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I have come to realise that there are a large number of people with disabilities, either social, mental, or physical, who play MMOs (WOW right now). This seems to me to be a great step forward... really, and that video games are at the heart of.
People who have problems fitting into normal society because of their disabilities can play MMOs and be part of a soceity. They can have people to talk to, to do things with, to share failures with and successes with... which might be difficult for thme to do in RL. And at most people will just think that they are a noob or a kid. Additionally, it is controlled, and if they have to rest or can't handle more, etc, they can just log off...
I know that chatrooms, email lists, and forums like this one provided the first steps in this direction. They provided a means to communicate without being there... in person. (and I know that phones exist... but I have no problem talking in person and don't talk well on phones generally) However, these things didn't provide something to do together, or a way to have successes and failures. A big draw of MMOs is that they are very easy... you spend your time and you get rewarded... you can do this over and over again, getting nicer and nicer rewards, and it is all easier than RL... (this is, I think, a reason why many play, even those who wouldn't be considered to have social, mental, or physical problems)
Anyways.. I could write more. And I definitely should try to communicate better (but I already need to be writing my Scholarly Paper, and so would rather not spend the effort here). But what do you think?
Jon Miller
People who have problems fitting into normal society because of their disabilities can play MMOs and be part of a soceity. They can have people to talk to, to do things with, to share failures with and successes with... which might be difficult for thme to do in RL. And at most people will just think that they are a noob or a kid. Additionally, it is controlled, and if they have to rest or can't handle more, etc, they can just log off...
I know that chatrooms, email lists, and forums like this one provided the first steps in this direction. They provided a means to communicate without being there... in person. (and I know that phones exist... but I have no problem talking in person and don't talk well on phones generally) However, these things didn't provide something to do together, or a way to have successes and failures. A big draw of MMOs is that they are very easy... you spend your time and you get rewarded... you can do this over and over again, getting nicer and nicer rewards, and it is all easier than RL... (this is, I think, a reason why many play, even those who wouldn't be considered to have social, mental, or physical problems)
Anyways.. I could write more. And I definitely should try to communicate better (but I already need to be writing my Scholarly Paper, and so would rather not spend the effort here). But what do you think?
Jon Miller
Uh...General, did you realize you're posting on the Internet, right now? How are you doing that without a computer. 
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