The total play time of every WoW player is 5.93 million years

(The thread title may not reflect this but this is all about philosophie)

I am not one to make a lot of threads but i just felt this deserved one as it is to original not to pass on

The number:
5.93 million years worth of time spend playing WoW,WOW being a understating reaction in my mind :*)
This number is just mind boggling since our first human ancestors started to walk upright for the very first time in history at around 6 million years ago.




The philosophie:
At first i thought this woman was joking but at around 3 minutes into the video it becomes clear she is talking about a philosophie.(still there is enough humor used in her speech to entertain the idea.)




Where it starts to get interesting:
It starts to amount to how we as a species with the help of online games are evolving as a more collaberative species and how we seem to feel more succesfull in virtual worlds then we feel in our own "real" world.


I wont spoil any more as it is all explained in detail in the video.It is however a viewpoint i have never really considered in this manner.


The video: www.ted.com...



The game demonstrating the philosophie:

www.worldwithoutoil.org...





[edit on 10-6-2010 by Rafe_]

Before I quit WoW my time played was 157 days on one character, 76 days on another. All in all I had 4 characters. That is just unreal, almost 6 million years spent!!! we need to focus our productivity on something constructive. I grow my own veggies now, much more satisfying.

Don't get me wrong, I loved the game, it was very well made. Life just seems more fun now without it. WoW is a game that is very hard to step away from, unlike Tetris. The WoW series and expansions seem unending which I guess is good for Blizzard.

I die a lot in the virtual world.

I used to be good, when I was a wee lad.
100,000,000 Pall Malls later, I ran out of a lot of my gamer abilities.
I cant even play Tony Hawk now without busting my ass on every grind I try to achieve, or even landing straight.

What this WoW? I hearabout it by many geeks around the way, but have never played it. Maybe I will give it a try.

I completely agree that it's a very hard game to step away from. When you pay a monthly fee, whether you play for an hour, a week, or every day that month, you want to get the most out of your money (especially if you're a poor student). It may feel like a waste of money to pay for this game and instead of playing it, go outside or even play another computer game. There are free WoW servers, but they are nowhere near the quality as the real thing.

Humans have an addiction to rising numbers. I want my experience points to go up, I want my gold points to go up. It feels good to see my score improving with time, or my chequing account get larger. I want more stars on ATS so I spend more time reading this forum and posting my thoughts.

Gamers also have a hard time losing, or feeling they (their character) could be stronger or better. The longer you play in WoW, the more powerful your character is than the day your started playing, at level one. If you've ever played an online game, you would have noticed the difference in skill level from a "Newbie" vs an "Elite Pro".

My suggestion is to not waste your money and time on any Games if you know there is something better you can be doing with your time. Working on a new skill, reading a good book, or just spending time with friends and family. I wish I could take my own advice better than I give it.

Games like these will always be around, and there will be time to play them on your free time... But until that time is actually "FREE", you're wasting valuable time that could be best used improving your real life, not your virtual one.

Everything in moderation.

OH NOOO! 6 Million Years of Men-Evolution for the Trash! SAD!

WoW is just.. addicting.

I know it's not an issue with me. Even if it does take up my free time, I don't neglect homework, I still exercise.. eat.. go to school.

I wonder if it's bad for me, but I do realize I'd spend just about as much time on the computer anyways.

I'm not even into raiding or anything like that, I just like leveling characters. When Burning Crusade was still the new exp pack, I got my characters to 70 and pretty much quit.

and I'm sure I will do the same with Wrath of the Lich King.

Cataclysm will be wonderful for me. I like leveling and seeing the new world. That's usually what interests me.

I'd rather play Left 4 Dead 2 on XBox Live. WoW just reminds me of the South Park episode. Now thats was entertaining!

I do apreciate everyones repsonse. It seems that there is only interest in the number in the title of the thread and the actual interesting content has been ignored.Impressive as the number may be i urge people to have a look at the rest of this content and the idea it sports.

This goes way farther then just games ,wich was the motivation to make the htread.

Originally posted by sourdiesel
we need to focus our productivity on something constructive.

This is why the video posted is of interest.

reply to post by Rafe_


Wow! And I don't mean WOW.




Everyone should play, Hello, Kitty: Enchanted Island with Butters.

Oh, well, we all find ways to amuse ourselves.

The creators of WOW have surely hit the jackpot!

Kudos to them. Meanwhile, WOWsers, WTF?

I know firsthand how this game can take over people that really get into it.
I guess that is why I don't play it, just like I don't do heroin or crack or meth. If you are suspectible to such things, well, it becomes your life.

Meanwhile, I would rather have a kid who plays WOW, works and pays her bills, than a kid who goes crazy over something that ends in NO GOOD.

Anyway, I will stick to some ATS, some gardening, some painting, and some old Gene Autry movies on TV. Don't you dare get between me and Gene Autry! Now you're just creating stupid turmoil.

I sadly must admit from rogue character, before I sold it, I spent 126 days playing that game over the course of four and half years. That's over four months of straight playing a game that has no affect onreal life. That's just one character, I had 3 other top level 80s.

WoW was an addiction, to this day I'm still an addict and from time to time go through a strong urge to play a game that robbed me of my life.

I've lost so many friends, ruined relationships, lost touch with reality for a game, that I paid for, and continued to pay for on a monthly basis. If that isn't I drug, I do not know what is.

At the same time, I look back and I remember how many friends I had to let go. I know this may sound nerdy but these people I met playing a game were true friends.

I know many who met in WoW then got married years later. I have friends all over the world who I can visit if I'm ever in the neighborhood. So there is a certain networking quality.

But in my honest opinion the negative out weighed the positive. Eventually reality kicked in and I made the right choice.

Please do not spend your life playing a game that you can never beat at the expense of loosing people in the RL (real life). Some WoW slang for ya.




[edit on 10-6-2010 by oconnection]

reply to post by Rafe_

look at the rest of this content
and the idea it sports.

It's not often that I'm exposed to an idea here on ATS that is genuinely new to me. This was new.

way farther then just games ,wich was
the motivation to make the htread.

I recommend you make a new thread with a more properly descriptive title. This thread is likely to become all about WoW /played times.

The game demonstrating the philosophie:

There are apparently two others as well:

Superstruct
Evoke


[edit on 10-6-2010 by LordBucket]

Wow.. that just shows how mindless people can be, playing World of Warcraft that much..

I could understand it if it were a real good game like Oblivion, Deus Ex, Thief 1, 2 or 3 or even Postal 2: Share the Pain, but World of Warcraft ? .. Epic Fail !

I understand why some would want to play counter strike or something similar, it is just something you can be better than some one else, but Wow, I never played, but it seems like the better guys are always the guys that play 24/day, since you have to lvl up ...

why do people play these kind of games, that make u play u whole life?

reply to post by Faiol


It really isn't about leveling up. The grind to 80 is easy, it is the endgame content that makes WOW so entertaining. I gave it up awhile back. The guys that are good are just like you say. They are the ones that play non stop. On a side note LOTRO becomes free this fall. Swore I would never play another MMO but I played LOTRO. It wasn't worth 15 a month but free will have me playing. Personally I am ready for diablo 3 though.

Originally posted by Rafe_
(The thread title may not reflect this but this is all about philosophie)

I am not one to make a lot of threads but i just felt this deserved one as it is to original not to pass on

The number:
5.93 million years worth of time spend playing WoW,WOW being a understating reaction in my mind :*)
This number is just mind boggling since our first human ancestors started to walk upright for the very first time in history at around 6 million years ago.




The philosophie:
At first i thought this woman was joking but at around 3 minutes into the video it becomes clear she is talking about a philosophie.(still there is enough humor used in her speech to entertain the idea.)




Where it starts to get interesting:
It starts to amount to how we as a species with the help of online games are evolving as a more collaberative species and how we seem to feel more succesfull in virtual worlds then we feel in our own "real" world.


I wont spoil any more as it is all explained in detail in the video.It is however a viewpoint i have never really considered in this manner.


The video: www.ted.com...



The game demonstrating the philosophie:

www.worldwithoutoil.org...





[edit on 10-6-2010 by Rafe_]

Humans has been around for further than 6 million years

one can but only hope they have some sort of integrated system in that source code that acturly solves something like seti at home or other equalient ,

6 m years in man power wasted if not.

reply to post by LordBucket



I think you are right.You seem to be the only one are so far to have read and reacted to the content in the post itself.I guess i should have used another title for the thread but i reconned that the content was more then descriptive enough for most.

How wrong i was



I might re-make the thread later tonight because i suspect i would get PM's from the mods if i did that so soon but i still do however want to get the idea and message in the OP across.



btw thanks for those links Lordbucket

we need to focus our productivity on something constructive

Like what?

Gaming is a hobby. Why is the pursuit of a hobby seen in a negative light?

I play WoW everyday. I still go to work, I still maintain my relationships, I don't live in a basement and I'm not obese.

Anything can become an addiction, if the USER is susceptible and lacks control.

As far as I am concerned Wow is constructive. It brings people together, teaches teamwork, eases my stress levels and helps me escape from what is generally a pretty humdrum life. In real life I am an accountant. In WoW I am a powerful and respected wielder of holy magic who assists my companions in defeating villians of the highest calibre.

I didn't read the whole thread or everyones posts, but I know tons of friends who have logged so many hours on this game and I just think its insane. Its fictional characters in a fictional world...