You know we're living in a society!

So we were online yesterday, grinding away in PotBS so we could get our Naval Officer to level 37 and get our Defiant Frigate so we could help our society with it's impending port battle. We were in a group of 6 fellow society members and attacking the hated Spanish, and during one of the battles we started picking up on something we have noticed before but have not commented upon.

What are we talking about? Well, there is no easy way to say this, so we're just going to say it: a lot of gamers are downright socially inept.

We previously posted about the forthcoming MMO documentary that investigates the lives of a small portion of the 50 million or so MMO players out there, and since then we couldn't help but wonder about the nature of the community. MMO games, and video games in general, are immersive, time consuming endevors. People can spend hours a day playing them. And even with voice chat options and similar group activities, the games are solitary. These players don't get out much. Maybe they don't have strong people skills. They spend a large part of their waking life in a place that doesn't exist, interacting with people they will never meet.

We've also noticed that a lot of MMO gamers seem to be, let's say, Renaissance Fair friendly. (Yeah, we went to the Ren-Fest once. ONCE.) They like the clothes, the fake-accents, the role-playing, the...whatever. And it's not that these people are bad in any way, it's just that they are a little...we're not sure. It's hard to put your finger on it.

And no, we're not making a qualitative judgment of any gamer, or the gaming community. It's your life, do with it what you like. The only life you have to look back upon when you die is your own, so act accordingly.

But we are asking this: do gamers derive more satisfaction from the gaming interactions than they do from other interactions? Does this subset of society exhibit a trait that is not found in most other areas, or does it tend to exhibit it more strongly? Are gamers introverts who thrive in their own inner-world's, yet do not do so well (when compared to others) in social environments?

We think the answer is pretty clear. Though there are exceptions to the rule, we would guess that the gaming culture is largely composed of people who don't excel in social environments. They enjoy fantasy settings. They enjoy the imaginary. They enjoy living in a world that is perceived first through their imagination, and second through their senses.

At least, that is what we think. For now.

Til next time, True Believers!