World of Warcraft killed our gaming group!

[reanjr]

I play WoW. And by play, I actually mean play. I don't mean I draw life satisfaction from WoW. I don't mean I work towards my goals of increasing my Honor Rank in WoW. I don't mean I have WoW running at all times to watch the Auction Hall for selling goods while I am doing other things. I play WoW. I don't live it.

WoW addicts have a serious problem. It is tempting to ask any prospective players whether they play MMORPGs and disallow them in the group if they respond in the affirmative. It's not really their fault. At least half a dozen countries around the world treat Internet or gaming addiction as a medical problem. It is akin to alcoholism. Try an intervention to help these poor souls out. It probably stems from them having a less-than-fulfilling life outside of the game, so you could also attempt to fix the deeper life issues.

Then again, you just role play. It's not your job to be your fellow players' therapists. So, alternatively, you can just kick out players that play MMORPGs and cannot bring themselves to not discuss it for an evening. They're probably not worth having in the group anyway. Whatever role playing skills may be held by these players, WoW will almost assuredly slowly erode them if they spend all their waking hours playing.

Another method is more insidious if these are people you associate with outside of gaming. Find out their normal play times and interrupt them with activities that can actually have joyment derived from them. Take them out to a restaurant/cafe for a couple hours, or a movie, or the bar. Cut short any mention of WoW. Don't take no for an answer. Call them, tell them you are on your way to pick them up and hang up. Ignore dissenting opinions. They'll thank you for it later. If not, it's OK, because they don't spend anytime away from their PC at that point anyway so you forget that you ever knew them.

 

[Flexor the Mighty!]

No offense but idea of overplaying a MMORPG being a medical condition is ludicrous.

 

[Kae'Yoss]

I leveled no insults, at least none worse than what you have said about WoW players in general which I assumed ware playful jabs anyway.

And I consider your insults to be playful jabs, too. No hard feelings.

 

[Kae'Yoss]

No offense but idea of overplaying a MMORPG being a medical condition is ludicrous.

It sure is a form of addiction, a form of insanity. If I remember correctly, there were some cases of people dying because they didn't eat or sleep, playing the game instead. That's no better than crawling into the bottle.

Please remember we're talking overplaying here. We don't say that everyone who installs the game must be treated. We just say that if you massively overdo it, something's not right with you.

Then again, you just role play. It's not your job to be your fellow players' therapists. So, alternatively, you can just kick out players that play MMORPGs and cannot bring themselves to not discuss it for an evening.

I wouldn't mind someone mentioning it several times an evening. If it starts to seriously disrupt the game, I'd have to reprimand them. If it became extreme, I probably would kick them out.

But the main issue I have is them not showing up, or cancelling the whole game (since in those cases, they were the DMs). I have very little patience for people intent to waste my time, to disregard scheduled events and therefore ignore others. That's very anti-social. If these people are the only players available, I'd rather not play at all. I won't get that much less gaming time, but I will get a lot of time to use for other things, as I wouldn't sit at home sunday afternoons after a game was cancelled, having all other avenues closed.

 

[Eridanis]

Interesting conversation, but let's pull back on the "playful jabs" at each other for a while until people calm down a touch. We're not over the edge yet, but we came kinda close, there.

(mod hat off)

I played EQ back in the late 90's and early aughts, but had to give up when our daughter was born; just not enough time to play. I've recently put my toe in the WoW waters. I played WoW on my Mac for about a day before that computer died. (Perhaps it's a sign that I shouldn't tempt fate!)

Two of the players in my regular group are avid WoW players, while the DM plays DDO;total MMORPG conversation at last week's PnP game was about 5 minutes. We're a little older and can police our time, though, and we know when it's time to turn our attention back to the friends and game at hand. In the end, it's all up to the person, not the kind of game played. (Remember all the talk in the 80s about how bad D&D supposedly was. Part of that stemmed from the amount of time that was sunk into the game by those who were perceived to have a problem becuase of the game, rightly or no.)

 

[Kristivas]

You're walking on pretty thin ice there. Watch your next steps very carefully.

Me? Thin ice? I guess I'd better back down on my views and stop posting right now! ......or maybe I won't While I can respect you don't like to play WoW, I think it's lame how you seem to be generalizing every WoW player with the few that have peed in your cheerios.

It is meant pretty much ironic. There's a core of truth in it, though, since we find the behaviour of every single WoW player we know personally quite disgusting.

You don't know very many WoW players, I would wager. Just because the few you do know have let it take over every aspect of their lives and can't stop talking about it, doesn't mean the rest of us have. For instance, as much as you might disagree with my views and opinions and such, if fate had landed us both in a DnD group together, I'd be just as annoyed as you at the people BSing about anything, no matter the subject, when we were all there to game.

No. Because they don't shut up about it. Because they ruin parties and gaming sessions with their endless blathering.

Out of game talk has always messed up someone's DnD game at least a few times, be it WoW talk, EQ talk, Lord of the Rings talk, Star Wars talk, talking about girls, talking about their personal lives, ect. This is probably the main point I agree with you on. Leave non-gaming topics away from the DnD table.

....but, if everyone else is doing it and you're the only one feeling left out, then wouldn't you be the one ruining their good time if you tried to make them stop? I guess it all comes down to your friends and their point of view when it comes to consideration.

Since we are all enthusiastic D&D and computer game players and have experienced this behaviour firsthand, it should be clear that we aren't quite serious about this.

It's still a harsh thing to say. Having experienced it, one would think you'd be more sensitive than to throw about joking generalizations.

So now WoW players are a race? Do you expect me to demand they wear an exclamationmark over their head on a hat so we can clearly identify them?

I had typed something up here.. If you think hard enough, you can guess what it was, but then I took it back. It's not worth it. You're the one that needs to watch their step, I think.

 

[Kristivas]

You're right, Eridanis. I apologize.

 

[Infernal Teddy]

Can we get back to the topic at hand, and leave off the insults?


Oh, and by the way: Calling a regular citizen of germany a racist ist somethink akin to calling a texan an "indian". If it's not true, you just invited a WORLD of trouble to have a party in your head. So could we stop that RIGHT HERE?

Just for the record: I live in germany, I'm not german. However, it's my adopted home, and I'm rather protective of the nice people in my area. (Selbst wenn sie an der Saar leben... )

 

[Kae'Yoss]

Interesting conversation, but let's pull back on the "playful jabs" at each other for a while until people calm down a touch. We're not over the edge yet, but we came kinda close, there.

Hey, no problem. I don't mind Flexor's jabs. I'm pretty sure that they weren't meant seriously, and I'm pretty sure he recognizes my retorts to be equally jocular. I only mind the real insults.

I played EQ back in the late 90's and early aughts, but had to give up when our daughter was born; just not enough time to play. I've recently put my toe in the WoW waters. I played WoW on my Mac for about a day before that computer died. (Perhaps it's a sign that I shouldn't tempt fate!)

See? Your computer loathed the game so much that he commited seppuku in protest. That's what you get when most computers' parts are manufactured in Japan

What happened to the computer? Anything serious?

Two of the players in my regular group are avid WoW players, while the DM plays DDO;total MMORPG conversation at last week's PnP game was about 5 minutes. We're a little older and can police our time,

The two guys in question are both at least three years older than me, and I recently finished the first quarter of my personal century. I think by that time, you've learned most if not all your time policing.

 

[Kae'Yoss]

Just for the record: I live in germany, I'm not german. However, it's my adopted home, and I'm rather protective of the nice people in my area. (Selbst wenn sie an der Saar leben... )

You poor, poor man. I see the Pälzer got you. But help is available. You can still be educated. Let's start right now. Say: "Schwänngga"

Me? Thin ice? I guess I'd better back down on my views

Views are fine. Alluding to racism isn't. That's the main problem with your post. It's never a good idea to liken someone's dislike for players of a certain game to "judging a man by the colour of his skin", no matter whether that person happens to be German or not.

I think it's lame how you seem to be generalizing every WoW player with the few that have peed in your cheerios.

After the count hit a dozen, I thought I started to see a pattern. And that pattern seemed to be confirmed by the fact that every last WoW player I encountered so far has this problem.

Maybe fate just hates me, and the vast majority of WoW players are perfectly fine, but as of now, not a single of the normals has crossed my way. It's as if they were hiding.

Out of game talk has always messed up someone's DnD game at least a few times, be it WoW talk, EQ talk, Lord of the Rings talk, Star Wars talk, talking about girls, talking about their personal lives, ect. This is probably the main point I agree with you on. Leave non-gaming topics away from the DnD table.

It can't be avoided completely. And we always had a certain amount of off-topic talking. But it never was as bad as this. And it affects not only games, but also parties and other forms of gathering.

....but, if everyone else is doing it and you're the only one feeling left out, then wouldn't you be the one ruining their good time if you tried to make them stop?

I'm not the only one. We were 5 people on that gaming circle. Those two were the only WoW players. They would keep on talking about it, and the rest of us would sit there, rolling our eyes. I think being part of the majority rules out the possibility of being the spoilsport.

It's still a harsh thing to say. Having experienced it, one would think you'd be more sensitive than to throw about joking generalizations.

Not really. I don't mind others saying it. I know it to be untrue, I know those saying it for what they are - I usually know when someone says it in joke and take it for the playful teasing that it is, and I know when someone means it and know them for the ignorants they are, especially when they seemed to have a good time all evening up to the point when I mentioned my hobbies.

I'm sure the rest of my gaming group knows it to be the jocular remark that it is, too.

I had typed something up here.. If you think hard enough, you can guess what it was, but then I took it back. It's not worth it. You're the one that needs to watch their step, I think.

Yeah, having alluded to my racism was enough already. And you still don't see it. As you said, it's not worth it. Welcome to my ignore list. I should have done it long before.