I think Memorial Day is a good time to post this.

I know this isn't my usual style. Stick with me here; it'll be worth the read. And yes, it's about World of Warcraft, even if it doesn't sound like it at first.

I was reading a news story a while ago about a high school age girl whose twin sister had died from a serious illness. The thing is, the illness was genetic, which means that the girl knows she will almost certainly die as well in the next year or two. And because the illness is so incredibly rare, doctors have no idea how to help her.

It was a heartbreaking story, but that's not why I'm sharing it.

I'm sharing it because it got me thinking about mortality - something that, as you can imagine, I've pondered quite a bit in my years.

You see, this girl isn't curled up on her bedroom floor crying all day. She's going to prom. She's hanging out with her friends. She's committed to making the most of her life, even though there isn't a lot left.

I think most of the people reading this (not all, but most) have things pretty good by comparison. You or your family can afford Internet access and a WoW subscription. You're playing video games. You're reading blogs. You're doing all right. And maybe you don't think much about how you use your time, because there's just so much of it.

But it matters.

Death twitches my ear. "Live," he says, "I am coming." Virgil wrote those lines over two thousand years ago, and he's spent most of the intervening time being pretty dead himself. You see, he knew how the game of life works; he knew that there's no rulebook, just an hourglass. That's why he spent his life writing some of the most extraordinary poetry the world has ever seen. That's why we're still talking about him now, in fact, two thousand years after his expiration date.

I know, I know, you've heard this before. It's the usual bullshit, right? Inspiring figure does something courageous, plea to make the most out of life, cue the sappy music and pass the collection plate.

It's a stereotype. It's a cliche. It's stupid.

It's the most important thing in the universe.

I'm not saying you shouldn't screw around, shouldn't have fun, shouldn't laugh. Of course you should. That's why I write this blog; that's why I play video games.

What I'm saying, and what I want desperately for you to understand, is that it's possible to pass through life just sort of...twiddling your thumbs, without doing much of anything. To play games, not because you enjoy them, but because you have nothing else worth doing. To surf the Web, not because you're getting something out of it, but just to pass the time. To let the minutes slip through your fingers until they accumulate into hours, and weeks, and years, until finally you have no more minutes left and you look back and find you haven't done much of anything at all.

In the immortal words of xkcd: FUCK. THAT. SHIT.

I know how easy it is to waste time that way, because I've done it too. I still do it sometimes, more often than I'd like. But your time on this planet is a limited resource, and it is too precious to squander. Most of you reading this are lucky - you still have a lot of time left. But it's finite.

How is this related to World of Warcraft? You can probably guess. Because, as we all know, there are two ways to play.

The first way is to do what you love in the game. Play the character you enjoy, run the content that's fun for you. This doesn't necessarily mean casual play. If you genuinely love high-end raiding or hardcore PVP, if being in the best guild in the world is really what gets you up in the morning, then go with it. Do whatever makes you happy.

But there's another way to play. Going through the motions. Grinding for endless hours to get the next item because you're "supposed" to. Beating bosses you've already beaten a hundred times for yet another chance at that item drop that will allow you to go to the next boss and do it all over again - lather, rinse, repeat. Spending two months saving up the gold for something that makes you say "huh, that's cool" for two minutes.

If you play a game because you love it - because it helps you relax after a stressful day - because it lets you connect with people who are not just guildmates but truly your friends - that's great. I'm all for it.

But if you're bartering away hours and days and weeks of your life in exchange for a better arrangement of pixels on your monitor?

Stop.

Please.

Stop.

All right. I'm done. I'm getting off my soapbox. Next time I post, it'll be back to the funny stuff. I promise.

All I ask is that every once in a while, you check your /play time, and ask yourself: "Am I getting a good return on this investment?"

If the answer is yes, then keep at it.

But if the answer is no, do something else.

Carpe fucking diem.