I will agree on one point.
Videogames should indeed be played with friends. Be it single-player or multi-player, having company is an extremely fun way to game. Why?
I mean, multi-player games are meant to be played that way- it doesn't really work with one person.
Single player games? In my opinion, it's like watching a funny TV show. One person messes up hilariously (the player) and the others have a good time off of it (friends). Keep on switching turns, and it's pretty much a party, at least from my perspective. I've jumped off the ledges too far in too many Mario games to know the feeling of messing up. But it's fun!
And that's all I'll agree with.
Now, online gaming with strangers. Why do I think it's actually a good idea?
1. It helps people cope with communication troubles- I had/still have social anxiety, and for a while, even ordering food at a restaurant made me lose my breath. Some people have trouble talking to others in person, and you can't necessarily blame them for all of it. Some people were just more confined to the house, others weren't raised in a social enough environment, etc. Online games that have the means of communicating with "strangers" help train people to converse with others in real life, even if it means using the keyboard as "square one". Games are naturally goal-oriented- this creates an optimum environment for communication as both players would have the same goal. Of course, in competitive gaming, there is admittingly strikingly different goals for each team, but the pressure only adds to the need to communicate. Automated pings later become chat messages which later evolve into voicechat on Skype/Discord- Players become very articulate with conveying what they want/don't want.
2. Friends- All of our friends were once strangers, so what's stopping that in gaming? Granted, you can't see them or physically interact with them, which is a turnoff for some people. But for others, they are completely fine with that. I guess it all depends with your definition of "friendship" honestly. Mines, personally, is just "somebody who advises, relates, and respects you". Nowhere in that definition do I want "physically there for me" as a requirement, because alot of people are there, but not really "there" for you. Honestly, I would take a screen name who is true to me over a real life person who's faking their friendship and just using me.
3. Anonymity- In only certain cases do people become drastically different online. I know a few people who say nothing while in school yet have the mouth of a sailor when we're playing League of Legends. When you're playing with your friends and tend to get emotional, those emotions can affect the mood of your friends as well, potentially ruining some relationships. And yes, I know, some of those fights are just little squabbles, but those build up over time into something real. Some people lose friends in the heat of wanting to win a game, and I know from experience (I haven't lost a friend myself from that, but I've seen it happen in a chatroom). Sometimes, people just want to vent and not drag in their friends with them. Playing with strangers online under different screennames just helps that sort of "venting" happen, really.
Game for the sake of it. It's simple.
your blog was fun to read but one thing that I don't want to say bothered me, more so caught my attention was the the first paragraph. you stated "usuing the keyboard as square one". However, then you did not elaborate on that. You did not specify what type of device the game was being played on. example a game on the computer which may require a video camera, a keyboard, a head set. we the readers want to know what it is exactly you're trying to convey. in the second paragraph you used
ReplyDelete"mines" try to avoid that word in its entirety. also you do not need quotation marks after you say what your friendships consist of. overall, the blog was fun to read just watch little errors.
Games are awesome; it's fun, there's competition, and it's a chance to make new friends--both in the real and the virtual world. In your post, you brought up and agreed to both sides of the argument, firstly, how gaming with actual friends is fun in one way and, secondly, how gaming with online friends is fun in another. People who have trouble trying to be social in the real world doesn't mean they can't or don't want to. Your blog post did well in assessing that these kinds of people have incredible communicating skills with the help of games. I found the last sentence of the second paragraph meaningful--I, too, would prefer online friends (whether teammate or opponent) over real-world people who don't respect me.
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