Dec 16th 2008 By Tom Radler

Does World of Warcraft Produce Bad Employees?

Confrontations with Elite Demons and ogres are not the only battles players of the popular video game "World of Warcraft" have had to wage lately.

Last week, the Federal Communications Commission blamed the game for causing college students to drop out. Now a report on a gamer forum says that some employers have been instructing recruiters not to hire WoW enthusiasts. A prospective hire claims he was recently told by a recruiter that there is growing sentiment that WoW players should be avoided, because their focus is fixed firmly on the game, and their sleeping patterns are irregular.

While employers may be discriminating, a 2006 article in Wired said that WoW players often make excellent hires. "Where traditional learning is based on the execution of carefully graded challenges, accidental learning relies on failure," wrote John Seely Brown and Douglas Thomas. "Virtual environments are safe platforms for trial and error ... The process of becoming an effective 'World of Warcraft' guild master amounts to a total-immersion course in leadership."

Let us know what you think in our poll, and check out our favorite WoW expert, Felicia Day, in the gallery below.

Felicia Day -- Cute and Nerdy

Felicia Day

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Felicia Day with loot from Blizzard Entertainment

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Felicia Day and the cast of "The Guild"

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Codex, Felicia Day's character in "The Guild," rendered as an avatar.

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Felicia Day with the creepiest mannequin ever.

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Will someone please get this woman a towel?

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Felicia with Neil Patrick Harris and Nathan Fillion from "Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog."

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Felicia being fuzzy and coy.

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Felicia Day.

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Buy "The Guild" or watch it online.

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Tags: blizzard entertainment - BlizzardEntertainment - wired - world of warcraft - WorldOfWarcraft

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Tuesday 16 December

By Cicero

Neutral

Well, it's no one's business what you do at home. I suppose those same college drop outs who played WOW also drank soda too?

Wednesday 17 December

By Foxxyb80

Neutral

That's the most absurd thing I've heard. I'm so sick of hearing people say it's the games fault, it ruins lives blah blah blah. People make the choice to play and to continue to play and to chose paying over their work/school/love lives. People are stupid for thinking it's "the games fault". I'm pretty sure the game isn't holding a gun to your head forcing you to play instead of work. Take some friggin responsibility.

Thursday 18 December

By A Random Fangirl

Neutral

I fully agree. I, along with countless other people, play World of Warcraft BUT I only play in my SPARE TIME. Which is generally what a majority of people who play do as well from my general understanding.

The fact that people are blaming WoW for all sorts of things is just stupid. If you're willing to pour $10-40K a year for college down the drain just so you can play or if you miss work a lot because of it, or whatever else they're accusing gamers of, there's clearly something deeper wrong there. WoW isn't "causing" a bad work ethic, it's just attracting an obsessed minority who already have one. WoW is certainly not the only MMORPG people play and is not the only thing that people get addicted to (Such as, drugs, alcohol or gambling. Shocker, I know!)

Summary? Yeah, WoW CAN be addicting. But, that's because the person has some sort of personality flaw that makes them able to get addicted to gaming (Poor lack of judgement or what have you). But, don't assume that everyone who plays it is sitting on their butt all day, avoiding work, time with friend and family etc. Accusing someone have having a poor work ethic just because they play the game, and not having an indication that they will put the game before work, is just discriminating against them.

Thursday 18 December

By Nick

Neutral

Its not really that much of a stretch though... I mean if you're up all night playing world of warcraft, you're not going to be very attentive and focused the next day in school/work/whatever. Its a pretty basic case of cause-and-effect, unlike the soda example the first poster tried to give.

I also find it laughable that anyone would try to paint world of warcraft as a crash course in leadership. You sit at the computer with one hand in a bag of doritos and the other on your mouse and play a game with a bunch of 13 year olds. How does that help you develop leadership?

Thursday 18 December

By Fidgetyval

Neutral

Well being a WoW player myself as well as several others that I know, all have careers and lives other then WoW. Is the game addictive?! Yes but so are so many other things out there. The game itself is not what is causing a bad work ethic in people but those people not having their priorities in order. I feel that this article was singling out a few bad examples and seems to have ruined it for those of us who play in moderation!