A reminder to everyone about generational differences

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...and how important it is to keep them in mind as we tackle content together. This is just as much directed at the developers as it is at fellow players.

Gaming in general has its most diverse audience ever now. Where in the past, video games were considered to be something only children play we now have grandparents playing alongside their grandchildren because grandparents had also grown up with video games (even if was good old Pong, Centipede, Asteroids, etc.). The appeal is no longer limited to a small age demographic and has become mainstream across all ages.

But the childhood experiences and education for those of us who are in the Boomer, GenX and early part of the Millenial generations is very different from what later Millenials, GenZ and GenA are experiencing. We think differently. We examine things from different perspectives. We have different expectations.

I'm not interested in those who want to argue that one generation or the other is dumb, wrong, messed up or whatever. I'm just pointing out that the differences exist.

I'm bringing this up because of something I witnessed last week. I've been playing WoW again and reconnected with my old healing partner from Mists of Pandaria (hard to believe that was more than 10 years ago). He got me watching his stream of his current guild's mythic raid progression.

They're working on the 6th boss that requires some precise positioning to avoid wipes due to AoEs going off in the wrong places. The raid leader was reminding them that targeted players need to be moving clockwise to so everyone would be in the right position. Unfortunately, some of them weren't on almost every attempt.

Finally, one of raid members spoke up to say that maybe Boomers know what clockwise is but Zoomers don't have a clue and that maybe the raid lead should explain it differently. The raid lead said that it means move to your right. That then started the argument about whether clockwise is right or left. (In the meanwhile, I put together a picture of an old-fashioned clock with arrows marked clockwise and counterclockwise and sent it to my friend to share so they would have something visual to work with.)

I later shared the incident in my FC Discord and one of our GenZ members said that it's very true. He didn't know what clockwise was either until someone explained it to him for a FFXIV boss fight.

The problem in this situation is that no one was wrong and that's because the different generations approach things differently based on their own experiences.

Younger people mostly have experience with digital timekeeping. They may have never seen an old fashioned clock or understood what it was if no one had told them. Older people are going to know almost without thinking because it was a basic part of life growing up.

Is moving clockwise moving to your left or right? It depends based on where you see yourself standing on the "clock" and whether you're taking directional facing into account. Take a picture of an old fashioned clock. Draw a line straight down the middle through 12 and 6. If you're standing at 12 and told to move clockwise, what side of the image would you end up on? The right side. If you're standing at 6, you'd end up on the left side.

There's also the old expression "righty tighty, lefty loosey". While it had been used to help train new assembly workers in the WWII war factories when working with bolts/screws, those workers also taught it to their children (the Boomer generation) to know the difference between clockwise (righty tighty) and counterclockwise (lefty loosey) where the focus was on the motion at the top of the circle and not the bottom.

So as players, when conflict comes up please try to remember that it might be based in part on generational differences and having different life experience, not that one is wrong and the other is right. Discuss things to try to learn the other's perspective then find common ground to allow understanding and consensus.

For the developers, please remember this in game design. What makes a good experience for one generation may be a poor experience for others. Most games it wouldn't be a big deal. They're single player and can more easily cater to a narrower demographic focus. For MMOs, it makes a big difference because the generations are coming together to play. Design needs to tread a common ground that all can relate to.

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