Collectivist vs. Individualist cultures

In World of Warcraft, there are places where people take place in player versus player combat called battlegrounds. What happens is teams of Alliance players battle against Horde players for control over areas of the battleground or assault the team's bunkers etc. The reason I mention this is because they are very frustrating sometimes. They are frustrating because many players join these battlegrounds and play solely for themselves. This implies an extreme individualism on the part of these players. What I am curious about is this: Does this take place on the Korean servers as well? East Asia is renowned for their collectivist nature, especially in China and Japan. The irony of this of course is that by playing as a team, the individual player is rewarded with honor and tokens which can be turned into even more honor! So why ever play selfishly in a battleground? I think its because a lot of people who pvp have a hard time getting over tunnel vision. They see enemies and attack, instead of going past and helping the team win. This is a result of not being able to see past ones own glory on the battlefield. Its why we need captains and generals in the army. Its why there is a chain of command all the way down to officers and sergeants etc.

This may be a stretch of the imagination, but it is a very intersting phenomenon that I believe takes place at all levels of consciousness and human activity. There have been papers written about World of Warcraft and its implications for society etc and I believe they are something we should be considering in serious scientific debates and talks.

Job Hunting

I seem to have an interesting mix of skills which is suited to something very specific. The key to finding a job is finding your niche. This is pronounced neesh, not nitch like some will tell you. You dont say ball-et for ballet do you? Though we do say llama and not "yama" like it should be pronounced. But I digress. I am trying to find my niche in the job market. I have some strange and difficult to quantify skills such as being able to do sudoku very quickly.

This hardly seems like a marketable skill, but I think companies look for this sort of thing in order to find diamonds in the rough who can be molded and taught to use these skills for something great. I also believe that I can concisely get my point across in text, but maybe not in person. There are many others, some less marketable than others I am sure. I also do this thing where I correct grammar (despite of course using poor grammar on occasion). News reporters do it all the time and I would be a good person to look through the teleprompter and pick out mistakes. Or maybe write the teleprompter...prompts.

So, I am looking for jobs currently and I have gotten one interview so far. I think it went well; and I really love the company so far. It's great when you read on their website all sorts of ways the company helps the employees and provides services to them. Their products are great too and they are expanding even in this shaky economy. I have no really commented on the economic situation of the US in this blog yet, but perhaps I will later.

Perhaps you are wondering how I am doing in WoW? I am doing just peachy. I have been working on my mage and rogue recently (levelling the rogue to 80) mostly with their pvp gearing. PvP I think has the potential to be the best part of WoW, but it is striken by one unchangeable phenomenon: the different scales possible. 1v1, 2v2, 3v3, etc etc. Some classes are better at 1v1 than others. Some are amazing in 5v5 arena, but aweful in 2v2. So poor Blizzard is in the unfortunate position of having to make 10 classes feel powerful, but not too powerful in EVERY aspect of the game. Not only pvp, but pve as well. Its quite daunting and it bothers me greatly when people QQ on the forums about how X class sucks against Y and why is Z better than all of them? And blizzard makes $10m / month, WHAT ARE THEY DOING WITH THAT MONEY?!

Its so ignorant and I will not even explain why it is incorrect to fault Blizzard for this. Suffice it to say, I enjoy WoW quite a bit. I enjoy al lthe things I can do and all the accomplishments within the game that can be gotten. It gives me a sense of direction and goals, which makes me work (and play) a lot better. We have now circled back to my job qualifications: I am very goal oriented. If I am not shooting for something, I find it difficult to concentrate or enjoy doing work or play just for the purpose of doing it. Whether this is a strength of a weakness, I am not sure. I believe that if I can figure out a way to develop my own goals within an otherwise goalless activity that I can create an environment where I work efficiently and effectively.

That's all for now, but since I am only working part-time, hopefully I will be able to post more of my thoughts on here. Wish me luck on this job I interviewed for!