I have a confession to make. I had a habit; a nasty, awful, time consuming habit that siphoned away all my free time and left me a living zombie. My friends and family never understood. They shook their heads in disgust with pissed looks frozen on their faces when I refused to go to out to dinner or to a movie or just hang out. Well, not all of my friends acted that way. Two understood, because they shared my habit. I have a confession to make: I play, played, World of Warcraft.If you don’t know, World of Warcraft is a Massively Multi-player Online Role Playing Game or MMORPG for short. In a MMORPG people log into their computers and enter an online virtual world where they control an avatar of themselves. Depending on the MMORPG, the world can be anything from Space age science fiction to the more popular sword and sorcery fantasy worlds of elves and trolls. WoW fits more or less into the latter, with races of Night Elves, Trolls, Orcs, Dwarfs and many more all struggling in a titanic battle between the Benevolent Alliance and the Monstrous Horde.
When you first log on you’re prompted to select witch side you want to play on. Selecting the race and general look of your avatar comes next. After that you decide whether you’re feeling honorable or a bit devious when you select which class you’d like to play. Classes include the shape changing druid, the archer like hunter, the light wielding paladin, and several more covering spell tossing mages, in your face warriors and backstabbing rogues. Then your adventure in Azeroth begins and your real world personal life ends.
WoW gives hours and hours of addictive gaming that can last forever. It really never ends. MMORPG’s can never be won like other console type games. The world constantly changes with new lands to explore, new dungeons to conquer and even after achieving the highest level there’s still thousands of high powered items you’ll want to outfit your avatar with to make him bigger and badder.
Wait, it gets better because you play the game with thousands of like minded people from all around the world. Teaming up with others and forming guilds allows you to tackle enemies and game content that could never have dreamed of. Of course while you are living your Fantasy Heroic tale online your friends and family and loved ones probably will be plotting to have you committed.
When I decided to teach ESL in Korea I knew my days in Azeroth would be numbered. I know Korea is one of the biggest regions for gaming, especially for Wow since the company that owns the game, Blizzard, has offices in Seoul, but I just couldn’t see myself playing while being in another country with so much to see and do. So, I pulled the plug and cancelled my account. Oh, did I fail to mention that most of these MMORPGS require a monthly fee of around 15 US dollars? Big Business is an understatement when it comes to this genre of video gaming.
So I bid adieu and send a fond farewell to my fellow Warcrafters. I’ll miss my Druid, Geomancer, and my Mage, Glamazon, but the time has come to say goodbye to the world of Azeroth.
