.bmp)
Players here are asking each other how to play the gamePlayers who know will teach
"td" here refers to Tower Defence, a type of game
"dota" refers to Defense of the Ancients, another type of game
(Click to enlarge)
Tuesday, 30 December 2008
Example 2:
.bmp)
Players here are talking about a friend or another player"going 16" here refers to age. They talk about personal things as well
"squelch" is a term used to silence players they don't like
(click to enlarge)
Example 3:
.bmp)
.bmp){kind=link}
Socialising while Playing Online...Good?
Above, you have seen that online gaming interaction may be used to ask questions, talk about the game or gossip about people and also talk about more personal things....
Now lets dive deeper into this....
There are many growing concerns as to whether a person, spending too much time playing online games, may affect his or her social developement skills and create false identities for themselves. Will they mistake online life for their real life?
I quote here from Diachotomy of Online Gaming Effects:
"While I agree that MMOG has social benefits such as ease of social interaction, I think it is necessary to examine the type of capital and whether it is actually a positive addition to community. For example, certain games may promote interpersonal relations, but they also facilitate a transformation of identity. If we are interacting with others under false pretenses, is it still considered positive social capital?"
In brief, online gaming interaction allows people to create dual identities, one online and one offline. This allows them to escape into a virtual world that they may be good at what they do, instead of remaining in the real world where they feel bad about themselves for several reasons such as feeling like a failure or having low self esteem.
Are they different people online and offline? Do they prefer to have online friends?
Below is a short interview I conducted with a good friend of mine who is a "professional" online gamer and is very good at what he does.
Interview:
Clarence: At your peak, what is the maximum number of hours you can play online without sleeping?
Sam: 36 hrs
Clarence: What is the average time you spend playing online games?
Sam: Erm...about 10-12 hrs max.
Clarence: Do you interact online?
Sam: Of course!
Clarence: Why do you interact? Do you talk about things other than the game?
Sam: Interacting online is fun. When I play with real friends, we just talk about crap lor, anything that comes to mind, anything under the sun. Whatever we can think of we just say. We also need to talk to each other to progress in the game sometimes.
Clarence: Do you have online friends that you never meet in person but only spend time with in the games?
Sam: I don't really have online friends, but when I played World of Warcraft, I had this group of people who played with me for about 2 years. We would chat online on msn to see if there is any new game and if have, then we move together and play together la. Same team, easier to work with ma.
Clarence: Do you think that online chatting is similar to reality?
Sam: No. Got pros and cons. Online no one can tell how you are actually feeling or thinking because they can't see you ma. But then you also cannot tell if the other person is faking you.
Clarence: Will online friendships take over real-life friendships?
Sam: This is very hard to say. It depends on the people la. Sometimes when you play long already, you start to trust the person you are playing with and a friendship is established la. I have a friend who got scammed by his real-life friend somemore. Real life friend leh! Its like they know each other one. It's not about online or offline. People are still people la.
Clarence: Thank you Sam.
End of interview.
From the interview, I gathered that interacting online is merely another social activity. It is like calling up a friend to chat over the phone, except that this one allows the people to engage in activity together.
This reinforces the identity issue mentioned earlier. People are more prone to hide their feelings and emotions or even lie online as no one will be able to detect the truth. However, besides the fact that online gaming is a form of escape for many people into an avatar and new identity, there doesn't seem to be any negative effect on people's social developement.
On the other hand, it seems to be a great source of enjoyable fun and entertainment. In fact most gamers may play online with people they already know, taking their physical friendship to the next level.
However, irresponsible behaviour such as plundering and looting other player's characters and using profane language freely are some things that should not be condoned yet people go unpunished as long as this behaviour doesn't extend to their real lives.
What do you think?
Now lets dive deeper into this....
There are many growing concerns as to whether a person, spending too much time playing online games, may affect his or her social developement skills and create false identities for themselves. Will they mistake online life for their real life?
I quote here from Diachotomy of Online Gaming Effects:
"While I agree that MMOG has social benefits such as ease of social interaction, I think it is necessary to examine the type of capital and whether it is actually a positive addition to community. For example, certain games may promote interpersonal relations, but they also facilitate a transformation of identity. If we are interacting with others under false pretenses, is it still considered positive social capital?"
Why then do people play online games? From Diachotomy of Online Gaming Effects, people who conduct gaming have their own behavioural patterns. Some are competitive, some just want to explore, while others just seek to escape from the real world.
The concerns? I quote again from Diachotomy:
"The preexisting notion is that online activities promote introverted behavior among adolescents, but recent surveys found no negative link between game use and popularity among classmates or social interaction outside of school. I agree that online gaming may facilitate positive social behavior, but again I think it has a lot to do with individual personality traits and the ways in which the media is being used. For instance, if a child is naturally less social and chooses to use the computer as an escape, then online gaming would most likely increase the already present behavior. However, are recent innovations in games such as MMOG changing preexistent introvert behavior, or do they have the power to?"
It would seem that interaction through online gaming does not affect one's social developement but instead further enhances the individual's personality.
The above quotes are from: Diachotomy of Online Gaming Effects
http://www.mysocialnetwork.net/blog/410/g31/2006/11/diachotomy_of_online_gaming_ef.html
From another source, online gaming also allows individuals to express themselves more freely. It says from a case study about Hong Kong youths:
"Anonymity works wonders for the disinhibition effect. When teens have the opportunity to separate their actions from their real world and identity, they feel less vulnerable about opening up. Whatever they say or do cannot be directly linked to the rest of their lives. They don’t have to own their behavior by acknowledging it within the full context of who they really are. When acting out hostile feelings, as often occurs in MMORPGs (massive multiplayer online role playing game), a person doesn’t have to take responsibility for those actions, as long as they don’t extend actions to the off-line world. In fact, adolescents might even convince themselves that their behaviors aren’t their own at all
This is the work of the person's avatar or the figure that is the real person's online identity, which allows free yet irresponsible action.
The concerns? I quote again from Diachotomy:
"The preexisting notion is that online activities promote introverted behavior among adolescents, but recent surveys found no negative link between game use and popularity among classmates or social interaction outside of school. I agree that online gaming may facilitate positive social behavior, but again I think it has a lot to do with individual personality traits and the ways in which the media is being used. For instance, if a child is naturally less social and chooses to use the computer as an escape, then online gaming would most likely increase the already present behavior. However, are recent innovations in games such as MMOG changing preexistent introvert behavior, or do they have the power to?"
It would seem that interaction through online gaming does not affect one's social developement but instead further enhances the individual's personality.
The above quotes are from: Diachotomy of Online Gaming Effects
http://www.mysocialnetwork.net/blog/410/g31/2006/11/diachotomy_of_online_gaming_ef.html
From another source, online gaming also allows individuals to express themselves more freely. It says from a case study about Hong Kong youths:
"Anonymity works wonders for the disinhibition effect. When teens have the opportunity to separate their actions from their real world and identity, they feel less vulnerable about opening up. Whatever they say or do cannot be directly linked to the rest of their lives. They don’t have to own their behavior by acknowledging it within the full context of who they really are. When acting out hostile feelings, as often occurs in MMORPGs (massive multiplayer online role playing game), a person doesn’t have to take responsibility for those actions, as long as they don’t extend actions to the off-line world. In fact, adolescents might even convince themselves that their behaviors aren’t their own at all
This is the work of the person's avatar or the figure that is the real person's online identity, which allows free yet irresponsible action.
The above information is obtained from: Case study of Hong Kong Youths
http://comm.nccu.edu.tw/wp-content/digiconf05/part7/7-5.doc
In brief, online gaming interaction allows people to create dual identities, one online and one offline. This allows them to escape into a virtual world that they may be good at what they do, instead of remaining in the real world where they feel bad about themselves for several reasons such as feeling like a failure or having low self esteem.
Are they different people online and offline? Do they prefer to have online friends?
Below is a short interview I conducted with a good friend of mine who is a "professional" online gamer and is very good at what he does.
Interview:
Clarence: At your peak, what is the maximum number of hours you can play online without sleeping?
Sam: 36 hrs
.bmp){kind=link}
Clarence: What is the average time you spend playing online games?
Sam: Erm...about 10-12 hrs max.
Clarence: Do you interact online?
Sam: Of course!
Clarence: Why do you interact? Do you talk about things other than the game?
Sam: Interacting online is fun. When I play with real friends, we just talk about crap lor, anything that comes to mind, anything under the sun. Whatever we can think of we just say. We also need to talk to each other to progress in the game sometimes.
Clarence: Do you have online friends that you never meet in person but only spend time with in the games?
Sam: I don't really have online friends, but when I played World of Warcraft, I had this group of people who played with me for about 2 years. We would chat online on msn to see if there is any new game and if have, then we move together and play together la. Same team, easier to work with ma.
Clarence: Do you think that online chatting is similar to reality?
Sam: No. Got pros and cons. Online no one can tell how you are actually feeling or thinking because they can't see you ma. But then you also cannot tell if the other person is faking you.
Clarence: Will online friendships take over real-life friendships?
Sam: This is very hard to say. It depends on the people la. Sometimes when you play long already, you start to trust the person you are playing with and a friendship is established la. I have a friend who got scammed by his real-life friend somemore. Real life friend leh! Its like they know each other one. It's not about online or offline. People are still people la.
Clarence: Thank you Sam.
End of interview.
From the interview, I gathered that interacting online is merely another social activity. It is like calling up a friend to chat over the phone, except that this one allows the people to engage in activity together.
This reinforces the identity issue mentioned earlier. People are more prone to hide their feelings and emotions or even lie online as no one will be able to detect the truth. However, besides the fact that online gaming is a form of escape for many people into an avatar and new identity, there doesn't seem to be any negative effect on people's social developement.
On the other hand, it seems to be a great source of enjoyable fun and entertainment. In fact most gamers may play online with people they already know, taking their physical friendship to the next level.
However, irresponsible behaviour such as plundering and looting other player's characters and using profane language freely are some things that should not be condoned yet people go unpunished as long as this behaviour doesn't extend to their real lives.
What do you think?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)