makeshiftmind

As I write this, I am playing a game called Eve Online, which has become my new “hobby” of late. I spend a lot of time, energy, and thought playing this game, and a recent blog post has prompted me to explain why games have so much appeal to the people who play them.

First I must note that most gamers are male. In the last several years, gaming has made some inroads into the femail domain (e.g., GameGal.com), but the primary gender in the gaming community continues to be male, and so games, according to free market theory, are going to appeal to men and the things they value. So what is it that I value in games that compels me to spend time playing?

Adventure and Discovery

One of the most appealing things about games is that, like movies, they take you to different places and let you experience different things. Unlike movies, however, games actually let you participate in the experience, placing it one step closer to reality. All the hype several years ago about the advent of “virtual reality” (which still sucks and isn’t nearly as scary as everyone said it would be) recognized this truth. Games give you a sense of adventure and discovery — of going new places, meeting new (virtual and real) people (aliens, wizards, zombies, etc.) that you would not otherwise be able to experience.

Character Creation

A lot of games, especially those in the RPG/MMORPG (Role Playing Game/Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game) categories allow you to create a custom character whose appearance, skills, and moral alignment are customizable. These attributes usually increase as the game progresses, thus your character “gets better” as you advance through the game. The desire to create a character unique to your game experience is rooted, I believe, in two psychological needs: the need to be self-determined, and the need to reap rewards for effort. The more a person plays, the more his character advances; the more his character advances, the more challenges his character can handle. Usually there is some kind of “item hierarchy” in games, where a player can use certain items at certain skill levels. Part of the motivation to continue playing is to get “cool” items, whether it be the magic sword of dragon slaying +3 or the super planet destroyer starship. Again, true to free market form, the “cooler” items tend to be rare and cost a fortune (in terms of virtual money, skill points, or both), thus requiring the player to spend time acquiring the necessary prerequisites.

Recently, games like Second Life and The Sims have become extremely popular. These games mimic our world in that they don’t take place in a radically different universe, but conform to the familiarity of our daily lives. One interesting aspect of these games, especially Second Life, is that players actually engage in a rather complicated virtual economy, where things are created, bought, sold, and bartered. Most MMORPGs have conceptually similar economic systems, and sometimes people in the “real world” are willing to pay real money for rare virtual items within the game. In my opinion, this virtual “free market” exists because people want to be free, but in their real lives they are shackled by heavy taxation, large school debts (that were only too easy to acquire, but a nightmare to pay back), and all the normal expenses of life — things that leave very little remaining money to spend on creative activities. Virtual money, in contrast, can be earned from the chair at your desk, only requires an investment of time and knowledge, and can be spent on virtual assets without real-world entanglements.

Story

Most games have some kind of plot through which the player moves over time. While plot does not necessarily matter to some players, others (like me) who love good stories always measure a game by how good the story is. Like a good movie, a game’s story can exist simply to entertain, or it can be something more, provoking thought and emotion. Epic RPGs tend to have the most complicated stories, pitting titans of good against the hordes of evil, and some even go so far as to make statements about reality, truth, morality, etc.

Several years ago, Myst became an instant classic because it put the player in the center of a complicated mystery on a strange island. There were only three characters in Myst (excluding your anonymous first-person character), and the story was exclusively about those three. What made Myst exciting was that it used puzzle solving to advance a well written story, thus keeping the mind occupied and thoughtful while alluring players with the promise that, in the end, the mystery would be resolved.

Music

Game music goes widely unrecognized as some of the best soundtrack music in existence. Good in-game music can be one of the most important elements of an engaging game experience. Some games (like EVE Online) will allow you to download the game music independently of the game itself, so you can listen to it while you’re not playing. One of my favorite game composers is Jeremy Soule, who has written masterful music for games like Morrowind, Oblivion, Guild Wars, and Prey. I have purchased several of his albums online (at DirectSong.com); I have even purchased music for games that I have never played simply because I enjoy listening to it so much. Some games, like Morrowind and Oblivion, actually allow you to add your own MP3 collection to the in-game soundtrack, so you can pick-and-choose what music you want to hear while you’re playing. There is nothing quite like casting balls of flame from your wizard’s hands while Lord of the Rings is playing in the background.

Atmosphere

Anyone who has played System Shock I/II, Half Life I/II, F.E.A.R., or Doom III on a dark and stormy night in an empty house knows what “game atmosphere” means. These particular games are so engrossing that there have been times where I have physically jumped from my chair because the atmosphere was so intense. Not everyone enjoys this kind of intensity, but the crazy part of my brain that loves a good thriller movie clings to these experiences much the same way as I cling to the restraint bar on a particularly vomit-inducing roller coaster. It is a way to face our fears without having to put ourselves in danger, which appeals to many gamers.

Camaraderie

Before the days of MMORPGs, the best way to enjoy games with your friends was to attend a LAN (Local Area Network) Party where computers were hooked up to a network so players could interact with each other’s characters. The Internet works the same way in principle — it is one enormous network to which hundreds of thousands of gamers are connected at any given moment in time. These gamers can interact with each other through games in various ways. For example, in the EVE Online universe, I am part of a virtual corporation that has officers (real people), assets (virtual), offices (virtual), in-game missions, etc. These corporations are usually part of larger alliances, and can form good or bad relationships with other corporations. The members of my corporation help me learn how to better play the game, and support me financially (virtual) when I come across “hard times” (read: when a space pirate blasts my ship to pieces and I loose all my items).

Outside of EVE, I know one of the members of my corporation personally. EVE gives us one additional common interest to talk about, much like the movies we both enjoy — but again, because the game is interactive, we can both talk about things we’ve experienced first-hand within the game.

Socially, everyone wants to be recognized for their achievements, and virtual achievements are no less respectable in a virtual world than actual achievements are in the real world. Often, gamers enjoy “mad props” (read: admiration) they receive from their peers when they have performed a particularly difficult feat within the game. This admiration is mutual — accomplished gamers frequently give advice and admiration to novice gamers who accomplish similar things simply because the experienced gamers understand the difficulties involved.

Challenge

Games would not be interesting unless they were challenging. Most games, even simple ones, require at least some problem solving ability. Since the computer is often your opponent, the challenge is figuring out how to best the computer using the skills you’ve acquired. In MMORPGs and other multi-player games, your opponents can also be other people, which are far more formidable that the computer. In EVE, the basic challenge is to pick a career path for your character (miner, fighter, industrialist, businessman, etc.), and become successful across the vast gaming universe. But in order to do this, you have to plan which skills you will acquire first, and in what order; you have to understand the EVE economic system and market to buy, sell, trade goods, and make contracts with other players; you have to become familiar with the universe map (which is extremely formidable); you have to understand navigation in three-dimensional space; you have to be proficient in diplomacy with other players, so you can join corporations; you have to learn time management when you engage in missions, because many of them are time sensitive (or involve a time sensitive bonus); you have to learn how to fit your ship with items that will help you in your career path (a mining ship will want lots of cargo space and good mining lasers, while a fighter will want fast turrets and afterburners); these items have to be fitted in appropriate combinations or your ship will not be able to accommodate them; you have to learn how to find agents to give you missions in whatever solar system you are in; and on and on it goes. Now, EVE is an exceptionally complicated game; most games require a small fraction of the training that EVE requires (the user tutorial takes three hours), but the complexity is challenging, and players enjoy that.

Summary

I’m sure that I could think of more reasons why I enjoy playing games, but I think you get the point: to me, a good game is not just a mindless waste of time — gaming is a unique hybrid of entertainment and problem solving that is letting me connect with other players around the globe. It’s fun and I like it!

Well, I had two weeks of vacation time coming.
After workin’ all year down at Big Boy’s Heating and Plumbing.
So one night, when my family and I were gathered
’round the dinner table, I said,
“Kids…
If you could go anywhere in this great big world, now
Where’d you like to go to?”
They said, “Dad…
We wanna see the biggest ball of twine in Minnesota.”
They picked the biggest ball of twine in Minnesota.

So the very next day we loaded up the car
With potato skins and pickled weiners,
Crossword puzzles, Spiderman comics and mama’s homemade rhubarb pie,
Pulled out of the driveway, and the neighbors, they all waved goodby.
And so began our three-day journey.
We picked up a guy holdin’ a sign that said “Twine Ball or Bust.”
He smelled real bad, and he said his name was Bernie.
I put in a Slim Whitman tape, my wife put on a brand new hair net.
Kids were in the back seat jumpin’ up and down, yellin’ “Are we there yet?”
And all of us were joined together in one common thought,
As we rolled down the long and winding Interstate in our ‘53 DeSoto.
We’re gonna see the biggest ball of twine in Minnesota.
We’re headin’ for the biggest ball of twine in Minnesota.

Oh, we couldn’t wait to get there, so we drove straight through for
three whole days and nights.
Of course, we stopped for more pickled weiners now and then.
The scenery was just so pretty,
Boy, I wish the kids could’ve seen it.
But you can’t see out of the side of the car because the windows are
completely covered with the decals from all the places where we’ve
already been.
Like Elvis-a-Rama, the Tupperware Museum,
The Boll Weevil Monument, and Cranberry World,
The Shuffleboard Hall of Fame, Poodle Dog Rock,
And the Mecca of Albino Squirrels.
We’ve been to ghost towns, theme parks, wax museums,
And a place where you can drive through the middle of a tree.
Seen alligator farms and tarantula ranches,
But there’s still one thing we’ve gotta see.
Well, we crossed the state line about 6:39,
And we saw the sign that said, “Twine Ball Exit – fifty miles.”
Oh, the kids were so happy, they started singing “99 Bottles of Beer
on the Wall” for the twenty-seventh time that day.
So we pulled off the road at the last chance gas station,
Got a few more pickled weiners and a diet chocolate soda,
On our way to see the biggest ball of twine in Minnesota.
We’re gonna see the biggest ball of twine in Minnesota.

Finally at 7:37 early Wednesday evening, as the sun was setting
in the Minnesota sky,
Out in the distance, on the horizon it appeared to me like a vision
before my unbelieving eyes.
We parked the car and walked with awe-filled reverence toward that
glorious, huge, majestic sphere.
I was just so overwhelmed by its sheer immensity,
I had to pop myself a beer.
Yes, on these hallowed grounds, open 10 to 8 on weekdays,
in a little shrine under a makeshift pagoda,
There sits the biggest ball of twine in Minnesota.
I tell you, it’s the biggest ball of twine in Minnesota.

Ohhh, what on Earth would make a man decide to do that kind of thing.
Ohhh, windin’ up 21,140 pounds of string.
What was he tryin’ to prove?
Who was he tryin’ to impress?
Why did he build it? How did he do it?
It’s anybody’s guess.
Where did he get the twine?
What was goin’ through his mind?
Did it just seem like a good idea at the time?

Well, we walked up beside it, and I warned the kids,
“Now you better not touch it, those ropes are there for a reason.”
I said, “Maybe if you’re good, I’ll tie it to the back of our car,
and we can take it home.” But I was only teasin’.
Then we went to the gift shop and stood in line.
Bought a souvenir miniature ball of twine,
Some window decals, and anything else they’d sell us.
And I bought a couple postcards: “Greetings from the Twine Ball,
wish you were here.” Won’t the folks back home be jealous.
I gave our camera to Bernie, and we stood by the ball,
And we all gathered around and said, “Cheese.”
Then Bernie ran away with my brand new Instamatic,
But at least we’ve got our memories.
So we all just stared at the ball for awhile,
And my eyes got moist, but I said with a smile,
“Kids, this here’s what America’s all about.”
Then I started feelin’ kinda gooey inside,
And I fell on my knees and I cried and cried.
And that’s when those security guards threw us out.
You know, I bet if we unravelled that sucker,
it’d roll all the way down to Fargo, North Dakota,
‘Cause it’s the biggest ball of twine in Minnesota.
I’m talkin’ ’bout the biggest ball of twine in Minnesota.

Well, we stayed that night at the Twine Ball Inn.
In the morning we were on our way home again.
But we really didn’t wanna leave, that was perfectly clear.
I said, “Folks, I can tell you’re all sad to go.”
Then I winked my eye and I said, “You know,
I got a funny kinda feeling we’ll be coming back again next year.”
‘Cause I’ve been all around this great big world,
and I can’t think of anywhere else I’d rather go to
Than the biggest ball of twine in Minnesota.
I said the biggest ball of twine in Minnesota.
Minnesota.
Minnesota.
Minnesota.

- Weird Al Yankovic, “The Biggest Ball of Twine in Minnesota”

It’s a fact: men who like Linux are sexier.

The short list? The linux man:

• Makes plenty of money and isn’t shy to use it.
• Stays up extreme hours of the night without any loss of energy.
• Solves every possible conundrum in the world.
• Stands by his convictions without regard to criticism.

Uh huh, me in a nutshell