Dipswitch: Where's The Outrage?!

posted Jan. 6, 2009 02:57:42 PM by     

After a relaxing holiday, we're back with another exciting installment of Dipswitch for you all to enjoy.

This weeks comic deals with an issue that is bound to touch the nerve of quite a few people. There was anonymous post on the site F13.net in which the poster outlines an encounter he had with a recruiter. He happened to mention, in passing conversation, that he was highly addicted to MMO's in the early 2000's, but kicked the habit in 2006, and barely plays anymore. The recruiter proceeds to tell him that some companies he is involved with refuse to even accept applications from known World of Warcraft players because of side-effects from addiction to the game.

Whether this is in fact true or not, I'm sure some people are going to feel the urge to throw their hands up in disgust at this kind of accusation. I have to admit, from my own personal experience with playing MMO's, I can understand where employers are coming from. I played countless hours of Ultima Online and Everquest 1 back in the day, at the detriment of my real life. I happened to be in school at the time, so the only person I was potentially hurting was myself, but I am able to extrapolate my behavior at that time, to how I would behave if I was working a full time job.

Obviously, there are some people in the world with the self-discipline to dedicate themselves to a game like WoW, and also fulfill their other responsibilities. Unfortunately, there are probably more people that fall outside of that category, and who's entire lives suffer because of an addiction to ANYTHING, let alone a Massively Multi-Player Online Game.

It's really a difficult situation. I don't believe people should be utterly disqualified from applying for a job, just because they play a game. It would be like rooting out people who play Grand Theft Auto IV for fears they will shoot up the office. That being said, I can also understand at-will employers taking precautions from hiring someone who may turn out to not be able to fulfill their responsibilities.

My 2 cents? I would recommend that if you play WoW, or any other MMO, just don't say anything about it at a job interview, just like I wouldn't recommend posting pictures of yourself passed out in a pool of your own vomit at your sisters wedding on your public Facebook account (common sense). If it's going to interfere with your work, it will do so, and you will most likely be terminated. If it doesn't, then you will be gainfully employed, and no one will be the wiser.

Comments on this story

Click HERE to leave a comment on the story!