Some incredibly important breaking news certain to rattle the foundations of this great nation and many others.
The controversy over whether hobbits should be able to marry dwarves may be unique to Turbine, but the issue of in-game relationships is not. Most American households have some form of single-player video or computer games; in addition, at least 12.5 million people subscribe to multiplayer online games, going online to interact with other game players in elaborate virtual worlds, many with sword and sorcery themes. Games like 'The Lord of the Rings Online' -- often referred to as MMORPGs, or massively multiplayer online role-playing games -- don't just allow players to create life in the form of their characters; increasingly, they take over the lives of the players themselves. Perhaps the quintessential example is 'EverQuest,' launched in 1999, and so addictive it came to be known as 'EverCrack.' Once the most popular MMORPG, it has been displaced by 'World of Warcraft,' which boasts an estimated 8.5 million users. One study estimated that the average player was on 'EverQuest' some 20 hours per week; of course, that number is skewed by casual users -- some hard-core gamers spend more like eight to 12 hours per day on the game.
Players devoting that much time and energy to their games will naturally want to live part of their life inside the game, and that includes developing committed relationships, sometimes with ceremonies.
As someone who plays MMORPGs, is married to someone who plays MMORPGs more than I do, and being friends with people who play MMORPGs even more (nerds), I found five questions racing through my head.
- Who cares?
- Who cares?
- Who cares?
- Who cares?
- Who cares?
Seriously, I kept trying to think of a different angle to this, but could not escape the fundamental root of the issue. I wanted to ask, "Why don't they stop worrying about such non-sense and get a life," but found I could not escape the true one and only important question, Who cares? And if anyone knows the answer, then I can ask, "And why can't we exterminate them?"
2 comments:
I'll answer the 3rd question: No one except gay dwarves.
Is a reason you'd like to tell us why you asked the question?
Remember to answer carefully. As a presidetial candidate the real world mat tweek..they're not ready for it yet either.
Why is it headlining news (albeit alt news source headline) that a game company simply removed a feature rather than deal with the complex sociopathies brought up by its presence? If real life gay dwarves, lesbian midgets, transexual albinos, bisexual proteans, bondage accountants, heterosexual yuppies, or any other strange and kinky group were denied access to meaningless ceremonies of symbolic commitment or silly reasons to fret over how to change your name, I'd be pissed. But it's not like the gay dwarves of Middle-earth have to deal with draconian insurance companies denying them domestic partner benefits based on their out-dated faith based policies.
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