It's my birthday on Saturday and I had a big party planned, 20 or so people coming, mostly (war)crack addicts. Then it turns out the gates of AQ are being opened (by my guild!!) that evening. Rearranging everything is gonna be a nightmare. I'm working till late on the friday night and I have work first thing on Monday morning, which precludes the possibility of having le parte on Sunday.

Damn you an'quiraj!! :P


-Annik

Just go to the birthday party. WoW isn't that important. ;)

That AQ thing was annoying my server crashed about 6 times when the gates opened then i logged off, so much lag...

A lot of my friends worked very hard to get the gates open, I can't really expect them to miss it just because it's awkward to rearrange things. Plus, me and my friends are pretty damn obsessed with WoW.. :p


-Annik

That sounds terrible that you feel bad for having friends over for your birthday because they can't play a game.

It's YOUR birthday and it's just a game.

You are worth more than wow.

Seriously... I'd skip the gates and have fun in RL. If it's anything like my server's AQ opening the whole server is gonna be a lag'fest anyway... it's also a long event... it'd have to be a hella' party to miss the enteriety of the opening.

It is 10 hours, our server started at 2:00am EST to avoid the crashes, and people were able to log in the next morning and still participate.

*looks at one hand* R/L fun *looks at other hand* Fake fun

hmmmmmmmm

:bonk:

I wasn't even online when they opened - me and the gf were doing other things :whistle:

Perhaps you might see things differently if you aren't as horribly addicted as my friends and I. A lot of them spent a long while farming for it, and I did test the water to see how they would feel about missing it. The general concensus was "well, I guess I'll come if everyone else is.. but I was sorta hoping to be there". It seems unfair to deprive them of something they have worked for when my birthday party can simply be delayed by 2 hours.

However, Rayze's post does draw up an interesting question. I submit that an achievement in Warcraft results in the same good feelings and emotions as an achievement in real life. If this is the case, is there any real difference between the two, in terms of being a worthwhile endeavour? If we really feel that real life achievements are somehow explicitly worth more, why do we play WoW at all? When we could be spending the time pursuing more "useful" real life goals?

Going beyond that, if we find our life in WoW more fulfilling than our lives in the real world, is there in fact any point in pursuing any goals at all in the real world, bar of course the freedom to continue living and therefore playing?


-Annik

Annik, that is a great philosophical ponderance!

As I have much much coffee in me, the sun is shining (super rare up here), and nothing going on at work...I feel compelled to submit a response:

Personally speaking, I consider myself a gamer - I played UO for 6 years before I couldn't take the changes they made any longer and all of my buddies left to play PR shards or other games. I suppose I don't fit the 'l33t' demographic of most games as I'm a newly turned 29 yr old who does have a job and r/l obligations I must tend to (although I tend to always make time for a fix of WoW - and soon VG). I don't usually have a gf either...just so happens i have one now, which, yes even WoW takes a backseat to her because well, she's real and WoW isn't. If we allow ourselves to become completely immersed in virtual reality, then we might as well become the Lawnmower Man lol (anyone seen that besides me?)

I love achieving goals in WoW and get a rush out of it, but it's definitely no rush compared to say...skydiving or buying that first new car. It seems to me that r/l goals that are met have a longer lasting sense of achievement than my virtual counterparts.

That's just me though.

I mostly get to play at home after the kids are asleep, and I would be doing this or watching TV.

Rayze,

If you didn't need to work in order to live, and you could be with your girlfriend in WoW, and experience your time together with her in WoW in exactly the same way as you do in real life (including the prerequisite "intimate encounters") would that swing that balance and make you want to live in the game, so to speak?
Or what if you lived together and played WoW side by side every day? Would playing WoW become more important than other pursuits then? Just how immersive would a virtual world have to be in order for you to want to spend all your time there, and 0% of your time in reality?

:)

In other news, the party went off without a hitch - 20 people pitched up, we had an awesome time and there is still plenty of alcohol left.
y girlfriend got me a lightsaber for my birthday present. It is _SO_ cool.


-Annik

Rayze,

If you didn't need to work in order to live, and you could be with your girlfriend in WoW, and experience your time together with her in WoW in exactly the same way as you do in real life (including the prerequisite "intimate encounters") would that swing that balance and make you want to live in the game, so to speak?
Or what if you lived together and played WoW side by side every day? Would playing WoW become more important than other pursuits then? Just how immersive would a virtual world have to be in order for you to want to spend all your time there, and 0% of your time in reality?

:)

In other news, the party went off without a hitch - 20 people pitched up, we had an awesome time and there is still plenty of alcohol left.
y girlfriend got me a lightsaber for my birthday present. It is _SO_ cool.


-Annik


Annik, my friend, if that were possible I would be the quintessential Lawnmower Man.

Btw, I'm having a hard time deciding on who is cooler...your gf for buying you a lightsaber for a bday present or you for thinking it is "_SO_cool." :thumbsup:

My girlfriend got me a lightsaber for my birthday present. It is _SO_ cool.


Hahah. grats.