I’ve been a gamer since discovering D & D in high school. Video games were a natural transition for me and when they went online I did too. When I was at my peak earning years I had to travel a lot (275+ days a year) and I would play online games with my kids to have a presence/interaction with them. The game allowed me to play with my children from anywhere that had an internet connection. We were “together” in hotels and airport lounges from Reykjavik to Albuquerque to Frankfurt. They literally grew up with World of Warcraft.
Over the years I tought them market investment strategies with the ingame auction house system. We joined guilds and learned about teamwork and interpersonal relationships. They learned about the difference between the chain of command and chain of communication. We were in guilds that failed due to bad leadership or followership. We were in huge, successful guilds that were so competitive we burned out and quit them. Life imitating Art or Art imitating Life?!
Since “vanilla” WoW (the original release in 2004) We’ve met hundreds of people from around the world from all different walks of life, religion, politics, and cultures. We’ve argued, laughed, cried, and found much more in common with people that we would never have met in the “real world”. We’ve held in-game funerals and weddings, and the more than occasional mass slaughter of the enemy! WoW is a game about war after all! We have real life friends to this day that we met in game years ago. It was, and is, a great experience.
When I retired we continued to play as they went off to chase their futures. I play pretty much daily now. Although the kids play a lot less now (filthy casuals!) we still get in the game together occasionally and beat down some opposing faction players for old times sake. Nothing tastes better than the tears of your enemy!
FOR THE HORDE!