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Monday, January 24, 2011

Warcraft Helped Them Through The Pain Of Divorce



The mainstream stereotype of video games, especially MMORPG's, as antisocial diversions that rip up relationships is well known. That makes Wanda Kirk's recollection, of how playing World of Warcraft with her son helped her through her divorce, heartwarming indeed.

Kirk, a mother nearing 50, writes that she ordinarily would have refused her nine-year-old son's request to spend his allowance on a Warcraft installation disc and subscription. "Until my husband delivered the 10-minute fatwa: he wasn't happy, had never been and wanted (or already had) the younger girlfriend," she writes for Salon. "Without warning, I joined a great and storied company: the Unwanted."

Seeing the video game as means of therapy for her son, Kirk ended up exploring Azeroth with him, learning qualities of his personality that she wouldn't have seen otherwise, and discovering things about people and herself in the process. She ends the piece with 13 tips for playing World of Warcraft; many of them, of course, read like metaphors for getting through life.

In the end, what defeats the antisocial stereotype is the fact the game was played socially, and by that I don't mean unseriously. Kirk played with her son. "He sat with me and hugged me and helped me fire-blast Scarlet Hunters and retrieve crates stolen by Dustwind Harpies," Kirk writes. "Through these wild characters, all the gore and running, with the shrill shriek of Decayed Morlocks in my ears, I felt his love."


Summarized by Kotaku


Full story here

14 comments:

  1. mind=blown
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  2. Sure games have social aspects. Dont forget to socialize in real life though :P

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  3. lol @ exploring azeroth.

    is there a website with this story?

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  4. Its a shame these kinds of stories about video games never make it to the mainstream press instead of "man guns down 6 people because he played GTA IV on timein his life!".

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  5. That's pretty cool. o__o

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  6. Obligatory, the general view of video games:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jri8LFci4xQ

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  7. Thank you for showing me that video!
    So many quotes, so funny...

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  8. i agree, games can take your mind of problems

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  9. wow... surprising. Never thought Wow could be a good thing haha
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  10. interesting thoughts..

    followed. get back at me

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  11. that story makes me more sad than anything, but it's nice that WoW helped her.

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  12. What a wonderful story, you always read how bad and shitty it is for you, its nice to read a story like this once in a while.

    http://consumecosts.blogspot.com/

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  13. maybe the therapy was just cover for the mother to one-up her ex husband on trying to win the child's favor?

    http://randomramblingggg.blogspot.com/

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  14. so weird. this story makes me feel strange. following!

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