Weekly Random Sketch

The finished piece is adjusted for a little more contrast and brightness than the Brushes original - didn't realise my base was too dark when I started.

Also, pardon the epileptic-fit-inducing bit at the start, where I pick my background colour. That'll teach me to keep filling new colours instead of undoing, THEN filling. If I were to undo, then fill, Brushes wouldn't keep a record of my schizoid colour-picking procedure, you see. ;)

Is it just me, or does this sound like sex?

Okay, okay. Most of my friends would probably say that everything sounds like food, sex, or both to me, but just reaaaaaaaaaaaaad it. XD

I think of play as being characterized by what I call the "Five S's of Play": its Spirit, Symmetry, Synchrony, Sacredness and Soulfulness. The Spirit of play is laid bare for all to see as animals wildly run about, wrestle, and knock one another over. The Symmetry and Synchrony of play is reflected in the harmony of the mutual agreements to trust one another - individuals share intentions to cooperate with one another to prevent play from spilling over into fighting. This trust is Sacred. Finally, there's deepness to play, for animals to become so completely immersed in it that I like to say they are the play. Play is thus a Soulful activity, an expression of the essence of an individual's being.

There's also incredible freedom and creativity in the flow of play. This is easy to see and amazing to watch. I refer to this as the "Six F's of Play": its Flexibility, Freedom, Friendship, Frolic, Fun, and Flow. As they run about, jump on one another, somersault, and bite one another, animals re-create a mind-boggling array of scenarios and social behaviours. It's difficult to believe that when animals are deep into play they can actually keep track of what they are doing, but they can. It's possible that animals are "practicing" and "rehearsing" important behaviours that will help them to survive. As animals play, it's not unusual to see known mating behaviours intermixed in highly variable kaleidoscopic sequences along with actions that are used during fighting, looking for prey, and avoiding becoming someone else's dinner.

The Emotional Lives of Animals
Marc Bekoff

I don't think it's just me. LIES! ALL LIES!

Mutual need does not guarantee mutual respect, nor does the reverse guarantee contempt.

When players don’t need each other it breeds anti-social behavior and it results in the devaluation of other players. Players become nothing more than advanced NPCs.

MMOs were originally designed to be shared social experiences
Wolfshead Online

Not true at all. Guild Wars has an amazing community, despite the fact that if you have the third campaign (Nightfall) or the xpac (Eye of the North), you effectively don’t need people at all, except in PvP.

There are player organised events, supported by ArenaNet. Most recently, Pink Day in LA:
http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Pink_Day_in_LA

They set out with a goal to raise US$1337 for the Canadian Cancer society. They ended up with US$11,000. A totally player-organised event, for something outside of the game, which ArenaNet supported by introducing a totally new dye colour.

Official site here:
http://pinkday.grimforge.com/

And here is my take on Pink Day in LA 2010:
http://nugget.posterous.com/pink-day-in-lions-arch-2010

(Please note, I’m not affiliated with these guys in any way. I was just lucky enough to catch the event by chance, and I thought the whole thing just rocked.)

There are a wealth of other player-organised events, and during ArenaNet’s festive events, especially Canthan New Year, guilds and/or alliances team up to ‘sponsor’ districts, so that everyone has a very good chance of getting prizes. Sponsorship can involve playing minigames, or collecting scavenger hunt items and handing them to NPCs, etc. Sponsorship is totally free. People do it because they want to. Because they enjoy it. I took part in helping my guild/alliance with sponsorship this Canthan New Year, and I really liked it.

It’s not a unique thing. It’s not something done because people NEED each other. It’s done because people simply want other people to be happy in a game they enjoy.

For a game where you can play 95% of the PvE content without ever grouping with another human, Guild Wars has a damn good community.

You could, however, argue that GW is an outlier. That its gaming structure so unique within the MMOverse, very much like EVE and ATitD, so much so that the normal rules don’t apply. I’m not sure if that’s so, but I do allow that it’s possible.

Cynical nugget writes stuff praising human nature, whoda thunk! =)

[Originally a spammy rebuttal comment, see the full original post over at Wolfshead Online. It's possible you'll think a nugget is being too optimistic!]