EQ

Ricki, et al.: related to Evercrack, I have made some realisations.

Evercrack in some senses is no better than TV, and in some senses it's worse, since it has no real applications to RL.

But unlike TV, it is A) interactive and B) only what you make it. In EQ I can make friends, and that's a real and tangible thing. I cannot make friends by watching Seinfeld or The Simpsons. I can make EQ into the time-sink that many see it as, but rather choose to use it to socialise, akin to meeting strangers in a coffee shop. I can't jump onto the set of Friends and shake hands with Jennifer Aniston -- I can go fight a dragon (albeit a virtual one) with 40 friends in EQ.

The rewards in EQ are virtual, and as such don't exist. Exception to this is the friends that one makes while travelling the virtual lands. There are no rewards other than momentary emotional reactions to watching TV.

Thus I am still spending my time on something that has little immediate value to my life other than emotional responses. But instead of that fading in moments (like the TV induced responses), I make friends, and can revisit experiences with them, form long term friendships and not be alone.

I am aware that there are more rewarding ways to spend the 8 or so hours/week that I spend on EQ right now, but most of them involve spending cash. That said, there are always the parks...

Anyway - does anyone care at all?

*grins*