Greedy Goblin, whether you disagree with him or not, is not known for pulling his punches. In one of his latest posts, he equates WoW with a drunken poker party he attended in college. The point of the party was to drink, have fun, meet new people, etc. Not to make money. If you know Greedy Goblin, you can probably guess who walked away with the most money! He feels that WoW has become Second Life with NPCs and decoy-monsters. Over time, he feels these attitudes will dumb the game down to a level he can't justify paying 15 dollars for. That's a justifiable stance, I honestly can see his side on this. However, I disagree on it's ability to ruin the game.
Like Nesh and I have often said, "WoW is the world's most complex internet chat client." I have a lot of one-player console games, books, hobbies( knitting is not a team sport! or a sport for that matter... )with which to fill my time when I don't want to play WoW. But, unlike GG, I play for the social aspect of the game. I do not hang out in /trade swapping Chuck Norris jokes, I do not spam BGs with my inanities( and I have many of them! ), I share my tim w e with people I value. I've spent time building a reputation both for myself and for my guild - an activity I've found to be worth my efforts.
When I log in, I'm usually innundated with /tells. Some of these are guild business, but a large number of these are personal. I get people asking how my daughter is if she's been sick. I get people who just say hello and ask me how I've been lately. Tells from people both in guild and out of guild.
Are these people that I meet in a bar regularly? No. Coworkers? No way. Old Schoolmates? Not a single one. They are, in fact, people that I've -chosen- to associate with and that is the most important part. I spend a lot of time surrounded by personal contact of which I have no control - the people in my office, the people in traffic with me, telemarketers, professional associations, etc. The people I stay in contact with through WoW are all by choice. They are all people who have met my, admittedly, strenuous checklist of "worth my time"-ness.
Even some of the short, one-off contacts I've had with people have been enjoyable. I happened into a PuG Heroic UP, Heroic DTK, and OS-10 with a small guild full-to-the-brim with hilarious players. All of them were well geared, exteremely well played, and laugh-out-loud funny. It was one of the best PuG experiences I've had. If I see any of those guys in LFG I go out of my way to include them or to be included with them!
At one point, while needing more information about Discipline priests, I sent Matticus from WorldofMatticus a message and asked for insight. In no time, Matticus is hanging out on KoU vent, talking Disc priests, then Hockey, then the American Justice System. It was a valuable interaction, not just for the information that Matticus was willing to give freely, but because I -enjoyed- the time spent discussing these things.
I feel that GG sees the other players in WoW as a mean to his ends. He has stated goals and prepares to succeed at those endevors. On the other side of the scale, I prefer to look to the person behind the keyboard and monitor. Their contributions to my successes as a raider, guild leader, and player have been enormous but pale in comparission to the value I place upon them as friends and confidants.
2 comments:
I found the drinking game idea interesting, and agree with the concept; but disagree that its ruining the game. Let the players find and create their own corners in the wow game, and enjoy themselves. The fact that casuals upset GG is his problem to resolve, or a cross to bear; not a problem for the casuals.
I don't like folks who double park, but as I can't change their behaviour the only thing I can do is control my reaction to it.
Hi Typhoonandrew, thanks for the comment.
It always seemed to me that GG considers himself a casual.
And honestly, I still have difficulty reconciling the differences between hardcore and casual. In our guild, we call ourselves "casual" simply because raiding isn't required of anyone and if "real life" happens, we let it.
However, my wife, the mother of an 18 month old, is constantly the DPSer my entire guild chases. She pours over Elitist Jerks, blogs, and forums in an effort to squeeze out the maximum amount of DPS from her hunter and it always shows. That has to qualify as "hardcore"in my opinion, but she also hates to raid past a certain time because she and the baby have to be up early. *shrug*
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