Post by grumble on Jan 22, 2020 22:36:06 GMT -5
Jan 22, 2020 19:07:31 GMT -5 Nergal said:
So I got a private message on Discord asking about addiction to the game, and it seemed worthwhile to answer it publicly.
Of all the memes surrounding Armageddon, "Crackageddon" is the one that made me, and still makes me, the most uncomfortable. It speaks a certain truth about the ability of the game to hook its players. But it also highlights a trend of players becoming dependent on the game to the point that it's unhealthy. It represents a consistent urge to search for a high that's better and longer-lasting than the last one.
Armageddon is hardly unique as a game which people grow attached to, and overly reliant on, for entertainment, escapism, or human interaction purposes. But I think Armageddon is particularly dark in that regard, because it presents a number of paradoxes in its culture and its design.
The game is, by its very nature, competitive. PCs compete on multiple levels for attention and interest from other PCs, limited pools of minions, allies, resources, and even things like getting to a shop before everyone else to sell your stuff. On an out-of-game level, players compete for attention from staff, sponsored roles, the first chance to praise staff for some new thing they added to the game, etc. But, paradoxically, players are also told that Armageddon is a game that can't be won. And maybe that's true. But clearly, players can earn small victories along the way and come out with more victories than another player. That is, after all, the essence of competition. And while some competitions within the game and outside of the game make sense, there are some competitions that simply shouldn't exist.
The nature of these competitions leads to certain battle lines being drawn. And there is a clear direct relationship between the amount of time you invest into the game, by logging in, writing reports, contacting people, setting up meetings, etc., and the output you eventually get in return by way of minions and allies to play with, resources, staff attention, sponsored roles, and more. And there are some obvious diminishing returns to this. If you're playing 16 hours a day, many of these hours are going to be off-peak, and you may very well never even see another PC in those hours. But in my experience, that did not stop players from regularly putting in 16 hours a day.
I hesitate to call this behavior "addiction", because the field of video game addiction has not yet been thoroughly researched. But I do think this seemingly endless pursuit of dopamine from little successes here and there in a game is unhealthy. And I think it is immoral to intentionally design a game around forcing players to spend their time doing it if they want to get anywhere or if they want their PCs to mean anything, by impressing staff and players enough to interact with you, to get to resources before anyone else does, etc. And to be clear, the game is clearly designed in this manner. The only question is intent. Do staff members enjoy wielding enough power over the game to decide how your experience as a player will go, or do they see it as the consequence of the game lacking automated systems to enable players to do what they want and what their PCs are able to do, within reason? This is a question I don't know the answer to, but I think the answer is different for each staff member and quite important.
And to be clear, there is no magic number of hours where you're putting in too much time into a game. What actually matters are your life conditions. Are you neglecting your educational, social, and career prospects? Are you neglecting medical concerns (gaining weight, losing sleep)? Then the game is unhealthy for you, full stop. Stop playing and do other things. You will thank yourself later.
-------------------------------------------------------
In my opinion, Nergal's post is well thought out, introspective, and insightful. Some of the things he mentions, as well as some other factors, are why I decided to stop playing, it's a tough decision, and while there's an equal number of people that may be happy with the fact that I don't play anymore compared with the people who will wish I still did play, there comes a point where an individual of certain vulnerabilities may have to admit that they're not only screwing their opportunities IRL over, but also the bleedthrough from IC to OOC might be bleeding a little the other way too in a self-reinforcing cycle, to the detriment of the game.
EDIT: Edited for page roll, because I wasn't anticipating page roll, unfortunately I half-assed it.
So I got a private message on Discord asking about addiction to the game, and it seemed worthwhile to answer it publicly.
Of all the memes surrounding Armageddon, "Crackageddon" is the one that made me, and still makes me, the most uncomfortable. It speaks a certain truth about the ability of the game to hook its players. But it also highlights a trend of players becoming dependent on the game to the point that it's unhealthy. It represents a consistent urge to search for a high that's better and longer-lasting than the last one.
Armageddon is hardly unique as a game which people grow attached to, and overly reliant on, for entertainment, escapism, or human interaction purposes. But I think Armageddon is particularly dark in that regard, because it presents a number of paradoxes in its culture and its design.
The game is, by its very nature, competitive. PCs compete on multiple levels for attention and interest from other PCs, limited pools of minions, allies, resources, and even things like getting to a shop before everyone else to sell your stuff. On an out-of-game level, players compete for attention from staff, sponsored roles, the first chance to praise staff for some new thing they added to the game, etc. But, paradoxically, players are also told that Armageddon is a game that can't be won. And maybe that's true. But clearly, players can earn small victories along the way and come out with more victories than another player. That is, after all, the essence of competition. And while some competitions within the game and outside of the game make sense, there are some competitions that simply shouldn't exist.
The nature of these competitions leads to certain battle lines being drawn. And there is a clear direct relationship between the amount of time you invest into the game, by logging in, writing reports, contacting people, setting up meetings, etc., and the output you eventually get in return by way of minions and allies to play with, resources, staff attention, sponsored roles, and more. And there are some obvious diminishing returns to this. If you're playing 16 hours a day, many of these hours are going to be off-peak, and you may very well never even see another PC in those hours. But in my experience, that did not stop players from regularly putting in 16 hours a day.
I hesitate to call this behavior "addiction", because the field of video game addiction has not yet been thoroughly researched. But I do think this seemingly endless pursuit of dopamine from little successes here and there in a game is unhealthy. And I think it is immoral to intentionally design a game around forcing players to spend their time doing it if they want to get anywhere or if they want their PCs to mean anything, by impressing staff and players enough to interact with you, to get to resources before anyone else does, etc. And to be clear, the game is clearly designed in this manner. The only question is intent. Do staff members enjoy wielding enough power over the game to decide how your experience as a player will go, or do they see it as the consequence of the game lacking automated systems to enable players to do what they want and what their PCs are able to do, within reason? This is a question I don't know the answer to, but I think the answer is different for each staff member and quite important.
And to be clear, there is no magic number of hours where you're putting in too much time into a game. What actually matters are your life conditions. Are you neglecting your educational, social, and career prospects? Are you neglecting medical concerns (gaining weight, losing sleep)? Then the game is unhealthy for you, full stop. Stop playing and do other things. You will thank yourself later.
-------------------------------------------------------
In my opinion, Nergal's post is well thought out, introspective, and insightful. Some of the things he mentions, as well as some other factors, are why I decided to stop playing, it's a tough decision, and while there's an equal number of people that may be happy with the fact that I don't play anymore compared with the people who will wish I still did play, there comes a point where an individual of certain vulnerabilities may have to admit that they're not only screwing their opportunities IRL over, but also the bleedthrough from IC to OOC might be bleeding a little the other way too in a self-reinforcing cycle, to the detriment of the game.
EDIT: Edited for page roll, because I wasn't anticipating page roll, unfortunately I half-assed it.
