MMO's : Social or anti-social

Please note this is my view on it, based on my experience over the last couple of years...

I am an avid World of Warcraft player.
I am also not totally obsessed with it, being able to limit my time on the game and also some days just generally not feeling like logging in.
That being said, I also understand that there is a level of addiction involved.

I have read horror stories on the interwebs of people losing family, getting divorced and generally dropping the ball in all aspects of their lives. And this seems to be the focus for anti MMO groups.
But bear in mind that there are at the moment almost 8million players of this MMO alone across the world. Not all of them have destroyed their families and lost their jobs.

I am now in my fourth year playing World of Warcraft, and for me, it is an escape. An escape from a stressful reality, with a demanding job. Please understand that I am not saying no one else has a demanding job. Everyone copes with the pressures of work and life in different ways. Some drink, or smoke. Others go to gym, or cycle... play sports... I think you get my meaning.

Some of us like to use this game as our escape.
The escape does come with a sense of achievement, as does any other activity. I understand that the games are designed with this sense of achievement built in, that is how we come back to it day after day.
But it doesn't change the fact that we feel good when we play the game.
And this is where it gets tricky.

It is a game...

And this is where things fall apart a bit. I know a few players that immerse themselves so much that it takes over. And with that comes anger. Anger about other players. And new players. About small things going wrong...

But I digress. This is more about the social aspect of MMO's.
I am certain that almost all MMO players have made friends along the way. Some friends stay friends in-game only. Some become real life friends. I have made friends this way, and value them as good friends. People I can trust.
This in my opinion means that the game is not anti-social. Almost all "tasks" in the games are geared towards pooling resources and working in groups.
I suspect that the anti-social viewpoint is from people who do not play these games. They see a person sitting for hours on end in front of a PC, plugging away at something that is meaningless to them.
So, from that aspect it could be anti-social, but in game we have friends, we talk everyday. I dont have to see them in real life to know who they are. I also think that it has more of a social aspect than "social" media. The MMO forces interaction, which is good.

I think that is enough on this subject, and I will wrestle with this question a bit longer.

In the Beginning...

Has anyone read the series called "the tribulations of a megalomaniac warlock"?
Awesome short story series on a World of Warcraft character.
Now this is not the same thing... sort of...

This is my impression of the game as a Noob, and how my mediocre playstyle has evolved with the game.

In the beginning...
Skwisgaar was born during the reign of Varian Wrynn.
In his first days on this beautiful planet this did not mean a lot to him. He new he was human. He new he was a warlock, and he definitely new of the promise of riches and fame beyond his imaginings.
He felt like a little helpless girl. Not quite understanding how to move around, and seemingly wanting to jump a lot. It felt good.
During all this running around a friend appeared in front of him. This was not surprising but he didn't understand why though.
He did know that this friend was also human, and a paladin. He would come to understand later that this is an agent of the Light, wears heavy armor and protects his allies whenever he can.
Skwisgaar also figured out real fast that he somehow wears dresses, and everyone is ok with this.

In front of a church like structure is an guy waving at him. Skwis goes over to investigate. He notes his name, assuming this is very important. Marshal McBride is telling him to go and kill some Worg... Skwis doesn't know what a Worg is, but decides that this is a good idea, as he still has no idea what a warlock actually does.
Running around aimlessly around the church structure, he comes across the worg... It looks remarkably like a wolf...
Going through his spell list he realises he only knows one spell... a shadowbolt. Ooohhh, sound impressive. Two to three shots kills a wolf easily, without the wolf getting close to him. Skwis is getting excited, this whole warlock thing seems easy enough...
Grinning like a mad idiot he ends up killing three times more wolves than necessary.
After the gleeful experience of his first kills, Skwisgaar heads back to the Marshal and gets some coin and a new item to wear.
The next couple of "quests" were all along the same lines... save a couple of injured infantry, kill some spies and assassins... Some would award new items to wear, some coin only...
Skwisgaar started to realize that the "questgiver's" names are not important, as he will meet many more along his path to destiny.

Now it was time for a break, it had been a busy first day, and tomorrow he would travel to the capital city of Stormwind!

To be continued...