Can’t ignore game’s societal impacts

Regarding the Monday article, “Lynnwood man makes a living selling ‘World of Warcraft’ characters”:

Being a player of this and other interactive role-playing video games over the past 10 years, I am very interested in the societal impacts of such games.

In response to the idea of any sort of business developing and selling WOW characters, at Mr. Knight’s “professional” pace, it would take 14 full days of work to be a saleable character for $200-$700. Assuming all other circumstances are perfect, that’s $4 per hour average wage. Lucrative?

Rather than this unrealistic bent on the phenomenon of “World of Warcraft,” we would be better served to focus on the more prevalent societal impacts of the game. People around the world are logging 40-plus hours per week on this addictive game. In the process they are losing their friends, family, health, careers, grades, motivation and outside interests.

The most appealing thing about “World of Warcraft” is that it allows you to completely escape reality. You can completely recreate yourself with a perfect body, no-risk social interactions, and a certain destiny… if you work hard, you will succeed. No guesswork, no landslides (unless someone hacks your account). If you run into a pitfall you can look up the absolute correct answer on the Net!

Wouldn’t we all like that in life?

The problem is, as you play more, you develop obligations within the game just like the ones you were trying to escape by playing it. An addicted gamer may feel like they actually have two lives. What ends up happening is they give up more and more of the “real” one in lieu of the one with the more certain rewards — the online life.

There are many Web sites available to research the impact of addiction to this game.

Claire Peterson

Marysville