Yeah I've given it, I've received it, and if you've played an online game before then you probably know what I'm talking about: The Look.

What is The Look?

An expression that is the peculiar mixture of emotions. The lips curl slightly in disgust, the eyebrows quirk with confusion, and the head tilts upward, making person A stare down at person B in a superior fashion. Yeah, that. The look a non-gamer gives to someone who's sat on the computer for the past 5 hours grinding experience points. But there is another, hidden emotion underneath it...one that people are fearful of showing lest they get sucked in: Curiosity.

Admit it! Ladies- I know you wonder why your husbands or boyfriends find it more fun to spend a Saturday night with 15-40 "strangers" than going out to the movies with you. Parents! Why does Junior(ette) have to eat dinner in front of the computer instead of with the family?

....Well, I can't really answer that.

Wait, wait, don't leave! I may not be able to give you the exact answers you want. But what I can do is provide you with a window in on what in the heck is going on in there. I'm writing this for you souls who want to know, yet are too shy to immerse yourselves into the gaming world. For those of you who do play, maybe you'll see some parallels in your own gaming experience or notice something you haven't recognized before.

I myself have played MMORPG's (Massively Multiplayer Role Playing Games) for close to six years. And yes, I was a victim of the devil that is called World of Warcraft for close to three years. If you're new to the term, it's merely an electronic "world" that has been created where people can make characters of different races and genders. Once they slip into these new skins the real action starts and a culture slowly starts to bloom.

"Wait, huh?" The non-gamers, and probably some regular gamers, may say. "Video games and cultures?" For truth! It's in the name. "Massively Multiplayer" meaning there are millions of other players, though a single player will only see and interact with a few thousand. "Role Playing Games" in the sense of being an actor. You step into a role, either chosen by your or assigned by someone else, and act it out. Put them together and you get...uh...acting with a whole lot of people.

"But where does the culture part come in?" Well any time you have a gathering of people with common interests, in this case a bunch of people who like that particular video game, then a culture develops. Iconic personalities (good and bad) become popular and are referred to in much the same way any other person would talk about a celebrity like Tom Cruise. People work hard and make things that can't be obtained anywhere else and sell them, which creates a world economy. I'm sure any kid who's worked the Auction House system in any MMORPG understands the concepts of inflation and monopoly. Just as business men and women join a company to get work done, so do people in the online world. They're all employees to their respective "company" (called a guild, linkshell, clan, etc.), which is controlled by a president and his or her supervisors. If nobody were playing, everything would collapse, that's why it is so important for a functioning, stable society to form.

And as with every culture, heirarchy must be established. This constantly fluctuates depending on how long the game or server has been on the market. As a general rule of thumb is: The longer you play and the higher level you are, the more respect you have.

What is a level? A number, really. But as the numbers go higher, it gets harder to attain the next (Or rather longer...). Because of this difficulty it is looked upon favorably when you're the highest possible "level." How to get a level? With something called "experience points" (more numbers!). Think of basketball where you get two points for making a shot on one part of the court and three poitns on another part. When you do something easy, you get a few points, when you do something a little harder you get more points until you reach the target number. This number increases with each level, further ensuring that the player will have to spend more time online to progress.

A low level player (like level 1) is generally considered next to garbage. Well maybe not garbage, but they're the lowest on the totem pole. Older (both physically older and those who've played a long time) players generally want them to be silent and listen to what they're told. It's like the relationship between a child and an adult. When the child is quiet, the adult is at peace; when the child is going crazy then the adult just wants them to sit down and shut up. So to gain more prestige, the need to level up becomes more important. To do the most interesting stuff requires socializing with a group so it's important to be looked upon favorably.

Just as it is in real life, it's important to be accepted as part of a group which is the strongest reason to keep playing.

Do the non-gamers see why people spend so much time doing seemingly meaningless tasks for hours on end? Just like in the real world, the people you know and the respect you have from them will get you where you want to go. This is the most basic explanation of the online gaming world and would take many more pages to describe the many other facets involved in building this budding new society (which I fully intend to do at one point). At the least I hope the next time you walk by someone playing on their computer you'll at least wonder about what kind of person they are in the society they've helped to build.

Are they popular? Are they loathed? Do they help out a lot of people? Find out. I promise you'll be surprised.