Where Does The Negativity Stem From?

What makes a MMORPG player so different from everyone else? Why has soceity shunned these people and are they partially responsible? Where were the negative ideas formed?



I think all of these questions are personal. By that I mean it is different for every individual. Certainly there are more productive hobbies, but that can be said about most of the passtimes we have in our world today. If you went surfing for 50 hours a week you might become very good at it and eventually be able to call yourself a professional surfer. But what if you play WoW for 50 hours a week. You could then say you are a profession mmorpg player. I dont think it has quite the same charming ring to it. Sure with surfing you are out in the world, being physical, getting exercise even perhaps a nice beach tan. With WoW though you are trapped inside sitting at a computer eating cheetos and packing on the pounds, trying to hide from the sun like a vampire. At first glance this comparison seems very one sided, most people would clearly say that 50 hours of surfing, while it is alot is far more acceptable that 50 hours of playing a computer game. Why the double standard though? Saying you are addicted to surfing or sports of that nature has a postive stigma tied with it. While from my own personal experience being addicted to computer game doesn't score you any points.



I think alot of this has to do with lack of understanding. If you meet a woman or a man depending on your preference or gender you would probably be far more likely to tell them about your surfing obsession than your WoW obsession. While it is probably true that just from basic appearance a avid surfer will have a superior physically than that of a avid WoW player there is more to it than that. Almost everyone in the world knows the general idea of surfing, WoW on the other hand even as popular as it is and with it's constant adds and commercials is something more mysterious, but not in a good way. People that dont play computer games probably haven't heard of the game and if they have they probably relate it to that nerdy pimple covered fellow that breifly referenced it in highschool. So with that said I think it is a utter lack of understanding. I personally would never strike up a conversation with someone I didn't know about playing a computer game such as WoW, most because it has a large chance of falling flat on it's face. By that I mean if the person doesn't know what it is then explaining it will be a boring drawn out plea of acceptance. They also might have an idea, maybe a friend plays the game or maybe they get that image of the pimply guy from highschool. If they do know a bond can be formed, but this is a rare occurance.



From my own personal experience I have seen a negative attitude toward people that play computer games, more specifically MMORPG's and I wonder where that started. I have been playing games like WoW when a relative, friend or anyone comes over, the person usually feigns interest and it ends up forming into a long drawn out on conversation about something I dont want to explain and something they really dont care about in the first place. Though due to the politeness of the guest they countinue to try and understand eventually, usually awkwardly the subject gets changed. So where does the

Gaming Addiction Is For Real.

In this blog I will attempt to explore the world of electronic gaming and my experiences with it. I have been playing video games and computer games alike for well over thirteen years of my life at this point. Everything from Atari to Xbox 360. All types of games, from Pong that consists of a black screen with a score board, pixle ball and two vertical moving paddles to Crysis which has so much detail and action with in it, the top computer technology of today can barely run it at full force. The name of the blog is "Gaming Addictions" and this will be the main thing I will be discussing here. I have seen many friends ruin their lives by devoting too much of their time to games and I as well have struggled with the addiction. Computer games and video games can be amazingly addictive. Of all the types of games that are out today, by the most addictive breed has to be the MMORPG "Massively Mutiplayer Online Role Playing Game." MMO's are essentially whole entire virtual worlds, where players can become a hero, villan or whatever they want to be. They are the ultimate for of expression, players can do pretty much whatever they want to do with very little real world repercussions. I have personally tried many of these and know all to well of their siren calls. Some of the biggest are Everquest, Everquest 2, Runescape, and the king World Of Warcraft. I will primarily be focusing on WoW (World of Warcraft) throughout this blog. WoW is one of the most popular games of all time. It is in fact so popular that there are currently over ten million paying subscribers. This means that ontop of purchasing the game which now costs $20 (originally $50) the subcriber pays roughly $15 a month to play, slightly cheaper if they buy 3-months or 6-months at time. Blizzard Entertainment, owned by Vivendi games also relased a expansion pack to WoW called The Burning Crusade (BC), which costs $30 and is fairly essential to playing the game at this stage in it's developement. Most people that dont play games look at those numbers and are shocked. Why would someone pay $50-$80 to buy a game and on top of that pay $15 every month to play it? Why would someone play the same game that only adds moderate changes every few months via patches (free updates that add things and eliminate bugs) for three years? Why do so many people play WoW? What makes WoW so great? Having played this game for roughly two years, with many breaks in between my own experience tells me that people pay so much and keep coming back because the game is so addictive. I myself was a WoW addict. I would sometimes play the game 40 hours a week, as though it were a full time job. Sadly though this pales in comparison to some of the people I came across. The real life events that these "addicts" neglected were astonishing to me. One of the more extreme examples that comes to mind is when a man in my guild(In game large scale groups of people that you work with to accomplish goals with in the game world) missed his daughters wedding to play the game. I have known people who consistenly play WoW for 80 hours a week, making it their number one priority and essentially their life. The main goal of this blog is to open some eyes and hopefully enlighten some people.