The Age of the Web Hermit

Originally Posted by Nature
This is a very well written article. The only sentence I sorta dissagree with is: "Spending too much time in World Of Warcraft is no different to spending all day fishing, or on the golf course, or working on your car or a million other distractions where a person can relax and do their own thing." People need sunlight and physical activity to some extent, hobby or not. I don't really consider golf, fishing, or mechanics sports but then again some amount of athleticism and physical cooridination is involved.

I love computers and online games, but they can only give me so much. I'm twenty years old but all I want is to a wife and kids and a teaching position at a university and I'm almost there. I'll always play video games, but never again will I depend on them for satisfaction.

I like the sentence you disagree, thought i see it in a bit other way. Its nice to see that some people put mmorpgs on a par with sport (at least it eases the mind of the mmorpg-player ;) )
surely its not physical sport and it never will be as healthy like riding a bycicle or jogging or whatever... but it still has similar effects.
The best thing would be to combine both, go ride your bike 1-2h and then play a mmorpg.

Anyway, i totally agree with your conclusion. Games are nice for some distraction but the player shouldnt take it too serious even if you got some real good friends while you played it.There imo will come the point for everyone when he realizes that its only a game, and playing it wont get you any further in RL.

certhas
p.s. I stopped playing wow 2 months ago, after playing in the same guild for almost 1 year. It was pretty sad since i had a lot of friends there, but thanks to the net and irc im still in close contact with them.