GEAR May column: The Life-stealing Hobby
I've been slack with the blog updates this week so far- I've been busy at work. So start off, here's my May GEAR column (the original; not the slightly edited version that appeared in the mag):
The Life-Stealing Hobby
Gamers spend a lot of time defending their pastime. We’ve toughened ourselves against attacks like the exhausted claim that gaming encourages violence. But there is one accusation that pierces through all shields. One thing that can’t be explained away is gaming’s tendency to life-steal.
I’m sure everyone reading this column has at some point been told to stop playing games and do something else. Finish your homework. Go outside and exercise. Pleasure me now.
Gaming can quickly change from an activity that passes time to an activity that utterly consumes it. And the worst offender is the Role Playing Game(RPG).
The electronic RPG genre, for the uninitiated, owes a great deal to pen-and-paper forerunners like Dungeons and Dragons. Players are essentially impromptu actors, assuming the role of a customisable character in a typically fantastic world.
By now many PC and Xbox gamers have already deserted reality to roam the forests of Oblivion, the fourth in the Elder Scrolls series. With better broadband access more South African gamers are migrating to massive multiplayer online RPGs like World of Warcraft. Meanwhile, PlayStation owners get their fix with Final Fantasy and .Hack.
RPGs are unquestionably gamer heroin. Despite the fact that the genre is notoriously complex, especially difficult for beginners, the Internet is littered with stories of gamers whose lives have been disrupted, or even ended, by their habit. China has even passed legislation to curb playing times.
The problem begins with the realisation that there’s no such thing as just dipping into a RPG. A planned 30 minute gaming session quickly escalates into 3 hours. You find yourself muttering, ‘I’ll stop when I’ve levelled up’, or ‘I can squeeze in another quest’, or even, ‘Just one more waypoint.’
The games themselves encourage lengthy playing. The more experience you gain, the faster you can level up and become more powerful.
Addiction isn’t helped by the fact that RPGs tend to be longer than most other games. Fable: The Lost Chapters, a ‘short’ RPG, still gives the player around 22 hours of entertainment. Your average Action-Adventure or First Person Shooter provides half of that.
Of course, the real reason RPGs are so addictive is the blend of personal investment and personal gratification at their heart.
Gamers grow devoted to characters they have spent hours crafting in terms of personality, appearance and abilities. Even the RPG incompetent like me, who hack across stages and haphazardly assign skill points, will at some point find themselves agonising over what belt to give Norman, the necromancer.
Then there’s the cathartic pleasure, even if just for a few hours, of becoming what you’re not: a powerful Jedi, a fallout survivor, a busty rogue who strips for money. The quest parties of multiplayer RPGs are also hugely enjoyable social experiences.
Ultimately, all gaming has the potential to be addictive, but the escapist worlds of RPGs are that little more tempting as a retreat from numbing reality.
After all, it can’t be pure coincidence that one of the most common abilities found in RPGs is Life Steal.
The Life-Stealing Hobby
Gamers spend a lot of time defending their pastime. We’ve toughened ourselves against attacks like the exhausted claim that gaming encourages violence. But there is one accusation that pierces through all shields. One thing that can’t be explained away is gaming’s tendency to life-steal.
I’m sure everyone reading this column has at some point been told to stop playing games and do something else. Finish your homework. Go outside and exercise. Pleasure me now.
Gaming can quickly change from an activity that passes time to an activity that utterly consumes it. And the worst offender is the Role Playing Game(RPG).
The electronic RPG genre, for the uninitiated, owes a great deal to pen-and-paper forerunners like Dungeons and Dragons. Players are essentially impromptu actors, assuming the role of a customisable character in a typically fantastic world.
By now many PC and Xbox gamers have already deserted reality to roam the forests of Oblivion, the fourth in the Elder Scrolls series. With better broadband access more South African gamers are migrating to massive multiplayer online RPGs like World of Warcraft. Meanwhile, PlayStation owners get their fix with Final Fantasy and .Hack.
RPGs are unquestionably gamer heroin. Despite the fact that the genre is notoriously complex, especially difficult for beginners, the Internet is littered with stories of gamers whose lives have been disrupted, or even ended, by their habit. China has even passed legislation to curb playing times.
The problem begins with the realisation that there’s no such thing as just dipping into a RPG. A planned 30 minute gaming session quickly escalates into 3 hours. You find yourself muttering, ‘I’ll stop when I’ve levelled up’, or ‘I can squeeze in another quest’, or even, ‘Just one more waypoint.’
The games themselves encourage lengthy playing. The more experience you gain, the faster you can level up and become more powerful.
Addiction isn’t helped by the fact that RPGs tend to be longer than most other games. Fable: The Lost Chapters, a ‘short’ RPG, still gives the player around 22 hours of entertainment. Your average Action-Adventure or First Person Shooter provides half of that.
Of course, the real reason RPGs are so addictive is the blend of personal investment and personal gratification at their heart.
Gamers grow devoted to characters they have spent hours crafting in terms of personality, appearance and abilities. Even the RPG incompetent like me, who hack across stages and haphazardly assign skill points, will at some point find themselves agonising over what belt to give Norman, the necromancer.
Then there’s the cathartic pleasure, even if just for a few hours, of becoming what you’re not: a powerful Jedi, a fallout survivor, a busty rogue who strips for money. The quest parties of multiplayer RPGs are also hugely enjoyable social experiences.
Ultimately, all gaming has the potential to be addictive, but the escapist worlds of RPGs are that little more tempting as a retreat from numbing reality.
After all, it can’t be pure coincidence that one of the most common abilities found in RPGs is Life Steal.
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