WoW Invades Real Life (RL)
by Damien Barrett 
Jan 31st 2006 at 5:00PM
Last summer, my friend and I were set to bike around Manhattan and I was to meet him in the Financial District
downtown, but we didn't set a precise place. We had been playing WoW all morning before taking off, so it was probably
only natural that I'd be biking along and wish that I could pop up a mini-map to find his location relative to mine.Or take Teeaita's experience:
"I was driving down the road this morning to work. You know the usual signs, you spent all night playing WoW...slept a few hours..and your alarm went off. Time to go to work. So, I'm on the road and I'm speeding along cause I'm late of course..and then I realize I'm RIGHT on this guy's bumper... and I'm like crap.. I'm drawing too much aggro!!%uFFFD And I kinda paused.. I was like man, WTF... I just thought.. "Im drawing too much aggro" from bein on that guy's bumper... it really startled me."
Have you had WoW invade your real-life? Tell us your most amusing story.
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Virtual selves
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
rands Jan 31st 2006 6:08PM
An employee recently left the group and he left his company owned 17" Powerbook. I didn't have a good idea who to give it to, so I sent a mail to the time entitled:
"UFG 17" PB PST".
Datius Jan 31st 2006 7:03PM
I have on occasion, usually about every other week, when I get messaged by someone in msn, yahoo, aim, etc. I will type /p or /r when responding to them.
That's when you know you've been playing too much. Warcrack forever.
jennie Jan 31st 2006 7:10PM
there was a time when I MUDded a lot, and had most of my guild on IM. Of course, I'd type "tell <name> <message> " far more often than just <message>. I don't do the /r thing, funnily enough. I do, however, wonder why there's no /wave emote in AIM.
mancko Feb 1st 2006 12:48AM
A short film I directed got into a film festival recently, and I sent out an e-mail to most of the people I know about it. All the responses were pretty normal ("I'm so proud of my little boy," from my mom, etc) except for the one from a buddy of mine I don't talk to that often, who plays WOW. His e-mail said only:
congratz
/clap
/cheer
Very succinctly put, I thought.
M0le Feb 1st 2006 1:33AM
every now and then i look at my watch and think to myself "man i've been in queue for warsong gulch for a long time"
Dexter76 Feb 1st 2006 9:01AM
MOre than in RL (i usually enter my office yelling "For The Horde!") I think that WOW "addiction" is such powerful during my dreams (unconscious influence).
I often dream people with red tags over their heads, or me trying to get cover from an assault (from who i don't remember...allies?;-) under a car...yeah squeezing my body in a cat shape.
Cheers
DX76
Mike Feb 1st 2006 9:33AM
Not really with WoW, but in college when I was playing Mario Kart multiple hours a day I had some of those moments. Like I'd just get finished a long session and hop in my friend'd car to get a ride to class (which of course I was late for because of the Karting) and I'd be like, "I don't know why you don't just power-slide around these corners, man. That way you don't lose any speed."
mike Feb 1st 2006 11:24AM
This is so weird but I swear it's true.
A little after I started WoW (kicked the game off with a 3-day binge), I was driving around a strange neighborhood (in RL) looking for an address I'd never been to before, and I seriously considered asking where it was in General chat.
Wasn't near a computer or anything, just had an extreme urge to type /1 and ask where I was...
Tryst Feb 1st 2006 2:21PM
I have definitely noticed the impact of WOW on RL. When I first started out, when I would close my eyes I would see the sparkling of loot glowing. When not paying attention to what I'm doing, I sometimes have to stop myself from signing e-mails using the name Tryst instead of my RL name. Yesterday morning I got to work and set my fingers on my keyboard in the way I do when I'm going to start killing something, instead of about to type mode. And last but not least, yesterday, I hit the letter "r" on my keyboard with the full expectation that I was going to be able to reply to someone who had e-mailed me.
slybri Feb 1st 2006 6:42PM
After playing my Mage I always have the urge to blink forward when I'm walking around. And after hours with my Warlock I wanna Immolate some people at work. Just wave my hand and whooooosh!
Weird, but sometimes I have the urge to say "LOL" outloud or "WTF." I alway stop myself though.
Anex Feb 2nd 2006 6:01AM
Well I am a bit of a different case, I have been playing MMOs for years (and I mean years I can't even remenber my last year of highschool) and I played with many of my friends.. so it was "normal" to hear such things coming from their mouth or mine.
I have also let out the occassional "LOL" instead of actual laughter... I have said "OMG" and "WTF" several times in normal conversation... (and even considered it normal!)
And recently on my trip to Paris while my husband and I were wandering lost I turned to him and seriously said "Why don't you ask a guard?" he replied "I don't know where one is" and then we looked at eachother.. O_o