Good morning! I hope the world is being good to you and you’re being good to it.

Grab your coffee or beverage of choice and share a thought with me!

It’s pretty remarkable that World of Warcraft is still an active game after 22 years. Despite everything that has come and gone in two decades, WoW remains embedded in our culture. Sure, it may not be a mainstream behemoth, but it has proven resilient while so many societal impactors dissolve into fading fads.

I dabbled in World of Warcraft but never stuck with it. The required subscription may have been a deterrent for a high schooler and broke college student, or perhaps the prospect of mostly playing alone made the game less enticing. My wife was heavily into WoW for a period before we met. Her experience was heightened because of her community built around and within the game. Unsurprisingly, the presence of those connections can make or break the gaming experience. For me, I found that in Destiny.

Destiny came along at the perfect time where I was still new in town, living by myself in an apartment. My responsibilities were few, so I could spend a fair bit of time with the game. It allowed me to stay virtually connected with friends and family on a daily basis, and at its roots, the gameplay was engaging with a satisfying feedback loop. It felt like the game had something for everyone. You could play with or against others depending on what you enjoyed; the game rewarded both. The weapons, while not wholly unique from one another, each had a story and personality. The combination of building a character that reflected personal preferences with gameplay that just felt good made traveling from planet to planet, blasting through encounter after encounter, an experience you did not want to end. If Bungie had developed a mobile app that allowed players to supplement their in-game progress (i.e., continuing to play when away from console, earn loot, exist in the Destiny universe), I may have never put it down.

Eventually, Destiny stopped respecting the time investment and strayed from what what created the initial hook, and naturally, life evolved and became more complex. Other, newer games came along to fit the new mold of my world. Regardless, I will always look back fondly on that period of time and cherish its simplicity. I have to imagine the World of Warcraft experience, and others, felt similar and ran a parallel course.

That’s the beauty and purpose of gaming, to create happy, memorable moments. They do not need to become life’s sole purpose, but as a complement to other hobbies and pursuits, games are perfect for creating an escape, no different from reading a book or watching a movie. Did you have, or do you have, a game like Destiny or WoW to fill your quiet nights and slow weekends? What fond gaming memories stick with you? Are you still creating them? Whatever your situation, remember it’s okay to game away.