
Other Worlds and Wasted Talents - jlhamilton
http://daviddfriedman.blogspot.com/2009/05/other-worlds-and-wasted-talents.html
======
chops
For a year and a half, I was sickly addicted to WoW. I ran a large raiding
guild (for those not in the know, that meant running a rigid schedule, several
times a week to kill the same bosses over and over, with 40 players, several
hours a night). Running a large raiding guild is practically a full-time job
(I averaged about 30 hours a week in-game, not counting time spent on the
guild forums discussing policy whatnot), and it takes some managerial skills
to keep the guild morale up and ultimately keep the epic loot rolling in.

As another user here noted, the progression in that type of world is very
deterministic, and very measurable. You have stats that you can work to
increase, knowing that eventually, it will increase. There is absolutely zero
risk. If you die, you waste a few minutes, and try again. Eventually, you'll
get it. That feeling of constant progression keeps people coming back. It's an
invigorating feeling of accomplishment, and as soon as you've got your next
item, you're pumped and salivating for that next item.

At the time, I hated my job and WoW was my escape. I was a consultant
programmer who had simply gotten addicted hard (I always had a browser tab
open to wowhead.com, even while working at clients). The only fun I had
programming related at the time, was time I spent working on my guild's
website (and I spent a lot of time on it), occassionally working on a startup
I was doing on the site, unrelated to WoW stuff.

It wasn't until over a year into WoW, that I realized that the website I had
built for my guild was actually very functional, beyond most other guild site
I'd ever seen. So I spent half a year making it generic and started selling
guild sites based on the framework of my original guild site. I launched three
years ago and for 2.5 years, it's been my exclusive job.

My point? That occasionally, it pays off to waste your time in an artificial
world, enough so to fully understand the target domain such that you can
create a marketable product/service for it.

But for the most part, almost anyone I know that quits WoW improves their life
in doing so. Myself, I don't play WoW anymore, haven't for a while (I just
lost the interest, in realizing it's a neverending grind for no _real_
payout).

------
tom_rath
In artificial worlds and closed environments, the rules are well-defined and
success can be planned. There are no 'unknown unknowns' in a gaming
environment: Success is granted simply by showing up and hanging around long
enough. If you put in n-hours, you'll eventually have a gaming token strong
enough to become a leader which newcomers rally around by default.

Conversely, success in "Real Life" requires interacting with and navigating
through an unpredictable and capricious environment where success is neither
guaranteed nor defined. There is no "Level X" to strive for out here, the
beginning steps "A", "B" and "C" are anyone's guess to make, and hanging
around for 50 years "grinding" by flipping burgers isn't going to deliver
squat.

In "Real Life", you have to design your own quest and choose your own goals.

~~~
dhs
_There are no 'unknown unknowns' in a gaming environment_

Tom, meet Leeroy: <http://www.spike.com/video/world-of-warcraft/2671154>

~~~
ars
You know that's an act right? i.e. that it was pre-planned that way as comedy.

~~~
enra
I think the point was that the players are still humans, therefore
unknown(even the example was an act). With 40 persons physically in different
locations, there can be always some random events, or you don't know
everything about the encounter.

------
aristus
I know a few people who are highly talented (in one case, _disturbingly_
talented) but hide it. They hold low-stress jobs and spend the rest of their
time enjoying life. It's not my thing but I can't fault them.

------
SwellJoe
This is so common as to probably not need someone to call it out. It's true
enough, but what does one do with that knowledge? Some of the folks living in
these other worlds some of the time also manage to live successful and
productive lives outside of the other world. I'd be more interested to know
what's different about the two types of people. Is it a matter of degree or
are they two entirely different types of people?

