Epilogue
Who Are We Becoming?
And remember, no matter where you go, there you are.
—Confucius
As a senior in college, Andrew had a problem. He found himself growing apart from his friends. There was a new game on the street, World of Warcraft, that had captured the imagination (and time) of his comrades. He recalls his first reaction to a pal who encouraged him to get with the new program:
I remember when my friend and I walked to Target. He said, “We got this great new game called World of Warcraft that we’re all playing. You should buy it.” And I looked at it and it was like $40 for the game and then he told me there was a monthly subscription and I was like, “I don’t think there’s any way I’m going to get my money out of this.”
But, putting money into the game was exactly what Andrew had to do—if he wanted to continue to hang out with his friends, that is. According to Andrew, they had “disappeared” into a world that he was not part of. He had to rectify the situation. He purchased the game he was confident would not yield a return on investment. But he found that it actually delivered more than he bargained for.
Pretty soon, I was putting in more time in the game than I was in school. But, it was a lot of fun. It’s a very social game, so it just kind of became a new way to hang out with my friends. And, make new friends, too.
World of Warcraft opened new doors for Andrew’s relationships. It also introduced a new problem. Andrew’s passion for the game left little time for ...
