2 brit WoW players journey the EU to meet their guildies

This is a heartwarming tale: Pixelsmith, a Leeds-based journalist, met up with his other UK-based guildie, and set off into Europe to find the rest of their WoW guild. The story's long, so I have only actually read the summary:

The point, the best part, quickly emerged as spending time with this handful of internet acquaintances who, upon setting out, we were unsure if we could call friends. But we left each place feeling like they were exactly that. The fun of exploring the place they called home was merely a bonus.

If anything, it validates online gaming - at least our little corner of it - as a worthwhile pursuit. And it recasts those people you socialise with while you’re doing it not as pseudo-friends, but as friends in waiting.

All in all, it was the best holiday of my adult life.

Aw, sweet. I love this quote too:

"Take a good game, insert people, and the result is tantamount to the digital equivalent of crack."

So true - although I'd personally not use a drug analogy, because this is where certain types games pip probably all other forms of (home-based) entertainment: they're sociable and there's something to do, together. That taps into the fundament of what makes humans happy, I think: crack doesn't make you happy, love and friendship does.

Online games are delightful because they give us another excuse to do things together.

(Thanks Tom!)

Comments

[Sebastian]

My guild's had numerous meet-ups around Europe. Amsterdam, Prague, London! I'm planning on one for Norway later in the year.

I didn't know it was so rare that I should chronicle our adventures, though...

My experiences have been mixed. Friendships certainly carry over, and there's that feeling of camaraderie certainly. But also, it's not always so easy for geeks to communicate in person as it is online, and of course there are equality issues -- at one meet we had a 15 year old, and a 36 year old... and they only share so much real life common ground :)