By David Breneisen
Since World of Warcraft, or WoW, is the most well known cyber-addiction at this time I thought we should go to the primary source to do some research. It is free to try for 10-days at https://signup.worldofwarcraft.com/trial/freetrial.html, and it actually took me the same amount of effort as signing up for the New York Times web site.
As I was playing I noticed a few things, one of the most awe-inspiring being, it actually is the World of Warcraft. If you start out as the night elf race you begin on an island. So, when I saw a cliff I decided to jump off (interesting quote). After dying and resurrecting myself several times to get to the bottom I ended up in the ocean, and decided to swim away from where I landed. After a little while I looked back on the island, and realized that it was a giant tree strump. That’s right, I had been running around, questing, monster-hunting, etc. . . on a giant tree stump coming out of the ocean.
Another thing I noticed was that there were hierarchies of communities, just like in our government. The broadest two communities are the horde and the alliance, which are at war with one another. Players seem to get a kick out of making fun of the opposing alliance. Below this are guilds, and within guilds there is also a hierarchy. The guild’s creator is the leader and has the power to get rid of his/her guild at any moment, and this leader creates officers within the guild. There is a lot of incentive for playing the game when such a hierarchy is instituted, players want to move up within their guild or create their own “super-guild.”
As for me, I am thinking about getting the game and getting as many of my friends from home into it as possible as a way to stay in touch on a more daily/weekly basis, while slaying dragons of course.
4 Comments
October 9, 2008 at 4:53 am
I keep assuming that it will put my user-name next to the entry, but since it doesn’t I’m letting you know I wrote this entry.
October 9, 2008 at 10:36 am
I think that this is a really interesting example of an online virtual community. For my project 1 essay, I wrote about identity and the role of community on the Web 2.0. Naturally, World of Warcraft was a very strong example of the virtual community serving as social engagement and an outlet for user creativity for the individual online. With the knowledge that World of Warcraft does indeed implement systems of social hierarchy and the resulting competition among users to be the best, it introduces an interesting point questioning the validity of claims that accuse the significance of the existence of such a game and online community. I think the simple fact that one of our own classmates (as I’m sure there are more) experimented with this online community is a testament to the manner in which people are now communicating on the internet. Since David is at college, he is away from home and all of the friends that he made there, so he wants to use this game as a way to keep in contact with them. This may be an unconventional way to develop friendships online (instead of using Myspace or Facebook), but it seems to be extremely effective in sparking interest in using the program due to the richness of its characters, designed scenery, and history. If any of you like Southpark, (I’m sure some of you have seen the episode) there is an episode about World of Warcraft (Season 10, ‘Make Love, Not Warcraft’) that quite comically and accurately depicts the way users get addicted to the game (the episode is probably on the list of full episodes at http://www.southparkstudios.com/).
October 12, 2008 at 8:54 pm
Here’s why not: The relationship between people and games have really changed or should I say gaming changes people. It allows people to take the role of any character they choose to be and it is a different world where people can take control in. But, I know from personal relationships that the game can have negative consequences. For instance, my 26 year old brother has been playing WoW and this online Final Fantasy game for over five years! It is a bad addiction and they are both endless games. (It is also impossible to talk to him when he is gaming…) You can’t win, you can only get better so it’s almost a trap for people who want to be the strongest, or have the most items or levels, etc… But Taylor does point out that these types of games are a way of communication. They allow people to interact with other people and actually talk to them. It is a way to meet new people and keep in touch with old friends. All in all, there just needs to be balance in the life of gamers. Personally, I wouldn’t pay monthly for games.
October 12, 2008 at 10:45 pm
I am a recovering World Of Warcraft addict, its been two and a half years since my last use of WoW and my life has been changed because of my sobriety. All joking aside, WoW really is an addiction, an addiction to an alternate reality, a life that one can actually control, a life in which ones skill defines success, where real world rules don’t apply, and where real human connections can be made. This thirst for success, and the positive aspects of the game come with a price, and I’m not talking about the 12.99 monthly fee. In order to really be successful in the game, one has to put in a LOT of hours, more hours then there are in the day. I found myself turning my friends down on the weekends because I had “important” raids to attend, and I would even half-ass homework assignments to quicker get to the game. I am not saying that one cannot juggle both playing this game and a normal life, and of course all things in moderation are fine, but this game has a way of murdering time, and I would just advise people without too much time on their hands (college students especially) to stay away from this game, at least until the summer.