Playing a fool

Julian Dibbell wrote extensively about the life of a Chinese gold farmer. Without going into details, it is essentially about how these Chinese gold farmers 'play' WoW to work. The description of how these Chinese gold farmers operate sounds nothing close to the normal idea of 'playing'. However, it is worth pointing out that some still managed to find elements of play amidst the routine of 'working'. (for example the power leveler who said that his old gold farming job has afforded him more room to play.) This shows that an activity can no longer be the unit of determinant of whether it is work or play. In other words, in an activity, there are period of time where the person plays and there are period of time where the person works. Perhaps humans have adapted to an extend that one can frequently and seamlessly switch between work and play to an extend that it is impossible for the outsider to determine which is which. Indeed, this ability to switch seamlessly may become so natural that the 'player' is no longer consciously aware of the switch.

Well the melting of work and play just cannot be applied to me and Second Life. Indeed, since I start give Second Life a Second Chance, things just have not changed at all. I was never 'playing' (perhaps the full meaning of this verb has been diluted over time such that it just means “the act of going through a game” now) Second Life. It was a chore from start to finish. All along I have been working (for the module). In fact, writing this blog is more of a play for me than 'working' (as opposed to 'playing') Second Life. Everything I did on Second Life is because I was forced to not because I want to. Now, I realized that the concept of being 'forced' to do something also occurs when one plays. For example, one might hate the drone of (lets avoid the grinding example, for it is done to death. Using grinding as an example would be grinding in itself) traveling in a huge game world. It is boring and I am forced to do it as there is just no other way. But I still do it because of what I can get at the end of being 'forced' to do it is something that I want as opposed to me traveling in Second Life where at the end of traveling is still something I don't want to do (i.e. interact with the weirdos in Second Life). In this case, the end goal of doing something that one is being 'forced' to becomes the key.

With regards to the Mckenzie reading, I think the blurring of the the game world and the real world is quite evident. The RMT of Dibbell's reading supplements this. In addition, in the case of Second Life, it can be argued that the game world can be more real than the real world for the players, especially if their avatar in Second Life is a direct representation of their suppressed needs, desire and personality, free from the confines of conformity of society.

Discussion Question : Should we move away from what deciding what is play or work and what is game world or real world and focus on how the meaning of play and work and Game world and Real world has evolved throughout history and what position do they occupy in the current world?