do you have a queasy conscience for playing wow?

[Tucci]

If it makes you happy and isn't hurting you or anyone else, who the fuck cares what people think of a hobby? People love criticizing shit they don't understand. If someone doesn't fit their criteria for "normal", they get all confused and bent out of shape about it. This is 2015. You can throw a rock and hit someone that plays video games. Age is just a number. Gamers are getting older. Before you know it, today's closed-minded generation of middle-aged and elderly people will be replaced by us and our hobbies will be the norm. Surround yourself with people who understand and enjoy the same things you do and you'll be so much happier. Some idiot's opinion takes a backseat to your happiness. Those same people will watch hours of TV with no issue.

[Deleted]

Any hobby is as good as any other hobby so long as the individual is concerned. So long as it fulfills the dual purposes of a hobby in that it: 1. Wastes time. 2. Is fun.

So my answer is: No.

I could have wasted my time a billion other ways, and they all would have still been a waste of time. No harm, no foul.

Why do you want to waste time? Do you want to die?

[Vargas]

this question goes to the guys who were in their 30s or above. i was always a gamer and loved playing wow, but becaming older i question myself "is gaming, especially games like wow a right game for a man".

when i compare myself to the idols i have, i dont think that they ever "wasting" their live time with things like this game.

i dont want to offend anyone, its more like i need some other oppinions from some mature gamers and what they think about it. because im not very happy about my way i handle this topic

30 year old here; I honestly don't give a damn what people think I "should" be doing. Its my life, and its the only one I will ever have so I will spend my free time doing things that bring happiness to me and not caring a second about what others think. I think idolizing other people is a bit silly as well, so in that regard I think its silly to compare your lives to others. Its not a competition.

At the end of the day, just do what makes you happy (unless that includes killing and raping people; don't do that) and to hell with everyone else. The people who love and support you, will still love and support you and the people who don't aren't worth your time.

[Lochton]

Nope, not at all. I have been blessed with friendship through this game, even a girlfriend. Enjoy the game with friends and I hold no problems.

[Deleted]

You are all right, but i dont give a damn about social thinking I should be doing. Its more what I think I should doing.

I started some hard study, this maybe to prove to him or her something, but I also have to work and both is hard. I started say to me, if I wouldnt waste my time, I would maybe finish (faster) the study ( I do have quit WoW few times and honestly it didnt help to do this or those better ). Few have give up early, some of them were pretty smart and I continue trying and trying...

Other thing, i broke up with my gf, we were more than 6 years in a relationship and now I think if I would have spent 1/10 of time to do something cool with her instead of gaming, maybe it would be last forever like it seems the whole years except the last 2-3 months... We were betrothed for 2 years. We have done some nice things, but maybe it should have been more nice things done.

Last thing, I do not have many friends. I have a few removals so never settled enough to get some new friends. At school I have enough, but then the removals starts and some connection broke completly, other persist but not like years ago.
So when I am playing, I play for my own, with no friends. I think then, if I would go outside and do something I would get maybe know some ppl.
At wow I cancle often my sub, so friendships ingame couldnt evolve enough.

Maybe I just give my preference a try and what should come will come...

[Dasani]

I don't regret playing WOW or any game really as much as I have in my life. It was something I wanted to do, and still do, so I do it. I get a lot of enjoyment out of it.

I still lead a pretty productive life outside of the game and had a few serious relationships and am in one right now.

The only thing I really "regret" is I wish I had kids and had them about 10-15 years ago. I could still have them today of course and I wouldn't be "too" old by the time they grew up but I think I may have missed out on some of the things I could've done years ago, etc.

But none of it really relates to WOW or games or anything. I just never met the right girl back then. The one i'm with now though... Could be!

[Deleted]

If you question yourself "what the fuck am i doing with my life, why am i playing WoW?" chances are its nolonger the game for you and your simply playing it out of habit.

[Niroshi]

At 30 not in the slightest. When I was younger I would occasionally feel bad, but eventually grew out of comparing myself to everyone else.

[Julian Rayne]

No. Not even a little.

[Pull My Finger]

Well you know, the brutal truth is, you do come across like a person who's probably wasting their life away, but then what others think of you really isn't the biggest of your problems.

[Itisamuh]

I do get a little queasy when I think about how much money I have poured into this game, but other than that I have no shame. I accepted long ago that gaming will always be my main hobby, and as others already pointed out, the whole point of a hobby is to waste time and have fun. When you stop enjoying how you waste your time is when you need to look for a change.

[Granyala]

No, I don't.
I don't give a shit whether "society" accepts my lifestyle, because ultimately "society" doesn't give a shit about me either.

[Vaelorian]

Social stigma is what this is all about. If you watched television all day or movies all day, nobody bats and eye... Tell people you play WoW, everyone loses their minds!

[Deleted]

do you have a queasy conscience for playing wow?

No.
Going 38 this Friday.

[stigz]

If it truly makes you happy, literally nothing else matters.

Don't let your comparisons with other people dilute your sense of self-worth or detour you from your own unique route on how you find enjoyment in life.

Be unique. A constant quest for social acceptance is an inevitable meld into invisibility. The meaning of life is different for every person. Your idols are finding it their way, and you're finding your way.

Dont let WoW be a rationalization to avoid your dreams because you're afraid, though. "Don't let your dreams be dreams."

[Kerath]

32 here and nope.
It's a hobby, I have fun with it. It doesn't impact on my work or social life. The nights I play are nights I would have spent at home anyway, so I'm doing something more entertaining (to me) and more interactive than watching TV. I've also formed lasting friendships as a direct result of my WoW playing, so that's a win-win as far as I'm concerned.

[Allatar]

I'm 44 and been playing since 2005: I am fine talking about my hobby with people as I don't see anything wrong with it. It does help that four others that I work with share my hobby so it's a natural conversation for us to have.

Personally I would feel a lot more queasy abgout admitting I sit in fron of a TV every night and consume the absolutely vaccuous crap that passes for entertainment on British TV at the moment. I feel a lot more comortable talking about WoW than admitting I watch some of the godawful reality shows that everyone else I work with seem to think constitues 'normal' behaviour.

[Akka]

this question goes to the guys who were in their 30s or above. i was always a gamer and loved playing wow, but becaming older i question myself "is gaming, especially games like wow a right game for a man".

There is no wrong hobbies. I'm 36, pushing 37, and I feel no shame in being a passionnate gamer (I'm also a passionnate martial artist and sport practitionner and I don't feel "wasting my live" doing any of these three activities).

when i compare myself to the idols i have, i dont think that they ever "wasting" their live time with things like this game.

Unless you let it eat at your life and regret the place it's taking (addictions are bad whatever their form, but it's the addiction the problem, not the hobby itself), it's not "wasting".
And you would be probably surprised at the amount of your "idols" who actually love to play video games.
Hobbies range from collecting stamps to hiking to painting to watching football while drinking beer. Do you really feel that following the scores of a football club or watching TV is more productive than playing a video game ?

[Derah]

when i compare myself to the idols i have, i dont think that they ever "wasting" their live time with things like this game.

The reason was because games were a new medium, no more and no less. People thought just as bad of movies and television when they first came out, and now they're considered a true art medium.

As Yhatzee said in his Zero Punctuation channel: "What heartens me is that eventually, everyone over 40 when I was born will die, and when that happens, videogames will finally be as legitimate as all other entertainment media. And sitting around while playing Spec Ops The Line or The Last of Us will be regarded with the same respect as going to the theater, playing online E-sports like shooters or MOBAs will be as prestigious as either watching, or playing any of the other major sports like footbal and golf, and playing shitty games like call of duty will be regarded as drunkenly sprawling over the couch in front of your tv, half watching a reality show because that was the first thing that was on when your head hit the remote."

Words of wisdom. Words of wisdom indeed.

[Deleted]

Yes you all are right.

But watching TV oder a movie, it can inspire you, give you new ideas, maybe evolve your personality - like a book.

WoW is just sitting in front of it and having fun, without any advantages to your life. When WoW would be shut down by blizzard, there is nothing left you can "use" in your life, what you achived in WoW. Ok, maybe some new ppl, but to meet somebody is not the main reason we playing WoW, if it was, there are much more ways to do it better.

The difference with RL hobbies and playing (online) games will last forever, no matter if the society will ever accept it - in online games you progress your char, with RL hobbies yourself.
But i also know, we should just have some down time to calm down.