Brand Loyalty (was Re: [MUD-Dev] Requirements for MM (wasComp lexities of MMOG Servers))

[szii at sziisoft.com]

From: <holding99 at mindspring.com>
> At 10:33 AM 1/23/2003 -0600, Robert Zubek wrote:
>> From: holding99 at mindspring.com [mailto:holding99 at mindspring.com]

>> I'm sorry, but for the vast majority of the population, real life
>> simply *is* more important than online games, even if we take the
>> cynical view that it's all treadmills and jumping through hoops
>> anyway. :) Your point about hardcore players is well taken - there
>> will always be people who will let the game take over their lives -
>> but I think we can safely treat them as statistical outliers. And

>> if we agree that life is more important, the (perhaps banal)
>> question remains: why is it? And what is it that, in spite of the
>> common treadmill structure, makes the game so much less
>> consequential?  That's the question I've been trying to get at.

> I actually agree with you, to a point. The vast majority of the
> population consider online games a waste of time, or at best a
> weak diversion. However, the true question you are asking is,
> "Apart from social pressures, and individual variations, what is
> objectively important? Why is RL (whatever that is) more important
> than a game, objectively?" And I really don't think that's a fair
> question. I don't think you can separate the needs/goals of the
> individual/society from the priorities in any meaningful way.

I think it IS a fair question, but then that brings up the "Matrix"
style of thought : Apart from the physical "body" aspects of life,
what makes "real life" so much more "real" than an imaginary
interactive one?  What you perceive is what you perceive - end of
story.  Regardless of the hallucination or delusion or immersion,
it's still your perception.

Who's to say that the "real world" is more important to the brain
than an imaginary one (apart from the physical aspect of the
player's body.)

Already our visual perceptions can be altered by staring at a
computer screen.  1 sense down, 4 to go.  Get into a chamber, fed by
IV with a few other "amenities" and lose yourself in the world for a
while.  Or indefinately.  If a person is miserable IRL and extremely
happy in game....why deny him that?  And then who would contend that
"real life" is more important?  Not to him; and when he's on his
deathbed and thinks back over his life, he's still got a memory
chock full of experiences, contacts, emotions...perhaps even more
full than someone who lived a "real" life and had to deal with the
misery which accompany so many people.

In many ways, "living" in a fake world could, in fact, be a better
"life experience" than living in the real world.

-Mike/Szii


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