My incredibly cool WoW playing sister sent me this Sydney Morning Herald article (I’m certain there’s a hidden agenda with the incredibly nasty anti-smoking images that attack you while reading it). It’s a long article about the addictiveness of World of Warcraft. It’s filled with the usual yada yada with experts on why gamers become addicted. You know the drill…

• “In interviews with addicted players, some in their teens, she (Maressa Hecht Orzack) learns that most often the gamers find a sense of belonging in the virtual world. Some are shy with low self-esteem and find it easier to connect with other players, they find a sense of purpose and achievement in their game quests.
• For others, the game becomes a way to escape worries in the real world. Sometimes, though, that escapism can become extreme and lead to teens dropping out of school or older players losing their jobs.”

Which makes me wonder why people who aren’t…you know…socially disabled…play alot? And exactly what consitutes addiction here? If you choose to spend your free time playing instead of doing, well…boring stuff…does that make you addicted? I mean…5.5 million can’t all be social defects, can they? If so…what the hell does that say about the world we’re living in?

Anyways…I have another theory I’d like to just throw out here! I haven’t thought it thoroughly through, so please excuse the innocence of it all! But could this be a totally natural evolution? I mean…we’re all so connected, but we’ve yet to become really ‘personal’ about the whole connected thing. Are MMORPGs exactly what we need? Do we need a world in which to feel comfortable in? A world where we have a biological figure, have a reason for being there (gameplay) and a more personal communication method (biological interactions with avatars)? I’m just wondering if the popularity of MMORPGs is because we’re all so freakin connected that MMORPGs give us a freedom to be biologically connected, as well! I mean…I truely don’t believe that we’re all social defects, but I do feel that technological communication has become an important part of our lives and this is just a way of..well…adjusting! A way of defining our cyberidentities? But then again…social MMORPGs (although this is SUCH a wrong word to use) are pretty much a flop…except for Second Life, ofcourse. I’m just wondering if this whole MMORPGs popularity has something to do with the fact that we’re all pretty much secluded in such a 1 dimensional space by being connected all the freakin time whether it be work or sociality, but MMORPGs give us the freedom to be…well…human, human in cyberspace! Just a thought that’s crossed my mind! I just feel there’s something more luring with MMORPGs than just addiction and gameplay…there’s a reason why it’s so popular…there’s a reason why we all want to join…and I’m just saying…could this be because we need to have a more biological identity within cyberspace?

Anyways!! All these stupid thoughts aside! The whole article got me thinking about this whole WoW being the new golf thing! And there’s another theory! We’re looking at the next Freemason movement! I’ve often thought that it would be the IT support departments all around the world that would do it…but I think maybe it may be gamers instead!!!

It’s all vigoratingly exciting! What will happen next?!!