I'm a gamer because ....
I first started playing online games when I found a business simulation game came out. It was mainly played by Europeans but it was fun. It combined my favorite type of game with the ability to chat to people.
I then got invited to play the beta of an online version of my favorite game of all time ( Sims Online ) back in 2002. I met a guy on there and we got to spend a lot of time together and after a few months the game became our nights out.
A year later we met up and have been at least once a year and am currently working on the immigration paperwork. He comes from Colorado, US and I am in London, UK. Seven times zones apart but thanks to the internet we can communicate and have fun.
In due time though Sims Online went through that patch of 'Lets see what we can do to make this but it doesn't work out that way' that most games go through to some degree.
At that point we started looking around for something else to do. We found Star Wars Galaxies and enjoyed that one so much we had 5 accounts each to hold the 10 characters we played. We both liked Star Wars and we got to do stuff together still.
SWG as it was known by soon had problems due to mass changes they did that affected alot of peoples reason for playing. Including ours. By 2004 ( I think ) we started looking out for another game. We found WoW. We thought that if the other games were trying to simulate what WoW had to attract its many players it's worth taking a look see.
After a few years we started getting bored of the same old stuff and decided to take a break and go and play the new Conan game. We got our characters to level 40 if I remember rightly but the game started to run out of things to do and we were missing the people we had grown to enjoy the company of in WoW. So within a few months .. or was it weeks? We trudged back to WoW and haven't left since.
So, why do I play online games ? Foremost for me is the ability to spend time with my fiance. My day isn't a good one if I haven't spent a few hours at least chatting to him while we do our own stuff. Secondly it is the people you meet and enjoy the company of. Thirdly and should be the most important but I don't dwell on money so nyah :P For a social interaction with millions ( okay maybe only about 50 people I chat to on a daily basis ) of people for as little as 16 dollars a month .. its the cheapest night out I have ever thought of.
My 3 brothers play WoW on the European servers and my fiance's son plays too. And even though my mother doesn't like that game as she didn't like being killed while she was looking at the nice animals - rofl - she knows the game is fun. And at least this way the worst that is happening is our power bill is through the roof
The good thing I like about playing on line ? People get to know people by their actions and conversations more than physical presence. Being a not so good physical specimen of a human it gave me a chance to find someone that I had a lot of common interests with and that liked me for who I was and not what I looked like.
And parents can rest easy about games like WoW if used in moderation. It promotes communication, problem solving, money management and release of anger tendancies without harming a physical bone on anyones body
Well thats why I play games online ... sorry about the length .. I did try to cut it down somewhat - rofl.