Reality Online

Day after day my life has been the same - doing my daily stuff with school and my OJT and finding something new in store for myself. As I look around, the community has always been the same, people walking around busy streets, all with some business in their mind, cars rushing past the crowded roads, everyone's up and about.

But when I sit down at home and log on to the gaming server - which in this case, is Perfect World Online - I cannot help but get that feeling that in doing so, I have not sundered my time to several hours of plain gaming and enjoyment. In selecting my character to play in the game, it's like I've geared myself up for "yet another day".

Most people would think that a lot of fanatics frequent the online gaming world just for the sole purpose of playing through the game, achieving quests, slaying bosses, and obtaining rare items and stuff. Many would believe that it's just a simple adventure that one has to undertake from the beginning and finish up to the very end, which would be the time for them to quit and move to another game. True, that psychology from video games has etched itself into the minds of many and whenever they see an Online Game being played by someone in the computer, they get the prejudice that it is just the same essence.

But they fail to see beyond that barrier. Unlike the video gaming world whose largest coverage might just be a multiplayer game of eight players on a console machine, the online gaming world encompasses an even larger scale, from a coverage as low as twenty to thirty players for a simple networking game up to a number that can span thousands just for players logging in on a single gaming server! And along with this number comes a delicate touch of magic that a lot of non-gamers have failed to see - the formation of a community.

Now how could that be, some might ask. Some would say that "You're just playing there all day, how could you have friends?" or "Why are you just sitting there, doing nothing at all?". The community is the life of every online game. It forms and changes according to those who belong in it, the people who share experience with others and make new friends and companions online. Some of these online relationships even develop to real life friendships, and even marriages for that matter.

The link between the reality of life and the online gaming life grows stronger the longer the game stays in effect and the more players participate in the community. Sometimes one would find the trends of reality binding itself into the online game lifestyle such as catchphrases, music trends, even famous personalities! Take Perfect World for example - a lot of players have taken to the challenge of immortalizing famous personalities of the world into the visage of their characters!

There are several points that intertwine the real world with the online gaming world, and I'll list them out so they can be detailed well:

• Market Rules - The conventional laws of supply and demand have applied itself well with the online world, for there had been long cases on many online games that an influx of one type of item has caused its price to drastically decrease and a shortage has yielded an unbelievable increase. True enough, Philippine economics applies itself very well here since whenever we find a shortage of products in the country, expect no less that the prices would skyrocket.
  One negative issue about the market of online games, which mirror a strong link between the reality and the online is the case of carrying on trades from the online world to the real world and vice versa. Unethical an issue as it may seem for some practical minds, a lot of people had really taken into the marketing of the game to even use it as a tool for conducting real-life businesses.
  
• Friendships, Love Lives, Groups - From simple parties of players banding together to annihilate a boss to large scale clans, factions, or guilds all rallying for the purpose of obtaining the ultimate glory, a lot of players have found solace and friendship among these gatherings, both online and in real life. As a lot of people say, it all begins with a simple "Hi" or "Hello" and that could spark a friendship that may last for eternity.
  These online friendships and groups carry themselves on to the real life through guild meets known as EB's where the friendship online is being strengthened further by meeting together and hanging out with each other.
  
• Politics - There could never be a more bothersome issue than the politics that we have in our country. There had been news of corruption, squabbles among the officials, and an abuse of power to some extent, and sadly, the attitude has carried on to the online world. Guilds and factions clash together just because of petty arguments of who gets the better spot and nearly every clan bands together for the sole purpose of dominating over everything else - of ruling over the entire server, lording over all the other players. Some light gamers might not appreciate these factors in effect but only those who look through the game's community boards can learn of these activities online. Game issues have even escalated to the point of conducting an online rally, much like what they do in Mendiola or in EDSA XD.

Those were some of the points that really underline the connection between reality and online gaming - points that prove that what the online game you are playing, whatever genre, developer, or promoter it might belong to, all have the same essence. There is always the aura of the community and the spirit of the real world blending in with it as the players inside participate, and magically enough, it grows with the real world. The next time you would see an online game, take several seconds of contemplation and ask yourself, "Can I extend my lifestyle to this world too?"

I am posting this as part of an entry to GM Tristan's Group Writing Project for the first week and I'm really looking forward to where this endeavor will eventually lead to :D. Hope you enjoyed reading, all!

~DaveTNova