Professor Farnsworth

Good news everyone!

I've created a device that will cause anyone who reads this to do so in my voice!

World of Warcraft

The summer moving crew for the Hillsboro School District typically consists of six to eight people, mostly college students, who answer to one supervisor, Ron Nathlich. Ron is 34 years old and has worked for the District since the year he got out of the Army. Right out of high school Ron enlisted and was shipped off to Iraq during the Gulf War. Standing roughly 5’10” tall he still sports a military crew cut, and despite his growing mid section, Ron’s broad shoulders and lean legs hint at his past physical prowess.

During the school year Ron is in charge of delivering food to all the schools in the district, a job that starts at four in the morning. But during the summers, he is in charge of the crew of summer hires who move primarily furniture for teachers. In the summer of 2007, I was one of those workers. During this summer at home I got to know Ron pretty well. I quickly became his favorite of the group for no other reason than our similar senses of humor and my remarkable ability to sustain conversation, something the others seemed to lack. Our most frequent topic of conversation was Ron’s love affair. Surprisingly this affair was not the one with his fiancé, whom he had flown to Russia to propose to just a few months earlier. Rather, it was the venue through which he met her, World of Warcraft.

Since its release in 2004 by Blizzard Entertainment, World of Warcraft has dominated the MMORPG market. Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games have only recently become popular, and WoW is leading the trend. Today it has over eleven million subscriptions, up from five million just 2 years ago.

Subscribers pay a monthly fee to connect to the game servers operated by the manufacturer, Blizzard. Once connected, players are able to interact with other players live, giving the game a strong social aspect. Much of the content is set up to encourage or even necessitate player interaction, with game bosses requiring groups of up to 40 players to kill.

As for the game play itself, players are eased in. Beginning at level one, players are slowly introduced to the game and their character’s abilities. Different classes have different abilities, some using magic spells, others more conventional swords and axes, while others use a combination of the two. As players progress through the game, they gain more spells and abilities and become more powerful until they reach the level cap at 80.

But the game does not end there. In fact, it doesn’t end at all for most people. At level 80 players can then begin grouping up to attack the most challenging bosses in the game, with hopes of getting “loot” or prizes such as armor, weapons and special items that the bosses drop. Only those who play countless hours, dedicating 5-6 hours, 4 or more nights a week, will ever beat all the bosses.

And that is exactly what Ron was after. At this point Ron had been playing the game for roughly a year and as a single man who worked from 4am-noon, he racked up a lot of play time after work. Many of his evenings included enjoying a home cooked meal that he made from scratch and a 4-5 hour raid with his guild. The term raid comes from the military tactic in which a sudden attack is launched behind an enemy's lines without the intention of holding ground. In gaming however it refers to a large group of players launching an attack on one of the bosses.

For Ron, many a week night was dedicated to raids, and the next day I would enjoy his lavish tales of his guild’s victories and defeats. After about a month of his war stories (real and fictitious), I finally decided to try the game. After all, only a couple of my friends had come home for the summer and I wasn’t about to spend any time hanging out with my parents. The $80 I spent to get the original World of Warcraft and the expansion, The Burning Crusade, was pretty steep, but working 40 hours a week with no overhead expenses, I had the money burning a hole in my pocket anyways.

For a while I was into raiding as well, dedicating two or three nights a week to it. And that was just because those were the only 5 hour blocks I could afford; I still spend another 20 or so hours a week playing an hour or two at a time. For Ron, myself and others, video games like World of Warcraft can easily become an addiction.

What most people find so addicting about the game is how expansive and immersive it is. The game in it’s current form spans four fictional continents and involves roughly 60 fictional races. There are capitol cities to visit, professions to learn like leatherworking or blacksmithing, and of course there are quests to complete. But what drives most people is the quest for better gear.

Most players will agree that there is little skill involved in being good at the game. One person may be an expert at playing their character, but if their opponent has better gear, they will likely lose the battle. So many players spend countless hours raiding in order to get better gear, some going weeks of raiding before seeing that sword they wanted, or a belt with higher armor.

With each character in a 25 person raid having roughly 12 gear slots to upgrade, that’s 300 or so item upgrades needed for one raid group. Each raid run may yield between five and ten pieces. After factoring in repeated items, it is easy to see that a player may spend months raiding before getting what they’re looking for.

Another part of the game that keeps players coming back is the social community it fosters. Players are able to work directly with other people and communicate either via text or voice chat. For some players, their social group in WoW is larger than their number of real life friends. For others, it is the only social interaction they get on any given day.

The web is full of tales about WoW addiction. According to a story reported on Joystiq.com, one girl’s addiction turned fatal. “During China's week-long National Day holiday last month, a young girl died after playing World of Warcraft for several consecutive days.” Supposedly the young girl played non stop without breaks for food or sleep and eventually passed out on her keyboard. After her death, fellow players held an in-game funeral for her and the Chinese government instituted a three hour limit for internet gaming.

However not all addictions are that dramatic, much more often they result in a slow deterioration of social lives, relationships and grades. In an article about his own addiction, blogger Cyde Wise recalls reading “countless horror stories on the net about students failing out of school, men and women failing out of relationships, and workers failling out of their careers. Playing 8 or more hours a day for some of these people is routine. That’s one-third of their life! It’s scary.”

While he himself did not succumb to his addiction, many do. Wowdetox.com is a site dedicated to those struggling with or who have overcome addiction. Here anonymous posters can share their stories.

“I'm 41. My fiance is gone. My network computer job is gone. I live alone now, struggling to make rent, and I am filing bankruptcy.”

“I lost 20 pounds when I quit playing WoW and I now have abs.”

“My roommate and I failed out of College, and I lost a job for the first time in my life. So I sat and played wow for two months straight... only to realize I owed people money... I am a month free of this game and my gut still hurts when I think about it. Wow has ruined my life.”

When Todd Carlstrom started playing, he was a freshman in the dorms at the University of Oregon. Because of an academic scholarship, Todd was able to afford his room and board without working, allowing him lots of time to play between classes and homework. However it started to get out of hand. “I would just get in a zone while playing and completely forget about time. That’s when I started missing classes.”

A class missed here and there wasn’t too hard for Todd, an undeclared freshman to handle, but when he started raiding, it got worse. “I would start a raid before dinner and just forget to eat. And then we’d finish at one or two in the morning if we were lucky, a few times I just stayed up all night playing.”

Rescue came for Todd in the form of Sarah, now his girlfriend. When Sarah met him, Todd was at the peak of his immersion in the game, spending up to 10 hours a day playing. But when their relationship started getting more serious, she decided to put her foot down.

“Basically she sat me down and told me what she saw the game doing to me, ruining my health, my grades and that it was wearing down on her too.” So Todd was faced with a choice, life in “RL” (real life) or life in the World of Warcraft. Fortunately he choose the former and hasn’t regretted it since.

As for Ron, he continues to walk the line between an obsessive hobby and an addiction. After his fiancé was denied a visa to come to the U.S. he began playing more than ever. He still has his job at the school district but spends more and more of his time outside of work playing.

Ron is at a point that many addicts pass without even blinking. Now he must make a choice between life in a game and life in the real world. Without his fiancé here to force him to choose real life, I fear that only hitting rock bottom will cause him to give up the game.

It's weird. I seem to have my life under control, despite having little free time. I have evenings, but no days off which is a bummer. In any case, I keep feeling like I'm running so fast that my legs will give out, yet they don't. So despite the fact that I hate running this fast, and feel like I'm always on the verge of failing...I don't...and that makes it worse. I stresses me out that things are going so smoothly because I feel like they must be right on the verge of falling apart.

As an extension of that, I now attach even more stress to the small things that would usually only stress me a little.

In other, and more important news, we have a new president. A black president none the less. I'm excited to say the least, but for some reason not as much as I feel I should be. I mean, it's been kind of expected all along. It feels like when you would pull an all nighter with friends when you were a kid. You were all excited at first saying "this is going to be awesome!" and you spend the whole night playing video games. But by morning you just really want to go home and sleep. And while it was fun, and you're glad it happened, you're just glad it's over and you can move on.

Busy busy busy. I hate being busy. Lets see, there are 168 hours in a week. Sleeping roughly 7 hours a night that's 49 hours of sleep, 45 hours of work and 12 hours of class. Bringing me to about 62 hours of free time in a week. Most of that is stacked between my classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays, which I usually use to do homework, or at least plan out my homework. While this may not seem like a big deal to some people (I know there are a lot of people way more busy than me, ie my roommate Jason) it has been hard to handle.

I went from getting 9 or so hours of sleep a night, working roughly 15 hours a week and having very little to do, to this new schedule. It has taken a lot of getting used to. I still haven't adjusted to it fully but I'm trying. I just miss having any extended period of time to myself. I have a few evenings a week but that's really just spent trying to wrap up loose ends of the week while relaxing as much as possible before bed. All I want is even a half day off a week, just a chunk of time where I don't have to do ANYTHING!

...anyways, I hope the antidepressants help, should start kicking in a couple weeks from now

School And The Debate

"OH! Back to school, back to school.
To prove to dad that I'm not a fool.
I've got my lunch packed up.
My boots tied tight.
I hope I don't get in a fight.
OOOOOOOH Back to school!"

-Billy Madison

So classes have started again and I get the pleasure of finding out what it's like to work two jobs and go to school full time. It hasn't been horrible so far, but the term has just begun. It did, however, force me to drop my photojournalism class which would require another 10+ hours of work each week. Instead I'm in Magazine 2, and I think it's going to work out a lot better.

My Communication Theory class has yet to teach me anything about communication theory. Go figure right?

I've all but switched mains now to my Paladin alt. For one because I don't have much time to play and two because Pally tanks are the shit.

Last night I watched the VP debate at Rennie's. It was a lot of fun but it also scared the shit out of me. This Palin woman may actually get elected to office. Not only that, but if she did, she would likely become our president. I mean honestly, McCain's only got about a year left in him right? The guy looks like he's about to keel over at any moment. As far as the debating goes, it may just be my bias but it seemed that Biden basically wiped the floor with Palin. I don't think she directly answered a single question. Sometimes she'd start like she was going to answer it, but most of the time she just started talking about energy and being from Alaska.

School is fast approaching and I'm not sure how I feel about it. Mostly because I'll be working only slightly fewer hours and then going to class on top of it. It would be nice if I could budget well enough to get one full day off each week, but I doubt that is going to happen. Like everyone else, I wish secretly to win the lottery, or to find out I have a billionaire relative who suddenly died, leaving me all his/her assets. But if I were to suddenly come into a lot of money, it could only end horribly. The first thing I'd do would be the responsible thing, I'd pay off all the loans, credit cards and mortgages of all my friends and family.

As for the rest of the money, I'd say there's about a 10% chance I'd be responsible and save most of it, a 20% chance that I would do the same after some pressure from my parents and the GF. But there's probably a 70% chance I would just start buying every shiny, expensive thing that crosses my vision.

List 1: The exuberant but (somewhat) practical

1. A $5000 or more computer, probably made by NASA. (For any nerds reading, I'd do my best to trick it out with a Tb or more of solid state memory, BOOYA!).
2. A Lexus...or 5 (and of course new cars for all my friends).
3. 65 inch television set with surround sound and all the good stuff.
4. 6 bedroom house for my roomies and I. Mostly so I can finally have my Man Cave.
*Man Cave subject to contain many leather bound books
5. Pimped out wardrobe.
6. The biggest, baddest, most comfortable recliner on the planet, complete with massage, heat, built in cooler for drinks etc.
7. An iPhone

List 2: The straight up exuberant

1. A plot of land, maybe 100 acres, in some huge stretch of wilderness...maybe in Idaho. I'd build a vacation home there and an air strip/hanger. This way the only way in would be by plane and there would be no one around for miles and miles (aka I can do whatever the hell I want there, most likely involving explosives).

2. A plane on which to fly to said air strip/vacation home.

3. Extra computers/WoW accounts so I can multibox my brains out. (One man guild baby!)

4. A remote control helicopter (gas powered) with tiny rockets and a paintball gun with which to unleash a flurry of annoyance on neighbors, friends, passing cars etc.

5. I'd rent Six Flags for a huge party.

The last thing (that I can think of right now) that I'd do is not for myself. I'd buy things for people I don't know. For instance, I'd hang around at car dealerships and pick out people who look like they're scraping together their savings to buy a car and just slap down a check and pay for the whole thing up front. I'd also pay for someone else's meal every-time I went out, on top of leaving huge tips. (And if the service was bad, I'd leave a 100% tip but tip the other table's server double that.) I think I'd also like to carry around $100 gift cards to various stores and hand them to people I find amusing or who are extra friendly.

And last but not least, I'd make it rain...like every day.

Never Enough

I now have another project on top of getting a new computer. I want to attach my computer to a recliner so I can play games while relaxing in the living room. The budget I've decided on for this project is roughly $100. I can get a lcd mount arm through work for about $40, which would be the most expensive part. Then I just have to get some wood to build a frame around the chair on which to mount my computer, keyboard and mouse. The creative excitement this project gives me reminds me of building with legos when I was younger. Having a vision of some completed piece of work and then making it happen always gave me such a satisfied feeling.

As for my other project, being ahead financially this month is wearing my pockets thin. I managed to find a gaming desktop for $500 on Craigslist and I want it so freaking bad. It was easier when I knew I couldn't get anything, let alone the $1200+ computer that I wanted. Now I have a very decent, very cheap computer within my grasp, and the cash to pay for it. That is if I completely ignore most of my upcoming expenses like rent and groceries. But who needs food or a roof? That's always been my problem. I decide I want something, I research the crap out of it trying to find the best deal and somewhere along the way all that wanting turns into needing and I decide I have to get it. I mean, before I was planning on spending over a grand on a comp, now I can get one for $500...so naturally I'm saving $500 right? I swear to god the logic makes sense...somehow.

I think I need to be content with building this chair and just let that occupy my bored brain.