I’ve played this game, as previously stated, since it’s inception. I have played through the horrors that was Outlands clown gear, I’ve seen the rise and fall of Paladins, Druids, Priests, Death Knights, Mages, Warlocks, Shamans, Warriors, Hunters, and Rogues. I‘ve seen Blizzard make some HORRIBLE changes, as well as those that were needed, but none of this has bothered me as much as…
People Who Hate WoW That Never Played
I have a couple of friends who are like this, and we generally steer clear of the WoW discussion if we want to keep being friends. I’ve never understood they’re malice though. Neither has ever played the game, nor have their significant others, but they are 100% aboard the “WoW is a soul sucking game that destroys lives” train.
Have I tried to point out the fact that we’re friends, and I play quite a bit of World of Warcraft?
Yes.
It doesn’t seem to register in their minds as a factor in our friendship, but more and more over the years I’ve started to ask myself: “Shouldn’t it factor in?”
The most common reasons I’ve heard from these people are:
- World of Warcraft isn’t the same as interacting with people in real life.
- WoW, is a pointless game and it provides no real life skills.
- If you’re always playing that game you never spend time with your out of game friends.
- All those people on there are 12, and little assholes.
Allow me in turn to respond to each of these in kind.
World of Warcraft isn’t the same as interacting with people in real life.
Your right I can not reach out and touch most of the people that I play with in this game, my question back to them is: “Do you and your real life friends spend entire evenings just touching each other?” Cause I don’t think that’s the norm, I’m fairly certain that’s called going to a swing club, which “no judgment” to each there own.
When I raid, quest, or do events in WoW with my friends, I find that there is no real difference then when I go out to a party, movie, etc with my RL friends, except maybe Azeroth is cheaper.
WoW, is a pointless game and it provides no real life skills.
Now, I’ll give them the benefit of stupidity that since they have never played this game they are not aware of the fact that you need, at least to raid/raid lead.
- To be able to multitask.
- Focus
- Make life or death choices on the fly.
- Inspire a group of 10/25 people to work together to over come an enemy.
- Manage 10/25 people into a cohesive group.
I may be overstating on one of those, but nevertheless 4/5 of those skills are often asked for by people that are looking to work in any management/leadership position in the real world work place. I have on many occasions wished that I could put class/heal leader on my resume. Hell I want to put Raider on my resume along with the bosses I have downed.
Spending No Time with IRL Friends
I’ve never understood the comment “IRL friends”, just because I hangout with them in a virtual world, does not make them less my friends than the ones I can physically touch.
My bridesmaid at my wedding I met through WoW and lives in Maryland.
Some of my very bestfriends live on the other side of the country, and know more about me than those that live 20 minutes from my house.
On top of that of the 10 people in my raiding group 5 of them live within 1 hour of me.
All those people on there are 12, and little assholes.
Are there 12 year olds that play this game?
Yes.
Are they all assholes?
No, some of them are more respectful, and better players than adults.
Also I’m not 12, my husband isn’t 12, all my raid group is certainly above the age of 18. So no they’re not all 12 and about 70% of them aren’t assholes.
All I ask is that people be respectful of the lifestyle choices that others makes, especially if you expect to call them friend, and have them call you that in return.
/Cheers
Thankfully although most of my “RL” friends do not play, they are understanding of my doing so and get that online friends can very much be the equal of RL ones! I have to laugh at people who present arguments like the ones you listed. Some of my best and closest friends have been people I’ve met online, including my husband of 8 years!
Ah, I get this a lot from my mother. It’s a real shame that people just dig in their heels and don’t give people they supposedly care about a chance to explain something that is important to them!
I moved to the other side of the country a few years ago, and through WoW, I’ve been able to hang out with my closest friends from back home.
As a guild leader, I scoff at the notion that this game doesn’t teach you RL skills! My conflict resolution abilities have flourished!
A few members of my guild and I are currently participating in a fundraising event called “Dry July”. My hope is to not only raise bucket loads of cash for adult cancer patients, but to also smash the stigma that we’re all arseholes. Hell, the biggest arsehole on the internet, Athene, managed to raise ONE MILLION DOLLARS for starving children in Africa. I don’t know many 11 years olds that can brag that
Thank you for the great post!
Lol, I’ve envisioned the whole “bringing up WoW in a job interview scenario” many times.
I can just picture myself saying to the person “Ok, imagine running this office, except you don’t pay them. They owe none of their livelihood whatsoever to their presence and job performance here, and the only thing you can do to ensure they show up and do well is to make them want to do it. Plus every minor disagreement can escalate into a shouting match that leads to somebody threatening to walk out.”
It would really be interesting to have some kind of reality show about the day-to-day life of a guild. Might open some eyes.
[...] of work. You rely on several different skills in order to get the job done. Aunaka’s post, Ugh, you play World of Warcraft? covers some of the misconceptions spread by the “haters” surrounding the game, and one [...]
Very true and nicely written! I totally agree. I have friends who play on softball and bowling teams and are away from hom 2 – 3 nights per week and they think I’m nutty for playing WoW. Go figure
EXACTLY!
Yea.. not many of my friends don’t play wow or any other games for that matter. When we all get together there is one or two that don’t play and will generally roll their eyes as we geek out. No major hate though. Sometimes I’ll get a “remove yourself from the matrix” joke.
My husband brought up my WoW gaming once…I had to remind him that in the 8 years previous to me ever starting to play, I had never once said anything negative about him playing all of his FPS games after work, on the weekends, during Holidays and every other time he get to play. If he wanted to start complaining, I could have a list as long as his arm real fast.
He hasn’t said a word about it since. He has tried Rift but won’t touch WoW for nothing. And I have given up trying. I don’t want to share Azeroth with his grumpy butt anyway!
Oh man, so ditto!