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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?"
As in most things, it's all defined by hindsight. If the guy ends up whacking himself or others, he's an addict. If other pencil-necked geeks (RIP, Freddie Blassie!) still look up to him, he's "hardcore."
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After all, this is much of the draw of an online community such as an MMORPG-- it doesn't matter if you're from Podunk, where there's not even a stoplight and you know all hundred people in town, or if you live in the great metropolis where you don't even know the name of the looney across the hall. You can step out of the world you live in and into one of your own choosing.
Should we be surprised if this is a little addictive? Should we be surprised if people want to spend more time in the world they want to instead of the world they're forced to?
-JDF
and a buck-fifty buys you a cup of coffee.
I'm a fan of the MMORPG genre, but while it does provide a nice, temporary escape from mundane every-day life, in the end it IS truly a virtual (read, not real) world. Games like Everquest, DAOC, Shadowbane, AO, UO, etc. are great ways to kill some time and be relatively sociable at the same time, but if you took the average gamer's log of online gaming hours and re-invested those same hours in something like The University of Pheonix Online, they would have a Ph. D or two by now. It's easy to lose sight if reality, particularly when reality isn't too pleasant. Unfortunately we all should be wary of just how much our time is being skewed toward a Virtual existence instead of an actual one.
How are we to make a distinction between a hardcore gamer, and an addict? It seems to be a pretty fine line.
Or, indeed, how are we to distinguish between a hardcore gamer and a dropout? Because that's what the article says to me about this guy: he just wants to drop out of society. In another decade, he might have moved to a commune and taken a lot of drugs. Instead, he spends all of his time in a simulated world, with much the same effect: he's effectively withdrawn from society. Fair enough, but we should bear in mind that this is not representative of the vast majority of gamers, in terms of either their behaviour or their motivations for playing games.
It surprises the hell out of me that he's married.
If they guy just sat in a chair, drank beer, and watched sports during the time he plays the game, he would be considered normal.
Throw in that he players games on his computer and he is considered wierd.
I don't get it this guy is spending 7 hours a day diverting himself playing a game. Then he turns around says his life sucks and he has no money. If he spent that 7 hours a day in the real world improving himself he just might make a decent living and not live life hand to mouth. Though I can't say I'm terribly impressed with the guy. He ran a internet pc store and failed miserably then decides to flee reality. Unfortunately for him reality is catching up and now he decides he should flee to Las Vegas. He'll wind up in the same situation he is in now just a different city. And you know what? He'll probably still be playing AO when he should be improving his situation.
Call this flamebait if you want its just what I have seen time and time again.
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Intrestingly enough the terms 'hard-core drinker' and 'alcohol addict' (or 'alcoholic', as we usually refer to alcohol addicts) are nearly synonymous. The term addict in common parlance largely depends on the taboos of the culture it seems. Someone who is into 'hard-core pr0n' is often called a 'sex addict.' But a 'hard-core coder' is almost never called a 'workaholic' or a 'work addict' because our largely Puritanical society defines 'hard-core work' to be a Good Thing(tm), while 'hard-core sex' is a Bad Thing(tm). Whether 'hard-core gaming' is a Bad Thing(tm) or not probably depends largely on who you talk to. In the Slashdot crowd, this would be a revered quality, but in the Soccer Mom crowd, this would probably be looked upon negatively.
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Why can't Slashdot get partner status with The NYT?
-Peter
I'd vehemently disagree with this. There is a clear distinction between a hardcore drinker and an alcoholic.
Somebody who is only a hardcore drinker is somebody who can drink a lot over a short period and not suffer severe effects. I have a few friends who will binge drink over 4-5 days and come out of that period in reasonable condition. But after that period they will return to a relatively alcohol free lifestyle.
An alcoholic, an addict, may also show the qualities of a hardcore drinker. But an alcoholic has become emtionally/physically/somehow dependent on alcohol and is unable to resist the urges and stop after any period of drinking. They will wake up and drink til they sleep until they get help breaking that addiction.
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And escaping into a computer game is somehow more noble or meaningful? Please give me a physical break, and dispense with the drama. He's not out feeding starving children, he's playing a video game.
I have no problem with people pointing out some of the negatives of our culture, but I'm afraid playing a video game doesn't elevate one above the 'sheep-le'.
"Ask not what your country can do for you." --John F. Kennedy
" "It's a total release of the id," he said one Thursday last month as
he sat in a Japanese restaurant in Madison with his wife, Sarah A.
Werner-Stenlund, explaining his attraction to Anarchy Online. "I think
people are generally false. Even sitting here with you, we are putting
on a front. But in A. O. you can really let your true character out.
If I want to be a pervert, I am able to do that in A. O. and be a
pervert right off the bat." "
This man needs help. If you have such a distorted view of the people around you something is very wrong with you. It's a miracle that he is still married.
-- Cheers!
A lot of people escape reality by becoming completely engrossed in their day jobs. Except they're not filing bankruptcy like this guy did.
<a href="http://www.joblessjimmy.com">Work is dumb and so is Jobless Jimmy.</a>
Mr. Stenlund or his wife? What the hell is she sticking around for? This guy isn't hardcore, he's an addict. The scary thing is, we're going to be seeing many, many more people like him as these games become more popular and our society becomes even more disconnected. What a waste.
Far from being too far from "big cities where big things happen", Madison is in pretty much the perfect location.
Milwaukee is an hour away. Chicago is two hours away. Minneapolis is not much more than that.
The University of Wisconsin is in Madison, so you've got all of the resources of a college town. If you're into sports, the UW has excellent teams in a variety of them, and you're only a few hours away from professional sports in Milwaukee, Green Bay, Chicago, and the Twin Cities.
If you like bookstores, Madison has a ton of them, and not just big chains like Borders and B&N. There are a wide variety of used book stores downtown, including one that specializes in science fiction and fantasy.
We don't get earthquakes. In Madison, I've heard the tornado warning siren exactly once in the last dozen years. Flooding is pretty much never an issue.
Madison has a good symphony and a viable opera. We also have art-house movie theaters. Madison has or is close to several very good experimental and straight theater groups. We also have an award-winning alternative newsweekly, Isthmus.
To sum up: no disasters. Lots of books. Art. Theater. University. Cities close by if you want them, cities ignorable if you'd rather ignore them.
Frankly, if this guy can't find intellectual stimulation in Madison, he won't find it anywhere. Least of all in Las Vegas.
Ummm... I lived in Madison for a few years while I was attending the College of Engineering there. I don't like the way they paint the city as this little town with nothing but adult bookstores and used car lots. The city is the state capitol. Aside from the capitol is a large University. The city has its fair share of malls, chain stores, as well as brand spanking new mulit-million dollar arts district being constructed down town. Hell, Raven software and a few other software companies are in Madison. I'll admit the city is no Chicago, New York or L.A., but it is hardly a po-dunk population 100 town with no oppertunites. I don't know what big city events he is looking for, but I can't imagine anything I can do here in Washington D.C. that I could not have easily done in Madison. There is just more traffic here. As far as him finding opportunities, I think there is problem with the person not the city. If he devoted 7hrs a day to the local university Iâ(TM)ll bet he would learn more and accomplish more than he does playing A.O. Based on previous posts, I would classify him as an addict rather than a hardcore gamer. If he is unhappy with his life then he needs to get out from behind his computer and out on the streets looking to better his life. Opportunity is won, not found or given.
WTF?
Like many natural extroverts, Mr. Stenlund actually seems a bit shy offstage. Though articulate and clearly intelligent, he skipped college because he believed that school stifled creativity. Even as a child, Mr. Stenlund was not very outgoing, according to his mother, Marge Jarrells.
Funny, like many of the undriven, he skipped college because he had an excuse. I could buy the whole stifled intelligence B.S. if he had done something with his un-stifled intelligence after skipping college.
"He was pretty close to home most of the time," Ms. Jarrells, a pianist in Madison, said in a telephone interview. "Growing up, it was kind of hard for him to find his niches, and that is typical for people of high intelligence. They are not as sociable as other people. They are just off to themselves in their little projects."
In this latest of Mr. Stenlund's little projects, Thedeacon has also made a name for himself as an excellent warrior. Fantastically wealthy, at Level 200, with the best, rarest equipment, Thedeacon often helps represent the rebel clans in their battles against the forces of Omni-Tek.
Projects? High intelligence? WTF?
High intelligence would be realizing that spending an avg of 7 hours a day on the computer playing video games is probably why your computer repair/building/card swapping business is bust and you're broke. What kind of project is playing a game? Leading others? The article made it clear he was a leader because he wasted his life more than most, not because he's anything special... No, no "project"...
Face it, he's a nerd playing a game. The only credit I want to give him is that he found a wife that obviously puts up with his unstifled bullshit. That, in my book, is creditworthy.
Snooze and you lose your sushi.
He's "trapped in a hand-to-mouth existence"? Maybe if he got off his ass and worked hard, he wouldn't be living "hand-to-mouth". Anyway, the term implies that you have to work hard for every meal. This guy definitely doesn't fit the bill.
Software sucks. Open Source sucks less.
The scary thing is, we're going to be seeing many, many more people like him as these games become more popular and our society becomes even more disconnected.
On the other hand, who cares? It will reduce traffic density and free up the job market. I can't wait until "wirehead" electrical stimulation of pleasure centers and fully immersive virtual reality become commonplace - I look forward to driving through the empty streets, as 90% of America retreats into a quiescent and obese stupor.
It Is the Nature of Information to Transgress Artificial Boundaries
D&D
;)
A mental unblalnced guy, with parents who put him under tremndous pressure plays a few game of DnD, then tries to kill himself, D&D is evil and destroying lives!
However, A guy obssessed with golf, kills himself because he can't lower his handicapp, no one even mentions golf in a negativly.
Yes, I grew up in the 70s playing D&D, how can you tell?
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
Here's the rub - he's aware that he needs to focus on his financial well-being; he admits that they need a better income, yet he plays constantly. He's wasting time that could be better spent improving his income position.
Why?
It's obvious why, on a psychological level. He's a computer hardware tech without a college degree and minimal social skills - nothing could be less comfortable for him than going out and finding a job, humbling himself dozens of times in interviews and probably having to settle for a rank-and-file position that doesn't pay that much. In the real world, he can't command a lot of status and he knows it.
On Anarchy Online, he is an eminence grise. He has the respect and admiration of hundreds.
People (in the initial stages, especially) pursue addictions because of some reward-structure involved, and the reward structure here is completely transparent. He gets a lot more positive feedback in AO than he does elsewhere. He's cathected his normal need for social validation into a domain where he has disprortionate success. I would probably do the same in his shoes: I have an ex-girlfriend who did, too. It's lucky for him he has a wife and an internal compass that keeps him realistic (the "move to Las Vegas" plan might actually not be a bad one) and I hope for the best for him.
I'm not that surprised he's married, though. He seems likeable and thoughtful and reasonably self-aware.
.. when you are dealing with real people.
,you have to deal with them and in most cases you do things with them. The only difference is the mode of interaction. Instead of sitting down at a table talking to each other and playing a game of cards, game of chess, family or group game; you are individually sitting down at computers talking to each other, playing a computer game, any MMORPG or community based On-Line game. If you never interact with anyone while doing this then there is a difference, but the whole community interaction is almost exactly the same. You can make friends with people or learn that you really are not friends with someone when you are talking to them over a card table or over a computer connection. Are the situations identical... NO, but they are similar in the aspects of interaction... the major difference being what can happen physically. Both interactions can involve personal or intellectual content and can increase your personal "growth" if they are productive. There are a lot of "unproductive" conversations that happen every day that will never matter the next day regardless if your at a card table, at your computer or at your local bar.
With the advent of MMORPG, and On-Line gamming in general, there is another consideration for everyone who is talking about games. The definition of community. This article touches on the fact that the person as the character still interacts with real people and talks to them. This is not the fact that they physically interact, but the whole interaction of a community and communication.
We are talking about the change of a "Real" society to a "Virtual" society. In both cases you are interacting with real people. You talk to them
Lots of hobbies that people have are just to give someone something to do.... some of them are self gratifying some are just to "waste time" and some 'might' be used in the future. I actually look at computer games as a hobby of mine... sometimes I spend a lot of time on them and sometimes I don't. Minus the personal interaction, the people I know from around the world and the country, there is a lot of things that will not help me with my day to day activities, but I can tell you that interacting with people is a lot easier on-line than in IRL and interacting with people on-line has helped me with interacting with people IRL. I have seen people work through problems talking on-line as well as IRL, both ways its mental change.
With the introduction of the internet to the world the whole definition of community has changed, or multiple definitions are being created, and I personally see a lot of people just really don't like that or don't want to deal with it. Some benefit from it and some donâ(TM)t. Real life is that way also. I see little difference in the end.