Okay okay, so World of Warcraft isn’t exactly the Ten Commandments when it comes to teaching life lessons. After all, it is just a game; a game where men are men, women are men, and children are children. But the fact that it’s a game doesn’t mean that you can’t take anything (potentially very) valuable away from the experience. What have I learned from World of Warcraft since I started playing? Let me enlighten you.
Stay focused
There are times in life when you can relax and there are times when you have to focus. WoW is no different. Farming a resource for money? That’s a good time to relax. Being attacked by a Death Knight? Time to focus. Actually, truth be told if you’re fighting a Death Knight you’ll just be focusing on dying unless the player is supremely inept at rolling his face around on the keyboard.
But even more important than when to focus is knowing what to focus on. If you’re playing in a Battle Ground such that you need to capture a resource or a flag, don’t fight in the middle of the road. You’ve got to stay focused on the things that will bring success. Are you failing at killing that one Rogue? Then avoid fighting him, go fight someone you can maim. Pick your battles, stay focused.
How to get rich
When I first started playing WoW I was amazed that anyone could have more than 10 gold. Seriously, I didn’t know how it could be done, what with my lowbie quests giving me 1 silver per. Then, once I discovered that at max level I could “grind” daily quests for 13 gold each, and furthermore that some people had tens of thousands of gold just sitting around in their bags. I realized that accumulating in-game wealth was within my reach … but I never got rich, I was always broke. Why?
What WoW taught me was that any fool can make money, but to get rich you have to discipline yourself to not spend any more money than is absolutely necessary.
Play nice
When it comes to in-game relationships, kindness rules. The best way to get folks to help you out is to be nice. Don’t call people names, don’t puff yourself up, don’t mash other people down. An inch of kindness is worth a mile of attitude.
Play to win
This one I learned in PvP situations. When it comes to your enemies (or competition), it’s fine to play nice, but you need to play to win because that’s exactly what they’re doing. I used to think that everyone in the world wanted to see me succeed as much as I did, but as you know that’s just not true.
You won’t always win, but you should be trying to. What defines “winning?” Well, that’s different for everyone and differs between situations. Figure out what you want to win at and play to win. Play to win or don’t play.
Have fun
As far as World of Warcraft goes, a common saying is that “it’s just a game.” The same goes for life. It’s just life. It has ups, it has downs. It has feast, it has famine. The key with life, as with WoW is to remember that it’s only worthwhile when you’re intentionally having fun.
I say “intentionally” when speaking of having fun because if you rely on a passive “fun” experience chances are you won’t have one. Don’t take WoW too seriously, don’t take life too seriously either. It’s just a game … it’s just life.
