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Is World of Warcraft More Than Just A Game?
walnutmon writes "Newsweek has published a three page article asking whether World of Warcraft is more than just a game. Though some spend their time in WoW grinding, others take a break from the monotony of gaming to interact with others from the community in a meaningful way. From the article: 'Generally, though, players of the game enjoy a form of community rarely seen in the real world; higher-level players go out of their way to tutor newbies and accompany them on quests. Deep friendships are forged. Relationships begin that flower into marriage, with Tauren brides and Undead grooms tying the knot in some virtual tavern in Thunder Bluff.' I guess the question is, does a game become more when people do more than play to win, or is this just an added feature?" Raph Koster has been of the opinion, for quite some time now, that all MMOGs are virtual worlds; it just so happens you can play a game inside many of them. What's your view on this? Are Massive games just another kind of game title, or are they something special?
"As Hiro approaches the Street, he sees two young couples, probably using their parents' computers for a double date in the Metaverse, climbing down out of Port Zero, which is the local port of entry and monorail stop. He is not seeing real people, of course. This is all a part of the moving illustration drawn by his computer according to the specifications coming down the fiber-optic cable. The people are pieces of software called avatars."
-Neal Stephenson
The real culprit of WoW's success is depression, in all it's varied forms. WoW represents the ultimate in escapism. Whereas before some of us used books, or even computer games, here's a world that changes based on the player and those playing.
There is never really an end to the world like there would be in a book, or a game. Therefore, those trying to escape find the perfect place to escape to; A place that never really ends.
This goes a long way in explaining the attitude when the servers would go down often ( do they still? ).
I'm not saying this is how it is for everyone, or it's the same level of escapism for everyone. Just that the majority of the addicts are depressed in one way or another, and this is their way to escape from it.
Mod me down with all of your hatred and your journey towards the dark side will be complete!
1985 called, it wants its sterotype back. Seriously, this just isn't the case. My D&D group consists of three cops (one of whom is an officer, two are from very tough urban beats), a corrections officer, a tow truck driver and me. Vin Diesel is perfectly comfortable going on TV and proclaiming his love for D&D. There's been a mainstream D&D movie with mainstream actors (even though it sucked).
I'm sure we've all seen scenes in malls, at D&D shops, where a group of teenage jocks or punks start yelling at the customers and employees of such stores.
This is just ridiculous. I've never seen such a thing in my 25 years playing D&D. School kids bullying the geeky kids who played D&D? Sure, but not because they played D&D (some of the bullies played too at my school), but because they were weak and easy prey. Although if you live somewhere where a mall can support an RPG store (not just a GW store), you're already way ahead of the rest of the country.
WoW, on the other hand, has a far more widespread acceptance.
Accepted by who? I've never met an adult who played WoW who wasn't already a gamer. WoW gamers are looked down on by other "real" gamers (those who play face to face) as the true losers who have no lives and so have hours and hours to grind. You've got your stereotypes 100% backwards.
I think that they should enforce laws, like in china where your account only lets you play 3-4 hours a night max. Even though I have heard of people there opening 2 accounts just so that they can get their full fix.
I feel sorry for anyone that starts playing this game. I used to be an avid video game player but have kinda steered myself away from games like this just because I know what the result is. Just like I have tried alcohol or pot , but like another
People that play this game for more than 2 hours a night are just gross and need help immediately. Take up yoga or meditation or anything. Anyone that does any single activity for 4-8 hours a day outside of work should be asking themselves, "what the hell am i thinking". WOW is a sickness, a plague in our digital society. I do security software development for a living and the only single activity I would consider concievably doing for 4-8 hours straight when i get off work, is writing some WOW worm using new exploit/security hole that would use their contacts list and corrupt their registry and give these people a night off. =) although it would be a futile attempt, cause you know they would spend the evening just reinstalling everything.
Honestly though, if you play this game, take a month off and see if you can go without it. If you can't then do yourself a favour delete all your contacts associated with this virtual world and remove the software from your computer (microwave the damn CD).
"Get a life, you only get one!". People in 3rd world countries would give anything to have the opportunities these people have. Instead you rot away in your basement playing shit like this just to make blizzard a profit hahaha.. That's the real joke, someone is making a profit off you rotting in your basement.