Mind Alive Blog

The pole was an addition

This is a pic of my World of Warcraft character Lorelle. Dave and I were talking about video games and their dopamine responses, so I figured I'd post this. From the outside WoW looks like a waste of time for lonely nerds. There's so many stories of how parents neglect their children in order play and how people become hopelessly addicted to it. But, what makes it addicting? I've played WoW since 2007 and even though I have more time on my hands I play less mainly because my friends have moved on to other things. For me WoW was so addictive, especially when things weren't going well in my life (lost my job among other things), because I could talk to people about what was going on. I met quite a few folks online that became friends in real life.
In Calgary we would have pub nights where we'd meet for a pint at a pub and though we tried not to, we would inevitably talk about WoW.  I've traveled across Canada and into the US visiting people I met on line. My friends don't think it's safe, but you learn so much about people in the game and how they react to certain situations, because you have group with strangers to meet the game's objectives in a raid situation. I feel way more comfortable meeting someone I talked to for years than someone I just met at the bar. You'll always have something to talk about too.

S

Labels: online, socializing, World of Warcraft