You Play Like You Live

You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation. --Plato

I'm one of those oddities. I am a fifty two year old grandmother, and I like to play video games. Not all of them--you probably won't catch me playing the latest Grand Theft Auto, or any first person shooter--but I love to play Guild Wars 2.

Yeah, I know. It's a juvenile waste of time. Except it really isn't, for me. I like the social interaction, and I have become a decent player--certainly won't win any awards, and I'm never going to be at the top of any leader boards anywhere. But I've noticed, over the years, that people game like they live.

If you become frustrated easily and get angry at the game because "it's not fair", then it's a pretty good chance that you have that problem in your real life, too. If you are generous with help and give new players a hand up, you probably are the kind of person who holds doors open and chips in an extra dollar if someone is short at the grocery store checkout.

I've seen quiet leadership emerge from players, and seen bombastic headstrong people who will try to win at any cost. I've seen people who will stop to revive a fallen comrade at great risk to themselves. And I've seen people run over each other, just trying to avoid getting damaged themselves.

I know people tend to think that online games are anonymous, ways to release stress from behind a mask. But I also think that sometimes, those masks are just facets of who we really are.

Character means more than a cartoon on the screen. Just my .02.

Dy