Back to Life... Back to Virtual Reality

*Background- For those of you who do not know me, my name is Gav. I work at a tech company, and therefore interact with a multitude of software, electrical, and mechanical engineers. Needless to say, many technical conversations about HTML, VisualBasic, C++, and (my personal favorite) stochastic algorithms are waayyy over my head.
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For lack of a more effective delivery, the ALL CAPS is me yelling internally.

Nearly every day I stream the Adam Corolla Show at work (which dn suggested the podcasts last month and I endorse.) Yesterday morning during the news, or more recently referred to as "News Time!", Teresa shared a report out of Japan of an avatar divorce resulting in the 43-year-old divorcee murdering her avatar husband in a virtual world, and arrested for the crime ~ In Real Life. Fortunately, the Dallas News Crime Blog details the event. Personally, I just don't understand the fascination with the virtual world... well... I get part of it... I get the virtual sex for psychopaths part, but how do these people survive in the real world? You know, generate money to trade for goods and services, such as food, shelter, internet access...

This leads to my second inkling into the virtual world which happened Thursday. As many of you know, Microsoft Outlook is a common e-mail application for companies because of its compatibility with other MS products (Yeah, I know Floyd and Bag, gmail is Sooo Much Better, but the Man. makes us use Outlook.) Within Outlook my company has a Public For-Sale Board to post any items you are attempting to peddle, for example, I've bought some speakers, two rugs, and a Tripping Daisy album from co-workers throughout the facility. It is very convenient. Even for those attempting to buy and sell their virtual items:

From: XXXXXXXXXXXX
Posted At: Thursday, October 23, 2008 10:50 AM
Posted To: For Sale
Conversation: Selling World of Warcraft Account
Subject: Selling World of Warcraft Account

I am currently selling my World of Warcraft account. It has 3 70’s, a Warrior/Mage/Paladin. The Paladin is currently MH/BT/SWP geared for both Ret/Holy. I would like to get around 4-500 dollars for the whole account. I have checked on mmobay, my Paladin alone with current gear/rep/status is around 600 dollars. Serious Inquiries only please. Email me if you need any armories for any of the characters.

Are you serious!!!???!!!

$500!!!

This is truely flabberghasting to me. Maybe it's because I am extremely 'Thrifty' (I would say cheap, but it's my blog so I'm not going to call myself cheap), but I think there is something to be said for someone who spends that amount of money on a virtual character. First of all, if you are willing to spend $500 to buy some super-power-Paladin-geared-with-both-Ret/Holy, then you should have an obscene amount of computer time to BUILD UP YOUR OWN F-ING PALADIN! Secondly, if you need to inquire about 'Armories' before making any purchase (excluding buying a real-life castle, of course) then it is time to re-evaluate the security of your investments. For God's sake, THE VIRTUAL YOU DOESN'T DO ANYTHING TO ADVANCE SOCIETY! Finally, (I will say this with as little anger as possible) add up all the expenses associated with your current hobby/virtual-sex-fantasy-life over the last year: 'Gaming' computer - $2000, headset - $100, Mountain Dew - $1259, appreciated carpel-tunnel surgery expenses for the year to be cashed-in at age 50 - $3000, Internet access - $600, YOUR NEW F-ING PALADIN - $500, and the list goes on-and-on...

Personnally, I could care less what peoples' hobbies are, but let's just keep them that - Hobbies. EITHER BUILD UP YOUR OWN CHARACTER OR SPEND YOUR MONEY ON SOMETHING WORTHWHILE! GDamnit!

* I have never played World of Warcraft, but one of my instructors brought this clip in a couple of months ago and I thought it was fitting. As a precursor, you will want to know that Leroy is getting some food and really, really stoned.