Can one (wo)man change the world?

WoW servers in general make for very interesting social structures, there's a great many people on a real and only a few seem to stand out.

Whether it is the griever constantly spamming the trade chat with lines that summarize a whole world of stupid in one go, the guy who has been selling and buying wares for so long he's practically part of trade or the illustrious leader of some obscure high-end raiding guild that is just known because his guild happens to be 'the most progressed'.

Despite the few good shining examples of people that deserve to stand out due to actually having achieved something (as far as one can achieve anything while playing a game anyway) there always seems to be a negative connotation to the World of warcraft.
Whether it is the person calling the guy with a question a 'stupid nub' or just some guy with 5th grade spelling making a terrible attempt at correcting someone's 3rd grade spelling in a very unfriendly way.
Or perhaps it's the guy who comes in and mines your node after you've painstackingly cleared out all the mobs only to proceed to tag your named mob kill on a 15 min respawn timer before you can close into combat range after having sat there for 15 minutes because some jackass stole your mob rather than grouping up for the kill.

The problem with things we percieve as negative is that negative things are substantially easier to remember than acts of random kindness. A strong emotional response helps to commit things to memory and negative impact generates a stronger emotional response.

That isn't to say nothing good ever happens. Getting your rear-end saved by some druid who was just flying by seeing you struggle with an elite or getting fully buffed in while you're just standing in a battleground guarding a flag does happen but in the end it seemed like those were a few solid rocks in a sea filled with grief.

At some point I grew tired of all the nonsense. The endless e-peening, the random insults about spec, gear, arena points, missing achievements, dps averages, the pointless trade spam and the generally grievous behaviour: I disconnected. I left trade, I made my own guild with people I appreciate and I simply stopped associating myself with most people that couldn't produce a legible english sentence (or a dutch or a german one, I am not that picky after all).

I wondered where all the good people had gone whilst I enjoyed my stay in my jade palace knowing full well what happened with all the good people. They had done exactly the same. They had disconnected themselves from most things they didn't like, they learned not to get involved or ignore them and went on their own merry way leaving the world to fester associating only with their own guild or even just a sub-group in their own guild.

I decided to make a change, the disconnect wasn't doing anything to make life anything more tolerable. I decided to answer the simple questions that come by in trade, to toss out a few dozen buffs every now in then as some form of good will and even started actively helping people without going particularly out of my way. For the first time since I started playing I joined /help, granted, the channel was empty, but if anyone had any questions that required help at least now there was someone available in /help.

Can one person change the course of a realm? I don't know. Perhaps I am too idealistic to say no, dreaming of a world where we can more or less get along without stabbing each other in the back.
I am not asking for some kind of utopia where it's all love, fluffy bunnies and hugging trees but a realm where when push comes to shove you can feel like you can trust your fellow faction member, where you can lock ranks and fight side by side to fight a common enemy without having to wonder what bastard is going to roll need on something they can't use anyway or how you'll be left in the dirt because someone so an opportunity to earn x gold/honor/marks/emblems instead of helping a fellow horde out for the 30 seconds it would take..

In the end: if a handful of grievers can make the world a worse place, then why couldn't a handful of good people make the world a better place?

Not "Just a game"

I try not to get myself stuck into debates between that whole hardcore vs. casual thing nor do I particularly enjoy anything that offsets one group of players against another.

Until you understand the motivation of the developers and designers behind the game you cannot make assumptions that actually reflect the truth. It will always be a biased opinion.

There is however one longstanding sin against all gamers that permeates real life and game life alike.

The statement of: "It's just a game"

Often used by people that are tired of whining, more often the tool of grievers to downplay the overall anguish they can cause people.

The fact of the matter is that it's not 'just a game'.

Yes it is a game, but anything you do for a certain amount of time becomes an integral part of your life and as a result elevates a game to be more than just a game. It's a community, it's an experience, it's a vent, it's different things to different people.

The general attitude of "It's just a game" shows a complete lack of understanding. The fact that we play in a virtual world doesn't make our experiences less real. If someone comes in and ruins your gaming experience then this does affect how you are the rest of the day and how you treat the people around you.

Game experiences can and will impact real life and often moreso than real-life events simply because anyone can become someone in a game.

So next time you feel the need to say "it's just a game" think for a second... think about how bad your day would've been if you just got fired from your job, you log into wow only to listen to someone say: "It's just a job".

Is it really? Or was it an integral part of your life that you've gotten used to, knew how to handle and that gave you a certain amount of security and maybe even had a little fun with?

Just because it's not important to you, doesn't mean it's not important to others.