Fix 9-10

I am continuing with my semester long game, The Settlers Online.  Perhaps I will play this game after the semester, although Elder Scrolls Online has just entered beta and I am a tester, so that may take all of my free time.  I'm a huge fan of the Elder Scrolls universe.  They are launching a MMORPG similar to World of Warcraft (WOW) which I have discussed in previous posts. 

Elder Scrolls Online loading screen during beta testing

I am also continuing to read Reality Is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World by Jane McGoniga (2011).  In my previous posts, I disucssed fixes 1-8. 

Fix 9 is "More fun with strangers: Compared with games, reality is lonely and isolating.  Games help us band together and create powerful communities from scratch" (McGonical 2011, p. 172).  I know quite a bit about community and creating a sense of community.  My research from my master's thesis dealt with how participating in an activity, in that case urban gardening, can help to create a sense of community.  Gaming is no different.  A shared activity, in this case gaming, brings people together.  Once together, the people get to know each other and form their own social circle.  Think of a place that you go where you enjoy yourself and always have fun talking with friends.  It could be church, it could be your workplace at lunch, it could be a hobby, it could be anything.  Now think about how you feel when you are there in the social setting, enjoying your friends.  Games give gamers the same kind of feeling.  A sense of community.  A feeling of belonging.  People are coming together to "cultivate a shared interest among strangers" and to "interact with each other around that interest" (McGonical 2011, p. 172).   

The main difference between the community as I study it and community in games is the length.  Most gaming communities are fleeting.  They are intense, but brief.  They often last from a few days to a few years, unlike neighborhood community which may extend to a persons entire life.  Although brief, they are beneficial.  McGonigal (2011) writes that the community formed in gaming gives social benefits by making people feel less isolated.  From my own experiences with games, the people that you meet within the game are no less real to you than someone you know.  Often, I am more excited to see my game friends than I am my coworkers or other people that I interact with in person on a regular basis.  The friends in the game often know me better too.  We spend more time together, we talk more, and we have fun together.  Although we are sometimes across the world, it is a friendship as real as if we were hanging out playing in the same room.  Occasionally, the gaming world can even take place out in the real world through games such as Cruel 2 B Kind, which was actually developed by McGonigal.  Some even get out into the real world making the city their playground, such as this zombie game. 

Fix 10 is "Happiness hacks: Compared with games, reality is hard to swallow.  Games make it easier to take good advice and try out happier habits" (McGonigal 2011, p. 189).  People in games generally are appreciative, thankful, and well... nice.  That isn't to say that you won't have some noob trolling you (a jerk being mean to you).  The point of the game can even be to be nice, such as McGonigal's game that I mentioned above, Cruel 2 B Kind. 

Fix 9 (More Fun with Strangers) in the Settlers Online.
Participating in a clan helps to increase the sense of community in the game.  Without that, the only real source of community is through the chatroom.  If you are in a clan, you have a private chatroom, but more importantly, you are working together as a team to make something happen.  All members of the clan have to pull together to ensure that they are going to reach the goal - getting guild coins.  The words guild or clan are synonymous.  Technically I am in a "guild" but the guild is a clan.  It's just a word choice, for those who are unfamiliar.  We have the common interest of doing well in the game.  On a more basic level, we have the common interest of all succeeding to get Guild Coins by completing the common tasks.  We are all sitting on our computers planning fake little cities.  Tell that to someone else and they might think you are crazy.  Say that to someone in settlers, who is a part of your community, and they will totally get you.

Fix 10 (Happiness Hacks) in the Settlers Online.
There are people, especially in the clans that are generous.  One of my clan mates comes to my city daily and buffs the heck out of me.  A buff is something that you put on your buildings to make them work better.  So he buffs my fishermen - I get more fish.  My mines - I get more iron ore.  My bakery - more bread.  You get the point.  The buff is helpful.  The clan is also willing to share goods sometimes, especially among the newbies like myself.  Although I am about a level 30 in there, it is always nice to get a shipment of something that is difficult for me to make from a mate, and to return it for a lower level mate.  Things like this and group speak tend to make the game more enjoyable. 

If it wasn't for that pesky thing known as work and school, I would probably play more often.  That is the worst part about games - you would probably rather be playing than doing whatever else it is that you are supposed to be doing.  The hardest thing in life is finding balance between what you like (school) and love (sleeping, playing games, and being lazy).