The other night I had an epiphany, it was a wonderful moment. I entered a dungeon to tank on Sedagive, my death knight, and made my usual greetings to the group (my parents always imparted on me the importance of greeting others in order to acknowledge their existence). Immediately, one person in the group chimes in: “Hello all, this is my son’s first time running a dungeon, please don’t kick him, he is a noob.” I took notice of guild and server names and realized that the dungeon group was comprised of me, a friend of mine, and a family.
I asked which was the son, so that I could be careful with him pulling aggro. I let them know that it was fine and I would only pull small mobs and watch the pace. The dungeon took about 15 extra minutes, but it was worth it — family time should not be rushed. It dawned on me that World of Warcraft and other games might be the new manner for families to gather around and engage in good old family time.
When I was a kid, it was rare that there would be more than one television in the house. The TV was a place around which the family would gather. Prior to that, it was the radio. Some time in the mid 80s something happened, though. With the advent of cable, TV’s got really cheap and found their way in to multiple rooms. When that happened, families began to split apart. Moreover, around the same time, life got more expensive in other areas and both parents found themselves needing to work to make ends meet - the American Dream stopped being a dream and became a fantasy, one difficult to meet, but families felt the need to pursue. In doing so, families began to split apart and they soon lead individual lives. But, MMO’s may be bringing families back together.
But first an important commercial break:
