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MMO gamers coping with tragedy.
JimD
Member Posts: 6
Hello All,
I am seeking individuals who have coped with tragedy by escaping in an
MMO. Meaning, have you ever coped with tragedy through escapist
adventurous in an MMO? I'm writing a paper for my psychology class and
need some individuals (two would be nice, preferable three) to cite in my
paper. This paper isn't a huge project, just a nice research project for my
psychology class. I'm in art school so we only get a basic introductory
psychology class.
My MMO background is virtually nonexistent, as I have never played an
MMO outside of the World of Warcraft beta over a friends place and some
load testing for Earth and Beyond. So the paper isn't so much about
detailed information on MMO's as it is about escapism and how gamers
use MMO's to cope with tragedy, addiction related or not.
All information will be confidential and I will not even ask for real names
or any other personal real life info (address, age, etc) other than at the
very least a screen name I can identify you with (although we can make up
a fake name for the paper) and what MMO you played to cope with
tragedy in addition to questions I give you.
If you are interested I can send you a short list of questions that you can
answer. Of course I respect the fact if you reserve the right to not answer
some of the questions if they make you feel uncomfortable. I'm decent at
paper writing but not an expert, regardless I'd be glad to send you the
paper when I'm done with it.
I would also like to speak with people who know people who went
through tragedy and coped with an MMO and can relay some of their
experience to me. Of course the experience can be generalized from
specifics (like their name, age, etc). It could be kept so general that we
could even talk about it in this thread.
The only request I have is that the information and communications be
legitimate and real. I don't need falsified information in my paper or in
my life.
Thank you for your time.
Comments
Hmm, I was thinking about going to the Art Institute of Portland...same degree program, though.
How is the art institute? Meaning, how would you rate the faculty and equipment? What's the schedule like? Is it a rapid-pace program or more of a traditional college schedule? Do you feel it's worth the money? How likely would you say you are to get a job right out of school? How well does the program prepare you, in terms of traditional vs. cg art?
Sorry to hijack your thread.
Although, I must say (from personal experience) that MMos are only one form of escapism. My mother had cancer when I was in high school, and I did a lot of things to try to escape from the from the reality of it. She went through chemotherapy, and is ok now, but my whole family was pretty shook up over it. She had to fly out of state to get the chemo (I live in alaska). I smoked a lot pot, drank a lot, read a lot of fantasy books, and played a shit-ton of ultima online and diablo 1. So, like I said, MMos are only one form of escapism. To me, books were just as much fun (still are, hell more fun than the MMos out these days) and getting high was..well, I guess something to do while playing UO.
Drinking is more of a casual hobby, I guess.
-----------------------------
Listen Asmodeeus, seven years ago, Ultima Online didn't even have those pathetic "quests" that you refer to or those "professions" of ninja, samurai, necromancer, and paladin. Nor did it have any of the neon crap, or bug mounts. It didn't even have any "combat moves." You turned on attack and jousted with simplistic swings. It was a better game then. if you can't guess why then just uninstall the thing and move along. - Crabby
No worries. The Phoenix school in general has really good facilities with good computers (minus some of the poor graphics cards) and up to date software. The education that I have received has been good in terms of everything non Game Art related. I have only had three game art specific classes that I really felt had a strong impact on me. The rest suffer from poor teaching or curriculum. Not to say the Game Art program is bad, just most of it is underdeveloped or instructors who teach it aren't that good at teaching. So yes it's worth the money if you work hard at it outside of school as well. If you don't combine your efforts outside of school with what you do inside school (where applicable) art school will be a total waste. As for traditional vs. cg. By all means early on they have us drawing, painting, and sculpting but for Game Art traditional art fizzles into almost non-existence in your last year. Supposedly the program is going more in that direction but I won't get to experience it. So I'm satisfied with my education and feel I'll be ready for an entry level position in what I want to do but some of the Game Art classes have disappointed me, severely.
Thanks for the feedback, I'll incorporate some of those comments into my paper. If you want the questionnaire, let me know.
-James
Mostly the only reason why I would play a game is so I can make something great and be something known legendary. For example a guild in a game, I always try to make it legendary and known till the game dies. Not really a form of escaping reality but showing off your greatness when your friends play.
If I was escaping reality....I would like to make my own RPG and show some lame developers that they should consider the players feeling!!!
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I'm sick of all these psych students coming in here wanting to probe us for information. I think we should start charging.
hehehe, agreed.
Well I don't consider myself a psyche student as I only have this one class and then I'm done with psychology in school. Well it's not like I'm hoarding information that I had no involvement in, like discussions on this topic that I didn't initiate. I'll keep your thoughts in mind in the future, though.
hook me up with one of those and ill fill it out for ya!
Hey thanks for the interest. Check your e-mail for me.
yea ya can send me one 2 ill see if i have time to do it
CurrentlyPlaying:League Of Draaaven.
"this site needs a graveyard forum for us to mourn."
Hey I sent you the questionnaire, thanks. Check your email.
hehehe, agreed.
Geez, no kidding. You ever think that people just play mmogs to have fun, and not "escape"? That's why I hate psychologists, they try to see something that is just not there.
The only tragety I've heard about MMOs is two chinese people staying up late at a cafe playing an mmo and then sleeping on the railroad tracks, and then getting killed.
@serien[email protected]@
just take out the @ at the beginning and the @ at the end, I know those spam whores sweep the net for adressess'
I'd be more than happy to fill one out
http://www.facebook.com/murtb
It's not so much psychologists think that MMO gamers are looking for an escape it's just that MMO Addiction is something that is being watched.
As for the tragedy aspect it's not so much MMOs causing tragedy as it is people playing to deal with tragedy, rather than using alcohol or drugs, or any other method of coping for that matter. Psychologists just want to get to know the subject and for some of them it involves learning about games in general, which is a pretty tough subject for some due to the increased complexity of today's games. Especially if they graduated from their respective programs in the 80's or 70's when games weren't as mainstream.
I'm sure you'd get a whole tenth of a penny for it!
lol
well it's filled out and sent back to you, good luck on your research
http://www.facebook.com/murtb