Quote Originally Posted by Frith_of_Dale View Post
You can't have a decent discussion about THAT paper without having read it, but you can most certainly discuss MMO's without reading that particular study from Stanford, which may or may not actually draw an even relevant point.

To cite a paper, and insist it's a prerequisite to having a conversation is a bit much, and just because it's a study from a PHD doesn't mean their conclusions have any relevance at all.

That's basically an argument from authority, kind of like a signature declaring yourself to be a programmer.

A point can stand on it's own merit, whether or not it came from Einstein himself.

That said, it's a neat paper, although I find their conclusions to be pretty speculative.

I'll be daring and sum up the paper in one quote mined sentence: "For most, playing the game is therefore like being “alone together” –surrounded by others, but not necessarily actively interacting with them"

mmmkay

"For most"

Hasn't been that way for me, so I guess I'm in the minority, or their conclusion is based on false assumptions and too little data from World of Warcraft, which is what they're talking about by the way.
That paper has the advantage over pretty much every opinion expressed in the Forums on the subject by actually having gathered data and studyied what players *do* in a game. Sure, they studied WoW, but that doesn't invalidate the results. If anything, it should spark further research to see if the what was observed there holds true elsewhere.

Anyone can disagree with the conclusions the authors drew from the data they gathered, but just saying "I haven't read it, but I disagree with what they say" is just being pig-ignorant. At least demonstrate that you have enough data to dispute the conclusions...not just a "gut feel" that it has to be wrong.

There are a number of topics in MMOs in which people make extravagant claims about how players behave, but it's done on the basis of what their immediate circle of friends claim they do, not on any form of accumulated data that can be shown to have some statistical significance.

What your own late point does is simply to claim to be an outlier. So what exactly IS your point? What is your basis for asserting that the conclusions are in error? Do you just not like the conclusion or do you have some factual basis for claiming the authors are wrong? They may be wrong...but claims that they are should have something more than hot air behind the claim.

--W. H. Heydt

Old Used Programmer