Whats-it the 7th... confessions of a long term puter geek

Ah technology, where would we be without thee?


I've essentially been a computer geek since... oh my family got a C64 way back in the day when these were cutting edge. Way WAY back in the day. Made my first website in html 2.1, an intranet site for my highschool library (yes, indeed I was head librarian - that is how geeky I was and possibly am...). I have up until recently kept abrest of technology and such, however I have never had the bankroll keep up with the latest and greatest. Recently I've found things change too fast and require infrastructure that NZ can only dream of in order to make full use of - and I've only just gotten broadband (well we call it broadband... I live with a German flatmate who continuously ridicules NZ style internet access; she is used to much faster access).


This year I've discovered the hidiously addictive world of online multiplayer gaming; more specifically, the game World of Warcraft. The trick that the developers of computer games have discovered is of continuous small rewards, coupled with an environment where one needs to cooperate with other human players to defeat dastardly computer controlled critters. The aspect of team membership and character development drive one to compulsively play.


One of the first and most successful games was called Everquest, which quickly became knowen as Evercrack as more and more people became hopelessly addicted. (Everquest was the first computer game where a major Pizza retailor allowed players to order and pay for real life pizza in the actual game - it was ordered by the character then billed to their game account then delivered to the players home). As always, the technology the game was based around changed and improved, a new game (WoW) came along; eventually the new will supercede the old.


As interesting as actually playing the game is, is joining guilds and interacting on forums devoted to the game. Guilds are groups of people who band together in order to vanquish the evils of the world - and for mutual protection. Usually guilds form from people that play at similar times and learn each others play styles and exchange knowledge. Grouping obviously allows people to leverage the strengths of several type of characters, which will allow them to take on and defeat ever bigger and nastier pixelated creatures. Sometimes the content demands 10, 25 or sometimes 40 people to combine their efforts in order to beat the game; curiously it is as much for bragging rights amongst the guilds and the feeling of accomplishment rather than any particular ingame reward that drives most of the main serious guilds to put absurd amounts of time and energy into the game.


The guilds usually have websites and web forums where their members can exchange ideas, brag about the Phat Loot they have and essentially be a community. The forums are not actually hosted by the game makers; they are independantly created by the guilds, and hosted on servers that make their money through advertising on the page (good 'ol google ads).

One thing it highlights for me is the need for a social network to have a purpose. It seems alien to me to have something like Facebook where the purpose is... to have yourself on the net for people to look at/track where you are. Where as a network like a guild, or a development team working on an opensource program (ala sourceforge projects or Linux development) is actually a useful tool for coordinating the team's efforts. Which I guess Facebook et al are good for too; it just requires one to think of mobilising their friends etc as a team dedicated to the development of Project: Social Life.