Gaming addiction is connected with globalization. Today I will be showing you how gaming addiction is connected with globalization. I did a test. I sent an email to my whole middle school asking them about a game called Hypixel Skyblock, where ranks are the key to measure your social position within the game. the reason I chose this game because I have played it ever since it came out (over a year ago) and I got addicted so I understand this game more than any other game I play. According to the data I collected, 3/4 of the people who play are playing uncountable hours. And about 50% of the people who play don’t even really enjoy the game and they have been playing since last year and they are still playing now.
I asked them why they played. most of them said something like, because my friends are playing or because it’s the most popular game or because other people and YouTubers are playing it.
I have identified this is a globalized company because its games attract players from all over the world and have their own unique culture in this cyber world it created. When I first started, this virtual world was highly competitive but also fun. Players help out each other to achieve their goals. But now, things have changed a lot. Presently, ranks are a lot more valued in the community by players. Now, instead of helping non-ranked players, it has evolved into No Rank, No Rights. And that is why I chose this company to end this social injustice. I have created a social justice protest plan for this incident. I think we should use social media to spread the information, for example, youtube. We should also show the protests to the company itself, and identify powerful people that can help. We need to involve concerned parents and guardians and get experts like psychologists, administrators, etc. Finally, we should gather reliable people to take action and spread information.
These data show that globalization is working and it is brainwashing children’s minds. for example, the reason some of the children play the game is that it’s the most popular game. And it is so popular because it’s a grinding game. you spend hours and hours on getting a slightly higher upgrade. And after that, you’ll want better stuff, which costs more grinding. If the creators didn’t know this will happen, that’s a whole other story. But if it’s their plan all along, then they understand how it can brainwash other people.
Among all the countries, Taiwan is considered a nation where people have better education and a decent income. However, gaming entertainment has been influencing people very much. Playing games online is considered one of the major entertainment in Taiwan now. However, more and more crimes, such as online fraud, also happens in the virtual world. While a lot of parents are still struggling. to get better jobs in order to get a better income for their kids, a lot of kids who are addicted to video games will spend a lot of money in order to get higher scores and better equipment. Hypixel Skyblock is one of those games. For those kids, they just want to have fun. But, this could be considered as a type of money waste to the family. Also, since the kids are way too addicted to the games, social relationships in the family are getting less and less. the relationship among the families is getting loose because people are facing the computer instead of talking to each other face to face. This kind of gaming globalization doesn’t only cause additional money spending to the families but also gurts the family relationship.
People spend a lot of money just to get slightly higher upgrades. All my friends bought ranks for this game. Specifically for this game. Some of them bought MVP+ ranks, which is $35.99. Some bought MVP++ ranks, which require you to buy MVP+ rank first and spend another $7.99 to get MVP++ for 30 days. And after you spend all of that money, you just get access to quick teleportations which you can just teleport to another island in the game. another thing is, sometimes, when the game is in maintenance, you need a rank to play. The same thing happens when the server is full.
A well-known member, ePiCnoOb21 said, Before I start, I just want to say that this isn’t your usual “Hypixel Skyblock is bad” post that complains about the game being boring and repetitive. This post is about a whole new issue altogether. The sole reason why Hypixel Skyblock is bad is that it has increased the hate for non-rank players tenfold.
Before Hypixel Skyblock, non-rank players weren’t hated on that much. Sure, there were some incidents of them being annoying noobs and such, but nothing major at that point.
When Hypixel Skyblock came out, non-hate escalated to a whole new level. Many non-rank players and other people moved from their old games to Hypixel Skyblock, and this made tons of annoying noobs move there too.
The gameplay of Hypixel Skyblock also helped influence non hate. This is because, in this game, non-rank players have many ways of being annoying, like hitting other people’s slayer bosses when they are trying to “help”, begging for items, etc.
Because of this, people have made posts on the forums complaining about how non-rank players are noobs and stuff, and non-rank players have retaliated to these posts, making people hate them even more.
The issue has also been aggravated by the frequent update shutdowns, which allow VIP ranks and above to join, and non-rank players to not join. Many non-rank players have complained about this on the forums, which have increased the hate for non-rank players even more.
Right now, non-hate is at an all-time high, and it will only get worse in the months to come.
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Another member said, By being a non in Skyblock, most of the community will ignore you and generally degrade your playing experience. Now many or you may ask, how is this a good thing? This constant attack from the ranked players will inevitably cause you to quit. While you would have been playing Skyblock, you can work and earn money. Instead of grinding zealots you can get money and actually do stuff in life.
However if you decide to buy a rank, you may still experience some of the mental degradation, but will have a much smaller amount. This means that you will actually want to play and will waste more time.
Since by paying 0$ you have 100 percent profit margin on your time, it is a better investment then buying a rank for 5$-40$ and getting a 0$ return on your time.
TLDR: buying rank bad investment.
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These are 2 different point of views of the problem. The way this connects to global context is it reveals what people are taught to believe. They don’t have really opinions because other people tell them what to believe from the beginning. That way, people do what other people tell them to do/believe. For example, I was taught to believe that people with the higher ranks have the most power. I use to want a rank so badly. But in the end I can’t get it. I dug more deeply and found out that a rank was not worth it. It just gives you a slightly higher advantage. And like the quote earlier, the person said, buying a rank is bad investment. I still want a rank now, but if I don’t get it I just shake it off and move on. I don’t mind being non-ranked, but getting a slightly higher upgrade would be nice. But I don’t want it as badly as before. And I love it when high rank players calls me hacks when I beat them in a battle 😉
The social injustice that occurred in the cyber world created by Hypixel Skyblock is not unique but exists in many other games. This is due to the fact all companies have to make money and they don’t care how they do it.
This is just an example of the bad effects of globalization. The same things are happening all over the world in companies, brands, etc, not just in games. Globalization tricks people into thinking something is great or worth but it’s actually not. This is why globalization is a bad thing. But I’m not saying globalization is completely a bad thing. there are still positives. example, the world is sharing and trading its resources. many inventions probably won’t exist without globalization. But in the end, people are cruel. So be careful and dig deeper next time before you open your wallet, take out your money, and pay for your new pair of shoes.