But like I said earlier, that’s like saying, “If you live in solitary confinement [i.e. no interaction even with guards], you’re at the top of your hierarchy so obviously that must make you the happiest possible.”
You can’t selectively ignore segments of society without taking on a big psychological burden.
You can’t have high status if no other people are around. But high status is still a local phenomenon. Your brain wants to be in a tribe and to be respected by that tribe. But the brain’s idea of a tribe corresponds to what was a healthy situation in the EEA. That meant that you shouldn’t be in solitary confinement, but it also meant that your society didn’t include distant people with whom you had no personal interaction.
But from the perspective of an EEA mind, online interaction with other WoWers is identical (or at least extremely similar) to solitary confinement in that you don’t get the signals the brain needs to recognize “okay, high status now”. (This would include in-person gazes, smells, sounds, etc.) This is why I dispute that the WoW player actually can consider the other WoW players to be so psychologically real.
Ah—I’d been misreading this because I imagined the #1 WoW player would interact socially with other WoW players (“in real life”) like all of the WoW players I know do.
Well so far I’ve just been assuming ‘#1 WoW player’ is meaningful. As I understand it, there isn’t much to gain at the margins once you spend most of your time playing. Also, who says you can’t be on a computer and socializing? There’s plenty of time to look away from the computer while playing WoW, and you can play it practically anywhere.
Also, who says you can’t be on a computer and socializing?
Human psychology.
Your body can tell the difference between computer interaction and in-person interaction. Intermittently “socializing” while you try to play is still a very limited form of socializing.
I hang out with several people who play WoW at my place when they’re over. Other WoW players will spend time geeking out over their characters’ stats, gear, appearance, etc, and presumably our imaginary #1 would have less-dedicated groupies that would be interested in that sort of thing while he’s playing. Due to the amount of time spent travelling or waiting in queues, there are also a lot of times for traditional sorts of socialization—eating food next to other humans, throwing things at each other, whatever it is humans do. And WoW isn’t all that concentration-intensive, so it’s entirely possible to have a conversation while playing. And you can even play in the same room as other people who are in your group, and talk about the game in-person while you’re doing it.
Seriously: the Magic: the Gathering fanatic has social contact, but the lack of females in that social network has basically the same effect, in that it’s a more limited kind of social interaction that can’t replicate our EEA-wired desires.
But like I said earlier, that’s like saying, “If you live in solitary confinement [i.e. no interaction even with guards], you’re at the top of your hierarchy so obviously that must make you the happiest possible.”
You can’t selectively ignore segments of society without taking on a big psychological burden.
You can’t have high status if no other people are around. But high status is still a local phenomenon. Your brain wants to be in a tribe and to be respected by that tribe. But the brain’s idea of a tribe corresponds to what was a healthy situation in the EEA. That meant that you shouldn’t be in solitary confinement, but it also meant that your society didn’t include distant people with whom you had no personal interaction.
But from the perspective of an EEA mind, online interaction with other WoWers is identical (or at least extremely similar) to solitary confinement in that you don’t get the signals the brain needs to recognize “okay, high status now”. (This would include in-person gazes, smells, sounds, etc.) This is why I dispute that the WoW player actually can consider the other WoW players to be so psychologically real.
Ah—I’d been misreading this because I imagined the #1 WoW player would interact socially with other WoW players (“in real life”) like all of the WoW players I know do.
Wouldn’t the #1 WoW player be spending most of his waking hours on a computer instead of socializing?
Well so far I’ve just been assuming ‘#1 WoW player’ is meaningful. As I understand it, there isn’t much to gain at the margins once you spend most of your time playing. Also, who says you can’t be on a computer and socializing? There’s plenty of time to look away from the computer while playing WoW, and you can play it practically anywhere.
Human psychology.
Your body can tell the difference between computer interaction and in-person interaction. Intermittently “socializing” while you try to play is still a very limited form of socializing.
What sort of thing did you have in mind? (Am I missing out?)
What in-person-socializing/WoW-playing hybrid did you have in mind? Because I’m missing out!
I hang out with several people who play WoW at my place when they’re over. Other WoW players will spend time geeking out over their characters’ stats, gear, appearance, etc, and presumably our imaginary #1 would have less-dedicated groupies that would be interested in that sort of thing while he’s playing. Due to the amount of time spent travelling or waiting in queues, there are also a lot of times for traditional sorts of socialization—eating food next to other humans, throwing things at each other, whatever it is humans do. And WoW isn’t all that concentration-intensive, so it’s entirely possible to have a conversation while playing. And you can even play in the same room as other people who are in your group, and talk about the game in-person while you’re doing it.
LAN party
In fairness, you also “knew” that half the folks playing Magic:the Gathering are female, and knew that was true of RPG conventions as well.
So I tend not to weight your personal experiences heavily. Please understand.
Forget the WOWer then, how about the M:tG fanatic?
Implementation issue. Oops, wrong cop-out! :-P
Seriously: the Magic: the Gathering fanatic has social contact, but the lack of females in that social network has basically the same effect, in that it’s a more limited kind of social interaction that can’t replicate our EEA-wired desires.