Wednesday, December 02, 2009

It's just a game!

And wheeeee, just as I finish my rant, I check WoW.com and see their newest post is titled It's Just A Game. And now I just want to rant more rather than logging back in to the game(or doing some laundry or something).

It IS JUST A GAME! I got a bit peeved over a post somewhere else about this a few weeks ago. And NO, I do not play every game that I play to "be the best you can be at that game and ALWAYS win!!1". When you play checkers with your kid, are you a cutthroat ass who absolutely HAS to win or else you'll take your checkers and go home? Certainly my sister was a sore loser when we were kids. Any time that she lost a game, she threw the board in the air and stormed off to her room to cry. And that happened a LOT...just saying.

I know all about wanting to win, about competition. I'm a football and hockey fan. It SUCKS to lose-but then I'm just watching those games, not really playing. Back when I played sports myself, from roller hockey most recently to softball back in high school, it honestly didn't matter if we won or lost, as long as we had FUN. Remember that old saying, "it isn't whether you win or lose, it's how you play the game" It's a metaphor for life, certainly. As long as you play your best and have fun, you are the winner in the end.

If I am having more fun with only my family, driving the back roads in our 10 year old car and stopping to eat at McDonald's, that doesn't make me a lesser human being than the snob in the Lexus doing 80 down the interstate headed to Ruth's Chris. I'm sure that snob thinks they are better than me, and if I don't have the time or effort to put in to have a job that makes 100k a year then I don't deserve the nice car or nice restaurant food. (sound familiar?) But I sit down here not caring if you have an expensive car or spend more on food in one meal than I spend in one month at the grocery store. I just don't care!

Back to the sports analogy. I've never played sports for money. I can understand that when you play for a big prize, like lots more money, that people want to win at all costs. Whether you are golfing or playing soccer, professionals, I suppose, should want to be their best. I know of a certain cornerback that I think sucks rocks and I really wish my team would replace him. But playing WoW is NOT a professional sport! There is no way I'm going to spend time outside the game to make sure I have every little teeny tiny stat detailed down so that I know to the umpeenth % how much I should gem or enchant for to get this or that. Good gravy, as long as I know NOT to wear spellpower on my hunter and crap like that, that should be good enough!

So chill people. HAVE FUN. But don't look down your nose at those who are having fun in their own way! Remember that kid in the movie "Parenthood" who was butting things with his head with the bucket on? And how snooty Rick Moranis has to say "How proud you must be". Hey at least that kid is having FUN and it isn't interfering with your ability to have fun-so bugger off!


It's raining today. I guess I'm just in a ranting mood.


Nah.

1 comment:

Joar said...

Well said! It is just a game - intended to be fun / entertainment / distraction, whatever. I do tend to run instances now and then, but it's because some percentage of the time, I get with a group of people that I really just have a great time playing with. And then I end up in a group that's not so fun, and I stop for a while and go back to leveling my alts, or working on Loremaster, or whatever the heck else I feel like doing!