WOW: The things I think about

I don't know if I have really been busy. I do stuff, sure, but I spend most of my time thinking about the stuff I should do.

I have a few friends trying to convince me to play World of Warcraft, or WOW for short. Some of my time has been spent in the pursuit of more knowledge of the game. I have had lengthy discussion with both seasoned players and novice ones alike. Thankfully, they few that are encouraging me to play tend to be of the more novice sort.

So, what is WOW? Many people know what WOW is, but there may still be some that are scratching their heads. WOW is a massive multi-player online role-playing game. or MMORPG (usually it's just MMO). What this means is that people play with and against one another over the Internet. Players assume roles of different characters with different abilities and appearances and typically work together to complete some goal. In WOW there are two warring factions fighting for control. The funny thing is that there is an over-arching story for the WOW universe, but it definitely falls behind the insensate need to have the coolest stuff.

The rumor mill behind WOW is that it was originally a product for the Games Workshop line. I sell the Games Workshop models at my store under the table top miniature games Warhammer and Warhammer 40K. WOW was originally just Warcraft, and was a real-time strategy game. Basically, with an RTS, you would build units to win a certain scenario, like the land is infested with undead, wipe them out. How it is based on the GW product is a little fuzzy, but noticeable. Warhammer has race that consist of Humans, Orcs, various types of Elves, Dwarves, and goblins. WOW has all those races as well. Overall, it doesn't really matter as a comparison. I would rather have stock on WOW than Games Workshop any way. It's more guaranteed income.

You see, there are a lot of people playing WOW. The advertisements boast over 11 million subscribers. That's over 11 million people paying WOW about $15 a month. This adds up to a whole bunch. And that's the thing. With that many people, it is generally becoming part of the norm.

I originally approached WOW in the camp of fear. Among the news reports were various cases of addiction. There are stories of people losing their jobs over wanting to play the game for longer and avoiding work. Some relationships have been destroyed by it because of addiction. On the flip side, some relationships have started as well. There are also reports of people that have met through the game that wound up marring one another in real life. A friend of mine traveled to Colorado to meet a girl and brought her back here, because they met through WOW. Granted, they aren't together anymore, but the power of WOW is crazy.

Currently, I have sitting in my email account, a trial version of the game. My friend from work sent it to me, so that if I use it it would link our accounts. Basically, it's like a mentoring program. If I am in game, and so is he, he can send his character directly to me, so we can play together. Usually, to meet up with other characters, you would have to have your character travel through the game-world over possibly hundreds of miles... walking. As an added bonus, when the linked accounts are working together, there is an extra experience boost. More experience means a quicker growth towards a better character. It also helps that if I were to stick playing the game for a couple months, my friend would some special in-game stuff. It's a referral program.

As of right now, my mind isn't fully made up. I have a few other things I want to do, and fear that I may be addicted to WOW and not accomplish them. I still have a couple games I want to play and finish, then there is the whole blogging thing I keep avoiding. There is also the ultimate dream of actually writing something creatively, like an honest to goodness story. So, for now, I will keep doing research and let my friends talk my ear off about their in-game adventuring.