game over!

it is funny how some people tend to take games way too serious. too serious to the point that the purpose of playing the game is defeated. and what is this purpose, you ask? if you don’t know why you’re playing that game, then there must be something wrong with you. do yourself a favor and quit playing. LOL!

so i’m not talking about any other game. i am referring to Online Games or those that are played on a computer. particularly these Massively Multi-player Online Role-Playing Games, or MMORPG for short. the latter is one of the computer game genres that have taken over the computer gaming world by storm of late. thousands or even millions of people play it every day. and these games are not just for the little kids under 12 years old. many, if not majority, of the people playing these games are teenagers just barely in high school, young professionals in their 20s, or adults over 40 who even have kids of their own.

so why do they play?

well i think i would be correct to say that the primary purpose of playing this kind of game (MMORPG) is to have FUN. all other reason for playing, under normal circumstances, comes from this one reason.

i have been playing computer games for as long as i have been using a computer. in this length of time, i have been mostly limited to single-player games and/or LAN games. the thought of taking on a MMORPG has caught my interest for quite some time, but i haven’t really found one that suited my taste until this year.

World of Warcraft, WOW as called by many, falls under the MMORPG genre and supposedly has captured the hearts of millions of gamers worldwide. i am one of those millions. this is my only MMORPG. i was never a hardcore gamer, be it at RPGs, shooting-games, or any other modern computer game. CounterStrike makes me nauseous. Ragnarok is too bland. but for the past few months, it is kind of scary how i’ve spent a lot of my free time playing WOW. and why not? i am having fun with it. what scares me most is how one could potentially get so immersed into the game world, that one loses track of time. and when you lose track of time, you lose a few other things as well.. . like responsibilities. yes, i don’t have to explain this, or should i? unpaid bills. dirty laundry in your room. filthy bathroom. i could mention a few more, but i think you get the picture.

but you know what is more disturbing? people who take the game with too much zealotry. they get upset when the game doesn’t go as they had planned it. they even get more upset when other people mess up their game. what they don’t realize is that they are not enjoying the game anymore. it becomes a mad race to perfection. in the end, the game consumes the player.. . in the end you always lose.. .

while it is easy to get upset and it is perfectly normal to be in that state, my advise is to never let it (the game) into you too much. have fun playing the game. bear in mind that it isn’t real. the people behind the avatars or toons may be real, so expect frictions and try to be mindful of your actions if it can be helped. but take it like this – you are just in one roller coaster ride with them; the feeling as the car you’re on makes 360 degree loops is like one mad adrenaline rush and you feel like you are flying; but it is only temporary; at the end of the track, the ride comes to a halt. and you get off it. and it’s over. and life must go on! so enjoy it while it lasts. otherwise, don’t get on that ride if you know it will not make you feel any better.