Shawn Holmes, a World of Warcraft veteran, shares some of the wisdom he's gained over eight years running a competitive PvE guild in a must-read blog.

World of Warcraft might be the most polarizing mainstream title in the history of video gaming. For most of those who have interacted with Blizzard's epic, more than a decade old fantasy MMORPG, there is no middleground - gamers either love the game so much they nearly single-handedly make the Warcraft movie the most successful video game film ever released, or hate it and fail to see why it's so popular. World of Warcraft, above all else, however, has been a game that more than ten million people have grown up together while playing, and in that time it turns out players have learned a few things about life.

With the release of World of Warcraft: Legion coming ever closer, many members of the Alliance and Horde factions have begun an introspective look at their time spent playing Blizzard's smash hit. Shawn Holmes is one such player, a man who has over eight years of guild leader experience under his belt and a knack for writing. While it's interesting to examine just how much work goes in to running a guild - in Shawn's case the Descendants of Draenor - the real revelation in Holmes' writing is located near the end of his World of Warcraft journey:

"It was the one key take away from guild leadership that was most important: failure is only one potential outcome; it's a possibility, not an inevitability. Once you embrace that, a logicial conclusion falls easily into place: there's a chance you might actually succeed."

Holmes' discusses this acceptance of failure in regard to his initial hesitance about a new job offer, eventually conceding that he would regret not trying it out and pursuing it to success. Holmes also discusses how a lot of the now-free World of Warcraft: Warlords of Draenor experience prepares gamers for the real world - managing a guild is like managing an office staff, and knowing when to push people harder or make difficult decisions. It's an interesting perspective on how a game many have dismissed as a waste of time might actually be solid training for different managerial roles.

Is it a good idea to quit a perfectly good job in pursuit of the trials and tribulations involved in Illidan's return to World of Warcraft? No, but that's not really what Holmes wants people to take away from his story either. Instead, Holmes discusses how a hobby can incidentally make someone better at other aspects of life, and that there is more to be found in World of Warcraft than just a long grind and some shiny armor.

World of Warcraft: Warlors of Draenor is available now for PC and OS X.

Source: Eight Years in Azeroth