World of Warcraft at Ten Ton Hammer

Ten Ton Hammer: Gaming addiction seems to be the "hot new topic" for internet psychologists and pseudo-scientists. How do you balance WoW and your training?

Matt: To be honest, there were times during college where I did play WoW too much. I was pulling all nighters in raid groups to try to get the best gear, but then I was falling asleep in class, and I knew that wasn't right.

I had friends that did fail out of school because they played too much WoW, and there's also a guy that got suspended from the swim team in Arizona because he played too much WoW. It's addicting and a really fun thing to do.

But, for me, I made my mistakes in the past. I started taking things casually. I stopped raiding every night. I didn't want to screw up my college experience, because it affects your personal life too. Friends might want you to go hang out, but WoW has all your friends on Vent, and that's fun too. You can get carried away pretty easily. But a small upgrade in gear isn't worth your schooling or friends.

I've got it figured out now though. I know in my head that I won't become too committed to this game. I might do some PvPing, because it's easy to jump in and out and not disappoint an entire group of people.

Ten Ton Hammer: Off-topic question - you're a pretty tall guy [Editor's Note: Matt's 6'8" tall], what kind of desk set up do you have?

Matt: I actually took wood shop in high school and I built my own gaming desk out of pure lumber. I cut the lumber up and made a desk out of it. It's definitely higher than most desks, but I didn't have time to put the keyboard tray on wheels, so it just hangs there.

Ten Ton Hammer: *laughs*

Matt: It's a pain in the butt to move around.

Ten Ton Hammer: One day you'll be moving it and it'll just fall off.

Matt: That'll be fine cause then I will be forced to fix it.

Ten Ton Hammer: Are you looking forward to any of the new MMOs or games coming out?

Matt: I'm definitely looking forward to Diablo III. All the old crew got really excited about it when it was announced.  

Ten Ton Hammer: Thanks for taking the time to talk to us, Matt! We hope we can talk to you again soon!