It's just a game

Everquest, Guildwars, World of Warcraft, Furcadia, Starcraft, E.V.E, Secondlife, yeah the list goes on really. They are games we all play and true though some of these games, just have us simply killing monsters and grinding for experience points.. Other games are different so different you wonder if its a game at all, because people get upset or get wrapped up in it.

Take the game Secondlife for instance, its made and built by the people who play it. For a lot of players its a place where you can meet up with others all over the world, its a grand social event and you don't have to be yourself. Well you can be yourself but you don't have the usual restraints that society places on you, you could be like me and have no life at all apart from Secondlife.

It's just a game?

I once read that though Secondlife is a game, there are real people behind those avatars. The question was asked where do you draw the line, when those people actually start to get hurt? When they cry over something you done or said, when they hate you or when they laugh with you. Where is the line when its no longer a game, but something a whole lot different?

Okay so let me bring in to the equation a thing a lot of us like to call Roleplay, now I know where the Out of character and In character line is. A lot of roleplayers especially where I roleplay in don't know that line, and I have to admit I have occasionally blurred the line myself.

Why?

You get attached to the people you are interacting with, attached to their characters. Yes its easy to blurr the line when you get OOC pissed at something IC, you're too close to your own character or how their feeling hits your own emotions. I seen it often enough to realise thats when people need to back off, to look at the situation again and remember where the line is. OOC feelings for those who become friends or more also bleed a lot in to roleplay, its no fault of your own it just happens. No one is exempt from getting annoyed or crying over RP, for lashing out over the stupidist little things. If you happen to join a group one that is close-knit like a family, the line continues to blurr as you get more involved and tangled. Issues arise not from the roleplay itself but from the people behind the avatars, at the end of the day you're still dealing with real people.

So it's just a game......

Think again and be careful how you play.