I'm not "blaming" a culture. If that happens, there's a reason.
Games are mirrors of our culture. For example the "football" is the most popular game in America because it's an idealization of the colonialism. There are a bunch of studies over this that I find rather hard to summarize because they aren't my things and my english is bad. I only know some superficial detail that would fail to convince anyone.
For example the whole game of football is made of two moment: progress and depression (The Great Depression). In this game both the public and the athletes reenact the American hystory and its myth of "progress" that is still strong today. In general you don't see complex dynamics, the movement is horizontal and uniform, like the conquest of the west. Or you move forward or you retreat. Progress and depression. The movement is uniform in the same way the railorads were built. without an origin and a destination, they just went on, endlessly and the community moved along with them. It was a front moving to the west, and if things would go wrong you always had somewhere else where to go. The conquest of the West was about the hope of having always a possibility somewhere else. The same that happened with the ghetto-ization (I don't know the term) in the cities. There's always somewhere else where you can go. There's a place for everyone. The America welcomes everyone, is big enough for everyone.
The American culture never searched "politics" (which is still rudimental today) or relationships. The populations had a very hard time to mix together and form relationships. Instead they divided themselves on "types". Right now there are even towns build "on theme", like if you have pets or not. The same with the races, little italy, chinatown. They didn't originally mix, instead they divided themselves. The attrition was always avoided by creating new spaces.
This, for example, didn't happen in Europe where the physical space was already all taken. This is why the politics were more evolved and complex. This is why the relationships between the countries are more intricate. There was no myth of "somewhere else", you couldn't dodge the problems by creating new spaces. So the only way to survive in this context was about the diplomacy. Find compromises, negotiate. It's not a news that this part of the politics is so absolutely lacking in America.
The myth of progress is still strong today and every speech from the president revolves completely about it, along with the idea of "God" and the whole "God bless the America". The predestination to the progress, the belief that, no matter how things will go, the America will always overcome the difficulties and move onward because supported by God. God is the self-legitimation here. The America cannot be wrong because it is lead by God toward the progress. Nothing will ever be able to stop it.
The "celebration" of this idea of progress is the game of Football. And if you study anthropology you'll see how EVERY festivity that involves a community is so insanely complex beyond what happens under everyone's eyes. It's about a culture digesting and mythicizing difficulties and triumphs.
I believe that there are a bunch of bestsellers that should have created a paticular religious belief that is the same of president Bush. And from what I heard is totally focused on the "predestination". (It should start on a plane, with some people disappearing for no apparent reason)
All this is about the dynamics of a culture, the mythicization we live in. Games are strong cultural objects that only mirror what we see outside. Similarly to how the "dreams" are the representation of the reality seen from the unconscious.
But all this is a bit... off topic. And I also don't have the competence to write about. I just know that there's a lot more behind the scenes. Quite fascinating.
Re: This is how MMORPGs die
I'm not "blaming" a culture. If that happens, there's a reason.
Games are mirrors of our culture. For example the "football" is the most popular game in America because it's an idealization of the colonialism. There are a bunch of studies over this that I find rather hard to summarize because they aren't my things and my english is bad. I only know some superficial detail that would fail to convince anyone.
For example the whole game of football is made of two moment: progress and depression (The Great Depression). In this game both the public and the athletes reenact the American hystory and its myth of "progress" that is still strong today. In general you don't see complex dynamics, the movement is horizontal and uniform, like the conquest of the west. Or you move forward or you retreat. Progress and depression. The movement is uniform in the same way the railorads were built. without an origin and a destination, they just went on, endlessly and the community moved along with them. It was a front moving to the west, and if things would go wrong you always had somewhere else where to go. The conquest of the West was about the hope of having always a possibility somewhere else. The same that happened with the ghetto-ization (I don't know the term) in the cities. There's always somewhere else where you can go. There's a place for everyone. The America welcomes everyone, is big enough for everyone.
The American culture never searched "politics" (which is still rudimental today) or relationships. The populations had a very hard time to mix together and form relationships. Instead they divided themselves on "types". Right now there are even towns build "on theme", like if you have pets or not. The same with the races, little italy, chinatown. They didn't originally mix, instead they divided themselves. The attrition was always avoided by creating new spaces.
This, for example, didn't happen in Europe where the physical space was already all taken. This is why the politics were more evolved and complex. This is why the relationships between the countries are more intricate. There was no myth of "somewhere else", you couldn't dodge the problems by creating new spaces. So the only way to survive in this context was about the diplomacy. Find compromises, negotiate. It's not a news that this part of the politics is so absolutely lacking in America.
The myth of progress is still strong today and every speech from the president revolves completely about it, along with the idea of "God" and the whole "God bless the America". The predestination to the progress, the belief that, no matter how things will go, the America will always overcome the difficulties and move onward because supported by God. God is the self-legitimation here. The America cannot be wrong because it is lead by God toward the progress. Nothing will ever be able to stop it.
The "celebration" of this idea of progress is the game of Football. And if you study anthropology you'll see how EVERY festivity that involves a community is so insanely complex beyond what happens under everyone's eyes. It's about a culture digesting and mythicizing difficulties and triumphs.
I believe that there are a bunch of bestsellers that should have created a paticular religious belief that is the same of president Bush. And from what I heard is totally focused on the "predestination". (It should start on a plane, with some people disappearing for no apparent reason)
All this is about the dynamics of a culture, the mythicization we live in. Games are strong cultural objects that only mirror what we see outside. Similarly to how the "dreams" are the representation of the reality seen from the unconscious.
But all this is a bit... off topic. And I also don't have the competence to write about. I just know that there's a lot more behind the scenes. Quite fascinating.