Gold Farming?!? Really?

I think I've found the perfect metaphor for what's wrong with America. In my local paper, I read an article about a practice known as "gold farming." Unfortunately, I can't find the article electronically, but luckily we have Wikipedia, who can tell you more about Gold Farming than you might care to know.

For those not interested in reading a wiki entry about it, gold farming is the practice of playing online role playing games for the sole purpose of collecting virtual gold. This virtual gold is then sold to other players for real money. In essence, people are paying hard-earned (or, maybe, not-so-hard-earned) money for electronic ones and zeros.

I'm not sure how to feel about this practice. I guess I could get up in arms about the competitive imbalance that it might create, but, as I don't play games online, I find it hard to get worked up about it that way. I think, however, that it's worrying in another way. Namely, have we, as Americans, become so lazy that we can't even be bothered to play games without resorting to shortcuts? We can't even enjoy a computer game without turning it into some kind of overly-serious enterprise. What is it about World of Warcraft that would make it necessary to pay money to fake your way through it? What does a gamer earn from this? What does that money pay for? I'm not sure I'll ever figure that one out.

I had a discussion with a coworker about this practice, and we were both laughing about it - or atleast, I was until I figured out that there are other people in the world who will work like dogs 24/7 doing nothing but sitting in front of a computer in order to make a few bucks from a relatively lazy gamer. I can understand not having enough time to put into the game to feel competitive, but the disparity in work ethic between the gamer and the gold farmer is a bit worrying...

Anyway...that's just my two cents worth...not sure it's even worth that.

My Thoughts on the Superbowl (like anyone cares)

Ok...here's the thing...the superbowl is coming up (for anyone outside America [yeah, I'm talkin' to you, Kingsley], this is the championship game of the American football league), and I must say, I could care less, which is a pretty big deal for me. You see, I'm a pretty big football fan...I love the game.

The problem is that I think that Pittsburgh is going to win, and I really (and I mean, REALLY) dislike Pittsburgh. Why, you might ask, do you dislike Pittsburgh so much? To this, I would respond, you don't seem to understand, I don't just dislike them, I actively hate them...and what's worse, I hate them for the absolute pettiest of reasons. This realization, of course, makes me feel even worse about having these feelings than I do in the first place (you see...I don't like the fact that I despise anything, let alone this much).

Why, you might ask, do you hate Pittsburgh with the blinding passion of 1000 suns? To this, I would respond, now you're getting the hang of it...

Then I would go on to tell you that I hate the Pittsburgh Steelers because an ex-girlfriend and her parents love them (don't tell me that I didn't warn you that it was for the pettiest of reasons). This particular girlfriend broke my heart after dating for a few years, during which (I can see now with perfectly clear 20/20 vision) she was a horrible person. The fact that a Pittsburgh win would make her and her family happy just upsets my cosmic balance. For this, which I will easily admit is a paltry and weak excuse, I will root against the Pittsburgh Steelers, and quite possibly get very drunk* on good wine if they win.

*actually, this is not true...I don't think drinking would make it better...but good wine is good wine, so I will probably find myself enjoying a libation even if I can't enjoy the game or it's outcome.