150.212.51.238
Since: Dec, 1969
01/24/2011 00:00:00
We love it because dying tends to hurt and most people who have enough time to think about these kind of things are the kind of people who have relatively good lives.
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Why do we love it so?
Let's face it: this game is Nintendo Hard. It has no Save Points, all deaths are final, and it averts or subverts (sometimes heartbreakingly) more tropes than you can count. Character customization is difficult at best, and most weapons are nearly impossible to reach, if not downright illegal.
So why do we love it so much?
Well, first of all, I think that it owes a lot to the incredible detail the creators put into it. Everywhere, there are animals, plants, buildings–superfluous, yet beautiful. AI is unimaginable, and options for interaction with NP Cs range from casual conversation to murder. Secondly, its server space is massive (though perhaps running out). Over seven billion people play Real Life, and many of them are hopelessly addicted. Hundreds of thousands of new people join every day, though sadly the numbers of those who die and must quit are also high. Finally, there are always new story arcs, and they are always beautifully conceived and rich in character. The War On Terror arc has been going on for a decade now, though many have grow disgruntled with its far-reaching effects and wish it to end.
Real Life is also notable in being largely free of Video Game Cruelty Potential and Video Game Perversity Potential. The former may net you jail time, a fine, or injury–while the latter can be expensive and often dangerous. Video Game Caring Potential, especially if a character takes the "parent" character path, abounds: Big Daddies and Sims are only poor approximations of what a player in Real Life will do to protect their child. And unusually for most games, rage-quitting is feared deeply. Whole groups of players have banded together and formed organizations solely dedicated to preventing people from quitting Real Life.
A final point is the ambiguity of the creation studio. They tend to shroud themselves in secrecy, and never try to explain who they are–some believe that they are a single freelance game designer, while others think that they might be a whole company of designers dedicated to such things. Still others believe that the game was a self-replicating result of a glitch, and yet others thing that the game has always existed and always will. Whole wars have been fought over such matters, and one is being fought right now.
A Real Life Addict