When Gaming Gets Personal

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jcom.12129/full

I think what aj was saying was more along the lines of "if you travel by car, you are more likely to be involved in a car accident."  That doesn't mean that cars are "bad" or that there's anything inherently wrong with cars.  There are reasons to travel in them and reasons not to.  

Um Adrian, the court case is real and this had nothing to do with land claims. Why don't you actually read the post before spouting your own BS.

Alfred wrote: Games and Social media are a watery reflection when "role play" isn't happening.  The internet has merely enabled a focal point for what would have been isolated fantasies to proliferate.

I agree that people have always had fantasies and that some of them were anti-social, violent, and weird.  Most, I suspect though I have nothing but my own intuitive guess about the matter, were none of those things.  There are at least two difference between then and now though, that raise interesting questions.

First, it would seem to me that if you acted out a fantasy then, somebody would know the real you who is enacting that fantasy.  Thus the shield of anonymity would be mostly missing.  Related or a correlation to this is that not only is there a shield of anonymity between you and your online fantasy, but also between you and the "victims" or "beneficiaries" of your online fantasy.  And while it s true that people are physically much safer in cyberspace, the emotional harm may not be so protected.

Second, and you allude to this also, the ability for many people with the same type of fantasy  to band together is much greater as the Internet means that you can choose to NOT interact with people with whom you disagree because you don't like their color, their gender identification, their sex, their preference in booze or whatever.  Where before the cyber world you would probably need to learn pretty quickly to adjust your behaviors to a more cosmopolitan outlook, in cyberspace you can have your own "all just like me" society and never be bothered with examining your judgements about "all those people who are not like me."

Related to this is, of course, the ability to anonymously scour the world for people with whom you share your particular cup of tea.  This is, in one way good, if that cup of tea is not poisonous to the online community of which your sub group may be a part, but multiplies the "evil" done by drawing into your immediate cyberspace others of like 'unhealthy' habits. 

So like most thing the technology is a double edged sword and cuts both to the positive and the negative.

AJ

Well, the corporate and contractual nature of the internet does make it “personal” *giggles*

The internet is venting ground for people’s narcissism and/or traits that couldn’t surface offline due to greater forces and characters. ABit like teenage girls moment mother isn’t looking.

( or just look at how people drive, only bit of power most people acquire and look how they use it )

The dull almost pre-regimented life’s many people lead, coupled with a complete detachment from all family, cultural and historical precedence leaves no reason to behave in a “normal” way.   (other than selfish gain anyway or simply attention seeking to fill a void )

Games and Social media are a watery reflection when "role play" isn't happening.  The internet has merely enabled a focal point for what would have been isolated fantasies to proliferate.

More interestingly in the past, media and social events were less varied and more conformal, now people have a chance to put their own twist upon it! They may even act as a the media or narrative like never before. 

( Couldn't even speak out of turn up the dinner table 100 years ago, games had strict rules, entire crowds would react with disgust if a music concert was too "contemporary" )

An often overlooked effect of  internet is you can pick what ever mantra or vibe you want at an instance online. See what you want to see, read what you want. Don't like the smallest thing? Search for another more pleasing blog or version of game! Vanity of vanity saith the preacher all is vanity ;p

 (being given, acting or told what you want when you want it would of been considered "spoiling"  once upon atime )

( Watching the early acress of steam if quiet telling, people pay for legups on sandbox games so they can tell, take and stomp over new players upon launch, as this advantage fades and the game is balanced, They leave...... as they can't act out a weird violent ego-fueled fantasies. )