A New Perspective

Overall, my experiences with First Year Seminars here at the University of Richmond have been very positive. Last semester, my seminar was called “Old People” and focused on the age group of the elderly, and I loved it. I thought that the class was a great way to expose myself to an aspect of life that I have not experienced and will not for many years to come.

While my Cyberspace FYS has little to nothing to do with the elderly, the exposure to different aspects of life is still there. I have never been on Second Life, pictured an avatar as a blue alien with a tail and could not tell you how to operate a weekly blog. 

I think that being a part of this seminar has been a learning experience, in more ways that one. 

For me personally, the world that has been brought to the surface the most as a result of this course is that of addictive MMORPG players. Both Julian Dibbell’s book, Play Money, and the documentary “Second Skin” have given me a new perspective on online gamers. 

For the most part, I find the amount of time that gamers spend on their games to be comical. It is not my intention to bash what they are doing, I simply cannot fathom spending eight hours a day working and “living” in a world that does not exist. While watching “Second Skin”, I found myself actually laughing out loud at how serious some gamers were taking their games and lives in their World of Warcraft, neglecting their work and family for their “friends” and “lovers” in their virtual world.

Just a couple of gamers from "Second Skin"

While most of that opinion has not changed, my exposure to these people, who come from all walks of life, has forced me to reconsider my original judgements. For some, especially the disabled, virtual worlds serve as a place that they can just be themselves without stereotypes. I think that it would be difficult to find someone who would think of that as comical and not want to reach out to these people. For others, online gaming is a serious addiction, one that can even lead to depression and suicide, which requires a healing process similar to any other addiction. The seriousness of their condition is nothing to laugh at and I wish that I could help those people see that the real world can be just as wonderful as their virtual world.

So, in conclusion, I must admit that I was a bit too quick to judge those who play virtual online games. This is not to say that I will be going out tonight and buying World of Warcraft or making an account on Second Life, but I will do my best not to judge people based on how they want to spend their time. I am a strong believer in open-mindedness and MMORPGs are just one more aspect of human life that I will accept.