How has DAoC affected your social life?

[rure]

Hello fellow players!

I am studying to "Beteendevetare med inriktning mot IT-miljöer" (hmm..dunno how to translate it but it will be something like "Behavioul scientist in IT-environment") on a university here in Sweden and is atm righting a paper about computer games and how they have affected your social life.

I wonder now how DAoC or any other computer games made an impact on your social life? I mean, has anything happened to you because of DAoC that wouldnt have happened if you havent played it?

I dont think anyone of us is unaffected by this game, it certainly has made an impact on my life.

I would greatly appreciate if some of you could write a few lines about this.

Thanks in advance,

 

[Addlcove]

what social life?, only difference for me is I know have something to do rather than sit around on IRC all day

 

[Pixie.Pebr]

What Octanion said, minus the IRC bit...

Hmm... What _did_ I do before DAoC?

 

[old.Xarr]

not that much has happened.. but then again my friends ain't normal either, so it flows both ways

 

[Teh Fonz!!1]

I much prefer the atmosphere in DAOC to sitting in a crowded sweaty pub full of skin head yobs smoking dope and looking for fights.

My social life isn't what it used to be but I'm happier for it.

 

[SFXman]

When I was still actively playing Dark Age of Camelot the game could take up weekends and many days non-stop... it does affect your social life. I for example might've sometimes said I had things to do so I couldn't go snowboard or to a pub/party... all because I had to play DAoC since there might have been a guild hunt or I just plainly wanted to exp.
It works both ways though, my social life has now taken over and I have no time for Dark Age of Camelot anymore since the 45-50 levels need hours in a row to be able to level properly... I don't often get many hours in a row at home. Except late at night when I am too tired to try play...

 

[old.Tohtori]

Hmm. How has DAoC affected my social life?

Nothing much has changed, i still like to sit on the roof of a building and watch people go by like ants, imagine i had a sniper rifle and make bang bang noises. Only now i'm standing on the rooftop 'cause i can't sit in that silly position i do in DAoC for long, i have a bow instead of a spinerrifle, people are woodants instead of just ants and i know i can be invisible when i pull my hood on.

It's not a big change, perhaps it has somewhat affected my sense of realism towards social life. I know that getting the [girls] isn't easy for any of us but /flexing infront of them doesn't seem to help. I was evidently missing a keyword, so i tried a few:

"Miriamel sent me" did absolutely nothing.

"The blood of the reitchous" managed tears in ones eyes and one to run away. Not really what i wanted.

"Tomte are revolting" and holding out a piece of paper only managed to get me a restraining order.

So keywords weren't the only thing missing, perhaps there ws a level difference or some other bug that MYTHIC FAILED TO REPORT!!!!111...sorry, didn't mean to shout. So as i was saying, nothing really changed. Oh, now that i think of it a bit better i do think of one thing. IT's the neighbours dog, it seems less purple and more red to me then it did before, but i'm not going to be sosiolisingthing with the dog so i guess it's nothing.

Well hope that sure does help with your gee coz willy science thing mr scientiststs by gods.

 

[Belsameth]

I don't think "Affected social life" quite covers the charge.
It's more that I have non left.

During the course of my addiction I've seen many friends fade out of sight, and nearly my job as well.
It goes so far that I bought one of my friends an account so I could still speak to him (this is only half kidding.)

To say I regret starting to play it, or regret giving a lot up for it isn't true tho. I've had quite a few adventures, that still make me laugh/cry/shiver whenever I think back at them.

the forming of my guild, The Black Grail. the many hunts I had, and still have, with Garik. the constand bickering of Reborn and Gughluck over who slowed the horse down more, and who was actually been given the mule. my first time out in Emain.
my first solo kill. the first time I took Rauthott (one of my guildies) out to Emain, boy did she turn out to be blood thirsty) the list goes on and on.
besides that, I've met a lot of great people, both in game and here on the forum.

if you think about it, it hasn't affected my social life. it just changed from a bar to a dark forest. and just because games still haven't been fully accepted as an adult form of entertainment, people will claim I don't have a social life, while in fact mine's more active then from most people I know.

so, to conclude my rant, it indeed has had a tremendously positive effect on mine....and I hope it will keep doing so for many moons...

 

[SFXman]

Mmm, nice post Soul. Made me think about how some experiences are actually very exciting for example, RvR for the first times made your heart beat rapidly and sometimes still do if you are alone somewhere.
I wouldn't give up the experiences but I feel so much more alive and better now that life took over again... not really missing the game either, only when I login I feel like I should just screw life for a few days (yeah ok... only a few, am I so sure ) but no...

 

[Belsameth]

Originally posted by SFXman
Mmm, nice post Soul. Made me think about how some experiences are actually very exciting for example, RvR for the first times made your heart beat rapidly and sometimes still do if you are alone somewhere.
I wouldn't give up the experiences but I feel so much more alive and better now that life took over again... not really missing the game either, only when I login I feel like I should just screw life for a few days (yeah ok... only a few, am I so sure ) but no...

I can understand you feel that way, it's a matter of making choices. neither is less valid a choice then the other. except maybe in the eyes of the "real world"
either have their advantages and disadvantages.

in the DAoC world there is no physical contact. when I'm feeling down, I can't get more then a mental hug, even tho I might really need one.

in the real world tho, there's prejudice based on how you look, I am sure I'd ignore more then half my friends where I to meet them in a bar. on top of that, some have difficulties with more direct social gatherings. while the relative anonimity(sp?) of DAoC can make things a lot easier.

 

[SFXman]

Originally posted by Soulcatcher
I can understand you feel that way, it's a matter of making choices. neither is less valid a choice then the other. except maybe in the eyes of the "real world"
either have their advantages and disadvantages.

in the DAoC world there is no physical contact. when I'm feeling down, I can't get more then a mental hug, even tho I might really need one.

in the real world tho, there's prejudice based on how you look, I am sure I'd ignore more then half my friends where I to meet them in a bar. on top of that, some have difficulties with more direct social gatherings. while the relative anonimity(sp?) of DAoC can make things a lot easier.

At times I can't understand when in the eyes of the real world a person is basically "fucked up" if they are so immersed in a computer game that they might spend days inside with physical movement limited to the moving of finger's and wrists on top of a few short jogs to the fridge and toilet.
The thing is that many don't even realise, or can't even begin to fathom what a massive multiplayer online rpg computer game can actually be like... the worlds are so immense with thousands of other similar "fucked up" people playing... it's just a escape from reality into a world of heroism, for some it might be a lot better of a place then their actual lives. This I find amazing about a game like Dark Age of Camelot.
Ultima Online was my first experience and I was hooked! I played that game non-stop when I lived in the horrible climate of Ireland and on most days I had nothing better to do.
Now though... I am this bystander when it comes to the gaming world, a person who is living a real life but understands how awesome of an experience online gaming can be. I find this quite nice actually, I enjoy playing games but not many could probably tell by my habits during weekends, or the way I seem, or how I behave with friends etc.
I am sure that I will still return to the alternate world sometime in the future but for now I have many other things to worry about
Hehe, as you said about ignoring half your online friends if you saw them in a bar, I know what you mean. I myself have met only a very few people who I have known solely from internet games ... some people from Diablo 1 & 2 times, almost all were completely regular people though
One thing I must confess, that is the fact that I find it quite disturbing if I see someone who 100% obviously the definition of a nerd/geek or whatever. You do see these people sometimes, it has nothing to do with the fact that they use computers a lot since that is fine by me as I do it still but they just completely separate from anything else...
I think a person can easily be an expert or just heavy user of computers but one can still retain some level of normality at least... you just see extreme cases at times...
Oh well, what am I to judge others. This was about our own experiences with real life alongside internet gaming.

 

[Brinx]

I used to play EQ, and on its release DAoC, basically from the point of waking up to the point of going to bed for about 2 years, eating at the keyboard, drinking at the keyboard. I got far lower exam results than I should have because of it, I lost a fair few friends, and basically in a lot of respects I lost two years of my life that I can never get back. I wont go into too much detail because these are public forums and all, but I can fully understand the escapism and consequent addiction that MMORPGs can offer.

I was heavily involved in guild stuff and don't get me wrong I met a huge amount of great people and had tons of fun over the period of time that I played, but there's only so far you can go with that. Especially when most live abroad and the finances of a student don't particularly stretch to frequent plane flights Though I do keep in touch via IRC/ICQ with the people I really valued from that time and I still reside in my old EQ guild as an inactive lay-about.

At the start of summer this year though I developed RSI in both hands as I'm sure I've mentioned on here before as a result of so much keyboard/mouse use, which basically meant I had to stop playing games pretty much entirely. I can handle day-to-day typing but playing games for more than about 30-60mins at a time hurts like hell. While in a lot of ways I do miss playing the games because of it and I still think about them now and then (and even log in for the odd 10 mins to see how people are doing), I count being forced to stop as a blessing.

It really did mess up my life, and about 10 months on I'm still trying to catch up on all that I missed because of it. As SFX said though it's good to be able to understand from the perspective of those that have and do still play the games. Since stopping I've persuaded a couple of people who were intending on trying them and who I know would have likely ended up playing intensely from not doing so. So good has probably come of it in that way too

 

[old.0xygen]

Outside of school I have no social life.

 

[Teh Fonz!!1]

You often here about people who play these games to escape reality because the lives they live or the situation they live in are horrible.

Is there anybody here who considers themselves the exact opposite....if you understand what I mean.

Lots of friends, very good looking, amazing and fun job doing what they've always wanted, top family, good wage.

Yet you still play this game and ignore the fact that you are in a better situation than 99.9% of people you know and could very easily live a life others would be very envious about?

But you don't. You don't know why and people are often stunned when they find out that this is your hobby and you prefer this to the alternative the above list brings.

Anyone?

 

[old.job]

My we are baring our souls today.

Yes, DAOC has changed my life, but I do fit it around my social life(thats why I've only got 2 lvl 36 chars) instead of watching telly in the week, I play DAOC, I actually think that is an improvement.
I play it before I go out on a fri/sat night and when I come in drunk (drunk playing, is this dangerous?)
The game takes me to another world at times when previously I would be doing fook all, moooching about.
The game is immersive and even the greatest sceptic can be drawn in, a relative was watching over my shoulder while I was running round Mid frontier, she was running down the game but jumped when the Salisbury giant appeared, soon she was shouting at a Dwarf that jumped and killed me, then she realised she had been watching for 2 hours!!!
The biggest problem is I have no time for ordinary boring real life, if someone says 'can you give me a hand', they get a mouthful
'can't you see I'm grouped!!!)

 

[old.job]

Fonzy are you talking about oneself by any chance?

 

[Uncle Sick(tm)]

First of all... *fluffles Gwumpy Goth*

I was incredibly hooked during beta and early launch (aka the famous Graham/Firrin morning hunts), then, for personal reasons, defected to Hibernia, started another guild... and also began to take the game more easy.

Meanwhile I treat DAoC as the hobby it is...

I go to work, have family (lucky bastard that I am - my wife plays, too).. and don't even feel the need to play every day anymore.

Yet I still love the game. I can't wait for Shrouded Isles. I love to brew poison with my ickle Nightshade. I love the occasional roleplay with some of the more mature players... etc.

But I am not jeopardizing anything else over it.
I am a casual player, leader of a casual guild and full time family father/bringer of Hellfire and Brimstone on some weird, green messageboard.........

Dosis facit venenum <- nuff said.

 

[SilverHood]

Sometimes, I feel that I'm getting social experiences from DAoC - it's fun playing and chatting with people who'm you've been playing with for months on end. Faced horrible deaths, incredible victories and worked excellenty as a team.

I was never a "team" player. The sport I did was swimming... it's a solo sport - just me, and no one else. while the ocasional team game, like football or basketball was nice, I simply enjoy "going the full mile" just to prove that it can be done (2nd in the nationals when i was younger - just one tenth of a second slower the than the guy who won).

In the end, you do what gives you a rush: When i first started daoc, leveling up, getting new armor and weapons was a rush. Now, killing albs and hibs is a rush. Just like swimming gave me an adrenaline rush. And Tactical ops before daoc.

Just like a night in the town with friends is a rush

Though it helps that my mates are all gamers too, and we tend to play online together, though not daoc... usually Age of Empires2 or the odd game of UT/quake.

Looking back, I'd probably say I did spend too much time playing DAoC. I had just moved house, new college, didn't know anyone locally, all my friends went to a different college.
DAoC helped me get over a difficult stage of my life- I could start up my troll, and I'd be that troll. I could forget about everything else for a few hours.
Suppose that's really what MMORPG's are about - imersion. DAoC is the first game (online) I have ever played that alowed me to take the part of a full time Axe-wielding troll.
I used to laugh quite a bit about the game when I first started playing: I remember playing in a group once: Me, a college student, a pub owner from Barnet, a bio-scientist from sheffield, a housewife who played while the husband was working, and a RAF pilot who was off duty.
It's more real than anything you can experience outside the game.

 

[Tenko]

I'm more like Old Job, I gave the game up after a year and a half with two 30+ chars. I never took the game at all seriously. I'd have to say though that the probable reason was not my glitterring social life (i have 2 young kids, me and the wife dont realy have a social life ) but the fact the game was only ever GOOD not GREAT.

A really immersive game may just yet destroy my soul, maybe Dragon Empires or Galaxies will do it

 

[old.tRoG]

It hasn't I just play on the computer now, instead of watching telly

Now, during the long, cold, hard winter of NW Scotland, where you cant step out the door without being blown away by Force 10 gales, me and the missus play more than ever.

Most nights we sit huddled together playing our computers and talking.

Yummeh.

 

[Uncle Sick(tm)]

Originally posted by old.tRoG
It hasn't I just play on the computer now, instead of watching telly

Now, during the long, cold, hard winter of NW Scotland, where you cant step out the door without being blown away by Force 10 gales, me and the missus play more than ever.

Most nights we sit huddled together playing our computers and talking.

Yummeh.

Time you return to Hibernia, fr0g...
The filidhs in Tir are wondering where that fucked up celt and his scary has gone.

 

[old.job]

Sing along now!!!!

 

[SFXman]

Have we realised how much content this thread has
Oh well, a bit of a change.

 

[Sharma]

You think i EVER go out?

 

[Uncle Sick(tm)]

Originally posted by sharma
You think i EVER go out?

I reckon it's kind of difficult to get out of the insane asylum?

 

[Neural Network]

I live in the same house as 11 other students, so if I want to socialise I just open my door. If I want to have a party, I go out of my room with a crate of beer and people will join up. Besides there is more than a thousand young people living at this student hostel, so with all the socialising it can be very hard to find time to play computer. So I try to play DaoC as much as I can, an average around 1-2 hours per day. And that it’s only possible because I almost newer watch TV.

 

[Belsameth]

I've read all of your replies with wonder,
and it's great to see we're capable of serious discussion as well

anyway, Rure, what I wanted to ask.
are you (with luck) writing, or feel like translating, in english?
I'm rather curious as to what you've written when it is done.

 

[Jiggs]

dunno really, i started playing DAoC at a time when loads of stuff in my life had just changed so its pretty hard to tell what changes it made.

DAoC has been loads of things to me at different time:

something to do when i am bored

an obsession

place to meet up with rl mates

etc etc

atm its kind of something i like to slip into now and then, i certainly dont play as intensively as i used to.

 

[Uncle Sick(tm)]

Originally posted by Pixie.Pebr


Hmm... What _did_ I do before DAoC?

You were selling booze... hehe

 

[rure]

wow thanks a bunch for the all the replys guys!! feel free to continue the discussion

Soulcatcher, sorry to disappoint you but I prolly wont translate it. It just takes too much time. It is like writing 2 papers. Although I can post my conclusions or some form of summary of it.