by Rob Kentworth

Created on: September 02, 2010

There are video games and then there are MMORPGs. World of Warcraft, as most probably know, is classed as an MMORPG (but still a video game all the same). The reason I differentiate between the two is because one (though not always) requires a monthly subscription fee, as well as requiring you to buy the game in the first place. As World of Warcraft is an MMORPG, it’s relevant.

However, let’s first examine video games and whether or not they’re a waste of time. When people sit down in front of the television and watch sport, a movie or a series (or things like American Idol), they’re not doing anything productive. Granted, there are some television series etc. that you can learn from and are genuinely well made. They’re in the minority though. But when people say games are a waste of time, they don’t consider what was just mentioned and it instead simply comes down to a conflict of interest and not ‘such and such is sad’ or ‘games are a waste of time’. Games can have some of the same merits that films etc. have, and they do at least task you with solving problems. You can also learn from the best games. So, if television is a waste of time, then so are games.

Now then, this brings us to MMORPGs and, in particular, World of Warcraft. Normal games don’t tend to have the same addictive qualities that MMORPGs do. You play them, but there’s no feeling that you need to play the game again after a few minutes break. At least in normal circumstances for gamers. With World of Warcraft and MMORPGs, you can quite easily become addicted and all you’ll have to show for it is a bank balance that has less money in it than it normally would have if you’d not been paying a subscription fee for months on end. Without the social aspect of MMORPGs, you could acquire the same experience by playing other games that you pay for ‘once’. This means: character building, slaying monsters and collecting items as well as working through a game’s story.

The above then leads us onto the social aspect of games like World of Warcraft and MMORPGs. I found that when you’re playing the game, you can make friends but they don’t seem to be true at the end of the day and to top it off, they become a substitute for real-life friends. Note though that this doesn’t mean true friendships haven’t been formed via playing a game like World of Warcraft. I’m just speaking about personal experience here.

So, at the end of the day, I would say World of Warcraft is a waste of time (especially money). This also applies to other MMORPGs, but not the ones that are free to play. The free to play ones are just like playing a normal game, but with an added social aspect.

However, if you do have real-life friends who play World of Warcraft and other MMORPGs, then the game may not prove to be a waste of time (and money) at all in comparison to playing other games. In addition, if you do make true friends while playing, then it may again prove to not be a waste of time. But in general, I would say World of Warcraft and MMORPGs are for the person who plays games to have fun and not make friends.

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