Comments on: Friendship On-Demand? http://neilsclark.com/archives/237 games, addiction and other serious business Thu, 04 Dec 2008 20:18:39 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.7-beta2 hourly 1 By: Neils Clark http://neilsclark.com/archives/237/comment-page-1#comment-589 Neils Clark Sun, 01 Jun 2008 02:04:28 +0000 http://neilsclark.com/?p=237#comment-589 I used to really love that fun, relaxed element in speech and debate tournaments. Armed with a purple velvet suit I'd go from school to school, clique to clique locating then kicking back with all sorts of people. It was a place beyond the embedded cliques and relationships of my own Highschool. I liked a lot of the people at my highschool, but there are inherent barriers that somehow spring up once you choose your clique. In debate, from what I'm hearing in your WoW experience as well, you get a similar phenomenon. What I like about the high-end raiding - once you have suitable gear and knowledge to hit a variety of raids - is the pug scene. You get introduced to all sorts of different Vent/TS servers, with all sorts of crazy people. Most recently, back when I was doing a little WoW binge maybe a couple months ago, I was the only American in an Australian guild run. It's a little different because of the goal structure in WoW (some people are just there for the gear, which shows). Then again, at conferences or camps those people stick out a bit as well. There are people who care about the experience, the people and what their doing - while others are completely focused on the bottom line. Thanks for the comment squashling. I used to really love that fun, relaxed element in speech and debate tournaments. Armed with a purple velvet suit I’d go from school to school, clique to clique locating then kicking back with all sorts of people. It was a place beyond the embedded cliques and relationships of my own Highschool. I liked a lot of the people at my highschool, but there are inherent barriers that somehow spring up once you choose your clique.

In debate, from what I’m hearing in your WoW experience as well, you get a similar phenomenon.

What I like about the high-end raiding - once you have suitable gear and knowledge to hit a variety of raids - is the pug scene. You get introduced to all sorts of different Vent/TS servers, with all sorts of crazy people. Most recently, back when I was doing a little WoW binge maybe a couple months ago, I was the only American in an Australian guild run.

It’s a little different because of the goal structure in WoW (some people are just there for the gear, which shows). Then again, at conferences or camps those people stick out a bit as well. There are people who care about the experience, the people and what their doing - while others are completely focused on the bottom line.

Thanks for the comment squashling.

]]> By: squashlingchaotic http://neilsclark.com/archives/237/comment-page-1#comment-588 squashlingchaotic Sat, 31 May 2008 19:02:02 +0000 http://neilsclark.com/?p=237#comment-588 Interesting idea... I've always felt that these 'on-demand' gaming relationships are like the sort of relationship you develop at a conference or camp. While they don't have the stability and strong support of 'real' relationships, they are fun, relaxed, and no less genuine. You may meet up with the same person again, or you may never see them. Just because these are about the 'now' moment and not a long time, doesn't make them any less important. Does that make any sense? Interesting idea…

I’ve always felt that these ‘on-demand’ gaming relationships are like the sort of relationship you develop at a conference or camp. While they don’t have the stability and strong support of ‘real’ relationships, they are fun, relaxed, and no less genuine. You may meet up with the same person again, or you may never see them. Just because these are about the ‘now’ moment and not a long time, doesn’t make them any less important.

Does that make any sense?

]]>