Editorial Oblivion article at NY Times

[Hamster]

well, just imagine you playing any clasic mmorpg where the server is empty and there are only npcs going arround, thats a spmmorpg, sounds boring ?

Yes, i understand this.
What made me curious is this post

I claim that their games are very similar to single-player MMORPGs - with all the problems associated with that idea.

So Morrowind is similiar to some other games, which can be labeled "pure" spmmorpg's.
And i don't think i ever heard about "pure" spmmorpg's...

i havent played oblivion but i didnt find morrowind very fun

I find Oblivion even more boring

 

[Chefe]

I'd choose Oblivion's NPCs over the "LFG omg n00b! AGGRO!fuckr !!!1" MMORPG kids anyday. If you think MMO's offer adequate social interaction, like that "I go against the grain and spell Rebecca with only one 'c'" ballsack, you need to be locked away for fear that you may reproduce and further degrade the human gene pool.

A well done singler player RPG (like.... I dunno.... Fallout? Arcanum? Torment?) has better social interaction and feeling of accomplishment than any hokey MMO. "Rebeca", and people like her, don't know what the fuck they're talking about. I doubt they've even ever played anything besides Super Mario Bros. People don't share accomplishments in MMO's, they hop around like idiots and ask "hay wher do i fnd teh bunny penis? i hav qst and ned 3 of them."

Hell, you'd get better social interaction by talking to a wall. People might think you were crazy, but at least you wouldn't be stupid.


Oh, and fuck those communist bastards at the Times.



Chefe out.

 

[Human Shield]

Is she forgetting the XBOX ACHIVEMENTS system? "Gotta collect 'em all!"

 

[GhanBuriGhan]

What the article appeared to miss however, is the fact that the Elder Scrolls games are essentially offline MMOG worlds, and that they more-or-less fail to provide even a facsimile of social context, something that is absolutely essential to a single-player RPG.

Is that fair? I agree on the dissapointing linearity and lack of meaningful choices in the dialogue which you probably had in mind. But the game still offers more "social interaction facsimiles" than most

- Recognition of your achievements in the form of NPC' discussing rumours of your deeds or outright thanking you for your achievements
- Being recognized for your rank in guilds
- Central main quest NPC's have quite well written things to say to you
- Greetings and facial expressions change based on disposition, which in turn changes with fame, quests solved for NPC's, your race and gender, etc.
- Lore, guilds, cities provide social context.

i wouldn't say that Oblivion is particularly poor in that respect. That social interaction in any RPG, and particularly in Oblivion can't keep up with real conversations is no doubt true. But we all know what real conversations, especially in MMO's can be like...

 

[Solik]

Normally, the hating around here is frustrating and depressing. But I'm loving this hating on the NY Times.

Carry on.

 

[DarkPhantom]

Normally, the hating around here is frustrating and depressing. But I'm loving this hating on the NY Times.

Carry on.

And even stranger is the fact that, suddenly, I feel an urge to play Oblivion...am I in the wrong Codex? ...

 

[Azarkon]

I'd choose Oblivion's NPCs over the "LFG omg n00b! AGGRO!fuckr !!!1" MMORPG kids anyday. If you think MMO's offer adequate social interaction, like that "I go against the grain and spell Rebecca with only one 'c'" ballsack, you need to be locked away for fear that you may reproduce and further degrade the human gene pool.

A well done singler player RPG (like.... I dunno.... Fallout? Arcanum? Torment?) has better social interaction and feeling of accomplishment than any hokey MMO. "Rebeca", and people like her, don't know what the fuck they're talking about. I doubt they've even ever played anything besides Super Mario Bros. People don't share accomplishments in MMO's, they hop around like idiots and ask "hay wher do i fnd teh bunny penis? i hav qst and ned 3 of them."

Hell, you'd get better social interaction by talking to a wall. People might think you were crazy, but at least you wouldn't be stupid.


Oh, and fuck those communist bastards at the Times.



Chefe out.

Your bias is showing.

It's one thing to like single-player RPGs, another thing altogether to claim that they somehow offer better social interaction than a genre that actually involves real people. You might not like the kind of social interaction offered at the lowest rungs of MMORPG gameplay (frankly, your experience with MMORPGs must be rather limited if you've only dealt with the kiddy crowd), but it's farcical to claim that single-player games somehow offer the facsimile of actual social interaction... And rather sad.

 

[kingcomrade]

Yeahm you stupid fucking farcical facsimile face.

 

[Zomg]

Yes, you too can climb out of the fetid sewer of level one MMORPG human interaction with chimpanzees to the heights of level two teenage mewling in a guild chat. Some tell of a third level, the three hour discussions of tinpot retard guildmasters on AIM about how to unite, not divide, the guild in steering through the latest drama between the fourty year old sexpot housewife and the adolescent girlfriend of one of their alpha nerds. When has there ever been a richer catalogue of human interaction?

 

[Azarkon]

So what do you think social interaction in real life is like?

 

[SanguinePenguin]

So what do you think social interaction in real life is like?

A brief moment of stickiness followed by crying.

 

[almondblight]

Also remember that to nutcases like KingComrade and Saint, the media not owned by Matt Murdoch is infested by anti-American Commies (an epithet in the states).

Justify this please.

Who the fuck is Matt Murdoch? Is that Rupert's middle name, and I'm the dumbass?

-D4

Daredevil, dumbass.

 

[Rat Keeng]

Two kinds of social interaction you can get through multiplayer gaming. The first is the retarded txt/l337 speak that often occurs between pre-teens, or just plain morons. This kind of interaction leads to either validation of homework sucking and parents being unfair for not letting you play all night, or if not that, then validation of whatever twisted freaky lifestyle, or horrible sexual fetish you have, being the disgusting piece of shit you probably are.

The second is the virtual LARPing experience, not as bad as the one above, but still significantly retarded in it's own special way. Instead of asking someone if they want to score phat lewts somewhere, you ask them if they would accompany you to the Cave of Caerbannog, to rid the world of a dangerous threat to mankind! And you say "Yay! I shall aid thee in thou quest, or perish trying!" Then you do the quest, cyber for half an hour, and try to convince your subconsciousness that what you're doing is the right thing, because it's what you want to do.

 

[Chefe]

Your bias is showing.

Your penis is showing.

It's one thing to like single-player RPGs, another thing altogether to claim that they somehow offer better social interaction than a genre that actually involves real people.

Yes, you are correct, those view points are mutually exclusive. Congratulations on your discovery.

Oh, and claiming that MMO people are "real" people can be debated.

You might not like the kind of social interaction offered at the lowest rungs of MMORPG gameplay

Actually, the lowest rungs are the best, because everyone isn't an elitist dumbfuck. They haven't lost their humanity yet.

(frankly, your experience with MMORPGs must be rather limited if you've only dealt with the kiddy crowd)

Ah, but you see you're implying that there is something more than a kiddy crowd, when there isn't.

Being part of the proverbial kiddy crowd has nothing to do with age. It's pretty childish if a grown man plays dressup and pretend sword fights with his friends.

but it's farcical to claim that single-player games somehow offer the facsimile of actual social interaction

Chefe's Internet Tip #1: If you use words that the person your arguing against has to look up at dictionary.com, and it's obvious you came across that word by saying "I'll check the thesarus for something that'll make me sound intelligent!" (hence, it shows because it sounds rather absurd when you place it into the sentence), you are retarded.

... And rather sad.

Oh okay, so I'm the one that's sad because I prefer interesting dialogue with NPCs (who, by the way, were programmed and had their lines written by a human being) instead of 12 year olds telling me how much I suck and slaying grammar?

Here's the truth, buddy. If you think MMO's are currently (yes, currently, not in your fantasy future where people don't suck) offering an adequate social experience, you need to get the flying fuck out of your basement and into the world. Somewhere. Anywhere. At least for a week. You're obviously very, very confused emotionally and psychologically. And I'm not flaming here. I hope you get help. Lord knows no one wants to look forward to a future run by idiotic MMORPGers and LARPers. If more people thought like you, we should just blow up the planet right now, because it's obvious that we've failed as a species.

 

[Azarkon]

Yes, you are correct, those view points are mutually exclusive. Congratulations on your discovery.

Thank you, I can only hope that you will discover it in time.

Ah, but you see you're implying that there is something more than a kiddy crowd, when there isn't.

Being part of the proverbial kiddy crowd has nothing to do with age. It's pretty childish if a grown man plays dressup and pretend sword fights with his friends.

So you're of the mind that two kinds of people play MMORPGs: LARPers and l33t dewdz? No wonder I called your BS.

Tell you what - I play MMORPGs (and other multiplayer games) with friends in real life. We don't speak like l33t dewdz or LARPers. We happen to speak like normal people - as do most players of MMOs. It's only the idiots and attention whores that you find on general chat that fall into your MMO Hall of Shame archetypes.

Chefe's Internet Tip #1: If you use words that the person your arguing against has to look up at dictionary.com, and it's obvious you came across that word by saying "I'll check the thesarus for something that'll make me sound intelligent!" (hence, it shows because it sounds rather absurd when you place it into the sentence), you are retarded.

Did I assume too much?

Oh okay, so I'm the one that's sad because I prefer interesting dialogue with NPCs (who, by the way, were programmed and had their lines written by a human being) instead of 12 year olds telling me how much I suck and slaying grammar?

No, you're sad because you're comparing the equivalent of reading a book to social interaction with *real* people. You'll never see me claim that books and movies are not capable of emotional impact; however, by definition they're not forms of socialization. You don't socialize with a NPC, not unless you believe that there's an actual person behind the avatar - and I don't think you believe that, do you?

Here's the truth, buddy. If you think MMO's are currently (yes, currently, not in your fantasy future where people don't suck) offering an adequate social experience, you need to get the flying fuck out of your basement and into the world. Somewhere. Anywhere. At least for a week. You're obviously very, very confused emotionally and psychologically. And I'm not flaming here. I hope you get help. Lord knows no one wants to look forward to a future run by idiotic MMORPGers and LARPers. If more people thought like you, we should just blow up the planet right now, because it's obvious that we've failed as a species.

I might say the same for you. Come now: at least somewhere along the lines of twenty million people play MMOs worldwide. How many people think that single-player RPGs provide social interaction, other than you?

By the way, I never claimed that MMOs offered "adequate social experience," only that they were a hell of a lot better than single-player RPGs at doing so. These two points are not mutually exclusive.

 

[almondblight]

Chefe's Internet Tip #1: If you use words that the person your arguing against has to look up at dictionary.com, and it's obvious you came across that word by saying "I'll check the thesarus for something that'll make me sound intelligent!" (hence, it shows because it sounds rather absurd when you place it into the sentence), you are retarded.

Umm..."farcical"? "Fascimile"? "Social interaction"? None of those are uncommon words. You remind me of a guy who thought I was trying to sound smart because I used "affluent" in a conversation with him.

 

[LaDoushe]

Speaking of sounding smart, is anyone else bothered by how pretentiously the NYtimes is dealing with computer games? In the article they were acting like they had just found some lost tribe or underground phenom. I don't know if they are communists but they were pretty smarmy in that article. All that psychobabble just covers up this fact:

SP gamers play to get away from all of the assholes.

MMO gamers probably are assholes.

"Madden" players probably are black.

 

[Twinfalls]

Single player games do not offer any social interaction.

They are therefore better for your social interactions. For they force you to obtain social interaction elsewhere. Such as by actually talking to people in the same physical space.

MMOs encourage people to conflate their social interaction with their solo leisure pursuit, thereby obviating the need to socialise with people face to face. This is extremely unhealthy, let alone how crapulent the gaming experience usually is.

 

[Chefe]

Everyone gang up on Chefe!

Thank you, I can only hope that you will discover it in time.

But I just said that they're mutually exclusive. So, technically, I already know it. I never implied that they weren't.

Are you stupid?

So you're of the mind that two kinds of people play MMORPGs: LARPers and l33t dewdz? No wonder I called your BS.

I never said LARPers play MMOs. I just used that example. Again, if you understood what I wrote, you would understand it as an example that you can be part of the kiddy crowd but still physically be an adult.

Tell you what - I play MMORPGs (and other multiplayer games) with friends in real life. We don't speak like l33t dewdz or LARPers. We happen to speak like normal people - as do most players of MMOs. It's only the idiots and attention whores that you find on general chat that fall into your MMO Hall of Shame archetypes.

Well of course there are normal people that play MMOs. But the fact remains that those people only make up 2% of the community. The other 98% are idiots. The general chat makes up a large portion of the community. Many of us don't have a whole entourage of friends that we know in real life who play MMOs.

Well, I did play with my old roomate. We just dicked around though. Who the fuck "shares their accomplishments"? You talk about sports and school and shit. Besides, what accomplishments are there to share?

"DOOD! I totally wrecked those wild level 5 rabbits and picked up 12 rabbit penises! I'm going to go sell them for phat lewt!"

Did I assume too much?

You know I'm right.

No, you're sad because you're comparing the equivalent of reading a book to social interaction with *real* people.

If I had a kid, I'd rather him read a book than talk about how he acquired the Helm of Asskickery and called his guild leader a dickwad.

MMO people aren't real people. They're pathedic little fucks. How do I know this? MMOs take too much time. The only people that can invest that much time are those who don't have lives.

You'll never see me claim that books and movies are not capable of emotional impact; however, by definition they're not forms of socialization. You don't socialize with a NPC, not unless you believe that there's an actual person behind the avatar - and I don't think you believe that, do you?

Well, that's what single player RPGs have been trying to do all this time, right? Allowing you to more realistically socialize with NPCs? I know it's not true socialization, but I can guarentee you'll get better people skills by listening to the NPCs in Fallout as opposed to the dumbfuck kids who play MMOs.

If they created a single player RPG, and programmed all the NPCs to run around and jump while calling you names and PMing you to join their guild, would you call that socialization? It's just the same as a MMO, amirite?

I might say the same for you. Come now: at least somewhere along the lines of twenty million people play MMOs worldwide. How many people think that single-player RPGs provide social interaction, other than you?

I said, and have been saying, they provide more social interaction than MMOs. Since MMOs provide next to none, you've answered your own question.

By the way, I never claimed that MMOs offered "adequate social experience," only that they were a hell of a lot better than single-player RPGs at doing so. These two points are not mutually exclusive.

Blah blah blah

Umm..."farcical"? "Fascimile"? "Social interaction"? None of those are uncommon words. You remind me of a guy who thought I was trying to sound smart because I used "affluent" in a conversation with him.

You remind me of an idiot I once laughed at.

Tell me, which one of these phrases doesn't sound like it's coming from a smartass who happened to have a thesaurus handy:

but it's farcical to claim that single-player games somehow offer the facsimile of actual social interaction

but it's absurd to claim that single-player games somehow offer the replication of actual social interaction

 

[Chefe]

Single player games do not offer any social interaction.

They are therefore better for your social interactions. For they force you to obtain social interaction elsewhere. Such as by actually talking to people in the same physical space.

MMOs encourage people to conflate their social interaction with their solo leisure pursuit, thereby obviating the need to socialise with people face to face. This is extremely unhealthy, let alone how crapulent the gaming experience usually is.

This sounds nice, so I'm going to agree.

 

[El Dee]

If they created a single player RPG, and programmed all the NPCs to run around and jump while calling you names and PMing you to join their guild, would you call that socialization?

That's fucking hilarious! Thanks for the sig material, Chefe!

 

[almondblight]

but it's absurd to claim that single-player games somehow offer the replication of actual social interaction

Stop using a fucking thesauriaouse. Just say "it's stupid to say sp game can be like being with people".

 

[sheek]

Is bitching on RPGcodex.com socialization? Is it more similar to real life than MMORPing?

 

[kingcomrade]

Well, none of us actually exist. You're just a crazy person locked in a padded room having a continuous hallucinatory experience fueled by your subconscious desire to rape your mother.

 

[sheek]

Well, none of us actually exist. You're just a crazy person locked in a padded room having a continuous hallucinatory experience fueled by your subconscious desire to rape your mother.

...:shock:

What do you know?? Who are the hell are you?

Lmao

In reality I'm a serial killer and I'm only here making prepatory psychological profiles of you guys.