|
Confessions
From The World of Warcraft...
Roughly one
year ago:
It's a late evening,
and I and a small cadre of my friends are gathered at a
local restaurant. We've just come out of a movie, and we're
idly discussing it, re-quoting lines and cackling. But the
conversation lulls a little bit as we wait for our food,
and suddenly, it starts.
"Hey, anyone
know who drops the Dynamis Axe?"
And
they're off! The entire table (of men, I might add) starts
discussing the best fighting strategies, armor, spells,
and oddball quests in Final Fantasy XI, and in
what has become almost standard procedure for me, my eyes
glaze over, and I idly wonder if committing seppuku at a
Chevy's with a butter knife is such a bad idea.
For the longest
time, I didn't understand it. What was the obsession with
online role-playing games? I mean, I enjoyed rpg's as much
as the next girl, and I've played my share of online games,
but what why, why, WHY did every conversation I had with
this favored group of friends turn into a energetic discussion
of what a Taru Taru looked like in chainmail?
So,
when a friend of mine gave me a free copy of FFXI,
I decided to give it a shot. If anything, maybe I could
start being involved in my friends’ rantings, rather
than gaze longingly at the full margarita pitcher at the
next table.
I installed it,
and played for maybe a week. And was bored out of my mind.
Where was the interaction with people? The fun group raids
people raved about? Why did it take 5 hours to go up a level?
Why the hell was I stuck killing rabbits? Why could the
rabbits kill me?
After
a week, and less that 20 hours of play (and a growing phobia
of rabbits), I gave up. Sure, the game was pretty, but it
held no attraction for me. I resigned myself to seeing less
of my friends, since by this point, they had glued themselves
to their computer chairs. I decided that Square/Enix was
trying to create its own zombie army, using FFXI
as the trigger virus, and I was better off not playing.
Otherwise, I’d be the next person roaming around the
living room moaning, “Gil. Giiiiiilllll…”
Skip
ahead a few months, and we’re back at the table. Only
the guys have stopped talking about Final Fantasy,
and I’m enjoying being involved in dynamic conversations
regarding past Texas Hold’em hands, and the lastest
bluff on Celebrity Poker. But then someone asks,
“Hey, how much does Mithril go for at the auction
house on your server?” And I suddenly feel this wave
of panic, as I realize that my friends just became almost
normal again, and I don’t want to lose them to another
But
I listened anyway, and now it's World of Warcraft
that's eating people's brains. It had just started, so the
craze wasn’t as bad, but it was starting to pick up.
But I had played the beta of WoW a little bit,
so I was more intrigued when it was discussed than I was
with FFXI. I'd also loved playing Diablo II
on Battle.net, and I figured maybe there was something
to this new Blizzard concoction.
So when
some guy friends came back after a ladies' enforced exile,
bearing copies of World of Warcraft they'd found
on sale as placating gifts, I gave in and said I'd give
it a shot.
World
of Warcraft turned out to be everything I'd wanted
out of FFXI and didn't get. I started playing with
character creation, and again chose an elf (pointy ears
are addicting), and without reading the manual, started
playing. And immediately started having fun.
After
playing for less than hour, I was a level 3, had decent
armor, and was genuinely enjoying the storylines and experience.
The controls were easy to master (I could jump!), and the
atmosphere a lot more friendly to newbie players.
And what a noob
I was. The guild I joined should probably get nominated
for gamer sainthood, considering the questions I asked.
"How do I get to a menu?" "How do I talk
to a single person?" "What do I do to train an
animal?" "What the hell is that giant tree walking
around?!" "How do I get my character to dance?"
All
my silly beginner questions were answered quickly, and no
one yelled at me to read a FAQ somewhere, which made me
feel better. Once I started doing larger quests, I never
had problems finding people around to help out, and I had
several friends who were willing to spare their time, just
so the little level 10 could have a level 60 around to scare
the Nagas with. And some friends pulled out new characters,
just so I could have company to do some leveling. They were
even willing to cart me to Ironforge, just so I could get
my hands on a gun!
I wasn’t
as annoyed running around in WoW either. In FFXI,
running just became horribly tedious, and since I wasn’t
high enough level to use a chocobo yet, I was stuck on my
own two feet until I leveled enough to get the driver’s
license to ride the giant chicken. In WoW, anyone
can use a hippogriff, and running between points is far
more colorful and interesting that the dullness of running
around in San d’Oria or Ronfaure. I know they’re
realistic, but it was still awfully depressing half the
time. Plus, I have yet to get lost in Darkshore or Ashenvale,
whereas I got so turned around in East Ronfaure once it
took me 20 minutes to figure out where the hell I was and
how I could get back to San d’Oria, without a death
rabbit gnawing on my throat.
 |
There’s
also a sense of humor about World of Warcraft that
allows me to enjoy the game as an experience, rather than
something I have to do just to hang out with my friends.
My major problem with FF was that it wasn’t
fun. It was tedious, and playing by yourself wasn’t
possible at certain points.
WoW
allows me to play nicely with others, or just run around
on my own, and the game has fun with itself, with minor
spoofs, silly characters, and the allows the idea that it
is a game, and you’re allowed to have fun. Now not
only do want to level up to join my friends on raids, but
it’s fun to level up and see where I’m going
to end up in terms of skills, weapons, and pets.
Now,
I'm addicted. Mind you, I don't play half as often as some,
since my computer lets out pathetic little whimpers whenever
I load the game. But I still play when I can, and I have
fun doing it. Heck, I sometimes hijack my brother’s
computer to play, and revel in his far fancier video card,
and shiny large monitor. I'm leveling slowing, and I'm learning
slowly, but it's not frustrating, and it's not confusing,
and I've found a whole new way to interact with old and
new friends.
And
those dinner conversations? Well, I hold my own now, and
the butter knife stays on the napkin.
|
