[Could it really get much worse or self-indulgent than this?]
My cursor hovers over an animation that
glows red to indicate an enemy.
I click to initiate attack, and
numbers whose esoteric meanings
I understand impeccably through repetition
flow up and out of the figure
ruining the otherwise perfect 3D with 2D.
I cross my eyes and see the MUD underneath
I could be reading only scrolling text:
“You have dealt the orc 10 dammage!”
Without graphical assistance, perhaps
the story would be more compelling.
Instead, I am only vaguely interested in
the name of the town I’ve entered, or
the latest quest I’m compelled to complete
for intangible yet very real benefits.
This world, born on a vast computer hundreds
if not thousands of miles away from here,
travels to me through cables and switches
over copper and plastic and out this Samsung
SyncMaster 900SL Cathode Ray Tube monitor,
brightening my entire room with its light.
I take some small amount of pleasure in the thought
that none of this could have existed before I was born.
My actions, while pointless, and perhaps egotistical,
are nonetheless unique and modern, and somehow
indicative of technological progress.
I kill another monster, gain some experience
and gold. Some part of me is satisfied and
I move on robotically, systematically,
looking for the next enemy.