When asked whether they have
changed or grown from playing the game, most respondents replied
that EQ was "just a game" and that people don't learn
anything from it:
No change. Simply play for entertainment and social
value. [m, 30]
No, it hasn't really had any kind of impact on
me. It's just a game. [m, 23]
This is just a video game to me. I don't analyze
it to that extreme, only use it as an escape from the stresses
of RL for awhile. [m, 27]
But not all players thought that EQ was "just
a game". Some respondents found themselves interacting with
people differently outside of EQ:
It didnt change my thinking, it did however change
to a minor extent my acting in real life. I have found it easier
to share and confront other people with my thoughts...whether
this is due to EQ or just me growing emotionally I am not quite
sure off though. A very positive change indeed [m, 30]
I believe I have matured in my interaction with
other people. When I first began playing I was rather hot-headed
and impatient. I've been playing over a year and I think I've
become more understanding of other people and their points of
view. [m, 19]
Erm, good question. I tend to put a lot
more belief in real life experiences contributing to personal
growth, but I don't see why a game can't help you grow in addition
to RL. I've learned to be a bit more tolerant, I think. I used
to get really upset at folks for doing something stupid and getting
us all killed, for instance, but again... it's a game and EVERYONE
makes mistakes. Mostly, it's reinforced a lot of things I knew
already, but sometimes let slip by... like the fact that just
because someone doesn't do something MY way doesn't mean it's
the wrong way. ;) [f, 30]
Some players felt that they had grown as a person
from playing EQ:
Yes, I have learned to deal with more varied personalities
and have developed leadership qualities that I lacked before.
[f, 33]
Sure have. There is no better confidence builder
than keeping your group alive or helping a frustrated player regain
his corpse. You may be a lowly cashier or a bored house wife but
in Norrath you can be something more that you might never achieve
in RL. [f, 33]
Yes. I think that it has given me a more big-picture
type sense of the world. Things make sense when I associate them
with other things, and I think about things differently now. [m,
14]
Several players commented on gaining a better understanding
of group dynamics and leadership:
I think forming a group in EQ is one of the most
powerful elements in the game and has shown me a lot about myself
and others. Throw 6 strangers together each with different class
strengths and weaknesses, all trying to accomplish a common goal
together, and you learn a lot about people. I can see what happens
when communcation doesn't happen and its helped me try to communicate
with people more in real life. [m, 30]
Definatly, I have become more outgoing, more of
a leader-oriented person In RL as opposed to the quiet person
who contributed only when asked. [m, 18]
Yes - I've learned a bit more about teamwork,
and how to execute it. Everyone has their place, and everyone
works together for the good of the whole. [m, 14]
Many players felt that the biggest problem EQ had
introduced was the amount of time it consumed:
Sometimes I play too much and forget to do things
in real life or hold up my responsibilities. Other times I get
burned out on EQ and I don't play very much. It goes back and
forth. [m, 30]
It's been a bit of a time sink, but I've been
able to work around it for the most part. The main victim of the
time I spend on EQ has been other leisure activities such as other
computer games and reading magazines. Sleep has occassionally
been sacrificed, but never more than a couple of hours' worth
at a time. [m, 23]
Yes, it causes problems, it sucks up all my free
time! Hehe. :) [f, 21]
Several players even used the word "addiction"
to describe their attachment to EQ:
Sometimes yes, It is very easy to get addicted
and get your priorities out of whack with EQ. You would rather
come home and play EQ than do what needs to be done. [f, 22]
EQ has deepened my probelms in life because Eq
is an addiction.Once you start, and play for a while it is extremely
difficult to sever the link to EQ.I find myself, every free minute
of the day, playing EQ or looking at EQ websites. [m, 15]
Players who were in a romantic relationship often
cited the strains EQ brought into the relationship:
Yeah -- my soon-to-be ex-wife has an extreme aversion
to any kind of computer game. EQ (or my playing it) was just one
more nail in the coffin of our union. [m, 40]
Sometimes EQ has made problems in my relationship
with my fiance. I play mostly at night, when he is at work. But
he gets upset when he gets home, and I play for another 4 hours
or so, because "we just started this raid, and I just HAVE
to be here for it". Eq is a game you just can't sit down
and play for an hour. Once you get involved in something, it's
hard to just log off. Sometimes I play to much, and I have had
to regulate myself from spending too much time playing. [f, 21]
yes, it drew me into the cpu game more than my
real life... i wanted to spend more time online than i did with
my RL girlfriend [m, 27]
When asked whether they have ever had any emotionally
moving experiences in EQ, many players talked about the altruism
they had experienced in the game:
I remember one instance in particular when I had
just got level 51 (the guy referenced knew this), our group had
a bad pull and then I started getting hit hard-- this guy took
the monster off me, moved it away and died, allowing me and my
other friend to escape (evac). I was emotionally moved that he
did this for me, If i remember correctly i think i even shed a
tear it was so moving (seriously)-- I worked to be sure he got
a Ressurection and I thanked him for his heroic deed! [m, 17]
I came across a Barbarian character who was struck
down by a gnoll. He lay there bleeding about to die. Luckily I
had bandages on me and knelt down and brought him back to life.
This was a strange thing on a racewar server as I was playing
a High-elf and we are considered enemies. He was very amazed and
thanked me over and over. I felt very moved. [m, 30]
Maybe. I have had a friend once in a group sacrificie
himself once (basically the whole group was in a bad situation,
so he basically told everyone to run, while he taunted and got
all the monsters to aggro on him, giving us time to get away).
This was particularly poignant as I know my friend doesn't have
but a few hours a week to play, and thus a death would be a loss
of a weeks worth of playing time...[m, 29]
Some players talked about friendships that developed
in EQ:
Yes, Im very close to several people on EQ and
treat them as very good friends. When some of them have problems,
they can talk to me and I take it seriously, as they will speak
to me about real problems and not just the "game". [f,
22]
Yes! Several! Mostly finding out during times
of feeling down over my RL that I am important to my close friends
on EQ who have stood by me offering every kind of support imaginable!!!
[f, 49]
Yes. When the Test server was deleted I lost the
interstion with friends in game and the character I had. I didn't
realize the ties I had to those pixels before. After that, I learned
to play more for the moment, since it could end again at any time.
Luckily, my friends came back. The pixels dno't really matter
=( [m, 28]
Other players described experiences of frustration
and anguish:
If you mean total anguish as I LDd during a battle
or got caught in an event as a newbie and got ripped apart eight
successive times at my bind point by a 30th level necromancer,
then sure. Otherwise, no. [m, 30]
Hmmm, if you count the time when I screamed at
the computer screen when I went linkdead in the middle of an important
fight, I guess that would be the most emotional I have ever gotten!
;) [f, 21]
When respondents were asked to comment on whether
nothing pertaining to the real world can be learned from the game
because it is all fake, most players argued passionately that this
was not the case:
The game is fake of course. Were only looking
at our computer screens and pixels. But the people playing it
are real. With real feelings, emotions, and desires. The actions
I do and things I say make a difference as people remember and
form opinions about myself. Once a high level character cast a
bunch of super buff spells on me and said "soandso said you
were a really nice person." and I had never met her before.
I thanked her and felt good. [m, 30]
I think that whenever you have the oportunity
to interact with other people, you have the opportunity to learn
something. Everyone has something to teach you, be it online or
in person. Afterall, you learn from what someone writes in a book,
and you don't meet with the person in the flesh. Why would online
be any different? With as many people you interact with in EQ,
how can you not atleast learn something? That I think is the reason
I have played EQ, the people that I meet. [f, 21]
I think any time kids get into environments where
they can "try out" personalities and interact in a social
environment they learn. I think your ability to "learn"
from EQ is a factor of your age and emotional maturity. The younger
you are, the greater the chance of learning. [m, 37]
I think this is proposterous, Norrath is a world
with real consequences such as being an outcast, and very realistic
rewards like always being asked to group, it is very much lifelike.
If you learn nothing else, you will probably learn soon enough
how to get along with others, like it or not. [m, 16]
I think they are wrong, in every aspect.
Are the people playing it fake? Hell no, and therefore everything
you say and hear is real, they are saying it, and you are hearing
it just like what would happen in RL. And sometimes it can be
easier to say things online rather than in person. Many things
can be learned about people through EQ. [m, 17]
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