Posts with tag wowcommunity

So there's eight million of us around the world. We've got guys, girls, old and young, and people from all kinds of different backgrounds. And we all love playing this gigantic game with each other.

But does that actually make it a community? This forum thread is a really good read, and the two sides in it both have valid points. Some people say yes, WoW players all have one thing in common (playing WoW), and that makes them a community-- we have our own in-jokes, our own realm of knowledge, and we've all shared an experience that sets us apart from the rest of the world. That, they say, makes us a community of individuals, no matter what other experiences or identities we may have.

But others say it's nothing like a community-- the only thing we have in common is that we all sit alone in a room with a computer for extended periods of time. WoW friends, they say, aren't really friends-- they're acquaintances, and the fact that someone else knows about WoW doesn't connect you to them any more than a random person on the street.

So who do you think? Are we a community, or just a bunch of crazy people playing a game? Personally, I feel closer to my own guild as a community then I do to the player base at large, and even then I don't know how I'd associate with my guildies in real life (never done it). But then again, I do feel more connected to someone I meet when I find out they play WoW-- there is definitely a shared experience there that brings people together closer than if they had no connection at all.