So, geek is officially cool now, as evidenced by this video from the “Society for Geek Advancement” entitled simply “I am a Geek”:
But, lest we forget, we must all be socially approved geeks. We will all use Twitter (soo subversive and counter-culture) and talk about it a lot, since that will make us edgy and tech savvy. We will wear stylish glasses in an ironic fashion, and also ironically appreciate the nostalgic humor personified by the appearance of MC Hammer (an obvious pillar of geek culture) in this video. Also, we shall throw around a few words about coding in order to really up our cred and make us seem cool and mysterious with our “new language,” but we swear never to do anything as lame as actually play D&D, because that would be… geeky.
Uh huh.
While this… project… thing seems to be benefiting a charity, it comes across as a trying-too-hard social media commercial. (They use the term “social capital” in their About section, for fuck’s sake.) Even Wil Wheaton came out and said he regretted doing it!
“I was under the impression that this video would feature actual geeks who are important to our culture, like Woz, Felicia Day, Leo Laporte, and Jonathan Coulton. Instead, I saw a lot of entrepreneurs who have good marketing instincts, joined by a bunch of celebrities who are attempting to co-opt our culture because it’s what their publicity team is telling them to do.
When you’re speaking to people who read TMZ and People magazine, getting contributions from MC Hammer, Ashton Kutcher and Shaq is a logical choice. But when you’re speaking to geeks, it’s insulting to us to pretend that they are part of and speak for our culture. Those people are not geeks; they’re celebrities who happen to use Twitter.”
He also comes out in huge nerdy support of D&D, which is utterly charming; the whole post is basically an excellently written “this was not what I signed up for” damage control piece.
I really have no problem with social media, nor the people who can do amazing things with it to their advantage. But let’s call it what it is and leave the pretending to the LARPers.
“It generally isn’t the reactions of the developers and publishers themselves that cause problems. It’s their perception of how the players will react that results in them making unwise decisions.”
So, last installment I covered the myriad of ways players can tie the virtual knot in different MMOs. And the question remains: why would you want to?
Perhaps the most obvious reason is that you, you know, like the person. Whether you’re married in real life or fell in love during a brutal five hour raid session, informing the world (of Warcaft) of your unholy Tauren/Forsaken union has a certain appeal. Much like a real life wedding ring, it lets other people know that yes, you are spoken for, and you’re proud of your relationship. I suppose in theory it could cut down on the number of in-game propositions from other players, although if art imitates life, there’s a chance that quite the opposite (possibly NSFW) could occur.
In addition to the emotional benefit, marraige has its more tangible perks: tax breaks, obligatory extra presents every year for anniversaries, and the fact that you can make off with half their stuff if it goes sour. (I kid, I kid.) Like I mentioned in part one, many Asia-based MMOs offer things like double xp; the couple that kills 10,000 boars together stays together… at least until the level cap. While I find the concept rather entertaining, I have to wonder if people are lining up like so many gold-digging college girls looking for someone to marry strictly for the benefits. (Future moneymaking idea: creepy mail-order bride style site for MMO players!)
Finally, some roleplayers find that tying the knot is a natural progression of their storyline and their character’s relationships. I harassed the indomitable Saxon until he typed up his story of being married in Star Wars Galaxies:
“Norlin Jones was a chubby musician who made a little fame in the sands of Tatooine. He played every stage on that dust ball, from Mos Espa to Jabba’s Palace. Though the Empire could never prove it, he was also suspected of being one of the most active smugglers on five planets. Norlin had no love for the Empire, but that didn’t mean that he wanted anything to do with the Rebels, unless they payed cash up front.
While laying low in Wayfar, he caught the attentions of a fiery, lovely, young dancer who he would soon learn was knee-deep in the Rebellion. Despite all of his survival instincts to cut ties, he fell for her. He bought her a ring and they exchanged vows at small ceremony in the Wayfar Cantina. They settled down on Corellia and built an outpost to shelter fellow Rebels from the Imperials. Together they made themselves a thorn in the Empire’s side, traveling the galaxy as an entertainment duo and sabotaging, attacking and harassing the Imperials at every turn.”
“Playing my smuggler/musician was an inherently social thing. For the first half of the character’s plying life I never got into the PvP aspect of the game. Upon meeting the character (Carmen) who Norlin would marry, we both had the entertainer front with a hidden, anti-establishment bent. We ended up being online a lot at the same time, so Norlin ran a few Rebel missions with her. The wedding evolved pretty naturally as a part of Norlin’s character arc. The fact that it drew him into the Rebellion was icing on the cake.”
Ironically, I know a lot of real life couples who choose not to get married in-game. Perhaps they feel it’s a little redundant, maybe they’re only dating in real life and it would feel weird, maybe they want to feel freer to pursue RP storylines with other people, or maybe they just don’t care. On the flip side, I knew a girl in my brief stint in Second Life (HarlotHint: Just don’t.) who would “partner” with different people in quick succession just because she thought the concept of SL marriage was stupid; I think she was an interesting foil to those who would, in all seriousness, have a new “true love” every two weeks.
So, whether you want to continue your marriage into virtual worlds, just want the excuse to have a big party, want some free xp, or find your character has fallen hard for someone, there’s something for everyone in MMO marriage. Just try to remember not to kill your virtual spouse if things go south, allright?
I attended a wedding a few years ago that was quite exceptional. The bride was radiant in her white gown, the groom looked dashing in his tuxedo, and the minister was a purple-skinned alien with lekku coming out of her head. The elaborately decorated reception included free drinks, a band, and a wedding crasher being repeatedly killed on the dance floor.
Ah, marriage in MMOs. It may seem a little wacky at first, but it stands to reason that you grow attached to people after spending hours together in a team-based environment. While some players seem content to nauseate the rest of the raid with baby talk and endless /kiss emotes, there are those special few who decide to make their union “official.” Amusingly enough, MMO developers seem to encourage in-game weddings in a variety of ways:
The aforementioned Star Wars Galaxies has a wedding guide on their official site, including tips on picking a venue, sending out invitations, and equipping the wedding party. Back in the heyday of the game an entire wedding industry in miniature emerged, with people advertising as wedding planners, decorators and officiants.
The haters at World of Warcraft won’t officially recognize your union, but they put wedding attire in the game, including a fabulous selection of rings ranging from the 5 gold Cubic Zirconia Ring (tooltip: “Trust me, she’ll know.") to “The Rock,” which will set you back 100g. I was never fortunate enough to see a player wedding in WoW, but I have seen more male Taurens running around Shattrath in wedding dresses than I care to count.
Everquest II became the topic of several bemused mainstream media articles after two players had a wedding at Fan Faire, followed by logging in and getting married in-game right after the real ceremony. Meta.
Finally, much like tax breaks in real life, several Asian MMOs have taken to giving married players special in-game abilities, including the ability to summon your old lady with a click of your wedding ring, wedding planning quests and double xp for fighting together. (Props to Dream of Mirror Online for recently extending these privileges to same-sex couples; sad when a video game is more progressive than one’s government, isn’t it?)
So, you have a lot of options to get virtually married. The question is, why would you want to? The answer? Forthcoming in part two: same Harlot time, same Harlot site.
(PS - if any of you have been married in a game and would like to share your reasons/experience, leave a comment or shoot me an email: theharlot at gameharlot dot com.)
It was a typical evening in Warhammer Online; having just besieged a keep and beat the Keep Lord until toys came out, the warband was leisurely taking over some battleground objectives (kill a few npcs and cap a flag to claim an area of the map) and mopping up any stray Order players that wandered too close.
I checked my map to see where we would be murderin’ next, and when I closed it, I discovered I was accidentally standing inside a Black Orc. And I instinctively hit S and backed up away from him. And then I got to thinking, “Why the hell did I do that?” We were both just pixels on a screen - I wasn’t actually touching anybody. And yet, even in a swarm of players, everyone maintained their distance. This experience isn’t exclusive to WAR, of course; I thought back to running Gruul’s Lair in WoW. When ordered to “group up” on a player flagged with a star for the trash mobs, people would still end up in a cluster close around the player, despite the fact that the game would have allowed us to all stand inside each other.
And why not? Well, it seems the concept of “personal space” was in play, even in a non-physical environment. The all-knowing Wikipedia says:
“While it is highly variable and difficult to measure accurately the best estimates for personal physical space place it at about 24.5 inches (60 centimeters) on either side, 27.5 inches (70 centimeters) in front and 15.75 inches (40 centimeters) behind for an average westerner.”
A little Google-fu revealed that researchers in the UK had studied the concept in Second Life, creating a bot that would get all up in people’s business and attempt to talk to them, as well as recording how human-controlled avatars interacted. The result?
“It found that users are, on average, six times more likely to shift position when someone comes to within 1.2 m. That backs up the idea that people also value their virtual personal space, say the researchers.”
Pretty fascinating that we maintain our social norms even as we run around as elves and orcs, no?
Mongol General: Hao! Dai ye! We won again! This is good, but what is best in life?
Mongol: The open steppe, fleet horse, falcons at your wrist, and the wind in your hair.
Mongol General: Wrong! Conan! What is best in life?
Conan: To crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentation of their women.
Mongol General: That is good! That is good.
Anarchy is kind of a cool idea in theory. (Shut up, read the rest of the post.) Finally, you think, I can shove my smug boss and his smug ergonomic office chair out of the 14th floor window, loot all the stores of their overpriced merchandise, and go roaring off into the sunset on a killer motorcycle dangling pretty women, sans consequences.
But suppose you are the boss crashing through the plate glass, the store employee cowering under the counter, the guy who gets the crap kicked out of him for no reason at all? Suddenly, the apocalypse doesn’t look quite so enticing. Transfer this to video games, and you’re the wide-eyed new character who just got one-shotted by an epic-ed out badass because he didn’t like your face. Repeatedly. And then he takes all your level one armor, and teabags you until you log out. (Insult, meet injury.)
“...because people enjoy hardcore PvP in the abstract. Or, to put another way, many more people believe they are ‘hardc0re’ than actually are. And they dislike being proved wrong pretty powerfully.”
“Here’s the problem: If these PvP-centric games aren’t for “carebears”, then who are they for? Griefers? Well when you design a game that only they want to play, then yes.
Now we’ve got a game packed to the rim with griefers, but those types live to torture everyone else. Messing with other irredeemables isn’t going to cut it, especially when all there is to do is murder each other endlessly.”
Both articles are worth the read; there’s definitely a delicate balance between “unplayable gankfest” and “um, can I kill people now?”
(PS - Don’t fuck with the Carebears - they will fucking stare you, noob.)
It’s fall, which means the just-in-time-for-the-holidays games season cometh. One of the titles that piqued my interest was Mirror’s Edge, in which you perform parkour-inspired moves to get around a pretty, dystopian city. The fact that the main character, Faith, is a hot chick with a rad geeky tattoo doesn’t hurt either. (Bonus for female gamer whiners: she even has a whole shirt on!)
Now, I don’t normally get motion sick or anything, but even after seeing that little clip, I had a feeling that playing the whole game would end up something like this.
I expect they made it in first person view to make the game more immersive - and who doesn’t want to be an instant Spidey-esque wall-running badass? Still, I’m a little wary.
For one thing, I like watching a character do cool acrobatic stuff, like the rooftop running in Assasin’s Creed. To limit it to watching your hands and legs flailing around while you watch the world spin seems a little wasteful, especially in such a gorgeous game. First person and over-the-shoulder (a la Gears of War) work in games where your character is doing repetitive things, like shooting whatever insane weaponry is in style that season. But if you’re doing spectacular Matrix-ey stunts, can we maybe see a few of them?
I’m sure I’ll still give Mirror’s Edge a whirl, and I may well end up eating my pixellated words. It may be awhile though, because Gears II already has a spot at the top of my dance card, and I intend to do some serious waltzing.
(Edit: Sorry this post was so late… turns out there is, in fact, a time difference between 1 AM and 1 PM.)