I got this "answer" by lot of commenters for my post that called buying minipets an action to keep up with the Joneses.
Actually "I find the panda fun" or "I have different preferences than you" are not wrong answers. They are not answers at all. It's obvious that you have ideas and you prefer them. It's also obvious that you enjoy to act according to your preferences.
The question was why would you buy pet = "why do you prefer pets to $10" or "why do you find a pet fun".
If someone was asked why did he slapped X in the face and he'd answer "because my hand hit his face", he would be considered either retard or in contempt of the court. Yet "I did it because it's fun" or "people have different preferences" are not considered retarded or cynical answers by socials.
They find it normal, because they do not know any better. Just like a real mentally retarded honestly claim that slapping was simply performed by his hand, the social has no idea what's fun for him. We could use this even as the definition of the "irrational, emotional being": "he has no idea why something is fun for him".
There are many things that are considered fun or preferred by me. Yet I can explain every single "fun" or "preference" of mine. (or to be strictly correct, every one that I'm aware of). Some examples:
You can learn the abusing of such unconscious processes (ape subroutines). That's what marketing and media schools are for. You can learn there how can you reach more "conversions", aka how can you abuse the emotional-irrational into buying things they not only don't need but also wouldn't even think of without your manipulation.
So, why did you buy those useless minipets?
PS: the word "social" is conspicuously missing from the above post. You'll see it tomorrow, with the explanation why is it important in WoW and why WoW itself is important.
PS2: rephrasing "fun" for "cute" does not fly here. Why do you find it cute (as opposed to for example the 50s siamese cat or prairie dog)?
Actually "I find the panda fun" or "I have different preferences than you" are not wrong answers. They are not answers at all. It's obvious that you have ideas and you prefer them. It's also obvious that you enjoy to act according to your preferences.
The question was why would you buy pet = "why do you prefer pets to $10" or "why do you find a pet fun".
If someone was asked why did he slapped X in the face and he'd answer "because my hand hit his face", he would be considered either retard or in contempt of the court. Yet "I did it because it's fun" or "people have different preferences" are not considered retarded or cynical answers by socials.
They find it normal, because they do not know any better. Just like a real mentally retarded honestly claim that slapping was simply performed by his hand, the social has no idea what's fun for him. We could use this even as the definition of the "irrational, emotional being": "he has no idea why something is fun for him".
There are many things that are considered fun or preferred by me. Yet I can explain every single "fun" or "preference" of mine. (or to be strictly correct, every one that I'm aware of). Some examples:
- I consider eating chocolate fun because human body evolved in an environment where sugar was a rare and highly valued resource, so ape-subroutines were developed to reward the ape to get such food. I inherited these subroutines and found them not so harmful to fight them.
- I consider greasy food disgusting because it's unhealthy. Myself, my parents and people around me rejected this unhealthy food. This rejection was done so many times intentionally that it programmed into my brain to the point of sub-conscious automatization.
- I like blogging because it's a great tool to learn about the people who are so different from me like I was from Mars. (that was the reason to start, however now I simply like to do it)
You can learn the abusing of such unconscious processes (ape subroutines). That's what marketing and media schools are for. You can learn there how can you reach more "conversions", aka how can you abuse the emotional-irrational into buying things they not only don't need but also wouldn't even think of without your manipulation.
So, why did you buy those useless minipets?
PS: the word "social" is conspicuously missing from the above post. You'll see it tomorrow, with the explanation why is it important in WoW and why WoW itself is important.
PS2: rephrasing "fun" for "cute" does not fly here. Why do you find it cute (as opposed to for example the 50s siamese cat or prairie dog)?
81 comments:
Does "I did it for sex count?" I have been tuning a particular chick for awhile now and this pet totally sealed the deal for me! :D
I spent a whole blog post writing on why buying a pet is smarter than hoarding gold, but I'll say one more reason here. Because it was FUN!
In fact, I'm devoting 5% of my profit on buying in-game pets.
LOL
Ok, let me have a go: I find hoarding pets "fun" because the human mind has evolved in an environment where "creative" and "cute" possessions are highly valued for recreational purposes.
Btw, I don't find pets fun but I can certainly understand why someone else may find it fun.
In a utilitarian life with no frivolity, no, I would not buy a pet. But, I don't live that life.
Why did I buy one, then? (And yes; I have a panda.)
Because I wanted a treat on a bad day, because it was cute and easy and there, and because in AU's current economy, it was cheap.
I thought about it a while, and really, I could have gotten a kebab or burger or something.
I like cute things. Always have, always will. I've played WoW 5 years now, and while I have some ennui, I plan to be around a while. So, while it's not /physical/, it is something I will use over the rest of my wow career.
In short, it lasts longer than fast food, and doesn't contribute to my fat ass. ;)
I aim to pick up a pet and title for each of my characters that fit what I see as their characterization. So my shaman is a Flame Warden and my priest is Hallowed, for instance. If Mini-KT* is the best fit that's reasonable to acquire for my DK, I'll probably spend $10 on one. This isn't especially "fun" in and of itself, but I like fleshing out my characters so that they're more than just avatars.
* - Loud Panda can die in a fire. If I hear his "HI-YA!" one more time in a raid, I'm going to scream.
I didn't buy one. But I reject the assumption that the ONLY possible reason for buying a pet is social, parading it around in front of others, to say "I got one, and you haven't".
I think pets can be used as toys. You watch them, or even interact with them, and they do something amusing. Not everything people do serves a purpose, sometimes it's just mindless entertainment.
Gevlon can you explain why you have a girlfriend then? Not trolling here but really curious. If you don't believe in relationships what is she to you then?
Why do you hoard fake money online, Gev?
Because it's fun for you.
One could argue it's to keep up with the Jones' bank account...
@Djavulkai
Apparently(as he said in a previous comment on another post) he hoards gold 'for this blog' because if he didn't we wouldn't rid the blog.
So, I guess a better question would be, "why are you engaged in such a social and obviously retarded activity as blogging?"
I don't know the Joneses. I only keep up with two other players, both my friends, both of whom I play with regularly.
I bought the minipets for two reasons:
1) Gifts for my friends. They helped me level. They've given me gold and gear and mats and help levelling over the years. One even got an Authenticator for me when they were nigh impossible to get (and ridiculously expensive to ship to australia for some reason). I enjoyed being able to give them a gift and make them happy. Gift giving is an important part of human society (for an interesting read, see: http://scienceblogs.com/primatediaries/2009/11/reciprocity_and_the_anthropolo.php)
2) Damn but Lil K.T. is cute. I've never made it a practice the minipets, but I giggled my ass off at the irony of levelling my druid in EPL and WPL with a Lil K.T. following me and icebolting critters.
I did it for the novelty factor. I recognised the good cause for the Pandaren and thought it might be nice. Given that I don't often have vanity pets out, nor do I collect them, I just thought it was something nice community wise.
Falling back on "ape-subroutines made me do it" or "God tells me to" is no more rational than "my hand did it". They're all variants on "it's not my fault, someone else is to blame".
So why do people do it? Because for minor decisions it simply isn't worth the time and effort to go into them in detail. The rough & ready heuristics we all carry around in our heads are a good enough approximation to the right course of action that you'd lose more by over-analysing them than you would gain from improved decision-making.
In other words, "because it's fun" is a perfectly fine explanation for trivial things such as buying a pet in WOW. It is, however, a very poor explanation for major decisions such as "why did you bet your life savings on that horse race?".
...the position according to which spending real money on virtual goods is insane because the goods “do not really exist” is untenable. Despite their name, virtual goods are “real” in the ontological sense that they exist in the same reality as other goods. They have a physical manifestation, often a visual form, which can be experienced by many people. They also make their presence felt through other mechanisms. Virtual goods are not figments of
imagination, although they can give rise to a strong emotional or dream
component in the mind of a consumer, in the same way that many brands and consumer goods seek to do.
I bought the panda because
1. The Pandaren have always been one of my favourite NPC's in the game(Since the Warcraft series)
2. I am a collector. I collect titles, achievement points, mounts and pets. It's 50% of why I am playing this game.
I think what you are forgetting in your calculations is the fact that these minipets are not a big deal. The thought process of the players buying this pet may very well have been: "Cool pet. I think I want this pet. I'm buying this pet."
What you're basically asking us is "Why did you eat that sandwich?"
I wanted the sandwich, I was hungry, and I like sandwiches. These reasonings aren't faulty.
Also, unrelated to my point in my other comment, I approve of Blizzard going the microtransaction route, to an extent.
Why?
Because it's the /only/ true way to cut out the legs from under the gold selling and levelling industries.
If Blizzard offered gold at comparable rates to the goldsellers, the market would fall out from under them. Why would someone buy from a shady third party if they could just go to worldofwarcraft.com and buy the same thing?
XP pots and such are much the same. Why pay someone to level you if you can easy boosts?
From a goblin POV, Blizzard is foolish for waiting this long for doing it. They have lost untold sums of money with a pointless 'moral' view that gold shouldn't be sold. It hasn't stopped gold being sold, just made them feel nice it wasn't THEM doing it, while thousands of customers have their accounts stolen and Blizzard has massively increased customer service costs.
People talk a big game about 'MT ruins things!', but I'd be suprised if anyone really quit over it, so I don't think Blizzard has much to lose, and everything to gain, with the movement towards it. Like EVE Online, they could even go so far as to sell monthly sub fees for in-game gold, and make it a more circular pathway of gold in and gold out, money in and money out.
@Tobold: you merely rephrase "fun" for "amusing" and "entertaining" without answering the question why are they more "amusing" than 1 of the 80 free pets (that can be gained for 1-10G = 30-60sec)
@Antisocial loser: talking, to spot out my mistakes, split the bills, sex.
@Narx: from your comment I assume you misspelled your name. That "N" should be "M". Also if you want to do charity, send ME $10 and I promise I spend 5 on charity. If you don't trust me, send it to Tobold.
@Lite: why are you collecting pixels?
From a male point of view.
Even the buying of minipets is ape-subroutine.
It's all about sex. To get sex you have to have "look" better then your competitors. One of these things is wealth. If you have the ability to spend wealth on trivial things like fashion, shinier cars or even minipets in game, you send the message to the opposite sex: I can provide for myself and not only that, I am even so wealthy that I can use it on trivial things.
And in my opinion that i the single most driving force behind doing dumb/social stuff with your wealth. It's all about sex.
@Jamie
The reason why gold-selling by the game manufacturer itself is wrong is because it introduces a perverse incentive. Rather than thinking "we're losing money because this part of the game isn't fun", they start to think "if we make this part of the game fun, we'll lose money because people won't pay to bypass it". That leads to stinky games.
You don't get that problem when a third party is the gold-seller.
One quick and almost trollin' question: why people trying so hard to explain this whole 'i bought the panda pet' case to themselves? Why to care? Eat bananas and be happy, even if your banana is a spaceraft you been constructing.
Hmm. That's a valid point! I hadn't thought of it that way. I wish Blizz could be trusted not to, but I'm not THAT stupid. ;)
@gevlon: Why is it better than the other 80 free pets? Well, cause it's /better/. More detailed, neater animations, hits things I like (Raided enough Naxx, classic and new, to think mini-KT is amusing, and I love Pandaran and hoped they'd be the new race.)
Sexistly, I'm also a girl, so you could make a case that I'm more wired to collect cute things than, say, gear. But I'm also a relative non-feminine lesbian, so that only takes you so far. ;)
In the end, there is a basic quality that is subjective, value. For me, it is a good value, because I collect mini-pets, because I've played WoW since release and don't plan to stop in, say, the next year, and because it's no more expensive than any 'toy' or 'treat' that I don't anticipate getting more than a few hours joy from. And being only pixels, I don't step on it, the cat doesn't eat it, the kids don't stick it anywhere it shouldn't go, I don't lose it, etc, etc.
@gnome
Because I'm bored, I like discussions, and why not? I know I won't change Gevelon's mind. He won't change mine. That doesn't mean neither of us can enjoy the philosophical discourse on why we believe what we do. By discussing, I question myself and learn more about myself, and thus, grow as a person from it. I'm also willing to admit when I am wrong. I don't think I am here. (Well, I am about Blizz selling gold. See? I learn!)
@Antisocial loser:
Having a girlfriend can be quite valuable for a male, because he can have regular sex with her, and about random hook-ups you need to "impress them" or buy them alcohol, it's more expensive and less certain they will jump into your bed or back seat of a car just after an evening in a pub or disco. You also have no security in the matter whether those carry diseases or no. Same with prostitutes, they cost money and they may carry diseases.
The only reason why males don't stick to one female is the "ape subroutine" must inseminate as many females as possible to spread my genes. Of course humans do not want to inseminate in most cases, because in the human world they have to pay for the baby upbringing. They want sex, without babies, especially from random females. Yet they still follow this subroutine, changing one acquaintance for another and calling this "I got bored with the previous one" or "she wasn't the one I was looking for".
Having family or friends who will help you in need or protect you against dangers is an "ape subroutine", but it works. It does not work when you treat as "family or friends" those who will not help you nor protect you, like the company you work for.
What made me wonder in Gevlon's post though is why "chocolate = yummy; greasy = yuck". Both sugar and fat are called "unhealthy" foods with "too many calories". And to an animal food with many calories was good, because they faced food shortage and famine, which disappeared from a life of a middle-class human in the rich countries.
@Gevlon I am going to ignore the last part of your question since it is irrelevant and simply assume that you're asking me "Why do you collect things?"
I collect because I have always collected. It is my pathology. Legos, stickers, caps, candy(without eating it), Trading cards and a load of other things. Psychologists have tried explaining the reasonings behind it. Why we find it stimulating and why pretty much everyone goes through collecting phases of their lives(Collecting stamps shoes or whatever).
If you do not consider "Because it's my pathology" a good enough answer then I'm sorry but that is the best I can come up with.
@Gevlon
I wrote a response, I hope you have something to add(read the linked research paper in the post).
http://latinumbar.blogspot.com/2009/11/real-world-doesn-exist.html
I didn't buy the $10 pet, because I didn't find the amusement/money rate high enough, yet I admit I pay the monthly fee for WoW because I find the same amusement/money rate enough. Why do I play WoW instead of doing something else, like, I don't know, making origami from the add sheets littering my IRL mailbox?
Not everything is so easy to explain, I bet behind most unsuccessful projects is a team of PR and marketing pros who scratch their heads "why the hell it didn't work?"
By the way, sadly, there is a difference between old plain cockroach and prairie dog and some newer pets with better detail, sounds and animations. However, you don't need to buy it for $10, Argent Tournament pets, the 50-pet-achievement skunk, the Squashling have similar amusement value in this case.
Of course people do buy $10 pets to:
- have more than they had before
- have more than others
- show off "I can afford this"
@Gevlon:
You said it that "I did it for fun" isn't a sufficient reason for an action, be it collecting pixels that look like pets, or presumably collecting pixels that look like coins. Let me broaden the question:
Why do you play games at all?
You've said you like the challenge of WoW, but that's only because the challenge is fun. There are plenty of other challenges you could take up that would be more challenging, but less fun. In fact, you play games because you enjoy them. Because they're fun.
Well Gevlon, i buy those 10$ pets so i can sell them for 10k-15k a piece, and then trade the gold for 20$-30$ to a goldseller. This way i pay for my wow time.
And about your response to Lite, the same reason people like you collect yellow pixels. Yeah, you can say you like the fun AH gives you and the gold is just the result of you having fun, but some people find amusing the 'search' and acquisition of these pets.
"It's all about sex. To get sex you have to have "look" better then your competitors. One of these things is wealth."
This is correct. If you don't see any point looking more powerful (=owning a pet, loads of cash etc.) then you might be that genetically inferior ape. The one that does not reproduce.
There is absolutely no difference if we're talking about owning a pet in realm where no one else has one, or having the only Ferrari in town. You're still wealthier = more sex.
The nature has done everything properly. If you don't deserve to reproduce more you simply don't. In reality, either you have bad genes (look ugly), or bad genes (no talent to make money, no power), or again bad genes (you don't want it and deny it, a.k.a. problem is in your brains).
To sum it up, it is perfectly normal to want more power. Those who say we should fight our ape subroutines and reproduce less..don't:) Because you're not meant to.
I pay $15 a month for a game. I play this game for enjoyment. If I enjoy collecting pets and mounts then $10 will enhance my gameplay. It's a game, some people enjoy raiding others pvp and many others including myself enjoy collecting pets and or mounts. If I enjoy the game because of that or more reasons why is that somthing frowned upon by you?
"If I enjoy the game because of that or more reasons why is that somthing frowned upon by you?"
But do you really do it for you enjoyment? Most people validate their choices after they made the choice while normally the validation should go before the choice is made. Was it somehow someday you woke up and suddenly realised that you loved collecting pets?
Or.......... did you meet someone with and impressive pet collection and want that too?
And in the end it might be that you started collecting pets out of envy but tell yourself it's because of enjoyment.
You're not making any sense and/or you are not being imparcial. Let's take a look:
"I consider eating chocolate fun because human body evolved in an environment where sugar was a rare and highly valued resource, so ape-subroutines were developed to reward the ape to get such food. I inherited these subroutines"
Besides the sadness that you consider eating chocolate fun - i mean, it's tasty... but fun? - there's this thing: do you consider eating, i don't know, herbs and raw meat fun? Because there was a time when they were highly valuable resources. Blaming our ancestors for it, saying that you have no free will... i mean, did they collect gold at the AH when they weren't running away from wild animals and learning to make fire?
"I consider greasy food disgusting because it's unhealthy. Myself, my parents and people around me rejected this unhealthy food. This rejection was done so many times intentionally that it programmed into my brain to the point of sub-conscious automatization"
So you're a social. Congratulations!
"I like blogging because it's a great tool to learn about the people who are so different from me like I was from Mars. (that was the reason to start, however now I simply like to do it)"
And why are they so different from you? Besides they are not so different: they like chocolat, they dn't like greasy food, they have blogs...
About you having a girlfriend:
"talking, to spot out my mistakes, split the bills, sex."
You could talk using your blog. You could split the bills with a guy or live with your parents. You could buy a doll and have sex with her.
Anyway, gold and pets are pixels. Some like to collect gold, others collect pets. Some pay $10 for a rare item for their collection, others don't. Would you pay $10 to have the possibility to increase the gold cap? Maybe, maybe not.
My ape-subroutines reward me for collecting pets (or mounts) by discharging endorphins.
However, I wouldn't get that boost if I spent real world money on them. So I just buy pets, mounts, etc. ingame with the gold I earn, if they are priced reasonably (interestingly this is part of the reward, as in, I want to feel good by having made a good deal, too).
Quote:
"I like blogging because it's a great tool to learn about the people who are so different from me like I was from Mars. (that was the reason to start, however now I simply like to do it)"
What does it mean to "like" sth? Isn't this just another ape-subroutine making us continue to do things that our brain decided are good (because they reward it with endorphins)?
What is a true goblin? Someone that expelled all ape-subroutine from his behaviour? But is that even possible and what would it mean to that being?
Another question that wasn't really answered, I think: if someone buys pets, is he by-definition a social?
To take your chocolate example, someone eats it because it's in his ape-subroutines, you say. Is he then a social or not?
What is the difference between being social and egotistical? Feelings are preceded by I, which is singular. People feel happy, sad, loved... that doesn't mean that those feelings are reciprocated; it only means what "you" feel. Just because you feel respected because you bought a pet for real money doesn't necessarily mean I respect you. This is all about ego - social is in your head.
What is more disturbing to me is that Blizzard is using their mandatory Battlenet vehicle to peddle these goods. What's next? Blizzard might as well sell levels, reputation, honor and achievements; hell just cut out the middle man and sell gold for real money too.
Gevlon, it is hard for me to believe that a person that writes a daily blog isn't somewhat social himself. Anti-social is in your head and maybe you pen too.
I think the readers of this blog have been tainted by Gevlon's faulty definition of the word "social".
"And I for one simply cannot wait to read his blog tomorrow about what a social really is! I'm guessing it's gonna be riddled with clever twists, questions that lead to other questions in which he in no way takes a narrow-minded(and wrong) point of view. It is gonna be AWESOME!"
One of my main reasons for collecting pets (and for playing at all) is that I enjoy a sense of completeness. I'm fairly sure that if it weren't for the achievement system, I wouldn't be playing WoW at all. I'm a mathematician by profession and as such I like it when tasks are completed, I like to draw a line under something and say 'ah, done!'. The achievements system is precisely this - a way of benchmarking when you've 'finished' something. (Of course, I'm lazy - you're quite right when you say you can invent your own challenges too). So I collect pets so that the little bar will light up in my Achievements panel saying that I got 75, and then I can stop collecting pets and start, I dunno, collecting tabards or rep instead? I'm fully aware that this is EXACTLY why the achievement mechanic was introduced (I know I'm a sucker) but I refute your claim that everyone who collects pets does it for social reasons. However, I won't be buying the pets, partly because at £9 they're more expensive here than pretty much anywhere in the world, but mainly cause I'd rather have £9 worth of beer / food / makeup / whatever.
Let's see if I can put it into terms you would be able to understand and accept. the sounds panda makes when you click on it, the little bit of interactivity that it has in form of bowing at you when you emote /bow at it, the fighting motions it makes when you are fighting, complete with kung fu movie dust effects activated my subroutines for appreciating both attention to detail in others as well as desire to giggle at things my brain finds funny. Panda makes me giggle.
The usual response of "its too expensive/would take too long to get for something essentially useless" didn't trigger because the cost is negligible compared to the amount of laughter I have already gotten out of it. Laughter increases my overall well being therefore things that make me laugh are desirable to me.
P.S. Falling in love on a purely physiological level has been explained before (Again, trying to explain it in terms that are more acceptable to you). First and foremost we are subconsciously attracted to people we are compatible with reproductively (something that pheromones insure). That would be the infatuation stage.
The "falling in love" comes when our bodies adjust to proximity and start developing mutual pheromonal dependency - that mechanism is to insure that parents stay together in order to protect and rear their offspring.
Of course in our modern society the criteria for a suitable mate has changed from purely physiological to a societal one (plus perfumes either block natural pheromones or create an artificial scent of attractiveness through inclusion of synthetic pheromones) However, the basis remains. Even homosexual couples desire and raise children.
Are 10$ pets fun? really? "Hey! Look! my 10$ pet is following me! HAHAHA! So hilarious!! Hey Hey...look! my 10$ pets is still following me! HAHAHA! i can make sh**t on my pants with that!!"
¬¬
I'm not a big pet fan, but:
"you don't need to buy it for $10, Argent Tournament pets, the 50-pet-achievement skunk, the Squashling have similar amusement value in this case"
Don't these items actually take longer to earn than working an hour and buying the pet with cash.
The above quote is just another way of saying 'i earned it myself so it's free'.
I brought the pandaren monk and the 10 minutes of my son giggling sat on my lap watching it more than made up the cost in my eyes....
Using your arguement (not mine) though why do people get pets in real life - its a 'waste of money' since you dont NEED them, they arent essential to your life...
"PS2: rephrasing "fun" for "cute" does not fly here. Why do you find it cute (as opposed to for example the 50s siamese cat or prairie dog)?"
How about "aesthetically pleasing", then? After all, these premium minipets have a higher polygon count, texture quality and animation complexity when compared to the primitive models of vanilla WoW.
You can learn there how can you reach more "conversions", aka how can you abuse the emotional-irrational into buying things they not only don't need but also wouldn't even think of without your manipulation.
Quite a few of their methods work just as well on the 'rational' people as on 'irrational'. In fact, even those who work in the advertising industry themselves (and presumably know every dirty trick in the book) are all too vulnerable to subconscious manipulation.
It would not be wise to underestimate the power of modern brainwashing.
P.S. I didn't buy a pet for myself because I didn't want to - and that alone is reason enough.
The 50s Prairie Dog doesn't jump around making kung fu motions. I don't know if its worth 10$, but the pets do offer animations and interactions that the free pets do not. I wouldn't buy Lil KT because I can't quite justify spending real money on a vanity pet I would never bring out. I only find them tempting because of my OCD hording tendencies.
Good night, you're an idiot.
"I consider eating chocolate fun because human body evolved in an environment where sugar was a rare and highly valued resource, so ape-subroutines were developed to reward the ape to get such food. I inherited these subroutines."
In other words, you like chocolate because it's fun. You can't describe it any better than that.
News Flash: You're not a god. Therefore, your value system is not the sole value system in existance. Just because you don't value a thing at more than $10 doesn't mean that it doesn't have that much value to others.
Get over yourself.
Most buy it cause it's easy to get...it's 'only ten dollars' and one instantly has the pet(s). I would say it is common that people these days don't equate "I had to work x amount of time in order to receive x amount of currency/goods/reward." People don't ask themselves how much their time is worth (well smart ones do).
Would I buy the pet? I honestly don't know. Now if the thing was a cool looking mount...hell yeah!
'Why is the time spent earning $10 by me, personally, in the real world, worth exchanging for an in-game pet, accessible to anyone with $10 and a desire to make a similar exchange?'
Perhaps some one doesn't value their time highly. Perhaps they are vastly overpaid. That can explain half the equation. If money is no object, there is no reason NOT to buy the pet. It only costs money, which means nothing to you.
Why some one would like an in-game pet that provide no in-game advantage in terms of mechanics? If 'fun' isn't an acceptable answer, then maybe you're looking too much into it. It 'elicits positive emotions.' It 'makes me smile.' It 'cheers me up.' It 'causes glands in my body to release chemicals that my brains perceives as good.' You can ask 'why' until you are blue in the face like some incorrigible toddler, but if you've already decided that there is no valid explanation to be had other than 'lol social,' no answer will satisfy you. It's always going to be a rational choice based on an emotional response. Also known as 'life.'
Unless the answer is sex.
For the record, I own over 90 vanity pets. I'd love to have both of these guys, but I will not be purchasing either one. I just busted out a calculator, and I've already given Blizz over $900 since WoW released. Some 'irrational' sense of pride keeps my wallet in my pocket.
I can't beleive the things other people do bother this guy so much. For being "non-social" this guy pays a lot of attention to other people. I'm starting to think he doesn't fit in anywhere (in RL and in game) and is extremely jealous. He is probably a closet owner of all wow pets. Maybe we should ask his "girlfriend".
Gevlon said: "PS2: rephrasing "fun" for "cute" does not fly here."
"I like blogging because it's a great tool to learn about the people who are so different from me like I was from Mars. (that was the reason to start, however now I simply like to do it)"
Rephrasing "like" for "fun" does apply I guess, as that is what Gev does referring to writing his blog. Pet buyers should just say that they 'like' having mini KT or Panda.
I don't like free in game pets. I certainly won't purchase one with RL $$. However, I've spent more time writing this post than wondering why people purchased KT or Panda.
@Gevlon: Why do you take the time to acquire enough gold to hit the cap? I suspect that you have more than enough gold for repairs, enchants, gems and w/e gold is needed to maintain your toon. Beyond the cost of maintaining your character, what is the benefit of having so much gold?
I suspect your reasons for acquiring so much gold may be similar to those that collect in game pets.
I pay $15 a month for a game. I play this game for enjoyment. If I enjoy collecting pets and mounts then $10 will enhance my gameplay.
I can see how a mount could enhance your gameplay, but how does a pet enhance it?
I could whip out my "Willy" during a raid and threaten the Faction Champions with it, though they'd probably laugh and maybe give me the loot cos its really "cute" looking. Now if my "Willy" could hold threat, CC a target or dps something, I'd gladly whip it out, but sadly the diminishing returns make that a limp argument.
$10 for a useless item, other than, "its cute", or until bored of it or you buy another "cute" pet, jeez, so many sheep playing this game......
Gevlon,
If they gave you an option to buy a Naked Porno Bloodelf Pet would you reconsider your "fun" aspect and agree with people buying them?
Just trying to provoke some discussion on the subject.
@Gevlon: I think you're going a bit wrong direction here. :) Eg maybe someone buys panda pet just because panda was his/her favourite toy as a child. Someone can like something, it's natural. Even if there're here implicit weird reasons as you pointed. Why would it be stupid to buy a toy?
@Tobold: Exactly. I don't need any explanation to like chocolate.
But peeps going _obsessive_ about such things (100+ mounts/pets)... well yes morons. I can't believe it is somehow possible to "like" EACH AND EVERY. :) These guys are much more likely ones posing in IF or Dala mounted tundra mammoth / zg tiger. Fun for yourself vs. fun for ape within. Apes find "fun" in things judjing by cost / rarity / amount. Not human beings.
While I agree with you that collecting in game pets seems entirely pointless to me, I also find the accumulation of imaginary wealth within a game entirely pointless.
One you enjoy and one you don't. You can rationalise anything, but that does not make that rationalisation real.
Anyone who claims that they have a total and complete knowledge of their psychological make up as you seem to be claiming in this post, is either lying, self deluded, or the most self aware individual that has ever lived.
There is little difference between accumulation of imaginary pets and the accumulation of imaginary money within a game, or the countless other things humans do purely for enjoyment.
'Because I find it fun' is an honest answer, and any rationalisation you come up with is pure conjecture.
Why do people buy these useless minipets?
It has no functionality ingame, doesn't make your character more fit, but it also doesn't make your character LESS fit. It doesn't eat food, it doesn't eat gold, it doesn't require to be walked etc, it doesn't require you devote any additional resources to it.
As such it has sexy value. It makes your wow character more attractive compared to other wow characters.
This is magnified by the fact that it has received a lot of attention by mmo-c and other mediasources.
This was further magnified by the fact that you need to sacrfice tangible RL resources in order to acquire one. As was said before, a way to display RL accomplishment (shrug it's $10 I know but bear with me) ingame.
Finally, they are still novel and rare. Not many people have one. This will help people define their ingame individuality. It adds sexy value to their "This is me".
If the petstore would sell a floating cube, with commercials printed all over it "Buy pets at the blizzard petstore now!", at a limited supply of 1 a month, for $10k, it would sell out fast, every single month, because it makes your character sexy and unique, even though it's a fugly pet.
Just my 2 cents.
I'm not sure I see what's wrong with someone saying "I bought a pet because it's fun." I don't even see what's wrong with substituting "cute" or "amusing" or "entertaining" in place of "fun."
I agree that all of these are what you describe as 'social' actions. A pet provides nothing more than a temporary thrill (I don't see how spending $10 for an online pet is supposed to impress the Joneses). It's an impulse buy, and those tend to be emotional and not rational. I don't see it as something that can be defended as being sensible.
But it is likely to be something that provides enjoyment on some level, and thus saying that it's fun or amusing or cute is perfectly fine. It doesn't mean it's rational. I sit down on a Sunday afternoon and may spend hours watching grown men run after a bouncing ball. It entertains me. It's not an efficient use of my time, and in the long run is probably wasteful. But it's enjoyable, so I don't mind. After a week of work and dealing with life's necessary issues, it's good to kick back and relax with something that otherwise does me no good at all.
I think people tend to feel a bit put out at being described as 'social,' but we are social creatures. We're given to making decisions based on some mix of rationality and emotion. Why deny it, or apologize for it? It's what we are.
As someone else pointed out, saying that you did something because it's fun or cute isn't really any different from trying to excuse a weakness for sweets by claiming that it's an evolutionary imperative. Learn to find the proper balance between your rational and emotion mind, and you'll be happier and healthier in the long run. Go too far in either direction, and I think you just wind up going in circles.
Gevlon just just fell off the logical deep end. His 'logic' contradits itself all over the place.
His chocolate example is a prime example. He likes chocolate because our bodies convince us that it tastes good. Eating it makes us feel good. If you do not like chocolate, eating it will not make you feel good. This depends on the individual. (eg I love the taste of onions but my father abhors them).
A pet is 'fun' because it makes us feel good. Few people would be buying the pets if jsut looking at them made us feel like throwing up.
Also, his examples of chocolate and greesy food can easily be switched around. The only reason Gevlon does not like greesy food is because he has been conditioned not to like it.
Gevlon has been trying to develop a philosophy that allows him to 'conquer' his 'ape subroutines' but he has simply found a way to justify his likes and dislikes.
I've tried to live my life as simple as possible. Only have the pure necessities. The logical part of me found that this should be enough, yet I hated my house, and so did friends and relatives that came over. So I gave in to this subconscious need to have useless crap in the house. I bought a few plants, some paintings, etc. It made me feel a lot more comfortable.
Do I know why? Not a clue. Do I like it? Well I obviously do, but god knows why. It's all instinctual, like most things in life are. And for some fucked up reason you can feel better if you just give in to it.
That's why I don't believe in free will, we're all slaves to our instincts.
I thought this blog was about making money in WoW AH. Good topics would be to compare WoW AH to RL economy. List things that can be improved, addons which can make things better/faster.
This is turning into a philosophy blog but it's not written by a philosopher, but an accountant.
Discussing socials as dummies, instead of consumers doesn't sit well with me. It's pretty obvious that if money wasn't falling from the trees AH goblins would not be as well off, since every 'social' would have to figure out how to conserve every copper.
Right now the difference of making a belt buckle for few gold vs. buying it off AH for 50g or sometimes 100g is nil. If someone has 5k gold or gold-capped doesn't matter, and 5k gold is what probably most 80's have (after initial drying-out from buying entry-level gear/gemming/enchanting it).
umm. Fun is irrational.
Are you honestly getting mad because human beings aren't logical?
Are also mad that human beings are social creatures?
I personally do not understand the idea of fun of a mini-pet unless they do something cool I don't know about. But I do know that people love to show them off, and make their cliques jealous because they don't have one. That might be the fun they are talking about better status in their clique.
So in a way there is some logic behind it "being fun".
Gevlon so you say you are like the Pavalovian dog? You don't like greasy food because you've been conditioned to not enjoy it. Perhaps all we need do is zap you enough times to make you enjoy buying one of those minipets.
But you don't answer the question you're asking of people. Take your blogging example. You say you now do it because it's 'fun', but that doesn't answer your question, why is it fun?
As to the minipet buying, I didn't get one because it wasn't fun enough for me to spend money on, but I'm a miser like that. But I can speculate it's fun for similar reasons people get stuffed animals, or frame pretty pictures. Why do we think it's cute? There may be some evolutionary bias as to what people find aesthetic (e.g. symmetry, no deformities, versus scars and the uncanny valley), but as you mentioned it likely has a lot to do with upbringing and shared social memes.
Also as to your comment (why are they better than the free ones), firstly they do something unique that the others don't do. Also why is WoW more worth it that the 9000+ other free (or cheaper) MMOs?
But if you want the strict answer as to why people think things are fun, physics and chemistry are the answers. The interaction of little particles around you brain is what makes you feel and think, so if you can makes something that causes them to move in just the right way, you can convince them to buy whatever you're selling.
From the Wikipedia:
Psychopathy is a psychological construct that describes chronic disregard for ethical principles and antisocial behavior. Psychopaths are characterized by their shallow affect, superficial charm, manipulativeness, lack of empathy, criminal versatility, impulsiveness, irresponsibility, poor behaviour controls, and juvenile delinquency. Individuals with this disorder gain satisfaction through their antisocial behavior and lack remorse for their actions.
Sociopaths are unable to conform to what society considers as normal. Visible symptoms include the disregard for the physical or sexual wellbeing of another.
Gevlon, I'm sorry to say this - and I even know that what I'm trying to say will not be understood because of catch 22 - but you should realise that it is YOU who are in the cage, not the rest of the world around you. You perceive the world through a keyhole, you find it strange and full of morons and slackers and don't/can't realise that the problem is in your own head. You might seek the help of an expert or you might never realise the gravity of your problem: in either case you are stuck with a false vision and undersanding of the world and the living beings in it.
Gevlah why are you collecting gold?
Is it so different to people purchasing pets in real life? They hold no use, really, but they're NICE to have for company.
@Peter
"Sociopaths are unable to conform to what society considers as normal. ..."
By this definition also a man who refuses to eat other humans is sociopath in canibalism society.
It doesn't mean that he is better or worse it just describes that he is different.
@Anon
What is even more hilarious is that
M&S really represents 'people who do things that oneself does not understand.'
example.
Considered normal: hitting gold cap.
Considered M&S: purchasing pet.
I bought the pets for the same reason I have a nice watch. I could have a digital watch for $10 bucks that tells me the correct time but I have a much more expensive watch because it looks good, and considering my disposabale income, is not a significant drain on my resources.
If I was jockeying a register at the Orange Julius in the mall somewhere, I wouldn't buy the pet because after taxes, it represents 2 hours of a boring ass day.
I am a college grad with a good job, who obvisouly has access to internet during the day. My Lil K.T. was a no-brainer.
I also did it to "vote with my dollars" against the idiots who are against microtransactions. Hey asshats, don't like it don't buy one.
With everyone running around in the same gear, and riding the same mounts, it's the little things that differentiate one character from another. My ram was really unique year one, but has become less rare as time goes on.
Now I'm working on the Zul'Gurub mount exploit.
Plus, he blasts critters with his frostbolt. Never. Gets. Old.
Finally, assuming I sell my account in the future, I have to imagine that has some residual value.
P.S. Blizzard are geniuses for making a limited supply available. Next pet that gets released, will sell out day one.
@Jamie,
You wrote:
" ...Why is it better than the other 80 free pets? Well, cause it's /better/. More detailed, neater animations, hits things I like (Raided enough Naxx, classic and new, to think mini-KT is amusing, and I love Pandaran and hoped they'd be the new race.) ..."
Blizzard must be laughing their butts off right now. They already make you buy the initial game, buy every expansion, plus pay a monthly fee, (which you have done for five eyars, that's quite a bit of cash), but as Tom Chilton said on the Instance podcast this week, they had to make these vanity pets really special because people are paying real money for them.
Excuse me? We've been paying real money for a very long time now. Why couldn't they put this sort of effort and imagination into the vanity pets before?
And yet ... here you all are falling over each other to buy them. Like I said, Blizzard must be rolling in the ailes on this one.
@Gevlon
What is wrong with a micro-transaction game? An example would be Maple Story a highly successful free game that promotes micro-transactions to be profitable, and it is profitable I believe last year it made three-hundred million dollars. Personally I believe blizzard was far behind in this market.
Also what is wrong with a vanity pet even one you have to pay $10 for. The key term is "vanity" its supposed to be useless, everyone who bought it knows its useless regardless of whether they want it because its cute, they collect things, or its "fun". Who has any right to question what someone thinks is fun? The only answer I can think of to that question is because it just is. What do you tell your friends (if you have any) why you play wow? Do you justify your experience with WoW and the time you play it to them? You must think WoW is fun or this blog is fun in order to devote the time and energy you do to it. So do you tell them it is "fun" or do you give them another response a more descriptive meaning of the word "fun". Just because you use more words doesn't change the fact that you tell them because its "fun".
Kung Fu Panda is one of my favorite movies and having my own little Po follow me around while I farm or PvP has put a smile on my face countless times so far. When I sit at the AH posting items or crafting glyphs I chuckle every time I hear him 'practicing.'
Now I realize the almighty goblin will say these reasons aren't worthy of the $10 spent but then who decides WoW worth the $15 a month? The person footing the bill... and the same goes for the new pets.
I think Gevlon's biggest issue with the Pet Store is he hasn't found a way to profit from it.
I'm still trying to wrap my brain around the notion that purchasing one of these pets, an economic transaction comparable to buying a DVD off the discount rack or a combo meal at McDonalds, is such an ostentatious display of disposable wealth as to impress my neighbors or increase my chances of getting laid. Really? I'm thinking that the "it's just an amusing diversion" folks have this one pretty solidly won.
1) social: "I did it because it's fun"
goblin: "I simply like to do it"
Is there any difference?
If there be only phrases whithout authors can you tell which phrase is social?
I see only one difference. There are many ape-subrountines. And you forgot abou two very important subrountines: learning and creating.
Many people get fun from learning and creating. It is very important for our evoulution.
It is very simple - you getting fun from different subrountines than socials. it is the only difference.
And it may be a solution for economic problems that you described before. If people getting fun from learning and creating they will be getting fun from proper work.
You can not buy such fun whith money - welfare or any other.
2) Is there any difference between getting 50 mounts and 100 pets and being goldcapped? No.
When you make a lot of ingame gold - you do exactly the same with another pixels.
In RL there is a difference between pets, mounts and gold (real meatal gold in safe:)). If you being goldcapped in real life you can use this gold and money to by food and etc when loose job.
But in WoW gold is the same pixels, there no difference between epics and gold, making 214k gold or 50 mounts. It is all pixels.
"$10 for a useless item, other than, "its cute", or until bored of it or you buy another "cute" pet, jeez, so many sheep playing this game..."
Really? -REALLY-? You're paying $15/month for a collection of pixels, a bunch of characters, that can be deleted by the arbitrary decision of someone you don't even know... and you're going to try to take the high road on someone paying $10 for another bit of pixels? Hello pot, my name is kettle.
First and foremost, no one should feel the need to justify what they spend their $10 of real world cash on. Is a Nintendo DSLite a "worthless" purchase? Most would argue not - it's physical, you can touch it, you can get hours of enjoyment out of it. But eventually, you are going to forget that handheld, it's going to gather dust, get thrown away, and so on.
Was it worth the purchase? Yes. You ENJOYED it. Whatever form that enjoyment came in is purely subjective and no one else has to understand it (or has any real right to question it, if they didn't pay for it). Nothing, nothing lasts forever, no matter what you pay for it.
The same premise applies to Virtual Goods. A person spends $10 to buy a Vanity Pet. In the case of the Pandaren, half of that went to the Make a Wish Foundation. They will eventually forget about it, it isn't "useful" (doesn't boost your dps, etc, but hey, not all of us play for DPS meters), but it's cute to look at. It contributes to an Achievement.
The REASON MMOs are so successful has a LOT to do with Fulfillment. MMOs, WoW in particular, meet a psychological need. It is so much easier to achieve a goal, complete a quest, obtain the McGuffin in a computer game than it is to go out and... Fix a car, write a book, open a store in the real world. The sense of accomplishment may not be as "real world substantial", but it is there nonetheless.
As to the "not valuing their time" - BS. If I want a Firefly pet in game, I need to fork over the gold in game (IF anyone is selling, big if), or I need to go farm. I *have* spent several hours farming for that pet (with no luck). So, if I make $10/hour at a real life job... and it takes me 8 hours to farm up the Firefly. Congrats, I just "spent" $80 on that pet. But because I didn't use "real life money"... it's okay? Versus if I had spent $10 on a Lil Cat Lich (KT)?
This entire post and thread is full of so much crap (good stuff too, but a lot of hypocrisy).
No offense meant, Gev, but seriously. You simply like something, but other people can't use the reasoning that they find something "fun"?
Even if they could define what makes it "Fun" - would that matter? It's purely subjective.
(Sorry, had to fix some typos I simply couldn't live with having made.)
I didn't buy the useless mini-pets. One of my guildmates bought Lil K.T. for me as a gift... Just because.
It's "thanks for being a friend", "thanks for leading raids and instance runs every day", or maybe "just because".
She and I are both Atheists and have similar values and ideas. I do not partake in compulsory gift giving holidays (Christmas), as I find compulsory gift giving to be stressful, expensive, that it devalues the 'spirit of giving' and is economically unsound to boot. It's likely she conforms to the same beliefs.
I'm not a Scrooge (though there's an amusing book titled Scroogenomics which talks about the logic I've followed for years). I do give gifts to people I care about.
I just prefer to give (and receive) gifts and do nice things for a person at random time "just because" or as a reward for being awesome. Gifts are a lot more meaningful when they're unexpected.
Why do you play WoW?
To me your post is akin to asking this very question. As far as I can tell from your various post, you aren't playing WoW to study the human ape routines, nor are you playing this game in order to supplement your income so in goblin term why?
I wonder what Gevlon thinks about art, museums and the like?
Personally, I won't spend $10 for a pet. I'm not a fan of pets. I did spend $25 for a race change though, not for any racial abilities but because my character started to bore me with their looks.
@GeorgeBailey - couldn't have said it better.
Spending hours of your time at the AH in order to hit the gold cap for the express purpose of.. hitting the gold cap, not to actually buy anything - just to collect maximum gold - that's perfectly fine; because it's a "challenge". Right? I can only assume, then, that this challenge is enjoyable, else people wouldn't do it, right? Unless they're trying to keep up with the Joneses, to have an impressive bank balance. But it seems to be a case of "I do it to prove that I can do it". To me, that seems a little pointless - if you're not going to spend and enjoy the money, why accrue it at all?
Conversely, apparently it seems that spending an hour of your time working IRL to get paid $10 in cash (assuming you get paid $10/hr), in order to buy a pet that you find enjoyable - that's a waste of time and money, and is just plain moronic. How could anyone be so STUPID to pay REAL money for something so dumb?
For everyone trying to argue that it's moronic to spend real money on pixels - stop and think about how much you earn per hour, and put that into perspective. People are so caught up in the fact that we're spending tangible money on pixels (OH NOES). For example - I earn $30/hr. A Pandaren Monk represents 20 minutes of my workday. Would I work for 20 minutes to earn a silly little pet? Sure. Or put it this way - would you give up a few cups of coffee to have a panda instead? Coffee is not essential to your existence - you drink it because you enjoy it. Sure, chemically speaking, it does give you some energy, but really, you drink it because you like to drink it. No ape subroutines, no divine intervention, you just like the taste of coffee. You don't need it. It doesn't really serve a purpose. Are you a moron for spending $10 a day on some coffee? No, you just enjoy drinking coffee.
Yet spending that same $10 of "real money" on something that you can't hold in your hands is somehow far, far, far more stupid and wasteful.
Would I spend $1000 on a spectral tiger? Of course not, I can't justify that, and I think it's a waste of money - so I won't buy it - but I don't look at people on spectral tigers and think "wow, what a moron." Would I spend $10 on....... a bunch of fireworks to blow up? No, because I think that's a waste of money (literally burning it). But do I think people are morons for enjoying fireworks? Of course not.
If you want to go spend $10 on a box of widgets, or 3 cups of coffee, or some fireworks, or a joyride around the block.. and you get happiness from it - then you're not wrong to do it. I wouldn't spend $10 on those things because they wouldn't make ME happy. Would I take that $10 and instead spend it on an in-game pet that gives me some joy? Yes - because that is something that I personally "like", and subjectively consider that the enjoyment I get from that pet is worth the $10 to me.
The fact is, you simply can't wrap your head around the concept that some people will pay $10 for something that makes them happy. Or that they think is cute. Or fun. My idea of fun isn't wrong or stupid just because it doesn't fit YOUR idea of fun.
"Fun" and "waste of money" are entirely relative and subjective, and just because YOU think something is stupid, wasteful, or dumb, doesn't make it so.
(contd)
If you pay your $15/mo to stand at the AH and mailbox churning out thousands of glyphs per day with a view to hitting gold cap "because you can", or because you want to blog about it, then go for it. Not my cup of tea, but I'm not going to call you a moron.
If you want to collect every pretty dress in the game, buy every mount, every minipet, and "waste" your gold on "stupid" vanity items, then go for it. If you enjoy farming, grinding, or mindlessly time-wasting in the game, if you spend hours working on your Insane title, fishing for your turtle mount, or PvPing to rack up your 50 billion HK achievement just for the sake of ticking that box - then you go knock yourself.
Every time you talk about "useless pixels", or how spending money on vanity items is a waste, I laugh. Apart from your stint as a paying raider, you just collect gold for the sake of collecting gold, nothing more (with the alleged purpose of "so I can blog about it" - but it's still just to get to the cap). To me, that's no different to the people who collect pets because they want every pet. They want to collect every pet - just so they can stand on the Dalaran steps with their Fawn out, or post on their blog and say "look everyone - I got my fawn!". You want to collect all the gold you can - just so you can say you've reached the gold cap, so you post it in your blog and say, "look everyone – I’m at gold cap!"
This is different how, exactly?
I've got news for you Gevlon, you're just like the people who "waste time" farming, grinding, fishing, or collecting dresses. Sure, you make more money than them, so in theory you are being more "productive".. but you just do it for the sake of doing it. You collect money, just like Joe collects pets or Bob is shooting for 10,000 achievement points. Yet you think you're better, smarter, different. You're not. You're paying $15/mo to waste time, just like everyone else. You somehow think that a 200k gold bank balance is superior to having 30g in pocket change and a colourful collection of 100 mounts. You're deluded.
You say it's stupid to collect pets because they serve no purpose. Isn't it just as stupid to build up your money to gold cap and never spend it? Doesn't that serve no purpose? Isn't that a horrible waste of time - to spend time working towards a goal that serves no actual purpose other than to say "look everyone - I got to the gold cap. But I'm not going to buy anything - that would be a waste!"
You do it because you enjoy the process, you enjoy the journey, the challenge, and you enjoy sharing the weekly updates and milestones on the way to your goal.
Newsflash: people who collect "useless" items in game (such as pets, achievements) - they enjoy the process. They enjoy the journey.
If these people are morons for collecting achievements and pets, then you are just as much a moron for spending your game time crafting thousands of glyphs purely to drive up a little number on your screen (and blog about it). Making more money per hour does not mean that you are using your monthly $15 more effectively than the person who likes to collect achievement points. When they turn the WoW servers off, your time will have been just as much of a big fat waste than everyone else's - you'll have nothing tangible to show for it. None of us will. All we can do is enjoy the time that we spend. Have fun. For you, fun apparently means piling up cash and blogging about it. For the person next to you, it might be collecting (worthless) pets for their novelty value. You're not better or smarter or richer for choosing to spend your time at the AH rather than grinding some obscure reputation or buying very Argent pet.
It seems to me that anything you either do not understand or do not like is automatically branded moronic.
That, in itself, is what is moronic.
You need to get off your high horse, stop acting all holier-than-thou as though your compulsion-slash-minigame is somehow less of a useless timesink than camping Stormwind for a white kitten.
I bought both to satisfy and urge. However, that urge was not to parade them in front of others to prove my online social status, but rather my urge to collect as many as I can. Why? Because I can't stand things that are incomplete. Not just in the game, in general. I'm pretty sure it's what keeps me playing the game too. I can never truly complete it.
Is it a good reason to buy the pets? Probably not. But I have weaknesses like everyone else, and this one is not currently at the top of my list of weaknesses I have to work on.
Gevlon, you said a few days ago that:
"one reason from many why I'm goldcapped in WoW and do pretty well IRL...would be: "I don't give a damn about the Joneses"".
Meaning you aren't affected by social pressures or what those around you are doing.
Then in yesterday's post you said:
"I consider greasy food disgusting because it's unhealthy. Myself, my parents and people around me rejected this unhealthy food. This rejection was done so many times intentionally that it programmed into my brain to the point of sub-conscious automatization."
Is it only me that sees hipocracy here? As long as YOU perceive the quality "programmed into your brain" to be good, then it's OK to be influenced by others. But if you perceive it to be useless then the person is weak because he is influenced by others, or just does something you don't understand or agree with.
But you admitted that the programming was to the point of "subconscious automization" which means you had no conscious control over it.
Come on. The "programming" or learning of a behavior INCLUDES the supposition that it's good. You say you eat "healthy food" and eschew "greasy food", based on you family's/friends influence. What if they had no idea what they were talking about and were passing on bad diet habits from those that influenced them?
Overcoming past and current programming and making independent decisions based on constantly changing variables and experiences is the real struggle. Maintaining awareness of your vulerability to subconscious influence is a hallmark of not being JUDGEMENTAL toward others.
I *hate* how you use the "I make gold because I blog" excuse. You're basically telling every one of us doing precisely what you're doing that we're ignorant morons while you sit on your lofty pedestal berating everyone.
I saw a gold farmer advertise on my realm 1000 gold for $6.98 this morning. You know what this means? In a little under 30 hours of overtime at work, I could go from dead broke to hitting the gold cap. Opportunity cost is all that matters, right? I think, by your logic, this would make me a lot smarter than you.
Hell, by this logic, I could be "making" 2200 gold/month letting my account lapse.
You need to get out more.
I bought this pet for the simple fact that part of the proceeds are going to a charity I support. This chartiy has had an effect on my life as it granted a wish to my nephew before he passed. I considered it fun to receive a small token in return for doing something great so I could show others what great thing Blizzard was doing. There you go.
you spend hours collecting virtual gold and write a blog about make -believe money making. I presume you do it for fun ...
Tell me where the difference is ?
Or is this blog just your excuse for being a total dickhead ?
Because they're so cute! And it's fun having a menagerie. Lil' K.T.'s laugh cracks me up every time, and the monk's bow is precious. They're interactive! And it helps me inch closer to 75 pets.
FWIW, I can grind and grind for the cool/fun/rare pets (rep or drop), but I'm not going to pass up 'free' pets, meaning, no effort involved to get them. The actual monetary cost is kind of trivial; I could spend more than that on dinner... so I'd rather spend it on something more entertaining.
Why did I read through all 79 comments before mine? That probably wouldn't sit well with the Almighty Goblin.
What I really wanted to comment on was how I find it funny that so many people felt compelled to defend or explain themselves, to an established and self-admitted asshole(whose entire post smacks of hypocracy). Maybe the collection of pretty pixels shouldn't be what's under scrutiny by the Goblin here, but the reason why so many people felt a compulsion to defend themselves, online, against such a hypocritical point.
What's even more amusing though is how many posts there are that called him out on his blatant BS. Looks like this blog's readers are "smarter" than the Goblin gives them credit for.
I'm a fairly new reader of your blog, GG, and I've found a couple of your posts to be insightful, interesting, and/or funny, so the utter fail of this post astonishes me. You were doing so well, too.
And I do hope your claims of "doing pretty well IRL" and "having a girlfriend" really are true. Would hate for you to be another Ferraro or anything.
So in short: Being frugal is smart, but calling others morons for doing essentially the same in-game thing as you is frankly moronic on your part.
If someone was asked why did he slapped X in the face and he'd answer "because my hand hit his face", he would be considered either retard or in contempt of the court. Yet "I did it because it's fun" or "people have different preferences" are not considered retarded or cynical answers by socials.
epic
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