We live in an increasingly social society, even as there are those who defame the internet as decreasing social behavior amongst human beings. The truth is though that we are discovering new ways to be social. In American Society, introversion is treated as if it were some kind of disease, some kind of failing that needs to be stamped out. Introverts now have a method of being social that does not involve physical contact or presence, and the internet is simply how they express that. The internet does not discourage social behavior, it simply gives new options for such behavior for those who prefer different methods of social interaction, ones that are less draining for their personality type.
Internet chat rooms, e-mail, and forums are just one method of this. New games, such as The Way, and Journey, as well as games such as Dark Souls have interesting ways of communicating, often by the complete LACK of normal communication methods. In none of the above games can a person voice chat, or use text to speak with other players directly. In The Way and Journey, both are completely lacking, with only a limited selection of in game gestures and emoticons permitted for the use of the player to communicate. In doing so, we have an entirely new way of socilizing, one that I feel, goes deeper than the normal spoken and written communications. When playing The Way, for example, I was surprised and frustrated by how quickly or slowly different players picked up on my gestures to guide them along invisible obstacle courses that I could see, but they were unable to. We communicated without using words, without using symbols, only gestures our characters could make. "Happy" "Angry" "Confused" pointing in various directions, both arms up, or both arms crossed, with this limited set of communications, we could engage in a meaningful dialogue.
This, to me, goes far beyond "Social Games" like Facebook's Farmville. In those games, you use an existing network of friends, rarely ever communicating with them through the game at -all- you use facebook to communicate, and they occasionally pop into your game to assist with various chores and such. It is beyond comprehension to me that these be called social games because they have no social interaction in any meaningful sense. There is NETWORKING, there is COOPERATION, in a limited sense, but nothing SOCIAL about them really. No, these games are networking games, not social games. Dark Souls has more meaningful social interaction, with the Casandraic warnings left etched into the walls by other players in their own games, and the ghosts of other players invading and helping you in your own world when you call upon them.
I find this particularly interesting because usually I disagree with the role of social media in our society, but you bring up a really good point about introverts and different types of personalities. Social media is a good outlet for introverts. We need social interactions to survive, so as long as you fulfill that, who am I to say your means to an end is insufficient?
ReplyDeleteI don't completely agree with you, but then again I'm not familiar with the games you are talking about. But, they do seem like they provide more meaningful interactions than like a post on someone's wall or giving your friend a cow for their virtual farm. What I would like to see is the brain substrates activated while one plays such a game or is on another social media platform, and compare that to what is activated during face to face human interaction.
-chunder
I wonder what you would think about introverts using social media to find other introverts that they might actually consider meeting in person. I know that this might seem counterintuitive to the definition of an introvert, but I think that introverted people generally have a hard time going out into the world because everyone else seems extroverted. Communities of introverts might better understand their personalities if they could meet with other introverts face to face and not just in games. I think the introverted can certainly benefit from trying a bit of extroversion, just as the extroverted can learn from a bit of introversion.
ReplyDeleteThis is not to say that games that promote communication between users aren't useful, but I am skeptical to think that the communication used in these games has much real world application. Now I'm sure that will have you up in arms, and I would anticipate your point about how everything in this world does not have to be about the real world, but I do think that to a certain degree, games enable people to escape reality. I think the only true way to learn is to practice ideas in the world, with people that are different from you and I don't think that games offer the best (not to say they don't) real world problem solving skills.
I agree with JSV on this one. I feel like it is a good source of community for introverts but how will that translate into the real world relationships. I feel like the communities of introverts online can only fill needs for interaction on a shallow level but people need real contact and relationships to fully be satisfied. There needs to be some crossover and I think the interactions need to happen outside of the virtual world. Get out of your dark rooms and away from your bright screens introverts and go meet some people! Get some real world experiences! Thats how you develop comfort in the outside world and thats how you become more extroverted.
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