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Online text games can be a wonderful break into escapism, but it is worth remembering that they are exactly that. Text games. Immersing yourself into a text based rpg game or MUD, is what it is there for, to draw you in, let you live a fantasy life in a fantasy world and carve out a future for your characters, but sometimes it comes at a cost. Through my years as an avid online text game player (many, I assure you!) I can say I have experienced and seen a multitude of things happen in the online gaming world, so here I give you an example of one of the easiest things that can happen in any online text game.
You become overly emotional at in-game actions OUTSIDE of the online text game.
This is more common than you think. You are playing a character that you have spent time levelling and creating a history for in the online text game. It has a personality and a life that you help it live and perhaps it also has family and friends. One or more of those friends in the text based rpg game causes your character to become angry, upset or sad. It is natural for you to personally feel this way also, but only to a limit. I will freely admit that I laugh, I cry, and I become frustrated and sometimes angry at what can and does happen to my characters. But I know that it is and will remain a game so I can sit back, give a smile and say ‘Now that was good roleplay!’.
Often knowing when you are in too deep is hard to see, but ask yourself this. Do you log out of the text adventure games and after ten minutes away still feel angry? Do you lose sleep over actions that have happened in an online text game? Are your friends in various IMs asking you to calm down or say ‘it is only a game’? Are you taking in-game actions as a slight against you out of the text based rpg game? If so, then perhaps it is time to sit back and take a good look at what is happening to you and around you.
Becoming too emotionally involved is unhealthy. It is often hard to distinguish between what is real, and what is in game and things begin to hurt a little too much. Sitting back and allowing yourself a break, perhaps getting a drink, make a sandwich. Or go see if the world outside of the computer is still there whilst letting your thoughts clear, and not dwelling on the issues in the text games will let you see things more clearly and in a better perspective.
Allowing yourself some distance between you and your character in the online text game is not betraying your character in any way. It will not hate you, it can’t. It is a creation of your imagination that you have control of, just as you have control over what you think and feel when playing text games. Knowing that you have become too emotionally involved in an online text game is nothing to be ashamed of and realising that it HAS happened to you is something you can be proud of, as now you know and now you can do something about it. Remember. It is just a game. It is an enjoyable, exciting, stimulating fantasy world of fun and adventure, but it is still just a game.
Learn more by trying out some great text adventure games. Lorna Cowie is a text game enthusiast and currently plays games from http://www.IronRealms.com.
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