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Friday 22 July, 2011 at 8:00 am / 0 comment

People don’t cheat, cheaters cheat and we cheat ourselves by only talking about the games

Hacking, gold-buying and dealing with MMO terms of service is a very deep lake I love to swim in from time to time. It’s a large area of where todays stripped down co-op MMOs are still connected to the real world. It’s just a shame that all the interesting news surrounds the negative aspects of MMOs.

I read so many comments that make sense under pre-defined conditions, but most won’t cut to the chase.

Society has taught philosophy, morals, ethics and law for hundreds of years. People don’t cheat, cheaters cheat. I can’t sum up every last nuance of the human condition in a single post, but thankfully I don’t have to because most human beings of any age grow up in a society where these conditions are taught and bred in us. A person convicted of stealing a car may go to great lengths and even fool themselves into thinking they really didn’t do anything wrong, but we all know where the road leads.

Comments arguing “It’s not a against the law” or “I do it because everyone else does it” are essentially ones that thrive on diversion, semantics and passing off personal responsibility instead of dealing with the main crux of the situation.

MMOs aren’t just games anymore so why are we only wanting to read about them?

This ability for life to be a part of gaming is why I love MMOs so much. Unfortunately there aren’t currently many outlets that allow gamers to discuss this stuff. Many places only want to talk about the games themselves and ignore behavior, personal problems, ethics and the whole human condition. A lot of it does flirt with hot-button issues that don’t seem to mesh well with the Massivelys and Gamespots out there. People just want to read about the games, they don’t want to read about socioeconomic or ethical issues, but that’s exactly one of the main differences MMOs bring to the table – that no other games can do(at least not yet).

I’m really thinking of being less gun-shy and talking more about these issues because, well, they really interest me. MMOs are, under many circumstances, light-hearted forms of entertainment to relax after you’re done with life for the day, but they have become part of life – not an escape from it. They’re about as much an escape from life as football, rock ‘n roll or movies(and those are pretty connected to everyday life). There’s a very rich world where MMOs meet life and I want to stop just talking about the games. I like doing that, but it’s not enough.

MMOs can now be combined with just about any other hobby or lifestyle on the planet. MMOs are in education, in law, in economics: MMOs are by design more than just games.

So yes, I will be talking more about the cross-roads of where life meets gaming. I am a huge advocate of educating people(I’m going to college to be a teacher after all), and there is just too much out there beyond just talking about how to beat a boss. It’s actually becoming difficult to only talk about the game.

In many cases, if I even want to mention how a game could improve its economy, it opens the floodgates for the real people that really play a game. Some games have a system to allow players to interact, based on real-life issues of economics and ethics surrounding money or problems of not understanding how they can help or hurt that game to improve their experience.

Maybe some people – maybe the majority of people that could put money into my wallet – don’t gravitate towards these connections with MMOs and they do just want to read about games. Either way, this is my Blog and I plan on writing about these issues – even if it costs me readers.

I just don’t immediately denounce when I see someone shunned for talking about how other players should educate themselves more on economics or social relations – because those are very real factors in MMOs that help us play better, enjoy more and understand and improve ourselves in real life too.

Disclaimer: This isn’t a rant spurred by any recent activity – just in case anyone thinks this was brought on by something. This is an issue that’s been growing in me for over 2 years now.