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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?"
Anarchy online
Martin
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/06/12/technology/circu its/12play.html?ex=1055995200&en=2146e82adce8b0ea& ei=5062&partner=GOOGLE
Anarchy Online is a game much like Everquest. But it has kinda of a twist to it. The players make up the story line. There is a war going on, between 2 divisions, the Omni, and the Clan. The players have been given the foundation of the starting storyline, but the players (with the help of some special events) keep the story going by fighting the opposing side. It is based on a more technologicly advanced culture. Good place to read into the game's story line, look here.
Every Super Villan uses Linux.
There are three popular and accepted definitions of an addict. The first is that they pursue their habit to the point where it has a strong negative impact on the rest of their life. The second is that if the person tries, in all earnestness, to give up the activity and finds themselves unable, they are an addict. The third is that they experience significant and measurable withdrawal symptoms when denied the substance or activity.
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). I should point out now that current psychology and medicine have given up on the distinction between physical and psychological addiction. There is no measurable difference between the two. Even activities such as computer gaming which are non-invasive promote distinct electrical and chemical activities in the brain which can be as strong a basis for addiction as anything.
In answer to your question, I would be pretty sure that anyone who describes themselves as a "hard-core gamer" probably is an addict in the medical sense. In common parlance however, we don't tend to call people addicts to accepted forms of entertainment unless they also fulfill the first requirement. So the actual answer (as addict is commonly used by non-medical people) is that the difference between a hard-core gamer and a gaming addict is that the addicts gaming has a negative impact on his life as a whole (failing school, losing their job, poor eating habits) whereas the hard-core gamer is still relatively well adjusted.
lysergically yours
It is simply easy for someone to blame someone else, rather than looking closer at home. If there is trouble, blame someone else. Let's blame Marilyn Manson, South Park (Canada!), or Games.
Hoist Number One and Number Six.
That probably was: "The more people I meet, the more I like my dog."
At any rate, people like you make people like me like their cats a lot.
Google link to article
Their description of him in the article was kind of rough, but he's a great guy once you get to know him.
I play Anarchy Online, and Thedeacon is a dick in game. I'm surprised that an article was written about him rather than a guild leader.
The only reason that his org Storm is so powerful is because it has 503 members who try to level as fast as possible, then they complain when they reach the top level and have nothing to do. Hence the:
For more than a year, Meta-Physicist players have lobbied Funcom to enhance their profession, widely considered the weakest in the game. Frightened by the prospect that Meta-Physicists would continue to be left behind, Thedeacon spent two weeks organizing a protest march, held last weekend.
Welcome to a MMOG, I guess.
I've been in the genre, so to speak, for my fair share of time. I've been playing computer games since I was five. I taught myself to read playing Dragon Warrior and how to count by adding up my coins in Mario. As far as online games go, I've played them since their birth. I've been around in some form in The Realm, M59, UO, EQ, AO (left AC and AC2 alone ... won't buy a M$ game, sorry) and I'm currently devoting my time to Shadowbane where I run the guild Requiem.
I'll be the first to admit, addiction is a *serious* issue with online games. Thankfully I have a strong grip on reality thanks to a very large social network of friends who do *not* play these games. If I've been on the computer too long they usually come to my house and kidnap me. =) However, I've been there for those 8 hour days of clearing Plane of Fear, it happens.
But before you start hurling insults (especially those of you who merely troll Slashdot for 8 hours a day!!!) not everyone who devotes a lot of time to an online game are addicts or pathetic. I'll give you that there are a lot of emotionally unstable people who should not be playing these games (and they are fairly easy to spot within the games) yet I'll share with you my experience when I was playing a lot.
When I was 15 I found out I had a severe case of scoliosis. They tried bracing me for over a year with no helpful effects, in fact my condition got worse. By the time I was 17 I had a 59 degree curve in my lower back and a 53 degree curve in my upper back with a 39 degree curve right at my neck. Let me assure you, this was not a pleasant experience. Surgury was the only option I had left.
I was left with close to zero flexibility in my back as 90% of my vertibre are now fused together and braced by 2 titanium rods. Not to mention I was wheelchaired for 3 months and extremely weak for an entire year.
I did my school work from home, but usually finished it quickly with no problem (public high school is unfortunately a joke.) This left me with a lot of time to either dull my mind watching TV, or playing with my computer.
Everquest was my only outlet for meaningful social interaction, especially in the early hours of the morning while all of my "real" friends were sleeping. But I wasn't sleeping, when you can't most of your back, you don't sleep well. My character, Ordieth Lightblade, was at times a popular character. So I understand why these people play these games.
Before you judge, consider that many of these "powergamers" usually fall into a few categories.
1.) Minors - I'd say the majority of power gamers are between the ages of 12-17. Yes, many many many 12 year olds play these games, sometimes with their parents. Frankly, it only takes the intelligence of a 12 year old to play EQ. Most of these kids (I was one of them, started EQ when I was 16) don't have jobs, and are not in school all that much, don't have cars, etc. Therefore they have plenty of time.
2.) Disabled/Unemployed - I'm always amazed when I start talking to people in EQ/SB at the number of unemployed people that play simply because they are either too depressed to keep looking for another crappy job or they know they can squeak out another 6 months on unemployment pay. =) As for us disabled, most are too ashamed to admit it, but there is a large group of paralyzed, impaired, deaf/dumb, etc players. Of course those of us with disabilites will be drawn to a fantasy world where everyone is the same. Everyone can talk, walk, run, be the hero, etc. I know EQ helped me during my hardest times.
3.) True Addicts: I've also met a few of these. I suppose these should almost go under disabilities, mental ones to be precise. Most of the people I find that are totally addicted are this way due to some sort of mental fixation. Where as the people in the above categories were playing for social/pass the time reasons, these people play because they have either passed out of reality into fantasy and believe this is their life, or they simply cannot function without it anymore. I m
-Ordieth Radiskull: "Is it boiling hot?"
Well, FunCom (Anarchy Online's creators) do have a program called ARK (Advisors of Rubi-Ka) that earn gamers free subscriptions through a few hours of service per week. Such services involve in-game tech support, customer service, greeting and helping new players, coordinating and running events and stories, etc. I'm sure Thedeacon is well aware of the ARK program, but probably just would rather do what he does on his own time. As far as FunCom putting forth an effort to keep guys like Thedeacon playing, the best thing they can do is add content and fix the gameplay problems that such players address. That would be much more valuable to Thedeacon and his ilk than a free subscription. I hope that answered your question.
quote:
Originally posted by Amis
Deacon, I don't think the story casts you in a negative light at all, and it certainly was not meant to. As you know, I play this game a lot too. I think the response of the community so far, all of these congratulatory posts, demonstrates that far from being a "negative" portrayal, it tries to show how much you mean to this community and how much this community means to you. I hope you come to see it that way.
your friend,
amis
Endquote
Seth, you wrote so many lies in that article that I had to put on hip waders to get through it all. Literally everything you put in there about my real life was taken out of context.
"Blue collar side of Madison"? "Adult bookstores"? Excuse me, while there's nothing wrong with blue collar type work, since when did you learn so much about the city of Madison to know what side of town is blue collar? And why was there a pressing need to mention that there is an adult bookstore FIVE MILES from my home?
Look at everything you wrote. You see how it all has a downward slant to it?
A journalist with integrity would have written something like
"Despite hardship, the Stenlunds maintain a loving marriage and Richard extends his warm and friendly personality to the gameworld of Anarchy Online, where he spends a considerable portion of his time helping and coaching new players become acclimated to such a complex social heirarchy".
That's complimentary.
Instead, you take a comment that my wife said and take it out of context. "You are a pervert." Now what she REALLY said was "You're a pervert." Then she put a hand on my shoulder and said "No, I'm just kidding, he's really a good guy."
So you took the negative and cut the positive. Look at the comments my mother made. She talked to you about my background as an actor, an entertainer and how moving to Las Vegas would help getme started once more in the field of entertainment. What parts did you use? The parts that made me look like a social reject.
Since your writing skills are amatuer at best, perhaps you would like another example of how to write a complimentary article?
"The Stenlunds reside in a nicely decorated two bedroom apartment on Madison's east side, where they own and operate a small computer repair business. When business is slow, Richard passes the time posting humorous or insightful comments on the Anarchy Online message board or logs into the game to assist his guild, Storm, with raids or player versus player combat, the latter of which he has established a name for himself in. But what may be surprising to some, is that he is able to separate his online persona from his work life and does not let the game distract him from his job functions."
And then you could have included comments I made about releasing the ID. Instead, you misquote me as saying that I hate people, etc.
Even my goal of moving to Las Vegas was taken out of context. As I told you many many times, we're moving to Vegas not only for the job opportunities, but also for a new form of entertainment, to actually get away from inactive hobbies like video games and television and really enjoy life firsthand.
As you saw when you were here Amis, we don't sit around the house when there's something to do. Sarah and I were the ones dragging you places and actually wore *you* out. After you retired to the Hotel room, we were out at the Karaoke bar and dancing the night away in a club, while you could talk about nothing but playing AO and how you missed AO.
As for the amount of time that I spend online, you had told me specifically that that would not be the focus of the article, yet there it is at the top.
Let me explain again, as you may have forgotten, that I don't watch television.....at all. Anarchy Online is my television and the time I spend in ao rivals the time that the average american watches television. Yet the way you paint it makes it appear that I'm 'escaping society'.
You call m
I if I hadn't already posted... I'd through a point at the parent.
Bandler said some really insightful things.
Many aspects of education could be improved immeasurably by applying video-game / hollywood style techniques for engrossing people. Who else remembers Schoolhouse Rock? I can still sing those songs.
There are also a class of people considered "functional addicts" -- I'm only familiar with the subject in the realm of substance (ab)use, but the idea is that these are people who consume large amounts of a substance but yet do not have disrupted social lives or immediate health problems -- they hold (often prestigious, well-paid) jobs, have families, friends and all the other trappings of a normal life.
I remember reading a NYT or other magazine article a few years ago on white collar heroin addicts who fit this definition well and, thanks to the relatively noncorrosive effect of heroin* relative to booze, had excellent long-term health prospects
People like them were an interesting contradiction of the addiction model: they're not specifically hurting themselves, they have good social lives and careers, about the only negative factual thing you can attribute to them is they're breaking the law.
Any other criticism is purely moral, and the morality of addiction studies is where I think there's real meat.
* Despite the awful connotations, opiate use is far less destructive than liquor or cigarettes. Most of the danger is attributable to IV users addicted to the "rush" from injected heroin, which is difficult to sustain long-term without increasingly high doses.
Actually, that's not true. At all. Not even a little bit.
Actually the person featured in the article has a few things to say:
= 11d03b3f2a2d89b880b547768512bc25&threadid=1434 07
Let me tell you something. The article about me written by Seth Schiesel, AKA Amis (his ingame name) is such a roving pack of lies slandering the person I really am in real life that I'm flat out disgusted by the whole thing.
right now I'm too stunned and upset at the amount of lies, miscontext, misquotes and outright slander posted on the article to even log in.
I'll be filing a lawsuit against the New York Times for slander, as many of the things put in that article about my real life (and even ingame) are so horribly untrue or twisted and the truth stretched to paint me in a much much different light than the person I really am.
He paints me as a shy, akward, socially inept reclusive nerd which is such a contrast to the person I really am. I make racy jokes, but he paints me as a virtual rapist. I'm broke in RL, but he paints me as a suicidal, emotionally unstable man that lives in the slums (I live in a good neighborhood) and can't afford to buy food. This article is absolutely ruinous to myself, my business, my future. It's the lowest form of slander imaginable.
Even the pictures used were horrible. The first is dark and brooding and in the second picture I was about to bust out laughing, which also looks a hell of alot like crying and is just a flat out BAD pic.
Please keep any jokes off this thread as I feel serious about this. I can see some pretty horrid real life repercussions as a result of this article.
So much of what I said to him in the four days that he was here was taken FAR out of context and quotes that I had supposedly said were either entirely made up or the wording was changed to change the focus of what I was saying.
Sound familiar? Well about a month ago, another NY Times reporter by the name of Jayson Blair did the exact same thing. I just never had any idea something like this would happen to me. He told me that he was doing a general article about the community of AO through my eyes. Instead, a pack of lies gets slammed on the world's largest newspaper about me. The entire focus of the article was misrepresented.
The writer, Seth Schiesel is a reporter for the NY Times and his ingame character is named "Amis", a high level Omni MP. The article was so vicious and untrue at some points that it seems to have been written with malice in mind.
I'm so humiliated at some of the things said in that article. it shocks and amazes me how someone can so callously and deliberately say such untruths. I'm painted as a socially inept reject that never leaves his home, which is the opposite of who I really am.
It's one thing to flame someone ingame, but this goes way beyond that and extends into my personal life.....worst of all, 80% of what he says is an outright lie. The other 20% is an exaggeration or was taken out of context.
While it may not seem bad to many of you, if you knew me in real life, you'd know why I was so upset right now.
thanks alot Amis (his ingame name). Never figured to be stabbed in back like this.
Read for yourself here: http://forums.anarchy-online.com/showthread.php?s
(about seven posts down)
_f