WOW as a Hobby?

[Pedrolius]

Do you think that playing WOW, or any other online game for that matter, could be called a hobby?
Im a uni student involved in a project to produce an online magazine, and we are going to focus our magazine on hobbies. I've decided to look at the online gaming world and the people involved.
We are just in the planning stages, but the end result will be a reasonably indepth interview with someone(thats yet to be decided lol) and around that the article will be based.

If you have any information that you feel is important, please post your ideas here. Any input would be greatly appreciated, so to start you off...

What are your opinnions on "online gaming as a hobby"?

[clevins]

Well, sure any gaming can be a hobby if by hobby you mean something people do as an activity (not passive, like TV) and that's done for personal enjoyment. It's not a hobby that producies things like woodcarving, painting etc, but given that it's active, not a sport and done as a personal pursuit (vs for work) then yeah it is in my mind.

I guess what I'd do in your place would be to define the differences between entertainment (TV, movies, reading, listening to music), sports and hobbies. The interesting question is whether WoW and other online games have essential differences from other hobbies by virtue of being online.

[Pedrolius]

Very good point. I feel the distinction has to be made between a hobby and a pastime, or on the flip side possibly even a hobby and an obsession, because some people spend far more time online gaming than they ever would a hobby.

Like you say, is there a virtue of being online? other hobbiest tinker out in their shed and are quite consistantly alone in their little endevour. they have to go out and find a club if they want any social side. Online gamers have everything at their fingertips, so does that mean (if online gaming is a hobby) that online gaming is the perfect hobby?

More questions for everyone to spark debate:

How long do you spend a week (average) playing online games?

How much does one have to play for your hobby(?) to become something more?

Does a hobby have to produce something?
or does your wicked sweet level 170 character count?

What are the benifits/downfalls of the hobby being online?

thanx for your replies (I have to present SOMETHING to class in 3 days, so if you have ANYTHING to say, your a star!)

[prion]

(ah nevermind, said somethin silly)

[Pedrolius]

True. I suppose I should focus my article more around the MMORPG style genre, unless you feel that these also have their merits?

Im trying to define online gaming as a hobby, and by all means if it works, then playing twiddly little games on miniclips could also count? I dont want to get to diverse, however, as my word count will be closer to 1000 on a hobbying WoWer than a 5 page spread on the many different ways to entertain yourself online.

another general question for the general public

Do you play more than one MMORPG regularily, or do you focus more on one/only play one?

[prion]

ah i see that you responded to my silly question anyway, so i guess i'll have to put it back....

is WoW notably different from any other game? chess, badminton, hungry hungry hippos?

i gotta come back to this later...

[Pedrolius]

Lol you elaborated on your question. No. I feel the answer is no. well some people in my class think Im wrong but Ill argue it to the days cos i think anything can be a hobby. my dad really enjoys his job, and does it in his spare time aswell, does that count as a hobby?

I love snowboarding, and although its more of a sport, or recreation, I class it as a hobby. I got shot down hard for that one. supported by a few other snowboarders in class, but the rest were against us. So i suppose im in the right group, cos were doing unusal hobbies. like my group mate is looking at skydiving. skydiving can be a hobby cant it? and if skydiving is a hobby, then I dont see why WoW cant be one.

What about drinking? Thats what I do in my spare time? does that count?

(Please have your say about WoW/other online games as a hobby, because I need some reliable information from people in the know, yes thats you, and i need it before I have to present it to class. three days and counting. refer to questions i have posed, and if you have any good ones yourself go ahead and ask for me. god what a long bracketed paragraph. how long does something have to be before you realise you should never have put it in a bracket? dont answer that one...)

[TPMdm]

From Dictionary.com:
an activity or interest pursued for pleasure or relaxation and not as a main occupation

Using that I think your anti snowboarding classmates are off their rocker. The fact that it is a sport does not preclude it from also being a person's hobby. Just as an activity which is a game (online or otherwise) does not preclude it from being a person's hobby.

There are people who engage in "unconventional activities" who personally classify them as hobbies. People who restore vehicles "in their spare time" I'm sure would consider that a hobby. Your classmates who disagreed with snowboarding, and I assume online gaming, need to broaden their minds a little.

It seems they might also be favoring solitary pursuits over group endeavors or games? Woodworking in a shed is a hobby in their minds (and I tend to agree) but playing a game with friends (online or otherwise) isn't? Hobby is a subjective thing and unless you're classmates have agreed to limit their focus then IMO online gaming is indeed a hobby.

Btw
if you are drinking often enough that you consider it a hobby find a phone book and look up Alcoholics Anonymous. In my subjective opinion drinking isn't a hobby, it's a social recreation :grin:

[clevins]

Your classmates opinions are just that... opinions. I somewhat arbitrarily made a distinction between active and passive things but I do think that hobbies are something you DO and to me going to the movies or reading doesn't feel like a hobby. Sports could, I suppose, be considered a hobby - it's not as if it's one or the other.. something could be in both categories.

The important point here is to define what a hobby is and what it isn't then outline arguments to defend that definition. If you make an distinction (online vs off, active vs passive) then think about whether you can defend it. Why *isn't* something a hobby and do those reasons hold up?

[ptarn]

Going to the movies can be a hobby... if you research stuff you find interesting about movies in your spare time and write about it or debate about it regularly. Some part of 'movies as a hobby' could be camera standpoints, music, acting through the ages, the influence of CGI on creativity in movies, etc. If you have a closet full of particular movies and know all there is to know about them, then going to the movies can be part of that hobby.

That being said, I consider 'gaming' an sich as a hobby. Some people play tennis as a hobby (sports that are NOT work are hobbies in my honest opinion), I play RTS, TBS and (MMO)RPG's as a hobby. I don't really see the difference, only in the fact that people regard 'sitting behind a (tv)screen' as passive and thus not a hobby. But what about people who play chess? That's a passive hobby too in terms of physical activity. But your brain's making overtime when playing chess or checkers or, for that matters, a computer game.

Btw, I'm considered a 'casual gamer', I don't game as much as some people do and I don't 'obsess' about ONE game in particular. I play WoW often, but I also play Spore and I've played games like Crysis, Lost Planet, Red Alert 2, C&C: Tiberium Wars and so on and so forth. I even play the Wii sometimes!

[clevins]

Going to the movies can be a hobby... if you research stuff you find interesting about movies in your spare time and write about it or debate about it regularly. Some part of 'movies as a hobby' could be camera standpoints, music, acting through the ages, the influence of CGI on creativity in movies, etc. If you have a closet full of particular movies and know all there is to know about them, then going to the movies can be part of that hobby.


Sure. Though I'd consider all of the other activities you mention as the hobby, not the moviegoing per se. And I'm not passionate that passive activities like wachting a movie, TV etc can't be hobbies - just illustrating that if you're exploring what a hobby is you need some definition not only of that, but of what it isn't. The dictionary definition above works too though that seems overly broad to me - hobby = fun thing that's not work.

[Pedrolius]

Ok. Sorry had to go to work so the forum had to wait..
Yes. I agree with all of you in regards to the definition of a hobby. its a personal thing and should be defined by each person. To one, carving would could be a job, to another it could be a chore, to yet another a passion, and another just a hobby. or is a passion a hobby also? Defining a hobby is a hard one, and not highly important because Ive decided that a hobby is what you make of it. "Hobby = fun thing that's not work" is the best Ive heard yet.

Oh, thanx for the support against my classmates, but dont worry; im a strong person and told them were to shove it, assured of my opinion along the lines of hobbies.

Therefore my drinking is a hobby! yay. Ive even got a range of clubs to attend and they meet every day that starts with a T. (tuesday, thursday, today, tomorrow, the next day, tonight, tsaturday...) Kinda hard to be sincere at an AA meeting if I work at a bar and enjoy my drinking with a moderation that all New Zealanders share... LOL

No we have not decided as of yet to put exact rules on what a hoby is or not, and im sure our class wont. So lets move on.

Seeing as a hobby is a personal thing, and each is to their own, DO YOU yourself call your WOW/other online gaming(mostly limited to mmorpg) a hobby?

Ptarn does, and he plays spore. which is one of the best games ive played in ages. Good on ya. bluddy awsome. but dont judge me for that because i do see its faults.. specaily if youve burned a trail of carnage as a meat eater/fighter/human? and get to space and Stupid Fn enemys wont stop attacking and leave you in peace to micro-manage your planets.

again, I appreciate the ideas and opinions.

[Pedrolius]

any last thoughts? presentation due tomorow