Game refugee

Celia Pearce's "Communities of Play" is so far the most interesting article that I've read. It explains a totally different side of the gamers' community, which I had never thought of before. The author described form when the game Uru first came out, until the game was eventually shut down. The players in TGU formed strong attachment to the game and to the game communities that they belonged to when TGH still existed. And when Uru was shut down, players held hands together by using their avatars and could not press the OK button because they did not want to leave the game. Later on, poems were created to show the game players' strong attachment to TGU, and after a long discussion, they decided to wait until Uru is back again so they can move back to their "homeland."

This article is interesting because I have never faced any server shut down when I used to play online game. The use of words "refugees" and "homeland" actually shock me because they imply that the players were actually being abandoned by their beloved countries and can never go back to their "homeland" again. In real life, it can only happen when one violates serious crimes, or in other extreme cases, such as wars. From the poems, I can totally tell that the game players were very emotionally attached to the game. This phenomenon reminds me of the hardcore and casual players disscussion in the earlier readings. These players can all be described as very hardcore players since they are too emotionally attached to the game and can hardly distinguish the game world and real life.

Although some people may think those TGU players are crazy, many can actually feel they actually lost a real "home" when their favorite game servers are shut down. Since I have never faced any server shut down, I do not know how I will feel when the situations happen. It all depends on how much I was into the game before it was shut down, and I beleive my feeling toward the game will gradually fade away as I get busy with other things in real life.

Goodbye Until Uru-> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xVxNkdIUzOk