World of Warcraft

Originally posted by Vrika

Originally posted by Zorvan

So they'd get to play some WoW. They'd still be in the middle of a fucking war zone with bullets and mortars and suicide bomber dipshits running around. Do you honestly think playing the game is going to make them want to stay there more? Get a damn clue.

May I ask where the OP (Solase) is atm? If he's in Iraqi, and does care about getting to play WoW in there, then it proves that such a simple thing as getting to spend what little freetime you have playing WoW does matter to USA troops in Iraqi.  But does it prove that it will make them want to stay there, as you said it would and to which my reply was focused? No, it doesn't. It just proves that they'd like to play a damn game. Period.

I try to refrain commenting any more about if Iraqi war is/was justified or not, since it's not really the topic of my discussion. I'm only tryting to prove my point, that some could see a server dedicated to troops serving in Iraqi as supporting the war. They have servers for players in China, is Blizzard supporting Communism? Again, your arguments are ridiculous and unfounded.

I feel that it would be a great idea, maybe even change up the server a lil bit by offering faster xp and scaled down dungeons due to a smaller player base and less available playing time. 

I am about to do my first tour in the middle east, and believe me Vrika, playing WoW is going to do nothing to increase my desire to kill anyone at any time.  If anything it will decrease my desire to kill because it will be a stress relief and I will not be running around as full of nervous energy as I might otherwise be.   Why would you be against regular people with regular lifes having access to a game made more readily available. Supporting me is not support the war.  I am not some professional killer, I am a 23 year old recently married IT Tech who signed up with the National Guard almost 7 years ago to protect and serve my country not any where else, but my president said I was needed in Iraq and I will not break an oath (that and the brig doesnt sound like much fun).

Originally posted by markoraos

What "our" country are you talking about? What "our" troops?

Get a perspective man.

(sorry, just a dripping, sarcastic joke for the unobvious)

OP, bad idea, your over there to do a job not play games, in your offtime, thats when your not in the motorpool, servicing or helping to service your vehicle or on patrol or on guard duty you train or sleep, if you have to much spare time then your obviously not doing all you could be doing such as training your subordinates or studying for your proficiency exams for your next rank/paygrade. when you come back to the states you can play games.

(damn, did i go there or what?!)

Ahh no more crazy PR stunts by Blizzard please. They already have people thinking they have 10 mill active.

Originally posted by graill

 

Originally posted by markoraos

What "our" country are you talking about? What "our" troops?

Get a perspective man.

you obviously must be one of the third world countries "we" havent invaded yet.

 

(sorry, just a dripping, sarcastic joke for the unobvious)

 

OP, bad idea, your over there to do a job not play games, in your offtime, thats when your not in the motorpool, servicing or helping to service your vehicle or on patrol or on guard duty you train or sleep, if you have to much spare time then your obviously not doing all you could be doing such as training your subordinates or studying for your proficiency exams for your next rank/paygrade. when you come back to the states you can play games.

(damn, did i go there or what?!)

I have 3 buddies in Iraq at the moment and 1 in afghanistan. They work INSANELY long shifts and most 6 -7 day work weeks, when they get time off, they cant exactly go into town and get a beer. Gaming lets some of them have a break.

My buddy was in Iraq for over a year, came home for 9 months and shipped off to Afghanistan in december. He gets maybe 2 hours online a week, but he cherishes it. Why? Well, he gets to temporarily feel like he is out of the warzone. He gets to have a little fun with his old buddies, and he gets news about whats going on at home.

So... while training, sleeping, and proficiency exams may be what you did/would do. The human body does need downtime, and if they are over there fighting and dying for us, I damn well dont have a problem with them gaming a bit in what little off time they do have.

Originally posted by graill

 

Originally posted by markoraos

What "our" country are you talking about? What "our" troops?

Get a perspective man.

you obviously must be one of the third world countries "we" havent invaded yet.

 

(sorry, just a dripping, sarcastic joke for the unobvious)

 

OP, bad idea, your over there to do a job not play games, in your offtime, thats when your not in the motorpool, servicing or helping to service your vehicle or on patrol or on guard duty you train or sleep, if you have to much spare time then your obviously not doing all you could be doing such as training your subordinates or studying for your proficiency exams for your next rank/paygrade. when you come back to the states you can play games.

(damn, did i go there or what?!)

studies have shown that having no diversions while on extending tours of duty i.e. deployment to Iraq is a leading cause of PTSD, troops who regularly play games, lift weights, draw, write, w/e.... are more productive, less stressed, and have a lower risk of developing serious cases of PTSD, so while it maybe alright for SGT Highspeed  to never tend to anything but his soldiering duties the rest of us need diversions from the fact that we are in a shit hole that we have no desire being in, and possibly having to kill people who are only trying to kill us because it is a meal ticket for their family (I know that probably just opened up a whole nother can o' worms, and I know some belief in the whole death to American thing, but alot of the attacks are carried out by people just looking for a paycheck.  and having to possibly kill someone who is just trying to feed his three year old and doing so by attacking foreigners in his country might mess with the ol noodle a bit.)

Oh and If I was guessing graill you probably are around E-6?

It's sad to see how quickly this devolved into a poor political debate. Seriously people, this man is simply asking whether or not it'd be a good idea to get a game server up for serving troops, not what you think about the war. That really has nothing to do with the current topic on hand.

To respond to the OP, I think it would be a great idea to have a server for oversea Americans. It could be confined by country (Iraq, Afghanistan, South Korea) or simply have one server for all troops.

The idea that Blizzard providing a server to troops that want to play is somehow supporting the war need to re-examine the context of "support". Boeing makes aircraft that is flown by soldiers, and used to engage in warfare; however, the only way Blizzard will contribute to "supporting the war" by providing troops with a server would be in the battlegrounds of Azeroth.

I don't think it's a good idea, and it's got nothing to do with patriotism or politics.

Video games get a bad rap. They make people fat and lazy. WoW gets a bad rap. People get addicted and play themselves to death or neglect their kids. Blizz going out of it's way to set up a server just for armed forces serving overseas, even with the best of intentions, would end up as bad press for anyone involved. I can just see the headlines now:

"Video game company promotes war"

"GIs fight elves instead of insurgents"

And so on. The bottom line is that outside the immediate theatre of battle, the war is being fought more with PR than it is with bullets, and something like this is just too likely to blow up in someone's face.

Originally posted by Vrika

Originally posted by vaizard

Originally posted by Vrika
But I think, that if a company like Blizzard provides soldiers with entertainment like WoW, it increases the morale of the soldiers, and thus makes them more eager to fight the war. And if Blizzard makes soldiers more eager to fight in the war, then that means Blizzard is supporting the war.

Im sorry what? They just want to play a damn game. It doesn't mean they are EAGERLY wanting to fight a war. No one in the right mind wants to eagerly fight a war. Especially American soldiers in Iraq, I doubt very much they support this war. Fighting a war which the government just sent them into. But much respect to the American soldiers that CONTINUALLY put their lives on the line even if the cause is a little fuzzy. Don't turn this into some dumb political debate. YOU WILL LOSE.

If the soldiers have no entertainment at all when it's their freetime, and get bored, then they want more just to leave the war and go home.

Whereas if they are provided with something fun to do once in a while, they are a bit happier to be there, and won't be so eager to leave.

So, providing the troops with ent