A sense of community

Some of you may know that I play an online game (Everquest) which is kinda similar to Dungeons and Dragons. I have been playing the game for over 6 years and I really enjoy it. There is alot to be said for a large group of people banding together and going off to kill something against the odds and maybe having to try for months at a time to defeat a single encounter. This binds us together in a way that alot of people who do not play these types of games do not understand. The sense of community is amazing with people meeting up from all over the world in real life to party together, swop stories, share their views on the game etc etc... When someone faces adversity in their real life people will flock to show support, offer advice and do what they can to help.

Since I have joined the poker community I have seen alot of similarities between the 2 communities despite the huge size difference. In alot of ways this is surprising as within gaming people are often working together for a common goal as opposed to trying to take everyone's money. I was able to join a poker forum and recieve good advice from many people even though that there was a good possibility of me playing against them and possibly costing them money in the process. This has helped me improve my poker by leaps and bounds and people are genuinly happy to see my results improve. This is not just the case for the forums I have joined but for the vast majority of forums out there. In the same way gamers support those going through tough times poker players will get together to help someone less fortunate by holding benefit tournaments and such like and in general doing what they can.

In the same way less advanced players of the online games can download videos of people defeating encounters they are yet to beat, anyone with an internet connection can download some great video's from the top professional players that are designed to help improve your play. Alot of the same pro's also post on forums and websites, willingly giving their advice and views on hands or plays in general for no charge.

It is this spirit of people wanting to give back to the game some of what they are getting out of it that makes this the huge success that it is. There is so much more to poker than the final table of the WSOP main event and while the big pro's play their part it is only a smaller part of the whole.