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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsBreakfast Topic: Playing at work
by Mike Schramm 
Dec 17th 2008 at 8:00AM
We talked about this a while back, but the coolest thing I pulled out of the "working at Blizzard" article last weekend wasn't the on-site gyms, valet parking, subsidized cafeteria, or the amazing swag, it was than when your boss walks in the room at Blizzard, it's totally OK if you're playing a game. Of course, as a freelance writer, I've got a little freedom to play with any free time I have, but my free time comes in small amounts these days (I only made it to 78 this weekend) -- being able to play WoW at work (and have it count) would be great.Of course, some of you play WoW anyway (or just read our site -- don't worry, we won't tell your boss) even if you're supposed to be doing something else. And some jobs (security guards, IT tech support, a few call centers) lend themselves well to playing WoW during breaks, or just when the boss is not looking. What's your situation? Are you not near a computer to play WoW on at work, do you bring your own external drive in to play during lunch, or are you constantly alt-tabbing in case the boss stops by?
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Virtual selves, Odds and ends, Blizzard, Breakfast Topics
Reader Comments (Page 4 of 7)
silverdragon Dec 17th 2008 9:31AM
I'm at work right now! I read WoW insider everyday cuz we're so slow. the guy next to me is on Youtube most of the time, lol.
SimpleSurvival Dec 17th 2008 9:28AM
I'm not at work yet... but wowinsider is one of my subscribed blogs
I am a Software Engineer/System Admin for a small ISP
on VERY slow days, i'll fire up wow and do circles around the basin, complete my dalaran dailies, or craft and post items on the AH... nothing too complicated...
My boss is a wow player too... he's got a lvl 70 huntard equipped with PVP gear from the BG... we'll leave it at that. He's been workin on a blood spec death knight I hear
He excitedly asks me every monday about our guilds progression. He thinks we're the best, despite thus far having only downed the first 4 bosses in naxx.
He looks to me as an expert on the subject and doesn't mind if I play at work, as long as I get my work done. I'd never play if I actually had something to do... but when you are watching scrolling text for 3 hours straight... might as well do something else
Once tho, I did run ZA at work... it was a pain and an inconvenience... half way thru the run, i had to AFK to get something done RIGHT NOW, everyone waited patiently for me, but i decided it was better not to inconvenience other people because i wanted to play games at work
Beaster Dec 17th 2008 9:31AM
The most I have done is log in and start a scan of the AH, then minimize it.
I work for an IT company which has had more than one employee in hot water because of WoW. I do read WoWInsider on the laptop when in-house, and on the iPod when at a client.
I agree with the above poster, that I enjoy more doing pre-planning for gear farming and such on wowhead during the day, and actually playing at night.
This game has many things that set it apart from other "normal" games, the temptation to play at work being one of them. You don't see people secretly logging onto Halo or Hello Kitty at work... lol
Inscrutibob Dec 17th 2008 10:09AM
Speak for yourself. Many moons ago, the first thing I did with the fancy new computer projector in my training lab was to fire up Doom. It became a regular lunchtime destination for many of my colleagues.
Col Dec 17th 2008 9:41AM
I love getting paid to play!
I'm a firefighter and during down time I can get some great play time; like 18hrs on rare great times. When I do have to go out, we my grp takes a break and resume when I'm back. Chief knows I play :)
wyss.john Dec 17th 2008 9:42AM
I work in IT and we all work off our own laptops. There are 3 of us in our small office who play wow and we play on our lunch break. We are all in the same guild even.
Will Dec 17th 2008 9:54AM
I have become so lightning fast with alt-tabbing when my boss walks by, even though my job also entails a lot of internet research. There was one situation at a previous job that I was caught with a WoW website fully up with images in game etc.. and it would of looked completely obvious if I alt-tabbed...
I just stared my boss in the face, asked him questions and got him out of the room, trying to keep his full attention on me.
Although most jobs pay you for your time, being available and on hand to do work, If you keep it minimal and still get stuff done I don't see the harm in some websurfing.
http://www.wowconfidential.com
Tio Dec 17th 2008 11:00AM
I work as a fireman and have permission to do anything I please when theres downtime....and there is a LOT of downtime, its not uncommon that evening and nightshifts pass without anything to do but watching TV and playing wow.
Ofcourse, being a tank, it's wiped us many times when the alarm hits during raids.
VSUReaper Dec 17th 2008 11:40AM
Member of First Response? (15 min of fame post the other day?)
Chris Anthony Dec 17th 2008 10:00AM
I work from home, sitting in front of a laptop all day. I've been relieving some of the tedium - my job is, sadly, fairly repetitive, even if it does pay well and let me work in my pajamas - by fishing in WOW on my desktop computer. It's a nice way to occupy the part of my brain that would otherwise be distracting me from work.
Also, I got Fishing from 300 to 450 over the last three days... >_>
sweetsourpork Dec 17th 2008 10:40AM
I'm an IT manager at an investment banking firm. I play more wow at work than I do at home. Wow is even better than stumbleupon when it comes to killing time.I downsize the window to 800x600 and stick it in the corner of my screen and alt+tab when necessary. I don't raid or run instances at work because it pisses off pugs every time i have to get coffee or make a hot pocket for the boss.
Alan Dec 17th 2008 10:03AM
My work machine is a gaming machine. Most people in my office have WOW loaded. I sometimes do a little AH at work but usually not more than that.
mibluvr13 Dec 17th 2008 10:08AM
I'm graduating in a few months and first on my list is buying a new laptop so I'll have something to do during college classes.
wyss.john Dec 17th 2008 10:11AM
Or you could pay attention so you don't give the FCC more ammo. lol
http://www.massively.com/2008/12/11/fcc-commissioner-blames-wow-for-college-drop-outs/
bones Dec 17th 2008 10:37AM
I work in tech support, but I work from my home office. I'm usually logged into WoW, and maybe farming herbs or doing dailies as I work, but spend alot of the time alt tabbed for work anyway.
ceres Dec 17th 2008 10:11AM
hey, i work in a small company that makes video games, i'm the administrator (i guess u can call it that) i take care of all the boring paper work, e-mails and so. They allowed me to install WoW on the company pc and since there are a some days when i have nothing to do...i can play WoW all day ^^ (on busy days i play during my lunch break)
Dave Dec 17th 2008 10:28AM
I get a fair amount of WoW time in at work. Usually on lunch breaks, when I take my laptop to some distant wiring closet and hide out for awhile. I also work weekends, when I'm the only one in the office, and if there's no actual work scheduled for that day it's basically 8 hours of playing WoW/watching Hulu.
I hate working on Saturdays, it really cuts back on the amount of time I can hang out with my friends, but at least I get to play WoW while I do it.
Ceej Dec 17th 2008 10:29AM
I'll take a minute or two to check a blog at work, mostly on my break unless it's really slow.
But work? Thanks, but there's nothing about wow that is so good that I'd risk my job, particularly in this job market/economy.
Someone in the company got caught once, and they made a fine example of him. Manager took his badge, called security and escorted him out on the spot. The next morning a memo went out to all IT staff about how gaming while on work hours is tantamount to stealing from the company... yadda yadda..
Well, admittendly, I can't say it's unreasonable. If I ran a company and was paying alleged professionals 60k+ a year to game two hours out of the workday, I'd probably feel the same way.
So I limit myself to wowinsider on breaks. Does it suck? Sure it sucks. But at least I'm employed.
LOL and yes, I wrote this on break. ~rolls eyes~
cjshrader Dec 17th 2008 3:12PM
Your username made me think I'd posted this. People call me Ceej all the time.
MadMac10 Dec 18th 2008 2:06PM
I so totally disagree with this. Gaming sharpens reactions, teaches micromanagement, and improves socialization. A number of years ago I taught school and used Warcraft II to reach learning disabled kids. They picked up things I could never get across using traditional curricula.
Anybody who considers the workers' production as their personal property is operating out of a nineteenth century mindset. They need to read a copy of "Snow Crash." and get with the times.
Personally, I do not like to play WoW at work because I believe it is unfair socially to fellow players and fellow workers who count on me. But I have worked in one place where everyone would stay after for happy hour and gank on Quake. The IT department set up a special server for it and we would pwn to our hearts' content. That's the kind of place that deserves to be called an American workplace. The kind referred to here belongs in Burma.