Isn't that Something...

[IntrepidBear]

I found myself chuckling today,
One of my ingame 'Toons' entered my mind and I pondered how we spend so much money/time/effort with the occasional high emotions and often words muttered to ourselves such as those when we open a treasure chest and find exactly what we had hoped to find within it, with a half whispered " YES !! " or " Alright !! " ....
Or, an exasperated " Aaachhh.. blankety blank !! noooooooooo !!!" when either the power just went out with the loud Thunderclap outside, or the game crashed JUST as you were about to enter the last second of "Quest Completed.. "

~all over some ghost like pixels.. that.. really.. do they exist??? ??

I had decided to get a couple of those new fangled pets, ( yes I did, I had held off.. but I went and done it ) and I had giggled quietly when I clicked on the sleep action of my Kobold ~ named incidentally, after one of my old pets I was missing so much, and when it started it's funny snooze semi-snoring, it almost seemed real... hmmmmmmmm...

Just earlier, the day was spent with family and the grandchildren of my sibling. The youngest, five years old had pulled out his new I pad he got for his birthday and wanted Grandpa to play one of his new games with him. ' Oh no, grandson, I don't know how to use that thing, go take it to your great Auntie, she knows that stuff, she does Dungeons and Dragons ! So, he trotted over to play. We did not get to do it too long, as I had to tell him his Daddy was ready to take them home...

How much things have changed...
It was not long ago I remember not having any such toys or gizmos.
We spent childhood down by the creekside, building play items out of the found sticks stones and pinecones... when it was still safe to do so alone at that age, reaching the creekhead and being able to stretch out and with bare hands sip the cool clear water out of the spring, watching the turtles go by.

Then later on as we grew up; watching Star Trek and dreaming of the future with all that technology..
yet here I sit with my own computer now.

I still have my old Art nib ink pen with feather attached ( wild Crow feather I once found ) that I use to draw and write on real paper now and then, a part of nostalgia now.

Suddenly I wanted to get onto my DDO,
check out the forums and this came to mind.

How far have we come?
and how much is real ??
I've cleared off one of my test toons to await the coming of the Druid..
and then got ready to play my recently TR'd one.

My 90 year old Mother walks in the room and sees my Warforged and gasps,
'what is that?? !!'

I'm not sure what to say other than,
well,
"that's my Wizard Mom, That's my Wizard..
he's tough.."

and now I think,
how real are these pixels after all?? ???

Isn't that something... :cool:

~ Lem

[Pseudograph]

When the first cave painting got a similar response...

Og, that no look like mammoth! What is that?

Now we have only the faded remnant of an early artists work, and can't help wondering what they thought...what it might mean for them or us.

Things have changed. Not everything. Creativity will always be the product of conciousness.

It will always be human to wonder, imagine, and create. Magic anyone?

Pseudograph

[rayworks]

Interesting question. I've joked in the past that my virginal Paladin was probably up to no good after I logged her off, but who knows?

[TrinityTurtle]

The pixels are just dots on a screen. But the emotion we put into it real And if we didn't feel anything, totally pointless to be here. Because fun is a feeling too. ;) It's okay to feel the highs and lows of the human experience over a game. Just not okay to drive to some random dudes house to beat them up for getting your drop. :)

[SSFWEl]

Of course it's real. :)

When my sons and I laugh together over a spectacularly failed quest, is it not real? Is it any different than catching with them a baseball and throwing one over one of their heads?

When you help a new player or tell him "Yes, you need silver and good to beat up Harry", is it any different than advising someone where to buy those cool shoes on sale?

When you make friends online, and are happy to chat with them, is it any different than chatting with a friend over a coffee and discussing local politics?

I would even hazard to say this:
One of my "real" hobbies is woodworking. As anyone whom crafts know, there are not many things in life that gives you more satisfaction than creating something with your own hands. A well made box, a built-in set of shelves, A custom made picture frame; these things are happiness. I found that building and making a good toon is also happiness. Getting through an almost fail on hard shroud - also happiness. Mastering Crucible - fulfillment.

True, a box or shelf can be handed down, a well made picture frame can remain for 100 years on a wall, but the emotions, like another poster posted above me, are the same.

I used to be embarrassed about my gaming, and I am not now, for these reasons.

[Ilindith]

Welcome to the new reality...*shrug*

[Urist]

The pixels on the screen are like the images on your TV; they're not alive. What is behind this representation is another question.

I have an interest in (playing and developing) scopious, sandbox-type games, with lots of little NPCs going about their business. It concerns me sometimes; what are the moral obligations behind creating, manipulating, and destroying such virtual people, as technology gets more advanced and simulations more complex? At what point does emergent behaviour of AIs (another interest of mine) transition into consciousness? How could we tell? Would the developers have a moral responsibility to never shut down those simulations while such an AI functions within it? Would doing so be considered genocide?

Though I'm obviously not talking about DDO specifically, where the average NPC has the survival instinct of a mouse with a Toxoplasma infection (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toxoplasmosis#Behavioral_changes).

[CheeseMilk]

It's real, but only in the sense that this sentence is.

[IntrepidBear]

Love the posts in this thread..

so true,
a smile is very real, no matter what age we are...

:D pixels and all

[achitophel]

Money isn't real.. it is a bit of paper that we all collaboratively agree has a value. But.. it is a bit of paper. Before someone says blah blah gold reserves blah... Actually currency is based on the potential and collective optimism of your country, not gold.

I like your post. +1

[Aurora1979]

The youngest, five years old had pulled out his new I pad he got for his birthday

Crikey!!

Things have changed. Even if my parents had of had the disposable income to afford it, and if Ipads were around, there is NO WAY I would of been brought one at five years old!!.....

Then again I don't think children should have mobiles at school either..... :D

I agree though that that time and emotions invested into our long term characters does make them transcend just computer pixles..... You get to know them as real as I get to know anyone else I relate with purely via the internet.

To be honest, I'm not always sure its intelligent beings anyway.... at least my character doesn't get lairy!! :D

[Feralthyrtiaq]

When all the matter we know in our physical reality is made of the same atomic, sub-atomic, sub-sub-atomic etc etc etc particles...

The electrons used to display those ghostly pixels are the same electrons I am using to hear the crickets in my shop, read the words I am typing on this glowing monitor of electrons, etc etc etc....

No New Agey Mumbo Jumbo

No Mayo-Apocalipso

No Ketchup-Apocalypse

Just facts....


And the undisputable fact it....

It's all the same. Of course mentally constructed "points of view" "frames of reference" ("opinions" if you will)
vary and are not necessarily those held by the "MANAGEMENT"

[silinteresting]

thankyou for making me smile.

your friend sil :)

[IntrepidBear]

Crikey!!

Things have changed. Even if my parents had of had the disposable income to afford it, and if Ipads were around, there is NO WAY I would of been brought one at five years old!!.....

Then again I don't think children should have mobiles at school either..... :D

I agree though that that time and emotions invested into our long term characters does make them transcend just computer pixles..... You get to know them as real as I get to know anyone else I relate with purely via the internet.

To be honest, I'm not always sure its intelligent beings anyway.... at least my character doesn't get lairy!! :D

things have really changed,
it was the first time I actually touched an Ipad... and here, my nephew's five yr old has one.. . this computer I use to type and play DDO, was a gift.. could not afford one...

Amazing changes in just my one lifetime, what will it be like for this 5 yr old, 50 yrs from now?? ??
From Gold we went to paper, then we changed to monetary plastic..
no, you cannot eat plastic to survive, and my sister's grandchildren are in awe when I tell them how I had a log shed, that was a smoker, and I smoked moose, deer and snowgoose meats..
now for health I should turn vegan.. lol..

ah well..
still a wizard at heart tho..

When fishing with my one Bro, he had trouble lifting something heavy,
I piped;
" you want me to hit you with a GH ?? "
" just don't step on my quarterstaff... "

:D

[CheeseMilk]

When fishing with my one Bro, he had trouble lifting something heavy,
I piped;
" you want me to hit you with a GH ?? "


LOL.

I tried casting Haste on my wife when she was walking slowly in the grocery store.

Didn't go over too well.