5 Things I learned Playing World of Warcraft

All games teach. I believe that MMORPGs (Massively multiplayer online role-playing games) teach the most, in both variety and complexity they can be microcosms of real life. Despite the bad rap they get for extreme time suckage, they can teach real life skills very effectively.I have heard that some people have begun including their guild leadership on their resumes. World of Warcraft is sovereign here.

For the uninitiated, In World of Warcraft you start out broke, no skills, no gear. When you are new to the game, add in clueless of the world rules and scale. Almost everything is out to kill you, although unlike in real life you can tell by name tag color if the random mob (static creatures/NPCs inside the game world) is hostile and attempt to avoid combat. The rest tracks with real life though. Players level grind, learn virtual professions, explore new territory, learn how their particular skill set works, while selling and trading with other players. World of Warcraft (and many other MMOs) create cognitive loads and demands similar to most areas in life. There are some skills I can credit the game with teaching me when everything else failed.

The Default Way of Doing Something is Rarely the Most Efficient

The default interface in WoW has long been cludgy and impossible to work with if you wanted to participate in any demanding content. Until recently, that meant using add ons. The acquisition and installation of these add ons was itself a daunting side quest for the neophyte. Exercising investigative, and social skills for identification of the best add on for your needs; followed by a little critical thinking or problem solving to locate a source and install in the correct directory on your machine. In some cases a great deal of set up was required, training the mind to expect to do preparations. For the VERY motivated, specialty hardware is available to completely customize your interface. The observable pattern is that the more demanding the content, the more customization is needed. Is life any different?

This habit of customization and a willingness to invest effort into it WILL spill over into your real life. From things as small as swapping out a counter based dish drainer for an over the sink variety to having a laundry chute installed in your house to facilitate clean clothes. Interfaces are designed for the masses, not you specifically. The instruction manual shows you the safest way to do something, but there's typically a better way. Conventional wisdom gets you in the door, but exceptional wisdom moves you up the ladder.

Learn the Local Customs to Advance Quickly

When you begin a job with a new company, start going to college, or meet your new love interest's family, you're not just facing new challenges, you're integrating into a new culture. Everyone has been in the group longer than you and, in most cases, they have their own language, traditions, and methods. As the newcomer, your best bet for getting along is to learn their ways instead of sticking to your own.

Warcraft has its own lexicon and to communicate efficiently, learning it is required. Early on group content was a bewildering stream of “Mage table!”, “Stone the healer!”, “Lust on pull!”. Each one a precise instruction for specific classes that need to take action that the group is relying on. Real life is no different. 

Budgeting and inventory management are fundamental

I was well into adulthood when World of Warcraft launched. I had a history of financial malfeasance including 2 bankruptcies and seemed to be on track for a third. Great at math! Couldn’t craft a budget or balance a check book to save my life. In hindsight, this was one of many indicators that I was coping with ADHD which was diagnosed until I was in my 40s. This is also why my brain found it so much easier to learn these skills in the framework of a game.

There are no work arounds in the game. You can’t go get a credit card or rent a storage locker. And in early WoW, the economics of both were brutal.  

Items sold for coppers, game rewards were a couple silver at best and everything cost money. Every expenditure was scrutinized like I expected to be defrauded at every turn and my life depended on my choices. My emotional distress at not being able to upgrade my training or fix my gear was strong enough to trigger a fundamental realignment in how my brain was framing things. I started not buying anything that I could gather on my own while keeping in mind what I would need to pay for upcoming training. In real life this became rules like “wait 24 hours before buying anything optional” and a general budget.

Bag space was also something that had hard limits. You start with one backpack and could expand by 5 bags. Every item you are not wearing took up a bag slot. Your supplies and everything that you picked up while playing that you could sell ends up there and they filled up quick. This resulted in frequent and time consuming runs back to town to empty your bags. In this environment, you learn to avoid holding on to something because you might need it later. Buying bigger bags gets expensive and there is a limit on max size. No public storage lockers in Azeroth ya’ll.

Sometimes Starting Over is Easier Than You Think

Many of us have a pretty deep-seated fear of starting over. Whether it's moving to a new city, changing careers, or ending a relationship and being single again, the status quo is comfortable. Making new friends, learning new skills, and getting into the dating game again are decidedly not comfortable. That's why many people stay in jobs they can't stand or lower their relationship standards to avoid being alone.

The risk of starting over in an MMO is much lower. All it costs is time, although that can still be a hefty price itself. Yet, I still didn't want to. By the time I reached level cap, I could buy just about anything, I wasn't worried about getting one-shotted by people forty levels above me while questing, and to top it all off, I could fly. Why would I go back to hoofing it across Kalimdor on foot? I was comfortable in my experience and status even though I'd grown bored of that character and was itching for something new.

There's one very big advantage to starting over, though: now you have more experience. I spent considerably less time building a new character because I knew the ropes. It wasn't as scary to start over as I thought because I knew how to get by now. Similarly, starting anew in real life may mean gaining new skills, but you know already how to impress employers. Or, maybe you have to get back into the dating pool, but now you know the pitfalls that caused you trouble in your previous relationships. 

Even Things You Enjoy Can Be a Grind

I beat the odds and successfully completed an advanced degree allowing me to work in a field I love doing a job that ticks pretty much all of my boxes. I still have trouble keeping myself motivated as my own boss. When I was working for others, I sometimes actively hated my job and would end up getting fired for calling off to often. That pattern would have continued if I hadn’t learned some valuable lessons in Azeroth. I could take my skills and use them in a different environment but that would not eliminate the grind.

I learned in the real and virtual world a very important lesson: just because something's fun doesn't mean it's not going to involve a lot of constant, monotonous grinding. Some days you might be taking down Erudax, lieutenant of Deathwing, other days you're collecting seventeen mutated boar livers for a smelly hermit in Darkshore. And the latter will probably happen a lot more often than the former. Keep your eyes on the end goal and grind on.

Too often we discount learning because it was gained in a “frivolous” fashion instead of through pain. In my opinion, that is a mistake. The human mind learns faster through play if for no other reason than the increased focused attention and emotional/physical arousal.  Learning to work with our natural systems is so important. It doesn’t just make things easier. In some cases, it makes things possible at all.