In Defense of WoW

World of Warcraft (WoW) is a hobby of mine. Actually, saying that it's a hobby is probably an understatement. I'm quite sure I've spent significantly more time than I should have playing this game over the past few years. There are stigmata that some people believe float around with WoW players, but I say these people be damned. WoW is my hobby, I have fun playing, and it makes me happy. I have no doubt that some of these people who are so quick to cringe and take a step back when I say that I am a WoW player spend just as much time on their hobbies of choice. With the amount of time spent watching television by the majority of America I think most people have little room to talk. At least in WoW I am doing something besides sinking into the couch while the glowing lights zombify my brain.

I guess I should explain what WoW is for those who are unfamiliar. If you are one of those bigoted individuals who no matter what they hear will still see WoW as an activity for pimply faced adults living in their mother's basements feel free to skip over this paragraph. Actually, just turn off your computer and go suck a tailpipe. Anyway, WoW is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (mmorpg). What does that mean? It means that there are millions of players just like myself who quest, craft, gather, trade, train, collect, and just hang out in the WoW universe. In the World of Warcraft players choose a faction, race, and class and take their chosen character out into the world of Azeroth to play. What some might consider the main game is adventuring your way from levels 1-80. This, however, is only the tip of the iceberg that is WoW. Along the way you can pick up professions that you advance to make more powerful gear, consumable items, pets, mounts, and so much more. You can even fight against players of the opposing faction if you so choose. So what happens when your character turns level 80? Game over right? In my opinion this is just when the fun really starts. At the level cap you have the option of teaming up with a group of friends (yes, real people! *gasp*) to explore massive dungeons and fight epic battles to gain extra rare armor and items. I could probably continue describing this game all day, but hopefully you understand the basics and I will force myself to move on.

One of the most common opinions I hear about World of Warcraft is that it is monotonous and boring. This is amazing to me because more often than not, the people who make this statement are players of games in the first person shooter genre. Now I have no doubt that fans of these games would be quick to prove me wrong, but let's take a quick look at what a FPS is anyway. First person shooters involve people running around and shooting each other for points. Sure there are other game modes like capture the flag or king of the hill, but it all basically boils down to who can shoot the other person the quickest. In my experience, fans of the genre only play on one or two maps because that is where they are most comfortable and able to perform the best. Now can you honestly tell me that a game like WoW where you have a massive, wide open world to do basically anything you want in is more monotonous than a game where you are doing the exact same thing in the exact same place over and over? If you get bored in WoW there is always something else for you to do. You can even start a new character of a different class and get an entirely different experience from the game.

Next in line for most often heard complaint about WoW is probably, "I don't want to pay every month to play a game". First off, how much does WoW cost to play? If you choose to pay on a month by month basis it will cost $14.99 per month. If you choose to pay for multiple months or even a year at a time there are, of course, discounts to be had. Now I should probably address why you have to pay at all. WoW is a massive online game. All the game data from all the players has to be stored somewhere right? Servers have to be maintained to bring this world to life. Not to mention the amount of time spent patching and monitoring the game by Blizzard (the creator of the game) employees. These are all costs that have to come from somewhere! Back to the complaint about paying now. A friend of mine has always told me he won't play WoW because of the monthly cost. This is the same friend who buys a new video game for his Xbox 360 or PS3 almost every week. That's $60 a pop. He could buy one less video game a month and pay for four months of WoW. Let's say you don't have such an expensive gaming habit though. You could eat out one less time or not go to the movies one weekend and use that money for your WoW subscription. Yes, 15 bucks a month adds up, but as entertainment costs go, it's really not that bad.

Finally, many people seem to think that only socially awkward no life losers play WoW. Certainly these people exist, but I'm quite sure you could find them in most hobbies if you looked hard enough. I am a member of a fairly large guild in the World of Warcraft. Throughout the lifetime of the guild I have played with mothers, fathers, children, teenagers, college students, and real life friends. WoW is, by design, an extremely social game. There are many aspects of the game that you could not possibly see without working together as a group. Some people may say that the friends I've made in the game don't count because they are "online friends" but to me, the relationships I've made through WoW are just as strong and important, if not more so, than many of my "real life" friends. My guild is a community and it's a great feeling to get to sit down at night and talk to a group of friends as we explore the far reaching lands of Azeroth and defeat world threatening evil.