Not disclosing too much, I found out last night my RABID behaviour on WOW is nothing at all compared to an Alcatel engineer.  Apparently, this guy has taken a 5 week vacation to play WOW - ROFL!!!  I have done many years ago but it was only 4 weeks and it was only the weekends (total all weekend gaming with Diablo).  But, the 5 weeks is not the kicker.  This guy actually met a woman from playing WOW.  They had teamed together and kept in touch and than later met and than spent time together travelling.  WOW!!! Now this is what I call and ALL SINGING ALL DANCING GAME - Wooooohoooooo! 

WOW has a whole social aspect of it that could be as big as the game play itself.  There is an order in WOW.  When I team up with a level 40 and I am a lowly level 26, I look up to the level 40 as an elder and protector.  But, the level 40 may well be a 14 year old teenager.  Imagine a kid who is recognized as someone important in WOW compared to the real world where he is just a kid.  This by itself has a very sticky value proposition.  Even for adults who find it difficult to socialize, WOW is their outlet.  I remember taking a bat ride (the taxi system of WOW to move quickly between cities) and there was a level 60 Tauren standing there.  He waved to me and ask how I was doing (I was a lowly level 25 at that time).  We chated and it was obvious he was an adult.  We had a good short chat as I had a mission - level, level, level.  Later that evening, I thought about this character.  He was just standing there socializing - making friends.  Now, I know non of us here need to do that to make friends.  But, it is still a very interesting part of the game.  I have made a friend.  He is 14 years old.  He looks up to me in the game because I am 7 level above him.  When he found out I was well over 40 years old, he was blown away.  "You are older than my Dad and we are playing together as friends."   
 

The carnage of WOW on the gamers' life is well documented on the Net.  It is kinda of sad.  I did read one yesterday on how he has had enough of the stupid game.  He is quitting his Level 51 Paladin.  He noted that he is looking forward to planning a real weekend in the real world.  My advice to him would be to play a different character and get a different view of the game.  Than, return to the Level 51 Paladin when he feels refreshed.  This is what I am doing ;-)  Each type of character requires a very different approach.  My Mage is a long range melee type.  I am playing a Tauren who is a warrior with range capabilities.  The style is very different, which makes the game interesting.  But, the end game here is to develop a Level 60 character. 

On a side note, I just recieved an email with a URL to

http://www.steampowered.com/status/survey.html

It is a nice snapshot of the gaming community (hard-core) playing Half-Life 2 and their hardware.  Steam is the HL 2 on-line gateway.  They take a snapshot of the hardware HL 2 is running on.  Enjoy.