Digitally Disillusioned

While there is a clear time constraint set before me in attempting to fully appreciate my 10 day trial, the limitations of the real world are not something one can put on pause, and certainly one doesn’t get extra credit for effort by having a very solid sleep the evening before. So with a wife induced off-day right around the corner, I leapt back into World of Warcraft.

But I was alone. Well, at least for a while.

The friend who dragged me into this little adventure has three kids, the smallest of whom arrived early last week. Now, one might question the sanity of a pre-med student with three children who deliberately dives into something as engrossing as this, and knowing him as I do, in doing so you’d be absolutely right. While I certainly wasn’t keen on getting too far apart in levels, I don’t have a newborn to schedule my life around and was dedicated to encountering as much as I could before day 10 hit.

Yet, even if he is not entirely there in terms of sanity, his mirth is more than a little infectious. And so I spent my pre-game day coercing another friend of ours to take the plunge and join us. Previously, this friend was trying to push us all into Guild Wars as monthly charges put him off his food. But, with us being die-hard Mac users, we’d made it clear such was not to be and, come on, its Warcraft. Warcraft, man! Get with the program.

So, while I didn’t know it when I logged in, he was in the middle of installing it.

Blizzard goes out of its way to communicate to prospective buyers that its product can be consumed in both large doses and small, with a group or by yourself. Certainly one won’t have the progress of the more devoted, but they say it can be done. And I really appreciated what the resting system does to support that idea. I really didn’t clue in at first why I was getting so much more experience than previously for the same kills, but once I found the combat log (note: it was right in front of my face) I was practically giddy with the notion that I was being awarded double experience for having not played. I don’t know how this scales, or how long it lasts once you start playing, but that really made me feel a lot better about playing the game.

I’m not sure if it was a conscious or subconscious decision, but my time in game was mostly spent not progressing. My first manner of business was to find some better armor, as my robe, while stylish, offered a whopping 3 armor bonus. The offerings were limited, but an affordable piece that offered 10 armor (a three-fold improvement) was available. However, it lacked a little in the fashion department.

Actually. It lacked a lot. A whole lot. I’m not prone to reinforcing the stereotypes of marginalized subcultures by using their nicknames as derogatory epithets, but holy cow did Sven Bjornik ever look ready to join the Alliance equivalent of the village people. Sure, it was great to have better armor, but where was my self-respect going to go? I took a quick tour around the town and I swore I heard snickering. Embarrassed, I returned to my original garb as in the great scheme of things I didn’t need the extra armor points that badly. But, I mean really, they expected someone to actually wear that?

At this point my new recruit to World of Warcraft logged in, and I helped him through the same quests I’d already completed. If you think it would be much to soon to retread the same ground, especially on a limited time frame, you’d be right. But at least it prepared me for my last big push on this trial - now as a threesome instead of a two some - and before the night was out he was only a level behind me (I avoided partying with him and only helped him out in a pinch).

Recently I started a thread about this series on the Penny Arcade forums, and the information contributed there has been both educational and enlightening. While there were ample superficial admonitions to avoid World of Warcraft entirely, it was clear that while many people did love this game, few thought it was reasonable to approach it on the terms I wanted. Indeed, down the road a three hour play session is going to be a long one for me, and it is my intent that this article series reflect back to other curiosity seekers, as gamers still have lives, wives, jobs, and dogs.

One particular poster found egregious fault in my attempt, which I suppose was his right to do. But I think its important to reflect that if the MMO is really going to go mainstream, it needs to cater to people like me more than the people it already caters to. I get that end-game content is just out of the question should I never get deeply involved in a guild, and that indeed mid-game we will need at least five players to take on the interesting dungeons. But I think those are navigable concerns.

While I’m observing lots and lots of content intended to drag me down the garden path, I am still having one heck of a time just logging in, playing with my friends, and seeing what there is to see. Now to some extent it would be suicidal for Blizzard to cater excessively to someone like me, but I think the lavish attention to detail and the colorful and varied settings - even if all the settings I’ve seen so far are covered in snow - do just that. I’m not looking for a second job or a second life, I’m looking for a regular escape share with people I care about. So far, I give World of Warcraft solid praise in that regard.

I reminisce of my time spent in MUDs back in my late teens, and World of Warcraft is a huge step up in terms of immersion and the ability to easily enjoy it. Of course, MUDs were free and this is not. But, as a relatively successful man just pushing past his twenties, I can lose $15 at the strippers in less than 15 minutes.

But I want to get to the mid teens before this trial is up, if I can, as I think that might be the proof of the pudding if World of Warcraft can really be experienced casually. Tomorrow, as I said, is a spouse-induced off day. We’ll see how the next day goes.