Searching for a prince for a gamer girl =)

A Survival Guide to the Wastelands of Online Games for Girls

MCH - Young Man

Games that Play Us

My dear, lovely girls, for whom this page was created! We must briefly divert our attention from the fascinating topic of strings and corsets to look at more serious and less interesting matters. Specifically - why do people of all genders, ages, and skin types go into online worlds?

You might say that people are all different, and we shouldn't lump a third grader with glasses and a portly uncle with a belly rubbed against the doughnut of a "Maybach" together. Well, fine, we won't. Let's divide them with a high concrete fence topped with barbed wire and dogs. We’ll issue each a computer with internet access and observe them.

Who are you, prince on a white horse?

So, the first extreme, the notorious and annoyingly clichéd third grader (let's call him by a simple Russian surname, Nerd), obviously runs into MMO with one goal - to level up and dominate. But why? To be cool and crush noobs, of course! And why, is he lacking in his school life? What? You say it's rather his peers who give him a hard time? Oh, so that's how things are...

Our successful guy with a fat cigar also, interestingly enough, dives into an online game. What does he need that for? He spends all days bossing around his subordinates and competitors; what draws him to this monotonous mockery of pixelated clusters? Relaxation, fun? Well, to unwind and have fun, he could just boot up The Sims 2, no need to run around with school kids, swinging a three-meter sword! It's curious that he doesn't loudly boast about earning his sixteenth million yesterday or how he scolded that manager today... No, the prosperous and successful gentleman is busy controlling a poorly designed green troll with a pompous name, Shpuntik, and exclaims, "Yummy, cookies!"

Beware of overly rude and unyielding men. They are likely either oppressed in real life or they enjoy oppressing others.

We won't discover any hidden truths if we state that in online games everyone seeks and finds what they lack in real life, no matter how fulfilling it may be. That's always the case - there seems to be everything, yet something is missing! Some people are dissatisfied with the current state of affairs and want to feel different, to start fresh. Some need to be a solid hero, while others want to have conversations irrespective of rank or bank balance. Some retreat to dungeons to escape from their beloved wife, while others simply have no one to talk to... But in all cases, one fact remains: if a person is playing, it means they lack something in everyday real life - imagination, a fairy tale, feats, adventures, adrenaline. And when someone dives into an MMO, what they usually lack is one thing - communication!

This might seem astonishing and wrong, but generally, the online world is more open and honest than reality. Why? Because in it, people are - or at least appear to be - exactly who they want to be. When all the role functions imposed by the environment - work, study, family obligations, traditions, and upbringing - fall away, what remains is the person himself. No one can continually pretend to be something they are not: it's unlikely a spirited jester in real life would be unable to string two words together, even under hypnosis or a serious fly. It's improbable that a clown grinning over your corpse would catch and compassionately release the mosquito that bit him.

Watch how a person behaves during gameplay - and you might learn about them as much as their own mother might tell. Yet, what you learn could surprise even her.

Hunting for a Prince: Seasons and Territories

Where to choose objects for closer acquaintance? It might seem easy: those very objects are all elbowing each other. Unfortunately, they disappear from our sight almost faster than we can click on them. So let's not stay in the field as a starry-eyed bait but head to places where these objects are more or less calm, neatly arranged and pinned for easy viewing.

Firstly, there’s the general chat. Read it for a couple of days - and you can consider yourself familiar with all the more or less known personalities on the server. Remember their names: they are the first candidates for exclusion from the list of potential contenders. People who aim to communicate with a hundred interlocutors often come across, sadly, as a rather lonely figure on their own. We won't investigate the origins and reasons for this phenomenon; there’s no need to provide half-written theses for lazy psychology students. Instead, let's head to tighter communities. Guilds.

Guilds are a great place for meeting and communication. Of course, if chosen wisely. Don’t rush into the "top" communities: crowds of swearing school kids, fixated on urgently mastering all possible achievements, will hardly disturb anyone but a similarly aged school kid, while the strict schedule of raids will sap all your impulses for easygoing conversation.

Choose a simpler guild. Not freshly created - its development is unpredictable. Not overly large - in such, all persons are in the limelight and often quite familiar in real life. With an unpretentious name - this almost always guarantees that it was created and managed by fairly mature and settled people. And there, in the guild chat, we can get to know each other and chat to our heart's content! If one guild doesn’t suit, don’t torment yourself, say goodbye and search for another. Sooner or later, you’ll definitely find a company where you enjoy being!

Before you dramatically proclaim, "Here he is!" - remember to learn as much as possible about your chosen target. Ask him (in circles, they reveal themselves much less often than in public chat). Ask others (if your inquiries seem too suspicious, refer to a psychiatrist friend gathering material for her doctoral thesis or say that the guy reminded you of a former classmate lost during evacuation). At the initial stage, we are mainly interested in two things.

Firstly, age.

Once, in a modest guild, a delightful nymph sought to flirt seriously with a gallant knight. Alas, she didn’t conduct any preliminary reconnaissance, and therefore, could not know that the knight, being of respectable pension age, spends his days playing with his numerous grandchildren. And the young children, though not yet grown to read chat text, were smart enough to sense wrongdoing and cry out in their childish manner: "Mom, mom, that erotic nymph with libido to spare is getting too close to our grandpa with the express intentions of sexual harassment!" The innocent grandpa had to significantly cut back on his gaming time in favor of his affectionate kids, while the poor nymph never learned why her charms didn’t yield the expected results...

Secondly, don't forget to immediately exclude from your list of charming princes those who frequently excuse themselves to put the kids to bed or help their wives with household chores. No matter how sad a picture of the misunderstood husband ready to drop everything and fall into your arms you paint, reality will always be quite different. When a woman meets the love of her life, she will immediately leaf through the Family and Marriage Code. For a man, however, initiating a long and complex divorce process is akin to starting a major renovation, aiming to paint the ceiling in a basement the same color. He already has a wife, and another is hardly required! And no matter how long he wails about different worlds, a deep chasm of misunderstanding, and misery in family life, it will all end sadly when they congratulate him in the guild chat on the birth of another heir... Don't waste time on such "the hurt and misunderstood"; boldly offer them to be just friends and move on!

And remember: the most serious mistake we can make in-game is not noticing that often right beside a young man, here in this game, in this guild, are the girls and wives of these same men. You can imagine the consequences of such carelessness. I only repeat: attention and thorough reconnaissance are everything for us!

How do we know that we have found what we need?

It’s very simple, and if you’ve read the tedious beginning carefully, it’s obvious. Find out why your chosen one came to this game. What is he looking for? What does he most enjoy doing? Is he patiently and willingly answering newbies' questions? Does he not rest until there are no dark spots left on the world map? Does he never miss a gathering or, on the contrary, prefers to rely on his own strength? Is he passionately mastering crafting professions? (Such guys are probably the most interesting and promising: if you free up a bit of his time and a space where he can scatter his dirty tools, there's a good chance to save on electricity or plumbing).

When you figure out what your young man is striving for, you just have to ask yourself one question: can you provide him with that? Do you enjoy accompanying him in the activities he cherishes most? Don’t forget, you’re also a person and cannot endlessly pretend that disdained activities bring you immense joy! If your ambitions are radically different, you will find yourself escaping into the game together, but separately, to unwind from each other.

The most important thing I want to wish you, dear girls: play! MMOs are a wonderful place for relaxation, meetings, communication, acquaintance, and relationship development. Don't be disheartened if it doesn't work out immediately, if it doesn’t happen afterward. The online world is a place where people come to find what they lack. And if they manage, so can you!

Taken here

Heh, I hope I won’t disappoint those who have "subscribed" to me, Lastica and Vikoledia )))