Final Blog

Games have always been apart my life, and will always be apart of it. Playing games have created a world new world for me, and I was able to meet such great people from it. So my final for Art 108 was a written paper about my own personal experience with games, and how it shaped me the way I am today. The paper talks about the major games that influenced the type of games that I like to play, and it also talks about the type of connections I made from them, and it even talks about how other people benefits social from games.  Relation and friendship that were created from a game carries on the real world, and I experience this first hand because all of my good friends were met through World of Warcraft. The Essay is posted on my blog, and if you would like to read it click this link.

http://prophecy408.blogspot.com/2013/12/connections-through-games-final-paper.html

Connections Through Games (Final paper)

                   Games have been a part of my life since for as long as I can remember. I still remember the first game that I played as a kid, it was a driving game from the 80’s. It was basic games composed of lights with a steering wheel and a shifter.  The shape of the game is a dashboard of a car. This was the first game that I played as far as I can remember. Playing this game led me to be curious of what other types of games that were out there, and it led to my first console device which was the Nintendo. This opened up an entirely different level of gaming. The motions of cartoons projected on our television was something that I have never experience before. Games have been a big part of me since a young age. However, one type of genre really impacted my life. MMORPG (Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game) was the genre that shaped my personality and made me who I am today.

            Playing games have been a part of my daily routine since I was a kid, but there was one type of game genre that captivated my attention. MMORPG created a whole new world, and changed my whole perspective on gaming, but before getting into any MMORPG I played a lot of RPG games which ignited my interest in MMORPG. Growing up I played tons of RPG. I played so many that I lost count, but Earthbound was the first and most memorable game in my life. The game was amazing aside from the poor graphics, but back then that was considered state of the art design, and I’m glad I was able to play through such a great game, After Earthbound, I was hooked on RPG and when I got my first computer I started to explore the world of MMORPG.

            MMORPG have been around for a while now. The term was founded by Richard Garriot, but the first massive online game that was created in 1974 was Mazewar, and this produced a virtual world for players to roam and kill each other, and this was the start of the first generation of massive multiplayer games. This lead to the MMORPGs over the internet, which created a whole new world of gaming. Developers were able to create 2D and 3D worlds, and battle system that enticed players to pay to play. Through my own gaming career, I played several of MMORPG and made connections through the games.

The first MMORPG that I played was Nexus: The Kingdom of the Wind. This was the game was created in 1998, and It was the first pay to play game that I actually paid for. I remember that I had to save my lunch money every month to allocate 13 dollars to mail to Nexon Inc. This game was created in Korea, and this game was built on the players. Each player has a possible of taking an important role in the community. Real players can become leaders of sub classes, and guilds. They could even end up as the king or queen of the game ruling the game with role playing. This kind of community was built sole by the players of the game, and this is what made the entire game interesting. We the players had full control of the world we played in. Carnage events were all held by players rather than game masters. Playing this game I spent countless and sleepless nights creating a name for my avatar, and met many different types of players.

Through this game I was able to make friends from all across the world. The connections I made with them in game carried over to the real world, and through this game I met some people whom I still talk to even after many years. I met someone from Canada, Singapore, and even someone that live close by in Redwood City, and when I did meet some of the people from the game, it didn’t feel awkward and I felt like knew them personally for a long time through their avatar. This was only the beginning of my journey through MMORPGs.

Nexus: The Kingdom of Wind

WOW aka World of Warcraft was the next major MMORPG in my life. This game was released on September 2, 2001, was a massive hit, and changed MMORPG dramatic, with over 100 million players this game became the worlds most played MMORPG. This was different from any other MMORPG game I played because of its 3D graphics. I was drawn into the world instantly. Battle monsters and complete dungeons to complete quest and to level up. This game is where I learned some of my management skills. Being guild leader helped my develop skills that I would use in life. Being able to control a group of 40 people and achieving great things within the World of Warcraft taught me how to manage my work ethics and proper procedures. Taking down a raid boss is not an easy task, it requires a lot of planning and collaboration of people. Without it death is almost certain when trying to clear a dungeon. Each role is given a task, and if they don’t follow it, everything would fall apart. 

 This game probably took half of my life, but I don’t regret any moment of it, because of the connections I created with people through this game cannot be replaced, and all the great people I have met that I probably would have not if it wasn’t for this game. Games can create strong connections between people, because we all share the same interest wanting to take down a boss, or even to get complete a quest. I know the type of connects it can create, because I met all my close friends through World of Warcraft. In the World of Warcraft, it’s a modern day MMORPG, and when I started playing it when it was first release, and because it was a new game I seek out people from my high school that played it as well. There are more examples for the type connections that MMORPGs have created. Some people create such a connection they end up in relationships through the game, and some people even get married.

World of Warcraft.

            
Some people think games are a waste of time, but for some people it’s a time for time to get away. Just like how some people spent all day watching TV. Some people prefer to spend their time playing games. Games are fun to play, and they relieve a lot stress. They also can create connections that would carry on to the real world, and the types of connections I have made through games allow me to benefit for my work and social life, but it’s not just me that experiences these types of connection. People from all around the world are able to feel connections to the people they play with, and with relationship and friendship built from an online game is an amazing feature, and if the whole world could understand games they would feel the same way.

Game Blog.

Games are amazing, even thought my parents don’t understand why I play games so much, games are capable of doing amazing things. Some games are created to exercise our minds, and even relieve some stress. It’s a time for us to leave reality and fall into an imaginary world and into the minds of creativity. Superbetter is a game that was created by Jane McGonigal, and playing this game will give you 10 extra years of life. Her experiments and reasoning was very good. The 5 most regrets that people have on their deathbed was very interesting. The first regret was “I wish I hadn't worked so hard” followed by “I wish I stayed in touch with my friends,” “I wish I had let my self be happier,” “I wish I had the courage to express my true self,” “I wish I had lived a life true to my dreams instead of what others expected of me,” These regrets are really deep, and none of them regretted played games. Games can bring people together, even today I keep in touch with people that I haven’t seen for a long time through games. Another interesting topic that she brought up was that fact that our avatar in games elevates our confidence and personality. The avatar can reflect how we would act in some way. Her personal story about being suicidal and despair lead her to creating a game that mend her physically and mentally. It’s amazing how a game can do this for her. Imagine if everyone took the time to play games, People may end up like McGonigal and become happier, and get a better understanding of themselves. Who knew that games can create such an impact our lives? Certainly for McGonigal it saved her life.  Games are simply amazing.