Hooks in you.

Hooks in you
Hooks in me
Hooks in the ceiling
For that well-hung feeling
No big deal
No big sin
Strung up on love
I got the hooks screwed in…

 It's better to steal a good title than to make a bad one up yourself. The title of course is from the Iron Maiden song, for those of you who recognize it, but its an apt title for the subject. I am going to write a little bit about the hooks in you, dearest readers. The hooks of computer addiction. It takes no genius to see that you're addicted to a fine online game. Be it Guild Wars, World of Warcraft, Eve Online or one of the various others, you are reading an article here on a website devoted to some of those games, and chances are pretty big you are an addict to them ;). If you're not, well, my humblest apologies, but please, do read on.

 You know, the funny thing is that whilst computers and games might be new, the concept behind those games is as old as man itself. An addiction can be broken down to basic human needs. Computer games, and what they offer, are about as original as the wheel after a three-thousand year spin, and only marginally more refreshing than say, fire. I shall back up this rather ludicrous statement with a few convincing arguments.

 One of the major attractions of any pc games are the chat features. Somewhere in the seventies or eighties someone came up with the concept of using the phone to talk to random strangers in a group of say ten people at once. This turned into a huge hit, and scores of people paid money to talk to strangers. Sound silly? Modem + PC + IRC channel =   everyone in an online game. You are simply filling the most basic need of social interaction by talking to someone else. Indeed, in my six years of Diablo II Hardcore online, I spend a lot of that time talking to others. One of my best experiences before that was when I played Diablo I on my dad's pc, and (the parents were out) talked to a perfect stranger in Australia. She was 35, I was 16, and we chatted away until four in the morning, at which point my parents came home and I made a run for my bed. Social interaction is nothing to be ashamed of. Well, of course you could ask yourself why you are getting it whilst talking to strangers instead of your neighbours, but then again, who are your neighbours anyway? Do you know them? Are they Allilance or Horde? Luxton? You sure? They might be the enemy!

 The second major attraction of an online pc game is power. By gaining items, gold and friends, you acquire more power in the game, and thus a better position. This has a rather obvious biological purpose. Human females (no offence to you female gamers) are usually attracted to power, or strength, in human males. Healthy males are more interesting because of mating urges. They will not see what you do in-game though (well, not unless you are Chinese… apparently, a Chinese male and female met through Diablo II and got married). But go ahead. Kill those monsters, and get those items. It is fun after all. Speaking of items, we come to the third major attraction of the game. Humans can quite easily become addicted to adrenalin and endorphin rushes. Run a lot, get endorphin. Do exciting stuff, get adrenalin. Gamble new items ( i.e. kill random monsters) gives you endorphin or adrenalin (or both, if you just spend three hours farming and found crap, and all of a sudden that rare ubar sword of ubarn-leetness drops).

 But wait a minute, there has to be something more to it than that right? What about friends? What about a nice community, and sharing stuff with each other? What about… well, I am sorry to say, but that stuff all falls under social interaction. Trashing random strangers in the night, another nice one(I have been a hardcore Diablo II player killer for a long time, I know what the rush is) falls under interest in power, and trading falls under social interaction and interest in power. Learning new and exciting skills all fall under acquiring skill, and that can be redirected to having better skill or being better skilled than your opponent or friend, and that is power. When you take a game and its addictiveness, and break it down to its basics, it is pretty simple. The more complicated and life-like games get, the more they simply become a replacement for real life. What do you get if you combine the Sims with 3D-glasses, a sword and real life-physics? Yes, the middle ages. A fine surrogate for real life, offering that last addictive factor: Escapism.

 Now, if you will excuse me, I have an appointment with one Shalla Quickblade, an old lady friend of mine, in Oblivion. I just installed a new mod that lets me handle objects a lot better (real life physics are interesting, but in Oblivion they're kind of hard to control), and I fancy having a go at redecorating my Nord-style House. See you around!

~ Baranor