Jason and Maggie Webb moved to Lehi 18 months ago and say they have plans for their future, including a place in their lives for a game that has caused them some stress in the past -- World of Warcraft.

They both go to school full-time, have jobs to pay their bills, have a 3-year-old daughter named Shelbi and are expecting their second child in August. Now, Jason is turning his passion for the game into a bit of extra money on the side.

Maggie verifies medical records from their home and is a University of Phoenix student. She said she plans to receive her teaching degree in March 2010 so she can teach kindergarten.

"I have absolutely no vacation and am about ready to have a baby," she said.

Jason has a little bit longer to go to complete his University of Phoenix bachelor's degree in business marketing -- four years.

Jason, 30, sells police gear for Skaggs Public Safety Uniforms & Equipment -- body armor, uniforms, anything needed to equip a police department -- and is responsible for sales in New Mexico and Arizona. His job takes him away from home about once a month, one week at a time. The rest of the time he works by phone, e-mail or fax.

Jason, however, has another interest, a massive multiplayer online game called World of Warcraft, which he takes with him when he is out of town.

He got interested in World of Warcraft more than four years ago, when he moved to California for work and was away from his family for nearly a year.

"All he had was him and his best friend," said Maggie. They would play WoW constantly on the computer, she said. Jason would play online 6-10 hours a day.

"Being away for nine months, it became a bad habit," she said. "I'd rather he go play Dungeons and Dragons with his guy friends than sit at a computer for hours."

She said WoW players are addicted to the game and she has seen marriages destroyed by the addiction.

"Oh man," Maggie said. "I don't mind it as long as he balances his time for me. Everything comes first before gaming."

Jason has cut back on his gaming, usually no more than two hours a day, and indulges himself in WoW particularly when he travels away from home. He additionally has taken steps to build a business around the game and its gaming community.

"Since I've tried to do the podcast and things, she's seen there is a possibility of financial gain and she's backed off a little bit," Jason said.

He got the idea for a podcast for new players.

"All the podcasts that are out there are addressed towards high characters," he said. "Nobody spends a lot of time talking about rules of etiquette, ways of playing, planning for the future in-game, any of that stuff. Nobody spends a lot of time talking about that ... I kind of just decided this is what every new player should know."

He started working on his project a few months ago and has already been able to gain an ad affiliation on his blog site with Jinx, an online store that carries WoW products, and he is looking for a sponsorship.

He has started a blog in April called The Experienced Noob at theexperiencednoob.blogspot.com

"That would be my thing, would be to have people go to my blog to learn about the game," he said. His goal is to write one entry a day and with the help of his online friends, Kelzar and Mo, he writes what he calls "Mo Moments." Every Friday, he writes a fictional story, a chapter a week.

For the podcast, he has a podcast partner and is advertising for someone for digital recording who is WoW knowledgeable and can record a podcast.

Maggie said she likes his podcast and blog idea, but there is just something about sitting at a computer for hours that still bothers her.

"We're fine now, it's not that bad," she said. "This is something he enjoys."

"The gal I'm going to start doing it with, she's going to do basics, the lore and the history of World of Warcraft," he said. "I'm doing basicly everything new about WoW, whether it's being new to the game, new to the classes, new to the instances."

His wife's views on WoW are OK, he said, even though he sees the game differently.

"To me I see no problems with it," he said. "To me if you don't understand, you might feel [her] way."

As a player, a gamer, Jason has been a guild moderator before, helping other gamers communicate and resolve issues. That experience may be helping him now outside of the game.

"I have to laugh at some of the things they fight over," he said of gamers.

• Cathy Allred can be reached at heraldextra@digis.net.