I was on my way to a bar in the sky above Beijing when I came across this guy in the hotel's very posh lobby playing an MMO like his life depended on it. When my friends and I left the bar, he was still there, going at it. This might not seem totally strange, except to judge by his tie and badge, I'm guessing he was actually a member of the hotel staff. Then again, it was quiet in the hotel by then, so why not get in 15 minutes of grinding during the downtime? Except this was more like an hour, because after we had a drink and were on our way out, he was still there, grinding away. (To judge by the UI and art, it was World of Warcraft. Guess someone didn't tell him WoW is supposed to be losing users in China.)

Even all this would not seem totally strange, except when we got back to our hotel, the clerk there who was supposed to be working the front desk was also grinding away on another MMO. (On a hotel computer, no less.)

Now, I know MMOs are extremely popular in China, with active users in the 20-40 million range (yes, really), but it's something to see this first hand, so right out there in the open, while even on the job. I could have just randomly ran into two extremely hardcore gamers in the space of 30 minutes, I suppose, but I doubt it. Instead I'm more inclined to see this as a sign of the genre's continued, incessant popularity in China. (Even as mobile MMOs quickly begin to gain in this category.)

And the bar in the sky? It really is, because it's on the 80th floor, and your ears pop in the elevator while you're going down. You can seemingly see just about all the mad glory of Beijing from that height, even from the urinal.

Yes, the urinal. Look: