9 - World of Warcraft Portends The Future of the Real World

     When I started this blog, I was really interested in finding out more about the real world concerns portrayed in the game, World of Warcraft, but as I got further into my research, I started to have second thoughts if they were really there, if they were actually portrayed in the game. I thought that maybe people were just over-thinking these kinds of things and were just paranoid or whatever. Instead of giving up though, I did even more research.

     I came across this book called, "The Warcraft Civilization: Social Science in a Virtual World" by William Sims Bainbridge. A sociologist suggested in the book that we can learn about the future of our world by studying World of Warcraft.

     Bainbridge argues in the book that the game isn't just a mere "escapist fantasy" but offers an insight into "how people are going to be respectful of each other in a world in which there aren't enough resources" – something we are already facing in reality. He also stated in the book that sociologists could glean as much from virtual worlds about human concerns and attitudes as they can from the real world. The challenge is then how to interpret the information.

"The real world is fragmented into small parts where human nature acts itself out under different constraints. So the challenge in translating sociological insights from virtual worlds to the 'real world' is the same challenge we have when going from one part of the traditional world to other parts of the traditional world. One nation to another. One language to another." - William Sims Bainbridge

      I also found an interview of Bainbridge with Samantha Murphy. In the interview he explained how World of Warcraft may have the potential to become the first real afterlife. He said:

"Every movement a player makes in WoW is recorded, even their interactions with others. The avatar captures their social self. To what extent the avatar is its controller is a philosophical question, but the avatar can outlive its creator and continue functioning in WoW as a non-player character (NPC). Research is under way that will make NPCs behave more like specific people."

      I think it would be pretty cool if that happens. For some reason, a bit creepy, because there is a possibility that you might be interacting with a dead guy. Oh well. Still, one question makes me wonder. Does World of Warcraft reflect the real world, or is it designed to do the opposite -– to let us escape to a place completely removed from the humdrum?