The internet and gaming communities in particular are extremely important to me. I don't leave the house much due to medical issues so my main communication with the outside world is through the internet. I make most of my friends online. In fact I'd be pretty screwed without the internet.
Pantheon is particularly important to me because it is a community centric game and with the exception of one or two people everyone involved in Pantheon from the fans to the employees of VR are awesome and really friendly. It is a great way to meet people with a shared interest.
So yeah I can safely say the internet has changed my life and given me an outlet that I wouldn't have if I didn't have internet access.
Gaming takes up more of my daylight hours than any other activity, except regular body functions like breathing. This has been true for as long as I can remember.
I'm very fortunate to have a lifestyle that allows me the freedom to do that.
Human social circles before the internet were very limited. While it can be overwhelming now, the sheer number of people we have access to and potentially form relationships with is at an all time high. I've formed dozens of close friendships with great people that I would have a statistically zero chance of meeting otherwise.
This sounds more about the internet than gaming, but all of the same things apply. As far as games specifically go, a truly well crafted video game is equivalent to getting lost in a great book. It is an artistic medium equally as compelling as a great book.
While replaceable (with great effort), gaming has been something I've held very close to me for a very long time. I truly would not want to go without it, if at all possible.
I think by now,wihout gaming,I'd be an alcholist and/or drug addict doing filthy things in a darkroom
Some would say that gaming is an unhealthy distraction from reality.But they do not see there are far worse alternatives that make people cope with reality
In certain ways,gaming has kept me reasonably sane and pure over the years :D
Sorry to hear that, dragonpriest
Maintaining social life can be hard,not everyone likes MMO and thus these relations require time commitment in another form.
I'm lucky that music and the dedications I have to make to it,still keeps me with a foot in reality.
I wonder,would a social Pantheon app take it a bridge too far or would it be a nice extension of the game to support local communities?
Over the years "go kill 5 boars" has turned into "go make 5 friends" :D
Well winter time its alot of gaming sleep-work-game repeat... In summer time i try to play some golf and drive my summer car and gaming the rest but im lookin for my old EQ2 family feeling wich was so great that my/our italian GL came to Gothenbourgh on a vistit just to se the the 4 players living there (thx's SJ). We had so much funn and most of us was semi playing/chating all day and jumped on any oportunity to help others, so comunity and a friendly exploring runn with unknown new friends or old doesent matter.
Gaming, to me, is something that has become bitter-sweet.
Without going into too many unnecessary details, EQ1 helped me find friends as a troubled youth who in turn helped me deal with both physical and substance abuse as well as depression. I met my wife in EQ1 (on a pug Vox raid, no less!) who, after 5yrs of friendship, literally dragged me off the streets during another rough period in my life. Which kickstarted a serious relationship that has lasted 10yrs, so far.
With that being said, gaming has also turned into my way of running from issues in life that I'd rather not deal with. It pulls very firmly at my addictive side which has, in the past, been the source of more than a few marital arguements.
In the end, I'm still thankful that I started gaming but I've come to realize that if I can't manage to reduce it's grip on me, I will lose everything I've gained.
Its hard to put what gaming is to me in so many words, but if I had to sum it up I would sum it up by saying:
- Happiness
- Memories
- Struggle
- Accomplishment
- Youth
Gaming keeps me young in my heart and head. Because of this I'm a happier person overall, and I believe thats a good thing for myself and everyone else who knows me.
Gameing is very important to me. At 69 years young my only regret is this type of gameing has only been around for about 20 years. Give or take a few years. My first online game was EQ1 and I got into that at release. And have been a true mmorpg player since then. Before that I played a lot of computer stand alone games but nothing compared to the "feel" of being there as EQ did. Without Role playing type games life would be an awefull bore.
I game everyday.
It is a cheap alternative to expensive entertainment outtings, majority of people do not have the money to afford.
You can invest in a gaming rig that will get you great frames per second and responsiveness for 1000$ and it will last you years.
Mostly the important aspect of gaming is the internet. It brings a sense of socialization that a single player could not give you.
I am probably not the only one who feels like single player games are a waste of the time spent playing games. I gravitate towards MMOs and MOBAs because of the social aspect of it. You can join a guild/clan and instantly start building a relationship with people who have the overall same goal in mind. If you have ever played a sport in highschool or after, it is the same feeling. As a whole, your guild/clan is going to have its moments of failure and success that help bond the players together which causes growth.
It is the same as going to a bar or grill restaurant that has pool, corn hole, darts, bowling, etc. You can meet new people, play a semi-competitive game and have a good time for the evening. Generally an outting like this could cost you 50-100$; food, drinks, alcohol, renting the equipment to play, etc. It is just not sustainable for the average person.
For me it is the exact same feeling as logging into a game, getting a group and exploring a dungeon. This cost me 1000$ for a rig I bought two years ago, most games are free to play, one time fee, or 15$ a month sub. It is just so easily sustainable entertainment for almost nothing. That money saved can be used on more important things.
Gaming is part of my life. Having grown up in a wet and cold environment, my parents got me involved in card and board games from an early age (like 3?). It was a family thing and everyone, mom, dad, brothers, friends, other family played. Often! Arcade games like space invaders came out in the late 70's and I looked for any excuse to go to the shopping center and spend my quarters (not us quarters)
In 1979, I was introduced to a text-based computer game on a Wang VS MidFrame. "You're in a room. There's a window to the left and a door to the right. What do you want to do?" First adventure game where you controlled what happened. Loved this game but had very limited access to it. In the early 80s, Wolfenstein came out for the pc and that really made it so you didn't leave your home (if you were lucky to have a pc that was...)
First MMO I played was Tanarus by Verant in 1997. It got me hooked on MMO's. The social aspect was amazing and there obviously was the competition, the frustration and everything. Through this I heard about EQ and got into the last Beta before release. This game got me totally hooked and I played waaaaay too much.
It got to the point it affected my relationship with my family and I had to tone it down.. Played it for nearly 16 years and quit as the game became boring to me. You can only make so many alts, do the same content so many times. Expansions were completed within days of release and rarely was there anything new to discover as nearly all content was designed for the end-game.
Decided to wait for EQNext which was intriguing but saw the writing on the wall fairly early and, even though tempted, never pledged for it (thank heavens).
Googled "Brad McQuaid" and lo and behold, I found out about Pantheon. Followed progress for a year or two and finally decided to pledge sometime last year.
Like I said, gaming is part of my life and has been for over 5 decades :) Cant wait to get immersed one more time.
Gaming for me has always been that. A game. I stick to MMOs however because single player games do not excite me. I like the challenge of organizing a group of individuals to accomplish something impossible to do as an individual. I love managing people. So I guess for me it is the social/organizational aspect of it along with an inborn need to strive to be the best although it will be interstiing to see if I can actually back off from the latter and become at least a bit more laid back this time round :)
When I do decide to get involved it takes up a good percentage of my free time. Its funny but there have been many times when leadership skills learned within an MMO have transferred well into my life and work. I have also thought of many approaches to work situations which I test out ingame at times.
The older I get the less important it seems to be to me. In my youth with EQ It was a way to pass the time and to make new friends.
As I have gotten older, married, family it has gone down the list of priorities. It is still an escape from the busy family life and I still play games a lot. It also helps keep that remaining brain cell going.
When first married it was very helpful for my wife with her English, talking/typing to people. Her English did get a lot better over the years we played. It helped her pass the time at home by herself. Now with a daughter, she doesn't quite have the same amount of time to play now.
I have gotten tired of the current MMORPG's out there, Played quite a few, looked at many more which I didn't get into. Will Pantheon get me back into it only time will tell. I am hoping it will, I need to make some new friends and to play with my old RL friends. (Being in a different country to them now, you just can't go around to visit).
Kilsin said:What does gaming mean to you and how much impact has it had on your life? #PRF #Communitymatters
I was introduced to gaming via the Atari 2600, which I was playing at a family friend's house when we were on vacation one summer. My dad walked in the room and said: "Wow, you really like this, don't you?" Little did he know that when he bought me a NES that Christmas that it would turn into a lifelong passion. The irony was that I hadn't asked for the gift, nor was I aware of its existence prior to receiving it. I had seen Atari before, several times, growing up, but I never remember longing to own one, myself. However, after I was introduced to The Legend of Zelda and Simon's Quest, I was hooked. Those weren't games as I had known them, they had a story of sorts, and required different thinking skills, and they were both set in distinct fantasy realms that, as a young boy, were fascinating to me. (Swords, magic, flaming whips, and undead? Of course I was into it.)
Around that same time I began to read more, too. When I was little, my mother read me the Chronicles of Narnia, so that seed was planted. My sister had a copy of the Hobbit, and I read that when I was about 9 or so. When I was 12 I read the Lord of the Rings. You can go from there. Those sorts of books were a natural extension of my interest in fantasy. I found RA Salvatore when I was about 13. Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman when I was in highschool. Robert Jordan and George Martin when I was in college (good old George had only written 3 ASOIAF books at that time.) During my years growing up I also owned a SNES, TurboGrafx 16 (yes maybe one of the few), PlayStation 1, and a PS2. I had never done much PC gaming. After college, I fell out of reading, for the most part, but I picked up PC gaming instead, and in 2004 I found my first MMO in EverQuest 2. From that point until present day I have primarily gamed on the PC, which is now my preferred platform. Many MMOs and RPGs later, here I am.
I couldn't name all of the games I've loved, but some of the most influential ones, aside from the three I mentioned above, were, in no particular order: Maniac Mansion, A Link to the Past, Final Fantasy IV, Symphony of the Night, Final Fantasy Tactics, Xenogears, Final Fantasy IX, Death Gate, Ultima VIII (yes, I actually liked Pagan), Divine Divinity, Sim City, Age of Empires, Mass Effect, and Dragon Age. EDIT - I cannot believe I forgot two of the biggest ones: Chrono Trigger and Secret of Mana.
From the MMO perspective, I've played many, but none capture the magic of the original, launch-era EQ2. I never played EQ1 so I don't have that comparison, but, for me, that period of time from late '04 to mid '05 was pretty magical. I was not in a great place in my life at that time, and being able to jump in and literally pretend to be another person in another world was probably one of the best forms of therapy I could have received. I played a main tank, and was an officer in a fairly successful guild on our server (we were number two to take down all the raid mobs, and the first guild to max level) and that actually gave me quite a bit of confidence, which sounds silly to me, now, but looking back, it did just that.
Others that I've enjoyed included Lord of the Rings Online, and more recently, The Secret World. I've played all the others to some degree, some more and some less. I was an alpha tester for Guild Wars 2. I was in closed beta for about a year before LOTRO launched. Age of Conan, Warhammer ... I'm forgetting a half-dozen beyond those.
I'd say gaming has had a huge impact on my life. It's shaped me creatively, culturally, and given me a sense of curiosity about the larger world, about art, music, and other things I would have never been exposed to. We don't often think about it, but at 8 years old I was playing the same games that children in Japan were playing. It's rather interesting when you consider that point from the perspective of life in 1987. As I grew older I moved toward Western games, but there is no doubt that many of the developers in America are building games right now becuase they, too, owned a NES when they were growing up. Not to mention artists around the world paitning digital art online, fan culture, fandoms, cosplay ... a lot of that has come from video games, which in turn have tied into comics and movies. So yeah, hugely influenced by games.
Kilsin said:What does gaming mean to you and how much impact has it had on your life? #PRF #Communitymatters
Well for me gaming is my hobby as I dont really do much else after work. It also allows me to stay in contact with RL friends I have known for a long time. Its also where I met my gf. We met in Neverwinter that was run by AOL and have been together going on 20 years this year so it was also a way to meet alot of ppl and really get to know them. Some I actually met in RL. I had lived in fla and flew out to oregon to get together with that group I gamed with in Neverwinter. I had met my gf and knew her for about 6 months before flying to meet her and the rest is history. They say 1 in 4 ppl meet their mate online. I did but it wasnt thru a dating service. I used to say Neverwinter was a chatroom with a game attached.
Baid321 said:It is a cheap alternative to expensive entertainment outtings, majority of people do not have the money to afford.
You can invest in a gaming rig that will get you great frames per second and responsiveness for 1000$ and it will last you years.
Mostly the important aspect of gaming is the internet. It brings a sense of socialization that a single player could not give you.
I am probably not the only one who feels like single player games are a waste of the time spent playing games. I gravitate towards MMOs and MOBAs because of the social aspect of it. You can join a guild/clan and instantly start building a relationship with people who have the overall same goal in mind. If you have ever played a sport in highschool or after, it is the same feeling. As a whole, your guild/clan is going to have its moments of failure and success that help bond the players together which causes growth.
It is the same as going to a bar or grill restaurant that has pool, corn hole, darts, bowling, etc. You can meet new people, play a semi-competitive game and have a good time for the evening. Generally an outting like this could cost you 50-100$; food, drinks, alcohol, renting the equipment to play, etc. It is just not sustainable for the average person.
For me it is the exact same feeling as logging into a game, getting a group and exploring a dungeon. This cost me 1000$ for a rig I bought two years ago, most games are free to play, one time fee, or 15$ a month sub. It is just so easily sustainable entertainment for almost nothing. That money saved can be used on more important things.
I have said the exact same thing. What else can you do for 15 bucks a month and get nearly as much enjoyment out of it? Nothing comes close as far as I'm concerned.
When I was 7, I started reading science fiction . Then E.A.Poe and H.P.Lovecraft . In 1970 I discovered the LotR and was blown away by the sheer scope and power of a (re)creation of a whole world . I experienced for the first time a total immersion in a fully believable and consistent world - I was no more a reader separated from the book but a companion of Aragorn and Boromir in the Middle Earth .
Following this genre, I continued with Donaldson, Jordan, Tad Williams, Zelazny, R.Scott Baker, S.Erikson and many others. Of course G.R.R Martin in 1996 at a time when nobody was speaking about the GoT yet :)
My very first game was Drive on Stalingrad an SPI wargame in the 70ies and of course D&D at about the same time . Both were satisfying my curiosity to explore the "what ifs" and the pleasure of immersing in a world even if the kind of immersion in a WWII wargame or in D&D is of quite different nature . At about the same time I bought an Apple II, played Wizardry and of course the EXCELENTISSIME series Ultima which had a similar impact on me as the discovery of LotR had (Ultima 7 is for me still the best RPG ever) .
So obviously I joined UOL in 98 where I discovered for the first time what the M in MMO meant . It was a real pleasure standing on the roof of the Trinsic bank training skills and chatting . Then going in the wilderness and discovering the world I knew from the single player Ultima series but in company of real people . Most of my UOL relations left 1 year later "going to try a new game . Like UOL but in 3D" . So I followed and a Half Elf bard was born in Qeynos in 1999 . This game was a perfection (or so I felt) - a vast, totally unknown and extremely dangerous world . People running everywhere and everything to explore and discover . I think that I spent my whole first day just running all over Qeynos, listening to NPCs and trying to talk with them . Total immersion again .
OK, in 2002 with PoP there were no more these strong feelings from 99 . The game was no more story driven, the factions and races played no role . The immersion disappeared and it became basically a mindless grind for AA and keying . People were talking about "toons" which they had to "twink" to camp some "mob" . Boring and I left . Since 2002 I tried many MMOs but only 1 resuscitated the strong immersion and huge world feelings - LotRO . I stayed a few years but after Riders of Rohan it also became a kind of boring solo rush for items and stuff . I left and since that time play mostly only single player games (Dragon Age, Skyrim, Strategic Command WWII and some) .
Finally what does gaming mean to me ? The same thing as reading . It is a pleasure to listen to a well told story in a believable environment . The only difference is that I am passive when reading while I belong to the story and (actively) influence it when gaming . Immersion is common to reading and gaming and when it happens, I know that I hold a really good book (game) . Did gaming have an impact on my life ? Again not more and not less than reading . Gaming is one of the possible ways to use my free time for . So it is in competition for free time slots with other available activities and I simply choose the one which provides pleasure in the given circumstances . It may be painting, doing fractal art, doing mathematics, reading, watching a movie, playing bridge with friends or ... launching a computer game ;)