Get it right about gaming, dude 

I’d like to address some discrepancies and some misleading statements you made in the article “What’s in a game?” (May 22). First, the Asian people (are you really a closet racist?) you say work in the “sweatshops” who toil away to acquire game gold to be sold for real money would require computers with pretty decent hardware for WoW—not cheap stuff—and some high skill.

The game is predominantly played by English speakers and requires a high-speed Internet connection. If you are logged on for days at a time, someone is going to notice and start asking questions (Blizzard frowns on gold selling and power leveling—dabbling in either can get you banned).

As for the young lady in the conference beside you, very few cell phones offer games that would have her “obsessively thumb-typing.” And you claimed, “It can take a full day to accomplish some of the quests and raids.” You’re not even close. Most quests can be accomplished within an hour. Raids can take several hours, but usually are broken down so you can reach a certain point and return later. But they don’t take a full day.

And for a large group of people to coordinate, you plan days in advance based on everyone’s personal schedule. If you can’t make it, there’s bound to be someone else who can. Okay, so it is uncool to bail in the middle of a major raid, but the majority of the players I have met understand that real people have real lives and poop happens.

Lastly, if you’re going to write about something you obviously suck at, get someone who knows something about it next time. The World of Warcraft Burning Crusade boxed set comes with guides to walk you through level 20 in just a few hours. My 11-year-old son took exactly 30 minutes to get to level 5—and he’s dyslexic.