For a long time now I've been a big fan, not only of WoW, but of audible.com, where they have a great library of audiobooks for sale and download to your portable audio device of choice. Without realizing how or when, I have developed a habit of blending these two loves together for a marvelous effect: grinding plus audiobooks equals a great time.The basic problem with grinding in an MMO, after all, is that it doesn't require your full attention, especially if your goal is straightforward and you've done it before in one way or another. It's relatively easy to just put yourself on autopilot and do the job while your mind does something else. Listening to an audiobook is the perfect companion to this, because it fills up your mind, and leaves your hands and eyeballs itching to do something of their own.
Also, I'm a person that has trouble reading with my eyes. I can do it for short periods without any trouble, but with long books, I tend to fall asleep or get distracted very easily. Through Audible, I might have read more books with my ears than I have read with my eyes by now, and although I know some people must have the paper copy of a book in their hands, there's probably a large number of WoW players out there who find themselves not reading as much as they would like, and would love to know that there's another way to get their literary fix.
Just last night, I was sitting down to do my daily quests for the Netherwing faction, and I remembered I had just finished my latest audio book (Neverwhere, by Neil Gaiman, read by the author!) earlier that day while sitting in a taxi. So I stopped the game, and went to go download a new book (Path of Daggers, by Robert Jordan) and write up this post at the same time. While playing, of course, I often pause the book to read quest text, get myself out of a tricky mess with a pack of monsters, run an instance, or chat with my friends. But whenever I feel the least bit dissatisfied with the game's tickling of my attention span, I turn my iPod back on and enjoy the story. Grinding, then, lets me enjoy the audiobook even more by giving me something easy and fun to do while I listen.
The first thing you might notice when you visit audible.com is that the books seem expensive, but in fact, they're only expensive if you buy them one by one. They have different plans with which you buy "audible credits," either once a month, or all in one big yearly rush, and depending on which plan you choose, the price per audiobook credit drops to between $10 and $15 a book -- potentially cheaper than many paperbacks! Personally, I go through so many audiobooks that I just renew my yearly plan whenever its credits are used up, but of course each person should only sign up for as much as they think they'll listen to. If you love both reading and WoW, you may enjoy this as much as I do.
Edit: A small disclaimer: I have absolutely no business relationship with audible.com, and this is by no means an "advertisement" for them. Other people have mentioned that they enjoy listening to podcasts, the news, library audiobooks, and many other things. While audible.com the source of audio literature that I like personally, you may, of course, try a number of different things and find what works best, whether it's audible or NPR or something else.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
11-09-2007 @ 1:06PM
ladyshiva said...
I remember I once listed to an entire audio book while grinding for a dark whelpling. It never dropped :(
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11-09-2007 @ 1:09PM
Delta said...
If you run dual monitors and have enough memory to, watch TV or movies or anything.
Me, Farming leather + Animaniacs = HELLOOOOOOO, LEATHERWORKING-NURSE
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11-09-2007 @ 1:10PM
Chuddy said...
Oh wow! Obviously a post on wowinsider talking about listening to a book is A+ merit alone but, ALSO a mention of "Neverwhere"! Classic Gaiman easily one of my favorites by him. He's such a great writer. It's a shame in my opinion that hollywood and the bbc destroy his books into fragments of their self for video release.
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11-09-2007 @ 1:11PM
Elo said...
I like to listen to talk radio/podcasts while grinding. Its a great way to catch up on all the stuff you care about while gathering the mats you need to progress your toons.
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11-09-2007 @ 1:12PM
Milktub said...
Brilliant.
I usually put on a record, but listening to a book seems much more productive.
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11-09-2007 @ 1:24PM
Innkeeper said...
Neil Gaiman books + any activity = good times
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11-09-2007 @ 1:31PM
Mats said...
Been using this method for a long long time. I did Harry Potter 1-5 while grinding up Furbolgs rep, back in the days when +15 agility enchant was about to come out. And not only books for fun, I sometimes end up listening to books about economic theory, history, philosophy and other "edu-tainment" books. I think I have come to a point where I have read more books with my ears then I have with my eyes.
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11-09-2007 @ 1:33PM
Smurk said...
I randomly picked up "Neverwhere" from a Goodwill a couple weeks ago and thought it was awful, but anyway... (hey, I should go post an Amazon review. Be sure to mark it as 'unhelpful' this afternoon!)
Now that the NBA is back, I usually play when I can listen to Bulls games at the same time.
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11-09-2007 @ 1:41PM
Flor said...
is audible.com an advertiser now? Seriously what is this post?
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11-09-2007 @ 1:41PM
Hollywood Ron said...
Whenever I do anything on WoW I fire up WinAmp, turn on Shoutcast TV, and find the MST3K station. Then I just arena my butt off while laughing my butt off at Joel/Mike, the Mads, and the Bots.
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11-09-2007 @ 1:51PM
blitzkrieg999 said...
WoW + Top Gear on 2nd monitor = *Swoon*
As for Audible and other audio books, check with your local library system. For example, the King County library system in Washington (where I work) has two audio book providers. Books "check out" for 3 weeks, after which the DRM expires. Doesn't cost you a cent, and because they're digital and self-expire, you won't get overdue fines!
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11-09-2007 @ 1:52PM
HankD said...
I've been doing this with the college courses you can get on CD from "The Teaching Company"... they're a bit dry on their own, sometimes, but listening to the History of the Vikings while killing things seems to work really well. :)
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11-09-2007 @ 1:53PM
booksrgud said...
Neil Gaiman FTW. "Neverwhere" is great, and "American Gods" is one of my all time faves. FANTASTIC book.
I typically listen to music when grinding/farming, but the idea of audiobooks is great too.
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11-09-2007 @ 1:53PM
mizatt said...
I usually watch movies or TV shows on my second monitor while I'm grinding. I watched all of Heroes, 30 Rock and many other shows while rep grinding on the other monitor.
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11-09-2007 @ 2:03PM
Ben said...
I often listen to podcasts while grinding. Otherwise I have music playing in the background. The audiobook idea is a good one, but, well, I'm poor.
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11-09-2007 @ 2:03PM
slayerboy said...
I've been doing this with podcasts for a while now. I think I need to drop some of the 40+ podcasts that I listen to. Most of the time I'm working 6 days a week and only play wow for a couple of hours a day now compared to up until a month ago when I was working nights and playing wow for HOURS on my 3 days off. I just don't have the time anymore, but the thought of audiobooks has crossed my mind. I just might drop some podcasts and get some audiobooks.
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11-09-2007 @ 2:17PM
Pidge said...
I'm with #11 - get a library card.
I'm a big fan of audio books while doing mindless boring repetitive tasks like commuting, mowing the lawn..and WoW Daily quests.
And thanks to my local library it hasn't cost me a cent. Best of all, libaries usually stock the unabridged versions of audiobooks on tape, CD and more frequently online like #11 described.
The selection isn't unlimited (in fact I am suspicious that there the book buyer for my library is a big fan of mystery books ), but it's cheap, convenient and can even open your mind to books you might not otherwise pick up. I've listened to everything from Gaiman's "American Gods", to Yann Martel's "Life of Pi," to Peter Heller's "Hell and High Water" about kayaking the remotest river of Tibet, to John Gordon Steele's "Thread Across the Ocean" about the challenge of running the first transaltantic telegraph cable and how it revolutionized world communications.
Cool stuff - and just the thing while you're mindlessly killing your billionth Bash'ir Raider :)
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11-09-2007 @ 2:20PM
Kraki said...
I highly recommend The Wheel of Time series, and the Song of Ice and Fire series.
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11-09-2007 @ 2:21PM
Bentas said...
Radical thought.
Has anyone considered that if we're having so little fun playing this game that we need to watch movies, and listen to audio books while we play it because it's such a grind, that maybe...just maybe...we should either play something else or....I don't know...actually go read a book?
I remember when you'd buy a game and read that it averaged like 100-200 hours of gameplay and you'd just be in AWE of it. Now people have that many DAYS playing this game, and how much of that is 'grinding' that you just hate. There are plenty of ways to enjoy WoW that aren't a grind, so why do so many of us seem to just buy into that old chestnut, and then find ways to make it bearable?
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11-09-2007 @ 2:36PM
David Bowers said...
Bentas, you assume too much. Nowhere in my article did I say that I dislike grinding -- most of the people commenting here didn't say that either. In fact I noted how audiobooks and grinding together make for a "great time," since they both fill in each other's weak spots.
If you hate grinding and would rather read a book or do other things, then by all means, be my guest. It's not "radical," it's a matter of preference.
And libraries, podcasts... all these are good ideas, as long as you feel you're making the most of your time and your mind energy, that's the important thing I think.
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