The Negative Branding of MMOs

Terra Nova is addressing something I’ve never thought of before, which is the overall negative connotations of the MMO “brand”. That is, the feelings and memories conjured by the word itself, which TerraNova asserts are often negative.

A LOT of people fear becoming addicted, even people I work with in the game industry. Nearly every person I have talked to has some terrible story to tell of someone they know who knows someone who locked themselves in their room for a year or two and completely forgot the real world after getting sucked in by some MMO. And then there are the stories of silly Koreans falling over dead or Chinese gamers killing each other for virtual swords which make people think that MMOs are like some kind of crack that makes completely normal people go crazy (not to mention the possibly apocryphal stories about people wearing Depends so they don't have to afk for their bio breaks).

This point is one I’ve run into as well, and by which I was always puzzled. Is the perception of videogames so fearful and awed, that people actually believe they could be forced to behave in ways they otherwise would not?

How bizarre. This is a pervasive belief, however, and makes me wonder about the people who have so little faith in their own self-control that they actually let fear of hypnotism prevent them from trying fun things.

As far as I’m concerned, there’s only one rule about video games: when it’s not fun, stop playing.

The MMO Brand Goes Bad? [Terra Nova]