Speaking of Quitting

I have no intention of quitting Warcraft. Once upon a time I wondered if spending hours playing a video game was a wise choice of time, but that just isn't a concern anymore. First of all, warcraft has completely replaced my television watching time. I find it highly ironic that the mainstream population that baffles at us gamer types spending hours plunking away on a keyboard has no problem opening up a 6-pack and parking their ass in front of a television for an entire afternoon.

Warcraft is easy and quick entertainment, it's an ongoing story that I am the director of, and it's really cheap. If you're not a kid - if you're a financially secure adult - 15 bucks a month isn't a big deal. I can skip a couple meals and end up saving the money, and at my age/metabolism skipping a meal here and there isn't a bad idea. It's so cheap that I plan on keeping up my subscription whether or not I choose to play.

But my subscription time has run out, so I need to head to Walmart to pick up another time card and plug it in. It's about $30, and lasts two months. I could choose to pay via credit card online, either as individual payments or through automatic billing, but I prefer to buy the card and enter the code.

I really don't know why I do this other than I suspect it fulfills some basic need to participate in a transaction in order to get the fullest satisfaction from it. Everyone in my office has direct deposit, but I still get a paper check and take it to the bank each week. The money ends up going right back in the bank most of the time, but it's the value of being part of the process that keeps me satisfied.

This is one reason why I keep playing Warcraft, and haven't transitioned to some other subscription game by now: I can buy playing time at Walmart. If City of Heroes had time cards at Walmart I might be playing that instead (especially if I could buy the Architect Edition at Walmart). Whatever MMO ends up displacing WoW, the time cards will be available at Walmart.

People forget how powerful that point of sale is for the mainstream gamer. Most people who play Warcraft don't see ads in the back of comic books or read MMO websites to know what the newest/greatest game is - if it isn't on the shelf it might as well not exist. And if you're going to charge for a subscription, you'd better sell your time cards there too or you won't get much repeat business. That's just the way it is.

But in any case, the game is so cheap that paying for maintaining my subscription is nearly independent from whether I feel like playing or not. It's a few bucks, I'll pay for it in case I decide to log on sometime this month. And if I don't, I still browse the forums a lot and like to interact there. I guess if I want to post any comments I need to re-up my subscription.

Looks like I'm skipping lunch and heading to Walmart today.