A Newcomers Perspective on WoW

I figure by this stage anyone who is interested in WoW will have given it a shot, but I'm also assuming there are at least a few people out there like me, or at least vaguely similar. I have thought about giving it a shot over the years but never really did anything about it until a couple weeks ago.

Now the question is why didn't I try? Not because I have a dislike for Warcraft. I was seriously addicted to all things Warcraft through the late 90's; I would even say this addiction was at least partially responsible for the end of my first marriage, but I'm better off without that anyway. It's not because I don't want to spend hours in front of my computer, I mean I'm not even going to pretend that's a possibility. And, it's not because I have an aversion to role playing, I've even spent time playing old school paper and dice RPG's and enjoyed the experience. I would have to say that it's because it was such a big phenomena that I figured it was all hype, marketing, and shallow people doing what everyone else was doing that I wasn't going to waste my time and money on it. I am nothing if not fiercely individualistic!

Well the day came that my buddy Darcy got involved. Did I say involved? I meant addicted. Did I say addicted? I meant to say morbidly infatuated on what I can only assume is a chemically imbalanced level. I'm serious, I got a little concerned that he was going to start asking me to drink Kool-Aid in the name of WoW. But, when he wanted me to give it a try so we could take advantage of the triple xp recruit a friend initiative I figured, I'd give it a try. I mean, hey, I like Kool-Aid.

Well a couple weeks later I have to say that I'm thoroughly addicted to good old World of Warcrack. I spend all my waking moments, and a lot that should be spent sleeping, looking for people with exclamation marks floating over their heads, and finding out how many Wombats I need to kill to get to the next level. It's hard to say why the game is so addictive, but it is. It's very compelling, drawing you back in for the next quest, level, or encounter.

I think for me it appeals to my goal oriented hyper focusing personality. No matter what you do there's another goal, bigger Wombats, more Wombats, or uglier Wombats to kill. I need the next level of armor, I need the bigger axe or hammer, and I need the next level of XP. Why? So that I can go out and find bigger Wombats to kill so I can get an even bigger hammer, or heavier armor. That's all there is to it, a need to keep playing, it's like an Ethernet delivered heroin addiction.

I guess the moral of the story is that sometimes group mania is OK. I still refuse to get involved in most crap that sweep the world. As god as my witness I will never Twitter and I barely pay attention to Facebook for those very reasons. But I guess when something is good it's just plain good, and WoW is good.

As long as you like killing never ending swarms of Wombats with a hammer.