Senior Citizens Taking Over World of Warcraft
By Melina Wallace and Miranda Rawson
Summary:
Growing old can seem scary, especially when we listen to the rumors that lingers around it; like feeling lonely or not being in top physical or mental health. However- none of this has to be true! We have some valuable and interesting information on how playing video games, including World of Warcraft, can help you as you continue living in the later years.
Imagine logging into World of Warcraft (WoW) and joining a quest group that consists of six other players who come from all different backgrounds. The group is successful and together, completes every quest with ease. By the end of the quest, you have bonded with your fellow questers and actually begin to discuss the possibilities of questing together again, and maybe potentially creating a guild(A virtual community made up of players with similar gaming personalities) down the road. During this discussion, you find out that one of the members is actually part of guild already, a guild that only includes only members above the age of 50. This scenario is actually a realistic one for gamers in WoW, as one Blizzard forum revealed that there is Guild solely of senior citizen members. This guild isn’t a small one either, as it has up to 800+ members (Forum)! WoW has become a popular game among senior citizens for good reason. The first being someone who has never played before can excel at it. The game offers customizable features for increasing text size, and tutorials that the player has access to at time while gaming (A Place for Mom). The second reason for its popularity among senior citizens, is the mental and physical health benefits the game offers. Playing Wow has actually been scientifically proven to improve spatial ability and cognitive focus.(Life) It also gives it’s retired audience a chance to socialize and form attachments with other individuals through gaming. For these reasons more and more studies have recommended that, if older people aren’t already, they should log on and begin using WoW to improve their health and raise social needs.
Overview of WoW
Holding a status of 5.5 million currently active players, WoW is presently the second best selling PC game worldwide (statista). With a genre set in high fantasy that unravels its story in a gripping and multi-tiered tale, it is one of the most beautifully and intricately designed games on the market. The level of graphics are not as detailed as some opposing games, but it offers a high degree of graphics customization that gives the gamer various ways to obtain an optimal arrangement between aesthetics and in game performance.
The player can either immerse themselves in the enchanting storyline or play on a more surface level, as WoW’s flexibility allows for both the gamer who wants to understand the narrative and the gamer who just wants to go out and start questing for the glory of their alliance.
The starter zones are crafted so you can start to fall in love with your main “toon” (character/avatar). In some other games, starter zones are mainly used to solely level up your character. Although WoW’s starter zones do serve that purpose, they also show you that your character has its own personal background and lore.
For a combat based game that is focused on questing and fighting creatures, humanoid beings and monsters, the level of violence in the game is mild in comparison to many other popular video games. The current expansion, Battle for Azeroth, features so many different quest and story lines that to the new or returning player, it can feel a little overwhelming, but once you get past all the options and choices, this can be seen as the best thing about the expansion. There are almost an infinite amount of things to do, all subject to what YOU decide! This is why so many people argue for the game’s addictive nature- the gamer has a multitude of creative outlets and spaces to exercise their imagination that you will never want to stop exploring: forums, fictions, friends, guilds, trades, secret items, new characters, the lore, collections, game updates, crafts, achievements, personal backgrounds are just a few examples that show the many layers that a player can tinker with and expand upon in the game.
The social aspect of WoW is one of it’s more alluring perks, as it gives us opportunities to work with other players in effective groups. This type of group play creates social circles that can become quite tight knit, as people are connected by a common cause. When playing in a dungeon with a group of other players, each player is reliant on the other; if the players in the healer roles do not help keep the players who are in a damage role at full health, then the damage player will most likely die and then the group has to reorganize and start that particular part of the dungeon again.
The goals of WoW are pretty subjective to the player; for example, one individual might play solely for fun, while others want to acquire every type of mount available, create a certain amount of avatars, get rich within the game by tapping into its elastic economy, play Player vs Player or achieve a high number of achievements. It is up to the gamer to decide the goal of your WoW experience … a lot of the fun in WoW is in discovering what you can do in the game! With all of these aspects and room within the game to create, it is not hard to see why WoW is so popular and enticing. The game is so vast, but the mechanics are easy to learn. There is an endless path of challenges and gameplay styles, all relying on an intricate social system that is reliant on collaboration and interdependence.
Functions in WoW
During the year of 2009 a study was done at Queensland University of Technology was conducted to see if there were positive health effects that came with gaming, specifically gaming on World of Warcraft. Not only did their test results reveal that there was a significant decrease in anxiety and depression from gaming, but they also studied these affects when it came to the games older audience. As their sample audience included 270 participants, which 170 of them were male, and ranged from the ages 14-65. Along with the participants coming from over 20 different countries. “ It has been found that the higher levels of SS derived from online sources are also associated with lower levels of depression and stress”( Longman 2009).This is important to highlight because the studies reveal that not only is playing WoW a positive for one’s health, but it also showcases the wide-ranging audience which the game itself attracts! The reason why WoW is so successful when it comes to improving its audience’s mental state, comes from the fact that the game is extremely sociable.
With over 5.5 million users it allows its player to log on and form friendship with very real emotional attachments. This might seem crazy when you first hear it, but it’s not! Because by meeting someone on WoW you already know you have something in common with them due to the fact that you are both playing WoW. This allows players to then take it one step further and figure out what things do the two players have in common. This social environment is very beneficial to WoW’s older audience who aren’t socializing as much as they used to be. Especially because as the study above proves there are other people their age playing the game also.
Furthermore, not only does WoW’s older audience get the benefits of an increase in socialization therefore decrease in anxiety and depression (Longman 2009). They also get the benefits of an increase in spatial ability and cognitive focus(Life). A test was done where two groups of elders were selected and tested for their spatial ability and cognitive focus. Once the basic testing was done the first group was given no further instruction, they were to be the controlled group. While the second group was told to play WoW. At the end of the experiment the two groups were then retested. The first group showed no increase or decrease in their performance. However, the second group did. Members of the second group who scared poorly had a significant increase in their spatial and cognitive ability. Along with even the members who didn’t score so badly, also had an increase in performance (Life).
Not only is WoW beneficial for its older audience, but it also offers accessibility features to allow that audience to enjoy their time playing. These features can be added by downloading addons for the game. Once these addons are downloaded the players in able to adjust things like text size, and accessibility features that would make it easier for them to be able to perform their role in a guild. WoW also strives to make the game enjoyable weather you are a beginner or an advanced player, to aid this WoW has it set up so that when you start playing the game the new players are greeted with tutorials that will them navigate the bases of the game. When the player is feeling confident is there ability their able to turn of these tutorials, and no worries you can always turn them back on later if you need them! There fear when it comes to playing WoW no matter age, or ability because WoW offers gaming platform that is extremely flexible not with it’s accessibility and level experience but also with the type of gaming it’s player desires. Creating an environment where each player can feel confident in their ability, weather that be player vs player in a duel, player vs game through quest, or players vs players in a raid. WoW is truly a diverse gaming platform that offers enjoyment and health benefits to players of all ages!
Technology has done a lot for the world, and has changed future as we know it, and it isn't just for the younger generations! With science proving that senior citizens are experiencing health benefits through gaming. So next time you get asked why the computer isn’t working, you probably shouldn’t roll your eyes. Because more than ever before senior citizens are benefiting from the uses of technology, so why limit that when it comes to gaming? So just remember next time your gaming in WoW and get killed in a duel, know that you may have just made an old person laugh.
Elders Of WoW Hall of Fame
(Senior Players, Forum)
Works Cited for Sources:
https://us.battle.net/forums/en/wow/topic/2089270508 (Older Players, Forum)
https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/abs/10.1089/cpb.2009.0001(Longman 2009)
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/world-of-warcraft-cognitive-older-people_n_1300190 (Life)
https://www.statista.com/statistics/276601/number-of-world-of-warcraft-subscribers-by-quarter/ (Statista)
https://us.forums.blizzard.com/en/wow/t/senior-players/112329/64 (Senior Players, Forum)
Works Cited for Icons:
https://www.kisspng.com/png-heroes-of-the-storm-hearthstone-world-of-warcraft-860441/download-png.html (Alliance Avatar)
https://www.kisspng.com/png-world-of-warcraft-legion-warlords-of-draenor-world-860860/download-png.html ( Alliance Icon)
https://www.kisspng.com/png-world-of-warcraft-sylvanas-windrunner-blizzcon-sta-928594/download-png.html (Horde Avatar)
https://www.kisspng.com/png-world-of-warcraft-orda-jinx-video-game-logo-3338848/download-png.html (Horde Icon)