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Is World of Warcraft a drug?

Aqua Buddha

Scribe
Is anyone here into World of Warcraft? Many of my friends are, or were previously. Those who still play tell me that it's an interactive fantasy epic. Those that quit describe it as a drug which wrecked their lives.

Which is it?
 

Dr.Dorkness

Minstrel
none of the above. Sure the game has an awesome story, when you read it. Playing is just so boring. But hey that is me. the problem with WoW is that it is so popular that it is sickening. the only thing I like About it is the extensive backstory for all races, classes and factions.

It its fun at times but it is not worth the monthly fee. Most people disagree with me on that, saying that you get so much more fullfilment from WoW than from any other MMO. I think if you need a game to give you fullfilment then Here is a dollar, go buy a Life.

I think it is clear that I am Against WoW.... lol
 

Telcontar

Staff
Moderator
It's a game. One with incredibly high production values, lots of humor, and much to see and do, but with a largely static world.

Those who claim it 'wrecked their lives' should have had a bit of discipline, and have no one to blame but themselves.
 

Kelise

Maester
Eh, I only played it for about six months. They've crafted it in a way where you basically have to play A LOT in order to get anything done - though they could have changed that, since I played five or so years ago. And by a lot, it was about six hours a day, every day.

You spend most of your time running from point A to point B (until you get a mount, of course). There's a lot to do, but the people in the game are childish and creepy (I had way too many bad experience with very creepy guys) and I agree that it's not worth the monthly fee by far.

So hrm. I played it. ALL of my friends played it. And now I don't think any do, as it's just not really worth it.
 

Ravana

Istar
Addiction is addiction: the symptoms and manifestations are the same no matter what you're addicted to. Some things (e.g. hard drugs, alcohol) cause additional physical damage, of course, and may impair judgment beyond what the addiction itself causes (ditto)… but as far as obsessive behavior patterns go, it doesn't matter whether it's drugs, alcohol, tobacco, gambling, shopping, sex, gaming online or otherwise, or pretty much anything else. (Hanging about in web forums comes to mind.… :rolleyes: ) All of them can potentially eat your time, money, and social relations.

I know people who've spent thousands of dollars on a single online game, and know of people who've spent tens of thousands of dollars–and who almost certainly play more than one such game. And those include browser-based, "free" games, where you only have to pay if you want the advantages from the best gear, etc., and the only thing you actually do is click on buttons. I can only imagine what some people are paying to play a 3D-animated, live-action, interactive MMORPG. What I can't imagine is having the money to do that. Of course, those whose lives were "ruined" almost certainly didn't have the money… but spent it anyway.

Running across people who've bought their way to the top of a game always makes me want to refinance the house just so I have a chance to take them out.… :p
 
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Kelise

Maester
Someone I know sold her WoW account for something like $2,000 and used the money to go see her internet boyfriend in Canada (I think?) who she'd met on WoW.

When she got back after 6 months or a year, or something, she had a look at her WoW account again. The buyer had abandoned it, and hadn't changed the password... so she's still playing.
 

Digital_Fey

Troubadour
Never played WoW myself, since I personally dislike the idea of being reliant on any online game for my daily dose of relaxation. It's so easy for these things to suck you in, and before you know it five minutes of procrastination turns into five hours. However, like many things that technology has brought us, it's up to the user to exercise caution and self-restraint. Hell, the internet alone is a black hole filled with temptation and vice...and it's also a bright new world full of opportunity and new insights. It all depends on how you, as a user, interact with something and what role you allow it to take in your life.

When she got back after 6 months or a year, or something, she had a look at her WoW account again. The buyer had abandoned it, and hadn't changed the password... so she's still playing.

That story made me chuckle^^
 

Fnord

Troubadour
I played on a role-playing server shortly after it was initially released and really enjoyed it for about six months, but then the role-playing group I was a part of got too big and it got really dramatic. As for the game itself, I had a lot of fun until I got to level 60 (which was the max level at the time) and it started seeming more like a job than anything. You had to spend so much time trying to plan for raids and then executing them which was absolutely tedious. So I lost interest and moved on.

I actually preferred Lord of the Rings Online when all was said and done. I was more into the story, and I thought the game was less "cartoony" than WoW.
 
I've been playing World of Warcraft off-and-on for five years now, ever since the original game was in beta. The game is indeed very entertaining, at least for me, but I am in no way "addicted" to the game. I'm not sure I could understand someone wanting to play the game every hour of every day.

In fact, the experiences I have on the roleplaying realm I play on help me with my fantasy writing, even if it isn't set in the Warcraft universe.

Someone I know sold her WoW account for something like $2,000...

I actually tried calculating how much money I would make should I attempt to sell my account right now, and it was somewhere around $1,000. I just couldn't believe someone would pay that much money for something as simple as a game account.
 
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Amanita

Maester
Well, I agree with Ravana, once again. ;) But this is without personal experience because I've never played WoW or any other fantasy game. Somehow, "running around" in a world created by others and paying lot's of money for it has never appealed to me. By the way, do you believe that certain familiarity with fantasy game is necessary when writing fantasy nowadays? The game cliches are completely unknown to me after all
 

Fnord

Troubadour
The escapism is fun. Being in someone else's richly-crafted world is a pretty exciting experience, honestly. And when playing with others in a role-playing in-character environment really adds a richness to the immersion. I certainly don't regret paying $15 a month for that kind of experience, especially since I can easily drink that in a couple of drams of scotch at a bar somewhere in one sitting, or you can spend that in one night at the movies. It suddenly seems like a much cheaper form of entertainment.

By the way, do you believe that certain familiarity with fantasy game is necessary when writing fantasy nowadays? The game cliches are completely unknown to me after all

I don't think it is, really. Writing a story for a game seems to be quite a bit different than writing a fantasy novel. In a game like WoW or LotRO, for example, the story is a background idea that has elements used in-game but is largely static. Since MMOs have thousands of players per server, the story can't exactly be forwarded by the "characters" within the game itself too terribly much. Therefore the story is much more part of the environment than right in your face and all the quests within the game are simply short encounters or chains of a bit of a longer story that exists within the game itself. You wouldn't really want to write a book like that as it would be ridiculously disjointed. The closest thing you could get to that in literature would be a compilation of short stories, often unrelated, in an anthology that all took place in the same setting. Robert E. Howard's, Conan stories, for instance.
 

Ravana

Istar
Well, I agree with Ravana, once again. … By the way, do you believe that certain familiarity with fantasy game is necessary when writing fantasy nowadays? The game cliches are completely unknown to me after all

Thank you. No, I'd say it isn't all that important: the cliches will have largely been derived from fantasy literature in the first place. You're far less likely to accidentally duplicate something in a game than you are something that appears in a story accepted a month before you submit your own. If anything, you might be doing yourself a favor by not knowing about them, to avoid being influenced by them–for or against. The worst of them (a superabundance of different "races," species of monsters, and magical items comes to mind) are ones you aren't too likely to perpetrate anyway.
 
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I played Warcraft a bit but it turned me off by being tooooo popular and crowded! And then then world/s was/were just too massive. Plus Runescape was free so it got 95 % of my time :)

My big brother OBSESSED over Warcraft for years though - and he only did cuz he got banned from Runescape with a level 126 (max at the time) account and didn't wanna start over.
 

Helbrecht

Minstrel
Having played World of Warcraft on/off for the past five years, I have to find myself blinking at the "drug" comparisons. It's an okay game in itself, but what kept bringing me back was the lore, the roleplaying and the interesting characters I managed to build with those two things. The people who often seem to be "addicted" tend to have very little patience for any of that.

I'd say it's less something seriously dangerous like crack cocaine (although these days, crack is probably cheaper) and more like drugs that are nominally "safer" and less addictive, like alcohol and marijuana. By that, I mean that the game can be highly enjoyable when played recreationally and responsibly, but people with murky priorities and/or low impulse control can get sucked into it and let it define them.

Ooh, this drug metaphor is tasty. I might need to stage an intervention on one of my friends soon, steal his credit card and cancel his account. :D
 

Derin

Troubadour
It's a game. One with incredibly high production values, lots of humor, and much to see and do, but with a largely static world.

Those who claim it 'wrecked their lives' should have had a bit of discipline, and have no one to blame but themselves.

It's not a game, it's a skinner box.

But I've never been an MMO person, unless you count echo bazaar.
 

Leuco

Troubadour
The first time I heard of WoW was in China, a long time ago. I was in Beijing for school one summer and one of my classmates was part of some intern program. It turns out the school placed her with some underground internet company that sold black market WoW virtual products like magical swords and armor. I guess she was supposed to cold dial players and try to sell them things that only existed in the WoW. I thought that was crazy. I mean, how could you make money doing that? And more importantly, how do you put that on a resume?
When I came home, I discovered WoW had exploded. My best bud's little brother was on that game nearly 24/7. That was a while ago, and he doesn't play that much anymore. But now he smokes. A lot.

I'm just saying...
 

Kaellpae

Inkling
I used to play it almost 24/7. I got a girlfriend and stopped playing altogether. That was over a year ago, but I still feel the need to log in and play. Then I remember how little fun I had in game, outside of levelling anyway.
 

Motley

Minstrel
I've played WOW for about two years, though I took a large break about halfway through that. I enjoy the game and have met some great people on there. $15 a month isn't much for entertainment, quite frankly. It's less than the cost of going out to a movie once with one other person, and I do get more than 2 hours of enjoyment out of WOW.

I play on a role-playing server now, but haven't gotten in with a group or guild yet. I like role-playing; it's like writing and acting rolled into one.

I have met some people on there who seemed to relate to it like an addict relates to drugs, however. I've come across college kids who skipped classes to play it, and adults who called in sick from work so they won't miss a raid or other event.
 
World of Warcraft isn't really addicting to me. I played once, and never played again. However, I got addicted to a psp game called Kingdom hearts: birth by sleep
 
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