WoW vs Real Life

I have been thinking a lot lately about how much I miss getting serious about the World of Warcraft. I miss stressing over boss fights and making sure my gear is gemmed / enchanted. I miss going into the fray of a fight and trying to keep everyone healed up or making sure my DPS is spot on missing nary a button push of my rotation. I miss rolling (and hopefully winning) on the fattest of lootz after a boss has been downed knowing that we accomplished something as a team.

However... I have decided I am content to be a casual gamer. I like going home and playing the piano for a while, and then doing some laundry or misc. household task. Some nights after dinner I like to just crochet in front of the TV, read a book, or work on my novel. It's like my own personal me time (until school starts again in a few weeks).

But then, I start to miss the interactions with my guildmates and will log into the game to level a character, pet battle, achievement whore, or what have you so that I can chat and goof around with my friends. So, to me, WoW is more of a social outlet than a game at this point (but the game play is of course fun too, so keep that content coming!).

My husband is a more serious gamer. He leads the 10m raid team and is an officer of the guild. He spends almost every night in game being very good at both of those things. And you know what? That's okay! I can totally understand how fun it can be to do that and I know that come the weekend (and some weeknights) we will go out and do other stuffs together... or we'll goof around in game together.

I am sure that my past experiences as a serious gamer make me more understanding of that than one who has never played. I can understand that if you have never experienced the thrill of an MMORPG (specifically downing a particularly difficult boss) that it would be hard to grasp the concept of why we can't have dinner with friends on a Tuesday just because it's raid night. I have been there and totally get it. There is no difference between him having a raid commitment and me having a yoga class or dragon boat practice commitment.

The bottom line is: WoW is a fabulous game, and it can be taken seriously without letting it take over your life completely. It also has tons of great content for the casual gamer. Real life will always take priority when it really matters -- but it is so great to have a social outlet and is a nice escape from real life when I want it.