Food for Thought: The Gobalization of Games and Gamers

So today I was playing through Nintendo's Free to Play game Steel Diver for the 3DS that was just released a few days ago for the Nintendo eShop (a very interesting, fun, and tactical game).

The most interesting thing about it is the online multiplayer. I'm not talking about the inclusion of free online multiplayer in a free game. I'm talking about the audience that the game serves.



 Players have the option to play with people from their own region, or from around the world. It is such a unique experience to game alongside players from Japan, because that almost never happens. I always enjoy playing with Japanese players because they use internet slang in the text chat feature (which interestingly enough uses morse code to input letters). I've more than once looked up what the slang means online, and even started using it myself when I wait for a game to start up. It's so interesting to see people of different cultures communicating in different ways, and then even more interesting when people of foreign cultures bridge the gap from one language to the next, sometimes opting to use the same language as a foreigner uses. I know I do it all the time, as I've described above.

What does this all mean? This is a humongous step for the globalization of players who enjoy playing games. Not many games do this. Usually servers are region specific, and only match players together who play in the same region or same language. It is so important to get foreign gamers to play together, because it has a polarizing effect on players. Players come together for the same reasons, to have fun! This is important because it can lead into foreign people becoming friends! Sure there's a language barrier that must be overcome, but random strangers from different countries can play together and potentially befriend each other! This creates a mixing and sharing of cultures, which leads to understanding of different cultures, people, values, ideas, and overall diversity. Foreign friends will play with each other and understand each other!

This can do away with issues like discrimination, country tensions, or even misinformation at the very least! Foreigners coming together is a good way to get people to literally play nice, which could invite people to travel to foreign countries to see friends in real life. The best case scenario would be people around the world slowly lose interest in conflict, and have more interest in gaming together and creating a peaceful environment, which can then lead to bigger and more drastic results, like the sharing of educational institution structures between countries, and adoption of said structures. A decrease in tension between countries. A global homogenization of culture!

This is a possible result of foreigners gaming together, having fun, sharing moments together, talking to each other, mingling, and befriending one another. People having fun together will inevitably become interested in one another, and would want to learn more about each other and each other's culture. There should be more of this sort of behavior, because it can only do more good for players than bad. It can create tolerance, interest, and acceptance.