the lastest issue though because I forgot to renew my subscription.

MMORPGs definitely aren't a fad, they're the kind of games geeks have been waiting for their entire lives. :p No more dice and paper, now you can actually be your character.

Online gaming, in general is the future. I think this is most obvious when you look at consoles, to which the online world has been for the most part completely foreign and alien territory, but now it has become almost mandatory. Just look at the success of X-Box Live!

Good point!:)

An example of how role playing games ruin lives...

Or, how I spent my Sunday afternoon.

So our best friends here in Dallas, we usually hang out with them on Sundays, because that's when we're all off of work. They are both total geeks. Geeks on a level that make me seem like Tom Cruise.

The wife has in the past 2 months started playing Final Fantasy online. Since she started it, the following has happened in their lives: 1. she has quit her job for no reason 2. she is a manic depressive 3. now she does nothing but sit home and play her game all day. Literally does nothing else. The other night she even called and tried to get us to bring her food because she didn't want to leave her computer.

We also hardly ever see them anymore, they don't leave their house.

But Sunday we got them to meet us for lunch somewhere and we asked them if they wanted to do anything. Well, the husband was like 'yeah, lets get together" And his wife says "you guys do what you want, i have to get home and play my game. My online husband is waiting for me."

So this is pathetic but we feel bad for her husband, because we know he won't go do something unless she does. So we say "ok, well we'll just come over to your house, that way you won't have to go anywhere and you won't be alone."

So ok. We go over to their house. Her husband and I hang out in the other room, playing games, eating garbage, farting and doing other good things. Meanwhile is wife spends the ENTIRE day sitting in front of my computer, while my wife (her best friend in Dallas) sits on her bed next to her and stares at the wall.

She sits in front of her computer, won't even get up to get food or anything. Whenever she needs something she screams for her husband to get it until he does. When it comes time for dinner, we all say "hey, let's go out to eat!" She says, "I have to stay here".

So my wife says "well, why don't you and I just run to the grocery store together and pick up a few things and we'll make something." She says, "you go by yourself, I'm busy."

So I jump up and volunteer to go to the store, and my wife ends up making dinner for everyone while she sits in front of her game refusing to move.

The only time she says anything to anyone the entire day, from 12-9PM is to shout some thing about what is going on in her game, or to laugh at something one of her faceless online friends says.

This is her life. This is why Online RPGing is evil. This is pathetic.

One of many friends who've gone this way. Sad world.

Hobbit, you are scaring me.

But I know you are telling the truth. I know some married people who play, but aren't anywhere near as bad as that -- and I know some single people, who are very bad indeed.

I used to be into such games, and a bunch of my friends were hooked too. Some still are, in a bad way. One have just gotten back into it -- into another game. It's really pretty scary. They call it "EverCrack" or "DivorceQuest" (game's real name, EverQuest), but it's no joke, really.

But as far as people being losers for getting hooked on it, and allowing it to take their lives over -- no way. This stuff can trap some very intelligent and sensible people, man.

It's not inherently evil. But the key is, never to allow it to substitute for real life. If you can do something in real life, do that, and screw the game, okay? If you can go have a pizza with someone you don't even know very well in real life, that's much better, than reaching level 65 and raiding the plane of the gods and being awarded a title and all the loot in the game.

Real Life First.

I feel for your friends, Hobbit :( She needs help, obviously -- but he may need some help too, or at least some information about her problems... It would be understandable if he bailed on her, over this type of behavior, but doing nothing may be worse, because he is being an enabler: he is supporting her in this destructive behaviour.

like drugs or alchohol or sex or any other simlar part of lives, there are people who can handle it and people who can't.

Those who can't are addicts. These are people that prefer an altered reality to our own.

If you really care about that woman try to get her (and probably him) professional help.

Otherwise you are looking at the pre-divorce stages of a serious addiction.

BTW I still play everquest, but as anyone who plays these games seriously can tell you, the game isn't evil... people are just weak. Some more than others.

I shudder to think what will happen when virtual reality gets more real 15 years from now...

Oh I agree. It isn't that the game is evil, it is the person that is flawed.

It really isn't any different than drugs.

I don't think there is any helping her though. She never was the type of person to listen to anyone, and she already had some psychological problems. We love her and both of them, but are sorta resigning ourselves at this point to the fact that we're just going to lose our friends.

They are now dropping everything and moving back to Washington where they will live with her parents. And as we all know, living with your parents always makes everything better... (note sarcasm)

It's very sad. :(

This makes the second friend I've seen this happen to in my life.

And as you guys know, I was big into online gaming, if not Evercrack once upon a time, but even at my worst I kept perspective. So it isn't like I don't understand how people get this way, but that doesn't make it acceptable.

That isn't the game ruining their life. Saying so is shifting responsibility where it doesn't belong. Games can't control people. Movies can't control people. Books can't control people. People control themselves. That is a person [apparently] ruining their own life.

Oh but gaming IS ruining her life. The issue is, whose fault is it? Is it the games fault? No it is an innanimate object. It is HER fault, it is a flaw in her personality that causes her to become addicted to it.

No different than a drug addict. Is it the drug's fault that the person is addicted? No, it is their fault that they tried it in the first place.

That doesn't make it any healthier to play games like that though.

They are set up so that in order to be successful at them you must spend MASSIVE amounts of time playing them. It is not possible to do well at Massively Multiplayer game without spending an inordinate amount of hours playing it. Even if you don't have a problem and it isn't ruining your life, you're spending thousands of hours wasting time that could be better spent doing a million other things which could better yourself and the people around you.

They are black holes designed to suck your life away.

A lot like Count Ruegen's machine in The Princes Bride, only without the pain.

Gaming is an action somebody does, not a thing. Bunjee jumping could ruin your life. That doesn't mean it is the ropes fault, nor does it mean it is the game's fault.

They are set up so that in order to be successful at them you must spend MASSIVE amounts of time playing them. It is not possible to do well at Massively Multiplayer game without spending an inordinate amount of hours playing it.

That all really depends on how you want to play. There are plenty of people who only play EverQuest once of twice a week for a few hours. And again, that isn't a display of any kind of control the game has over people. It can't force you to play hours and hours.

Even if you don't have a problem and it isn't ruining your life, you're spending thousands of hours wasting time that could be better spent doing a million other things which could better yourself and the people around you.

That is a little condescending, don't you think? If playing a game has no adverse effects on a person's life, and gives them a little personal happiness, then what is the problem with them spending thousands of hours doing it if they want?

How many hours a week do you think you spend on message boards, watching television, and watching movies? Aren't those just hours that you're wasting which could be spent doing other things to better yourself and people around you?

1. The time I spend on this site is quite productive. I'm always working on my writing, improving my skills, creating something. The time I spend on this board is time that I'm sitting at work and can't do anything else. It does not interfere with my normal life. There's nothing wrong with doing things for entertainment... it is only a problem when it takes away from other equally important and sometimes more important things in your life. Why is that hard to understand??

2. You're arguing with me when I'm not aruging. WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?????? I never said the games are to blame yet you insist on trying to argue the subject with me. Kill your anger and pay attention.

That all really depends on how you want to play. There are plenty of people who only play EverQuest once of twice a week for a few hours. And again, that isn't a display of any kind of control the game has over people. It can't force you to play hours and hours.
I know a lot of people who play such games. I have never met one for whom this is true. Oh I've met a lot of people who THINK this is true, but they are deluding themselves.

On the other hand I know a lot of people who used to play but had to quit to do something useful with their lives.

That is a little condescending, don't you think? If playing a game has no adverse effects on a person's life, and gives them a little personal happiness, then what is the problem with them spending thousands of hours doing it if they want?
Because it is not possible to spend thousands of hours doing ANYTHING without it having some affect on your life.

And be advised, I'm speaking ONLY in general terms. Obviously there are people who can play MMOG's and not have it a be a problem.

There are also people who can do crack once or twice and not get addicted to it.

I know that I am not one of those people, and have thus always been smart enough NEVER to touch MMOG's.

Some are strong enough to get sucked into it for a few years and waste their life away and then get out.

Some just aren't strong at all and get sucked in permanently and ruin their lives. It happens. We all know people it has happened to... same as you know people who ruin their lives with drugs.

How is it any different?

It isn't the drugs fault, it is the person who took them... it is their fault. It was their choice.

Hobbit, I am not angry. I am not trying to be rude. I'm not trying to argue with you. I understand it is hard to convey emotions across a bland text based forum, and easy to misconstrue tone and meaning. Don't be so defensive. I'm just trying to show you a different perspective on the situation, since I have lot of personal experience concerning the topic. Your comments really reminded me of the lat '70s and early '80s public demonization of things like Dungeon and Dragons "It'll take your soul away" kind of stuff.

it is only a problem when it takes away from other equally important and sometimes more important things in your life. Why is that hard to understand??


I don't think I disagreed with you on this point.


I never said the games are to blame yet you insist on trying to argue the subject with me. Kill your anger and pay attention.

You did say in your original post that "gaming ruins people's lives" and "online RPGing is evil". Perhaps I misconstrued your meaning. If so I apologize.

I know a lot of people who play such games. I have never met one for whom this is true.

I also happen to know a lot of people who play such games. Many of them do it on a casual base, as I already described. On top of that, I have been playing such games on and off for the last four years. I played EverQuest from Feb. 2000 to August of 2002. During that time I played both casually and "hardcore". The game keeps track of how many hours you've played, and when I finally got bored and quite my /played time on my character was 102 days. That's ~2448 hours.

During that time I also went to college, passing my classes with straight A's, held down a part time job, and still socialized with family and friends. There are many, many, many other people who do the same thing.

Because it is not possible to spend thousands of hours doing ANYTHING without it having some affect on your life.

Maybe not some effect, but it is certainly possible to spend thousands of hours doing anything without it have negative effects on your life.

It is disturbing and/or disgusting as anyone, when people refuses to take responsibility for their own actions, and sue companies for whatever troubles they are in.

But to simply dismiss those who have ruined their lives with such games with a remark about hey, they're just addicts -- that does little to address the problem, and less to shed any light on what is going on here...

Yes, it may be that such behavior is a mere symptom of some deeper problem that this person has, but it should provoke your thoughts, that nothing else in this person's life has brought about such behavior so far... If someone has behaved like a fairly normal, functioning human being for all their life, and a game comes along, and they become utterly addicted to it, dropping social contact completely (hell, I think there was a Star Trek episode about that!) then, this person should still be accountable for their own actions, but dang, there should be some warning lights going off here.

Maybe the game manufacturers should be required to offer complimentary therapy sessions to anyone who spends more than x number of hours on the game per week? :)

Whoa... Cogs I'm shocked as hell to hear you say that, when you're someone who has played those games, aren't you?

That's refreshing!