So today I hopped over to MMO-Champion to see if there was anything going on and it turns out there’s a poll on the front page asking if you’d do Timewalking even if there was no reward.  My first thought was, “Pffft, of course I would.  Wouldn’t everyone?”  So I clicked on the Yes button aaaand guess what: most people actually don’t agree with me.

And for a minute I felt absolutely flabbergasted.  Only 15.96% of players love this stuff as much as I do?  Really?  How bizarre! I mean, I know that not everyone finds the same stuff fun, but dang.

After some thought, I realized that I’m probably coming at this from a different perspective than most other players.  To me, WoW is not really a social game.  Yes, I know, it’s an MMO.  But as Bhagpuss recently very eloquently stated, it’s sort of like going to a cafe.  Other people may be at the cafe to hang out with friends or socialize.  Me, I’m there to eat.  The other people are just atmosphere.

Back in TBC and WotLK I was in big guilds and I raided and stuff.  It was great fun and I looked back on it fondly.  But the social game eventually grew thin, and I went dark.

Now I’m here for fun.  I do things in game not because they’re an obligation to my guild, but because I want to do them.  This is a playstyle that fits my life very well and I like it a lot.  I often see people decrying the state of the game or the expansion, and honestly if I felt the same as they did I would have bounced to another game long ago.  But presumably for these other people, the game is still, ultimately, social.

So!  Gaming out of obligation.  It’s not something I do anymore.  I used to do it, and it was fun, but those days are gone.  There’s nothing bad about playing that way, of course, but I prefer my current style.  And that, I think, is probably why I feel so disconnected from many other players.

But that’s okay.  Whatever makes me happy, I’m gonna go with it. 🙂