Half Sigma

As I've said many times before, the vast majority of people do not work in i-banking or BIGLAW but nevertheless do not consider themselves failures. They do not obsess constantly about increasing wealth/status or scoring more poon tang. Leisure-related activities can be most enjoyable even if they do not lead to either "goal." Human life is way too complex to be reduced to such simple levels.

I think that is probably an accurate assessment from Sigma. There is an addiction component though. In my own experience, my husband began playing games when he was low status in real life - in undergrad, living with his parents, single. He would play them intensely without sleep or food. The difference was, those games ended. If you were addicted, you would have to play the same storyline over again - and that gets boring. So he would stop for a while until the next game came out.

But, because of that experience with regular games, he has treated the unending online games - like Starcraft online, and WoW - no differently than if they had been fully installed on his computer. The difference is, they don't end. There is nothing to be gained by playing 12 hours a day vs. 2, whereas before it meant beating the game in only 2 days. The other difference now is that he does have status -he's married, he's a degreed professional. But he still plays the minute he gets home.

WoW is an incredible timesink - as one person on the linked post message board pointed out, it can take half hour to move from one part of the game map to another. There's no reason for that. A boxed game would never waste that much time on flying with no activity. You run for incredible distances with no contact. You can stand out in the middle of nowhere killing things for some status. There are no NPC's in the wilderness to direct your overall actions. There is no set path that you can quickly follow.

So, while I think status has something to do with why these men in their 20s and 30s began playing games, they play MMORPG because are so used to playing the old, boxed games that they can't see how the situation has changed - both in their own life and in the game set-up. That's why you see so many families broken up. I'm sure the GF's and wives of these men had seen them play intensive games before (as I have seen my husband do) until they ended after 30 hours of play.

Then they waited for them to finish WoW after 30 hours, but it somehow never did. I'm waiting too.

People become "addicted" to online games, but then supposedly there are workaholics who are addicted to real world work. Same thing?

Other than the questionable perspective regarding law school prospects (maybe it's another regional thing, but graduates outside the top 10% at University of Houston Law School manage to get jobs out here that pay in the six figures), the post is spot-on. The only thing that I would add it is also, for some, a very rewarding social experience (in part because of the prestige that you mention is easier to get in WoW than in real life, if you're dedicated).

Some people have so-called addictive personalities and cannot do anything in moderation. This can apply to seemingly harmless activities, as well as to vices such as drinking and gambling. For instance, while millions and millions of men enjoy watching sports yet still lead balanced lives, there's a smaller number who become total sports nuts and watch all the time, to the extent that the rest of their lives become unbalanced (wives and children ignored, household chores allowed to pile up, etc.)

I've never played World of Warcraft, nor do I have the least iota of interest in doing so, but I've no doubt that it works in much the same way. A few people become addicted to it, primarily for reasons associated with their personalities rather than anything inherent in the game, while a much larger number play it occasionally without letting it interfere with their lives. I'm also sure that some people play it a few times and decided that it's really stupid, and regret having wasted their money.

"...Ditto for masturbation."

Hahaha. That's the funniest comment HS has ever had.

I expect to see "Unlike Warcraft, masturbation leads to a real-life reward." on a .sig sometime soon. Kudos!

HS, status is a sociobiological construction. Status-seeking, is as you said, seeking mating opportunities, "In adult males, high testosterone levels are associated with status-seeking behaviors and the pursuit of mating opportunities." http://www.edge.org/documents/archive/edge158.html see Carol Hooven.

The draw of RPGs was exactly as HS put it. The gameplay itself wasn't all that great. But when not playing, I would obsess over how I would improve my character.

Perhaps it's not just that WoW attracts failures, but that most people's lives are just less thrilling (how else to explain the husbands with children?).

Masturbation is manageable (15 minutes a day?), and far less of its practitioners are addicts. And you're never fooled into believing it's something more than it is.

The problem appears that there are some individuals in this world who is too smart for their own good. These are the Corvettes that are being used to as taxi in NYC traffic. They would much rather be racing in some race track, but only a few of them ever get that chance. If they were less capable or less self aware, they would be much happier with their place in the world.

But it also also be pointed out, Corvettes should not be full of themselves. They might be faster than their four door sedan cousins, but when comes to speed, they are no match for jet aircraft.

"most people create elaborate psychological facades to convince themselves they are not failures even though they are"

Surely you realize that the the-fact-you-disagree-with-my-conclusions-is-just-proof-that-the-conclusions-are-correct assertion is the rankest form of Freudianism,

"Everyone at the top of his own ladder." Bah. Maybe in Dr. Phil's eyes.

Half Sigma, you've isolated men in your theory. Either you're keeping part of your theory tight-lipped, or you feel that the female psyche is too complex or sophisticated to explore.

No! None of the above! HS is too much of a gentleman to tell a woman that her shoe-shopping spree at Macy's was a waste of time just because it won't bring her sex or status. Surely. Two points for HS.

Funny post. Eric Raymond, the author of "The Cathedral and the Bizarre", has similar beleifs, but a VERY different attitude towards them. I would point out that his attitude seems to be MUCH more conducive to getting status and sex than Half Sigma's.

OK, I'm a tard, that was only one thing.

Michael Vassar, what article of Eric Raymond's contains this information? It certainly isn't "The Cathedral and the Bazaar," unless we're supposed to read it like the I Ching. Or, was this some sick joke of yours to make me learn about the development history of Linux?

There was an L.A. Times article in the Health section last week about growing social isolation, meaning, lack of confidants. The worst drops were for young men with only high school education, and older black men.

Are chess playing or fiction reading also wasting time away. Or people playing puzzle?

There are some days when you write something that really impresses the hell out of me. This isn't one of those days.

No, I kid, this is top notch. I enjoyed reading it.