[MUD-Dev] Deriving Self Esteem from one's MMORPGavatar[was:Long-Term Rewards]

[Michael Sellers]

Raph wrote:
> Vladimir Cole wrote:

>> Finally, atop the pyramid there's self-actualization... Maybe
>> some of the crossovers mentioned above have moved into the realm
>> of self actualization, but I'd argue that self actualization is
>> largely inhibited by extensive involvement in an MMO. In fact, a
>> common refrain of players who quit MMOs goes something like this,
>> "I need to spend some time on the things that matter. I'm not
>> doing enough with my life."

> Bartle's book

>   http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0131018167

> ...expressly argues that self-actualization is the ultimate
> purpose of MUDs of all stripes. That each player essentially
> undergoes a development arc via lessons taught virtually, that
> leads them to self-actualization (and a natural exit from the
> game).

Wow.  I should probably read the book; that seems extremely unlikely
and probably demonstrably false (unless there are a whole bunch of
self-actualized ex-MUDders I don't know about!).  I think Vladimir's
"exit statement" is right on the money.

>> Love and Esteem are the hooks that keep people playing these
>> games for years -- and in cases when players lack sufficient love
>> and/or esteem outside of the game, these become
>> dopamine-generating activities that truly "addict" people to
>> MMOs.

> Are you perhaps suggesting that providing Love and Esteem is a
> negative characteristic? Or that we need to minimize them emphasis
> on them in order to focus on Self-Actualization instead?

Greater love and esteem (I agree these are powerful motivators in
online games) aren't bad things... but if you think about it, you
can see how these can act as a kind of counterfeit as presented in a
MMOG.  How many stories do we all know about of people who have
"escaped" into a game and have subsequently abandoned their friends,
spouse, family, jobs, etc., because they've gotten "sucked in" to a
MMOG?  The "sucked in" means for that individual, the game and the
others in it feed their motivational needs -- again, probably in
particular the need for love/acceptance and skill/esteem -- in a way
that their offline life cannot match.

Is it any wonder that the stereotype of the gamer, especially the
online gamer, is that of a single, pudgy, socially inept, low-wage
person?  Given that online games give such an individual the
opportunity to not only be physically heroic but socially accepted
and valued for his or her skill and knowledge, it's no wonder that
for some these games are like mainlining heroin.  (Admittedly, not
all gamers are like this, and many of us are happily married and
all.  Still, I the demographic is pretty clear.)

> It's worth pointing out that most forms of entertainment don't
> shoot for self-actualization. The ones that hit it, we tend to
> call Art.

Not really.  In Maslow's later work, he inserted two levels of
motivation between Skill Esteem and Self-Actualization: Knowledge
and Aesthetics.  The desire for and positive response to what we
typically call 'art' is, according to this theory, in direct
proportion to the activation of this latter level of motivation
('art' here is not to be confused with the sensory enjoyment derived
from, say, fireworks (or computer graphics!), which is much more a
physical-level attraction).

I can't think of any forms of entertainment or art that really help
people become motivated at a self-actualized level -- even
emotionally moving paintings, stories, or movies rarely give someone
the incentive they need to change their life.  For this to occur,
the individual has to already have largely satisfied their 'lesser'
deficit needs and their skill-esteem, knowledge, and aesthetic needs
-- a burden no entertainment or art can reasonably shoulder.

Self-actualization involves seeing yourself in your proper/actual
context in the world, and a desire to contribute to some cause
larger than yourself.  You could say that this includes a desire to
help those in your guild, and I suppose it might (in fact, I'd say
the taste of this motivation is what made the patronage system in AC
as successful as it was).  But I tend to think that this is really
more of a shadow of true self-actualized contribution, in the same
way that skill-based accomplishment in a game is a shadow of
real-world skill accomplishment.

It might be that learning to contribute to the greater good of a
party, guild, society, etc., in a game could transfer within an
individual and lead them to do similar acts in their real, physical
lives -- I hope this is the case (I think some of Amy Jo Kim's
research a few years ago hinted at this).  But I don't think we
should fool ourselves.  MUDs don't make you self-actualized any more
than they make you more skillful in a fight or more athletic.  The
best we can hope to do in a game -- and this is asking a tremendous
amount -- is to provide shadow analogies or perhaps safe toy problem
sets, and hope they transfer into the players' motivations in the
other areas of their lives.

Mike Sellers
Online Alchemy
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