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Profile of a Hard-Core Gamer
brettlbecker writes "The NYTimes is running a story on Richard L. Stenlund, or, as players of MMORPG Anarchy Online undoubtedly know him, Thedeacon. Quote from the article: "Thedeacon is a celebrity. Mr. Stenlund, meanwhile, feels trapped - trapped in a town too far from big cities where big things happen, trapped in a hand-to-mouth existence, trapped in a mean little culture of cheap thrills and fast-food television." Infamy, perversion, bankruptcy, virtual protests, online counseling. How much do *you* accomplish in 7 hours a day?"
but what's AO? I'm not about to waste my time making a fake NYT account just to see what those letters mean.
"excellent" karma, but that doesn't impress girls in the "real" world.
"The more you deal with people, the more you hate people" ... ain't that the truth?
Stupid people make stupid things profitable.
wow, so they pretty much summed up Comic Book Guy, now who is this guy again?
Geez, no wonder the guy is lv 200, and rich in the game. It looks like he's trying to 'lay an egg' right now.
Apparently, some people *can* mix their 'buisiness' with pleasure.
People still play AO?
Look no further.
This is a true hardcore gamer .
I only post comments when someone on the internet is wrong.
Most articles are dupes ... I have a bad short-term memory, so I still enjoy reading Slashdot.
It's the New York Times. I'll wait until a reputable newspaper writes about it without all the we're-summing-up-the-trend-so-you-don't-have-to verbage.
Oh man, I bet you've pissed off the 12 year old gamer section of Slashdot. I'd watch out. They will sooo 0wn you with their Broad Axes of Destruction(+25 Dex, +10 Str, +2 to all Skills).
The last sentence was supposed to read "Hard Core Gamer..." but I missed the 'd'.
Pays to aim I guess...
Someday, I'll have a real sig.
... but their addiction consisted of cocaine and not video games. In ten years, caffine will be the thing gamers become addicted to! "I don't want to play Doom IV again, but why not - I haaave the POOOOOWEER!"
about 15 minutes of actual work....
Great, now everyone in Madison is going to know that even his wife thinks that he's a perv...
This is the real signature
(Beats those shadows on the cave wall, don't it?)
Well, lets see-
Shaggy, badly cut hair
Probably has a large nose or some other non-appealing to the opposite sex feature
A double chin from too much Mountain Dew and Pizza and inactivity
A giant pot belly from the same
Sagging shoulders from poor posture
OH, wait, this is a PERSONALITY profile???
Wow, that's going to be even scarier than the above image
---"What did I say that sounded like 'Tell me about your day?'"---
I attend the Rochester Institute of Technology. My freshman year (so long ago -_-), a friend of mine had a room mate, let's call him Loser.
Now, Loser seemed like a nice guy. He was quiet, he used his computer, ate his grub, and generally stayed out of my friend's way. In fact, he never said anything to my friend, or to anyone else as far as we were aware.
You see, Loser played Asheron's Call. All the time. His body would sit there rigid, unmoving, while he leveled. My friend recalls a specific incident where he woke up to find Loser playing, went to several classes, played some D&D with all of us, and returned over 9 hours later to find him still playing the game. We know Loser had been playing the whole time: he was wearing the same towel he'd had on that morning, and the empty plate we assume he'd eaten breakfast off of was still sitting on his lap.
Loser would ignore fire alarms (which at RIT, which adjoins the National Technical Institute for the Deaf, is no small feat). Loser would forget to eat. Loser would rarely go to class, shave, bathe, or move.
The end of the year came, and Loser went home. He kept his computer hooked up and running right up until his parents had moved everything else to the car. I assume it was the first thing he unpacked.
Loser still goes to RIT as far as I can tell. I saw him in the Engineering building once, so I think he's an engineering student.
I never liked Loser. I wonder why...
GeekNights!
Late Night Radio for Geeks!
It's one thing to be yet another online gaming addict written about....but an online gaming addict using AOL?
And you thought SARS and Monkeypox were cause for alarm....
Agent Smith: As you can see, we've had our eye on you for some time now, Mr. Stenlund. It seems that you've been living two lives. In one life, you're Richard L. Stenlund, a struggling, frustrated 27-year-old computer repairman trapped in a town too far from big cities where big things happen, trapped in a hand-to-mouth existence, trapped in a mean little culture of cheap thrills and fast-food television. The other life is lived at the distant end of a strife-torn galaxy, where you are a genetically engineered mutant called Thedeacon and are guilty of virtually every soul-light dimming crime we have a law for. One of these lives has a future, and one of them does not. I'm going to be as forthcoming as I can be, Mr. Stenlund. You're here because we need your help. We know that you've been contacted by a certain individual, a man who calls himself Morpheus. Now whatever you think you know about this man is irrelevant. He is considered by many authorities to be the most dangerous man alive. My colleagues believe that I am wasting my time with you but I believe that you wish to do the right thing. We're willing to wipe the slate clean, give you a fresh start and all that we're asking in return is your cooperation in bringing a known terrorist to justice.
_________________________________
The Spiders are Coming. Next episode June 13th 2003
9+ hrs in the same spot? His name should have been "Bladder of Steel"!
Or, [shudder] was there a large puddle at his feet?
They don't get out much. That is partly a result of the couple's dim finances, but also a result of Mr. Stenlund's dim view of humanity. "The more you deal with people, the more you hate people," he said. "It just feels that everybody is so asleep in this world."
[...]
"No money," Ms. Werner-Stenlund recalled. "Nowhere to go. Nothing to do. We were being threatened to be sued left and right, and I think we were both on the verge of swallowing a bottle of pills."
With the walls closing in, the Stenlunds fled to the mall one day in July 2001, just looking to treat themselves to some small gifts. Ms. Werner-Stenlund bought some shirts. Mr. Stenlund bought Anarchy Online.
"I can honestly say that A. O. helped save my life," Mr. Stenlund said, sitting on a bench outside the store where his journey began.
Games that heal. Hmmm I can feel a Dr Phil coming on....
_______________________________________________
The Spiders are Coming. Next episode: July 13, 2003
Did you even read the second paragraph of Transient0's post?
;)
Medically the second and third are used, with the added caveat that it is not an activity or substance normally considered to be necessary for survival (otherwise we are all food, oxygen and sleep addicts).
That would *exclude* air, water, food, caffeine, and probably UN*X as well.
My journal has hot
Except on slashdot.
[RIM-SHOT!]
In the future, I would want to not be isolated from my friends in the Space Station.
I always wanted to know hom many people are addicted to something. In my opinion, most people are addicted to one thing or another, let it be work, games or drugs. Personally, I stick to Wolfenstein and marihuana :).
"It's too bad that stupidity isn't painful." - Anton LaVey
"Now, however, the couple's most important goal is to relocate to an exotic destination in this galaxy: Las Vegas." So he's a guy with a addictive peronality traits, and he is moving to Vegas?
It is better to be the hammer than the anvil.
Wow, that story sure did dispell the biased notion that online RPG players are disfunctional failers in the real world who use these games to flee their miserable lives.
Puritanism - The haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be having a good time.
It could be the start of something beautiful. Be sure to let us know where you plan to try it so we can all be there to watch.
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
People who are gods in computer games but get no respect otherwise.
Fat, drunk, and stupid is no way to go through life, son.
The article makes a salient (if subtle) point -- the twin worlds of real and simulated are converging. The bytes on a stick of RAM, the packets flung across Cable TV lines -- these coalesce into a spatial world depicting personality and (in this case) lending illustration to a personal article.
You are John Katz and I claim my five dollars.
Are you sure you don't have a looser definition of "girl" than the rest of us? ;)
"If you're thinking what I'm thinking, you're right." -
Who cares? I've been playing video games since I was a fetus! My mom had Pong implanted in her uterus! And that was back when video games were hard! Not like now - you kids got it easy! You have 3D graphics, but in my day your guy was just a little square with no name or nothing! And the screens just kept getting harder and harder until you died! Just like life!
It means that he's not one of the pinheads driving like an asshole, stealing the house plants by my front door, taking up two spaces in a crowded parking lot, or lobbying the government to enforce their particular morality on me at gunpoint. As far as I'm concerned, he's damn near royalty. ;)
Shawn
Because you gotta bitch
I never liked Loser. I wonder why...
He was better at it than you?
OCD. OCD. OCD. OCD. OCD. OCD. OCD. OCD. ...
For example, you can't get within 500 yards of the White House in either Washington or Madison...
Visit me on the web at Permanent4.com.
First of all, his failiure in Real Life was probably inevitable - after all, it is fairly clear from the article that his AO addiction followed his failiure, not the other way around. He encountered failure, and chose to escape it through online gaming.
Considering this, his situation is actually very similar - almost identical - to thousands (millions?) of other Americans - except that in his case you substitute
"watches daytime TV all day"
"is drunk of his ass all day"
"sends spam emails all day"
with
"plays a MMORPG all 7 hours a day."
Therefore, you have to recognize that at the very least his chosen activity is on the whole a positive, not negative, force. Sure, as its not helping him improve his Real Life (not yet anyway), but at least he is enriching others' lives through his contribution to AO. He's helping to make the game more enjoyable for dozens, hundreds or thousands of other people - therefore having a positive impact on people around him, however small.
If more unemployed disillusioned types played online games all day instead of getting drunk and beating their kids, America might actually be a slightly better place.
Fatter and pastier skinned, yes, but still slightly better.
I grok that perv stuff, baby. Still, rumor has it the Internet will allow you to be a pervert without paying monthly fees. Also, you won't have to wear robes or carry a staff around, and you can accomplish it in somewhat less than 7 hours per day.
You think is is random chance? Is it random that a serious Quake/Counter Strike/Street Fighter player could beat you 100 times in straight matches?
No, it's not random chance, it's those pesky aimbots.
Yeah, depiction of violence is free speech. But cursing and nudity? OMIGOD! Censor it!
It's 10 PM. Do you know if you're un-American?
He demands sexual favors from mutants of all species and requests that, in particular, mutant females of the nanomage persuasion provide him their feet.
....Bethanie....
I'm pretty sure I dated this guy in college!
Don't try to argue with the zealots. They'll only say you're in denial and then pray to their higher power that you someday see the light.
Woof.