Do WoW players make bad employees?
by Michael Gray 
Dec 16th 2008 at 8:00PM
William Dobson over at our sister site Massively.com picked up this story earlier today. A poster on the f13 forums revealed that a corporate recruiter claimed they'd been given specific instructions to not consider World of Warcraft players for jobs. And we're not talking here about people actively playing WoW at work -- just whether the person plays the MMO at all. The theory behind using WoW play as a disqualifier is that WoW players are somehow unable to focus 100% on their day job.
There's part of me here that wants to say "screenshots or it didn't happen," since I can't imagine many corporations spending time and effort weeding out WoW players. I could see one or two HR folks preaching "Addiction!" and otherwise chewing on bitter apples. But several companies independently telling that to their recruiting folks, of their own volition and without prompt? I'm not so sure. If this recruiter is being honest with the forum goer, then I'd guess the recruiter her/himself is responsible for the WoW player ban.
Of course, that being said, I'll acknowledge this comes after the FCC commissioner claimed WoW can cause college drop outs. Maybe this recruiter happened to be talking to someone who had just heard her speech. But, still, I'm not convinced there's need to be worried about corporate conspiracies looking to pit WoW players into joblessness.
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Virtual selves, News items
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 6)
Felane Dec 16th 2008 8:07PM
and really, that's rediculous. talk about putting a stigma on a certain group of people, racists
Phoenix Psaltery Dec 16th 2008 8:11PM
But hey, if I can't get a job, I'll have more time to play WoW. :p
P2
hold up Dec 16th 2008 8:11PM
That's kinda weird. At my job (tech related) I would say that more than 50% of the people play WoW. I even interviewed at a place where the Technical Manager asked me "EQ or WoW"?
I said WoW. He said "Good choice." I was offered the job, but I had to decline for a better one. But, I guess its still possible that this might have been part of the screening process.
ponczekwmasle Dec 16th 2008 8:14PM
I love how article after article after article comes out talking about the negative impact of playing wow and the fan base still defends its favorite addiction. I know the old adage, wow is not an addiction, it's a game. Well, alcohol is not an addiction, it's a fermented drink. How many times are you guys going to have to get whacked with the reality stick before you start recognizing that for a large population WoW is a destructive force?
I'm sure I'll get flamed but the fact remains: concern over the social impact of WoW is rising. Perhaps instead of myopically asserting there is no problem except for maybe a select few, you guys could check out wowdetox.com or any number of other WoW recovery sites. I myself am currently weaning myself off (though I'm still reading wowinsider : P ). I had conversations with guys waiting in line for WotLK who talked about how they'd call in sick to play wow, or one who lost one job because he just got caught up in raiding and quit going.
We need stop belligerently asserting that WoW does not have aspects that can cause severe problems.
elvendude Dec 16th 2008 8:19PM
Your argument is one of controlling a substance, rather than curing a cause. Truly, it is not WoW that is the problem. It is people who do not know how to control their addictions. It's like arguing that we should outlaw guns because people keep getting shot. Or that we should outlaw alcohol because people keep drinking and driving. It's not the guns or the alcohol that are the problem. It's people not knowing how to moderate their own destructive habits.
The *vast* majority of WoW players are not addicts. They simply enjoy the game. The majority of hardcore players are not addicts. They schedule their life (which they have and keep) around the entertainment they enjoy.
WoW may be addictive, but it is not an addiction. It is a game.
Gnomercy Dec 16th 2008 8:32PM
Article after article comes out about how video games turn children into violent murderers.
Doesn't mean it's true.
Kasuro Dec 16th 2008 8:39PM
the OP is pretty ignorant. you've never heard of people calling in sick for video games before? How about this one: "I'm calling in sick to watch the football game."
So who are you to tell someone that they're wrong for spending their time doing something they enjoy? You're nobody. You're a worthless biological organism kin to a virus, on a small blue planet, in an insignificant, average solar system, orbiting an insignificant, boring, average star, in an insignificant galaxy. You're nobody. You're nothing. There are empty gas clouds doing nothing but swirling around in space that are much older than you. So when it all boils down, whether or not someone else enjoys their little bit of free time playing WoW does not matter. And your place to tell them that they're wrong matters even less.
Bionic Radd Dec 16th 2008 9:10PM
Articles written by outsiders who have little experience with the game they are berating. As with all things, we choose to blame the thing someone fixates on instead of the person themselves. If a spouse cheats, we look down more on the person they cheat with the cheater. If someone gambles too much, we blame the casinos. If you're a drunk, it's because of Budweiser and if you play WoW too much, it's because WoW is evil. Some people have addictive personalities and if it wasn't WoW, it would be something else. For the first in history, this phrase is actually fitting; hate the player, not the game.
Jaramshaela Dec 16th 2008 10:00PM
This is exactly true, @Bionic Rad. I myself have a very addictive personality; chocolate, caffiene, WoW, The Sims (I had all of Sims 1+exps, have all Sims 2+exps and have Sims 3 already on preorder).
Combined with my agoraphobia and anxiety problems, quite often I do nothing but stay at home on my computer playing WoW or the Sims. I know myself well enough to avoid the more damaging addictions, and majority of my friends play WoW as well, so I get my socialising done in-game.
And it's not like it causing me to lose my job, seeing as I can't hold one because of my phobias. I'm starting to not play WoW as much, but that's because I found a new addiction; Guitar Hero.
Meynara Dec 16th 2008 10:19PM
I think fads come and go as far as psychological scapegoats go, and online gaming is the scapegoat du jour. When I was a kid it was rock music and satanism. When I was a teen, the big thing was repressed memories of abuse. Now it's online gaming.
And really online gaming is perfect for scapegoating. If you don't play it, then it is easy to stigmatize it and those who play as being "other." Really, going around fighting orcs? Yeah, unless you're into that sort of thing it sounds mighty strange. And then there is the whole association with gaming with dorks and fantasy with dorks, and well you know it's going to be an uphill battle to gain acceptance or even tolerance for WoW from those who don't play.
As for those who played WoW and screwed up their lives? Well, they get to blame a game for their screw ups. Convenient, and perfectly understandable given that taking responsibility for ones mistakes isn't exactly pleasant or a real common personality trait with people who I know who have screwed up their lives with anything.
For those who played WoW and didn't screw up their lives? Well, it's easy for people to claim that those gamers are obviously in denial. They're screwing up their lives; they just haven't come to terms with it.
The fact is that people get addicted to anything and everything. I have a friend who swears up and down in all seriousness that lipgloss is truly addictive. She's not the only one. (There are websites about lipgloss addiction too by the way.) I know a few people who are addicted to genealogy. And we won't even go into the bicycle fanatics and car junkies I know. Then there are the sports fanatics. There isn't a hobby or interest out there that some people don't take too far.
Tanglebones Dec 16th 2008 11:01PM
@ponczekwmasle
Every time there's an article on the public perception of WoW as addictive or WoW players as poorly socialized, you pop up with your adds for your bogus site, and you claim that because YOU have a problem with playing the game too much, THEREFORE everyone who plays it must also have a problem, HOWEVER, only you were man enough to admit your problem while everyone else is hiding their heads in the sand and refusing to acknowledge their addiction.
I'm sorry (not really) to tell you that this is not really the case, and you make a very poor argument. Just because you cannot control your play time does not mean that every WoW player cannot. Just because you believe that you became "addicted" to the game does not mean that every player, or even most players are. In other news: You are not the gold standard by which all WoW players are (or should be) judged.
You seem to think you're somehow superior for admitting your "addiction." You're really not. Playing the game or not playing does not make you a better person. May I suggest that you get off your soapbox and let other people live their lives for themselves?
Eisengel Dec 17th 2008 12:26AM
Well, okay... I'll follow your logic. If people get addicted to alcohol, well, we should just ban alcohol then... then we'll all be okay. What? That was already tried? Dismal failure? Hrm... Grand Theft Auto is an evil game that trains people to be thugs and desensitizes us to violence? Let's ban it! What? That's been tried? GTA has had how many sequels and spin-offs? Hrm... Cigarettes are really bad for you... how about we raise the price on them to make them basically cost the same as a cheap meal? What? We already did that and people still buy them? Hrm...
The problem isn't WoW, it's that people abuse it. If I pick up a rock and bash someone's head in with it, we shouldn't ban rocks, we should try to keep me from wanting to bash peoples' heads in. If I'm a homicidal maniac, I'll find something to kill with... if I have an addictive personality, low self-esteem and escapist tendencies I'll find something to make me feel better.. whether it is some drug or behavior.
Is WoW deliberately addictive? Maybe... but no one is holding a gun to your head saying you have to play. If someone doesn't have the wherewithal to log off long enough to get things done, it's likely that if WoW didn't exist they'd find something else to obsess over.
eresin Dec 17th 2008 7:38AM
not everyone who drinks alcohol is addicted, you can drink it and not be addicted to alcohol, just in the same way you can play wow and not be addicted.
DanH Dec 17th 2008 11:27AM
Alcohol is, to be frank, a really bad example, because while it's "just a fermented vegetable drink" it's a fermented vegetable drink *which is chemically addictive*.
There's an important difference between "addiction" (like alcoholism, narcotics abuse or for that matter caffeine) and psychological dependency.
If you're psychologically dependent on something, that's your problem. It's not an innate property of the thing you're invested in. If we banned everything people got obsessed with we've have to outlaw *everything*. I mean literally *everything*.
GrayElf Dec 17th 2008 11:32AM
Jaramshaela, grats on having the guts to admit to the issues you're trying to deal with, and for providing a counter-example for people who can't distinguish between cause and effect.
And all the best in dealing with things - even if that's just enjoying them as best you can. :-) My health problems have been minor, but there've been times when that was the best I could do.
Balasan Dec 16th 2008 8:16PM
From my personal perspective, they have a point, albeit it really does not apply to everyone and it should not disqualify all WoW players from getting the right job.
I quit playing WoW since May. However as you can see I'm still very much mentally attached to it; WoWInsider is on my RSS feed. I've stopped playing, but I can't stop thinking about it.
Another thing is, in my case, I actually was a college dropout, and I strongly believe that WoW is one of the significant factors for it, although I think it's probably more because I was a hardcore raider (5 days a week!) rather than simply playing WoW.
Does this mean WoW players should not be recruited? Most definitely NOT. Good WoW players (and all good gamers in general) are very good at strategizing, and WoW's raid/instance system really promotes teamwork, even with that stupid player in the group.
But should being an enthusiastic WoW player be a concern? Probably yes.
ponczekwmasle Dec 16th 2008 8:20PM
I agree with Balasan. He put the moderation in his post that I missed in mine. I had to drop classes one semester and a large factor for why I didn't get help earlier was because I was playing wow for hours and hours a day.
Horris Dec 16th 2008 8:36PM
Right... why blame yourself when you can use WoW as a scapegoat.
papawapa Dec 16th 2008 8:23PM
Yeah too bad at my last job they didn't weed out the guy who played online poker all day and got promoted after he was found out. Or the girl who sat next to me on myspace and IM all day. While at the time I played WoW in my free time and worked hard at my job. Point being, lazy people are lazy, WoW players aren't necessarily lazy at work. In fact I'd suggest the mentality of players who learn game strategies and theorycraft how to best tweak their characters have important analytical skills that go a long way in the workplace. That being said, when I go for my next job I'm not going to talk about my gaming enthusiasm.
SnippyMcPhail Dec 17th 2008 11:47AM
You must work for the State!! Screw UP-- Move UP