Socialising

I realise that I haven’t really written about the other thing about MMORPGs that I really enjoy – all the friends I make. The social aspect of these games is what I really enjoy – not so much the achievement of gaining levels and obtaining loot. In EverQuest I met people from all over Australia, as well as here in Perth. (I definitely made friends with people in the US and the UK as well, but it was – still is – always good to find fellow Aussies in MMORPG worlds because we tend to play at similar times; due to time zone differences we usually end up spending time with US friends only on weekends.)

Aasta is standing behind the froggie-looking character – we are trying to kill it.
This taken many years ago in the dungeon, Guk, which is full of frogloks
and horrifically easy to get lost in.

With the Perth people we met in EQ we used to have LAN parties and go out for meals and all we’d do was talk EverQuest. This is something I’ve noticed about players of MMORPGs – the enjoyment we all seem to get from talking about the game world when we meet up. It must sound completely incomprehensible to others – and perhaps that’s why we seem to have this uncontrollable urge to talk about it – the world is so all-encompassing and engrossing, but only other players would understand it. Come to think of it, it’s been ages since we’ve hosted or been to a LAN party! It all went pear-shaped when you moved to Montreal, Kris 😉

Blogging, too, has this social element to it that I have been enjoying. Reading other people’s blogs and learning a little bit about their lives and their work, and getting into conversations with them – commenting on the blogs themselves or emailing them (and people emailing me) – has been really really rewarding so far.

Categories: conversation, MMORPGs, blogging