Anarchy Online in the New York Times

[Philomath]

Portrait of a man obsessed:

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/06/12/technology/circuits/12play.html

"With the walls closing in, the Stenlunds fled to the mall one day in July 2001, just looking to treat themselves to some small gifts. Ms. Werner-Stenlund bought some shirts. Mr. Stenlund bought Anarchy Online."

"I can honestly say that A. O. helped save my life," Mr. Stenlund said, sitting on a bench outside the store where his journey began."

[Union Carbide]

If you haven't signed up for NYTimes already, feel free to use:
L: argle
p: blargle

[Wheelkick]

A somewhat scary read. He starts playing AO when he's almost broke. And now he is forced to move or getting evicted.
Moral of the story, to me, is: Spending 40+ hours in a MMOG is not good for your economy.

[Lokust]

Jesus, I know that guy. He helped me out with a lot of info when I was starting my MP and didn't want to screw it up.

[Philomath]

My favorite part of the whole article is this:

"[Stenlund and his wife] don't get out much. That is partly a result of the couple's dim finances, but also a result of Mr. Stenlund's dim view of humanity. 'The more you deal with people, the more you hate people,' he said. 'It just feels that everybody is so asleep in this world.'"

Says the guy who is being evicted from his apartment and spends 40 hours a week playing an online roleplaying game.

[Lokust]

Maybe he's waiting for Neo to contact him and take him out of the Matrix

[Desslock]

Though articulate and clearly intelligent, he skipped college because he believed that school stifled creativity

he often plays more than 40 hours a week

I can honestly say that A. O. helped save my life

People who play MMORPGs scare me.

[wumpus]

Sometimes you scare me.

[Bub, Andrew]

This scares me...

In 1998-9 during the peak of the financial markets and M&A activity, it was pretty crazy. I only had 7 days off in 1998, including weekends/X-mas, etc. the entire year -- I generally worked from 10-10 weekdays, coming in early as required during especially busy times 9 for scheduled meetings, and 6-10 hours each weekend day. In just "billable time" (i.e., not lunches, continuing education/giving speeches, student recruitment, or time not attributable to work billed to clients), I didn't have a month with less than 280 hours, and several were more than 100 hours higher).

Correct me if I'm wrong, but in 1998/99 you were running Desslock's RPG News, reviewing for CGW and/or GameSpot, participating in Usenet frequently, writing strategy guides so exhaustive game developers fear you, and playing/reviewing space sims (somewhat difficult) and RPGs (extremely time intensive).

You did all this while working the above hours, and MMORPG people scare you? You're a fucking Vampire Stefan! (The whole "Desslock" thing just makes it scarier.)

[wumpus]

Plus he plays every single game to completion.

[Desslock]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but in 1998/99 you were running Desslock's RPG News, reviewing for CGW and/or GameSpot, participating in Usenet frequently, writing strategy guides so exhaustive game developers fear you, and playing/reviewing space sims (somewhat difficult) and RPGs (extremely time intensive).

You did all this while working the above hours, and MMORPG people scare you? You're a fucking Vampire Stefan! (The whole "Desslock" thing just makes it scarier.)

You left out my very exciting social life - orgies consume time, in addition to souls.

But yeah, I'm not a big sleep guy, other than on weekends, when I completely crash. You can get a lot done if you only sleep 4-5 hours a night. I guess I'm missing out by not spending more of that time on MMORPGs with thedeacon.

Stefan

[Robert Sharp]

But yeah, I'm not a big sleep guy, other than on weekends, when I completely crash. You can get a lot done if you only sleep 4-5 hours a night.
Stefan

Not really. Most psychologists will tell you that if you aren't getting enough sleep you aren't getting very good returns on your time. You may be DOING a lot, but that's not the same as getting a lot done. Of course, I guess it depends on what you mean by accomplishment ;).

[Philomath]

But yeah, I'm not a big sleep guy, other than on weekends, when I completely crash. You can get a lot done if you only sleep 4-5 hours a night.
Stefan

Not really. Most psychologists will tell you that if you aren't getting enough sleep you aren't getting very good returns on your time.
"Enough sleep" is completely relative - it's entirely possible that 4-5 hours per night during the week is adequate for some people.

Anyway, the thing that I thought was sad was not so much the amount of time this guy spent (although that was part of it) as it was the way he used the game to totally escape from his failing life, rather than fixing said life.

[Gav]

Frankly, the thing I found most fascinating was not the guy at all--we've all heard stories about people getting addicted to MMORPGs. It was that his wife seems to more-or-less accept it.

My wife would be going off the wall--and I don't think she's that unusual in that respect.

On a different note, did anyone see the letter in the same section from someone complaining that games are addictive, and the more violent the more addictive they are? I think someone needs to show the letter-writer an obscure game named "Tetris"...

Gav

[Bub, Andrew]

All those blocks... cruely manipulated and spun about... slamming into each other.

[mudpuppy]

On a different note, did anyone see the letter in the same section from someone complaining that games are addictive, and the more violent the more addictive they are? I think someone needs to show the letter-writer an obscure game named "Tetris"...

Sorry. The conclusion that you think follows from this doesn't in fact follow. The only thing that this would show is that the Tetris game is--ex hypothesi, anyway--addictive, which is what the guy claimed. Perhaps many more people have played Tetris than have played, say, SOF, which would easily explain its higher numbers.

[zabuni]

An extra twist to the story. The guy who was profiled is upset at his portrayal and has threatened to sue:

http://forums.anarchy-online.com/showthread.php?s=%20ff915490517fe192403f903ca23ea8 61&threadid=143417&p%20erpage=20&pagenumber=1

Let me tell you something. The article about me written by Seth Schiesel, AKA Amis (his ingame name) is such a roving pack of lies slandering the person I really am in real life that I'm flat out disgusted by the whole thing.

right now I'm too stunned and upset at the amount of lies, miscontext, misquotes and outright slander posted on the article to even log in.

I'll be filing a lawsuit against the New York Times for slander, as many of the things put in that article about my real life (and even ingame) are so horribly untrue or twisted and the truth stretched to paint me in a much much different light than the person I really am.


Slander or geek who can't stand being seen as who he is?

[Gav]

On a different note, did anyone see the letter in the same section from someone complaining that games are addictive, and the more violent the more addictive they are? I think someone needs to show the letter-writer an obscure game named "Tetris"...

Sorry. The conclusion that you think follows from this doesn't in fact follow. The only thing that this would show is that the Tetris game is--ex hypothesi, anyway--addictive, which is what the guy claimed. Perhaps many more people have played Tetris than have played, say, SOF, which would easily explain its higher numbers.

Well, that's true, but I think it's reasonable to posit that games which are more addictive spread faster than games that aren't (through word-of-mouth). But if we look at the games with the most cross-over appeal in recent years, they'd be "The Sims" and "Rollercoaster Tycoon".

Gav

[mtkafka]

"An extra twist to the story. The guy who was profiled is upset at his portrayal and has threatened to sue: "

The article does sort of skirt the slander line (or more like demeaning/insulting), basically picking up on loaded quotes from the guy, without really seeing the humor context in them (the sexual favors stuff). I see no problem if the guy is addicted to the game as long as hes not bothering anybody. At least he HASN'T killed himself, broken the law or completely given up on himself (he actually seems pretty cool in the obseesed with the game sorta way). I'm kind of suprised the guy IS married actually. If you think about it, the guys no more different than most gamers, except that he plays one game only. although I'll be the first to admit the mmrpg addict is a totally different breed of gamer...

Oddly enough, the writer of the article (based on that funcom link) is an addict himself!

etc

[Angie Gallant]

Sadly, that thread appears to have been deleted. The gist of it was that the writer printed a lot of off the record comments and generally distorted things. Now the guy's business is suffering because people think he's a psychotic pervert. Thedeacon had apparently slammed the writer's first article about Anarchy Online pretty hard, so some people think this article might have been some sort of revenge. Most just believe that the guy wanted a loner loser to write about and decided this guy would be it no matter what his actual life was like.

[Andrew Mayer]

thedeacon responds, in the Power Pill's (http://www.levelupdesign.com/gamelog) comments no less:

I would say it's quite rare that I'm ever online for more than three-four hours a day. Any longer and it's usually me logged into the chat channel or my character sitting doing nothing while I chat. So why am I on so much? Well figure this: I work from my home. There's the occasional downtime while I'm waiting for a software install or a test to complete. I can't leave and go watch a movie, so I log into AO and chat or kill something while I'm waiting.

That's not an obssession, that's a fringe benefit of working from a home office.

read it here (http://www.levelupdesign.com/gamelog/archives/week_2003_06_08-2003_06_14.html#000118)(click comments)

He also includes the entire legal text of his complaint against the Times.

[Xaroc]

If what he is saying is true then he is going to get a lot of money from the Times. It looks like the author really did put in a lot of out of context and outright false information. It will be interesting to see how this plays out.

-- Xaroc

[Lee Johnson]

Ouch. If even half of what he claims is true, the Times deserves to take it in the shorts. Egad.

[Bub, Andrew]

Ouch. If even half of what he claims is true, the Times deserves to take it in the shorts. Egad.

Picky of me, I know. But he won't win if he still insists on suing the Times for slander.

[Timemaster Tim]

As usual, the truth probably lies somewhere in between. When I read the Times article, I thought it was exaggerating the socially withdrawn geek aspect.

However, in the rebuttal, several things don't add up. I don't play AO or any other MMORPG for that matter. But from friends who do, my understanding is that to get to be the uber-character that TheDeacon appears to be requires dedicated play. This is clearly at odds with his statement of hours slept, worked and partying. He dines out nearly every night of the week. It doesn't seem to match with getting a powerful character.

[Squirrel Killer]

Picky of me, I know. But he won't win if he still insists on suing the Times for slander.

Well, if you read his screed to the NYT, he actually gets it right...

Libel/defamation - straight libel (writen slander) is defamatory words published to a third person (here, the NY Times). Damages are presumed where the false information is reduced to a tangible form.

So far, we've only got Stenlund's side of the argument, but Schiesel better have some damn good notes to defend his "sexually accosts" description of Stenlund. That's a serious accusation to level, and pretty well defines "defamation of character." But with Stendlund's admitted ingame foot fetish, maybe there's some reasonable fodder for that description.

Let this be a lesson...don't tell a reporter anything you wouldn't want to see in print. Even if his says he take something off the record, once he knows you have a black mark on your record (like say a bankruptcy) it's a pretty sure bet that he can discover it independently of you. ("Oh that? Well see, after our interview, I went over to the county courthouse on a whim, and lookee at what I found!")

[DennyA]

Okay, I'm sure this guy was railroaded and deceived. But good lord...

1) If you don't want your bankruptcy to be public knowledge, do not mention it to a freaking newspaper reporter. Particularly one you consider an "enemy."

2) The weight this guys gives to the reporter being an "in-game enemy" alone is illustration that he's not quite separating the MMORPG from TFRW. Not to mention his theory that this guy would write the article as revenge for a freakin' board posting. If you were supposed to give that kind of weight to board postings, Met_K would be watching out his window for hitmen about now...

I'm certain the facts were twisted to fit the article this guy wanted to write. This is one reason I'm always VERY careful about what I'll talk to newspaper reporters about. But this guy isn't quite the mainstream white-collar worker he thinks he is, either.