Breakfast Topic: When real life Cataclysms hit
by Zach Yonzon 
Oct 1st 2009 at 8:00AM
Anyway, even as I ruminated on the relevance of our favorite game in light of the crazy things that have happened, I still know that it's a fun game and I still want to play it. I mean, bad things happen everywhere all the time. And sometimes, it even touches our lives directly. I guess you could call it our own little cataclysms. From the smallest things that ruin our day to those really earth-shaking ones, we meet all the nasty things life throws at us and we deal with it. Personally, at the end of a few harrowing days, I found playing World of Warcraft even for a few minutes at a time to be familiar and comforting. Even after being away from the game for a while, logging in was moderately cathartic.
Today's Breakfast Topic is a discussion of hope. I know that many of you have had to deal with your own little cataclysms. I want to ask how, if at all, World of Warcraft has figured into that. Some of you might know friends in-game who have suffered through some ordeal, and the game only brought you closer together. Others use it to unwind from a hard day's work. Those count, too. How has the game brought you relief and made you smile in the most awful times? I'm actually really looking forward to kicking Deathwing's fiery butt now and can't wait for the expansion to hit. I mean, because you know, compared to Ondoy, Neltharion's kind of like a pansy.
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Breakfast Topics
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
phaer Oct 1st 2009 8:20AM
This may sound really, really sad and very, very loser-like, but it's one of the reasons I appreciate WoW as something more than a game.
I had just gotten through a terrible breakup with a girl I was with for almost two years, and just prior to that I had made it into a high-end raiding guild (this was in the time of Naxx at the beginning of WotLK when having EoE on farm was huge). I couldn't bring myself to play (or do anything, really) the game for almost a month, and when I came back I was still in the guild.
To my surprise, after I explained what had happened, these new people that I just met supported me and gave me an online intervention from my sad emo phase. They helped to catch me up in the next few Naxx and EoE runs, with other guildies passing on things that they may have needed. Needless to say, I didn't want the charity but when it was forced on me like that by a group of genuinely good people, I greatly appreciated it. It would have taken longer without the enormous support I had from them, and we became great friends afterwards. I still appreciate them as my good friends, albeit online ones, to this day.
scarab2501 Oct 1st 2009 8:21AM
My hearts go out to those in the Philippines. I know some local people here are doing what they can to aid the people who need it. I know it can be easy to change the channel or turn away when we see disaster hit other countries. Many think we have to do something and hesitation can make us feel embarrassed to simply witness such hardship. But just putting these people in your thoughts and hearts is a gift we can all give. Just remember we're all human beasts and it's ok to feel!
On the topic of hope: I love how WoW can be so entertaining but also love how we can play the game to get away on a little digital vacation. No matter how bad I might feel in life I take solace in shanking a human paladin in PVP or in getting another awesome piece of armor for my toons. We have such a fortunate opportunity to play WoW and have the freedom to care, or not care in the end.
Nix Oct 1st 2009 8:28AM
You sir are an a$$hole
And I hope Wow.com does not remove your comment so everyone will see what an a$$wipe you are!
ROB13 Oct 1st 2009 8:29AM
I have nothing clever to say about this comment, please go away.
chadarn Oct 1st 2009 8:30AM
Wow, You're an ass, please continue to curl up to your computer crying, flaming in every message board you see, and telling all your friends how you hate god and listen to the coolest music and whatnot. In 5 years you'll probably become normal, be in school, or find a job, maybe have a family and realize you were an ass. Or you'll be on meth.
Hiwa Oct 1st 2009 8:30AM
There are two reasons I find WoW so compelling: the first is that as a disabled, housebound (much of the time) person I'm able to still enjoy an active social life, even if it's confined to the internet.
The other reason is closely bound up in why I started playing in the first place and why I made my first main toon a rogue. The year I started playing I had found one of my best friends dead of a heroine overdose in my house. Yes I was the person who found him, I was the person who had to deal with the police and emergency personnel in his house, and until we located a long-lost aunt it looked as if I would be the person in charge of burying him. And in the middle of this I had to deal with my own grief and anger and the grief and confusion of my children, who loved him just as much as I did. He really was more like a son to me than just a friend.
As a reaction I started to withdraw from my friends and rarely reached out to them. My youngest, savvy daughter introduced me to WoW as a way for her and me to keep in touch, because even though we lived in the same house I was so sad and overwhelmed I could barely manage even that bit of interaction.
Well I made my first character a rogue because she could be angry where I could only express my anger through tears. She had a strong physical presence, compared to me confined to a wheelchair. She was tough in the ways that I was just a weepy marshmallow. And that year I spent playing her was the year I processed my grief and anger and learned to put it in its proper place.
So WoW has been social life and very real therapy for me. As I've moved past my grief and settled back down into a fairly content life, I changed my main to a resto druid, somebody who better reflects my basically nurturing, caring self.
krizzlybear Oct 1st 2009 12:23PM
This woman speaks the truth. She's an awesome gal, and I surely miss playing with her in-game! Sorry for not stopping by Arygos more often! Hope you're having a blast!
-Bash
Mikhail Oct 1st 2009 8:31AM
@Maolrubha: so you think you complaining here makes you any better. This is something ran by REAL people that have real feelings. If you don't want to read it, don't. It's amazing how flamers and trolls seem to think anyone wants to know their opinion about something they had an open choice to make. Please refrain from being ignorant in your poorly informed ways. I just hope that you never have to face such carelessness if something bad happens to you.
Chris Oct 1st 2009 8:33AM
When I started playing WoW, I had just lost my job, wasn't going anywhere, had just gone through a bad breakup, and my mother had kicked me out. A good friend of mine took me in, one who played WoW. I thought I'd like to try it, and so I got a battle chest and time for christmas. I passed trial accounts around my friends, who spread the word to their friends. A few months later we had a small guild, and there was this girl whom I had only met once. Her friend told me that she was available, and was carrying a torch for me. We hit it off pretty well. She helped pull me out of a rut in my life. Because of her, I'm registered for college, and planning on marrying this very woman, so I guess, because of WoW, I met the woman of my dreams and am bettering myself in bother a professional and personal sense.
Nix Oct 1st 2009 8:34AM
Maolrubha is a troll/flamer ... I actually bothered reading his posts and are full of flame posts.
Deathwing looks like an icecube comapred to the flames of this flamer.
Sorry dude you had this coming ....
Kia Oct 1st 2009 8:35AM
It's nothing especially major, but I've been enjoying the game immensely more since I got my girlfriend to join and play with me. We're in a long-distance relationship for the time being, and WoW's been just another fantastic way to stay close and take part in a lot of activities together. Plus, the sweet little things she does like the presents she gives me--even if they're little grays like a wrapped present--or the sweetest notes she mails me when I'm offline are just an enormous, blush-inducing pick me up.
Hendrata Oct 1st 2009 8:39AM
I happen to be from that area, and I must say I'm shocked and scared. My hometown is fine now, but who knows when and where the earthquake and typhoon is gonna strike next. 3 earthquakes in 2 days sound too much to be a coincidence. Thankfully, my guild in game showed support and kept asking me if I was ok, my family was ok, etc. This is one of the reasons I keep playing wow, even if I haven't met them (guildies) IRL.
Borbor Oct 1st 2009 8:43AM
If it weren't for wow, I wouldn't be one year sober
Druidski Oct 1st 2009 9:21AM
Good job! Keep up the good work.
SithLlenniuq Oct 1st 2009 9:37AM
5 Years on Dec 31st... taking it one day at a time.
Yes WoW does help!
kitearcher Oct 1st 2009 11:53AM
Awesome!
All of you winning that fight - be strong!
Philip Oct 1st 2009 12:16PM
Friends of Bill are everywhere :)
Maybe sometimes we do spend too much time playing our favorite online game. But, at the end of the day, my wife and kids know who is most important, and no one has had to worry about where I've been.
WoW has been been a mostly safe place for me to relieve the end of the day frustrations. And after all, isn't that what WoW is really about?
Jocelyn Oct 1st 2009 8:53AM
I live in Manila, Philippines so I witnessed said real cataclysm, only my own neighborhood wasn't flooded. Many of my co-workers' homes were ruined though. The atmosphere in our once-happy office has turned somber. A co-manager and I passed the hat to help those who were hard-hit. We're doing our best to cope with the situation, and one way for me to beat the stress is by playing WoW in the evenings after I've tucked my little girls in bed. It may seem like a shallow escape (at least to people who don't appreciate MMOs) but hey, to each his own. Real life is hard enough. I appreciate having WoW in my life to provide a few hours of escape/therapy/entertainment as I play different characters and meet the most interesting people.
"Anhur"
Troll Hunter
Borean Tundra US
"Sophine"
Blood Elf Priest
Scilla US
"Diandra"
Blood Elf Death Knight
Illidan US
P.S. Heard there's another super typhoon headed for my country. Heaven help us.
Rafa Oct 1st 2009 8:55AM
I'm from Israel. I was hit in terror act when I was in the army. 12 people from my unit got hit by shrapnel from the explosion, including me. My uncle bought me the game then, in 2004, and I started playing it for 4 months, the whole time my leg was healing. That was my first experience online, and I remember I've joined a social guild, and we were talking all nights long about politics and wars, and right and wrong, and pretty much everything. They supported me and sent me emails from guild gatherings in UK.. I quit the game when I had to return to the force, but 2 years later, when my service was over, I flew to UK to meet them all, and every one of them took a photo with my scarred leg. It was amazing, because people came from every part of England, just to see me. I was moved that night. I returned to the game, but by the time I got back to the WoW, the guild was no more, for many reasons. I'm still in contact with some people from that guild.
Juanin Oct 1st 2009 9:20AM
I have met great friends through the game, and I fell fortunate to have met them when I most needed it. Friends who have given me advice and cared for me. Human contact is by far one of the metagame aspects that I love the most of the game, and the way we react when someone on the game needs help is just as it should be in real life.
When I saw the news of what happened in Philipines and Samoa, I was shocked, as I think we all were as soon as we saw them. My best wishes to all the people who somehow suffered by this.
(Sorry about my english, I'm not native...)