Behaviour in games and outside games

I don´t think anyone knows you as well as you. Maybe a psychologist might say that he or she knows you better, but I think you only get to know someone as well as he or she lets you. Still it´s not like you know always everything about yourself, maybe sometimes you´re even amazed of what you can or can´t do. Whenever I play games I discover some of these hidden traits of mine, for example being an asshole against other sims in the Sims games. But in other games I enjoy being the social hero, something I probably picked up during my roleplaying games when I played a paladin. In some of those games you had to have a high charisma to be a paladin, which would often greatly reduce my other skills. But when I look at my Mass Effect and Dragon Age characters then I still like to be the social guy that can bend people to my will. I know that about 15 years ago I would´ve always picked strength and endurance to be my main skills I wanted to boost, because as a warrior that comes in handy. I guess I discovered that I´m not really the warrior type, at least when I look at my characters because I often spend more points on charisma then on strength or endurance. So perhaps games influence you more than you know...

So games can influence what type of person you´ll become? I wouldn´t go that far, because that means every kid that plays violent games will turn into a violent person. I do believe that some people just have natural behaviour and will respond with that behaviour. Games might enhance a certain trait you have but I don´t think that you get completely new traits just by playing games. But within the gaming world it might influence a preference, so if you enjoy playing as a mage in one game you might also play a mage in another game just because you had a lot of fun with that in the first game. Also you might want to adjust your characters to a certain type of loadout that works well for you, even when in another game it doesn´t really work that well. It´s one of those automatic things you do without really thinking about it, which can actually work towards your benefit but can also work against you.

I know that there was a time for me when I enjoyed killing sims in the game the Sims. Not to see them die but just to make as many ghosts so I had a creepy haunted house. Does that make me a sadist? I don´t really know, it´s not that I take pleasure in seeing other people get hurt but it´s fun in games like the Sims to be that guy. Because in truth you don´t hurt anyone, it´s just a game and you know it´s not real. I do think that makes a difference to be honest, because when you know it´s not real then you can´t weigh it as heavy as when you know it´s real and you still enjoy doing something. Besides being an asshole in one games doesn´t scar you for life, well maybe some anti games people might agree but most of those people have the intelligence of a peanut! There is nothing wrong with going a little bit crazy in a game, it doesn´t define you as a person in the real world. Still I wouldn´t show your date how much of a maniac you are in a game, that might not reflect good on his or her vision of you. Sometimes you want to keep things like that a secret, unless you feel confident enough that they can handle that or maybe when you know that he or she does the same. Anyway X-mas is over so we don´t have to pretend to be nice anymore, so let´s have some fun in games!