Just for Fun?

Hi everyone, my name is Mike and I’m currently starting junior year here at Cornell University. I’m majoring in Communication and pursuing a minor in Biology and in Business, I hope to go into biomedical sales someday. I’m originally from a small town in upstate New York called Perth; it’s 40 minutes west of Albany.
Outside of Cornell I work as a newscaster for WVBR-FM here in Ithaca as a newscaster, this semester I’ll be doing the news on Wednesday mornings. I’m also a member of the radio guild, the organization that runs and owns WVBR. I’m also really involved in Circle K International (CKI), which is an international community service organization sponsored by Kiwanis for college students (who also sponsor Key Clubs for High School students). I’m currently serving as the District Governor for the New York District; this means that I’m the leader for all of the other district officers in New York and that I serve as a liaison between the district and all of the CKI clubs in New York State. I’m also in charge of planning our three large district events each year. It’s a lot of work, but I really love doing it.
During my time here at Cornell I’ve had a lot of interaction with other people using the Internet and there is one instance where I am really perplexed by some of my friend’s actions and behaviors. I’m talking about the online gaming phenomenon with games that involve role playing, such as “Civ” and “World of Warcraft”. Last year I was introduced to these two games by my roommate and a few other people in my hall as they took on a character and essentially became that character and became extremely involved in these games. I tried to understand their obsession with it, but as time went on and their obsession only grew, I continued become more and more puzzled by it. I couldn’t understand why they all preferred to interact with other people on the computer, when those people were right down the hall, or why they would rather play their game than get dinner or go out with their friends on a Friday night. They would play until 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning, and I rarely saw my roommate pick up a book. The game wouldn’t end when they stopped playing either, their conversations centered solely on what was going on with their game or different strategies for their game at least 90% of the time; it got really hard to listen to over and over, and I am yet to understand their obsession and even possible addiction. These online games would likely fit in the online environment that Wallace defines as metaworlds because the games use a lot of graphics to create another world for the player and allow the players to socially interact with one another while playing.