Another games post

This is another post on games, so feel free to not read if you’re sick of computer games already.

You might well be sick of computer games if you live in Sydney, seeing as the Sydney Morning Herald seems to be focussing on gamers at the moment. There’s another article in this morning’s online edition, Computer gamers are flowing into the zone, by the same reporter who interviewed M and cozalcoatl. This article suggests that “Computer game players slip into the same ‘zone’ as athletes preparing for a race, research has found. This distorts their sense of time and makes them forget basics such as eating or going to the toilet.” Ms Baker writes that “…computer games – especially real-time strategy games such as World of Warcraft (WoW) – are more enticing because they engage the senses as well as the intellect.”

Funny, I always thought I got engrossed because I was dealing with real people and trying to communicate, and achieve set goals with them. When playing a Massively Multiplayer Online Roleplaying Game, a mistake on your part can mean the success or failure of your group trying to kill the monster in the cave – you have to concentrate. It’s not like a game of chess or crosswords (the examples given in the article), in that you’re playing with, and against, lots of other people. And because you’re dealing with real people and not just playing against the computer, things sometimes take a lot longer than you’d hope. It takes time to organise a group of people and get everyone together.

I don’t know what the best analogy would be – I suppose you can compare it to a team sport, like footy or soccer – the part you are playing will ensure your team’s success, and you have to commit to staying with the other players for the duration of the game. When you’re playing an online game with others, you can’t necessarily just opt out just because. (I will often refuse to join a group if I know I have other commitments that will clash with the duration of the group’s activities.)

If I could talk to that reporter, I’d suggest she read this article by Raph Koster: Geek fun isn’t frivolous. Just to have an insight from a gamer who also works in designing and creating online games.

And just recently, I’ve become aware that a librarian, Liz Lane Lawley, whose work I admire greatly, has also started playing WoW! In World of Warcraft primer, she’s written about the game for her friends, explaining what’s what. Hopefully she keeps writing about her experiences.

Categories: games, gamers, WoW