What would my life without WoW be like? I asked myself this when considering uninstalling WoW last week. I was making my budget, and my girlfriend found out that WoW costs $15/month. She was like, “You’ve paid over $120 to play that game?” “Yeah.”
At the time, she was thinking that I could do better things with my money, like get an edge on my cell phone bill or buy nearly a week’s worth of gas. Two days later, I suggested uninstalling the game and cancelling my account. She had changed her mind and said that it IS the only form of paid entertainment I have. When I’m not spending time with her, I’m not going to the movies or golfing or anything that costs money, aside from the occassional action flick that she wouldn’t want to go to :).รย If I want to spend the same amount per month that we spend on a lunch break at Boston Market or Quiznos, then that is fine by her now.
But really. What would I do with that time? Grimr has about 12 days, Gitr has about 19, and all my others probably total 4 or 5รย days. That’s a month and a half sitting in front of my computer, not spending time with family or friends. Granted… how much of that time WOULD have been spent with them? When my girlfriend is working? No, but I might have been hanging out with my best bud. Or going to a movie with my parents (or even that funeral I skipped because playing WoW sounded sooooo much better).
I don’t think that I would chalk it up as a complete waste of time. I played Warcraft 3 a long time, as with Warcraft 2, the Doom, Quake, and Unreal series. I have been playing games as long as I can remember. I used to play this came that was called something like “something of the Beast” about this guy that turns in to a wolf or something and was a great looking side-scroller of the day. It took 30 minutes to load off a cassette tape for the Commodore 64 or 128. Then there was Batman and Boulderdash and the Commander Keen series on IBM PC.
What makes WoW different? There is no end. Never. You can’t “beat” it. No one is ever going to get ALL the best gear for every slot for every situation. IF, and that is a big IF, they did, you can just start a new toon.
If I stopped playing, the one thing that would make me sad is not having a topic to blog on. Obviously I have a niche of readers here. How many of you would have come to my blog to read what I have to say and to give a rip about the few instances I wrote about my life if my blog’s topic wasn’t WoW? That is what draws most people here. Google searches, other WoW blogs, WoW blog lists. They all generate traffic here. I don’t want to give that up. This is fun. It’s a place to be heard outside of the game, even if it is about a game. I like to use it as a resource for playing a warrior, and a place to discuss the human condition made visible in a virtual world. I wouldn’t be sad about not playing, but not blogging.
I’d want to come up with a blog about my ideas, my beliefs, and my observations of life and crazy people at work. I’ve almost got enough stuff to keep up with Scott Adams by working here. The test would be if I could keep the topics coming? Would I get traffic and where would it come from? Without those things figured out, I’m not sure I’d want to quit, so WoW is here to stay.
It’s all up to what you enjoy. I really could give a shit how many hours/days/months I have played the game. I am going to live my life to the fullest, and have as much damn fun as possible. Truthfully, I think a lot of people (even gamers) still get offended when people ask them how much time they play games. How is it different from me playing baseball/hockey/basketball, etc? Gaming is still being viewed in society as the “geeky” lifestyle, yet they all want a piece of the money it generates. It is what I enjoy, thus, I will do it until I stop enjoying it, no matter what anyone thinks or says ๐
Now, as for if I would still read your blog, yeah, as long as you kept it interesting, I would still read. You are a good person, who maintains a good blog, dont see any problem with you losing readers. Also, try not to get to caught up in who reads the blog, it is your place to express daily events. Quality of readership is much better than quantity.
As to WoW, how much time does the average person spend watching TV? I don’t watch tv ever, I don’t really even watch movies anymore since I started playing, but how is the playing any worse than watching? At least you’re working in groups towards goals, rather than just consuming (I mean, group tv isn’t exactly goal-oriented teamwork).รย
However, I’d say live your life like you want to live it and blog like you want to blog. Spending all your time on a game you dont’ still love just so people will read what you write on the internet probably isn’t the best way to stay sane and happy. I used to draw a journal comic every day and people loved it. They’d talk to me about it, tell their friends etc. i’d meet people at bars who knew all about me from the comic. But I got sick of all the drawing time so I stopped, and I’m glad I did. A full time job that doesn’t pay you anything probably isnt’ worth the effort. If that’s what you want you should join some RL clubs or something, make friends.
Not that you should stop your playing or anything. I would say just don’t play more than you actually want to. (though I guess thinking of yourself as a WoW journalist is kind of relevant… )
A WoW journalist. Yeah, that’s what I’ve been seeing myself as.