| WoW in more than one sense

Over the past five years or so I have lost quite a bit of my habit of being stubborn and more so my oft contrarian ways have mostly died. Am I being stubborn in this case? Maybe, maybe not, but I'll let you decide.

My current opinion of WoW is not based upon a single flawed source as you may have been led to believe. And this may be my fault for not expressing my feelings as clearly as I should have. So let me clarify:

I of course know that idiots, like the flute playing David, do exist in WoW; however, I also am aware these interactions are far from a typical experience. As a result, This type of behavior really does not form any really meaningful portion of my opinion. The largest component of my opinion is based off of what I have seen of David, Johnny and Jon playing. I have watched them all play in varying amounts in their quest to convince me to play. Believe it or not, when David is done showboating his annoying self around, he does actually play like a normal person. In all cases, I learned that social interaction can be mostly avoided through DnD, but sometimes interaction is necessary for certain exchanges, levels/adventures, advancements and quests. This can of course be limited even further with addons such as "WhisperMeNot" or the aptly named, "AntiSocial". Yet, if I am running these apps and tuning out the world entirely, does that not completely defeat the point of playing WoW? The central premises of the game is summed up in the first two M's of MMORPG. Why not just play a single player game that can be played multiplayer with server host only invites. At least when I played games like Diablo II as single player, since the game was designed with a dual purpose in mind, you are not penalized or missing out on the main crux of the game by avoiding interaction. I just don't play Diablo anymore because it is a little long in the tooth anymore.

The other component to my position is that I am at a point in my life where my gaming time is fairly limited, 15 minutes here and 30 minutes there. I honestly total up maybe a 2-3 hours a month. I just do not have the desire to be bothered with even basic random social interactions during this time. More to the point, avoiding social interaction with randoms, and to a much lesser degree "Putting-up" with jack-asses or incompetents in the few necessary co-op battles, just is not how I want to spend that time. Often the point of gaming right now is to unwind and let off a bit of steam. I like to do this in an environment that is most conducive to my goal.

So, let me sum the paragraph above up in one simple sentence: I deal with people all day long at work and on public transportation, so my main goal for gaming is to avoid all interaction with random people on all levels for just a little bit. If I was single and had ample time or had a job as a coder in an isolated corner of a cube-farm, I would likely sing a very different tune.

That all being said and as a measure of good faith, if you still honestly think I am being obstinate or biased and your opinion is truly based on the altruistic belief that I am missing out due to a flawed perspective, I'll will truly reconsider my point of view in what ever means you deem sufficient. Note: no sexual favors.

With regards to Curt Schilling: I am more impressed by this quote from The General Magazine about Curt then by the WoW bit:

ASL has become his constant companion on road trips, and every National League city is now his playground for baseball at night and ASL in the day. (All of which has become a bonanza for ASL players of his acquaintance, who are sometimes Curt's guests at stadiums around the country.)

D>M>