Tom Vasel: Communities
The online world is a tantalizing place. I found this out when I first graduated from college. Having access to my own computer at my own house caused me to purchase Ultima Online, because the idea of interacting with other people in a game setting seemed fascinating and appealing. Once I started playing, I found it to be great fun and decided to get my friends involved. So for Christmas one year, I bought five more copies and gave it to my good friends so that we could game together. They did join in the gaming, and it was indeed very fun.
One of those friends was Greg. I had known Greg all throughout college, and we had become good friends, playing games, etc. Greg was a very soft-spoken person with the personality of a lamb, quiet and meek. He, loving computer games, became an enthusiastic participant in Ultima Online. He joined the guild that I started, and we had a lot of fun hunting together. But slowly, over time, he began to change. His character became more and more powerful, and the character began taking a life of its own. Greg, even so diminutive in real life, became a confident character, even a leader in the guild. Soon, the confidence turned into arrogance, and his leadership became brash. His character was a trash-talking champion, and he was rather well-known in that corner of the land. I soon tired slightly of the game and handed the reigns of the leadership of the guild over to him.
In real life, we began to worry a bit about Greg. He was seen less and less, rushing to and from work. In fact, he missed a paintball foray that I had been organizing for months, simply because he was consistently playing Ultima Online. All the rest of us realized what a bad influence the game had become on him, and we all quit playing the game. Greg lingered on for a while, but finally gave up the game (although he had a bit of trouble trying to break from it completely.) Finally, he once again became the Greg that we all knew and loved.
Recently, an online user started a thread at www.boardgamegeek.com that bemoaned the fact that many “famous� online reviewers, etc., didn’t take the time to post and participate in many of the discussions at BGG. I pointed out that the ‘Geek was simply too large to participate in many things, when the thread went slightly nasty (now deleted). One user basically stated that participation in threads and conversations was much more important than the silly reviews, etc.
I brushed off this nonsense, and went on. But it got me thinking about the effect that the online community has upon a person. I often peruse different forums (mostly about games) across the internet. In every forum, there is often a very distinct pecking order. There are usually “ranks� given to people who post a lot, and there is often some scorn attributed to “lurkers�, or those who read and never write. This makes many of these forums an inaccessible place – or at least one that can only be broached by the most daunting of writers.
I fear that this may happen to the board game community if we are not careful. Joe Bagodonuts may never write a review, may never write a session report, may never comment on my favorite geeklist, and may never participate in a game of online Werewolf. Does that make him of lower value? I think not!
The amount of reviews one writes, the amount of comments a person makes, does not make them more or less important than anyone else. Sure, I’m appreciative of those who contribute content – and I’m glad to be able to give a little to the gaming community. But many in my gaming group, and in gaming groups across the world, don’t participate to this level. Should I scorn them because of this?
And many of those who do actively participate by contributing articles, game helps, and translations are then derided because they don’t participate in the “chit chat�. Well, I for one love to talk, but it’s so much more enjoyable in person. When it comes down to commenting on every thread on the internet, or playing with my kids, which do you think I’m going to choose?
I try to answer every email to me with a personalized note, which gets a bit more strenuous every day – as a LOT of mail comes in. I don’t always see the necessity of commenting on every “open vs. closed holdings�, “why such and such a company is great/sucks�, and “online stores are ruining the economy�. The reason I don’t comment is simple.
1. The same arguments have been hashed over and over again.
2. Others will most likely state my opinion, saving me the time.
I don’t want to end up like Greg and be stuck behind a computer all the time, never coming out for other activities. It’s very easy to get wrapped up in an online world and feel the importance as others send you emails about how great you are, or even how stupid you are (it’s all about attention, right?)
I put a priority list on my internet usage. Here it is, in order.
1. Check email – respond to everyone if possible.
2. Check my blogs and read them (this is relaxing)
3. Check my webcomics and read them (even more relaxing)
4. Write reviews
5. Work on interviews
6. Suddenly remember I’m supposed to be working on a weekly blog
7. Write the blog
8. Prove to my wife that “spectate� is actually a word in the dictionary when she laughs while reading a review.
9. Secretly put the anagrams that my wife is solving into an anagram solver to show how smart I am.
10. Read the news until I’m sick of it. (Usually thirty seconds)
11. Read the latest movie reviews. (Then never get around to watching any of them)
12. Erase the “s438rh2y3rp92h� that my daughter typed when I went to the restroom.
13. Hear about a flash game and play it for only a couple minutes, hours, days.
144. Comment on a geeklist
1,234. Get involved in a flamewar at rec.games.board
So I say, get out in the sunlight! Go out for a walk! Turn off the internet and watch a good TV series (Surface). Disconnect from your internet persona and connect with real life folks. Kiss your spouse, hug your kids, play games with your friends. Then you’ll really become a part of an important community. Please don’t get me wrong - I have met hundreds of great friends via the internet and established relationships that will last a lifetime. The online boardgaming community is the greatest online community there is, bar none. It’s just not as good as my family.
And listen, if you do want to chit chat, email me, and we’ll talk that way! Or better yet, hook up to Google talk and we’ll talk live!
Well, that’s it for this week. I’ll try to have a picture contest next time.
Tom Vasel
“Real men play board games�
www.tomvasel.com
Posted by Tom Vasel on Feb 6, 2006 at 03:00 AM in Columnists, Tom Vasel / 1854
Comments:
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Amen, Tom. I am constantly amazed at how folks ponder why certain folks aren’t commenting on a particular Geek list or forum. There are hundreds—sometimes thousands—posted each day. How in the world do they expect any one person to keep-up with them all? I’m lucky if I can visit a handful in a week, let alone each day. While I enjoy reading a good list or forum topic, I have to weed through hundreds to find the ones that interest me. With every other activity I do, I simply don’t have the time. Most of my “gaming” time is spent gaming and writing reviews, session reports and articles. If there is extra time, I’ll try to browse the forums and Geek lists. Posted by Greg Schloesser on Feb 6, 2006 at 10:12 AM | #
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I have a hard time even browsing BGG postings. I like the new front page as it has given me even a small step towards approaching all the information that appears there daily. With the appropriate settings, I now actually come across discussions or reviews that interest me. In the older version, I was resigned to primarily using the site as a game reference. Too many hobbies, too little time… whee! Posted by Matt J. Carlson on Feb 6, 2006 at 01:44 PM | #
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Participating a lot on BGG can also give people tunnel-vision when it comes to the gaming audience. I know plenty of people, even dedicated gamers, who never visit the ‘Geek for conversation purposes (and sometimes not even for game information). I also know of the large audience out there of lurkers, and often I respect them for not getting involved in the sometimes long and convulated arguments I often (or at least, used to) get into over there. I never think they’re silly. (And never have; I suppose being trained in the very strict online board of the Warren Ellis Forum has something to do with that. He never thought lurkers were silly. To tell the truth, people who post a lot, on the other hand, sometimes can be silly. I suppose I am understating things, actually.) At some point moderation becomes important for large, or very large, communities. The ability to follow up on perhaps at the worst points hundreds of active conversations at a time is a skill you need as a moderator. I can do this, but it takes even me more than a few hours a night. Moderation of large boards is not a good thing to get into if you want free time, and heavy moderation done right is even worse. Of the ‘Geeks I do know, those who I have respected the most in the past seem to post less and less on BGG (or more in the Werewolf forums rather in the others). They concentrate their thoughts into a few articles now and then, perhaps. In many ways I think online communities are beneficial. They form social ties that would otherwise not exist, and they are at their best when they have a related and well-run convention like BGG does. Of the variety of entertainments on the web, they are the ones that most form the concept that the world is smaller, and that can be a good thing. Of course, then you get less elbow room. And sometimes people do get too wrapped up in them. The online world is addictive, too, and more convenient and much different than real life. I am actually rather meek and not at all wise in person, but online I have time to think that I often do not get in person. (I suppose I think slow but deep.) This means I can make decisions and write items that are more thoughtful than what I say face-to-face. And that can be the most addictive part of it all.... being someone else, even for a little while. It’s why writers who have written long enough (even if they are not fiction writers) still do what they do, in spite of jobs and other constraints on time. The online world has simply made that feeling more instant, and a lot more people can understand and even contribute a lot of time they would otherwise not. I think it’s like seeing the same feeling of writing in a parallel universe where the h constant is very different, and normal rules may or may not apply. I’ve no idea. I’ve really not reached that level yet. And now I should stop. :) Posted by Ava Jarvis on Feb 7, 2006 at 11:14 AM | #
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