Digital Cream

This article at ZDnet upholds what I have asserted before: too many things are being sloppily called “addictions”. Having experimented with cigarettes, being a slave to daily caffeine, and remaining in a wary waltz with my family nemesis alcohol, I know the difference between something which is addictive and something which is so pleasurable that maybe it absorbs more time than it should. There are many things I like a great deal, and which I need to check myself from doing so much of that they take time away from things I enjoy less but know I *should* do. But compelling, tempting enjoyability does not make those things addictive. To call them that is an insult to addicts and a blurring of a very important medical term.

Besides, if video game addiciton gets classified as a bona fide addiction syndrome and therefore gets insurance coverage, Blizzard may as well open up an HMO, haul it in from both ends, and eventually buy America. To which I would respond: Nerf SUVs.

It’s unlike me, multiplayer enthusiast that I am, to play a solo game. But Oblivion (to which I am at long last getting) is a delightful change. For one thing, it’s a beautiful game, with some genuinely artful visual compositions and decent attempts at an epic story full of moral questions. But it also makes me think about how my sense of being heroic in Oblivion is a nice change from the MMOs I usually go for.

There are some great things you can do and feel in a world that revolves around *you* that you can’t do in a multiplayer-oriented world, no matter how much the latter tries to make you feel like The Hero. I wonder if there will be a bit of a pendulum swing the other way now that so many gamers are so heavily into World of Warcraft, that within a few years there will be a big hunger for a game that makes the individual player feel central and unique and big and strong.

In design as well, I astonish myself by sometimes thinking of game ideas which are solo in nature. Most of my ideas remain multiplayer focused, sometimes in an asynchronous and casual way where I think some real gold waits to be discovered, but I do get the odd solo-oriented idea now.

I liked this story about a guy who got a good job at Yahoo because of his leadership of a WoW guild. I’m no more prone to believe in a causal link between game playing and good behavior than I am between game playing and bad behavior, but at least the perception of same got this guy a job!

This article on sweatshops for virtual items makes the quote:

There’s a world of difference between making sneakers and watching bots fight all day. However, they are underpaid, or as Smooth Criminal puts it, “They get paid dirt. But dirt is good where they live.”

I think it’s all bad, and a sign of how badly exploited so many people are in those parts of our world surrounding very lucky people like us who can live and work with dignity and hope.

And it’s worthwhile to keep in mind that even worse, more dangerous, and more unhealthy exploitation is going on right now to make our clothes, electronic equipment, food, and so on.

A tiny but defensible bright spot is that slowly, very slowly, the world may be becoming a better place in this regard. As horrid as this is today, fifty ago I believe it was much worse. But it is shamefully slow and spotty progress that makes me, for one, feel guilt about doing so little to help. As a far luckier society, do we speed this improvement by making minimum living conditions a requirement for trade with a country? Or do we trust the market to slowly improve their lot as competition for workers creeps upward in the developing world?

I really like playing World of Warcraft in Warsong Gulch. Between that and the latest Battlefield 1942 demo, I’m convinced that these big team-vs-team games have a big future– with plenty of room to grow. WoW is not really built for PvP so all this is just a start…