WoW and real life

I love coincidences. Just some days after I had the thought about doing this post, a big swedish news paper writes an article about this very subject. It was about how playing WoW can make people into better leaders. Having worked on McDonalds used to be a good merit, but now apparently having played alot of WoW also counts as one (good for me, because I have played alot). Among some people. And only if you were a guild leader/raid leader.

That's not entirely what I'm after here though. I don't mean how playing a game could be beneficial for you in real life on a big scale, but how playing a game alot could affect your everyday real life doings in any way really. Playing a game could make you aware of totally new things around you. Playing something like Assassin's Creed or Prince of Persia might make you look at walls and the like in a new way. Games can also make you experience things in real life you normally wouldn't.

Any game will do this. I remember after a particularly intensive period of playing Mario Kart 64, I could see that weapon browsing square in the corner of my eye all the time, even when I wasn't playing. Maybe I am crazy, but I am quite sure that anyone has experienced things like this after an intense period of playing some game.

Even WoW does this. After some pvping I reacted to anyone wearing red hed caps outside for example and tried to hide behind trees. My brother who plays a rogue, and always has, has had the urge to use vanish in some situations. After alot of herbing I think I see herbs in every corner. Also when I was picking alot of junxboxes this same thing happened to me. Some things turn into unconscious reflexes, some things are more thought through yet very unrealistic. Like wanting to use a portal instead of having to walk somewhere (damn do I wish I could do that sometimes).

It's interesting though, considering how much time I play WoW, I am not that affected by it when not playing. Of course I spend alot of time thinking about things in WoW, like this blog and what to write and about raids I'm going to do and the like (this qualified as being addicted some years ago). But less on an unconscious level than with many other games I've played. None of which I have spent as much time with as WoW. Maybe some games affect you more than others. Or maybe you're more affected when you're young than old. Or maybe I have played WoW so much it has become a part of me, and I can't even notice the way it affects be outside playing anymore XD.

I do notice it in the way I talk though. I don't go around saying things like "lol" but there are definitely terms I use that come from WoW. Like screaming "Leeeroy!" before doing something stupid. Or saying "kek". Stuff a non-player wouldn't understand at all.

This instance with the red cap people was long ago. I can't remember anything special that has happened to me lately that I feel is due to me playing WoW. Except me dreaming about WoW occasionally of course. Not as often as you'd think however, and then we're back to my theory about WoW being too ordinary. My brain has sorted it under "everyday things, nonimportant" by now probably. I usually dream about things that trouble me, and WoW rarely troubles me. If it did I probably wouldn't play it.

Have you noticed any way that your playing WoW affects you in your everyday life?