Last week I was out celebrating a family friends birthday. While we were waiting to be seated at a local restaurant, went into a place called Neutral Ground. The goal of Neutral Ground is to create a comfortable environment for people who like to play card, board, miniatures, or computer games.There are over 30,000 places nationwide. When the assignment was given, I knew that this was the place to come. I invited Jendy to experience this with me.

Observations:

The place looked lived in. Arcade games and snack machines were lined up along one wall. The snack machine was running very low. To the rear were tables that sat gamers who were jumping up and down yelling excitedly. They were engaged in a role playing game. Along the other walls were gaming artifacts and merchandise. Comic books and collectors cards were stocked heavily along one wall;board games were for sale on a table. In the center of the room, along the front windows were about 40 computer with 20 inch monitors. Various computer boxes and packing paraphernalia was strewn around the room. People of various ages and walks of life were glued to the screen, with an occasional cry of frustration or muttering. Little interaction was happening outside the computer, but inside people were lost in the artificial game world. Some were playing linked together and others were in touch with the Internet world. Two rocket sciencests we later interviewed, were playing a game called Anarchy.

Anarchy was a game of tribes in a persistent world that has a story line that was to last 4 years. People paid a fee along with the software and became a character. They join 3,000 other players in this virtual world. The game object is to be the tribe that wins the war. It is a MOO interface in a virtual world and their characters interact very much like we do in class. If they type an emot "Hug and Dance" their character follows the instructions. One of the ganers showed us all the moves his character could do.

Friends and relationships are formed amongst "Tribe" members for better or for worse. The owner of Neutral Ground said he has has seen more than one person playing a a virtual game on the Internet react violently when they find out that their virtual relationship turned out to the wrong sex, or someone in cognito. One in particular, threw up all over the place. One man lost his house, his fiancé, and his job once he became addicted and entwined with the players of online virtual game called EverQuest, which is like a graphical MUDD.. When the game ended, his life was in shambles and he had to go get counseling and unplug. He is now a normal guy who knows his weakness, and works carefully within the industry..

Feelings:

Jendy and I charged apprehensively in after my husband. We were nervous. I had been uncomfortable the day I had walked in and was more so now. I knew that some gamers can be a really serious crowd taking their gaming roles to the point of dressing and mimicking their characters;kinda like a StarTrek convention. Tonight presented more of a variety of people. There were about three kids ages 10-11 obviously there with their father and a few well dressed men. There were a few unkempt men there two. Jendy and I were the only woman for most of the night.

Eventfully we paid for an hour of game time on the computers. We decided to experience the gaming scene.Diablo II was the game we had chosen to play the game on the INTRANET. We fronted the money and sat down. We logged in and my more experienced gaming hubby led us along as we chose characters. Gaming has always been HIS thing and DOGS have always been mine. Jendy played a large character named Brutus who was a large armed peasant and I played a warrior named Stuart and my husband played a sorcerer.

We set off to rid the dark fantasy world of the Lord of Terror." As one of five distinct character types, explore the world of Diablo II -- journey across distant lands, fight new villains, discover new treasures, and uncover ancient mysteries, all in the quest to stop the Lord of Terror, once and for all... "Three levels later, our time was up.

At first it was a disorienting experience following the 3-D map along the mazes while dashing after the party that your character has joined, all the while hacking all the evil things that get in the way. They were are lot of things to keep track of to avoid being killed. It was defiantly a spatial challenge keeping up with the characters. As time ticked away, I became more easily startled as people would burst out from time to time yelling "NO ! NO! don't do this!" They were very much into their games. I really found it fun, and for the first time understood the appeal it had to my husband and others.

It was entertaining, and provided a thrill being able to conquer the bad of the world. It also provided a sense of commradodery as you partnered with other to battle the dark forces. Alone you were sure to fall but together you can stand. Though we did not use it, this game also had a chat component and if we would have liked, we could have joined the network of players on the WOLRD WIDE WEB.
After out session was over, we began to look around and observed the other people playing games. I approached a clerk and then spoke to the manager. I explained why we were here. He was surprised but pleased. He asked some questions about our program and he agreed to let me take pictures. Eventually he put us in contact with two gamers who happened to be the two best dressed men in the bunch. Jendy and I got to speak with them. After about a half hour of chatting with everyone, I felt like this could be a place that people can fit easily into if they like computer games and at time like to be a recluse.

In the back corner were board gamers and they were interacting by yelling over a bad role. Their game looked interesting and I stole glimpse of their rough home made map. Everyone it this group was enjoying themselves. "Ahh," I thought, "to have time to play games and have less responsibility. How nice."

After this night, I have determined to spend at least twice a month gaming with my husband, after the program of course, and experience a little more of what he likes. Overall this was a great experience. Thought it was uncomfortable at first, it gave me a little bit more of an understanding of why and how these games can be addicting and appealing. Awhh the power of the game!!!!!!!

Signing off...

Heather Pozzi
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