Everything I know, I learned from World of Warcraft

Tecmo Bowl taught me that, if being caught from behind, just veer left to right and they'll dive and miss.

 

I learned that this is hilarious.

 

I've played a good amount of first person shooters in my day. Recently I went to a shooting range for the first time. thought I would suck but the people I went with are pros and they and the instructors told me I was doing exceptionally well for a first timer. I'm convinced first person shooters helped. Now if only I could try shooting a gun with a holographic sight. Then I could really prove my hypothesis.

 

Gears Of War & its sequel have taught me that the ultimate military technology is the ability to make chest high walls appear out of the ground.

And Mass Effect taught me that in the far future, wehn we've discovered alien civilisations they will all speak English with pleasant North American accents.

 

The story would have been better if the kid had played a Tank in WoW. "I taunted it, got into defensive stance, and that's when things went bad. Plus my sister wasn't healing me so we wiped."

 

Goldeneye taught me to always be careful when rounding corners. You never know what lurks.

 

It taught me that hookers, while draining your money, actually improve your health.

 

I've known my whole life that I've wanted to be a sportscaster, and more specifically a hockey play-by-play guy. Naturally I grew up playing EA Sports hockey games and while it's somewhat embarrassing I admit that I called the games as I played them. It must have driven my parents nuts, but really when your 10-years-old, what other options do you have?

When I got a Driver's License I would go to the local rink and practice from the bleachers, but before that my only options were practicing through vids or through actual games on television.

Did it actually help me for the future? I'd have to answer yes.

In addition, I can also credit sports video games for providing me with roster knowledge of players and what numbers they wear. I get asked all the time how I can memorize all of the player's numbers. Video games definitely helped wire my mind for sportscasting.

 

I always carry a knife in my pocket in case I need a burst of speed throughout my day.

 

Obligatory:



I'll get back to this thread later, I have a lot to say about this.

 

Am I reading that correctly? That kid got One-hundred five days of suspension for getting into a schoolyard fight? My, the times have changed since I was a kid. But that's probably a topic for another thread...

Here's what I learned as a leader in a WoW raiding guild:

1. Competence at what you're doing is one of if not the most important attributes a leader can have.
2. People are a lot less likely to complain or feel they're being treated unfairly if the rules and expecations are written down where everyone can view them.
3. Discussing a performance or behavioral issue privately is a much better way to handle things than calling someone out in front of everyone.

Also, as somone with an economics degree, I learned that almost any decision can be viewed as an economic one. For example, say you're at a bar and have been chatting it up with two different women. Woman #1 is better looking than woman #2, but the vibe you're getting from them leads you to believe that woman #2 will be more likely go somewhere and fuck than #1. Which one do you persue? Well, say you've had a long dry spell that's really been starting to gnaw at you. In this scenario your personal indifference curve is much more slanted toward the demand for sex, so you might go after #2. Or maybe you have a fuck buddy on the side and decide that the chance to fuck the hottie is more important. The point is no matter what you choose to do there are going to be some economic principles involved in your decision making.

 

Sister would've pulled aggro. Just sayin'...
I'm embarrassed to know that. Fuck it, at least I was smart enough to go resto druid. Yeah, I played WoW for about 2 years, and it actually did teach me something, at the ripe, mature age of 23, that I should have known much, much earlier. Don't ever trust anyone online, or very embarrassing details will eventually become very public. Oh, the shame.

 

I'm a casual video game player with one exception: Guitar Hero 3. For some reason, I couldn't stop playing that game for about two years, and now I'm embarrassingly good at it.

Having said that, Guitar Hero taught me: With enough practice, you can become much better at something than you ever thought possible.

I remember seeing someone beat the hardest song in the game on expert when I first started playing, and I called him "the Michael Jordan of Guitar Hero." I just couldn't comprehend how the human brain could process all those colours flying down the screen, and how the human hand could go fast enough to hit the notes.

Now, in all my glory, I can easily and consistently do much better on that song than that guy did way back then.

It sounds stupid because Guitar Hero is a meaningless video game, but I think it's a legitimate lesson. Sure, getting good at something worthwhile - say, the real guitar - takes much, much longer, but it's still doable. Don't let "oh, I could never do that, it's too hard/the other people doing it are too good/etc." get in your way if you want to do something.