I'm afraid I must confess that I have found myself mesmerized by a game or two on the Internet. I won't say which games, but I'll bet many of you have played one yourself. This post is not about pointing fingers at those that might play, but the general psychology of this pastime. I have found it to be a most intriguing phenomena. So here are some of my thoughts on the subject.
Ernest Hemingway once said, “Write drunk, edit sober.” And that is fine for a writer who knew that his words would not be read until they had been screened, screened and screened by the brightest and the best. Most of us are not that lucky. We must stay cognizant of the fact that once a word has left our mouth or has been “sent” we can no longer edit. We can apologize, explain, do a tap dance, whatever it takes, but we can’t erase the words.
I see this happening on the Internet. Social media is cruel in that we get only one chance. We have no inflection or facial expression. We see only what was sent or posted, most of the time without the author rereading or editing. I am quite certain that many dramas have been caused by misspelled words, missing commas, and thoughts written and sent without hesitation. What we may find a hilarious statement could be construed by others as an affront or embarrassment.
It is interesting to note that most online games are played with strangers. We don't know them, yet we play and converse with other players as if we have been friends forever. We ask simple questions, "where are you from, what do you do, etc." We play and we banter back and forth. But we don't know these people. We know only what they tell us and in our innocence we assume it to be true. Add to the mix, ongoing conversations with several other unknown players in the same game. If you play long enough you will discover the crowd will fall into cliques: the morning group, the evening group, the higher levels and so forth. But what I have experienced is that because of words carelessly expressed, feelings get hurt at some point. Why? We don't even know each other. It's a game for heaven sakes! But it happens because we are human and the human factor has been added to the game. Generally each player has a moniker, we have something to call each other. We can ask for extra help or tokens. It isn't a mindless game anymore, it has become social, with real people and real feelings. When we type, we type fast and respond quickly. We don't think. We fail to realize that something said could be offensive to others because we come from different backgrounds, countries, ages and life experiences. We are all different.
I am not sure how I feel about the dynamics of online games, but I do know that if we choose to play we must take care not to offend. There are real people on the other end of that game and we really don't have a clue as to their circumstance. This might just be the outlet they need to help them through an otherwise miserable patch or it could just be a fun diversion from a hectic day of reality. But, whatever it is the players play because they want to. So let's play nice and share kind words and freely give up tokens to help out a new found Internet friend.
And, don't get me started on the topic of the addiction of online gaming!
