Warcraft Fever

Everybody has their weaknesses. A lot of people try, but very few ever achieve perfection. The few who have, inevitably end up living shorter lives. Not many people can stand a perfectionist, much less a perfect person, amidst them.

I'm an ordinary man, I have my fair share of weaknesses. I procrastinate, I occasionally indulge in chocolate, I make good-looking people insecure about their looks. And, as I found out recently, I am also still very much a sucker for computer games.

Seriously, I thought I had outgrown this phase in my life. Games used to take up so much of my life that my parents often had to arrange for elaborate exorcisms every time they found the Playstation possessing me.

Then after a while, games began to lose their appeal and grip. So many other priorities came into the picture that I just couldn't seem to muster the same fervor I had for games anymore. Indeed, for a while I even found games boring and mindnumbing.

Ah, I thought, so this is what it feels like to be a man.

But the demons lurk closest just when you think you are rid of them. Enter Warcraft, the marijuana of Singapore's youth.

Everytime I told myself that there was work to do, worlds to save, I'll have some bit of media shoved into my face about Warcraft. Newspapers, magazines, posters, commercials, pop-ups... everywhere I turned I would find further temptation.

It's seriously no joke. For the girls out there, who at this point might think that guys are so childish for playing games, just remember that for a guy, Warcraft = Mango. Now tell me, if you went out, and every poster you saw from home to town carried the words "Mango Sale 70% off!", tell me with your hand over your heart that you wouldn't feel a single tinge of temptation.

I'm not alone, I know. Just look to the newspapers to see what I mean. Increasingly, countries are sounding off alarms as millions of youths get dangerously addicted to computer games.

On the flip side, I think it's much cheaper to bring up boys than girls, thanks to computer games. I was stunned when a straw poll revealed that most girls spend close to $100 - $300 a month on clothes, shoes, and other accessories.

Man, that's 2 to 6 freaking games a month!

Let us make a case for games, against clothes. A game can last you for months on end. There's no worry at all about what people will say if they see you playing the same game again. Games don't get accidentally torn or ripped in the wash.

A game fits all occasions. Games are never too revealing. While game malfunctions do happen, you don't shoot to infamy if a game fails on you. People don't judge you by the games you play.

(Well, actually they do. It's soo much cooler to play Warcraft than, say, Puzzle Bobble.)

Back to my main point. Girls, for the sake of the men in your life, do try to understand how guys go hand in hand with gaming. Share our joy. Don't say hurtful things like, "Why are you still playing games at your age you overgrown dependent baboon?"

That's the equivalent of us pointing out your new dress and saying, "Hey, my grandma wore something like that the other day too!"

Oh... Warcraft...