Baffled By the Obsession With Pretend-Business Games 252
theodp writes "Newsweek's Daniel Lyons confesses to being mystified by all the people tending to their virtual farms and virtual pets on Facebook. Even stranger, he says, is their willingness to spend real money to buy virtual products, like pretend guns and fertilizer, to gain advantage in these Web-based games. Pretend products are a serious business, estimated to grow to $1.6B next year, and have captured the attention of economists and academics who view the virtual economy as a lab for modeling behavior in the real world. Still, Lyons can't help but question whether the kind of people who spend hours online taking care of imaginary pets are representative of the rest of the population. 'The data might be "perfect" and "complete,"' says Lyons, 'but the world from which it's gathered is anything but that.'"
Between the lines (Score:5, Funny)
So reading between the lines Mr. Lyon's comment is basically, "Am I really surrounded by Assholes and Morons and am I also their King (intellectual superior)?"
Dannny...... The average Slashdotter has that thought 45 times a day dealing with other people. Watch Idiocracy some time and then tell me with a straight face it is not a documentary of the future.
Really. (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Not surprised (Score:5, Funny)
You got four mod points, I'm jealous. Where do I buy some?
Re:Not surprised (Score:5, Funny)
Don't give the overlords here any ideas, you fool!
Less than 300 IQ? (Score:5, Funny)
the average IQ of the average gamer dropped below room temperature
The average IQ of the average gamer has always been less than room temperature (assuming a room temperature of about 293 K).
Re:Really. (Score:3, Funny)
--but seriously, now that I think of it, a Twilight-themed Excel file would nauseate me to no end.
And that is why you don't mess with Stephenie Meyer. [xkcd.com]
Re:Well (Score:3, Funny)
So you're saying this is essentially a mechanism that allows people to avoid the pain of cognitive dissonance? [wikipedia.org] People can't be rich or succeed at anything so they pretend to on-line in order to avoid admitting to themselves that they've lived a wasted pathetic life?