Saturday, February 26, 2011
One Other Thing
I think the past couple of posts make it appear that I think WoW players are defective or bad in some way. I don't think that. I think there are a lot of people who can play WoW in reasonable doses and not let it take over their lives, but I'm not one of them. I also believe that you can't get the best out of WoW WITHOUT being an addict. But that's my opinion...I'm sure there are lots of hard-core addicts out there who don't care about raiding. Anyway, I also don't think poorly of WoW addicts. After all...who am I, anyway? I feel sad that they're missing out on a lot of things and it's too bad that they are neglecting a lot of things far more important, but right now, they are doing what they think is best for them. I'm not here to say it's wrong now that I'm on the other side of the fence. At the time, Steve and I felt that playing WoW was the right thing to do for all the years we played. Maybe it would have been a good thing to have someone come along and tell us in a reasonable way that we should do something better with our time but that didn't happen. I think people need to do what they think is right, and it's not my place to judge them. Also, the job of letting a person know they are an addict is one best suited to a good friend. I don't think I have any right to approach a single person in our guild with any message like that. It's too personal, too much reality, and I don't have the right to tell anyone how to live their life.
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Boo again. I never get the sense you're bashing Wow addicts. Actually, I rarely get that sense on Wowdetox either. Most of us are ashamed that it took over our lives, but it's rare that people say other addicts are losers. We all got caught in the same net.
ReplyDeleteFunny thing for me is that I notice a lot of parents limit their kids' Wow time. You can be in an instance with a great player, then they suddenly say, "Crap, my parents just got home and I'm not supposed to be on!" Bam--they're gone. And though they hated the limitations, they were lucky in a way. I don't want my parents to come back into my adult life and tell me what to do, but I wish *someone* had said everyday, "OK, your hour is up. Disconnect no matter what you're doing." Ruins game play, but saves a life. :)
Anyway, I think your posts are very positive.
*hugs* Thank you so much for your warm comments! :) I do worry sometimes about how I state things and how it will be taken.
ReplyDeleteIt's funny. Back when I was playing like a fiend, I actually thought it was cool when parents played WoW with their kids. Now I'm like, OMG WHAT A BAD IDEA!!! That's actually one of the uncomfortable feelings I have about two of our few WoW friends, who are married. They have kids and now one of them is playing with dad watching closely. I used to think it was fine. Now I feel like...*cringe*...you two should get off the computer and go to the park. Play a board game. Talk about stuff. Learn something together. Read a kid's story together. Watch Sesame Street together even! But NOT WOW!!
I wonder the same thing. One friend I played with watched my rogue assassinate a few mobs in our way, and he told me "I just called my son over here to show him what you can do." I was sort of flattered, sort of disturbed that this is an accomplishment you point out to your kid. Aren't there better ones, many better ones?
ReplyDeleteAnother friend I played with was a teen whose parents helped us out when we were level 50ish and needed to do Sunken Temple. It was a lot of fun having them help us with their 80s, and they were nice people. But afterwards I thought, "OK, this means they have 3 computers going at once so they can all play WoW together. And mom & dad know every little detail about this dungeon. And they have about 5 80s apiece. And, well, what else do they do?" Plus when I later told my friend how cool his parents were to help us, he said, "Well, they were screaming at me the whole time about how bad I was playing." And he's a good player. And even if he's not, you scream at your kid about that?
I'm not bashing his family, more bashing the phenomenon that the game becomes. It assumes an importance it never should. Do people scream at their kids because they're bad at spider solitaire and letting them down as parents?
~ Boo