Well this is the first post in a while that have nothing to do with politics. If you're not aware I enjoy playing some on-line games on Facebook. These small applications are fun, have a huge global following, and a nice distraction in the evening. As with everything in life, some people get way too wrapped up in these worlds they create for themselves and end up ruining it for the others. If you've seen the commercials about World of Warcraft you can see how people can get very involved to a point of becoming fanatics and this isn't necessarily a healthy position.
When I was younger many of my friends played Dungeons and Dragons. In case you're not aware this is a fantasy based game with wizards, clerics, fighters, dragons and monsters. It's a game that allows the players to create a imaginary character and go on adventures with other friends all being guided by a dungeon master (the person controlling the adventure). The rules of the game are extensive and come is many books but are mainly just guides since everything is in people imagination. Some people became so wrapped up in the game that they tried to actually live the game using it as an escape from reality to a point that they couldn't differentiate the game from reality. These incidences became well knows in the news media which was then picked up by some fundamentalist religious type who tried to tie the game to satanism and demonic worship. The makers of the game and the players who enjoyed it where ridiculed and many parents become concerned of their children descending into deviancy because of it. It got to a point that people even tried to ban the game, forgetting that it was just a silly game being played in the imaginations of the players. All this fantastic reaction because a few unstable people took the game too serious and the other end of this spectrum reacted in kind. Today D&D is accepted by most but not played that often by people since now we have the internet to stimulate our imagination.
So last night as I was playing one of my favorite games (Homeworld) I had an encounter with an individual that is taking this game way too serious. Homeworld is a space based game which you build your character through training and attacking others, making yourself stronger and smarter. Early on in the game people realized that if you attack others too often all you do is upset people. No one wanted this but they also didn't want to put an official limit on it so they adopted an un-written rule to not kill each other more than twice in a period of time. As new players started to play they quickly found out about this un-written agreement and for the most part adhered to it. As with any rule there are those out there that don't adhere to it and those folks develop reputations for nasty play and are ostracized by the other players until they change their way. This works well with the majority of players but some folks just don't get it that it's just a silly game. They take things personal when they;re attacked and retaliate with scathing e-mails telling the attacker how much of a low-life they are for attacking them. This is what I ran into last night.
While we put out warnings to parents about these games concerning age I don't think age has a lot to do with it; I think it's mostly a maturity issue. No matter how old someone is they'll never gain the level of maturity to be able to allow their imagination to take over for a while and then turn it off when they're done playing. As with D&D some folks just can't let go. Last night this guy killed me 6 times and when I asked him why he stated that I'd killed him repeatedly over the past few months and he couldn't retaliate due a limitation in the game. Now he was just giving me a little payback. So he had saved up a load of funds and was repeatedly attacked everyone who had attacked him. Obviously this person is holding a grudge and unable to accept the fact that this is just a silly game. I've ran into many folks like this on-line and I have to say it's a little scary knowing they're out there. What trigger would it take for this guy to start taking it out on people for real? This is thinking of a serial killer not a mature stable individual. He looses the ability to have fun in a game and takes game-play as a personal attack rather than just a little fun. Most likely this type of person is reclusive with few friends because if they show these traits in a fantasy world most likely it shows in the real world as well. If you where a friend of this person would you allow him to treat you this way? It's an abusive personality and not tolerated by many people.
So next time you play a game on-line and run into this type of person don't tolerate the behavior. Tolerating this type of behavior only encourages them to continue. What we should be doing is telling them repeatedly that it's just a silly game, let it go. Just let it go...
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