Funny thing how a simple word like wow can mean so many things. Depending on the use of said word, it can convey different things to different people. At our church, WOW means Women Opening the Word. To my youngest son WOW means World of Warcraft. These are examples of acronyms that are WOW and there are many more for different age groups and cultures.
I took the youngest J to Game Stop last Saturday and observed something really cool. There was a middle aged guy that was probably 10 years younger than me standing at the counter talking to the clerk. It was obvious that they were speaking different languages although they were both speaking English. The middle aged guy was asking about a game and the clerk was informing him that the one he was inquiring about was “LAME”. You could see the tension radiating from the clerk as he wasted his time with this lame guy.
When the guy finally gave up and exited the building, the clerk focused his attention on J. They started speaking the same language. It was like listening to modems communicating in digital language. J was wanting a prepaid card for WOW and this provoked questions from the clerk in game slang which was immediately interpreted by J and answered with lightning quickness.
One of the questions he was asked by the clerk was which server do you play on. J answered back and was answered with a blank face. J then mentioned the name of some gamer that is well known and the clerk’s face lit up and he responded with the question “before or after the event?” to which J said before. The dialogue led to a question from the clerk which led to J spending an additional $40 to prepay for an upgrade that will be released sometime soon.
I learned quite a bit about gaming on the way home as I discussed WOW with J. Gamers are serious about their playtime. I have known that for sometime because of the way we are answered when telling him to get out of the games.
What this brought to my attention is how important it is to Gaming companies that their servers are up and working all the time. The new position I have taken at my company has taken on a whole new realm of importance since this random experience with my youngest son.
Speaking of the work front, the roller coaster has sped up and the ups and downs have been radical for the last 2 weeks. Some things have escalated somewhat out of control just to throw some people out of the car they were occupying. They were holding their hands up in the air all the time and had gotten to the point to where they were puking all over everyone else on the roller coaster most of the time. They were eating hotdogs with greasy chili before getting onto the roller coaster at first but had gotten to the point to where they did not get off ever and were having the greasy chili dogs delivered to them between rides.
Bottom line is that this employee works virtually from their apartment and would not disengage from email or the phone 24 hours a day 7 days a week. This coupled with the inability to manage customer expectations or understand how anyone else in the company could consider having a life led to their need to completely unplug from the company for the next week. Since this decision was made, life has been so much easier although the workload has not changed one bit. My days go by like lightning and I sleep like a baby every night.
I am getting baptism by fire into the server business. Understanding every aspect of networking and customer applications is coming like wildfire. It feels so good to drink from a fire hose again. What a wild ride it is and it is so much fun when the ground disappears as we go over a hill that is hundreds of feet in the air.
Meanwhile, the better half had another birthday yesterday. She just gets more beautiful each year that goes by. We are going out to the Aquarium downtown tomorrow night with a couple that we really enjoy being with.
Comments (2)
A belated HAPPY BIRTHDAY to your lady. I don’t speak the gaming language, but I can relate to the greasy chili dogs, which I love:)
It’s wonderful to hear about couples still in love.
As an ex Everquest addict – yes, the addictive effects of on line role playing games is so strong that I’m amazed that you’re able to get him away from the game. Server down-time leaves gamers with a lost sense of too much free time and no idea what to do until the network is again up and going. Usually, I don’t miss it; but, even more than a year later, I still feel the pangs from time to time signifying the void that ending that full time gaming job left empty. Best wishes.