Afraid of MMOs

      In Shilo's entry this week on why she hates MMOs she states how the immersive components of World of Warcraft as a virtual world causes addiction that she has witnessed, and the very limitlessness of WoW should inspire caution. We often hear and read news items about people becoming addicted to World of Warcraft and it decimating their preexisting "real" lives; I recall there being a few 20/20 segments years ago on stay-at-home mothers who would used MMOs as a tool of escapism, told from the perspective that they were neglecting their children in favour of a fictional world.

 When I was thirteen, I attempted WoW for around half an hour. It was my brother's account and he wanted me to take over while he did his chores - wanting to be able to rush back into the Warcraft world as soon as he possibly could - and I simply did not understand the game. To me, it was pointless. I was wandering around, bored by the absolute feel of being able to do whatever I wanted in this online realm, and that "limitless" factor stopped me from being immersed because I didn't truly want to be there without a feeling of purpose or urgency. Of course, that is only my own personal short-lived experience of MMOs - I haven't dare look at online gaming since then, figuring it might just not be some peoples thing - where a lot of WoW players are able to be so immersed in the game because of this limitless notion, that it is a world where they can, within the rules, restrictions and reason, do and be what they want to and discover their own purpose.

  There is a strong social stigma surrounding MMOs as being highly addictive and time-consuming and this, perhaps, ignites some level of fear into skeptical non-MMO players who do not want to fall into game addiction or tied down to a subscription fee and I realise it is more than likely that there are other people out there who play videogames and have never played online due to that fear of not knowing how immersed they could be.