Queuing systems: Games vs. real world


Queuing revisited. The search for reasons and solutions.

I was quite amused about thad's entry about how austrians, and in the end, all european main-landers seem unable to queue. (He also rants about people entering trains before letting others get out, but that seems to be an altogether different topic)

Apart from the fact that I am constantly paranoid about correct queuing behavior, I noticed that I assume different attitudes depending on the situation. It seems that, as also commented in Thad's blog, it all depends on the situation and severity. People already seem eager to jump queues in supermarkets and traffic jams, but wait till something severe, like a fire alarm or free beer sale happens...
On the other hand, in video games characters seem overly unable to cope with queues. This has been an especially serious problem in real time strategy games, where your Harvesters always seem to block the one bridge that your attack troops choose to invade from :)

So could it be that, while us humans make their queuing behavior depend on moral values, perception and different levels of selfishness, video games fail because they lack the traits of virtue, ignorance and egoism?

Or maybe, it is, as in video games, a matter of implementation! Thinking about Japan, I remember people being very able to queue, because they had all this nifty little arrows and railings and personnel that helped them in doing so. You can't really jump a queue there without being exceptionally rude, and you'll risk being run over by the mob in that very instant. The same goes for multi-server-single-queue lines in the States: those nice zig-zag ribbons at supermarkets and airports just help you to be treated properly IMHO. Without that kind of guidance, people on a general note are rather dumb in situations that require communication, so queuing fuckup's seem natural.

I for myself am constantly trying to ignore others, because frankly, life seems to interesting to be sidetracked by such feeble bullshit. Plus, you get +1 Karma for letting frantic old fucks overtake you in a queue!

Posted: Sun - May 2, 2004 at 01:45 PM         |

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