While it may seem silly to conflate SC with the concept of "hero" at all, it is important to know the context of the hero's journey. Rather than it being exclusive to a hero, it is actually a generalized story arc that many plots follow. But does the experience of a member here on SC fit in with this? The object of this post is to figure out if it does, and if so, how?
First, it'll be handy to define a hero's journey. Below is a chart that maps the different stages of a hero's journey. I will go step by step on each point of the journey and while doing this, figure out what it would be in SC terms if applicable at all. If not, I'll rule it out as something that can be experienced in terms of SC. Afterward, I will attempt to modify the hero's journey with what I have found to be the "sociopath's journey". Will it match the hero's journey? Let's find out.
So right off the bat, there is a distinction between the "ordinary world" and the "special world". The normal world is more or less the everyday life of the protagonist prior to the actual adventuring. The special world is everything the hero encounters during the thick of the adventuring. In terms of SC I wouldn't necessarily define the special world as just being on SC, but moreso as the state of being a very regular user. The normal world is definitely life before SC, but it could also represent the very beginning (or end or present) of a user's time on SC. I'd also note that being in the special world likely implies entanglement in the many dramas of the forum to some extent.
The call to adventure is essentially the trigger that sends the hero towards the special world. For instance, Luke Skywalker's guardian being murdered was his call to adventure. With SC, the call to adventure could carry wildly; suspicion that you are a sociopath, a diagnosis, an interest in ASPD, boredom, interest in a particular user, or total accident. In general, I'd say the call to adventure is whatever makes a user desire to spend more time on SC.
But oftentimes, the hero refuses the call at first and tries to stick to their everyday life. I'll rule this one out, as I rarely see people very conflicted on their usership here until well into the "journey". At this early stage, people pretty much choose to go all in with their forum usership.
Does the hero do all this alone? No. Oftentimes they have a mentor, such as Obi Wan. This person is meant to guide them into their journey. I would say that on SC, this may not necessarily occur for everybody. They might have a specific user that introduces them onto the site but they may not fit the role of mentor. I'll rule this one out as well.
And of course, there is a discrete threshold crossing between the ordinary world and special world. I'd say that in the case of SC, this is not a discrete moment in time. The SC user slowly gets sucked in until they become very frequent users. I'll partially rule it out.
The whole next fourth of the chart after crossing the threshold up to the ordeal are things that often occur on SC. Once they are a frequent user, they're bound to make friends and enemies and end up engaging in the neverending dramas to some extent. And eventually, they will approach the "inmost cave" AKA their greatest fear and face the ORDEAL. On SC, this means they will reveal a weakness and it will be exploited. This often comes in the form of a dox, but could also involve a romantic relationship, friendship, or general public approval. This situation will severely impact them. And unlike the hero's journey, sometimes they leave and do not come back after this, essentially forfeiting the journey.
If they don't leave from the ordeal, then they should come out stronger than before. The hero then gets up from their fall and takes up the sword on their enemies, and wins. On SC, this likely means they retaliate in some way.... But also, merely choosing to stay can be a way of taking the sword. By staying, they do not give their enemies the gratification of making them go. I'm not so sure if this closely aligns though, especially considering how it diverges in later stages from the typical model.
Speaking of the aforementioned divergence, the last bit of the hero's journey often does not apply at all to SC. Users here rarely return to the ordinary world at all unless they left during their ordeal phase. It's more like they stay around, the drama tunes down, and their usership is less excessive but more constant.
And so, having analyzed all parts of the hero's journey, I present, The Sociopath's Journey-
This diagram seems to more accurately model the typical progression of an SC user. Let me break it down for you-
Joining the form as we know, can be for a variety of reasons. But as time goes on, users typically begin posting more and more, eventually becoming regulars. This results in ending up in dramas and relations that reveal vulnerabilities for their enemies they make to exploit, causing the ordeal to either make them leave for stay on, and eventually they reach a state of equilibrium where drama becomes much less frequent. This doesn't apply for everybody but it seems to for a large amount.
So, do you fit this model to some extent in your experience? Who bucks the trend? Is this model accurate enough?
You decide.
