The game now has over 10 million subscribers. Yes, you have to subscribe and pay to play. They're adding a new class now, Death Knights. I've always been very open minded about gaming........but, now I am maybe getting old? Now I'm beginning to wonder just how many young men played this game, or the older first person shooter games and ended up signing up for military duty thinking that it was going to be very "game like". I mean, 18 yr old men aren't exactly known for their intellect in the first place.
I think I can say pretty confidently my son never wanted to join the army and go play war after playing these games. But, then again, when he wasn't driving me crazy with gaming he was reading. He also had real life friends and was/is very liberal minded politically. But, what of the kids who come from families where war is romanticized? Perhaps homes where there is domestic violence?
Maybe my paranoia is kicking in here. But, sometimes I think these games have replaced the old Hollywood movies made to encourage men to "join up" because it was their duty. Movies where the good guys always won, John Wayne was always a bigger than life hero. You know the ones. Then came the post Vietnam movies that gave us a deeper look into the realities of war and I'm sure Saving Private Ryan didn't drive the numbers of young men to rush out to be an army of one. Just maybe these new games have replaced the old romantic war movies?
What's your thoughts? Am I paranoid? Am I onto something?
