文字难度：★★★
Mogwai is cutting down the time he spends playing 1)World of Warcraft. Twenty hours a week or less now, compared to a peak of over 70. It's not that he has lost interest—just that he's got to the top. He heads his own 2)guild, has 20,000 gold pieces in the bank. He was recently offered $8,000 for his Warcraft account, given that he has 3)clocked up over 4,500 hours of play, the prospective buyers were hardly making it worth his while. Plus, he feels his character is not his alone to sell: “He doesn't just belong to me. Every item he has he got through the hard work of 20 or more other people.” As in many modern online games, co-operation is the only way to progress, with the most challenging encounters manageable only with the collaboration of other experienced players. Hence the need for leaders, guilds—and online friendships measured in years. “When I started, I didn't care about the other people. Now they are the only reason I continue. In Warcraft I've developed confidence; a lack of fear about entering difficult situations; I've enhanced my presentation skills and debating. And I love leading them to succeed in a task.” 
穆加威减少了玩《魔兽世界》的时间。与高峰期一周玩上70多个小时相比，现在他一周玩20个小时或者更少。这倒不是因为他现在没兴趣玩了，而是因为他已经达到了最高级别。他领导着自己的公会，“银行”里存有两万枚金币。最近有人出价8000美元来购买他的魔兽账号，但被他拒绝了。因为他已为这个游戏耗去了4500多个小时，对于潜在的买家出的价码，他都觉得不值得。此外，他觉得自己无权出售这个角色：“他不仅仅属于我个人。他拥有的每一件东西都是通过20多个人的艰苦奋斗得来的。”就像当今很多网络游戏一样，在《魔兽世界》中，合作是晋级的唯一途径。面对许多挑战，只有和其他资深玩家携手合作，才能顺利过关。因此，他们需要会长和公会，而且这些网络友谊可以持续数年之久。“刚开始玩这个游戏时，我一点都不关心别人。但现在他们是支持我继续玩下去的唯一理由。在《魔兽世界》里，我获得了信心；不再害怕面对困境；还加强了自己的表达和辩论技巧。而且我喜欢带领他们成功地去完成任务。”
It's an 4)eloquent 5)self-justification—you find this kind of frank 6)introspection again and again on the thousands of independent websites maintained by World of Warcraft's more than 10 million players. Yet this way of thinking about video games can be found almost nowhere within the mainstream media, which still tend to treat games as an odd mix of the slightly7)menacing and the 8)alien: more like exotic organisms 9)dredged from the deep sea than complex human creations.
这是一番颇有说服力的自我辩白——在依靠《魔兽世界》那一千多万玩家维持的数千个独立网站上，你可以一次又一次地发现这种坦率的自省。但在主流媒体上，你却几乎看不到这样关于电子游戏的思考。主流媒体仍然倾向于把游戏视为一个“怪物”，略带威胁且陌生怪异：游戏更像是从深海里挖掘出来的怪异生物体，而非复杂的人类创造物。
This lack has become increasingly10)jarring, as video games and the culture that surrounds them have become very big news indeed. In March 2008, the British government released the Byron report—one of the first large-scale investigations into the effects of electronic media on children. Its conclusions set out a clear, rational basis for exploring the regulation of video games. Since then, however, the debate has descended into the same old 11)squabbling between 12)partisan 13)factions. In one corner are the preachers of mental and moral decline; in the other the 14)high priests of innovation. In between are the ever-increasing 15)legions of gamers, busily buying and playing while nonsense is talked over their heads.
这种对游戏缺乏了解的观点现在越发不合时宜，因为电子游戏及其相关的文化实际上已经成为了我们的“舆论焦点”。2008年3月，英国政府发布了一份“拜伦报告”——一份有关电子媒体对孩子的影响的首次大规模调查研究报告。该报告的结论为探索电子游戏产业的管理确定了清晰而合理的基本原则。然而，此后不久，关于游戏的辩论又陷入了老套的两大派系之间的争论之中。其中一方鼓吹游戏会造成智力和精神危害；另一方则大力宣扬游戏有利于激发创新能力。而夹在中间，队伍日益庞大的玩家们则根本不理会这些盘旋在他们头顶上的废话，而只管继续买游戏，玩游戏。
Yet beneath the hysterical 16)rhetoric of many objectors, there are 17)eminently reasonable concerns. The physiological and psychological mechanisms that electronic games 18)harness are certainly powerful. In 2007, the American Medical Association looked into defining video game addiction as a formal diagnosis, and although it ultimately rejected this idea, there are already clinics treating such addiction in China, South Korea and Amsterdam. Gaming is undeniably a problem for some.
不过，在众多反对者那歇斯底里的严词批评声中，有些担忧的确合情合理。玩电子游戏确实需要强大的生理和心理机能支持。2007年，美国医学协会曾考虑将电子游戏上瘾正式确诊为一种病症，虽然最后它没有这样做，但在中国、韩国和阿姆斯特丹都已经出现了治疗这种成瘾症的医疗中心。不可否认，对一些人来说，游戏是个问题。