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Notes -
Yeah, Blossom was a unicorn. It's pretty rare to find someone with that combination of personality and skill. She lived somewhere exotic IIRC, like Hawaii or Alaska or something, so her internet wasn't amazing, and Classic WoW was one of the few games that was forgiving enough of network latency.
I cut Buttercup some slack because she had a tough job IRL (nurse, I think), and playing a healer in game is suffering, as you desperately try and keep people alive through their own mistakes, gradually failing at it. And yeah, maybe some insecurity
This incident was probably the inflection point in my enthusiasm for Classic. I stuck it out a while longer out of loyalty to the group, and we eventually cleared Lich King 25 heroic, widely considered the point at which you have beat the game, then quit. It was that, and other similar incidents, that made me realize the juice wasn't worth the squeeze. The game mechanics naturally led to that sort of conflict, and it just didn't have to be that way. I didn't have to play that kind of game. Would be better if I didn't. Is better now that I don't.
The juice not being worth the squeeze: That's the main idea I was left with after trying a couple of MMOs long ago. Addictive, takes a lot of time, and for what? What are you left with? You've passed a lot of time, somewhat in the manner of a rat pushing an irregular reinforcement lever for pellets, sometimes it felt fun or exciting, sometimes it was just a grind, and then what? If you got lasting friendships out of it, that's probably a good justification, but if not... ×_×
I guess it depends on what the opportunity cost is. Some people just need escapism for a few hours per day/week, at that time in their life. There's no guarantee that some other hobby would be more rewarding or meaningful for a tired body. But personally I try to cultivate long term reductions in stress and long term happiness. If the activity is only ephemerally satisfying and has a long term cost, I probably don't do it. It can be a lonelier path to tread though. Or a less crowded path, to put a positive spin on it, lol.
Either it's just an age and life phase thing, or the internet/gaming is less conducive to friendship building compared to when I was a teenager. Hm.
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