MMOG
Yesterday - well actually today between midnight and 2 AM :) - I had a very interesting conversation with Salvaes, an ADV on AO. We chatted about the concept of MMOGs and the people who play them.
It is already known that some computer games can cause a type of addiction very similar to drugs or alcohol, when the player feels physically bad when he cannot play. This danger is more likely when we talk about MMOGs since these kind of games offer a very complex and time-consuming gameplay. I don't have any scientific or statistic proof of this but there are people who are literally always online when I am too. There are players with two or more 180+ characters which require a lot of time to build. It would be interesting to conduct a research on the effects of MMOGs on one's lifestyle. What happens to his social connections, friends? Does he go out? What else does he do in his free time?
At the current level of computer technology MMOGs have much to evolve. But if the pace of evolution of technology is this fast as it is now imagine what can come in a few years only: With the new improvements of computer technology people can experience a much sophisticated and more realistic gameplay. 3D glasses, VR, force-feedback, if all these are implemented we won't be able to tell the two worlds - real and MMOG - apart. Combined with our biological knowledge we can feed and keep alive a player automatically, connected to a computer. This way one won't need to sleep or eat at all, but can be online 7/24. One can choose to leave this misery what we call real life and choose to live on Rubi-Ka for example.
In addition these games offer a special way of gaining and holding power. Power is a thing men desire all the time. Why be a worker or learn at the university if you can be a sorcerer, a Nano-Technician and crush your enemies with deadly nano-programs.
If we are not careful enough we can end up like in Matrix bathing in chemicals and playing a grandiose MMOG we call life. And we don't even need vile robots to take over us.