Rants

So not too long ago I came across this article on the New York Times’ site. It started off as an interesting read and eventually evolved into what I would consider borderline panic that the world was about to end. OK, so I knew the world wasn’t going to end, but still… Go read the article. I’ll wait here with my opinions on hold until you’re done.

…

So now that you’ve read it you’ll agree that: A) Anyone with enough nerdness to reconstruct a virus extracted from DNA has seen many, if not all, science fiction movies and; B) They didn’t learn a thing from these movies.

So how, on Earth, does someone consider it progressive science to reintroduce viruses, possibly some which culled the population to nearly nothing, into society? With our immune system dependencies on medicine do we really think it’s a good idea to just start introducing old viruses all willy nilly?

I mean… Aren’t there enough new viruses for you guys to work on?

Recently I came across a blogger’s post of a painting meant to depict, from the blogger’s comments, a World of Warcraft player in 30 years. The original post was really nothing more than a link to a painting and some very brief, seemingly tongue in cheek commentary.

The most interesting thing about the post, however, is that once it hit Digg comments began to flood in. The comments, mostly anonymous, formed up to draw a distinct line between people who played World of Warcraft and people who didn’t. After reading through these comments you almost felt as if you had been involved in a debate between two opposing factions.

Now obviously, the artist who created this painting wanted it to stir emotions and intended for discussion to be prompted surrounding their work. However, it strikes me as odd that there have been such lines drawn around World of Warcraft and, more broadly, around the MMORPG genre of games.

Why is it that this genre is seen as the ultimate evil of gaming?

Why is it that with all of the game formats available to be criticized, all carrying their own group of addicts, the MMORPG is seen as the one genre which is the monster?

More importantly, why do so many people who are obviously not involved with the games in any way feel such a strong desire to “save” those who enjoy playing them? I mean, obviously the people who are playing the games aren’t somehow being forced to play them. By their very definition, a game is meant to be a fun event… a hobby… a break from the daily grind. So why is it that people, going about their business enjoying theire hobby, have become such a target for “saving” that those not involved in their hobby feel the need to use the strongest possible motivating factor available to them to attempt to stop these gamers from playing their games?

I figured I would offer a little editorial content here on Finalint to try and provide a little perspective on this issue. Namely my perspective…

More >