Playing Games

We have been talking about Second Life and other virtual worlds in my Honors class lately. In fact, one of the assignments has been to go into SL and interact with the world and its inhabitants. This might be all well and good for some, but when it comes to any sort of MMO (massively multiplayer on-line) I just can't seem to get into it. Mostly it is because of two things: the scope and the people.

As a college student, already barely making time for his girlfriend, I find that there is just not enough time to go around learning how to build things in a place that not only has a steep learning curve but also no benefits outside of itself. Maybe if I thought I could gain in any way (even in a intangible way) I would be in these worlds more often, but as it is the job of inserting oneself into a community in a way that encourages the types of things I would want out of such a place... the job is time consuming.

Beyond this, I really just don't care about talking to people. I find that even in communities that I have made myself a part of in my 1st life there are a large number of people with whom I have no reason to interact with. These people do not make me a better person by connecting to them and thus they are but fluff in my social web. The same is true of most people in virtual worlds. Most everyone is friendly and kind, but it is rare that I really find a rapport with anyone. I am lucky to have the friends I have considering how poorly I keep up with any of them.

When I have time to enter a virtual world I like to do it on my own terms. If I have the chance over the Christmas break (ha!) I could see myself getting Fallout 3 and playing it for several days straight. Fallout is a game defined by its large world full of things to discover and do within it, but there is no one else there but you. This means to get the maximum benefit from the game I do not need to join a guild, talk to people to trade goods, or in anyway deal with other players. I can play the game on my terms and my terms alone.

This opposition to multiplayer games probably comes from my development as a gamer. While many of my friends were playing on-line with their Starcraft games, I was sitting at home playing Goldeneye in my room, all by myself. The idea of playing against other real people never really appealed to me until Halo entered my life during my senior year of high school. Being able to play with the few friends I had over two TVs and then talk about how awesome the battles were as we emptied the fridge at whosoever's house we were at gave me some of my favorite memories from that time. I bought a Gold X-box Live account when I first got to college, but playing against random people never really clicked for me. Likewise, playing WoW or any other MMO without anyone I could share some precooked bacon with after we killed a dragon seemed boring somehow.

Maybe I just need to host a kickin' LAN party sometime soon...