I found out tonight that my World of Warcraft account was apperently hacked and involved in some activity that got it closed. As such, my mind set right now might be a little biased, but it does make me think of what I feel is the primary difference between tabletop gaming and MMORPGs: Tabletop games are more honest.
Now, that is not to say that everyone that plays MMO's are dishonest thieves or anything, but I feel that there is a distinct difference in the personal interactions that the two types of games cause. Online games suffer from one of the worse parts of the internet, anonimity. Online, it is very easy to not see the other players as people which can be used as an excuse for all sorts of annoying antisocial behavior, from griefing to outright theft of accounts and in game equipment that the player likely spent hours attempting to gain.
Being face to face with other players at a table forces a certain type of honesty, or at very least the recognition of the other players as people. There have been plenty of gamers that I have played with, that I am no longer close to and even some that I have completely disliked from day one, but I always recognized that they were people. I think that makes alot of difference. Does it get rid of all problems between players? Of course not, but I think that being forced to look a person in the eye before you act like an immature jerk makes most people recognize what they are doing.
For online games, there is nothing that can really be done, as the laws and customs of the internet will always tend to be ignored and trampled upon by those who feel that being a faceless avatar gives them the right to be a horrible excuse for a human being. But for those of us playing table top I have a piece of advice: Stop and take a moment to look around the table. These people are your fellow gamers, and hopefully your friends. Don't be a dick... it's really just that simple.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Because I still play WoW, and frankly do so with a group of great people, I have to defend it a little bit. I totally agree that anonymity is probably the main cause of conflict in an internet situation like WoW, I also think there is an important factor in who you choose to game with.
ReplyDeleteWhen it comes down to it, it doesn't matter if you're playing online in a community of millions, or in your living room with a community of 6, in either case there are two types of players you can choose to play with, complete strangers, or people you become friends with. In my experience, the problems I run into are with the strangers, the people I don't know, and won't likely have a long enough interaction with to get to know. The people I play WoW with, who I know and raid with every week, I know these people, they're my friends, just as important to me as my friends who I see "face to face." They treat me as any other person, just as I treat them. Why? Not because we see eachother face-to-face, and thus that makes our interaction more genuine, but because we're not strangers, we're friends. Generally, you play table-top RPG's with friends, not strangers. I wonder how the online experience would change if instead of playing the game with strangers, you got to know a group of people and come to be mutual friends with them. On the flip side of that, I wonder how your table-top experience changes if instead of playing with friends every week, you played with a random group of strangers.
Some people are honest, good, and trustworthy, while others are dishonest, manipulative, and selfish. Being face-to-face doesn't make them any more the former than the latter, or vice-versa. I guarantee you, the person who hacked you is probably just as likely to steal every RPG book you own if they could get into your house and get away with it. People are who they are, no matter the medium.
I would have to say that part of the reason for your ability to interact with the people you play with as you do is ventrilo. Being able to actually talk to people moves the game into a middle zone between the two types of games.
ReplyDeleteBeing able to hear someones voice gets rid of that anonimity, less so than if they were face to face, perhaps, but it still allows the formation of an actual relationship between you and them; which is hard if not impossible to do in a situation where your only interaction is a text window.
And I am not saying that being in an online game automatically makes you scum, but it allows people the sense of anonimity that some people need to give into their more base natures.