.
Buy The Times on Saturday for your free trial version of World of Warcraft
plus an eight-page game guide
When Keith at the office gives me World of Warcraft, bidding me to
“spend a bit of time with it — it’s really addictive”, I do that special
thing that women can do whereby you roll your eyes inside your head,
secretly, to show that you know more than the men. Yeah, right, I’m
going to get addicted to World of Warcraft. Yeah, right, I’m
going to join a worldwide online community of more than eight million
people, running around a gigantic and complex fantasy world, engaged on a
series of quests. It’s all highly unlikely. If I had to marry
one of the cast of The Lord of the Rings, it would be Sam Gamgee —
the completely prosaic, normal, nonmagic one, who comes across like the
owner of a garage in Cricklewood having a particularly bad day, what with
this vexatious epic quest and all.
In a nutshell: dragons embarrass me.
The game didn’t quite fit into my handbag, and I was slightly self-conscious
about people spotting it as I caught the Tube. The last time I felt so
embarrassed about the visible contents of my handbag was last spring, when I
was carrying around a gigantic book on the history of the Ku Klux Klan. For
two long months that book made me want to shout “I’m reading this because I
know they were bad — not to get tips!” to any halfway full carriage.
Similarly, a visible copy of World of Warcraft makes me want to
shout: “I don’t seek to nullify my rampant sexual dysfunctions by pretending
to be a Paladin called Thrusthammer Orcbash! IT’S FOR WORK!” Of course, the
person I want to shout this to the most is myself. I am the judgmental one
here. By and large, my theory runs, people who are into goblins and wizards
are people within the autistic spectrum of behaviour, for whom the utopian
sexual and racial equality offered by, say, sci-fi, is alarming. All those
black chicks in Lycra jumpsuits philosophising about the fallible nature of
humanity, and able to vote? Brrrr! In short, the entire fantasy genre is the
domain of the sweaty, white, nonintellectual Herbert, and has very little to
offer me — a sassy, metropolitan, militant feminist with an aversion to a)
items of clothing made of skinned Gnoll hide, and b) swinging at someone
with a two-headed axe.
Imagine my surprise, then, on being able to write the following sentence: on
the first day I had World of Warcraft , I stayed up and played it
until 2am. I got into bed at 10pm, switched on the electric blanket and
opened my laptop, with the simple objective of “getting my bearings” for 20
minutes. Three hours later I was trying to retrieve the stolen journals of
Grelin Whitebeard from a cave full of Rockjaw Troggs, while running a very
lucrative trade in killing and skinning boars on the side. Then I
accidentally got on the Deeprun Tram to Stormwind City, and had to bale out
when I realised that I was far too poor to be in a city where “Heavy Mithril
Pants” are 27 pieces of silver. 2am! I was so engrossed that I forgot to
take my contact lenses out, and fell asleep with them glued to my eyes.
Although I am pathologically, fatally prone to exaggeration, it would be a
simple statement of fact to say that World of Warcraft is as
addictive as methadone. Indeed, when Robbie Williams recently went into
rehab with the ostensibly risible addictions of Red Bull and espresso, I
thought: “It’s just as well you have never been on Coldridge Pass trying to
deliver a package of Kobold reports to Senir Whitebeard. Then, my friend,
you would know true craving.” As with all good drugs, World of
Warcraft has turned my perceptions of the world upside-down. Take, for
instance, the very beginning of the game, when you decide on the character
you will play. Personally, I’ve never created a character to play a game
with before — hey, I have to do that in front of the wardrobe every morning
for real, and I think all the ladies will know what I’m saying here. But
when it’s for an inconsequential internet diversion, and you have almost
infinite choice of what you will become — good, evil, male, female, human,
weird minotaur thing with problem hair — it brings to the fore several
profound self-realisations. My inner self, it turns out, is a beefy ginger
dwarf, one with a huge beard. He is who I want to be. He is secret Caitlin.
Discovering this is the kind of thing troubled celebrities pay the therapist
Beechy Colclough thousands of pounds to discover. I had done it in seven
minutes, and with a choice of beard stylings to boot.
I named him “Scottbaio” — you remember: Chachi in Happy
Days ; the obvious ginger dwarf name — and launched him out into the
world. Still, at this point, deeply sceptical about the game, I had
preformulated a plan to make the whole experience tolerable. Whereas the
ultimate purpose of most participants is to overcome the evil Horde through
a series of pitched battles and strategic quests, I had come up with
something a little more subtle. I thought the best way to quell the Horde
would be gradually to gentrify the Killing Fields, starting by opening a
deli and selling speciality cheese. After all, the lure of endless, sensual
evil is as nothing compared to a good, spoonable vacherin. Those demons
would be capitulating, buying a Victorian terrace and coming over to the
Alliance in no time.
However, as a new émigré to the realm of Sha’tar, I knew that the deli was
something I’d have to work up to slowly. I spent an hour tootling around a
pretty snowy mountain running a few errands — delivering parcels, relaying
messages, buying nicer boots, earning a bob or two; already the addictive
side of WoW was becoming apparent — through a cunning combination of
small, quick tasks and longer, more complex ones that can be chipped away at
over time, there’s always something you could “pop in” and do, or just spend
“ten minutes more” knocking off. And — contrary to all perceptions of online
gaming being a lonely, solitary pursuit for, ahem, “bachelors” — I found WoW
to be an excellent and rewarding family pastime. My two daughters — aged 6
and 3 — were thrilled to sit next to me, watching Mummy kill the pigs and
jump over fences.
Indeed, I was just marvelling at how female-friendly and “untestosteroney” it
was, compared with what I expected, when a member of the Horde, Hellfist,
began stoving my head in from behind. Having no idea what to do, I fell back
on my old playground technique: I tried to talk my way out of it: “Please
don’t smite me, I’m having an asthma attack!” I type. “I’ve come on a quest
by accident; if you hit me, it’ll be murder!” Hellfist makes a clucking
chicken sound, to highlight my cowardice, and hits me until I die. When I
resurrect in a nearby graveyard, Cadisfael, a dwarf warrior, is sitting next
to me. “I ownz you, n00b,” he says.
“I’m afraid I’m 31, and don’t have a clue what you’re on about,” I say, as
primly as a ginger dwarf named after the over-emotional one from Happy
Days can.
“That means that you are a newbie, and I own you. You are my bitch,” Cadisfael
explains, patiently.
“Do 1, you Herbert,” I say, trying to jump over a fence.
“Cait, it’s me, Joe,” Cadisfael says, jumping over the fence with ease, and
then executing an impressive Russian dance. It’s my 14-year-old mathematics
genius brother, Joe! He’s tracked me down on line! Jesus!
“I’ve had to regenerate with a new character here,” he says, rather crossly,
as we walk up a mountain. “I don’t usually come to this realm. Sha’tar is
for newbie losers. I’m usually in Hellscream, with the hardcore. Over there
I’m a Level 66 mage, with an epix mount.” “I’m in a much higher tax bracket
than you,” I counter, trying to smash him with my giant dwarf hammer.
He easily dodges the blow.
I’d like to pretend that Joe and I then spent the next week or so bonding in
our fantastical realm — going on daring raids on the goblin mines together,
before drinking a flagon of hot Rhapsody Malt back at the Scarlet Raven
tavern. In actual fact, Joe is so repulsed by the easiness of my realm that
he logs off after an hour, with a cheery farewell of “I ownz you, n00b!
Pwnz!”, which he then has to log back on to explain means a kind of “zapping
sound that you make when you hit someone”. Still, he’s given me some good
tips: find a trainer who will teach me new smiting spells, earn money
skinning boars, spend the money on armour, and don’t chat to people too much
— they find it weird.
I flagrantly disregard this last rule ten minutes later, in a bar at Anvilmar,
where I try to start a conversation with a room of saturnine-looking dwarf
warriors. “They need a jukebox in here,” I suggest, to kick-start the
debate. “Some Queen, bit of classic Bowie. Guns’n’Roses. And maybe a frozen
margarita machine. Razz the place up a bit.” A couple of implacable
pugilists issue a polite “LOL” (Laugh out loud) — but then go back to buying
huge and fatal swords from the weapons vendor. One small gnome girl called
Flopsey, however, sidles over.
“Yeah — maybe a pub quiz, or a meat raffle?” she suggests. We sit down at the
table and spend the next 20 minutes discussing what we’d like to see in WoW
to cater for the female palate. We’d like the option of working as
prostitutes, we decide: it would be a quick way of earning money. We’d like
to be able to conceive and raise children, seeing whether they look like the
father, teaching them our spells. We’d like a bigger range of wardrobe and
hairstyles, and the ability to gain points simply by being amusing, or wise.
Or pulling off a good outfit.
Indeed, it’s turning out to be a thoroughly enjoyable conversation, when
Flopsey’s character suddenly issues the message “flirting”, and comes to my
side of the table. Of course! She thinks I’m a buff ginger warrior-priest
called Scottbaio! All this conversation about virtual prostitution has an
entirely different spin from her side of the table! She wants my hot dwarf
ass!
So here I am, a 31-year-old mother of two, at 2am, in bed in my Bliss Spa
Socks, and having polymorphous cybersexual frisson with a 15-year-old gnome
called Flopsey, who lives in Antwerp. Really, the modern age is a marvel.
Game on: other worlds to enter
Star Wars Galaxies: based on the films, it is built around ten planets.
Players erect their own buildings and create cities.
Number of users: about 150,000
Popular with: sci-fi fans, older players
Key feature: realistic economy and sophisticated division of labour
Lineage: fantasy game involving a prince regaining his throne. “Karma
system” penalises those who pick on weaker players
Number of users: 2.25 million-plus
Popular with: Koreans
Key feature: based on a comic book
RuneScape: fantasy game accessible through a web browser. Brunel
University says it offers young people a “chance to develop important social
and cultural skills which carry significance for real life”
Number of users: about 800,000 paying subscribers; nine million free
subscriptions (supported by adverts)
Popular with: global following
Key feature: created in the UK by Andrew and Paul Gower, in a bedroom
in their parents’ house
.
works perfect for me for the time being since I am working in Saudi Arabia for the buku bucks and there isnt much of a social life here. Wow can actually teach you things about real life if you can keep an open mind. For example; there is heaps of characters out there that are playing wow and the different personality types always conflict. So after playing wow for so long you learn how to deal with people with different types of personalities to achieve common goals which is what we do in everyday life. Another good example of the learning aspect of wow is the Auction House. You can actually learn how supply and demand works on a very elementary level. So I wouldnt say wow is all negative its like everything else in life its what you make of it. Anything to the excess kills but everything in moderation could be progression.
ozo, Houston, usa/tx
I Started playing in october last year I made a warlock and fell in love with the game there was all these people all these things to do it was great I played for 6 months I got a level 33 warlock and a 28 draenai shaman Since I quit which was 6months ago I have always had a small desire to go back and play but told myself no but why not its fun in small amounts
Callum, manchester,
How would another Newspaper do this? Where do we get the free trial disks?
Kaci, Longview, USA/Washingon
A really funny artical, I used to playthe game and I think it is like you mentioned like methadone. I am glad I stopped with it becouse I noticed I was getting less social(in real life that is). It is a shame that poele flee from the real world witch can be as fun as WoW. Now that I have stopped for one anda half year I getting the hang of real life again. WoW now scares me I know that would I start up the game now I would again be addicted. I urge aspecially young poeple to not play because you get a big dissadvantage in youre social skills.
Mel, Amsterdam, Netherlands
OMG LOL. WOW highly addictive! This article made me wildly chuckle to myself (so much so my work collegues think i am weird sitting behind a PC have a laugh to myself).
My husband wanted to buy the game, and i did the old "i don't want to pay for you to play online when you have enough to keep you up all night with your consoles" but alas i gave in and brought it for him for his birthday.
I watched him play in the starting lvl of elwyn forest and found myself intrigued by the fun he was having and the ability to be in a "free world" with the choices of things you had to do. So.....late night one day i sneaked on myself and did a little recky round elwyn to find myself at 4am a lvl 10 Warrior. Feeling all superior i then snuk into the bedroom and settled down for some shut eye, only to be waken up 4 hours later with a shock horror scream coming from a wailing man behind the monitor "you have a lvl 10 thats so unfair!!".
2yrs on and still addicted, 70 war, 61 mage, many more
bonnita Moaby, tunridge wells,
I played WoW for almost 2 years. I met tons of people and made some good friends from all over europe. its the social part that made it so addictive to me.
now that I quit playing 1 week ago I keep thinking about WoW,how would my guild be doing, does he have some good gear yet? And also I visit sites that give information about events and things happening in WoW every day. So yeah, wow really is addictive, but now that i quit i really dont know what to do when i have some time off. I'm sure I will be back online after i passed my exams.( 70 rogue, 70 warrior, 60 hunter, 63 shaman on thunderhorn Eu)
Thom , Veenendaal, The Netherlands
a good read, and a fun view of what wow is like when you first approch it. I remembered my own fledgling beginning about 2 years ago, when reading it.
wow is indeed a very social game, and addictive, indeed. i personally dont find that addiction to be overwhelming, and most of my mates dont either. i am now in a raidguild, that has a "family" - profile. meaning we raid 3 days a week, we dont spend every day gearing for raids, and we all have real lives that take priority. but, ths works well because we do show up and do our part every week, for progress.
the basement-Herbert's are not plentyful in our merry gang.
in my closest group of friends, the ones i play with every day(im able that is..) there is a short order cook, a newly graduated director, a salesrep for Cartier, and a restaurantier (me)
Half our guild are married, we celebrated 5 new births last year, yet we are all more or less epic-clad and Karazhan is completed, Grull the Dragonslayer will slay no more dragons.
seb, kr.sand, norway
Everyone always forgets about Final Fantasy XI Online. It may not have the 8 million playerbase of WoW, or the mass-media appeal of SWG, but it's the most in-depth, involving and rewarding game I have played in years.
The quests actually have some point to them beyond "Fetch me fifty boar tusks, I'm hungry, *grunt*", there is a complex job system (You can play any of the game's 18 jobs on one character- no need to reroll if you want to change class), six storylines relating to the game's 3 main nations and 3 expansion packs, and of course you can ride chocobos. :D The game was admittedly not well promoted in the UK besides a recent rerelease for XBOX360 but still has a UK playerbase.
It's the only MMORPG which actively encourages players to group together and communicate to achieve the most basic of ingame goals. To level up and defeat the most powerful monsters in the game, you will need to make friends and help others- not spend the entire levelling experience solo as in WoW. :D
S Darker, Norwich, UK
I imagine you don't get "Southpark" over the water, but it can be found on Youtube. The episode "make love not warcraft" brought me to the World. I thought the graphics looked good and decided to take a look at the game. My sister had been playing for years but I wasn't interested till I saw the show.
Now here I am, at 50, a WOW addict. I enjoy the community for the most part, nice graphics and interesting little quest lines......and killin beasties in the game.
Now my wife plays too and we have some enjoyable times working side by side destroying the bad guys.
One good thing about being a WOW addict is, unlike a crack addict, one doesn't go around looking to rob folks to feed your habit..
Steve Schwarer, New Orleans, Louisiana/ USA
Please, stop this evil acitivity before it ruins you all. Despite your complete ignorance there is a real world out there; including real trees, real guns, real ducks etc. if you want to experience death, join the army., or some kind of social club that involves real people. Wicked, keep it real,
Gavski, PC, Italia
If you talk about mmorpgs, don't forget lord of the rings online.
It is so much better than WoW
Peter Baker, Hastings,
Reading the review, and reading the comments, its amazing how many people are surprised and somewhat shocked at the pervasiveness of this game. Since the console days of the 1980's the general public has increasingly found that computer-based entertainment is what they want, and the money speaks volumes. Whats the biggest single media product of 2006? What could possibly be the biggest single entertainment product EVER? WoW. Its publisher has revenues this year of over $1bn ( £530m). To put that into context, Titanic, the largest grossing Hollywood movie of all time, took just over $1.8bn worldwide and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, the biggest blockbuster of 2006, has taken just $417m. Michael Jackson's Thriller, the best-selling music album of all time, has grossed about $500m since it was released. But, WoW just keeps on going! 8.5 million subscribers paying $15 a month, every month.
Face it, we're all geeks now Caitlin. Even us 28 year old University Lecturers..FTW
David Grundy, Newcastle Upon Tyne,
I'm a fellow female gamer that's been playing WoW ever since it came out. Peope underestimate the social interaction you get in such games - they only see the graphics and fail to notice the slew of text on the screen or the effort that goes into running a guild and keeping a happy community. WoW will always be about the social experience for me. The raiding, the PvPing, it's all fun, but when you've got great people from all around the world to help you, it's even better.
Kate, Dudley, West Midlands, UK
My kids got me into WoW, my first MMORPG, a couple of years ago.
I am 56 years old, I have one 70 and 4 others 60 plus.
I played D&D (Chainmail!) in the 70s, and got my kids into D&D when they were teenagers.
As a female, I *despise* the NE type of sluttiness. My preferred race is Dwarf. (I have a NE druid, but she acts like a Dwarf, and NEVER dances.)
Also have a smattering of Horde, the oldest being a Tauren hunter, 33.
Mary, FDL, USA
I'm a 50 year old male, and my son (11 years old) and I play WoW on a regular basis....over a year now. I've been a gamer since the days of "pong" and love the advances in technology. It's a thrill to fight other players, dragons and weird creatures, and conversely, a bummer to die unexpectedly!
Derek, California, USA
Another female.
My boyfriend is addicted, has 3 or 4 different caracteres. We fought because he had to end a quest or help his friends, didn’t seem right to keep me waiting to play a game that you can play anytime.
Tree weeks ago he asked if I want a caracter and 2 minutes latter I was doing my first quest. Since than, I got a pet, evolved 16 levels and can’t wait until next weekend to play again…
Carol, SP, Brasil
To those promoting Guild Wars, I was a former Guild War addict who has switched to WoW. WoW is so much deeper of a gaming experience and a much more vibrant and alive game. After you leave the towns in Guild Wars, the world is only populated by your group. I love meeting other people questing out in the world in WoW. Also Guild Wars caps at level 20, which I could get to in 3 days. I enjoy the level progression. I quit playing Guild Wars out of sheer boredom. Sure there is no monthly fee, but there is also not near the amount of content either. If you enjoy PVE type RPG along with human interaction go with WoW. If you enjoy PVP mostly, then Guild Wars is OK. I got Wow a month ago and havent logged in to GW once since.
NiteRanger (level 36 Hunter)
Steve, Fort Knox,
Me myself I am a 16 year old guy from Sweden, and I would clearly agree with the fact that alot of people over the age of 25 play. There has been some kind of research showing that 25% of the players are married or are a couple, and over 45% of the playing people are over 25. The game is a really widespreading game, around the world, and for all ages ;) Me myself, I'm a 70 Rogue and 70 Hunter, on Tarren Mill EU ;).
Victor, Skövde, Sweden
I find it fascinating that it is the women who are discussing prostitution, to earn abit on the side, or whichever position,
do not forget that WoW has got a large number of juveniles engaged in it, would prostitution be appropirate???
Stuart, Barnsley,
Mark Temple: They tried- it was called 'edutainment'. And it bombed because the skills required to teach are very different to the ones needed to design a playable game- unfortunately, it was the educators that were doing the design work, and were only coming up with things like "casting spells by using foreign languages" and "making potions with chemistry", which were basically electronic exams- not entertaining games- which just sat on shelves, unplayed.
However- they're having another go. If you google 'Serious Games', you'll find a host of people creating genuinely playable games, based around slightly broader topics, like civil rights, global warming and famine- the latter of which MTV, of all people, had some hand in- which aim not so much to test, as edutaiment did, but instead to promote discussion and sneak facts in within the gameplay.
That, and I learned more about history from the fact-based Age Of Empires games than I did in school, but that's another story...
Mark Kelly, Greater Manchester, England
It's not just spotty teenagers that inhabit Azeroth and Outlands you know :D
I'm a 34 year old mother of one 14 year old daughter,and I'm also a level 70 (auburn haired ;))female paladin officer in one of the longest established,and well respected guilds on my realm.(lightning's blade eu)
The sense of friendship and community is the main source of continuing enjoyment for many players.
My partner,and daughter both play,and we have all made long-term friends purely from meeting in-game.
Tish, sudbury,
And another female. Started Online Gaming 1999 with Ultima Online. I'm married, 27 tender years old. (Met my husband IN UO I have to say here.) I run a small guild on a role playing server. I don't pwn, nor do I have any epix.
I just enjoy myself submerged now and then in another world.
Which spreads a whole globe, no less. When we moves from Paris to Virginia, I took a lot of my friends "with me"... we're due to enter a dungeon later. *smiles*
Ges, Ashburn, VA,
I am still waiting for an article about the online communities found in other games. There are many online games where people make communities even when there is no real need to. I play Counterstrike (a Valve game using the Half-Life 2 engine) and many of the people I play with are parts of communities and regularly found in the same game server.
MMORPGs do not appeal to me as they involve a huge amount of time to improve your character and travel about. Because of the time that people have invested in their characters the games have been given a far larger proportion of press space than I think they deserve.
It is all well and good explaining how the games can be seen as educational but the only non-school education I had when I was little was a minute or so at the end of every cartoon giving a moral to the story that had just taken place and I do not see how getting to know a diverse range of people by online gaming needs to be improved upon by making the game more intellectua
Jay, Woking, UK
WoW? Rubbish
Play Guild Wars, it's infinitely better. WoW has ancient graphics and rubbish gear.
Look at Guild Wars and spot the difference. Talk about better clothes, hairstyles, skin colour body size? You betcha!
Ali Wearing, Nottingham, UK
Another 'non typical' (ie not a geek!) player of MMORPG's here - two years playing Lineage II and (so far) 1 month playing World of Warcraft... lvl 30 Warlock =)
I'm a 40 year old mother of an 18 year old son (who also used to play Lineage but now plays Eve Online), and I manage a team at a specialist recruitment firm in London.
I met my finace through Lineage - we interacted online for 8-9 months and then met up face to face in June last year... now we're planning to get married this autumn.
The best aspect of these games, for me, is the friendships you make and the 'level playing field' the online environments create - it doesn't matter what race, creed, income bracket, etc, how people interact with you depends 100% on 'who you are' - what you say and what you do within the game environment. A true meritocracy.
Nicola, London,
How nice to see someone write about a proper
MMORPG for once, as opposed to the sickeningly
dull Second Life.
Oh and sorry to the FFXI fan but poorly implemented
grind fests are the past, leave them there.
Glad you enjoyed WoW Caitlin, spend some more
time and find a guild and then really see the delights
the game can bring.
Fluclox, Bristol, UK
Oh yes! I'm with you all the way. 54, nearly a grannie, I play with my daughter, her boyfriend, and God knows how many other people from all over Europe. It's the best form of relaxation I know, and £8.99 a month, a damn sight cheaper than drugs, alcohol and cigarettes. World of Warcraft for ever (1 level 60 warlock, 1 level 26 hunter, 1 level 26 rogue, 1 level 25 warrior)...
Alison, Margate, UK
Regarding Mr. Temple's comments ("Can't we harness the addictiveness of these games for educational purposes?"), as an avid player of World of Warcraft these past two years, I think the game can be extremely educational, much of it due to its massively multi-player environment. For example, one can learn a lot about a server's economy (and the laws of supply and demand) by paying attention to the Auction House. One can learn a lot about the strengths and weaknesses of various classes, and most importantly, how each different class can work cooperatively with others in a cohesive team to complete objectives together (in a dungeon run).
You also get to see some of the worst behavior ("what not to do") of people stealing loot that should have been given to a more appropriate class (or by the person with the winning roll), not to mention learning how to communicate primarily through written communication.
Lani Teshima, Dublin, California, USA
Final Fantasy XI is by far the best, you can do more with the characters and go up to level 75, the graphics and details are also so much better!!! Really im not a geek but suddenly found myself in this world after being given a soft push by my boyfriend! We still have great social lifes but there is no gaming like Final Fantasy XI.
Simon Parsons, Peterborough, Uk
Yes, on-line games are certainly addictive. Like Caitlin, I thought I was going to hate it, and resisted using the free slot I was offered to 'have a go'. This was for Guild Wars - and now I'm 100% totally hooked. If you think 2am was bad, Caitlin, try 6.30am! Very naughty, but time passes so fast one doesn't realise how many hours have been spent in front of the computer.
As Mark says, TS (team speak) adds a new dimension to the game - it's much easier chatting to people you meet, and also may save you the embarrassment of having to wriggle out of sexual advances by other characters! I'm totally with you there Mark regarding the voice acting in Guild Wars - really bad! Prince Rurik is a pain in the neck at the best of times...
Oh, and as a quick PS - with Guild Wars, there is no monthly fee.
Lou Coverdale, Fontenay, France
Second Life isn't even a game, and it's as addictive as any other MMORPG. My company does a lot of work in the world, and we make real money, but every once in a while I'll stop and think: wait a minute...none of this is real! But that hasn't stopped me yet.
Ken Brady, Los Angeles, California
@Mark, I think you may be underestimating the age range of warcraft players. Caitlin certainly isn't the oldest player in the game (I've got a couple of years on her) and most people I've encountered appear to be in their early to mid 20s.
In order to access the latter parts of the game, it's necessary to organise a number of players into a 'raid' of up to 40 people. Raid leaders are capable of organising more than 40 people into a coherent unit, managing resources (paying for repairs, new healing potions etc) recruiting people, maximising the efficiency of the people playing, making sure you have enough warriors, and healers for example. Much of this probably involves efforts comparable to running a small business, not to mention the teamwork involved to get 40 people to achieve a common aim.
Some of the mathematical analysis carried out by some players to eke the maximum efficiency from equipment/armour/skill combinations is also quite sophisticated in parts.
PaulH, Alton, UK
Very nice artical, came across it on the WoW forums, i'm glad you enjoyed yourself. Also, as a few have already stated that you missed guild wars out, i thought i would say you missed out on eve online, this is a truely epic online game with a proper economy system.
Also, http://armory.wow-europe.com/#character-sheet.xml?r=Nagrand&n=Scottbaio Nice to meet you.
Neil, Manchester,
Since we're naming MMORPGs, especially for the non-traditional audience, I might as well give a big shout out to Puzzle Pirates. The community is on the whole much more friendly, mature and gender-balanced than that of your typical MMORPG (no offence - I'm a WoW subscriber myself), whose players might be put off by the cartoon-style graphics and reliance on teamwork.
Rather than the traditional (and usually tedious) process of 'level-grinding' that most of these games feature, your character's skill in the game is purely based on your ability to play a variety of different, and addictive, puzzle games - so it's much more about how good you are, rather than how many months of your life you've been willing to sacrifice. Plus it's about pirates, and who doesn't love pirates?
Ian O'Donnell, Reading, UK
I play runescape and it is brilliant!! I meet up with all my friends and trade items, we also go on quests watching each other's backs it also makes a good talking point the next day. However the graphics are a bit dodgy and the music sounds like a cheap moblie phone.
Oli gabon, blackpool, england
"I counter, trying to smash him with my giant dwarf hammer. He easily dodges the blow."
You made that bit up. I know, I've played the game and you can't attack your own side. Okay, that makes me a) slightly tragic as well as b) a pedant but I strongly believe in maintaining truth in journalism...
Philip the Elf, Ashenvale,
Sadly i seem to be addicted to this game, oh well, at least im not attacted to somthing that will damage my health :D
And, beta testing the expansion really didnt help :D
Tom, Cambridge,
Hrm... welcome to the Sha'tar realm missy... you are aware of the special rules on that realm?
Count Ekkadorn Crowheart
Kure, Copenhagen,
Caitlin - I really enjoyed your article - it was refreshing to read such a balanced review of Warcraft. I am not a Warcraft player myself - I play Everquest and the winning formula for me is the community withing the game. I have made friends in the game that have become "real life" friends that I have actually met (*shock horror*).
By the way - I am a 47 year old married father of 3 adult offspring and a grandfather to a very cute 3 year old. I work for a major IT services company in a fairly senior management role. I am without question a bit of technogeek and gadget freak - but hey I am a boy, I thought all boys were like that!!
Again - superb article.
Simon Gledhill, Nottingham, UK
It's a pity that all the articles in the mainstream press about WoW seem to overlook the role-play side of the game. Role players take care to pick names that match their race ('Scottbaio' would probably be reported on a RP server) and then actively 'play' that role in the game. There are a mere handful of RP servers, and sadly these are often infiltrated by players who have no idea what the concept involves, and often end up ruining the game for everyone else. Role players use the in-game 'emote' system to write narrative describing their character's actions, helping to create what amounts to an online novel, even if the dialogue is often mis-spelt or a bit clumsy. But it helps build a convincing picture of a fantasy world that is frequently much more enjoyable than the 'vanilla' game alone.
Mark, Guernsey,
In answer to Mark Temple as to why we can't educate kids this way, the BBC was TRYING to do something very similar with BBC jam.... loads of interesting, engaging and educational computer games for the independent learner had been commissioned, to fit in with the national curriculum. Unfortunately, this admirable project has now been sabotaged by several disgruntled publishers who complained to the EU that the bbc was unfair competition. Despite the fact that BBC jam was for the independent learner, nothing to do with schools or teachers, and therefore hardly likely to impact on any products the publishers might want to sell to schools. It's a scandal, and I hope the publishers are truly ashamed of themselves (although I doubt it).
Lynn, Manchester, UK
Nice to read a positive article about this subject here. By the way, if choosing the proper outfit for your character is important to you, go have a look at City of Heroes, or City of Vilains respectively. You know you've hit the pot of gold of character customisation when there's six sets of ears or dozens of belts to choose from - each in any colour you want. My wife loves it to pieces (and my humble self, too).
Osiris Brackhaus, Kassel, Germany
I think the social aspects of games like these are often buried under the stigma of 'geeks playing games'.
In my experience there are some very good social groups (Guilds) where negative comments are frowned upon and friendships are made which often migrate into real life ones (including parties etc)
Thanks for a very funny article, I'm glad you had a good experience and I hope you've shown a few other people that it's not all bad!
Dave Cooke, Oxford,
Not for nothing is it also known as 'Warcrack'!
And if you'd:
"like to be able to conceive and raise children, seeing whether they look like the father, teaching them our spells. We’d like a bigger range of wardrobe and hairstyles, and the ability to gain points simply by being amusing, or wise. Or pulling off a good outfit. "
May I suggest something a little more relaxed and less fantasy orientated such as something by Maxis?
George, Skipton,
I was "addicted" to World of Warcraft for almost two years.. My cure?? Beta testing Lord of the Rings Online!! Can't wait for the official release, it is fantastic. Hobbits FTW!
Clover Neal, Melbourne, Australia
I used to be a member of a MUD (Aslyum), basically the forerunner of MMORPGs, and I was totally hooked. Now I try to avoid them, otherwise I end up with no life.
Starling, Lancaster,
You forgot Guild Wars - it's big plus is no monthly subscription fee. . .
Mena, Hemel Hempstead, UK
Can't we harness the addictiveness of these games for educational purposes? They only cost a few million to make, but imagine if we could get kids addicted to casting spells by using foreign languages, making potions with chemistry, attacking with fast-paced arithmetic, or tuning their archery skills with physics!
If we're spending hundreds of millions on a new school, surely it would make sense to hire the Blizzard team for a couple of years to develop something that will bring education across the country into the 21st century?
Mark Temple, Woking, UK
My sypathies on your server. Seriously though, it's eye opening how many girls play and it's easy to underestimate the addiction factor.
Oh and Horde can't understand Alliance (or vice versa) so if they hit you just smile sweetly and try to outrun them - or just don't roll on a PVP server.
Medb, UK,
small point to caitlin, and to any other goody-goody alliance player, the horde is not ... not ... evil. in fact we are mostly nature loving hippy types trying to stop our enslavement by the nazi-like alliance ... Its almost a race thing, i feel - all the alliance (humans, dwarves, gnomes and night elves) are either white, homely or good looking. and all the horde are, well pretty gopping (orcs, tauren (cow people), undead (zombies), trolls). perhaps that's why in the recent expansion the horde got a 'cute' race (blood elves) and the alliance an ugly one (erm draenai, sort of fat blue people ...)
ahem. perhaps also i am reading far too much into this, and should be working ...
elizzar, nottingham,
These Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPGs) are indeed enormously addictive. Game designers have become experts at producing compelling, inspirational environments and stories that are as rewarding as they are vast in scope. And I think there's something about adventuring games in which the in-game character representations are less humanoid that generates a more egalitarian environment in which to co-operate and battle. I'm in an online community where people even talk to each other as they play, rather than typing chat messages; that really brings the game to life and stops it from being a solitary, sinister activity conducted in a darkened room. This is the new breed of team-based hobbies where all ages and backgrounds can realistically participate on a level playing field. Oh and you've missed Guild Wars off your list of alternative games: marvellous piece of entertainment, even if the voice acting is worse than a badly-dubbed Bruce Lee film.
Mark Thomas, Stoke-on-Trent, UK