by Julie Whitefeather

“I think what’s happening is that social networking has infiltrated every aspect of the internet, and the same is true of games. I think you’re going to see a lot more social networking aspects to games…” - John Smedley

This week New Attitude explores one of the changing aspects of gaming…read on.

The Kindness of Strangers
By Julie Whitefeather

“I have always depended on the kindness of strangers” - Blanche DuBois

Illegitami Non-carborendum

A friend of a friend (isn’t that always the way it is) had a sign on the back of his car that read simply “Illegitami non-carborendum”.  In this particular case I saw the sign and took a ride in the car.  Bob, the owner of the car, claimed that the sign was :Latin (ok pseudo-Latin) for “don’t let the Illegitimate children get you down” - except, of course, the slam on the parentage of the unknown person or persons to whom the phrase refers was worded in much harsher language. Bob’s release from the pressures of the real world was driving that same small car around town. The car was so small, in fact, that you could easily sit in the passenger seat and touch the pavement by leaning out of the car (I know I tried). 

But that was long before anyone had even thought about the internet.

With the introduction of a little thing called “Playstation” I began getting away from the pressures of life by driving a much smaller, and much more virtual, car around - and around, and around a race track, the form of a Grand Prix game.

While the size and the reality (virtual in this case) of the car may have changed, the reason Bob and I both drove our cars were the same - Illegitami non-carborendum.

The introduction of the an acronym “MMO” in to the English language changed the way we play games; even the way we play console games.  The online nature of games, whether massively multi-player or simply multi-player, introduced other players into our gaming; and people we have never met at that.  Games that may have once been played simply to “blow off steam” or for the pure enjoyment of the game had another element introduced. That aspect of gaming is social networking. In a recent interview with John Smedley over at Gamesindustry.biz, John Smedley said the following:

“I think what’s happening is that social networking has infiltrated every aspect of the internet, and the same is true of games. I think you’re going to see a lot more social networking aspects to games…” - John Smedley

But as the old expression goes, “the more things change, the more they remain the same.”  While we may now have the ability to interact with people from places and walks of life we might never have met before, the introduction of other players into our gaming brought an unwanted aspect along with it.  Some of those same people we may have spent time in the virtual worlds of our games to escape where, like it or not, now playing along side of us. This unfortunate side affect of the social aspect of online gaming has done more than cause the introduction of game mechanics such as “ignore lists” and given endless headaches to developers who have to spend time finding ways to prevent unwanted social interaction.  This side affect has, in many cases, heightened our awareness of some jackass bent on ruining our day. After all there are no such things as “virtual” orders of protection. The person we could just ignore in real life has, thanks to the anonymity of the internet, allowed them to continue to be a pain in the posterior by continue behavior that would in all likelihood introduce them to the business end of someone’s fist in real life. Thanks to the internet we have seen the introduction of another phrase that has made headlines recently. We have seen the introduction of the cyber-bully.  It was not long ago that some moron mother vented her rage on someone else’s hapless child who ended up hanging  herself as a result.  Fortunately our legal system in the U.S. does occasionally work and as I type this the miscreant mother is headed toward the “big house” to do some hard time for her moronic crime.

But if the cyber-bully often appears larger than life, and has the capacity for turning the smell of a virtual garden into a virtual pile of shit, occasionally we also meet someone who outshines so many others in the application of their kindness in the virtual world that the sweetness of their virtual deeds can overcome the stench of the worst cyber bully.

This is where we meet the kindness of virtual strangers.

The Kindness of Strangers

It is the unfortunate truth is that we live in a world that needs escaping from in the first place. As a result, when someone we don’t even know bestows a kindness on us we rarely expect it - like the amazing gentlemen Mother Superior (Sister Frances) encountered on a recent trip. Upon boarding the plane to take the trip, Mother Superior and her elderly mother had to walk through the first class section to get to their seats. They had no sooner boarded the plane, Mother Superior supporting her elderly charge who could barely stand erect as she struggled along, when two men in first class gave up their seats to Sister Frances and her mother. The two men took instead seats at the back of the plane - all the more impressive because Sister Frances and her mother were headed for the cheap seats which are so crowded that the only way to fit into the seats is with a gallon of grease and a six foot shoe horn.

But if virtual worlds have allowed us to meet cyber bullies we might not have encountered, they have also allowed us meet people like the two men who gave up their seats in the first class section.

As the benefactor of virtual strangers some have remained unknown to me, but they are no less remembered.  Such was the woman who found a player, new to the game Ultima Online (UO) and new to MMOs wandering through the streets of Britannia. She took me to her home in UO and showed me how the game worked, set me on the path to earning an income in the game by showing me a craft, and gave me the money and supplies to get me started.  I am fortunate to have had this initial experience in online gaming; who knows if I would have continued with gaming at all. Nor would I have discovered my talent for writing, for it is writing about this industry that led to my writing both fiction and non-fiction.

Some of those people who I have met through the kindness of virtual strangers have led to long time friendships.  A Nightelf who met a young dwarf (me) on the streets of Dun Morogh in World of Warcraft not only made it her job to make the game great fun but later became a friend; praying for her and her husband through her husband’s bout with cancer. I have written about my friend Dorothy, with whom I still play Ever quest (EQ2) in these pages before. She, like Karen whom I met through UO, are friends with  whom I still maintain contact.  Both women have taken the time to contact me outside the virtual reality of gaming when I have been absent, to make sure I am alright.

Putting the Massive back in MMO

“We’re making sure that our games run on a wider specification of machines, because that’s another problem - we’ve been making games for machines that we all have at home…well - that doesn’t help us get the 10 year old kid with the 4 year old computer.” - John Smedley

To borrow a quote from Brent of Virgin Worlds, “If you want a game to be massive it can’t have massive specifications”.  John Smedley, it appears from the quote above, is the first to agree with Brent.  But the system specs aren’t the only “massive” that designers have to be concerned with these days. If there is anything that World of Warcraft (WoW) has shown us all is that the idea of the “typical” gamer being a teenager hidden away for so long that his parents have to ship him sunshine. In fact that idea is more akin to yesterday’s garbage than anything else. After all, a game doesn’t glean 10 million subscribers (people who actually shell out their money each month as Rob Pardo is quick to point out) without widening the market at least a smidgen.

With competition for the gaming dollar as intense as it is today, the smart developer (and that certainly includes John Smedley somewhere near the top of the list if not at it) diversifies their list of products rather than be a “one trick pony”. This means paying attention to competition from other sources of social networking as well.

“Something like Facebook is entertaining, but it’s not the same entertainment that we offer. I do see more usage of them though, that’s for sure.” John Smedley, Gamesindustry.biz

Renaissance game

If there is such a thing as a “Renaissance Man” the must also now be a “Renaissance game”.  Games must now take into account that the market has greatly expanded and with it the way we game. Games are no longer just escapism and entertainment. Games are a way we sit down over a virtual cup of coffee with friends from all over the world.

See you online,

Julie Whitefeather