The Mmos Of The Ancient World

[Roz]

(This contains a bit of mmo speak, it might sound alien for those who haven't played mmos)

 

How many here has played any mmo game?  I'll admit, I am a nerd.  I played World of Warcraft back in the day.  Can't believe it's 10 years after its launch.  I quit because I felt so guilty playing a warlock while being a christian (undead warlock no less, fear me mortals! ).  I started as a human paladin but I saw everyone and their dog playing paladins, so I said I'll be their arch nemesis. 

 

Anyways, just got that email about its new expansion, but I really don't have any urge to play it now.  However, this got me thinking.  Back when I played, it was damn easy to get lost in it all.  I wasn't fully addicted so that I don't see the lines between reality and WoW's world, but yeah my college grades could've been a full letter grade higher if I hadn't spent so much time with that game.

 

In many ways, religion's a lot like the MMO games out there.  There's a lot of gamers out there who play them, and the really successful ones have millions of followers.  It's a great cash cow for the companies with the hit titles. 

 

It's honestly like walking through life looking at the religion players out there.  You can tell which ones are hardcore religion players and which ones are casual gamers.  I came from a relatively small adventist church, which is like a guild in those MMOs.  Small guild, but man they were some of the most hardcore religion players out there.  I'm talking donating large sums of money for projects (missions in poor countries, passing out literature, etc.), following Ellen White's teachings (I guess this compares to... MMO roleplay?), and being very very religiously conservative. 

 

Now that I'm out these guys try to get me to resubscribe again and again.  "Roz, come back to church, give your heart to jesus again!"

 

Ironically, these were the same folks who reprimanded me and used so much shaming language to get me to stop playing WoW.  Back then I honestly had a much deeper connection to SDAMMO than WoW, but looking back it's just trading one fake world where I knew it to be fake for another fake world that I thought was real: religion.

 

Usually these MMO games have a "tithe" of about 10-15 bucks a month, which I now use for beer money.  But the religion MMOs require a scaling cost.  The more one earns in reality the more they're expected to give to the clergy (or that religion's game employees). 

 

I know some liken religious addiction to drug or alchohol addiction, but I think the MMO comparison's the most apt one in this day and age.

[directionless]

The MMO is a good analogy, because many Christians are somewhat role-playing. Of course role-playing isn't all bad. I heard a quote from somebody that he tried to pretend to be a respectable person and eventually over many years the pretending was his real personality.

 

Hmmm. If my Christian experience was described as a computer game what would it be? Probably that boring solitaire game is the best description.

[Leo]

You know what, you're right.

On the flip side, it can be rather cathartic now as an ex-C to play a MMO or some other mythology-based game, and imagine what it would be like if they did this with the Christian religion. I personally play at King of Dragon Pass off and on. Used to play on Alter Eon and even HellMoo. Yes, as a Christian, or at least a deconverting one at the time, I played in HellMoo for awhile. Actually that one is pretty realistic for a post-apocalyptic corporatocracy. Like you, I'm wholly skeptical to this granny notion of people being addicted to gaming. People just use the word addiction to imply something someone likes a lot, and enjoys, and maybe isn't socially accepted. In the old days, they just called that being heavily invested in a hobby.

Admitting I was and still am sometimes, a casual gamer.

But playing these games with all their gods and goddesses is rather cathartic. I actually played an overtly atheistic character in a MUD back in 09, and rather enjoyed the flack and proselytizing I was getting from the theists on there, and the rogue way I had to go about doing things to get advancement.

But although King of Dragon Pass is not a MMO, more of a single-player adventure game, I find it pretty interesting in light of modern theistic systems. It's realistic in that the magic doesn't always work, there's a huge cost payout, all kinds of things.

Anyway, as an Ex-C I find this to be somewhat cathartic. I realize it's a different track than what you were on. And I didn't really have access to certain games ten or fifteen years ago, still not sure if a blind person could even play at WoW, but I get your drift. And the comparison is most definitely there.