Playing RPGs

Posted: 19th July 2007, 12:18 am

I used to hate seeing my brothers playing online games. I used to tell them that it is totally a waste of time. Until, they won me in a plea. They asked me to take care of their characters while they are away.

Little by little, I learned the art of their game. I thought that all games only mean killing monsters and moving onward to the next level to see a different map. I never expected the intricacies involved. I never knew that role-playing online games mean knowing some business and some psychology. I never knew that it is powerful enough to drive my mind off the worries that have occupied my focus (not 24/7 though).

A player needs to know the best way to keep these things:
1. how to keep leveling up (solo flight are usually discouraged in role-playing online games; they encourage joining parties);
2. how to make a character stronger (choosing the best skills, budgeting points earned to gain those skills, and calculating how much to spend inorder to correct wrong allocation of skill points);
3. how to maintain a reliable list of friends (just like in real life that one cannot be a friend to everyone);
4. how to sell items (go into pricing, supply-demand relationship, bargaining, and trust in doing exchange):
5. how to deal with people and win their hearts (the human side behind the flow of virtual reality); and
6. how to maintain self-control (upon meeting lazy, malicious, stubborn, and other negative personalities behind different characters and taking the challenge of not falling completely to the wonders of virtual facts).

Role-playing Online Games are not simple exercises for the eyes and the fingers. These new wave of online games entail psychological and emotional issues. No wonder why these games lure more students to stay in computer shops than teachers to win them back. Questions are answered promptly in chatting with players. Unlike talking to teachers that needs some courage and at times leads to embarrassment. Most members of the society, specially teenagers, are indeed becoming more and more visual individuals (as pointed out by my professor in Media Communication).

I am not inviting you to play online games. Yes, it is a good pastime. However, any player should not get addicted to them. They are to provide diversion not online addiction. Virtual reality should not take control over real life. It should only remain as a simple venue to know different individuals from different backgrounds as one takes a break from the drudgery of daily living.

I am happy to have learned my brothers' game. Now, I understand them better. Yet, I still wonder. How much can society offer to guide online players before they get eaten by these virtual black holes?

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reJelljoSoL

Posted: 26th November 2007, 2:50 am

Just admit it...

YOU'VE FALLEN IN LOVE WITH MORPG's!

Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!

Very Happy

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simplychecking