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EverQuest - Not Just For Geeks?
DJPenguin writes "In this article at the BBC, a respected psychologist has co-authored a study into people who play games online, which breaks some of the stereotype of online gamers." This is similar in the results as the survey data we did of open source developers. The stereotypes and realities are often *very* different.
Of course it's not just for geeks. It's for Terminal Virgins, too. It's just that those two populations tend to have LOTS of overlap.
In this article at the BBC, a respected psychologist has co-authored a study into people who play games online, which breaks some of the stereotype of online gamers.
Respected no more.
Haven't you all seen the commercial for the PS2 port of EverQuest? The players appear to all be friends from different racial backgrounds, know martial arts in real life and like to strike dynamic poses when making affirmative statements such as 'Let's do this!'
It all seems to work out too:
The white guy plays the archetypal white male barbarian character.
The asian girl plays the underdressed yet powerful female wizard character.
The black guy plays the dirty green ogre barbarian character.
Everybody has their place! LET'S DO THIS!!
-Rylfaeth
Perhaps the reason the game extends far beyond the "geek" community is that "real" geeks don't have that much time to devote to playing games? :-)
Or perhaps I'm just showing my age again...
I always thought that stereotypes were accurate. It's kind of a shock to find out that they are different from the truth.
chillax137
If you dropped the bow so you weren't carrying a weapon, the default attack for this character is the high kick. I ran into some bug where the rendering engine woudn't know you were carrying a weapon but you still could shoot arrows. You'd do a high kick and a arrow would shoot out your crotch.
EverQuest - Not Just For Geeks?
Yeah, like Linux - and this is coming from a geek website.
MMORG are mainly played by men. A significant number of whom can quite happily spend a significant amount of time playing, without anybody missing their social input into civilisation.
(Oh and that attractive elfish maiden you've been chasing after IS probably a 43yr old oracle dba - you should listen to those little voices of doubt in future).
It's for nerds and dorks, too.
Boy do I not feel vindicated. Ok, so all gamerrs are not geeks. How much did this guy get paid for this "study"? Sheesh.
Simple logic tells you this. Look at the console explosion. Over the years more and more people brought games into their homes. Usually through consoles. Not all of these people are "geeks". Some are too stupid to deserve that honor.
Still, we've had gaming in the household for over a generation now, it's plainly obvious that it's not just for geeks anymore. In fact, I know a stripper who plays MMOG's. Whenever I see her character online I can't decide if I should see if she wants to hunt loot, or if I should start masturbating and giving her all of my loot, but I digress...
Games make as much money as the movies, we are beyond the saturation point, and this is not news to anyone save for geeks and nerds who are certain that nobody understands them.
I'm a geek. I get a nice paycheck. Women are shallow. They like money. Come on guys, simple logic. Go score some snapper!
Grimwell - old, cranky, mean, obsessive
I bet the coach would freak out if he heard them talking about "buffing" each other though...
Robots are everywhere, and they eat old people's medicine for fuel.
Please don't take away my comfortable sterotype! I will have to live to a higher social standard if jocks start to play EQ.
;-)
*cry*
Well, I think this report is skewed.
This is trying to tell the world that online gamers are not geeks... when everyone knows that no matter who you are, the moment you get out on the net and start playing Everquest, well...
YOU HAVE JUST BECOME A GEEK. There are no normal people that have gone that far. Normal is waiting all week to see what happens on the next episode of Friends.
Everquest just ain't normal. Here's your membership card.
Instead, today's player is just as likely to be a well-paid professional - male or female - aged in their 40s
This shouldn't come as a surprise, geekiness doesn't have an age limit and it makes sense that the people that play subscription based games regularly actually have jobs and make decent money.
There isn't really anything surprising about the demographic that play these games. It also sounds like the guy who carried out the survey is trying to justify the his own "excessive" use of everquest (And he definitely is a geek, check out the pic).
GET REAL GET SMART GET A BREASTPLATE OF THE VOID
...And you have to come to a point where you can say "I steal pants because I am too lazy to buy them on e-bay."
:CHARACTER MATTERS
We now return to the tavern where respected psychologist Dr Bloom Eternal helps everquest players through their personal difficulties:
TODAY'S SHOW: When having your pants stolen by your friends after you're dead hurts.
Dr Bloom Eternal:
Gorak_munchkin: I'm sorry Regolath! You were dead and I needed your pants. I couldn't just buy some because I only earn a pittance an hour at Chuck-e Cheese. I can't believe it's come to this. Me, over 19 and playing everquest for more than 50 hours a week as a woman even though I'm male and I still can't earn enough pp to get pants of my own! Bwahhaaaa!
Regolath_the_third: I accept that you need pants. You could have just asked for them. After all we were going on that quest to find Baldric Slezaf, or kill Baldric Slezaf or something so that you could get some platinum to cover your bare behind. I mean, waiting till I got killed by a barnacle bones was pretty low.
Dr Bloom Eternal: So you feel you're a victim?
Regolath_the_third: I HAD MY PANTS STOLEN!
Gorak_munchkin: If only I could kill some monsters. You'd think that after sacrificing so much simpsons watching time I'd be ok at combat.
Regolath_the_third: I should have stuck to progressquest
Dr Bloom Eternal: Now we're getting somewhere!
Gorak_munchkin: The bottom line is I just suck.
Dr Bloom Eternal: You do need to step up you guys need to negotiate. Obviously you're a good guy....I think you're just lazy, and you like to do things that feel good... I wouldn't care if you had 50,000 hours behind you if you could actually stay alive long enough to start the first part of a quest and you were taking care of your responsibilities as a party member. Isn't that the issue?
Regolath_the_third: Damn straight.
Gorak_munchkin: Hey! I resent the lazy tag. I'm not going to wear it.
Dr Bloom Eternal: In summary - it's not about the pants. It's about why are you not being any good.
BUY Dr BLOOM'S BOOKS AND TAPES:
Change your life with Dr Bloom's step by step advice.
Next Week:
Party dynamics: Could your party makeup be affecting your questing life? Maybe you shouldn't be entirely composed of bards.
You ask this of us, and yet you post as a.c.?!?! KNAVE! Thou shouldst be drawn and quartered (in butter of course)!
I heard he has a vorpal couch.
If tits were wings it'd be flying around.