We are all geeks together
by Elizabeth Wachowski 
Mar 17th 2007 at 6:47PM
This thread in the Raids and Dungeons forums showcases what I find most infuriating about the whole raiders v. casuals debate, and in fact about the whole WoW community. A relatively sedate topic about what the top guilds in the world do to be successful turns into the usual "ZOMG raiders have no life" argument, and then into a competition over who has the best real life. Hornwood pulls out the "I make a lot of money and can get a BMW and a hot wife" card, which puts everyone else on the defensive to prove they're not losers.
You can see the same argument in the threads and chat whenever anyone accomplishes anything in WoW. Sure, they killed Gruul, but I bet they don't have jobs. That guild has nice purple pants, but have they ever removed anyone else's? I may have a useless spec and spend ninety percent of my playtime complaining, but I sleep on top of a pile of money with many beautiful women!
If you trusted the WoW forums, you would quickly believe that every moment of your life spent not playing WoW should be spent driving around in your Lexus to the local nightclubs to get drunk and pick up hot chicks before going to the gym so you can fit into your $10,000 suit. Not only does this reek of soulless consumerism, it assumes that everyone has the same goals in life. Who is more successful, the shy WoW player with a few close friends that he treasures, or the outgoing businessman who makes the life of everyone he meets a little bit worse? Is it more loserish to spend two hours counseling a 15-year-old guildmate whose parents have been fighting than to spend two hours picking up a girl you'll never call again?
Let's be honest -- we're all geeks. Whether you're an Ohio State basketball player or a promising underground hip-hop artist, whether you play one hour a week or one hundred, we're all geeky to some degree just by virtue of playing WoW. Pulling the "you have no life" card on anyone who plays more than you just makes you look whiny. Plus, gamers face enough opposition from Jack Thompson and his ilk. We don't have to fight among each other. This geek on geek violence must end!
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Virtual selves
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Druid dude Mar 17th 2007 6:59PM
There are very very few threads on the WoW forums that don't devolve in to a grade school playground argument. I stop reading threads as soon as I see that most of the posts are quoting someone else.
That has even been happening here a bit more lately, I hate to say. I pretty much don't read any posts here that start with "@" or "to". Lots of great stuff here, no doubt. It just seems that more of the whiny WoW forum crowd has been finding their way here lately.
Growth is good and all, grats to WoWinsider for that! But I would hope we can keep the much more mature and calm atmosphere that used to prevail here more than it does now.
Jp Mar 17th 2007 7:17PM
This wins blog post of the year.
bobpwnsjones Mar 17th 2007 7:31PM
i second jp's motion
michel Mar 17th 2007 7:49PM
a very fine post here. and sensible and intelligent. yeah!
every people "get a life" and right to live it when they want. and I don't fucking care about "geeks" or "rich boy" or "salesman". every word is just a way to control others.
I say, let people be happy in their life. it's that simple, so easy. if they need you, you will notice.
Chris Mar 17th 2007 7:50PM
I wonder who Hornwood is? *strokes chin* Hmm...
Blargg Mar 17th 2007 7:53PM
Well said.
Jason Mar 17th 2007 8:11PM
Well, first off, his post honestly wasn't as bad as you made it out to be. He's still an ass, but not nearly as large.
Second, we're all geeks. Everyone that plays WoW is a geek. You're spending $15 a month to relax in a world inhabited by Orcs, Elves, Dwarfs, Gnomes, Trolls, and Corpses. They all walk around, cast spells, wear armor with outrageously large shoulders and look like clowns until you and a handful of friends can band together and beat big bad guys for coordinated gear.
Personally, I'm in the military, make $40k a year, and actually drive a BMW. But you know what? I also spend 40-50 hours a week playing WoW, and by goodness, I'm a geek.
BaboonNL Mar 17th 2007 8:17PM
It's a wonder those other car manufacturers still exist, with so many people having a BMW or Mercedes...
Addie Mar 17th 2007 8:43PM
I, um, THIRD jp's motion! &
Addie Mar 17th 2007 8:44PM
...less than three geeks!
Zarl Mar 17th 2007 9:08PM
I'm a geek and damn proud of it - I even got my fiance hooked on the game...now I'm just trying to get her leveled up to 70 and get her into a raid or two...not too sure how that's going to work out yet. She's a pretty casual player, so I'm not sure if she'd get into the raiding thing or not.
Yeah, the WoW forums can suck pretty hard. I never knew how much my class/spec/gear/playstyle sucked until I read the forums and had everyone tell me so :)
Take it w/ grain of salt. I've posted a few questions to the mage forums, and I usually get quality responses (then again, I use grammer, punctuation and spelling *grin*), but there _never_ fails to be a couple of idiots that say something like "l0l, god u suk, lrn to play bettr and you mgiht not suk!!11"
So meh...play on. It's a damned fun game, but sometimes the worst part of an MMORPG is the whole MMO part.
Tylenol Mar 17th 2007 11:13PM
Im a casual player, I play only a few nights a week for a couple of hours.... so where is my BMW?
The ones that trash hardcore players are just jealous that they are not good enough to accomplish the same. I for one tip my hat to them and all their achievements, and don't get pissed when i get owned by them in PVP. Your achievements in WOW should in no way be a used to belittle of your achievements in life.
The reason Im casual is because I cant stand sitting for more than 3 hours doing the same thing. Plus the reward for doing so is very lacking, Phat loots, not for me. Ill play 2 hours have a blast and leave it for the next day.... its a "Game"
Chris Mar 17th 2007 11:23PM
Just to make it clear, I play Hornwood. /wave
That said and done, some people got some of the points of my post, and some people didn't. First, this was obviously a post to drum up interest. Otherwise known as trolling. Some people didn't get that. However, with every troll there is a grain of truth.
People were basically saying "we could be just like DNT if we had blank". The reality is, as I pointed out in my post, unless you devote time to the game TO THE DETRIMENT OF ALL REAL-LIFE ACTIVITIES, you will not do as well as DNT. Skill or not. Time factors more into their success than some believe.
Do you have a right to waste away your life in pursuit of purple pixels? Absolutely. I never said you couldn't. However, I reserve my right to believe you're a waste for doing so. I also reserve my right to say so.
The funniest thing about all the reactions, including the poster to this blog, is that they somehow linked me with a BMW and hot women. lol I said I have a well paying job and a family. If you reread the last sentence, you'll see I was talking about the reaction people have to OTHERS when they see those OTHERS successful in real life. Unless they play Wow, a friend will never find the importance in getting new graphics to display on your character. However, they will see the point of getting a nice car to drive the family around in.
Last but not least: I am a geek. Never said I was or wasn't. However, "geek" doesn't imply "butt molded to shape of chair". You can easily be a geek and never play as much as some DNT (or any other hardcore guild's players) do. Again, I reserve my right to make fun of them, just as they reserve their right to enjoy how they play.
Bright Mar 17th 2007 11:33PM
Elizabeth actually has two points here in this post: one is a call to geek unity, which is great, but I think your other one is even better.
She questions what makes a person really valuable, is it all this consumerist acquisition of money and women, or is it the quality of the time you spend somehow cherishing or improving your own life and the lives of others?
I know personally, It doesn't help me to know that some WoW player somewhere has a nice car, a big paycheck and a girlfriend. Reading people in forums talk about everyone in Azeroth as if they're either wealthy ladies' men or a fat losers in their moms' basements (implicitly believing that no WoW players are even female) really makes me feel out of place. I may not be fat or in my mom's basement, but I can still be a "loser" in the eyes of others just because I don't believe in their petty standard of studliness.
All this (including the fact that the original post is implicitly addressed to men, not women) shows up how insecure so many men are about their gender identity. I fear that for many of them, WoW is not so much a game as a perpetual power fantasy, in which they can believe that they are the Super-Man they wish they were - regardless of their real-life financial or sexual status. Forums then provide a chance for men to say "but it's not just a fantasy! I can prove it!"
Why do men constantly need to prove themselves? Isn't it more truly masculine to just be confident of who you are, quietly growing a little every day?
lobozombie Mar 18th 2007 3:25AM
this post was wonderful in its sincerity;
my real problem with the "you have no life" somment is this: from who's mindset does this come from?
obviously no coordinated, civilized and intelligent person would say such an obscure and worhtless comment (its idiosycratic, in itself....it has no meaning. the comment actually comes from the bubble of television humor, i think. people need to stop judging each other objectivly--what are we in ourselves??
I am Mar 18th 2007 12:35AM
/applause
Barod Mar 18th 2007 12:17AM
GO BUCKEYES!
grorgx Mar 18th 2007 12:30AM
I Fourth (i think that's what we're on) JP's motion.
This post made a ton of points clear, you even snuck in the social enviorment bit with the "counseling the kid whos parents are fighting" bit.
And yes, we all have to unite against the retarded ignorance of Jack Thompson(may he forever be doomed to play wow in the afterlife >:D)
Elizabeth Wachowski Mar 18th 2007 12:38AM
Oh hey, Barod. I guess I was right about Ohio State basketball players playing WoW ... I mean, it's certainly the only thing that explains their performance this afternoon. *rimshot*
Hornwood, I apologize for making it seem as if you were the BMW and woman-loving man. I guess I've seen too many of these posts and automatically assume the poster is the one pulling out the no-life card.
Bright, excellent points, ones that I kind of wanted to make but sort of felt that a diatribe against materialism was out of place in a WoW blog. The female corollary to the "Look at my wonderful life!" post is the "Look at my pictures, I'm not fat or ugly!" post, which is a different kettle of fish.
BartmanDK Mar 18th 2007 12:49AM
Amen to that mayne!! The argue is HOW much of a geek are you? :P