Lately I have been fighting the urge… to start playing WoW again.
M’s gone back to it, and I’ve been idly watching his adventures with his character from time to time. (What does it say about me that I enjoy watching WoW more than watching tv?)
Reasons I am resisting:
- The main reason I’m trying not to succumb is the fact that WoW is such a time sink. It’s not like playing a game of Solitaire on your PC – it’s a major time and energy investment, and goodness knows I have enough demands on my time and energy at the moment.
- The other main reason is the fact that M and all our friends and family who are currently playing, are playing on a PVP server (Jubei’Thos). PVP = Player Versus Player. The WoW world is divided into two opposing sides, Alliance and Horde. On a PVP server this means that players on opposing sides can attack each other whenever their paths cross. I get annoyed by ganking (e.g. when my significantly weaker level 20-something character gets repeatedly ambushed by a level 60 character who has nothing better to do). I’ve written about this before, and I’m trying to remind myself that this sort of behaviour always irks me. Of course, the other option is to go and join Morgan on the non-PVP server he plays on 🙂 But then we get back to reason #1. And I’ll wish I could join everyone in Perth… sigh…
- M is a good player. He’s playing a priest – this class is the main healer class in WoW, and he’s always getting complimented on how well he plays his role. He also knows a lot of tricks to combat and getting away. And he loves exploring and does it well (me, I blunder along and am generally an accident waiting to happen). All in all he’s always interesting to watch, and makes the game look deceptively easy.
I think I should stick to world domination and play the odd hour of Civ 4 whenever I feel the urge for some serious gaming. I owe quite a few people emails – I’m sorry it’s taking me so long to get back to you!
16 Comments
Baldur’s Gate and Football Manager (shivers). Seriously, I could have written a novel instead.
Yep, I know what you mean. After a long bout of game-playing I am always assailed by a sense of loss… as in time lost, that I could have used for The Cause of Good.
Why/how do they make killing yucky monsters, building vast empires, and managing rubbish collection in a city of one million, SO MUCH FUN?
PVP does not sound fun at all for me. Yes, it’s more of a challenge, but in the limited spare time I have, I’d rather just enjoy myself than be frustrated. There is so much else in the game.
If they ever open an Oceania region RP server, we should both reroll there. In the mean time, you’re always welcome in Kirin Tor.
But I would probably agree that it is probably a good thing to resist computer games as much as you can. It might be better to be doing something more constructive with that time, but for me at least, all work and no play makes Morgan an unhappy boy. But the exact work/play ratios will always vary with different people and circumstances.
If I had a purpose in life, if there was some big end goal or some dire need to save humanity I would probably do it.
In the mean time I’ll be enjoying my games and entertainment, promote it to friends and strangers and teach others to show others how to enjoy their games and entertainment 🙂
I am really enjoying my Priest in WoW at the moment because not only am I enjoying myself but I have the facilities to help other people enjoy themselves in game.
Just as an aside, just spotted this (post-2-hour-meeting Bloglines scan) from Raph Koster: his report on a panel talking about WoW and why it is so successful:
“The reasons the panel advanced for WoW’s success were very straightforward, and nothing very shocking:
* They took the time to get it right.
* They spent a fortune doing so.
* They had two of the biggest brands in gaming to work with, Warcraft and Blizzard, with a gigantic in-built audience of core gamers.
* They made sure that there were no penalties to things you did; death has no sting, and timesinks are minimal.
* There’s very regular positive feedback.
But what was more interesting was this set of reasons that the panel also advanced:
* Blizzard focused absolutely on the fun, with no pretenses towards being anything other than a game; no frou-frou dreams of being a virtual world.
* Blizzard focused on combat, and everything else was icing.
* The game permits massive amounts of “playing alone together,†never making you interact with others. “
I prefer my PS2 for my gaming, since I just like stuff I can casually pick up as I feel like. I am betting for you now it’s like some car wreck. You know you should not look, but you know you want to see the carnage anyways. However, my boss is a big WoW fan. Probably spends a bit too much time on it (those afternoons the director takes off for home early, guess where the director is at). So, to each their own I suppose, though I cannot see myself wasting all that time on a game. Too many good things to do.
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“Dances With Books said…, I cannot see myself wasting all that time on a game.”
I find waste such a relative term but people tend to bandy it about as an absolute when it comes to interactive entertainment.
To me people spend time instead on what I think is equally wasteful. Like working longer hours to get that extra furniture or a second mortgage paid off or keeping thier 100msq lawn perfectly trimmed and watered or spending time praying to some non-existent god.
I find a lot of this attitude is aquired from osmosis from our society and people never really question it. I think the Protestant Work Ethic is rampant in our society and need some cooling down.
Thats not to mention all the people who say games are a waste of time while they watch hours of sports on Sunday afternoon or sitcoms for a few hours each night.
It’s a waste if the rewards are worth much less than what you could be doing. Games in general though can be very rewarding, mentally stimulating, educational and social. They also allow time out from stress and re-enforce that life is after all just a game.
Morgan, I don’t usually find PvP fun either. I particularly dislike being attacked by higher level characters against whom I don’t stand much of a chance. And yes, it is immensely frustrating to be attacked over and over and over by these types of players. I don’t know why they enjoy it so much. As for playing on Kirin Tor, DON’T TEMPT ME 😉
Hello dances with books (I nearly typed “wolves” then, eep), thanks for stopping by! I know what you mean about having other things to do. I think I could enjoy games more if I didn’t always have other things at the back of my mind that I know I want to/have to do…
Angel, thank you, what an honour! 🙂
M, having just made my response to dances with books, I also know what you mean. In multiplayer games where the social aspect is strong I have really enjoyed having conversations with other players and getting to know them and so on. And yes, when books first started becoming widespread and affordable people thought they were a waste of time too, and now I don’t think many people would still say that about them. I guess it’s a matter of perception, huh?
But for me I still come back to the fact that I can get so sucked in to certain games that I neglect other things, and that irks me. If I could only not be annoyed by this, I would be fine 😉
Don’t get me wrong M, I think people should “waste” their time however it pleases them. Just don’t go around griping later about how you (and I mean this in the generic) feel like you lost time or did not accomplish anything. As for the Protestant so called ethic, those people would not know fun if the lord or whatever they believe in came and smote them with it. Me? Life is too short, have your fun, but be responsible about it. Overall, I (me, myself, and I)think spending all that time on a computer game may be a waste, but that is me. As I mentioned, I have my console, and I do spend time on it, but life tends to trump a lot of things. At any rate, whatever rocks your world is fine by me as long as it does not interfere with what you are actually supposed to be doing.
“Dances With Books said… as long as it does not interfere with what you are actually supposed to be doing.”
This is what I take issue with. Implicit in that statement is that games are not what anyone is supposed to be doing. It’s but a diversion or temporary entertainment before we get back to accomplishing something.
It’s akin (in order not necessarily magnitude) to the queer community never quite being accepted in society because they are busy with their sexual entertainment and never really contributing to the furthering of our gene pool.
It’s akin to the female community never quite being accepted into the male work force because they are supposed to be parenting and nurturing the societies children.
It’s that song “Get a hair cut and get a real job”.
I’ve experienced all the above and frequently stand outside a community that says, you’re not really a part of us, we can’t take you seriously because you arent doing what you are supposed to be doing.
I’ve abandoned what I’m “supposed to be doing” and just enjoying who I am 🙂
Haven’t tried PVP or RP myself. Prefer to play on my own and join groups as and when needed. Anyway, don’t have much time to play with work and taking care of the little one. But I do admire Blizzard for all the hard work it has put into its games. Still remember playing Starcraft from eons ago and then the Warcraft series.
But I do remember playing 24 hours straight on Football Manager for three quarters of a season when I was much younger (but that’s another story). Am still playing Football Manager, just not so fanatically.
As for ‘wasting time’ of games, my wife think it’s a healthy thing for me to do away from work and family time. She’s the one who actually bought me WoW for my birthday. But I do ensure that I spent time with the family (Hmmm … maybe that’s why I’m still stuck at Level 18!).
Thanks, dances with books – M, any further comment? I always have a problem with arguments around this topic, being conflicted – I think both your points of view have validity! 🙂
Isaak, does your wife play too? I like her idea of giving you some form of escapism 🙂
Given that my current hedonistoc gaming lifestyle stemmed from a deep existential crisis and subsequent fall into a Nihilistic outlook most of my comments are going to get more and more heated and off topic.
I best leave it as is 🙂
Nope. She doesn’t play computer games other than tetris and puzzle bubble. But it’s good to just get away from everything and kill some beasts and humanoids.
Isaak I love Tetris and Puzzle Bobble, too 🙂