It seems like a lot of people are getting depressed playing WoW right now, just waiting for Burning Crusade to come out. Then the news/rumor hit that it won’t be released until January. I’m seeing more and more posts about the leaks and videos about the expansion. I was just checking out the Daedalus Project again for his psychological studies of MMORPGs and saw the subject of playing with people you know in real life (RL). That was the category I fell under until my big fall-out with Fellowship of Azeroth and my flaky roommate moving out. You can read the whole article here:
Now my reasons for playing have changed. I play with people who all know each other, yet I don’t know any of them in RL. Josh Dura and his friends from Dallas are my new gang, but we have yet to meet face to face, hear each other on TeamSpeak, or call each other on the phone. I know he’s a year younger than me and also married, where he works, and that he’s a much better computer geek than I am. What I like about Teen Girl Squad is that they all get along. No one demands anything of anyone. Some of them are pretty hard-core players, but also appear at times to be gone from the game during peak hours. I’m a lot more casual now, but I plan on hitting 34 some time this week or weekend.
I am getting the sense that we all play because we like the game in general, enjoy chatting with other geeks while having something to do between responses, and feel better after a long day at work by sitting in front of our home computers. I like my computer at work a lot more than the one at home, but I can do whatever I want on my home PC.
Now, stop being depressed about the expansion, find your friends, get them to play WoW, and start all over again. It’s fun!
I play mostly for the socialization. I don’t have any RL friends in the guild, so it’s mostly pretty anonymous and harmless, but enjoyable. I”m not big on grouping, thought I’d want to raid when I hit 60, but then I tried it and discovered it’s not for me. I prefer to solo, chat, and do the occasional instance.
Playing with people I know in RL hasn’t worked out for me in the past. Was in a SOCOM clan with someone I know in RL and when he flaked out it just kinda got awkward. Doubt I’ll try that again.
I know from experience that RL flakes can make it awkward when you log on. Maybe I have a good thing going right now.