Taking control of Kaos

I was interested to read the other day that an increasingly large number of people are now choosing to spend much of their leisure time glued to a chair playing online interactive fantasy games, such as “World of Warcraft” (WoW for those in the know), “Civilization” or “The Sims” et al.

Apparently some players can spend in excess of 18 hours at a time in these virtual worlds – breaking only for work, food and, occasionally, to sleep. The only time I ever spent that long obsessively focused on the one thing was when I was about 13 and I first discovered the opposite sex!

“It’s an addiction” one card holding member of the insomniac like WoW fraternity helpfully explained to a prominent newspaper recently…well duh!

This relatively new phenomenon got me to thinking - why would anyone in their right mind choose to spend so much of their free time in that way? Why has it become an addiction to so many? What makes the games themselves so compelling? What makes ordinary people leading seemingly ordinary lives play these games so fanatically for so long?

The simple explanation would be that these games are a form of escapism, a means to break away from from the naked truth of the real world. There is also some weight to the suggestion that an increasing number of these games, in a triumph for capitalism in its purest form, provide users with a useful means of supplementing their real world incomes by trading “virtual” property that they have acquired online for real money in the good old here and now.

My gut feeling, however, (for what it’s worth) is that although these reasons may be a genuine factor for some people, for the vast majority of players the underlying motivation is that when they are involved in playing these game they acquire a sense of control that they do not possess in their normal life.

The need for control...

You see, apparently (so scientific studies would have us believe), in order for humans to stay at least reasonably sane in this ever maddening world, we all really need to have, or feel, some sense of control over what we can and can’t do with our lives. If we are unable to find a balanced level of control in our daily ritual then we tend to either crack at the nut completely (“ooooh look at me… I’m Pedro the flying donkey”) or find a means to exert that control in an alternative way. Hence the rising popularity of virtual reality role-playing games. Makes sense doesn’t it.

Take the most popular game at the moment - World of Warcraft. A typical player of this online game is likely to be middle class, reasonably well educated, and either employed in a relatively mundane job or still active as a student. This type of person generally has little or no real control over the conduct of their day-to-day lives. They have little or no say in the more fundamental issues at their workplace and may still be financially dependent on their parents or some other social structure.

Parachute them in to a fantasy world of online gaming, however, and all of a sudden they morph into an alter ego (sometimes one of many) that often, in their fantasy realm, wield unfathomable power and wealth - something that in all reasonable probability they would never be likely to achieve in their normal life - thereby sparing them the inevitable indignity of going genuinely bonkers.

mmmm…good point I hear you say. Interesting… in fact, fascinating topic. But, what does that have to do with wine?

Well…nothing really, I was just having a rant (and it’s probably a complete load of bollocks anyway)…and yet…

If you think about it, what does a typical wine buyer feel when he or she walks into a wine store these days?

Overwhelmed; Frustrated; Indecisive; Intimidated.

All of the above and more!

What they don’t have is anything like a feeling of control.

No control over their environment, little control over the decision they are about to make, and generally modest control over whether the wine they have chosen randomly (“ooh…I like the label on this one!”) is going to be even remotely good, or vaguely what they were looking for.

Even a brief conversation with the staff behind the counter is often of little real assistance (in fact it generally makes them feel worse).

“Hi, I’m looking for something to take to my friend’s house to drink with dinner tonight – we’re having roast lamb” you offer; “Well…what you’ll need is…” (the spotty nosed staff member says, nodding sagely and wringing his hands with glee at the prospect of being able to dump his collective knowledge of the limited range of wines in the shop on his unsuspecting prey) “this wine here …(grin grin grin)…it’s big and strong and robust and tastes like fruity berry stuff, newly laid tar and just a hint of Tom Jones’s bum crack. It has a good acid backbone, is balanced with tight tannin and should be good to drink anywhere between now and 15 years…”; “Ok…thanks” you guess, having understood virtually nothing about what was just said.

What just happened? Have you been helped? Have you learnt anything about wine? Do you really understand anything about the wine you just purchased? Do you feel in control?

Probably not!

You buy the wine. And maybe it will be all right. Maybe it will even go with the roast lamb. Maybe…but that would be pure luck.

Understanding the jargon

So, how does someone with little passing knowledge of wine, who is sick of continually going into a wine store and feeling like a Mozart fan at a Thrash Metal concert, seize the initiative and take control of their wine buying destiny?

Good question!

There are, of course, a plethora of books on the subject of wine evaluation and appreciation. Books that will tell you which wines to buy, which wines to sell, which wines to drink now, which wine to drink on the eve of the next visit of Halley’s Comet, what food to drink wines with, who is the best wine maker ever, where the best wines comes from, how to loose 4lb of fat off your ankles, how to fly an origami kite, what the capital of Uzbekistan is etc.

There are also a growing number of Internet sites and magazines and newspaper articles that offer all sorts of similar advice.

These various forums of information about wine are all extremely useful tools of course, and should not be dismissed, but they are in my view far from the ultimate or comprehensive guide.

They are limited in that the analysis they provide is normally out of date by the time it is read (or is to be used – although internet sites are a better source for relevant up-to-date material), does not cover anywhere near all the wine that you may need it to, and (most importantly) is by its very nature subjective in its evaluation.

Just because Mr Wine Expert MW says that a particular wine is of X quality and is 997.88234 out of 1000, does not necessarily mean that you’ll agree. Tastes vary, likes and dislikes differ, and of course Mr Wine Expert MW may also be (and is more often than you’d imagine) just plain wrong!

As an interesting case in point, at a tasting recently Wayne found a particular late harvest French sticky to be absolutely delicious - all “fresh mandarin, flowers and marmalade” he enthused. MB on the other hand, while not disliking the wine, was relatively indifferent about its quality. “Take it or leave it” he said. I thought that it was complete shit. Go figure.

So if the so-called experts can’t agree, what can you really do to ensure that you’re consistently buying good wine at a fair price? How can you be confident that when you walk into a wine store anywhere in the county you won’t walk out disappointed, with the second booby prize from a bad lucky dip.

In my view the only true way to wrest control back from the “experts”, marketing “gurus”, and industrial sized corporate sales teams, is to educate yourself as well as you can and go out and taste (or even better dirnk!) as many wines as possible.

Find out what “tannin” is, what it tastes like, why it’s important and why people like me blab on about it. Find out why a wine should be balanced, and what that means. Find out why acid is so important (especially in white wine). Drink wines that are rubbish and wines that aren’t. Smell cat’s piss, lick tar off a hot road, find out what the hell elderberries are, experiment, explore and expand your mind. The appreciation of wine should be enlightening, it should be a joy, and above all it should be fun! It should not be an intimidating or a confusing exercise in frustration.

Educate yourself. Become a wizard of the world of winecraft and you will never look back.

And remember, in the end – if you like it…it’s good.

Enjoy!

Matt