Monday, February 13, 2012

The Irony In Coming Together For VR Games

Dear Mr. Taylor,

That was a very interesting look at a world I don't really know much about, and maybe that's why having a convention - or a "bash" as you called it - for online gaming seems somewhat ironic to me. This is because these games involve no face-to-face social interaction, a fact that I will venture to say is a main selling point for many, many players. So to make an event that forces people to come together just to enter a virtual world seems counterproductive.

I do not mean to be insulting, and I do not mean to say that all online gamers have antisocial traits, but I think the stereotypical "gamer" is pictured to be sitting in a dark room with a headset on interacting only with his/her virtual friends (and by "his/her" I really mean his). I don't see why they would want to go to a place filled with hundreds or thousands of other people who probably have the same tendencies.

On the other hand, I guess these "bashes" could serve as a the only large scale social event these gamers might get to be a part of. They need to find others with similar interests. After all, I doubt these people are going to be getting together to watch "the big game". In the end, I just don't see the point in gathering people up just to disappear into their own little virtual - yet shared - worlds.

Here In 3D,
Joe Guagenti

1 comment: