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FILE THIS IN THE “GLAD TO HAVE MY PREJUDICES CONFIRMED” BOX….....

No one who knows me is in much doubt about my attitude to computer gaming…..I don’t let it break up families or friendships, and I really don’t think about it much, but I guess the short take would be I value gaming about as much as watching TV.

I realize that this material also belongs in the “Just an anecdote, not a valid study.” box…...but, the anecdote is from someone with considerable experience, so here goes (and yes, I realize that fans are NOT going to like this).

I just left World of Warcraft permanently. I was a leader in one of the largest and most respected guilds in the world, a well-equipped and well-versed mage, and considered myself to have many close friends in my guild. Why did I leave? Simple: Blizzard has created an alternate universe where we don’t have to be ourselves when we don’t want to be. From my vantage point as a guild decision maker, I’ve seen it destroy more families and friendships and take a huge toll on individuals than any drug on the market today, and that means a lot coming from an ex-club DJ.

There’s more, if you can bear it…..

LOTS more…..here’s another taste:

It took a huge personal toll on me. To illustrate the impact it had, let’s look at me one year later. When I started playing, I was working towards getting into the best shape of my life (and making good progress, too). Now a year later, I’m about 30 pounds heavier that I was back then, and it is not muscle. I had a lot of hobbies including DJing (which I was pretty accomplished at) and music as well as writing and martial arts. I haven’t touched a record or my guitar for over a year and I think if I tried any Kung Fu my gut would throw my back out. Finally, and most significantly, I had a very satisfying social life before. My friends and I would go out and there were things to do every night of the week. Now a year later, I realize my true friends are the greatest people in the world because the fact I came out of my room, turned the lights on, and watched a movie with them still means something. They still are having a great time teasing me at my expense, however, which shows they still love me and they haven’t changed.

These changes are miniscule, however, compared to what has happened in quite a few other people’s lives. Some background… Blizzard created a game that you simply can not win. Not only that, the only way to “get better” is to play more and more. In order to progress, you have to farm your little heart out in one way or another: either weeks at a time PvPing to make your rank or weeks at a time getting materials for and “conquering” raid instances, or dungeons where you get “epic loot” (pixilated things that increase your abilities, therefore making you “better”). And what do you do after these mighty dungeons fall before you and your friend’s wrath? Go back the next week (not sooner, Blizzard made sure you can only raid the best instances once a week) and do it again (imagine if Alexander the Great had to push across the Middle East every damn week).

What does this mean? Well, to our average “serious” player this equates to anywhere between 12 hours/week (for the casual and usually “useless” player) to honestly 10 hours a day, seven days a week for those “hardcore” gamers. During my stint, I was playing about 30 hours a week (and still finding it hard to keep up with my farming) and logging on during my work day in order to keep up with all the guild happenings and to do my scheduling and tracking for the raids. A lot of time went into the development of new policies which took our friendly and family-oriented guild further and further away from its roots but closer to the end goal. Honestly, what that end goal is I’m not totally sure - there is truly no end to the game and every time you feel like you’re satisfied with your progress, another aspect of the game is revealed and, well, you just aren’t as cool as you can be again.

Well, if you play, you probably aren’t going to read more, and if you don’t play, perhaps you’re bored already. But, I think this guy has some important things to say - he certainly told me things about gaming that I only suspected, and other things that hadn’t even crossed my mind. And I’m even more confirmed in my decision to avoid the temptations described.

Understand that I believe gaming CAN be controlled - there ARE people who don’t watch five or six hours of TV each day, after all. But, I think the number of people who are susceptible to what is described here is rather large. It is devastating many of our students here at SAU, for sure. Spending perhaps $20,000.00 for a year at University, they completely destroy their academic opportunity by spending hours and hours each day engaged in a simulation of living a real life.

Anyhow, before making up your mind, READ THE WHOLE THING

Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 10/18 at 08:56 PM

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