Tangled in Cantr

[Joshuamonkey]

I recently read this article for a Computer Science Ethics class: https://www.lds.org/ensign/2001/08/tang ... b?lang=eng
Obviously I thought of Cantr when I read this. And these are questions I've sometimes asked myself. Is it okay for me to be emotionally involved in an online game? When I have so many other things to do, is Cantr a beneficial diversion? Is it an addiction?

I do think Cantr is beneficial (or at least can be). See my recent blog post: https://joshuamonkey.wordpress.com/2016/03/07/why-cantr-ii/
These are sincere questions though, and although the Cantr game doesn't seem to be too much of an issue for me, I've known others to be affected negatively due to experiences in game and from focusing on Cantr too much, and some players have quit for these reasons.

We're not in this for the money (Cantr is a lose-profit organization); we're in this to provide a great game and a great community for the benefit of all of us. I hope you participate in Cantr in such a way as to benefit from it and not to be too affected emotionally or timewise.

What does Cantr do for you? Or why do you play Cantr?

[Undine]

I wasn't able to connect with the first article that you posted, for a number of reasons. However, I have had many of your same concerns regarding the game. There have been nights when I've stayed up for hours, glued to the screen and concerned with the well-being of my characters. I've unsubbed a few times, too, when I couldn't balance the game with my personal life.

But I think these moments are what really make the game for me, as crazy as that sounds. I play this game so that I can experience the life of another person (perhaps a life more exciting than my own). It's the same reason that I enjoy games like D&D. And when an especially stressful situation occures, I feel even closer to my characters in that moment than usual. I can experience their pain and loss as if it were my own. But why do I crave those feelings? Empathy is a strange thing. Whatever the reason, I know that the game is doing exactly what I want it to do. Even if it hurts sometimes.

[ObsessedWithCats]

Not really a writer I can 'understand' there in the first, but taking the relevant point...

Cantr hasn't repeatedly interfered with my sleep since somewhere in the 4400s, and even then only to the tune of going to bed an hour or so late. When I came back from my last break I deliberately made characters with traits that would make it hard for them to end up miserable in the ways my oldest characters did, and so far it's working. I do spend too much time online (on a lot of things) when left entirely to my own devices but it doesn't interfere with my daily life, and given somewhere to be 8am-6pm I cut back on online time rather than sleeping time etc.

[SekoETC]

If someone spends 7 hours a day on the internet, for me it's more like 11 or 12. Often I find myself sitting here even if nothing is happening, refreshing pages and hoping for something new. Occasionally I get bored enough to do chores. I might go to the store or cook a meal. This is on days that I don't have work. Recently I haven't had much work. I'll be very busy during this weekend but I'll only get paid 144 euros for two days, before taxes. The plus side is I get free food (which I cook myself, but I get to decide on the recipes, so of course I chose food I like to eat).

Now about Cantr, I like interacting with people I get along with. Occasionally I like fighting with the people I don't get along with. That gives me an adrenaline rush. I also like playing sexual things that I can't do in real life, for example having sex with female characters, whether my character is male or female. I was raised to believe that if you are attracted to your own gender, you shouldn't act upon it. Also if you're not exactly sure about your gender, you should just stick with what you're born into. I think I need the outlet of being able to act through male avatars sometimes because I wouldn't pass as a male in real life even if I was brave enough to cross-dress. My mother-in-law made fun of me for having a men's haircut. She couldn't believe I wanted it that way. I guess I could consider myself gender-fluid. When I was about 10 through 12, I was often mistaken for a boy. Then I got breasts. I was a very insecure teenager. When I started Cantr in 2004, I was still very unstable mentally. I broke up with my boyfriend at the time because I had a crush on one of the players I was chatting with on YIM. I've had crushes on a few players, one of them leading into marriage. We were probably the first RL couple to get married through Cantr. Our characters were married to each other before we met in real life, although when their relationship started, I didn't know it was him. (He knew it was me.)

[Wolfsong]

I play Cantr because it's a time sink. I can't play/do anything that requires more than 20-25 minutes of dedicated focus at the moment, so most other games are out, but Cantr doesn't require that kind of playtime. I can send out an emote and if I happen to get pulled away for a few hours afterward, that's fine. There's no real risk because of the way combat works, and the number of players on the game - the chance of losing a character without forewarning is pretty slim. And, besides, if a character dies - so what? It sucks, and I do hate losing from an OOC perspective, but that's the nature of the game. Play everything to the hilt, and move on once the story's over.

[sherman]

Well as foreign Cantr has been really useful thing to practice english with all the emotions and all it's really been great at that.

I anyway spend most of my day computer on way or another (Can't expect much else from school where you study IT ) and Cantr is really time sink and easy way to spend free time. Well, used to be more in the past but now days I seem to be sleeping when most things happening or then nothing is going on and I feel a bit frustrated to see just animal attacks... But there's just no other game like this and Cantr allows you to do things you cannot do irl. Suits to people who can afford more time and those with less. And Like how many drive a limo in forests..