Blizzard asked for real-life stories from players a little while ago, and now they've posted
a pretty big collection of them over on the official site (this page
was around last year, but they've added many stories since then).
As Bornakk says, these are personal accounts from players of how playing the game with others has helped them grow relationships in real-life. I'm not sure what exactly the point of posting these is (maybe Blizzard wants to stave off some of
that negative media reporting about the game and addiction to it), but then again, if you dive into a few of these, you can see that they don't really need a point -- they're really interesting (and in some cases pretty heartwarming) stories about how players are using this game to enrich real-life relationships.
They're still accepting more stories as well, so if you've got a good tale of some
WoW-sharing in real-life, hit them up
over on the submission page and put yours in the mix. Hopefully Blizzard will figure out a way to get these out into the real world -- harsh stories about addiction are so easy for the media to jump on, but great stories like these are the real reasons we all play this game.
Tags: addiction, blizzard, bornakk, friends, media, official-site, online, other-side, personal-accounts, player-stories, real-life, real-life-friends, real-life-relationships, relationships, reporting, stories
Filed under: Fan stuff, Virtual selves, Odds and ends, Blizzard, PvP, Leveling
Sep 16th 2009 at 8:00PM 
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
efrdman2008 Sep 16th 2009 8:06PM
I read a couple of them and it seems to me that some of them were written just to get featured by blizz... You can tell by the way they are written.
Mognet T Sep 16th 2009 11:11PM
This looks shopped, I can tell from some of the pixels and from seeing quite a few shops in my time.
cowy Sep 17th 2009 12:18AM
Yeah... I couldn't really get into a lot of the stories, they really do seem to be tailored in a way to be picked by Blizzard (brown nose bigtime).
Then there are the stories that seem to have been picked due to the amount of good PR and preening for Blizzard. "Look, how fantastic we are! We unite people, save relationships, and people adore us!" *Fluff peacock feathers* *dance dance*
i don't expect Blizz to put anything in that shines a negative light , but they really could be a tad more humble or at least more subtle. :/
krizzlybear Sep 16th 2009 8:13PM
Pepperspray (Azjol Nerub), I'm happy for you, I'll let you finish, but Peacelady (Laughing Skull) had the best story of ALL TIME.
Frank Sep 16th 2009 8:27PM
^^ seconded.
JLocke Sep 16th 2009 8:13PM
a lot of Grannies playing lol, respect your elders or they'll whoop your butt in PVP
ladygamertn Sep 16th 2009 8:24PM
You better believe it, you young whippersnappers!
Dart Sep 16th 2009 8:39PM
Peacelady is on the same server as me.
TIME TO GANK
I can say I teabagged a 65 year old lady.
Boy I'm going to hell.
Hangk Sep 17th 2009 2:19PM
...and one hour later, Mr. Dart spirit rezzes, having grown tired of being corpse camped by a 65 year old lady. :D
Azbulldog Sep 16th 2009 9:53PM
I'm sure these are nice for Blizzard to read, but as for me, I don't really care.
They need something more like fmylife.com, or mylifeisaverage.com, but WoW related.
Chrissie Sep 16th 2009 11:21PM
Not all the stories are fake mind you, my story was featured on Valentines Day and it is the real life story about how my fiance and I met through WOW. We are still together to this day and often play as Akamiya and Mcallen on the Feathermoon server. We are getting married August 25th, 2010!
Don't be so quick to judge, WOW changed our lives forever! ^_^
Akamiya of Feathermoon
Ivansteel Sep 17th 2009 12:24AM
Officially nice.
syi Sep 17th 2009 1:56AM
id say im an addict, and loving it
Bossy Sep 17th 2009 3:38AM
I would say that gaming these days with the internet is an extension to your RL whereabouts.
I came to WOW in a very difficult moment in my life. Lets just say I came to know the mentality of people and their hate and extreme behaviour.
Wow at that time was a safe haven and the so called prigs sometime you would meet in game were not even close to what I experienced in that period in our life.
Let's just say WOW was a healing cure at that time. I'll never forget it, although I still have nightmares of what we as a family had to endure.
Let's just say I am no longer surprised mankind has shown to be the worst animal of the living species on earth.
Tx to WOW I could live in Azeroth from time to time as a healing cure and God it was so good to sit beside a campfire in Goldshire.
I'll never forget the stories we told sitting on the road next to that inn.
It made me forget earth for a few moments and I really did need it back then.
I'll never forget that. WOW will always be there, for the rest of my life.
Tx Blizzard.
dushkarn Sep 17th 2009 7:45AM
I think grandmas are the ones who kick my ass in PvP
http://www.wowstability.com
Lemons Sep 17th 2009 3:12PM
I always find it kind of strange when parents play WoW with their kids. I mean...there's a few computer games that I've played with my parents, but if WoW was invaded with their presence I think I'd have to stop playing.
kerozene Sep 17th 2009 4:42PM
Funny, I feel the same way but with my Nephew. He's wanted his parents to let him play WOW for YEARS (He's 12 now, been bugging them for many years).
The sad fact is that the kid's reading skills are crap, he's an ADD spaz and he's so damn obnoxious and spoiled that I HATE being around him in RL, let alone a game world... So I tell his parents WOW is crack and his grades would suffer etc (anything I can think of ) to keep him out.
You're all welcome.