Alpha Centauri 2

Community => Recreation Commons => Topic started by: Green1 on June 01, 2014, 04:37:01 PM

Title: Gaming,relationships, stories, and sociology
Post by: Green1 on June 01, 2014, 04:37:01 PM

I used to read a lot from Nicky Yee. For those that do not know, Yee was a post doctoral graduate student in sociology studying how gamers interact. His doctoral work was called the Daedalas Project. It focused on any topics within the MMO world. One of the topics that got a lot of hype was gamers and relationships that formed during gaming.

His work was fascinating. Unfortunately, I believe now he works for Ubisoft applying his knowledge of gamer sociology for evil, giving them motivations on how to make gamers buy more things in microtransaction games. But, I digress.

I actually helped him and participated in many of his studies in a small way. I, and hundreds of others, shared stories of what happens in the world behind the keyboard and how it can change the world of real life. The posts on his site were very personalized.

I would like to share some of my stories. Ever since the"BU fake PM stuff", I am sure some interest has been tweaked but some wanted more truthful stories. Do not believe the hype. Some of these stories end horribly.

With that, next post I will begin. Anyone else, of course can share their stories.

DISCLAIMER NO... I really do not care about finding someone online. I will stick to local trim, thankya. BUT... I love drama. Let's share our sociological data!!!![/b]

Title: Re: Gaming,relationships, stories, and sociology
Post by: Green1 on June 01, 2014, 04:51:13 PM

STORY #1: Epic Mount for an Epic Mount on Craigslist.

This one is one of the most infamous "relationship stories" in gaming. A female on a small, backwater server in World of Warcraft wanted an epic mount. Back then, an epic flying mount was an insane amount of gold that only a few players could afford unless they bought gold from certain disreputable Chinese gold farming sites or spending hours and hours grinding gold in a boring fashion.

Our heroine, though, also not having a boyfriend had an idea to kill two birds with one stone. She posted on Craigslist that she would "mount" anyone who would give her the gold to buy the epic flyer. The exchange would happen in a hotel room that provided internet. They would both bring laptops, log into WoW, and exchange gold. After the exchange was complete, get it on!

Someone took the offer up. Of course the post on craigslist was deleted as "prostitution", but a followup post indicated that she was giving the guy "seconds" and was going in a relationship with him. Christian hackers hacked the YMTD site lampooning it, but still.

My thoughts? Smart girl. If a guy did this, he is a pimp daddy stud. A girl does this she is a [prostitute]? She got both her epic mount AND a gamer boyfriend. Win.

Title: Re: Gaming,relationships, stories, and sociology
Post by: Green1 on June 01, 2014, 05:29:55 PM

STORY #2: I will take you away to a magical place and we will smoke pot and game all day!

This one is a personal one from me, as I know one of the ones involved. In 2004, broadband internet spread like wildfire. Good computers were still fairly expensive for the working class. But, you could still afford a console. The console RPG de jour was Final Fantasy 11.

One of my friends, a chain smoking pot head, dishwasher at a tourist trap in New Orleans, and wannabe Wiccan met a girl online in this game. The stories of New Orleans impressed her, being stuck in a small, boring town in Kansas. People... practicing Wicca in the open! Unregulated booze! The architecture! The pact was sealed and he saved a pay check for her one way plane ticket to New Orleans.

It was a whirlwind romance and we did not see much from him after she arrived. Perhaps he was concerned a gamer guy would do what we called "vulture theory", hat is waiting for a relationship to die then taking the girl with superior charisma and resources. There was a shortage of gamer girls in New Orleans at that time. He even did not show up to DnD sessions for fear of this fact. He isolated her.

Shortly after, Hurricane Katrina hit. He escaped to Minneapolis, MN and both got some FEMA money. But, that runs out. Both want to sit around and game, no one wants to actually work. She gets a job, but he just sits up gaming all day. In the end, she kicks his ass to the curb and hooks up with another she met online. This time, one that works so she does not have too. Friends of our male hero collect money for him a ticket to South Carolina where we believe him to be to this day.

Title: Re: Gaming,relationships, stories, and sociology
Post by: Green1 on June 01, 2014, 06:22:02 PM

Story #3: Cross country looking for luv.

Man, where shall I begin on this little gem.

The female was living in Texas and dating a developer for a certain popular game company famous for casual games. (Do not ask me, I am easily doxed and I respect privacy of those involved. I  know we have game devs in here.) Out of the blue, while living with this guy, she took a trip up to New York to "see" this guild master of a rival guild on our server. "Seeing" this guild master lasted a week, and the dev in Texas, had to work.

Afterwards, I get a PM asking me for advice because she now flies to California to a fellow gamer who happens to be a buff amateur boxer. I guess my advice worked because she stayed a week at his house, too.

Next thing we know, she is preggers. Of course she tries to stick this on our buddy the popular casual game dev in Austin. After a lot of drama, he kicks her to the curb. A paternity test indicated he was not the father.

My goodness, she must have been a rich [complaint or disagreeable woman] to afford all that travel. But still, interstate cheating in a video game chat room?

Never heard much more. She dropped off the MMO scene after that.

Title: Re: Gaming,relationships, stories, and sociology
Post by: Buster's Uncle on June 01, 2014, 06:50:16 PM

My best story, I may not share, as honor forbids telling what I know.  Too bad, as having the truth get out would do me a lot of good...

Title: Re: Gaming,relationships, stories, and sociology
Post by: Green1 on June 01, 2014, 06:56:59 PM

STORY #4 : I am out selling vacuum cleaners to support our family, HONEST! I am not gaming or shagging strange trim!

My goodness. The 4x world and forum world I feel lacks sometimes because of the lack of drama. Yes, there is the occasional nerd war over stupid stuff. But NO drama compares to that of a woman scorned.

Val (not real name) was a regular in gaming. His pregnant common law wife up in Wisconsin was also a regular in chat, though she was not in gaming for the game but cool conversation. But, on the sly, he had met a much hotter chick that just happened to be a city away that was in another guild.

Being unemployed and living off the lady, he invented a story of being a door to door vacuum cleaner salesman. This necessitated his need for their only car for hours at a time. Even when he was at the house, he would often switch to a hidden alt to talk to this lady.

Unfortunately, for our cheater, you should NEVER give your passwords to your girlfriend. When he finally decided to leave his pregnant girlfriend, she was devastated. he left the guild and began applying to various other raid guilds that he could easily gain access to due to his character being geared. BUT.. our heroine had the password! She logged into the character and stripped the toon naked then swam him out to the middle of the ocean! Due to not having the gear, the character was worthless and di not get into that badass progression guild.

To top it off, the other girl left him too. Without the gear, he could not game with her and it was a turn off. This left our guy unemployed and living in the car.

Morale is, do not share passwords with your SO if you plan on doing them dirty!

Title: Re: Gaming,relationships, stories, and sociology
Post by: Green1 on June 01, 2014, 07:20:21 PM

Quote from: BUncle on June 01, 2014, 06:50:16 PM

My best story, I may not share, as honor forbids telling what I know.  Too bad, as having the truth get out would do me a lot of good...

Actually, it may be in your best interests to do so. While even in face to face gaming I did maintain a very asexual position just to keep the fun going for others, I do have regrets that I did not possibly screw everyone to get screwed n return.

But, if such people are on this forum, I will respect that decision. Then again, my asexual approach towards gaming is a numbers game, too. You piss off one female but lose nothing, so be it. The female (or even a male) has 20 buddies.... Do NOT put them on a pedestal. They are as good and/or as inept as males. And amongst themselves are much rowdier than us.

You can also use fake names.

Title: Re: Gaming,relationships, stories, and sociology
Post by: Buster's Uncle on June 01, 2014, 07:27:24 PM

;no I may not.  I know many secrets, and I have to be trustworthy, for myself as well as my reputation...

Title: Re: Gaming,relationships, stories, and sociology
Post by: Green1 on June 01, 2014, 07:32:23 PM

grrrr....Maybe  misogynist propaganda to lead you to action, DOOOO EEEEET!

read reddit's theredpill 20 times. Get worked up. Then come back :D Give AC2 da drama llama!

Title: Re: Gaming,relationships, stories, and sociology
Post by: Buster's Uncle on June 01, 2014, 07:36:44 PM

;no

Title: Re: Gaming,relationships, stories, and sociology
Post by: Green1 on June 01, 2014, 07:39:32 PM

Then again, do not read that [poop] . That stuff gives guys mental illnesses if taken as sacred. Although, they have some true points that can be helpful.

Title: Re: Gaming,relationships, stories, and sociology
Post by: Green1 on June 01, 2014, 08:06:37 PM

[poop] .. getting someone incorruptible like BU to read theredpill. That is pretty villain like of me.

STORY #5 Let me show you my nipple ring and a bit more.

NowI wil admit, the person that did this was younger... jailbait younger. But here is the tale. A girl in Boston had her nipple pierced. She bragged about it in chat. Who better to show this to than those who could invite her to the ultimate party that is raiding  in MMOs than the officers and guild leader?

Of course, I would have nothing of it since I was a lame dude and invited solely on merit and gear. But the other officers capitalized on this. Pics or it did not happen! She obliged. From there, a pic of a skinny 15 year old girl spread over the server - [privates] and all. I saw it. Damn, talk about kiddie porn. I deleted that crap as soon as it was mailed to me.

The hazing for her doing that got so bad, she rerolled on another server. I am sure she just wanted to show it off to some dude that flirted with her in private over voice chat, but he shared it with everyone. He even revealed her facebook page!

So yeah... careful with those pics.

Title: Re: Gaming,relationships, stories, and sociology
Post by: Buster's Uncle on June 01, 2014, 08:10:42 PM

Green, I gotta ask you to watch the language.  That's two posts in a row I had to edit.

Title: Re: Gaming,relationships, stories, and sociology
Post by: Green1 on June 01, 2014, 08:14:31 PM

Quote from: BUncle on June 01, 2014, 08:10:42 PM

Green, I gotta ask you to watch the language.  That's two posts in a row I had to edit.

I thought that was the filter... nevermind "edited by BU"....

Title: Re: Gaming,relationships, stories, and sociology
Post by: Buster's Uncle on June 01, 2014, 08:19:58 PM

The swear filter sucks, and it's easier on me if people try to spot things that get past it.  I don't like using my powers for anything but housekeeping...

Title: Re: Gaming,relationships, stories, and sociology
Post by: Green1 on June 01, 2014, 08:32:48 PM

I have about three more stories. It is really a Debbie downer to tell all this heartbreak and embarrassment stuff. But I do not know. I thought the first one to be a success and no one on that server found out who the "mount for a mount" girl was.

The next one will be a happy tale from my archives.

Title: Re: Gaming,relationships, stories, and sociology
Post by: Green1 on June 02, 2014, 04:35:51 AM

STORY 5 :Cinderella

Mary worked in a low paying nursing home gig in California. She did not live in one of the "hip" places in California like San Francisco, Los Angeles,  or San Diego though but one of these smaller, lifeless Central Valley towns. Her only relief from the drudgery of the day to day grind was when she turned on her computer and played MMOs. There, she ran into intelligent people. She worked her way up quickly through the ranks becoming a class officer teaching new players how to play rogues. She became exceedingly good at what she did.

There was also another person playing. He lived in the far away land of Sydney, Australia. His reality was different. He owned several businesses and instead of living in a small flat lived in a nice house he owned in the suburbs of Sydney.

Over time, they talked over voice and text. They gamed. They talked and talked for almost a year. One day, he bought a ticket to California to see her. needless to say, they hit it off.

Within a months or so time after the trip, he paid for her a ticket to move to Australia. There was a massive wedding both in game and in real life. The guild leader who lived in Singapore even came to the wedding in person and was the best man.

Unlike some of the other stories, last I heard, she was still in Aussie land. They have been married 6 years and have kids. She never had to work a low paid slave wage labor job ever again.

...and they sit in the living room with side by side new computers connected to big screen TVs, gaming all day together.

Title: Re: Gaming,relationships, stories, and sociology
Post by: DrazharLn on June 02, 2014, 03:39:07 PM

/r/theredpill is poisonous, misogynistic garbage.

For those who haven't seen it, it's kind of a philosophy for adversarial sexual relations that treats women as evil people to be played for sex.

I'm not a fan.

Title: Re: Gaming,relationships, stories, and sociology
Post by: Unorthodox on June 02, 2014, 03:40:01 PM

I hear these romance stories in both games and Halloween stuff.

Oh, how wonderful to find someone with the same interests, doing the same thing together, etc. 

I can't ever help but wonder what kind of nightmare that must be.  Thank god my wife and I are so different.  I'll never understand the people who want to be together 24-7 doing the same thing, always.  That's like some version of hell, I swear.  22 years together, I believe the secret is that we're apart half the time. 

Title: Re: Gaming,relationships, stories, and sociology
Post by: Green1 on June 02, 2014, 03:54:03 PM

Quote from: DrazharLn on June 02, 2014, 03:39:07 PM

/r/theredpill is poisonous, misogynistic garbage.

For those who haven't seen it, it's kind of a philosophy for adversarial sexual relations that treats women as evil people to be played for sex.

I'm not a fan.

Agreed.

 I was trying summon the drama llama. Maybe get some horror stories out of BU. But it is beyond my powers to corrupt BU to the dark side.

They also have a "bluepill" that makes fun of it.

The only positive you can get out of it is that there are some very superficial people in the world that do match the red pill's description. Best is just to avoid them. It also makes you aware of dangerous and poisonous people of both genders. So, it is worth a look. They also do promote self improvement, which anyone can benefit from. But your mind would be less poisoned by going to livestrong.org.

If red pill theory was actually correct, only the top 10 percent of really high resource men would hook up and you would have a slave race of "betas and omegas" ie: lesser men as they call them toiling for everyone. It would be like a fundy Mormon apocalypse world with rich men having vast harems and young, poor men being abandoned and tossed on the street like in areas of Arizona and Utah.. Sociological evidence does not support this as 40 percent of folks are married of all economic backgrounds (looking at city-data and census sites). Many marry multiple times throughout life.

Title: Re: Gaming,relationships, stories, and sociology
Post by: Green1 on June 02, 2014, 04:52:47 PM

I probably should go over where that crap came from for those that do not read a lot of sociology topics.

theredpill is the latest incarnation of a line of pop sociology (mixed in with a healthy dose of men's rights) that traces it's lineage to Nuero Linguistic Programming.

NLP was developed as thearapy tool to be used in a clinical setting by Richard Bandlerand John grinder in the 1970s. they debuted the technique as a successor to the older theory of Transactional Analysis in the book Frogs into Princes The way it works is this. You have a state of mind that affects how receptive or not receptive you are to things. this is called frame. You also have hard wired constructs in your mind concerning habits, rules, etc that are tied into language. By altering the language used, you can change the frame and behavior barring missing constructs (brain damage, mental illnesses, etc).

Towards the 1990s, though, this fell out of use as therapists and neuroscientists discovered more about the chemical workings of the brain and pushed towards more drug therapies.

NLP did not die, however, public motivational speakers like Timothy Robbins adapted it to sell books and lectures. real estate self help writers wrote books to help salesmen sell more product using adapted NLP. But, NLP took a more sinister turn when some opportunistic computer nerd decided maybe NLP could get people laid or at least sell seminars and books.

Neil Strauss' The Game came out. It told the story of a nerdy pick up artist named Mystery who use variations of NLP techniques to convince hot chicks to have sex with them. Over time, this hit the internet by storm. Vast amounts of socially awkward nerds flocked to sites like alt.fast seduction to either just get laid or find a girlfriend. Many books and "field trip" classes were sold to lonely guys looking for quick fixes to relationship woes.

About the same time, the sociology equivalent was being formulated by nerds with too much time on the computer. Ladder Theory was Developed. This is where sociological components were added to this movement for the first time, as previous iterations only focused on what the product salesmen called "game". the way ladder theory works is simple. It is a "social value" system that assigns market value determining who someone will have a relationship with or not. It supposedly explained why some people were friends with the opposite sex but were not having sexual relations with that person. it explained why, in their perception, it seemed like females were going after "bad boys" instead of them.

From there, this evolved further into what the redpill is today. Men who had been through horrible relationships, vicious custody battles, and other relationship misfortunes returned to the scene. The body of theory was supplemented by political Men's Rights. Also combined in there and adding to it was a fitness component.

Hence what you have today. Something that does not even remotely resemble what it originally was, doing something it was never meant to do, that has been proven mostly false for decades.

/history lesson for today :D

Title: Re: Gaming,relationships, stories, and sociology
Post by: Rusty Edge on June 02, 2014, 05:14:14 PM

Thanks. I was totally lost there for a while.
I did read a transactional analysis book as part of a high school course in the 1970s.
I did have a sales career, and I can look back and say, oh, that was NLP, even if that term was never used.
Once upon a time on the internet I did come upon ladder theory. While I didn't like it, I couldn't refute it at the time, and since I was already married, I didn't dwell on it.

So now I get it.

Title: Re: Gaming,relationships, stories, and sociology
Post by: Unorthodox on June 02, 2014, 05:15:13 PM

Quote from: Green1 on June 02, 2014, 03:54:03 PM

It would be like a fundy Mormon apocalypse world with rich men having vast harems and young, poor men being abandoned and tossed on the street like in areas of Arizona and Utah.

Actually, Mormons, fundamentalist or not, preach egalitarianism.  Difference is the fundy's actively attempt such a society (or at least tell their members they are), where as mainstream mormons recognize it as the perfect society, but believe Jesus will establish such a society when he comes again, since he's the only one who would not corrupt such a thing. 

Title: Re: Gaming,relationships, stories, and sociology
Post by: Buster's Uncle on June 02, 2014, 05:23:36 PM

The human capacity to pervert anything is impressive, or Christians wouldn't have killed so many people in the name of the Prince of Peace in the last 2,000 years...

Title: Re: Gaming,relationships, stories, and sociology
Post by: Green1 on June 02, 2014, 05:46:12 PM

Quote from: Rusty Edge on June 02, 2014, 05:14:14 PM

Thanks. I was totally lost there for a while.
I did read a transactional analysis book as part of a high school course in the 1970s.
I did have a sales career, and I can look back and say, oh, that was NLP, even if that term was never used.
Once upon a time on the internet I did come upon ladder theory. While I didn't like it, I couldn't refute it at the time, and since I was already married, I didn't dwell on it.

So now I get it.

Because of lawsuits in the 80s and 90s, Many shied away from using NLP as a term. Also, there was a liability implied with the word "programming". Let's say you went to a therapist or life coach to quit smoking. If you were "programmed", then, just like a buggy computer program, if you did not quit smoking, it was the coaches fault and not yours. But if you used a different word like "conditioning", the blame is back on you.

Ladder Theory had some interesting points. But, I thought it to be short sighted and too simplistic. It over valued resources but did not take into account previous history and  synchronicity. As we travel through time and space, there are only certain windows in which reality can be changed - at least in that way. Let's take my ex-wife (to quote Rodney Dangerfield .. yes, please). Out of all the opportunities I had to meet her, there was only one place and time when her state would have allowed me to meet her. Crossing her as she had 15 minutes to get to work does not count. Crossing paths when she was in a relationship with an ex boyfriend does not count. It had to be at that time. the right time and place.

Now, was it happily ever after. No.

But my daughter thanks me for her existence.

But then again, a two hundred years from now barring some longevity vaccine and we are all dead, no one will care about the specifics or moods or any thing else about relationships of the past. All they will know is who had kids by whom, if someone did something notable, then move on.

Yes, being financially secure and not worried about the landlord knocking t your door with an eviction notice can help. Not so much for the social status, but I guarantee you are in a happier state of mind and more receptive to others if you are not worried about crud like tht :D Yes, looking good helps somewhat. But the largest factor in all of these stories including my own is that it was the correct time and place. Anything otherwise, nothing would have happened and the entire reality would have been shaped differently.

This even applies  to the stories in this thread. If that person had not bought that particular game and began playing at that particular time, no one would have met.

Title: Re: Gaming,relationships, stories, and sociology
Post by: Rusty Edge on June 02, 2014, 07:15:15 PM

One of my favorite sayings is "A lot of life is timing"

It can be a lot easier to get a job or a date when somebody else has just quit or broken up with the employer/ woman. Sometimes people are just in the mood to offer an opportunity to somebody who truly appreciates it.

My wife and I are highly compatible. We think alike. We spend as much time as possible together. Before we met, we took a lot of the same vacations. We may have crossed paths, or come close to it more than once.

But if we'd met when I had my beard or handlebar mustache, she would have disregarded me. To have a chance I'd have to be clean shaven.

Actually, we met online. Not on a dating site, but on the off-topic area of a forum( with lots of juicy drama). We discovered that we had the same opinion about most everything and every one.. On the forum we weren't in dating mode trying to impress anybody, we were just being ourselves. We started to PM every day. We got together when we were in the same time zone, one August, and we clicked.

 I went to visit her on Christmas. By April I had transferred my job to her city, and moved into an apartment. We got engaged that fall and married before Christmas, and we lived happily ever after.

I'd like to tell you more, but I lead a partitioned life. Rusty Edge can be tied to my Real Life. I have another internet identity and presence. It has other facets of my life.

There is a firewall between them. I can't tie them all together. There's lots of  reasons. Potential identity theft. Potential theft of a scarce collection. There's an internet sociopath who'd like to harm me.  Potential antagonism between the aspects of my life- Religion, politics, career, family, lifestyle, charitable causes...   I don't want RL consequences because of a rant or story I have shared elsewhere.

Title: Re: Gaming,relationships, stories, and sociology
Post by: Green1 on June 02, 2014, 07:48:47 PM

Understood.

I use handles like you for privacy too. I would be more concerned with nosy employers though. They do all sorts of searches nowadays in HR departments. I can see it: you are on a gaming forum, hence you must be a time waster and a bad hire. You are some religion Mr Big Boss views as a cult, you are a bad fit so we need to make things rough on you like write you up for being one minute late kind of stuff.

Crazies I am not worried about and are my specialty. Especially if there was nothing to gain and a meeting was not mutually wanted. Ie: Guild meetup, convention, possible hook up, etc. Even the crazies have jobs. You can not keep one if you are stuck in jail for stalking or assault 900 miles from where you live :D Not to mention losing an apartment while in jail along with all their stuff. They just talk tough. Then get IP banned by whatever admin. Maybe sock puppet with proxies till that gets old, then disappear.

And the first story dealing with forums. Never heard of a meet up through forums before.

Cool beans.

Title: Re: Gaming,relationships, stories, and sociology
Post by: Unorthodox on June 02, 2014, 08:17:05 PM

Quote from: Rusty Edge on June 02, 2014, 07:15:15 PM

We think alike. We spend as much time as possible together. Before we met, we took a lot of the same vacations.

Nightmare.  Never understand you kind of people. 

My wife and I are very different.  We appreciate each other's interests, and most importantly support each other's interests, but we don't get involved with each other's things too often. 

Vacations?  I'd have never been one to go to Disneyland/world, that's very much the Boss's type of vacation.  In contrast, she'd have never been one to go off hiking in the woods.  It's good to experience different things. 

Even take house work.  We do things DIFFERENTLY.  I've seen other couples argue over doing something 'right' or 'wrong'.  We don't CARE, as long as it was done. 

Maybe it's just that we're both gemini and appreciate all the diversity more than a standard couple might. 

Title: Re: Gaming,relationships, stories, and sociology
Post by: Buster's Uncle on June 02, 2014, 08:25:42 PM

Hmm.  People are not simple, life is not simple, and different things work for different people.

That's the basis on which I've founded my own love of diversity - people sufficiently different have a lot to teach me, even if their solutions would not work for me.  Still worthy of study. ;nod

Title: Re: Gaming,relationships, stories, and sociology
Post by: Geo on June 02, 2014, 08:36:17 PM

Weird. For some reason I thought Rusty's post was made by UnO.

Title: Re: Gaming,relationships, stories, and sociology
Post by: Buster's Uncle on June 02, 2014, 09:01:16 PM

That's because they're so much alike...

Title: Re: Gaming,relationships, stories, and sociology
Post by: Rusty Edge on June 02, 2014, 10:22:18 PM

 ;lol

More likely because I spoke of Rusty Edge in the third person.


My virtual sociopath is an attorney. I guess that's a common career path for them. I don't need that kind of stress, expense, and waste of time. I prefer to stay beyond his radar.


I've attempted the opposites attract type of relationship before, lots of times, but it didn't fly.
I'll stick to my conflict-free relationship, even though it means no passionate make-ups.

Well for that matter, my parents, and my maternal grandparents had the same type of compatible relationship as me.

Title: Re: Gaming,relationships, stories, and sociology
Post by: Buster's Uncle on June 02, 2014, 10:27:42 PM

...When I first joined the community lo, those five years ago, I thought the online anonymity stuff was bull and a shield for misbehaving cowardly dinks - that was two stalkers back, now...

Title: Re: Gaming,relationships, stories, and sociology
Post by: JarlWolf on June 03, 2014, 05:30:28 AM

There is a saying old dogs can't learn new tricks, but they do.

This thread had taught me some things in some regards, and it has shown me that I am glad I don't have many more years of living anymore and that I haven't made any online "enemies." I have enough people in real life I've scorned and ruined and want me and those who are related to me in any way shape or form dead- I am just glad the hatred of those people that I have wronged, angered or what have you are at my stage of life for the most part or incapable of doling out their grievances against me.

And I am glad that the hatred and guilt, crime and every sin I have committed is going to die with me, that my grandchildren and my future descendants won't have to pay for my crimes. That I don't have enough an online legacy to attract more hatred amongst people, nor did I ever anger anyone enough to do so.


Because you folks speak of these online poltergeists and sociopaths like I talk about the ghosts and guilty charges of my past and that scares me.

Title: Re: Gaming,relationships, stories, and sociology
Post by: Geo on June 03, 2014, 11:18:24 AM

Its more a thing of this era, Jarlwolf. Most of us have never (and hopefully will never) have to go through the things happened to your generation.

Title: Re: Gaming,relationships, stories, and sociology
Post by: Green1 on June 03, 2014, 12:30:06 PM

Someone that used to be a good friend of mine before life changed direction and I lost track of him had an interesting take on "stalkers".

"We never get the stalkers we want.

At my cousin's urging and how he knows I like sociology and psychology books, he had me read Gavin De Becker's The Gift of Fear. De Becker was a sociologist, private investigator, and martial artist who worked with celebrities who had stalker issues and prevention of crimes like rape, robbery, etc. He had the same interesting take on stalkers my old buddy had and I have now.

I will give you an example. Before I got in my last relationship, I would often ride my bike by the girl's house just to see who was there and if she was actually home. I did not stop, nor did I announce I was going there. Nor did I have any particular interest in controlling this person nor obsess over this person, though I did want to tap that to be honest. I just wanted an idea of her habits and any possible unpleasantness like rival suitors, etc. Is that stalking? Some would say yes. But, we ended up hitting it off and were in a relationship for 3 years. So, it was NOT stalking. See my point.

See what I am getting at? It is only stalking if the person you are checking on despises you for reasons real or imagined. Now, I guess another difference is  if I saw even the first hint of her being disgusted towards me or not seeming the least bit interested, I would have forgotten about her and continued with more important stuff. I have better things to do to my mind than push myself towards someone disgusted by me or hates me. You seldom change folks minds that have that in them. I guess a "true stalker" would have either been unable to read that, not cared, or wanted malice towards that person for "rejecting" them.

If that attorney happened to be a hawt chick that had redeeming qualities but just went after Rusty because she was aggressive and knew what she wanted, that would be initiative, not stalking if Rusty agreed. Mental illness or sociopathy notwithstanding.

We never get the stalkers we want. It is only stalking if one does not wish for contact or the other has bad intentions.

I for one hope I get stalked by a rich sugar momma who will let me play video games in my underwear all day and I do not have to work:D Bonus points if she does yoga and drinks a brew every now and then and does not believe in domestic violence :D

Title: Re: Gaming,relationships, stories, and sociology
Post by: Buster's Uncle on June 03, 2014, 01:36:41 PM

I don't believe anyone who claims to have never ridden their bike past the girl's house.

Title: Re: Gaming,relationships, stories, and sociology
Post by: Green1 on June 03, 2014, 04:37:15 PM

@Jarl

It may also have to do with the fact no sane person would want to tangle with you. No matter how much that person had wronged me, I would be given pause before I messed with an armed, grizzled Soviet era war vet out in the boondocks of Russia on his home turf.

Some things are just not worth the issues.