Achieving RL / WoW balance – biggest threat to you



I wanted to write about this very delicate subject for a long time (it was on my to-write-about list even since the beginning of the blog). But what really got me going was this wonderful post. I recommend you to read it. Really read it even tho it’s long. And old. It’s still very fresh.

I find myself in some of the situations the poster describes. I too have (tried to) lead a guild as an officer and found myself not able to please the greedy. I also have neglected really important aspects of my life for WoW. And for what? To be “better”? “Better” in what, a video game? Like that’s going to pay my rent and kiss me goodnight when I go to bed.

WoW is made in such a way that you can’t achieve something important unless you play like an addict. True story and you know I’m right. Let’s focus a bit on this concept of achievement in WoW.

When can you say that you are someone in WoW? When you finish the game and kill Illidan? That will count as nothing in a few months when the next expansion is out. And things will start over again from the beginning. How about being the best PvPer out there? Heck, you might even get there, but think of the work you have to do to maintain your position! And then the season is over and it’s the same story all over again. In both situations you have to spend hours, days and even weeks to grind for materials/reputation/consumables/money for respecs/repairs or to constantly do Arena matches. For the casual gamer that’s insane. But the sad part is that for some gamers that’s life.

And I’ve reached another aspect of WoW: the players. On one hand we have the casual player and on the other one there is the hardcore gamer. Let’s talk about each one, shall we?

The casual player enjoys the game. He plays around 2-3 hours/day (sometimes more, sometimes less), at his own pace and wants to have fun together with his friends. He is also known as the slacker and is often mocked by the hardcore gamers. He’s the guy that comes unprepared for raids and probably will have to leave half through the raid the do something else other than WoW. This player has a very hard time adjusting to the game because of his style of play. Having fun, enjoying the game doesn’t go to well with end-game raiding so the casual gamer will find very hard a guild to his liking. If he’s lucky enough to find a raiding guild that accepts him, he will often pass the loot to the whining, bitchy and greedy undercover hardcore gamer, who will soon leave the guild because “I’m not having fun, I want to raid more. nOobs!”.

The hardcore gamer on the other hand is a well-versed, “skilled” player. He plays anywhere from 5 to 10 hours/day. He will always be available to raid and will always be online. He thinks it’s his duty to tell you what do to (even if he’s not an officer or has no leading position whatsoever) and how to play the game (”Listen, we’re lacking a healer today, you will have to heal”; “Why aren’t you considering to switch Holy? There is no need for you after Kara.”; “Why should I attack only from the back?!” – my guild’s Co-Founder and rogue, a “skilled” hardcore raider). This kind of player will always complain about the raiding schedule and will not hesitate to leave the guild if he doesn’t get what he wants very fast (God forbid to put him on rotation-based raiding regime). He has no real friends except “his” loot and will step over people to get it. Usually, the day of a hardcore player looks like this: Job Eat WoW Sleep (/wave to JEWS guild from Karazhan, too bad you aren’t doing as well as you used to). He will neglect himself, his family (if he has one), his friends and will ultimately lead to a lonesome life. I must admit, there are some players out there of this type that play hard and manage to have a successful and fulfilling life, but they are SO rare that they almost don’t count compared to the others. They should be the ones setting examples for the addicts. Like this guy does here.

I can’t judge people for their life style. I respect other people choices. But from my position of a casual player, I just can’t understand why anyone would waste so much time to achieve exactly nothing. Life is wonderful, you just have to know how to live it.

As I already said, I am a casual player. I’ve been to the other side, playing almost 10 hours/day but I took a step back and realized I’m wasting precious time of my life for nothing (I’m only 22 you know). Lucky for me, I had someone to smack me down to reality. I pity the one who doesn’t.

WoW is a great game and Blizzard did a good job creating it. It offers us an alternate universe where we can be almost whoever/whatever we want (yeah, like Second Life). If people say WoW > RL, it’s their own fault. These people have serious issues and they truly deserve what they will get.

So how can you achieve the much sought after balance? I’m not the one to answer that question. Simply because I can’t tell you what to do. I can only give you a piece of advise: enjoy the game! Have fun playing it! Don’t hesitate to RP from time to time. If your definition of having fun is 10+ hours/day raiding/farming then.. sigh.. good luck! If not, I congratulate you.

Flame away!

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