Celtic Heroes

Lately I have been hearing the cancerous statement, its just a game. Usually followed up by I feel sorry for anyone who views it as more than that. In my opinion this is usually an antidote someone is using to justify a selfish behavior. Most college students will take a Psychology 101 or equivalent class. Anyone who studies humans and the way their brain works knows that MMORPGs are more than a game. Further more, speaking of Celtic Heroes, the way they game is designed encourages more social interaction with live players than other MMORPGs.

When one makes the comment of "it's just a game" they are not taking into account the relationships and friendships they have built up. Celtic heroes is a game that the end game atmosphere is essential to be played in a social environment. Most clans have discord, Line, Facebook chat groups set up to coordinate and communicate what is going on. These settings add to the environment of it being more than a game. When a player chats in these settings, and real emotion is transferred it is more than a game. I know some people spend as much time in these arenas as they do logged into the game. Real relationships are formed.

Everything I have stated has been my opinion. I feel however, that it is important to look at things from an experts view point. Nick Yee, in his book "The Proteus Project" (ironic name). Goes into detail the psychology of an MMORPG. Specifically as it relates to the view of it being just a game he has a lot of powerful findings. Over the next several passages I will be quoting his direct research found here (http://www.nickyee.com/daedalus/archive ... hapter.pdf)

You form real relationships:

It has also been suggested that there are factors unique to MMORPGs that facilitate relationship formation [35]. The kind of high-stress crisis scenario outlined earlier in the chapter occur with great frequency in these environments under different guises. When paired with the degree of emotional investment users place in these environments, many relationships are in fact triggered by these trust- building scenarios, analogous to boot camps and fraternity initiations in the material world.

To succeed in ** you need to form relationships with people you can trust. The game does a wonderful job of forcing people in this situation. Real life rarely offers this opportunity as technological advances mean we have little reliance on others and individuals are rarely thrown into life-or-death situations. [male, 29]

Some of our most positive and negative "life" experiences happen in Celtic Heroes.

The appeal and salience of these environments is further demonstrated by the degree that users are emotionally invested in their avatars and the environment. When respondents were asked whether the most positive experience they had experienced over the period of the past 7 days or the past 30 days occurred in an MMORPG or in real-life, 27% of respondents (n = 2170) indicated that the most satisfying experience over the past 7 days occurred in the game, and 18% of respondents indicated the same when the wording was changed to “over the past 30 days”. With regards to the most negative event, 33% of respondents indicated that the most negative experience over the past 7 days occurred in the game, and 23% of respondents indicated the same when the wording was changed to “over the past 30 days”.

Griefers want you to believe its just a game to justify their actions

And no matter what any guilt-ridden griefer may say, there's always a living, breathing person on the other end of our in-game actions. If there weren't, nobody would play the game. The fact of physical separation is only a minor limitation and not a barrier to friendship; can a blind person not make friends? So why should it be that because we cannot physically see or touch the people in the game with us, we cannot interact in a meaningful way? A particularly significant example I can remember is talking a troubled young friend that I met in game out of ending her real life. I knew she needed a friend, and I knew she needed to talk, but it wasn't until the end of the discussion that she let on she had been thinking about making the big mistake, and I had given her hope. That qualifies as meaningful, and the entire conversations took place in game and over ICQ. [UO, M, 29]

"Clan Banners" matter

Identifying with a group motivates individuals to enhance the value of the group [27]. Players who identify strongly with their group will engage in actions that increase its status. In MMORPGs, guild members are aware of the existence of other guild members and experience a sense of belong-ing through their interactions with other players [48]. In addition, the guild allows them to share information and play games for longer periods, experi-ences that are not available when playing alone. Therefore, the social support provided by other guild members within the game environment should play an important role in developing loyalty ... Social identity theory identifies three reasons for this relation-ship. First, loyalty validates and reinforces the feeling of group membership, which fulfills a self-definitional need. Second, social identity theory claims that group members seek to improve the status of their group, and the behaviors of continued playing and positive word-of-mouth recommendations serve this purpose. Finally, player–group identification fulfills an emotional need


In closing

Celtic Heroes is more than a game, its a social environment in which people form real relationships. Anyone who tries to say its just a game is trying to mislead a person. Their are emotional needs that are met in a clan environment and when people purposefully strive to break up that environment they are hurting people. When an individual leaves a clan that they have been part of and built relationships with only to try to compete against them they are having a negative psychological effect on people, it is more than a game.

At the end of the day though, CH is just a game.
Lots of real life contingencies go into affect, but none of these should be viewed as concrete.
CH could shut down any second of any day (technically speaking), and everything in game gone, poof.
As much as I value friendships made in game, I will never value the game itself past being a game. For me CH is something I go to for fun and to relax, and it is seperate from real life. At least when I say CH is “just a game” that is what I mean, that at the end of the day what level my toon is or what gear I have is meaningless past it being a game and that is my progress in that game. The friendships in it, some are real some are fake, just like irl, but even then I have learned to not expect the vast majority to exist past the game, as has been demonstrated many times over the 6 years I have played.

I don’t think the real meaning behind it is a selfish one, but it’s more so a reason to not prioritize bossing or camping, but to understand that at the end of the day, my progress in ch only matters in ch, and it doesn’t affect anything else in my life.

Its just a game.

And the relations you make with people are relations outside the game because its not like you killed x amount of bosses to gain this relation with a person whether it be friendship, hate, or even more than a friend.

The sooner you realize theyre completely different things. The better the game gets. I used to be so sucked up in this game letting it affect me irl and such. Now i just tell myself. Its just a game. And feel much much better.

According to the psychological studies you guys have transgressed into the casual stage of the game. You’ve suffered through burnout after being hardcore and have found a way to turn it into a casual thing for you. However just because you don’t see someone doesn’t mean you haven’t built a real friendship with them. I’ve seen where Bob and Krumz have conversations that go one for hours on end that are not related directly to the game. To say that it’s just a game is to discount human psychology and human emotion.

According to the psychological studies you guys have transgressed into the casual stage of the game. You’ve suffered through burnout after being hardcore and have found a way to turn it into a casual thing for you. However just because you don’t see someone doesn’t mean you haven’t built a real friendship with them. I’ve seen where Bob and Krumz have conversations that go one for hours on end that are not related directly to the game. To say that it’s just a game is to discount human psychology and human emotion.

I met my, now ex ingame and we met irl and such. And im with a new one now because of the game. Yes the relations you make with the people are Real. But the game is still a Game.

To me games are bridges to new people. The strength of these bridges depends on the game based on the playerbase, way the game is designed, and other factors. To those that say this is just a game, yeah sure it is a game (like who cares if you are able to get stonefang to 50% without wiping) but it is the people that you meet that makes this game special.

To me games are bridges to new people. The strength of these bridges depend on the game based on the playerbase, way the game is designed, and other factors. To those that say this is just a game, yeah sure it is a game (like who cares if you are able to get stonefang to 50% without wiping) but it is the people that you meet that makes the game special.

I can agree with this.
The connections I have made in this game are the only things that really matter to me.
I’ve poured in 1.25 years (low estimate, doesn’t include camping EG) on arawn alone of strict game play and thousands of dollars over the years, but in the end none of that means squat past time and money, I have put into a game.
If the game shuts down hopefully I can take some of these friendships with me, but as for everything else, it’s just code in the game.

Yeah I'd agree with the majority here. The game is just a game...but the relationships with the other players are separate from that.

The game is just a platform for you to interact with the other people, and it's a big thing that everyone has in common.

Now granted, some people want to play the game just for the gameplay, which is fine, but it's very hard to get anywhere in CH without a decent amount of player interaction.

The game is just a platform for you to interact with the other people...

This.
A game is just a medium for player interaction. Yes, it spawns complex societies within the game, but that's kinda the big advertising point behind MMOs.