Ask WoW Insider: Stay at home mom wants to give back to the community
by Mark Crump 
Jul 21st 2008 at 9:00AM
Welcome to today's edition of Ask WoW Insider, in which we publish your questions for dissection by the peanut gallery -- now with extra snark and commentary by one of our writers. This week "stay at home mom" writes in:
[Edit: The original image was of Clara from the Guild. Upon further review, I felt it did not go with the title of the article and what I wanted to be a discussion of community, as well as bringing the post to a low level. I offer my apologies. -mtc]
[Edit 2: For some reason the photo credit isn't coming through. It was taken by carf.]
As a stay at home mom, I have 16+ hours a day that need filled. Before the "omg, spend more time with your kids" posts, I have two things in my life that I truly have a passion for, my family and WoW. My family ALWAYS comes first. But let's face it, after a few diapers are changed, books are read, and naps are taken, I have a LOT of time on my hands.
I fill that time playing WoW, reading about WoW, thinking about wow, etc but I want to do more! My dream job (don't laugh) would be as an in-game GM but my husband's job doesn't let me be in an area where that is possible. I spend way too many hours a day trolling various forums; Customer Service, Guild Relations, server forums, etc. I participate in nearly all PTRs that are released. I subscribe to practically every wow related blog on the planet. But it comes down to this: How can I really help? Find a bug, it's already been reported. See a question, it's already been answered.
Didn't go to Paris -- no beta key for you! (kidding, kidding, but that's the rumor, no?) I have a huge desire to help and want to do something that will make a difference with this game and the people who play it. I feel like the places I'm used to hanging around already have all the help they need and don't need another troll spouting off the typical "wrong forum, customer support is that way ->>" kind of stuff. So, any advice on how I can take my WoW knowledge and experience and give back to the community that would actually be effective and useful?
I'm not looking for some special title or recognition, I truly want to help here and I actually prefer something with a little anonymity. Did I mention 16+ hours a day? There's only so much farming and raiding a girl can do before she goes crazy.
Stay-at-home-wow-player
Ok, two disclaimers here: I struggled with basic math in High School, and I am not a father. However, I did ask a stay-at-home mother I know this question, and her answer was along the lines of, "What sixteen hours does she have I don't have?"
I have absolutely no interest in telling you how to spend your time, or how to raise your family, but, frankly, I'm not figuring out how you have the 16+ hours you claim to have. But Dear, <whatever deity/invisible man you worship here>, even in full-on EverQuest addiction -- the first MMO I was truly addicted to, the most I could muster was thinking about it seven hours a day or so. So, my honest advice here: If you've got a sixteen-hour time block you are looking for ways to fill with more WoW, or to help out in the community -- step away from the computer, seriously.
However, this is a fine time to throw out ideas how people can get more involved with WoW's community besides handing Blizzard money each month just playing. I know every now and then we put out a call for writers. You can always help out at WoWWiki. Our very own Natalie wrote a series on starting your own WoW Blog.
I know playing this one straight in the comments is going to be tough, and that's assuming our chains aren't being yanked here, but how would you recommend someone get more involved in the community?
Got questions? Don't wait! Send them to us at ask AT wowinsider DOT com and your query could be up in lights here next week.
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Ask WoW Insider
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 6)
native Jul 21st 2008 9:11AM
/sigh
Rachel Jul 21st 2008 9:14AM
Start a guild? There are so many people on WoW looking for good guilds, and that way you'd be helping the players.
Boom Jul 21st 2008 9:14AM
Mark,
Way to judge man. Glad you're perfect, and sorry this lady has figured out how to manage her time. Shame on her.
Dear Stay-at-home-wow-player,
I'd suggest you write a blog about WoW, and include your perspectives on being a Mom as you play. Talk about dealing with Mom stuff, and keeping a raid schedule up. Or whatever it is you do.
If you've found a way to balance your Mom duties and WoW duties, I'm pretty sure that's something others would like to read about.
Head over to Blogger and get started. Just write what's on your mind, and you'll find an audience quicker than you think.
Thanks for writing in, and sorry Mark chose to be a @#$% about it.
Boom
Bastiaan Jul 21st 2008 9:54AM
Agree with Boom about Mark. The writer never said she wanted to spend 16+ hours playing WoW, just that she had 16+ hours to fill. Presumably with a lot of child care and everything else she has to do as a stay-at-home mom, and then she has some time left over.
Obviously, this woman wants to feel she can do something constructive with those hours as well; she's not talking about playing more WoW. She has a lot of knowledge about it, though, and wants to use that knowledge in an effective and useful way. Sounds like a good idea to me!
As Boom already suggested, you could start a blog about WoW. More generally, I'd say that you wanna look at things you can do on the internet. Your situtation keeps you at home and probably necessitates flexible hours as well. If you think you're up for it, you could look into Community Management jobs or something like that. And there are a lot of internet communities for different classes, different roles (ForHeals comes to mind, but you probably know more of them than I do), that you could contribute to.
One thing you're going to have to do is stick your neck out; you are going to have to approach people and ask for a spot on their team. Or you have to create your own blog, and to get readers for that you will, again, have to talk to other people to get links.
Good luck, I'm happy to see you want to use your leftover time doing something you think is worthwhile.
Jennifer Jul 21st 2008 2:14PM
I totally agree here -- the angsty-ness is uncalled for.
Depending on the age of the child, there's a different amount of actual hands-on work that has to be done. Young children often spend their time sleeping, and an attentive parent will be nearby and available for the child and still spend time twiddling their thumbs with nothing to do. Kids do grow up fast, so make sure you don't commit yourself to too much by the time baby grows up and demands more attention.
I'd agree on the blogging bit -- the original e-mail was well written, so I'd imagine she'd probably be good at writing. Another idea is crafting items -- alot of WoW players love original artworks of their characters (I mean, look at Figure Prints). Finding a creative thing you can do at home while baby is sleeping is always nice -- take a look at the crafting posts on WoWInsider for ideas.
Whips Jul 21st 2008 9:15AM
Wow this is some serious flame bait.
/grabs popcorn
William Jul 21st 2008 9:30AM
I like popcorn!
/grabs salt and butter
Oldbear Jul 21st 2008 9:47AM
/Also makes popcorn and cold drink...
Seriously, my unemployeed MMO addict roommate couldn't muster that much time a day... A he only had his on diaper to change.
Mark Crump Jul 21st 2008 9:16AM
For the record, that's not her: I used the image from the Mom from The Guild's IMDB page.
bmiller Jul 21st 2008 9:20AM
the OP didn't mention the number or ages of the kid(s), so I'm just guessing one child under 6 months. There is so much downtime in the birth - 6 months period, I can see why she thinks that she actually has 16 hours a day free (or she's on some kind of metric time system I don't know about).
I would recommend trying to take that energy for WoW and put it in to something different, but Wow related like the Crafting Wow
Devant Jul 21st 2008 9:19AM
That's the actor from http://www.watchtheguild.com/
Take that kind of behavior somewhere more appropriate.
Boom Jul 21st 2008 9:19AM
Mark,
So glad you're perfect bud. Good call on this one. If your friend can't seem to manage a child AND a life, then this player is obviously messed up. Brilliant writing. Glad you're here. Die in a fire.
Stay-at-home-wow-player,
Glad you've found a way to balance Mom duties with WoW duties. I'm sure that's tough.
If you really want to contribute, I'd take that fact and write a blog about it. Write about playing wow as a Mom, and how you balance things. I guarantee there's an audience for that.
Head over to Blogger and get started. You've got nothing to lose but time, which you seem to have plenty of.
Thanks for writing in, and sorry Mark's tiny epeen got the best of him today. Ignore him.
Boom
Boom Jul 21st 2008 9:21AM
sorry for the double post... server must be puking after all this flame baiting. :)
cjshrader Jul 21st 2008 9:35AM
It's embarrassing when you think you lost the first post, then write another post and change what you originally said (Usually for the better), but then we can all see what you said in the first post. At least, it is to me.
Wibblymat Jul 21st 2008 10:01AM
I don't think the comment was about being a bad parent at all - seemed more about WoW addiction, regardless of parental status.
If I knew someone who was unemployed, living off a lottery win, no kids, no partner, no responsibilities and they told me they spend 16 hours a day playing WoW I'd tell them to get out more and consider professional help.
Still, she doesn't say just playing WoW, she also says reading and thinking about it. When I go to the pub with my friends I often end up talking about last night's raid or an upcoming patch or whatever with my guildies. That is a healthy social interaction that just happens to be WoW related. You can plan what to craft next while cooking dinner and you can write a blog post on a laptop from a park bench while supervising your kids in the playground.
In summary: If you are *playing* for 16 hours a day then my unqualified opinion would be that its unhealthy. If you are playing more like 6-8 hours a day but doing related things the rest of the time then, well, I'd consider getting another hobby but whatever floats your boat, you know? None of this is neccessarily bad for your kid(s) or your relationship with your husband but it might be bad for *you*.
cjshrader Jul 21st 2008 4:28PM
Aw my first voted down comment :( You've ruined me Boom. Ruined me to everyone.
Furinur Jul 21st 2008 9:31AM
I'm surprised by this article.... WTF.
Percinho Jul 21st 2008 10:02AM
Care to elaborate?
Furinur Jul 21st 2008 1:03PM
Nope.
Alex Ziebart Jul 21st 2008 9:34AM
One mother's experiences does not reflect that of another mother's experiences. Where one mother may have her hands full, another might have a pretty calming experience, whether that be due to their child's age or personality or whatever.
16 hours a day is probably a bit of an exaggeration, nobody in the world has 16 hours day for nothingness, even if you're unemployed. But being a stay-at-home anything can get rather dull if you don't have something keeping you busy 24/7. If you have a well behaved child, sometimes you just need something to do. Hey, you and I spend many hours of our week (though not 272 hours) writing about WoW.