Make Community, and Warcraft

To many people, the idea of Massively Multiplayer Online RolePlaying Games (MMORPGs) can be summed up by the image of an individual sitting in their parent’s basement, endlessly defeating dungeon bosses whilst consuming copious amounts of Mountain Dew and less-than-healthy snack foods. To challenge this perception, we take the opportunity to sit down and talk with Bezerker of Unshackled Fury on aspects of MMORPGs we might not think about: How these types of games can foster a community, and how they help individuals who might not feel connected to people in the physical world. Ethically we also talk about the dangers of MMORPGs. We tried to strike a fine balance between not having Jae, a self-confessed WoW fan-girl, talking too positively about these games and potentially risking missing the deeper intrinsic problems that these types of games create. Have you had any experience in MMORPGs whether being a player yourself or someone whose family/friends were players? We’d love to hear from you, so please send a note over to [email protected], leave a comment on the post, or join the discussion over on our Discord server. If you liked this episode or any of our content, we’d greatly appreciate any little bit of support you can throw our way over at our Ko-Fi page. Episode Links Unshackled Fury Podcast Berzerker on Twitter World of Warcraft Deaf community guild beats WoW Sepulcher of the First Ones Chapter Times 00:00:21: Introductions 00:08:22: Understanding MMORPGs 00:21:45: What can you play WoW on? 00:26:36: The Addiction Factor 00:35:36: The Birth of Team Chat 00:44:13.: The Good & Bad of The Community 01:06:12: A Special Announcement 01:11:48: Wrapping Up Credits Intro and outro theme: Ace of Clubs by RoccoW Dialogue from South Park episode ‘Make Love, Not Warcraft’ used under fair-use. South Park and all related titles, logos and characters are trademarks of Comedy Partners. Episode Transcript[00:00:00] Butters (South Park): I don’t play World of Warcraft[00:00:02] Cartman (South Park): Butters, you said you’re on your computer all the time.[00:00:04] Butters (South Park): Yeah, but I’m playing Hello Kitty Island Adventure[00:00:07] Cartman (South Park): Butters, go buy World of Warcraft. Install it on your computer [00:00:10] and join the online sensation before we all murder you.[00:00:12] Butters (South Park): Oh, oh, all right. All right then.[00:00:20][00:00:21] Jae: Hello and welcome back to Crossed Wires. I am Jae, and today I am joined by my co-host who is again [00:00:30] confirming that Squad Cast is indeed Steam Deck certified. Hey James, how are you?[00:00:36] James: Uh, I’m good. Yeah, this, this works great on deck. [00:00:40] Honestly, this is the second time we’ve done a session. The only challenge this time is that I do currently look like I’m recording from like one of us outdoor scenes in total [00:00:50] recall.[00:00:50] Like, get your butt to Mars.[00:00:53] Jae: Yes.[00:00:54...