Since I took an MMO vacation from WOW I went to play Perfect World International (PW2). I have to say it's pretty cool and definitely draws some interest from WOW & EQ2 from what I've seen, but it's also amazing how far we have come that there are full 3-D MMOs of apparent quality, for free, accessible to people out there. It's really nice, a good change of pace, though it is not nearly as polished as as the aforementioned games.
Nobody is normal, and nobody´s odd, everybody is unique. Am I the odd one cause I walk on my hands on the way to work or are you odd cause you dont? Everybody is different from each other and the most people I know who play WoW would probably had been called "cool" and that´s the major part of my friends. I don´t think I or my WoW playing friends are odd in any way, what I DO think is odd is people bullying people for doing what they like on their spare time.____________________________Level 80 Blood elf DK at Talnivarr
This post was from a user who has deleted their account.
What could be simpler than saying to someone, "Have you ever been to Azeroth?" or "I'll meet you at the Forge later," and seeing if they catch on. If not, oh well.
You guys are a lot braver in the way that you express your hobby than I am.I have no family members, nor real life friends that enjoy gaming nearly as much as I do. In fact any discussion about games is generally considered distasteful. Which means 'inappropriate' with family and 'uncool' with friends.Games are regarded as something that social misfits do. They're regarded as unhealthy, uninteresting, unattractive, and a waste of time. Paradoxically, board games and card games (as long as they use a standard 52 card deck) are free from this stigma. I've never been proud about my 'hobby', 'habit', 'addiction', or 'dysfunction', and I've frequently been guilty about it. I've never really been all that hardcore of a player, either. At most I would play 3-4 hours on week days, and never more than 8 hours on weekend days. Since college, however, I married a wonderful girl who, although she isn't a gamer herself, doesn't necessarily associate gaming with anything negative.I continue to think of it as my 'dark secret' or 'secret shame'. And to this day I cannot talk about it in public without getting flustered and embarrassed. And I cannot help myself but negatively judge people who do talk about it in public, as if my parents are there in my head telling me that it's 'inappropriate' and 'wrong'.I would say that I wish that I could be free of these 'chains', so to speak. But I can't really fully convince myself that they really are chains. There will always be part of me that says that my parents were right, and all you gamers out there who openly talk about gaming are wrong.I'm a computer engineer, and I run into a lot of geeks on a daily basis, so this continues to be an issue for me.
What exactly do you mean?
I hide my gaming status for the most part. I don't tell people I necessarily play World of Warcraft, though I do mention Wowhead and that I play a lot of games in my free time.For me, one of the major reasons I don't typically share my passion for games is because I used to have very little self-control. I would let things go a bit too far and neglect other stuff that needed to be done. I think we've all done that in one way or another to be honest. That was something I wasn't proud of.Of course, being on the Wowhead team and the privilege to work with some great people, write for the blog, and discuss all of it with you guys and gals on the forums is pure win. I don't think I can give that up, even if I were banned.So much for getting rid of me!
I really don't think there exists something as "a normal person".Normal can be that banker you see everyday working at the counter,with that plain-almost-bored look on his face,but he might not be that normal when he gets home.I don't consider myself as being normal,I consider myself as being what I choose to be,I don't follow in anyone's footsteps nor do I repeat others mistakes,I make my own XD I don't brag about my hobbies,namely WoW or others,but my whole group of friends(including there my brother) play WoW (and for that matter because of them I started playing) and we do often talk about it when we meet :D But real life matters are discussed as well. I don't talk to the new or old people that are my friends and don't play WoW about it,unless they ask or I have to give an explanation from where a certain drawing or story is inspired.So,as some rich-fashion victim girls my age would say, being normal is so last decade.
I played WoW, I used to be a pretty hardcore gamer - I still consider my gamer in the sense that I understand the true essence of video games, even though I haven't touched one for a couple months now (taking some time to get my ^&*! straight). Anyways... I disagree with the "normality is a POV" statement. One may have the perspective that they seem normal, but in reality they may have deviated from the social norm. Not that is necessarily a bad thing - I don't see why people feel the need to normalize themselves, but the fact still remains that one can be deviant from society.