Company at the bottom of the pit

There's nothing sweeter that sharing your loves and obsessions. The internet makes this possible on a massive front. Participating in boardgaming communities, baking forums and World of Warcraft newsgroups makes me feel less alone. But the real challenge is dragging your real live friends into the darkness of your hobbies.

I have, as you may have understood, a severe gaming addiction. My friends play too, but they are all a lot more casual users than I am. They like to smoke weed on the weekend, while I sometimes want to spike my veins with high grade smack or inhale the sweet fumes of crack cocaine from a stainless steel pipe. Of course I could go the full mile and start hanging out with some real junkies, but there's also the respect from my loved ones to be considered. No one wants to live with a substance abuser.

On a couple occations, though, I have been able to drag my friends down with me.

I used to be heavily into World of Warcraft (then I quit, because it stopped giving me the thrill I needed, read more about this here). While I was just starting up I gave the ten day free pass to a friend. To my great joy he took the offer and before I knew it he had passed me in level. Now, we had some great times in that parallell universe, but sometimes I wonder if I really should have slipped him that ticket. I hardly see the guy anymore, and, though his girlfriend seems to be okay with it, he's only a part time resident of earth nowadays. All mixed up in guild business and skipping soccer games for raids in the dungeouns of Azeroth.

Last week I gave another friend a plastic container of active sourdough culture and bullied him into making his own bread. I was pleased to hear the bread turned out great and tasted fantastic. It seems like the hobby is catching on. Next on his list is Austrian whole grain rye. The question is, will it turn into an an addiction, and do I want that on my conscience? What if he drops out of the university and go start himself a bakery?

You have to look out for yourself, too. Perhaps you need a sane environment to stay in touch with the real world. Before you break out that nice little gateway boardgame or ten day free trial to kick off your win over campaign, think it through. You may need people around you to help you stay put. My girlfriend for instance, I would never want her to come over to the dark side. She is my lantern in the blackness. My north star to keep the ship straight. Without her I might have quit my job and started selling The Big Issue.

Gaming theory 3: The good and the ugly

Good graphics is a concept that I find is often misunderstood. There's a diffence between good graphics and high resolution. Sure, the PS3 (for example) has a huge capacity for detail, both in images and movement, but it's up to the artist to deliver good graphics.

A painter doesn't automatically get better just because she is given a finer brush. In fact, a lot of the time thumbnail sketches are much better and more lively than the finished design. Attempting high resolution, realistic graphics often results in stiff characters with severe lack of expression. A cartoonish approach is likely to be much more vivid.

A question I like to ask in connection to this is, if you carried a picture of your girlfriend (or boyfriend) in your wallet, would you rather it be a high resolution picture of her looking ugly or a low resolution picture of her lookig good?

Gaming theory 2: Your drug of choice

I often hear people say, "I like racing games" or "I'm more of a shoot 'em up kinda guy". While I don't dispute that at all I want you to try to remember your five most fulfilling gaming experiences. If you're a long time gamer you'll find yourself with five very diverse games with little in common. What they will have in common is that they were all one of the first games you played in that specific genre. The human brain is tuned to reward you when you master new skills. Repeating the same things over and over does not grant the same sensation.

Back in the days me and my friends were completely absorbed by Tony Hawk. Once we got the hang of it we couldn't get enough. We played for days on end. By the time Tony Hawk 2 hit the stores we were so excited we nearly wet our pants. We gathered up to play it, crawling out of our skins with anticipation, but the feeling wasn't there. It simply wasn't as fun. In all fairness, the game isn't at all bad. Probably better than the first one. But it was more of the same thing and the interest faded after that.

Getting into new genres can be scary because you're on uncharted territory, but once you get past the obstacles the feeling of mastering something new vastly outshines utilizing your old skills. It should be pointed out that the exhilharation may not come the first time you play the game. It may not even come the second or third time either, but when it comes it can never be repeated. This new experience reward is a one time fix. You will either have to put up with the diminishing effects or find yourself a new game.

I warmly recommend Ralph Koster's book A Theory of Fun that digs deeper in to the subject.

Gaming theory 1: The pursuit of freedom

For many people the ultimate game experience would be a vast imaginary world where you can do anything you want. Total freedom as it were. And that would certainly be something. But take your personal top five games of all time and ask yourself how much of that freedom they actually contained. Also, ask yourself if that was the quality that made them fun.

Game developers like to brag about how you can destroy or interact with anything in the environment, but while this is a nice feature it is hardly what makes the game great. At first you may marvel at the possibility of being able to completely eliminate an entire building or pull every lever at an abandoned construction site, but after about half an hour you get annoyed that your pulling the levers actually has no effect whatsoever on the game.

Freedom is great, but it has to be balanced with an equal ammount of content in order for people to actually appreciate it. Smashing pots in Zelda is fun for a while, but once you've maxed out the rupees in your wallet you're not likely to do it anymore. It has no additional effect on the game. Jumping off a ramp and go crashing through a window before landing on a grinding ledge in Tony Hawk can be exhilarating but what actually makes your pulse go up is the fact that it gives you a point multiplier.

Players love the illusion of freedom in, say World of Warcraft or GTA, but without a goal and limitations the game just simply wouldn't be fun.