Heh, I think your comment fits in with the original post well (though before I applied the concept to WoW I wasn’t really thinking of using gear score as an example, but it is easier to relate generalized concepts to a specific example when writing and not knowing if you’ll have feedback and discussion to help clarify any points people may not understand). It seems as though, lately at least, I’m seeing more and more keyword searches that are looking for information about gear score in addition to seeing things in chat that simply irritate me (such as “x.x gs lfg y instance”). I have no qualms with the idea of gear score when used in a way that makes sense, but this has definitely gone beyond such thoughts and seems to be more of a concept of (numerical value) required for (instance) mentality.

I really wanted to expand the post more and go into detail on the basic concept of individual choice versus socially constructed choices, but that will just have to wait for another time

always thought that psychology/sociology analysis applied to wow could produce some interesting posts.

Gear score in and of itself is the product of blizz making iLevels visible. (or a product of the environment if you will) someone else out there thought it might be useful/fun to have a mod that would add all that up and show you how good the overall level of people’s gear is compared to others.

to see the misuse of it by some people, must be somewhat galling to the people who came up with the addon. it’s like making a finely crafted and useful tool such as a spade, and seeing someone use it to beat people about the head with it instead of using it for it’s designed purpose.

the trouble is, that many people will latch onto any idea that makes ‘their’ lives easier, without considering the effect of that on other people. using gearscore to exclude people from activities, because better gear = better/more dedicated player (in an ideal world, this would be true). However this does come around and bite them on the arse. Because all too often, high gearscore can also mean, lucky or persistent noob, who has all the shiny purple pixels, but not the wit or skill to use them properly.

either way the reliance on gearscore, and basing the opinions of a player’s skill or ability on that and that alone. is like judging someone’s character by their shoe size. or the colour of their shirt. you might get it right every now and again, but without more information to back it up – it’s nothing but an arbitrary reason to discriminate for your own gain when used wrongly.

it’s a tool, that needs to be used in conjunction with other tools – elitist group is a better example of how to do it. but even then it can’t take into account a player’s ability. only the character’s set up and equipment. the trouble even with that is, that without actually playing with a person, you don’t know how well their gearscore
relates to their actual skill. so some people err on the side of caution, and wield gearscore like a hammer.

that wall of text (mine not yours) seems twisty and odd to me, but when reading back through it, i couldn’t decide myself if it was a response that was warranted by the original post lol. i decided not to be over cautious (for once ) and post anyway

thanks for taking the time to put a post up here with such a detached analytical view of a very thorny issue, not easily done