Comments on: Why do We WoW?

By: Tom

Tom — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 10:38:04 +0000

This is the dumbest question ever……. I play WOW because its fun…… and

thats why everyone else play too

By: Songur

Songur — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 14:08:33 +0000

Mostly, the ‘reward’ for these activities is not the end outcome itself. It’s the actual act/duration of doing it, that is the goal. It’s fun being challenged.
Of course Blizz has heaped a combination of effects on the pile; they trigger our ‘addiction’ buttons with similar mechanisms that apply to slot-machine addicts, and to ‘hoarders & nest builders’ (the ‘uh, I got to collect them _all_! uh! more leather/ore!’ ‘I need that rare recipee!’).
I see other adults using their time+resources to fill their house with expensive designer furniture; I can’t see that being a more real accomplishment than collecting epics in wow…
Also, I might as well play as watch TV – the main issue is that wow is more addictive than TV ever was, and thus in the end less healthy…

With all that said, the ‘empty accomplishment’ still apply in lots of cases:
E.g., I don’t feel like working hard for ‘epic loot’ at lower level,
becase of the awareness of it quickly becoming obsolete.
But when you reach 70 / end level, and achievements become harder / “final”, they feel rewarding.
It happens again when you’ve collected ‘most’ of them: When you have “almost” all the good loot that applies to your class, the same ‘emptiness’ sets in: If you already have +1700 spell dmg (or whatever),
and you know your hard efforts can only bring you maybe +50 more… That sense of emptiness is quite sensible: You “have it all”, and keeping up a huge effort for “almost no” improvements, is MEANT to make you feel empty
– ‘nature’ never intended you to keep fighting for more, when more has little use.
For our innate ‘want more’ instinct, it’s natural to feel a bit empty in that situation…

If you want a more rewarding passtime, you must dedicate yourself to some humane real-life issue (that probably never ceases). Personally, that would turn me off too, if it is something that cannot be ‘ever solved’.

For wow, I suggest leveling a different class + different faction.
And if that doesn’t work for you, then try real life, as a last resort. (there might still be something there. Long time since I looked).

By: Phoemae

Phoemae — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 16:54:26 +0000

Watching the Cubbies beat up on people is more fun than the vast majority of anything I’ve done in WoW, I must say. But alas, they aren’t available to watch 24/7, like WoW is…

By: Dechion

Dechion — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 11:46:13 +0000

Like others have already said, $15 a month is cheap entertainment. I have family that plays that llives all over as well. We can get together and have a virtual reunion every day if we wanted to. Mostly for me its the social aspect that I enjoy. Meeting people and chatting about the game. At any rate I play because its fun, even if the whole thing is nothing but smoke and mirriors I will take memories of it with me when I am gone.

And by the way, the Cubbies will get thier epic rings this year =)

By: tkc

tkc — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 20:19:30 +0000

For me it is a hobby or a form of entertainment. It is just something I enjoy. Others would rather play golf. Fine by me. An explanation is not really needed as long as you’re having fun.
In guild chat last night one of the guildies was lamenting that reality TV is just the worst. My response was that TV was bad in general and that was one of the reasons I play WoW. As far as entertainment goes, WoW beats the crap out of 99% of what is on TV.

As Awlbiste points out, it is cheap fun too. For $15 I can get one pizza delivered. Or I can get about three beers at the local bar. Or I can rent 3 movies. I play WoW about 15 hours a week. That comes to 60 hours a month which comes to about 25 cents an hour. That is cheap fun.

By: Awlbiste

Awlbiste — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 19:36:53 +0000

Because $15 a month is cheap entertainment. I don’t think something has to have “meaning: to be enjoyable, although I do think playing a game has meaning. If you accomplish your goals you’ve done just that- set out to do something and did it. And that can be applied to real life as well. But for me it’s just simple fun and socialization.

By: Tydo

Tydo — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 19:22:07 +0000

I WoW because I feel that it combines two loves of mine: video games and reading. I love exploring the back story behind the quests, likening it to a book, but gives me the means to interact with it like a video game. I enjoy learning about what I can and can’t accomplish (easy to pick out when you’re tanking… rawr) and learning from those experiences and trying to improve. Most importantly, it’s interactive and makes me think, which elevates it above TV and movies, as far as entertainment goes.

By: Matticus

Matticus — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 16:32:19 +0000

Because by playing WoW, I know I’m spending my money on something less dangerous and more enjoyable as opposed to other activities college students my age would engage in =).

By: Why do We WoW? | The Altoholic

Why do We WoW? | The Altoholic — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 15:50:28 +0000

[...] Part Time Druid posted an excellent post entitled “Why do We WoW?” over on his site. I’ve talked with my wife about this quite a bit, as when you think about it, it really is a [...]