Don't Mess With Gamers.

Don't Mess With Gamers (video)

This is one of the scariest gamer reactions I've seen to being interrupted. Granted, the other people were probably antagonizing him. But c'mon. Maybe in their world things like this happen without consequence...

Acceptance of Racism and Homophobia... WOW.

The rampant racism and homophobia present in normal, accepted Warcraft banter is literally disgusting. I'm fully aware that the humor of ironic controversial extremity is culturally "in", but I'm not talking political correctness infractions here... I'm talking about overt harassment, discrimination, and slurs - packaged with even more hate and ignorance than a high school gay comment. The Warcraft environment accepts and breeds hate if even some of the smartest people I know from liberal Madison, WI can be heard spouting juvenile, hateful language they'd never utter (I hope) in the real world.

Read a firsthand account of gamer racism here.

Checkout MSNBC's coverage of Warcraft's gay rights uproar here and an article called "Game Operators Face Social Responsibilities in their Online Utopias" here.

Wow Is Serious Business

(click on the picture above)

World of Warcraft uniquely engulfs gamers in a complete world of sensory stimuli allowing them lose themselves for hours, days, and months. Gamers construct intricate characters, identities, and even take on different names to actually become walking characters in this alternate world. The extent to which these people interalize the new world and shift their identities and priorities will obviously have consequences on their human components. While most don't display clear mental health issues like the character freaking out about a sword in this clip, his reaction clearly speaks to how lost gamers become. "It's just a fucking game."

Warcraft's Chinese "Gold Farmers"

World of Warcraft is an entire artificial society, complete with its own disenfranchized underbelly. Apparently gold is a real commodity that translates into real dollars, so workshops of people in other countries are paid to farm wealth for American gamers. These "Gold Farmers" spend the time creating whole characters and performing the menial work so American's don't have to. Sound familiar? This partial documentary in progress explores two of these worshops in Shanghi, China. Checkout another article here.

Chinese Farmers in the Gamedom
By Jin Ge

Documentary: The game never ends.

Check out this documentary made by two young filmmakers, Michael and David under the alias Team Oops, about the game that consumes their friends. The piece was born out of a confrontation between David and Micheal about Micheal's excessive gaming habits... a good example of the potential to redirect valuable gaming energy towards something real.

Online: The World of Warcraft
By Team_Oops