Online Gaming can Help

So Online Gaming gets a lot of crap from people. Whether its fellow gamers, parents or the media, it seems like everyone has an opinion on how evil MMO's can be. While I admit the games are addicting, and can become a problem (I had an addiction problem with Guild Wars) I also would like to speak out in defense of Online Gaming.

Last night I was in a very bad funk. For winter break I am home in Minnesota, about 1200 miles away from my girlfriend and all of my friends. And besides the loneliness of being out here, there were a lot of other problems going down last night. So my girlfriend suggests I go on Guild Wars and just kill some stuff, since she knows that I like to play the game. I hadn't really played in over a month, not since I "kicked the habit," but I decided to try it. So I went on and started talking to some people in one of the big towns. Two and a half hours later, I was still talking to people, hadn't killed a single thing, and was feeling better than I had in days.

I found what I needed in the game, both in terms of social interaction and feeling better about myself, to turn around one of my most serious bad moods in months. I talked to fellow gamers about Guild Wars, about other games that they liked to play, about friends and family, about job applications, game & business ethics, even my website. A few of the gamers added me to their friends list, a few said they'd check out my site to see my RA2 walkthrough (a lot of RA2 fans were on last night) and many wished me luck with my applications. It was nice to have good conversations with so many poeple.

Critics would say that I don't know any of these people in real life, and that this is false social interaction or an illusion of having friends. What is the difference really? I met new people, got to know them through talking to them about their ideas, their preferences and their hopes. I had good, serious conversations about life and about a passion we all share, gaming. While I may not have been able to see their faces, those are real people, and where ever they are in the world they were feeling the same way I was, happy to find a friend to talk to online, when they probably were missing their friends as much as I was. True, I don't know their real age or gender, they could have lied, but many of the gamers I talked to admitted to being in their 30's, their 40's, even one guy who was 59. People were honest, they were friendly, and we all benefited from the interaction. We took breaks from our conversations to give advice to some newer players who were confused, and to report some scammers and cheaters who tried to swindle poeple in our midst. So not only did we ourselves enjoy the night, we made the game a little more honest and a little more fun to play.

I may talk to some of those poeple again, I may not. But it makes no difference in proving the point. My "one night stand" conversations gave me new insight into a lot of aspects of my personal life and gaming life, and that is a real thing.

To add to the "feel good" feeling, I was giving away a lot of free items to newer players last night. I've achieved all of my goals of the items and levels I'd like to beat, so anything extra I get I really don't need. So I felt the satisfaction of being so content in the game that I could give away really good free items, and not feel the selfish need to keep them or sell them. I could be charitable to noobs. One newer player came up to me and admired my minipet, and said he wished he could get one but he'd never be able to afford one. I opened a trade with him, and to his surprise gave him a free pet. That really made his night, and made me feel good too.

So to all those who slam online gaming, for the amount of time players put in or for the "false" social interactions, back off. My time input pays off every time I can be charitable to people. It pays off every time I have a good conversation with people online. It paid off big time last night. Like with most things, a feel bad examples have tarnished the whole, and like most things, the whole really isn't bad. So if you're lonely and far from your friends, try some online gaming, it really can help.

- Scott