Gamer Zero Sum Mentality and the Human Condition

What is it about humanity that makes folks think that everything has to be zero-sum? You see this in car preferences Chevy people vs. Ford people comes to mind most readily. No offense to you Dodge people, I know you hate Chevy and Ford and vice versa. But the point is, you really can have a Chevy and a Ford and a Dodge and be really happy-the universe doesn't explode.

What does this have to do with gaming you ask? Well I've been seeing this mechanic play out for months now with World of Warcraft vs. Warhammer. You see the fanboi posts and troll posts all across forums related to both. WoW fans bashing WAR and WAR fans seething hatred at WoW. Somehow folks think you can only play one MMO, this is however patently untrue.

In part it seems tied to this notion of zero-sum mentality. This idea that if Warhammer is good, it somehow diminishes World of Warcraft or vice-versa. At it's most basic this is a beautiful example of herd mentality. If you're not with the majority then you're uncomfortable. Therefor anything that isn't preferred by the herd needs to be derided and decried.

Part of it might be tied to the notion that if one game does well it's at the expense of the other. While there is certainly a finite market-space. I find it incredibly difficult to believe that there is not room in the market for two mass market MMOs. Does everyone truly believe the MMO marketplace is only large enough for a single monopoly?

Since this behavior is so ingrained in people and is evidenced in everything from religious intolerance to fear of gay marriage, I don't really expect to see WoW and WAR fans embracing or at least putting down their knives. But I'm always going to be amused by the irrational herd behavior tendency to go with comfort over rationality or to truly boil it down-feeling over thinking.

Theft and Personal Integrity In WoW

Recently I had a discussion with a guild master who’s guild bank had been plundered. This got me thinking, why on earth would someone diminish their personal integrity for a video game, for pretend gold?

The answers I’ve received when posing these questions to people range from:

• They don’t see it as real so how can it diminish their personal integrity.
• Are you telling me you didn’t know most people were assholes?
• Revenge on people they hate.
• The game matters to them more than other people and more than their integrity.

I am personally of the belief that MMOs by their very nature transcend the traditional notion of a “video game”. Truly, they are much more in that communities of people build friendships, anonymities, etc.

WoW, at least in my guild has functioned much like a local pub. People get together, shoot the shit, and play darts (well WoW, instead of darts). But the social functionality is identical. With the exception that you don’t end up going home with the fat/ugly person (who’s name you desperately try and remember when you’re staring at this stranger in the morning) and/or you don’t wind up with some nasty STD the next day.

Anyway, the point is this-stealing is stealing. Regardless of the motivation its wrong. So why then do so many people do such things? In some ways it is similar to folks who steal MP3s off the net, or download movies without paying for them. This is also stealing and wrong, we all know it.

However, with WoW there is another component. Often, in order to get access to a guild bank, you’ve had to get to know people and become part of the guild. You have had to have some sort of personal interaction. So now, not only are you stealing pretend pixilated loot in exchange for your personal integrity, you’re also screwing over real people that you know personally.

Has the modern culture and electronic media/property made us rethink whether stealing is wrong, simply by virtue of being easy to do?

Have people just given up on trying to even maintain a monicom of moral character and integrity all together?

Why do you guys think they do it? Do you think it’s wrong, or is it just stupid to even care? Are you of the mindset “LOL, your guild got pwned, suck it up n00b”?

I’m interested to hear the community’s thoughts on the issue and whether they think it really reflects a person’s morals and integrity?

GEN: Video games not only rule, they help YOU to rule too!

In a great little gem of an article, that was buried on the Boston Herald and brought to my attention by my good buddy Dooba, it is reported that Video Games make you operate on a "higher level".

The article goes on to report that in a study it was found that

"Laparoscopic surgeons who play video games are 27 percent faster at advanced surgical procedures and made 37 percent fewer errors than non-gamers."

So while Super Smash Brothers may not make you a top surgeon, it couldn't hurt either.

You can find the complete article on the Boston Herald's website by CLICKING HERE.

GH4: Contrary to blog reports, kid does NOT drop out of school to play GH4

One of the hot blogg articles at the moment is about a 16 year old by the name of Blake Peebles. He’s moved to become a full time professional gamer and instead of attending regular high school he’s using private tutors.

Normally, I’d just consider this a “rich kids parents let him do whatever” type of story and ignore it. What caught my eye though was blogs like Wiifanboy (of whom I’m a big fan) trying to sensationalize it. Their by-line, where I first saw the story, was “Parents let child drop out of school to play Guitar Hero”. Which, as you read on and if you go to the original source of the article, turns out to be a b.s. statement.

Okay, so the kid isn’t going to regular school. The actual full length first source article that appeared in the newspaper discusses the kid’s problems with high school. It sounded like he was at risk for flunking out or dropping out anyway.

In fact, the article in the paper goes on to state that his grades have improved greatly and he’s doing fine on his education. I for one feel that if parents are wealthy enough to get private tutors for their kids and it works better than the normal education system-then go for it.

Good work Blake, keep /pretend-rocking and don’t forget to go get that college degree as well.

As for you wiifanboy… you’re one of my favorite bloggs-FOR SHAME!!! Cut out this crappy sensationalism and stick to what you do best, pumping out great Wii oriented posts from around the net.

The wiifanboy blog post can be found HERE

The actual newspaper article can be found HERE

NEWS & Wii: Ultra-violent video games and Madworld

Madworld is coming for the Wii, if you’re not sure what this game is about, then think gore and blood. When you’re done thinking of gore and blood think of even more gore and blood than you pictured. Perhaps you should multiply it by 1000. On top of that think of the source of that gore and blood as being your player in Madworld inflicting unspeakable horrors upon other human beings. Then picture yourself being the architect of those unspeakables via the wii remote. That’s Madworld in a nutshell.

Yeah, it sounds awesome to me too. /LOL

So if that’s not horrific to me and disturbing, what is? Well from this author’s perspective, the dangers of being desensitized to violence is significantly less than the dangers of being over sensitized to it. What do I mean by that, I mean that being so worked up about violence that even video games that depict it seem a threat. Folks, to be really clear here, THAT IS THERAPY TIME.

We don’t live in a nice, kind, beautiful world. We may live in nice, kind, beautiful communities, heck even some entire countries are (think really really tiny ones like Luxembourg)… but not the world.

We live in an era of Darfur, of suicide bombings, religious wars, terrorism, and genocide. There are REAL problems that we face on our planet. People who worry about video games should be made to serve as a peacekeeper in Darfur or patrol the streets of Bagdad slums. Do that for a year then come back to me and let me know if the biggest concern you have is video games.

Madworld is ultra violent, yes. But it is PRETEND. If the pretend violence has you that up in arms and your concern is TRULY about the impact of violence on our world then you’d start focusing your efforts on things that are REAL.

If you can show me a neighborhood that is without crime and violence, then I can show you a place where reality is swept under the rug. There’s no major city in the world that is without murder, assault, and worse. That being the case we have to ask ourselves what is truly motivating these “video games are dangerous” people.

In the case of the most recent controversy over the video game Madworld, it’s a pretty simple answer. In case you’re not familiar with what occurred, there is a very goofy newspaper in the UK with a large readership (think over a million); this newspaper called the Daily Mail published a sensationalism article about Madworld and how it’s simply horrible and dangerous to society. The by-line “Parents horrified as most violent video game ever to launch on 'family friendly' Wii” says it all.

So back to the issue of motivation, with the Daily Mail, that’s easy-money. Scaring parents (one of the easiest things to do in the news/media industry) is a surefire way to boost circulation/viewers/listeners and thus increase your ad revenue. The people who publish the Daily Mail could care less about your safety as long as you’re able to purchase their product.

There are many categories of these faux-worried-for-our-children types. Among them is the member of your community looking to expand political influence through fear for your children. Politicians looking to get your vote by protecting you from something that isn’t’ dangerous in the first place. The list goes on and on.

The bottom line is that if Sega and Nintendo can get Madwold out there to us, then we’re going to buy it. The only way to stop that is by thwarting the will of the people for some personal gain that these anti-violence groups don’t want you to pay any attention to.

I’ll close with saying it one more time: If you are truly concerned about violence then go work to prevent it. There is NO shortage of violence and atrocity in our world. Leave the video games alone.

RB2: Rock Band 2 Song List

In case you've been hiding away on a remote desert island I'm going to bring you up to speed on what's hot and what's not. Karaoke is NOT. Instrument rock games ARE HOT.

The two kings of these games are Guitar Hero and Rock Band. These titans will be going at it Q4 as they release the next editions of their games along with improved instruments.

So since we've already covered what we have of Guitar Hero 4's (GH4) song list. Lets reveal the complete track list for Rock Band 2 as drawn from their website. (CLICK HERE FOR LINK). Please note that this list was pulled from Gizmodo's site as we didn't feel like reinventing the wheel when it came to reformatting the list. (LINK TO GIZMODO HERE)

1. AC/DC “Let There Be Rock” 1970s
2. AFI “Girl’s Gone Grey” 2000’s
3. Alanis Morissette “You Oughta Know” 1990’s
4. Alice in Chains “Man in the Box” 1990’s
5. Allman Brothers “Ramblin’ Man” 1970’s
6. Avenged Sevenfold “Almost Easy” 2000’s
7. Bad Company “Shooting Star” 1970’s
8. Beastie Boys “So Whatcha Want” 1990’s
9. Beck “E-Pro” 2000’s
10. Bikini Kill “Rebel Girl” 1990’s
11. Billy Idol “White Wedding Pt. I” 1980’s
12. Blondie “One Way or Another” 1970’s
13. Bob Dylan “Tangled Up in Blue” 1970’s
14. Bon Jovi “Livin’ on a Prayer” 1980’s
15. Cheap Trick “Hello There” 1970’s
16. Devo “Uncontrollable Urge” 1980’s
17. Dinosaur Jr. “Feel the Pain” 1990’s
18. Disturbed “Down with the Sickness” 2000’s
19. Dream Theater “Panic Attack” 2000’s
20. Duran Duran “Hungry Like the Wolf” 1980’s
21. Elvis Costello “Pump It Up” 1970’s
22. Fleetwood Mac “Go Your Own Way” 1970’s
23. Foo Fighters “Everlong” 1990’s
24. Guns N’ Roses “Shackler’s Revenge” 2000’s
25. Interpol “PDA” 2000’s
26. Jane’s Addiction “Mountain Song” 1980’s
27. Jethro Tull “Aqualung” 1970’s
28. Jimmy Eat World “The Middle” 2000’s
29. Joan Jett “Bad Reputation” 1980’s
30. Journey “Anyway You Want It” 1970’s
31. Judas Priest “Painkiller” 1990’s
32. Kansas “Carry On Wayward Son” 1970’s
33. L7 “Pretend We’re Dead” 1990’s
34. Lacuna Coil “Our Truth” 2000’s
35. Linkin Park “One Step Closer” 2000’s
36. Lit “My Own Worst Enemy” 1990’s
37. Lush “De-Luxe” 1990’s
38. Mastodon “Colony of Birchmen” 2000’s
39. Megadeth “Peace Sells” 1980’s
40. Metallica “Battery” 1980’s
41. Mighty Mighty Bosstones “Where’d You Go” 1990’s
42. Modest Mouse “Float On” 2000’s
43. Motorhead “Ace of Spades” 1980’s
44. Nirvana “Drain You” 1990’s
45. Norman Greenbaum “Spirit in the Sky” 1960’s
46. Panic at the Disco “Nine in the Afternoon” 2000’s
47. Paramore “That’s What You Get” 2000’s
48. Pearl Jam “Alive” 1990’s
49. Presidents of the USA “Lump” 1990’s
50. Rage Against the Machine “Testify” 1990’s
51. Ratt “Round & Round” 1980’s
52. Red Hot Chili Peppers “Give it Away” 1990’s
53. Rise Against “Give it All” 2000’s
54. Rush “The Trees” 1970’s
55. Silversun Pickups “Lazy Eye” 2000’s
56. Smashing Pumpkins “Today” 1990’s
57. Social Distortion “I Was Wrong” 1990’s
58. Sonic Youth “Teenage Riot” 1980’s
59. Soundgarden “Spoonman” 1990’s
60. Squeeze “Cool for Cats” 1970’s
61. Steely Dan “Bodhitsattva” 1970’s
62. Steve Miller Band “Rock’n Me” 1970’s
63. Survivor “Eye of the Tiger” 1980’s
64. System of a Down “Chop Suey” 2000’s
65. Talking Heads “Psycho Killer” 1970’s
66. Tenacious D “Master Exploder” 2000’s
67. Testament “Souls of Black” 1990’s
68. The Donnas “New Kid in School” 2000’s
69. The Go-Go’s “We Got the Beat” 1980’s
70. The Grateful Dead “Alabama Getaway” 1980’s
71. The Guess Who “American Woman” 1970’s
72. The Muffs “Kids in America” 1990’s
73. The Offspring “Come Out & Play (Keep ‘em Separated)” 1990’s
74. The Replacements “Alex Chilton” 1980’s
75. The Who “Pinball Wizard” 1960’s
Bonus Artist Bonus Song Title Decade
76. Abnormality “Visions” 2000’s
77. Anarchy Club “Get Clean” 2000’s
78. Bang Camaro “Night Lies” 2000’s
79. Breaking Wheel “Shoulder to the Plow” 2000’s
80. The Libyans “Neighborhood” 2000’s
81. The Main Drag “A Jagged Gorgeous Winter” 2000’s
82. Speck “Conventional Lover” 2000’s
83. The Sterns “Supreme Girl” 2000’s
84. That Handsome Devil “Rob the Prez-O-Dent” 2000’s

GH4: Guitar Hero 4 World Tour Confirmed Songs List

So as I've been wandering around aimlessly on the web, I've noticed a lot of folks claiming to have confirmed GT4 songs lists. Most of them are goofballs and I did not find an official press release of the track set.

However, the best information, imho, is off of the community site on Guitar hero's community forums. This list of songs is from a sticky'ed post of a prominent forum member. Granted it's not the same as the publisher's offical list, but it's as close as it gets for the moment.

Here are the confirmed songs. NOTE THAT THIS IS NOT THE COMPLETE TRACK LIST, IT IS ONLY OFFICIALLY CONFIRMED TRACKS. Please check out his post as it includes additional rumored songs that would be great to see. (LINK TO POST HERE)

Guitar Hero World Tour (aka Guitar Hero 4) - Bands/Songs

“Are You Gonna Go My Way” Lenny Kravitz
“Beat It” Michael Jackson
“Bullet with Butterfly Wings” Smashing Pumpkins
“B.Y.O.B.” System of a Down
“Crazy Train” Ozzy Osbourne
“Dammit” Blink-182
“Everlong” Foo Fighters
“Eye of the Tiger” Survivor
“Feel the Pain” Dinosaur Jr.
“Hollywood Nights” Bob Seger
“Hot for Teacher” Van Halen
“Hotel California” The Eagles
“In the End” Linkin Park
“The Joker” Steve Miller Band
“Lazy Eye” Silversun Pickups
“Light My Fire” The Doors
“Love Me Two Times” The Doors
“Low” Travis Barker
“Misery Business” Paramore
“Mr. Crowley” Ozzy Osbourne
“Never Too Late” The Answer
“Obstacle 1″ Interpol
“One Armed Scissor” At the Drive-In
“Purple Haze” (Live) Jimi Hendrix
“Rebel Yell” Billy Idol
“Santeria” Sublime
“Stillborn” Black Label Society
“Too Much, Too Young, Too Fast” Airbourne
“Trapped Under Ice” Metallica
“Weapon of Choice” Black Rebel Motorcycle Club
“What I’ve Done” Linkin Park
“The Wind Cries Mary” Jimi Hendrix

I for one hope that this list is accurate. I've tried learning guitar and I lack the coordination and patience. But I'm all about a few minutes with an immersive video game that sends us to "King of Rock Fantasy Land".