WOW....umm...k...WOW

I won't lie, that picture looks awesome. This guy completely decked out in armor, ready to go to battle, fierce looking, complete with battle axe and all. I would be scared to death to see him in real life.

My brother Austin, who is currently on a mission, used to be completely addicted to the World of Warcraft. All he would do, when not working or dealing with school stuff, is just that. Play WOW. As I was a video gamer in my younger years, and still am but on a much smaller scale, I can understand the pull a video game can have on a person. I might even go as far as saying it can be a stress reliever and a good source of entertainment for a busy life. Escaping reality for a short while, in my opinion, isn't all that bad. Everyone needs to have time to themselves to do what they want, to enjoy life, and to be chill. However ALL things, good or bad, should be done in moderation. For example, I firmly believe that reading the scriptures non stop everyday for a month is way too much. God gave us scriptures to instruct us and guide us during our journey here on Earth, not to bog us down not allowing us to live.

WOW is addicting. I know this for a fact. My brother was addicted to it, but he had the ability to walk away from it. I'm sure there are people out there who literally all they do is play the game, and live off of......well I honestly don't even know. I know there are people obsessed over it. Austin once bought a pack of WOW trading/playing/game cards, and chanced upon some lucky card that allowed his character to spawn a special pet, or something, in the game. He sold that CODE....literally a 10 digit number, for $800 on ebay. EIGHT HUNDRED DOLLARS......THAT is what I would call obsessed. The guy called him and told him he just wanted the code, and my brother gave it to him after the transaction was complete. I can't imagine having a life where $800 was less important than a feature on a video game. That's completely insane. Maybe I should invest in WOW playing cards and sell them online.......ok, no.

The whole reason for this post is not to bash those that play the game. I'm perfectly OK with playing the game in moderation, but just don't get obsessed with it. Obsessing over anything I think isn't really a good thing. I just have wondered recently about our society and things like this, and the impact it has. The entertainment industry is huge, It probably make more money than our country is in debt (just conjecture, and I realize our country is in debt so far we couldn't even count), which goes to show where peoples priorities are. Families are torn apart by vices such as Pornography, Alcohol and Drug abuse, etc. Is this really any different? I can understand both sides of the argument, but i would venture so far as to say it is not. It's an addiction, and could be the cause of pain and ruining lives.

Now for me.

I do not play this game. I refuse to even start.

My reasons are basic:

A. I have no desire. I see my roommates play, again which is fine, and well it just doesn't catch my interest. At all. Zero interest.

B. $15 a month to play a game. What happened to the old days when you bought the game, and that was it. No monthly fees, no gimmicks, just a good quality game. Warcraft 1 was amazing. Warcraft 2 was revolutionary. Then Starcraft came out, even cooler. I remember playing Warcraft 1 with my best friend Nick Griffiths, and we thought it was amazing. It was. It still is. Once we beat it, we still played, probably more than we should have, but it wasn't the same as WOW.

C. I don't have the time for it. I have work and class everyday, which means I'm gone from about 8 or 9 til 6 and at the latest 7, depending on the day. I don't have a ton of homework this semester, but I feel, personally, there are so many more productive things I can be doing (even though I still may not do those), and being stuck playing a game, is not on the agenda for favorite things to do. I've been able to spend more time playing the guitar, I even read a book recently, and I have time to do my studying and homework.

D. Boredom. I play video games, I can get into them and play for an hour or two. After that, I get bored, even if it's a game I really like, I still get tired of it. I cannot imagine sitting in front of the computer screen for hours, an entire day, not sleeping (as i'm sure some gamers do), just to "Run a Raid" or "gather herbs." I just can't imagine that feeling more important to accomplish than getting sleep. Something your body needs.

I'm sure I'm not the first to take a stab at the world of online gaming, but just from my observation and experience, I believe my feelings on the subject are clear.

Ps. Post #4. Goal complete for this month. I will probably write again this month anyway :)