World of Warcraft (WoW) lets you share the grind. You get instances, have a guild, see other people around. You are inspired to succeed to beat the next guy. You are also reminded of the existence of other human beings.
Part of the addiction of WoW comes from the need to outdo your peers. You want to be a part of something, and you don’t want to fall behind. So you play… maybe a little too much, maybe the right amount.
I haven’t played a lot of WoW, but I’ve known players, heard many people speak about it, known at least one addict. I played a game called Realm of Empires (ROE) for a month. It is a “social RTS” MMO. So think Farmville meets a simplified Civilization stuck in the middle ages – that’s the time period of the game’s setting, not a snide comment about its quality.
ROE I played because I was considering working for the company that makes it, because they are local and I didn’t mind the idea of money for a while. Anyway I didn’t take the job. Their game was addictive for a little while. Why? Because I had to learn its secrets in order to apply… or at least feel comfortably prepared in applying.
Turns out my prep. didn’t matter to them, but it mattered to me. I learned something about the social draws of games like these. They bring you in with a few mechanics, then keep you there by comparing you to other players. You don’t want to lose to them. You want to outdo them. Yes you can, because you are smart too, maybe even smarter than them.
The annoying part comes when the game becomes about the grind and not about your skill. This is the place all games want to avoid, and never do because it’s impossible. You make a social game better by making competition about the players, not about the skill, and not about the time.
Not about the skill? Does that surprise you? The enjoyment of a game should not depend on your skill. … think about it. Skill takes practice. Practice is a grind, whether enjoyable or not. Competition should be available to all players no matter how good they are.
Engagement comes from the acquisition of skill and the comparison of skill. So skill has to matter somehow. I want to play you because you are good and I am good. I want to get better and I want to beat you. Both of these desires are based around skill.
Sports let you play on a team, or watch a team with a team (your friends, other spectators). I wasn’t very good at sports when I was younger. Now I am mediocre. Sometimes I was okay, particularly playing pickup games, like of basketball, but never in front of an audience, in a competition, “on the stage.”
I used to mountain bike a lot. There weren’t a lot of mountains near where I lived but there were lots of bike paths, marsh-type areas, hidden parks, hills, creeks and so on. I developed strong calves. Those and my back were the only semi-developed parts of my body.
My back came from horsing around in the yard, or at camp. We’d play tackle the guy with the football, often with older kids. I loved that game. That was something I was good at. We’d also just wrestle, into submission.
British bulldog: I first played that in grade 4 I think, with Bob Scott, a fellow fourth grader. He was tough, and we played with a bunch of kids, mostly younger than us, just due to circumstances. Really we’d walk across the field and the kids would tackle us. How many of them would it take? Took 1 to get me down at the beginning, then 2, then 3 then 4. He could take 5 and keep walking. He’d usually strut.
After cross country practice – as a junior in elementary school – we’d play manhunt with the team. Just kids, with 20 feet in the middle of a foot pile, one kid counting, “eenie meenie minie moe.”
I enjoyed that group because it was a guarantee, and there were some cool kids there. Since we ran cross country together, and came out for (lunch) recess later than everyone else, we played together. That was a given. No questions about who could join. The point of being on a team is to be guided by one another, to be self-conscious in the face of recognition.
I remember when I was very young my father took me to tykes soccer, indoor soccer. We’d play for a while then get donuts at the end. I loved the donuts.
I used to stare up at the ceiling, looking at the lights, imagining things. A few times I tried to kick the ball. I didn’t see the point. A mob of kids would follow the ball across the floor. The ball went 5 feet to the right, 10 kids went 5 feet to the right. The ball went 2 feet forward… you get the idea. I thought, “what’s the long term goal of this?” I couldn’t believe in it. Besides, the lights drew me in, into my imagination, inspired by the activity around me.
I like thinking while the people around me are doing things. I like being on a plane, or a bus, or a long car ride with friends. I like small spaces and intense silences. I like study hall. I like poker – competitive study hall.
Sports give a similar feeling, but you compete athletically in them, instead of academically or meditatively. You exist in a space with others, perceive their behavior and they perceive yours. The goal is irrelevant. A ball in a hoop, money in your pocket, a good time. You act with belief and you share. Everyone gets in the zone and learns.
LANs of course are worth mentioning. Diablo II lans rule. I played Counter Strike lans at one place of work at lunch. There were some good players there. Co-op shooters on the couch. So many hours playing Smash Bros with friends. Secret of Mana with a good friend as kids – he didn’t normally play games. Swapping a controller to beat a race in Ratchet and Clank – for bolts (money).
Intimacy is a shared experience, the pickup. Talking is shared. Facebook, twitter, the internet. Blog comments, blogs. You want to be heard and hear what other people have to say, because they have unique perspective, because they are in a different mental state from you and have lived different lives.
Joe and Mac with my father, once. He got pissed because I kept accidentally clubbing him – we could hurt each other (should have turned that one off – didn’t know how (I was an idiot)).
Board games with my family – card games, Cribbage, Risk. I loved board games, complicated board games. I wish they were deeper. Getting drunk with friends… other things like that. Singing while drunk. Arguing about science, school, politics, religion. Being in a lecture hall, listening to the professor, taking notes, with everyone around you doing something similar.
You want to compete with others; you want to do similar things around them, you want to do anything around them, so that you can learn from them, using them as an example; so that you can learn from them, using them as a reflection of yourself.
There is a feedback loop with other people, even if they’re ignoring you. You behave, you perceive, you reflect. Their experiences and opinions contrast against yours and you learn. You grow, or at the very least see inside yourself for a moment, achieve a state of levity or control.
the Game 