With the growing demand and usage of Massively Multiplayer Online Roleplaying Games, henceforth MMORPG(s), more and more people are turning to the online gaming "console". With many players, most games offering full interactivity, overwhelming communities, constant updates and a wide variety of games available MMO's are clearly a revolution in the gaming world.
Many people however say online games deprive us of our social life. This debate has been ongoing since the development of online games and the boom in players who are attracted to such games. It is said that people who play online games have no social life in the real world. They spend far too much time on the online games and not enough socialising. You only have to look down the World of Warcraft (A vey popular MMORPG) player reviews to see tonnes of people issuing warnings stating things like "This game is HIGHLY ADDICTIVE".
"World of Warcraft got me addicted within hours...This game got me addicted, even though if you reach a road block throughout the game and quit for a while, you'll come crawling back" -GameMaster_2006
"Immersive and fun, but ultimately impossible to play if you have any semblance of a social life...Also if you have any kind of life, you can't play this game as it's more or less impossible to find the time" -steviedambo
World of Warcraft is not the only MMO associated with addiction however, it certainly is one of the most popular and thus most targeted for the addictive argument. These games are so incredibly addictive one physically cannot stop playing to experience a social life... or so some say.
On the other hand, this could be said for any console game alike. Any game can be so addictive one fails to restrain one self. All it takes is one slammer of a game. MMO's arguably are the best games available because they can always be changed. There is no buying a game, finding out it's not just you, but every player who particularly hates a specific feature, thinks it would be cool if this feature was added - the community wants it, the community gets it. What more can a gamer ask for?
Furthermore, online games have a community do they not? With intergrated chat features players do have a social life. They even make new friends and often learn about new cultures. However, in every friends list is an ignore list. Nevertheless, making enemies is yet more socialling right? Well, where do you stand here? If someone actualy had an offline social life they would understand people's values and respect them thus not making enemies - perfectly contradicting my earlier statement that people discover new cultures.
Just because they discover new cultures doesn't mean they respect them however. Any online player will agree (The only part of this i will not be unbiased on) that they feel like they have the freedom to be themselves. They can express their feelings, thoughts and be themselves. There is no keeping something back in case the person you are interracting with reacts this way or that way. There is no credibility, reputation or anything to maintain. You can be yourself period. This of course is obviously a great social activity however it certainly doesn't you teach you any morals in respect.
Of course there's always the counter arguement.
In conclusion online gamers meet new poeple, new cultures and have the freedom of expression or do they lack responsibility, ethics and respect? The debate shall continue for a long time and now it's time for you take part and discuss with your fellow gamers.
The State of Debate: Do online gamers have no social life?
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