Etext has many advantages which were much discussed in

Shock and Awe's "Virtual Morality" (about the WoW virtual massacre)and Grumpymutt's "Confessions of a Potion Drinker" have twisted my mind about the intersection of reality and games.

At the risk of stopping everyone from reading my entry, I'll quote Michael Joyce: "There's no simple way to say this."

In six steps :

1) I knew that WoW players burn hours and weeks "farming" for iconic "gear" that changes their gameplay circumstances and capacities.

2) I know that many players actually buy such gear -- I mean with real US dollars and similar currencies.

3) I've been told that such purchases actually make sense. I'm skeptical, but after all, one does put in the time "farming" to get the items; the time represents a real-world sacrifice that thus requires, I'm told, real-world compensation.

Zoey raises a key concept in the entry about Ariana Huffington. Certain people and ideas gain or lose influence because of media form.

This has to happen extensively. Extreme cases will probably be obvious: for years deaf people couldn't use phones; dyslexia is considered a handicap primarily in alphabetic cultures. Likewise, not all messages travel equally in all media. Most people consider a poem or song more appropriate for a confession of love than, say, a table of data, a pie chart, or a formal essay with MLA style works-cited page attached.

It seems inevitable to extend to perhaps less obvious and more critical circumstances. Noam Chomsky and others have pointed out that 30-second TV or radio soundbytes tend to squelch dissent. One can quickly express an opinion that shares the audience's assumptions because one needn't repeat the groundwork, but if one must reform those assumptions, one needs time.