Regarding issues of real life effort in online gaming and consequences.
First and foremost, this is not a drama post. I’d ask that people refrain from using it as such; there are other places for that.
Recent events have prompted me to think (probably more than I should) about some fundamental issues that remain blurred in the realm of online entertainment.
Very frequently, you here people use the phrase “RL > game”. While this is of course true, that doesn’t mean it’s a blanket statement meaning “Nothing that happens here matters”. Let’s take what FFXI is at face value. It is a game, a hobby. It is something that people do in their free time that they enjoy. Does that mean that simply because it’s a hobby that no rules that apply to “real life” apply? Is playing a massive multiplayer online game (MMORPG) somehow fundamentally different from other hobbies such as: astronomy, ceramics, knitting, collecting stamps, etc? I don’t really think so. In fact, take a look at this:
FFXI, like all other hobbies is something that people invest both time and money into. A good analogy comes from Jedite (paraphrasing here because I don’t remember the exact quote): I know FFXI is just a hobby but you know if I built model boats or something I wouldn’t be too happy if someone came and stepped on them. This is exactly how I feel on the matter. FFXI is something that we minimally spend ~$180/year on. Add on extra accounts and that can add up to a substantial amount of money. Let’s factor in time.
Sure, I afk a substantial amount of that time but I’m not someone who never logs. Over the course of time that FFXI has been out that amounts to the equivalent of a second job in terms of time spent online. It is a substantial effort. Why do I do it? I do it for entertainment, not just for myself but for others as well. Being able to come up with strategies to play it well is what make it fun and the reward for such is new gear. Ideally, these two aspects of game are directly linked. It is a unique property of the MMO that you are not playing solo but in cooperation with others. Without delving into the interpersonal relationship aspect of MMOs (could write a book on that) I’ll leave it at: The fact that you are dealing with other (real) people is part of the attraction of the MMO. As such, you will inevitably encounter people who you become friendly with, as well as people who are assholes who believe that they have the right to do or say anything they want to people without recourse because it’s ‘just an online game’.
Certainly once you include real money trade (RMT) into the mix it becomes very real. If people work as a group in a MMORPG, they do not do it to give one member a substantial amount of real life money. Once again when you look at it for what it is and take out all of the double talk about whether “it’s just a game” or not, it becomes simple. I and others did not spend their REAL LIFE money and time (a substantial amount of time I might add) to buy someone we don’t really know an expensive toy. Once you remove the events from the context of the game (by translating game effort into dollars), it DOES become a real life issue because real money is being exchanged.
Saying that things that are said and done in a MMORPG don’t matter is a cop out. Take away all of the pixels and you are still dealing with real effort that has been made by real people.
That is the reason people get upset over events that occur in online games. I just wish that more people would have respect for people’s real lives and real feelings, which is what it all boils down to.