After a long hiatus -- partially my fault -- irlGirl is back behind the keyboard and pounding away. Glad to be back.
Before I left, I mentioned that my next topic would deal with sex and games. And lo, it does.
Many more eloquent writers have tackled the subject of sexual content in games, and let's face it, they've done a far better job than I could.
I'm not talking about content, though. I'm talking about sex. As in getting down to brass tacks and doin' the nasty.
It's happening. Right now. As I type this. As you read this. People are doing the horizontal limbo directly because of video games.
It was just a matter of time before MMOs became the dating services of the gamer nation. But is dating someone you met in-game a good idea?
Here's how the story goes:
Boy logs on to an MMO of his preference. Girl logs into same game. Their eyes meet across a crowded dungeon. He asks if she wants to group, and she says yes. One thing leads to another and over time they develop affection for each other. Next thing you know, they are "a couple," and they make plans to meet in real life.
Then comes the sex... Followed by the realization that MMOs are usually *not* a good way to find a date.
This story has been happening since the first Everquest. I know. I watched it happen. It just stands to reason that in any forum in which people have contact with each other there will be love relationships developing. Some successful. Most not.
But in the MMO world, love relationships are a bit trickier than from Match.com or set-ups from friends. In the real world, what you see is what you get before you get it. In the MMO world, we never really know what we're getting. That night elf hunter may look hot in her Beastmaster's Tunic, but the woman behind the keyboard in no way resembles her. Assuming she's even a woman at all.
It is nice, in theory, that we can get beyond our physicality and get to know the person before we pass judgments on the amount of carbs he consumes or her lack of personal grooming habits. But is it smart? Because there will come a time, should one pursue an MMO relationship, that the two real people will have to meet. And unless there's been an unusual amount of disclosure, there's bound to be disappointments.
Maybe not in the way they look, but in the way they actually are.
Case in point: The Texas belle, Missy (not her real name).
Missy played Everquest Online Adventures like a madwoman. On her first guild run, she met Steve (not his real name). Steve, a wizard, was a great guy, she thought.
He was one cool Canadian.
They played at roughly the same time every night, and eventually they traded phone numbers. They spoke for hours as they played. Missy even changed her calling plan to unlimited late-night minutes so that she could talk to Steve without breaking the bank.
It was through her hours of talking to Steve that Missy decided to leave her loveless relationship in Texas, move out, and get her own place. It was with Steve's loving support and encouragement that she found the strength to decide she deserved better.
Then one day she suggested she come up to Canada to visit Steve over the holidays. She did -- forking out hundreds of dollars she could barely spend because she now had to pay for her own apartment.
They hit it off great. Of course, she knew what he looked like from pictures, and so did he. But they were two peas in a pod, sexing it up all over the Great White North. They began to discuss marriage and how she might immigrate to Canada to be his wife.
And why not? They had spent better than a year of quality time together, right? They had spent more hours talking about their lives, their dreams, their desires than most people who get engaged.
But it was shortly after a second trip, when she paid for Steve to come to Texas and visit New Orleans, that Steve began feeling distant. He stopped calling every night. Then one day, he just stopped calling altogether. Missy's numerous messages were never returned, and he dropped off the face of the earth.
A few months ago Missy left EQOA for World of Warcraft -- mostly because the only thing holding her back from the jump to the far superior game was leaving Steve.
Missy couldn't understand. How could they talk for better than a year and then in four short months it was over without the benefit of an explanation?
I'll tell you why: Because Steve had fallen in love with Missy the enchanter, Missy the elf, Missy the exotic, buffed-out leggy chick in the gossamer robe. The fact that Steve knew Missy's voice didn't change anything. Like Pygmalion, his perfect sexy doll now had a soft tones to add to the image, making her all the sexier.
But shortly after realizing that Missy wasn't an elf, wasn't tall, and wasn't bikini-clad, the fantasy girl disappeared and he was faced with the stark reality that he had developed a relationship with a woman he hardly knew, and now she was talking marriage.
And for Missy's part, she had fallen for the tall, broad-chested human character. The fact he was short and dumpy in real life didn't matter to her so much, because let's face it, women are far more interested in what's inside than men are. We're far more forgiving of a paunch or a bald spot than men.
Dude. Jack Black is a movie star? I rest my case.
Be that as it may, not until Missy met Steve did she realize that he was a dick. A 24-karat, full-on jerk who wouldn't have given her the time of day had he not seen her as an elf first. A royal jackoff wimp who didn't have the decency to break it off but instead just dropped her like a hot rock.
No. I'm not Missy. Thank you very much. She's doing fine, though still remains bewildered and hurt, and she's still paying off the credit charges incurred by her relationship with Steve.
There are untold stories like Missy's. Stories of wives leaving their husbands for other guildies (yes, this did happen in my guild). Stories of players being told to "Stay away from Doomswallow, bitch. He's my in-game boyfriend" (yes, this also happened to a guildie). Stories of men and women who use MMOs like serial pimp services, meeting members of the opposite sex (or same sex) online, getting to know them, meeting up in hotel rooms, and breaking marriage vows (yep, knew of one notorious skank in EQOA).
Some games even encourage this fantasy. World of Warcraft tailors can craft tuxedos and wedding dresses. That makes for funny machinima, but it reinforces in many minds the idea of gamer love.
Now, there's no rational explanation for the whole in-game boyfriend phenomenon. That's just plain-ass crazy. As in, "Maam, back away from the kitchen knife" crazy.
But ultimately, even the most seemingly healthy relationships developed from a video game are mostly doomed. Doomed like a noob in Molten Core. Doomed like a pet on agro in Blackrock Spire. Doomed like a PUG in Zul'Gurub.
Because MMOs are not dating services. They only feel like it. They are social, but they are not a substitute for the old fashioned boy-meets-girl scenario. The hours we spend in-game with someone is not a substitute for getting to know him or her, but it feels like it is because they are so social. The advent of Teamspeak and other voice programs only adds to this facade that they are effective ways to get to know someone and truly begin to "grock" them. But they aren't because there's no way to know without dealing in the real-life personalities whether this person actually works for you in your life.
And this goes for both genders and all sexual preferences.
While MMOs are the new social underground, there will always be problems with developing love matches on them. Yet, we can't resist, because we are human and we all posses a deep desire to connect with another person. And because we all have hormones, we will always seek out sex when there are connections.
I'm not saying that there are no good relationships that were formed in-game. Of course there are. And if you put a bunch of monkeys in front of typewriters, eventually one of them will write Shakespeare.
But for the most part, these pairings are in trouble from the start, because until we find a way to rewire our brains, we will never overcome the fact that we are bound by our physical beings, and the MMO is no substitute for that.
Edie! You're back! *cheers*
Wonderful article, and I full-heartedly agree. I do admit to having what some would call some type of MMO relationship, but I know the limits that MMOs should have. Although some good things stem from these MMO relationships, I think it's a bit weird to take it beyond the gaming world and into the real world.
I'm sure that, although some people do make it work out, most end up in trouble. Whether its physical or emotional, things could end up bad if you don't know who you're talking to on the other side of the internet.
I know that when I play an MMO I'm a totally different person. I try to play my character sometimes, or sometimes I just act plain crazy. Sometimes I act INTELLIGENT. *gasp* But you never know what's on the other side.
I totally agree with your viewpoint, Edie. Wonderful article and welcome back.
Welcome back Edie!! We missed you!
I can't really comment on MMO relationships since I've only played 2 and I'm fairly antisocial online and off. I'm the aloof guy hanging out on the fringe of society.
Welcome back, Edie. Worth waiting for.
MMOs are just an extension of chatrooms. Chatrooms with a twist, a story to get lost, lose yourself and your daily cares in. At best, they are a great way for people to get together and have fun. At worst, they are a playground for those that enjoy manipulating others without impunity. The inherent anonymity of these places is both their attraction and their downfall.
Having been involved with a poetry community online for 3-4 years, I can say I forged some very close bonds with some of the people there ... but as soon as I stopped going, my 'friends' disappeared. Coincidence?
I think SharonO has got something here. Online communication of any sorts doesn't garauntee friendship or love and an MMO game has that extra edge when it comes to a fantasy world that has you losing yourself into a fictional depiction. It's online, it's the internet, they can't see who you are or truly what your personality is like other than through what you type in through some sort of chat feature. It's a very anonymous and sneaky form of communication if you ask me. Someone could be in all reality a stalking axe-wielding murderer but appear on the internet as a dashingly handsome billionaire who owns three islands.
It's not safe and you should always take web surfers claims about themselves with a grain of salt until you can have some sort of solid proof that they are who they say they are. In the meantime always take their online personality and their actual personality as two different things. I've never played an MMO or been in a chatroom and even I know that. The simple solution is to go outside and look for for love and friendships yourself instead of using a game like Everquest or World of Warcraft or even online love matching services like eHarmony.com to do it for you.
BTW SharonO, why did you stop being involved in that poetry community if I might ask?
To Edie or irlGirl or whatever you go by (I don't really know), why such a harsh quote such as this?:
"Be that as it may, not until Missy met Steve did she realize that he was a dick. A 24-karat, full-on jerk who wouldn't have given her the time of day had he not seen her as an elf first. A royal jackoff wimp who didn't have the decency to break it off but instead just dropped her like a hot rock."
Well, OVG, first Excite chat went belly up and, while that wasn't the heart of the community, that certainly stopped half of the 'addiction' for most of the group. When the accompanying boards that were built along with the community was going strong, it was not so much a community of helpful writers giving an honest critique of each others work as a compliment stroke fest. I was a more serious writer and I wanted to improve my craft and that place wasn't helping.
That and the fact that I was working full time, raising two kids alone and in grad school full time left me with precious little free time for something that wasn't helping me. I decided I needed to focus on what, and who, was really important.
In my time there, though, I saw many of the relationships that Edie mentioned. And I have to say, I didn't think her quite was *too* harsh. Someone that pulls that on someone else, make or female, is, in my book, a 24-karat, full-on jerk. I can think of several off the top of my head.
The fact that Missy overlooked his imperfections while Steve couldn't seem to do the same for her only shows how shallow he was, no matter what promises he made.
Oh, and I can't lump Evercrack in there with a legitimate online social matching service. There are strict guidelines and safeties set in place to sift through and protect you from the dregs and, even though Dr. Phil *ugh* is on there now, I still say Match.com was well worth the cost.
So you quit the online poetry thing because it was getting you nowhere, eh? As for Edies comments, I wasn't necessarily talking about the point she was trying to make, I was moreover talking about her choice of wording and the aggressive impression I got of her from that. Using words like "dick" and "a royal jack-off wimp" if you ask me where just a tad unnecessary, vulgar, and IMHO a bit of flaming. I mean the guy was a royal ass for doing something that cold-hearted and selfish (all of which is not really a huge part of who I am BTW), but at the same time calling a person harsh words like that doesn't, if you take my opinion, promote healthy and mutual true love between two people online.
It would be kind of hard for me to try and find true love online when I fully well know someone that would use harsh wording like that is out there. I would be kind of afraid that the other person might say something really mean like that to me and that isn't a great thing either. What I'm trying to say is that calling them a "dick" or "a full on jack-off wimp" isn't exactly promoting good vibes, so to speak.
Even if I feel that the other person deserves it I still wouldn't call them such because bad vibes leads to more bad vibes. If there is one thing that I've learned about human nature it is that when you insult someone else then chances are they aren't going to take shit lying down and they're either going to report you to the sites admins (if it's online), walk away from the arguement, or in a worst case scenario insult you back. Any way you look at it and any tactic you take to someone elses' pissy attitude, it's still not a good thing. It's all bad vibes and I wouldn't want myself or someone else to do such.
As for online matching services, I wasn't necessarily trying to lump them in with MMO games in regards to reliability and quality when it comes to forming relationships of any kind. I was trying to say that doing it online might not be as intimate as it would in person. I've never necessarily been in love, but I can see one major weakness to online love. Touch. You can't physically feel the other person online but you can in person and that could very well allow you better to realize how gentle or rough the person is. A lot can be learned about someone from some sort of physical contact.
Also, you don't like Dr. Phil? I thought someone like you, with the insightful things you've got to say, would like watching someone like him on TV.
But sorry for the long post...again. Disagree if you please.
No worries about the long posts ... you're rocking the paragraphs. It's all good. ;-)
Hmm ... Dr. Phil ... how do I say this? I don't necessarily disagree with the fact that he does help people but he doesn't necessarily say anything that any qualified professional doesn't. And I've had my share of qualified prefessionals. The fact that he became a celebrity because of being on Oprah makes me automatically suspect.
I'm not exactly a fan of what's trendy. In fact I have this annoying habit of specifically NOT liking anything that everyone else thinks is *hot*. On a best seller list? Wouldn't touch it. #1 movie in America? Please, wouldn't DREAM of seeing it. Pop music? Are you kidding me??
I do make a few exceptions for those things that I find worthy of their popularity, beyond the fanboys. I hate to admit it but I did find merit in Dan Brown's other books. And yes, I was there when Harry Potter came out and let's not talk about how much I loved LOTR (but again, I find myself steering away from the hype and reminding everyone that they were fantastic books LONG before they were movies. And where IS The Hobbit?? (Peter Jackson, I'm talking to you!! Halo movie or NO Halo movie, let's get crackin'!)But anywhooo ...
I understand what you are saying about flaming but I didn't think that was what was intended here. She didn't call him that in person or during the game ... and I'm sure that's not his real name. If he happens to read this and happens to recognize himself, which I doubt, will it change anything? Not really.
Expressing anger is perfectly healthy ... at least that's what Dr. Phil says.
Jeez, Edie, way to get a conversation going!
OVG, what SharonO isn't saying in these posts is that she is more than a little biased towards online dating services, and Match.com in particular. It's how she met me. In our case it allowed us to get to know each other better before we actually met. We knew that mentally we fit, first. We had to have some faith that the other person was being honest, of course, but it worked for us. We knew that we found somebody we could talk to, that we would be able to fill the awkward silent moments so many relationships have after the initial joy is gone.
I think the major difference is in a dating service (if you want it to work) you have to put yourself out there as honest as you can. Otherwise you won't find what you are looking for since you will be attracting people that are right for the persona you are playing. An MMO is set up so you almost can't be yourself. I would never base a "real life" friendship off of an MMO, but I have made several online friendships from the ones I played. They didn't carry outside the game, but I considered them friends while in game.
Well holy crap SharonO, if you don't think like me! Damn! I thought I was alone in what I thought! It good to see that I can find like-minded people. It sucks to feel like as if you're alone in what you think and feel. I can fully well see what you are saying. It's something I always tell myself, "Latest does not always mean greatest" Just because something is new doesn't automatically mean that it's better. I do, like you, occasionally think that what is new and popular might be good, but not always. I once had an argument with one of my friends about big screen TVs in relation to this.
BTW, I hear that Peter Jackson is actually going to make two more LOTR films, this case being both the Hobbit and the Silmarillion, also LOTR-related works of J.R.R. Tolkien.
I understand that Edie didn't give the real names of either the man or the woman. I just feel words like "dick" or "a royal jackoff wimp" are OK and very vividly display what she thought, but if I was in that situation I would have used something along the lines of "royal asshole" or "lying bastard? because I find them to be more creative. I accidentally used the wrong term so you can substitute my use of the word ?harsh? with what I was really wanting to just point out a difference in how I would have said it. Other than that, I feel she hit everything she said right on the head. She's really good at writing an article. Has a bit of a dirty sense of humor too. I like that. lol
But back on topic, to TwistedFate, it's good that you found someone actually some way to create a mutual bond between you and SharonO. I never said that any form of online communication couldn?t be used to do that. I sincerely think you can. You can actually learn something in those ways about another human being and eventually they can grow on you and you on them, allowing the both of you to cheer up one another and give you the sense of confidence you need. A loving relationship is based on trust and faith in the other person. I'm just saying that getting to know him/her through online communication alone, which sadly some people do, can't beat out seeing your significant other in person. So it's a good thing to find out if you fit mentally and emotionally first then meet them in person, which I'm glad you did. You're right that you should put yourself out there as honestly as you can. I would hate to have to tell anyone an unnecessary lie of any kind and for others to do it to me.
Also, I fully well realize that any video game of any type can be used to draw you away from reality for a little while. They are entertainment and that is what they are for. I myself purposefully get into games to escape from real life. This is why every time I play a game I look for some sort of features that aren't real, because if I wanted real, I would go outside and see it there. If a game is too real, the fun for me is starting to be lost. So I can see your point that an MMO is geared towards almost not being your actual self. It was meant to be a fantasy and is quite possibly one of the worst places to meet women.
But the keyword is "almost", so no matter how huge the fantasy your getting into, your choice in what MMO it is as well as how you act towards others when playing it will always come out, one way or another. It's just in the case of the story that Edie told, that guy tried covering his true self up and that was deceptive and rude. But I think at the same time the girl should have heeded a little bit more caution. She may very well have been pretty damn sure he was a great guy but you never freakin' know for sure that's what the guy really is. Don't think of this as justifying the man himself and what he did, because he's a lying sack of crap and caused her to use up quite a bit of her money. I do feel sorry for her. I'm just saying Missy should have given her actions of falling all over this guy a second thought first, especially since this was online where, like I already said, you don't know who they are until you get to know them better. The internet is very unsafe.
BTW, sorry if I actually appeared to be a bit of a pessimist and an anti-social and don't trust people right off the bat. I also spent so much time on your website and I wanted to make a response here, but got struck by a sudden case of writers? block. I wanted to say something but damned if I just couldn?t get it out! It?s a Saturday so I thought what the heck, why not think it out. Still I tried my best here.
Heya OldSchool,
Well, the reason for my assertion that he was a dick was twofold, and it's hard to argue against:
1. He was too caught up in the fantasy Missy to appreciate there was a woman behind the character that wasn't a buffed-out elf, and he was ultimately disappointed to the point of breaking off the relationship. Depsite all photos, all discussion, all signals, he pursued the relationship -- to the point of getting physically intimate -- and only then did he realize there was a real woman attached and that she had desires that were not his own. Let's face it, he would not likely have pursued Missy if they had met in a bar or on Match.com. Only because he was stupidly blinded by an online facade did he bother to give her the time of day, and once he became aware of her real physicality -- and once she put out -- did he bail;
and
2. That he didn't have the common decency to say, "I think I'm not in love with you," or even the old "Let's just be friends." He just stopped calling. And he left her hanging without an explanation. He didn't want to investigate his own feelings and wasn't worried about hurting someone with whom he'd developed, if not a love match, at least a deep friendship. I think mostly because he was too chicken to face the music and do the difficult and decent thing to break up with her face-to-face...or at least voice-to-voice. It's never easy to instigate a breakup, but sometimes the right thing to do isn't the easiest.
That qualifies as a dick in my book.
I actually have a different view on all of this, but first let me tell you about my history with this kind of online social stuff.
I've had two internet relationships, one on a forum RPG and one in an MMORPG, and both went sour. One just ended because the other person was a female dog, once all was said and done, outside the RP. The other went bye-bye because I moved to a new MMORPG. She followed, eventually, but from there it just wasn't the same. This was because, as OVG said, it wasn't very real or physical. Therefore, we didn't feel as connected as we were months before in that first MMO.
My opinion is, in an MMORPG, keep it RP. It's a game, and you have no idea about who is on the other side of that game. While in the game she can be some hot night elf chick, out of the game she could be some stoned pain in the butt who works at McDonalds during the day and sells herself for money and drugs during the night. Now, I'm not saying that you should expect the worst of people, but when it comes to an MMO, it isn't clear to any degree, and that's why I say: keep it RP.
Now, online dating services, I can see TF & Sharon are a bit biased on this one, and I have to say - their case proves it does work, and can work wonders. But I'm a bit more on the cautious, conservative side of this issue. Although I think it's much better than an MMORPG, because it's much more real, I still find it a bit odd at this stage in technology that you can meet your "Match" online. There is still a sense of anon in it and it still is the Internet. There are thousands of people out on the internet, and their little blurb on their internet may not describe them to detail.
Or they could be jerks just wanting to have some fun hurting somebody else's feelings and then getting rid of them for their own entertainment.
I mean, there are so many variables and I just think they should be considered very carefully before people jump into that kind of thing. Oh, and Edie's comments are totally justified. That guy is all the things she says he is. Keep it up, Edie!
Anon, I don't disagree at all. I got lucky with Sharon. Things just clicked, we just happened to find each other. I went out on a few dates before her from Match and they just didn't work. I feel those services don't work more often than they do, because people don't go at it with the right attitude. They aren't honest with themselves and put up what they think will draw the person they want, instead of putting up the truth. Like I said, it was just dumb luck or providence that lead Sharon to me. I had just about given up.
As for MMO's if you meet someone you think you might be interested in, you need to take it out of the game. Don't stalk them, but do some emails, and IM'ing out of character to see if you have a connection and maybe a phone call or 3. I'm not saying you can't meet someone that way, I just feel it is not the best way to do it and you need to be extra careful since they already know your character it would be real easy to maintain that character even out of the game environment.
But that should be the rule in general about online hook-ups. Be careful. Their are all kinds of people looking for someone to take advantage of.
Edie, I think you are totally right calling him what you did. That was dickish behavior.
T, I still think I'm the lucky one.
So let me get this straight. On both your points:
1) He was too involved in fantasy and not enough in reality that he was into her character and not really her to the point that when he got to know her and realized he didn't really love her, he was dissappointed that she wasn't his fantasy?
2) He didn't lightly break it off and let her down easy? He just stopped coming. That is also quite bad. The letdown.
I easily gathered all of that when I first read this article a few hours ago. I just didn't like your choice of words. "Dick" is not a term I use very often but variations of "ass", "asshole", and "son of a bitch" mixed with a few other choice words are and would be how I would classify this guy. Anyways, I'm really curious as to why he did it. I mean I know all you guys think he was wrong, and so do I, but I'd like to know why he went on with this fake online relationship for over a year. It could have been a cruel, unfunny joke, but somehow I doubt it. Because I know that when someone wants to play a joke like this that isn't funny on someone else, they usually go to less effort than this.
I think it has something to do with the unbelievable wasteful culture our country has (you all live in the US I'm assuming). This idea our corporations and our people have of planned obscolescence seems to spread to not only our game systems, cars, and other consumer products but sadly to people themselves as well. It seems that if it's old and outdate then buy a new one and throw the old one out and leave it forgotten or if it's broken then take the lazy way out and don't fix it, just buy a new one. I guess that one all matters on how fixable it is, meaning consumer products. But that all is fine and OK (sometimes) but it seems now that some people are doing it with loved ones too. It's sad to think of a scenario, and I'm just making this up, like a middle-aged or elderly man getting tired of his wife just because she might be a little naggy and a little fat and a little wrinkled from age and then go for the hot young Playmate look-a-like because he's sick of the old one. It's sad that anyone would do that. You can junk an old car, but not a loved one.
Anon Dude is right about one thing. He agrees with me that the anon that the internet gives doesn't really allow you to truly figure out who they really are, in real life. Need I go back and quote myself:
"Someone could be in all reality a stalking axe-wielding murderer but appear on the internet as a dashingly handsome billionaire who owns three islands."
BTW SharonO, my oh my aren't we getting creative with our words? "Dickish behaivor", huh? lol ;P
Hey OSkool et al,
I think you and I agree, but semantics is at issue. I consider, on the scale of insults, "dick" to be more than a "jerk," and less than an "ass."
Here's the heirarchy in my world:
Pain in the ass < jerk < dick < asshat < ass < Son of a Bitch < asshole < royal asshole < royal fucking asshole < complete and utter cocksucker
Am I missing any?
And as for online dating services -- the ones who are intended as such, like Match.com -- I have no beef with them. I used Match back in my single days, and I found them to be time-efficient ways to find men I didn't like.
My marriage is the result of an old-fashioned boy meets girl, boy dates girl, boy breaks up with girl, girl dates boy's best friend, girl marries boy's best friend, boy is a groomsman at girl's wedding to his best friend.
Awwww... Everybody hug!
But there is a distinct difference between dating services and MMOs. One is intended to be an icebreaker for two people who are looking to get together. It's only a method of introduction and isn't meant to become the centerpiece of the relationship, nor can it truly hide either parties' true nature because the point of Match is that people meet there and go on a date.
An MMO, in essence, becomes a SUBSTITUTE for the relationship itself and it can too effectively shield either or both party from the reality of who the other person is for too long a time.
Dating services are a beginning of something. An MMO is the sum-total goal.
That's the difference that make MMOs, for the most part, a source of heartbreak.
That all I understand. MMOs I was already taking a wild guess at were a little more fake, a little more of a fantasy than any online dating service was. So with that said, what you're saying is that an MMO is just a substitute for a relationship rather than an actual relationship because the fantasy thing gets too much in the way of really figuring out who the person is? Well I gathered that from reading your article, Edie. It sounds like Missy, like I've already posted, didn't give much second thought as to whether or not Everquest was a legitimate way of finding love. And it's also that dating services are more of an introduction to one another as versus to MMOs which can just rush you into things to quick? I guess I can see that.
I've never played an MMO or MMORPG and it's not because of me being a bit of an anti-social, but really primarily because of the damned subscription fees that are tied to them as well as some that, from what I hear, have stricter rules of player conduct and have people who run the servers, as I've heard it called, "nerf" your built up characters abilities and edge against other players. I would play World of Warcraft if wasn't for all the extra expenses. So since I've never played one, I'm not exactly an expert at how you play them and deal with others. All my notions you see me posting here are all just out of my own views based on logic and human understanding as a person outside of the MMO community looking at it. I just think that my two cents might actually help you other GamerAndy.com posters see things from another POV. For every good point there should always be a counter-point to keep there from being bias and favor swayed one single way. You know, a sort of balance in opinions. Just trying to help out.
BTW, I think that it would be virtually impossible to note all dirty words and variations of them as there are more popping up and people are getting increasingly creative in how they mix and match them with other insults and dirty words. I've heard quite a few unique ones myself.
goooooooooooooooooooooooood
Hey! In a very selfish regard, i just want to say what a great article! Yeah, selfish because i met my boyfriend in WoW and we are now moving in together, so lets see it the roses are still red 'when reality hits' ^^. So far so good.
Well, imho we were just lucky. I have not met any other ppl online i really clicked with, and ALOT of ppl behave like asocial, hormone-crazed 14-year olds. I suspect they might be much older rl. Because its a game, and you can basically let loose your not so nice side, if you want 2. And thats just how it is.
And you are in your good right to call that guy a dick!
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