The Bowling Post, Part 2

Continued from Part 1. If you didn't read it, go start there.

Now that you have all of your bowling gear. You have your own shoes, your own ball. You may even have a dedicated towel and wrist guards because you're just that good. You're strong enough to roll the ball all the way down the alley, and you even get a strike or spare... even if only every once and awhile. You enjoy bowling so much, that you'd like to share this experience with a bunch of friends that also enjoy bowling. Or maybe you want to make new friends that will share in this new found enjoyment of yours. So, you head to your local bowling center and you sign up for a league.

(For Wow, you hit 80... and that seems to be the only basic requirement. I've seen people in full greens headed in to heroics. At any rate... however you did it, you're now in a guild.)

While your commitment to the bowling league is only 1 night per week, you're pretty hardcore. So, you also spend a lot of extra time bowling on the side, watching bowling on TV, and also researching the latest technologies. You're committed. You may even be bowling 2 nights or more per week. I think my Grandpa, at his peek was bowling about 4 nights per week.

In Wow, you generally are raiding for more than one night per week (obviously depends on the guild you're in). But even if you do only raid once per week, you're pretty hardcore, so you research gear, upgrades, min/maxing with your gems, etc. "What other achievements do I need," you may ask yourself. Or how do I get that cool pet that others have. Endless amounts of research and actual "work" are involved to have the gear to truly contribute to your raids.

Now here's one of the things that I don't get in the differences between these two "sports". If you're not going to make it on your bowling night, you generally need to get a sub. Somebody that will fill in for you, take your spot. And/or at least let your teammates know. This is generally taken into account by raiding guilds having more than the minimum number. If you're a 25-man raiding guild, you probably have at least 30 active accounts in your guild. Hey, things happen. Things like, "Gotta go, guys. Cat's in the oven again."

But if you sign up for a guild that raids say Monday through Wednesday, make it a point to be active, be online and ready to raid on those days. If you've previously spoken with your team captain (raid leader) that you can't make it on certain days, that's fine as well. Just live up to your word. Do what you've said you will. That's called integrity. :)

In the actual game, the most coveted thing you can do is bowl a perfect game. (That's a score of 300 for any of you non-bowlers out there.) Or if you've already completed that task, maybe you aim to bowl a perfect series. (That would be 3 perfect games.) These would be the achievements in Wow.

But remember, you also need your teammates to win. Even if you bowl a perfect series, sure this will help your team substantially, but if they're practicing gutter balls, I'm afraid you're not going to be winning any tournaments. (You may be going pro and making some bucks there, but you won't be winning any team leagues with your current teammates.) The same thing goes for Wow. You want to be equally yoked with your teammates. If you're the highest DPS'er in the world, but you're running with a tank that can't hold aggro... you're gonna be running around like a little girl... with her hair on fire... you get the picture. Furthermore, if you're 90% of the DPS in your 10-man raid, and something somehow happens and you die, your raid just lost a heck of a lot of DPS.

The whole point of this post, besides a lot of fun analogies is that while Wow is a game, so is bowling. And if you make a commitment to join a league, or be in an active raiding guild, do your best to live up to those commitments. But on the flip side, if you're not having fun, don't register with that team next season, but don't just stop showing up.