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Thursday, September 30, 2010

When WoW Meets Real-World Religion

I used to be an avid WoW-player. I think I've mentioned that before. Something that didn't often come up while I was playing was my chosen profession. It's not that I was trying to hide the fact that I'm a pastor. It just never really came up.

One time it did, though. I think it was on a Saturday. I had a few hours to kill before a funeral, so I logged on and decided to run a dungeon with a pick-up group. We did pretty well as a team, so well that one of our members suggested that we find a different dungeon and do it again. I had to beg off, explaining that I had to go officiate at that funeral.

That killed the conversation for a moment or two, but then the guy who made the suggestion we keep going thanked me for my help and offered his condolences to the family.

I suspect if I passed those on, it might have raised some eyebrows. "Hey, some random guy on an MMORPG who I just met this morning is sorry for your loss."

There's one other story I could tell, but it'd take too long. Suffice to say, for about a year, WoW was a great game to play for me. And my wife. She played too. Not as much as me, but she did. But after a while, we realized what a time sink it had become and decided to bow out.

Well, an article I read recently made me nostalgic. A fellow LCMS pastor was interviewed about his WoW experiences. He talks about the game's lore, its content, and does a great job explaining what our little corner of Christianity is all about.

I offer it to you for your consideration.

Man, I feel the itch to play some games. Maybe I better fire up Mass Effect 2 soon so I don't go back to WoW.

3 comments:

Nissa Annakindt said...

I really enjoyed reading the other pastor's interview about WoW and the Lutheran church. It helped me understand the Lutheran perspective in a way I didn't when I was a Lutheran. (I'm now Catholic. In the time after Lutheranism and before Catholicism, I was a Norse Pagan.)

BTW, the Missouri Synod is my Most Favorite Synod ever....

Anonymous said...

Hey John! I didn't know you were a Wow player. My husband (also a pastor) and I play as well. Its something we enjoy doing together and see it as an opportunity to reach people outside our own circle.

Yvonne Anderson said...

Hi, John,
I followed the link to your blog in your email sig in the ACFW Speculative group. I love the name of your blog, and I enjoyed the story you link to here. I know nothing about WoW -- don't enjoy computer game of any sort myself, not for moral reasons but merely personal preference -- but found the post informative. Good stuff!