We've been playing World of Warcraft now for about seven months. But I've only logged in myself for about 20 minutes over the last 5 weeks. I've been thinking about why.
I love games. I always have. Almost all kinds of games--consoles, hand-helds, computer, board, card; I'm willing to try anything. I particularly like games that foster cooperation, team-play, or just have interesting and unique mechanics. That's why I bought myself a DS (touchscreen in a handheld game system?) and am anxiously awaiting the launch of the Wii (nunchuck and remote?).
WoW offered a really different take on MMORPGs, and while I was hesitant at first to get started--my family had a really difficult time when we were all heavily involved in EverCrack--I eventually gave in because it offered the bonus of getting an iMac Dual Core when they hit the streets.
And we all played, heavily.
First my youngest son cut back his time. Z. is pretty social, but he seems to prefer face-to-face. He'd schlepp the Xbox over to his friend's house just so they could play over a link cable.
Next it was my wife. M.'s multiple sclerosis really hits her available energy hard. It's best described as "starting the day with your gas tank at 30%"--it's not that you can't do anything, it's that you have to pick and choose what to spend your available energy on wisely. Between her job at the vet clinic and just home life, gaming became such a low priority that she basically stopped altogether.
Then at the end of July I had a week-long business trip. I had just made level 50 a few days before. I parked my character in an inn, fully intending to spend the accumulated rest experience to ramp up to 52 in short order.
Only, I didn't.
At first it was the DS. I was having a lot of fun with Metroid Prime: Hunters and Advance Wars DS, and those were eating my time. Then I was fiddling with my new Newton(s).
I took yesterday off from work so I could have a 4-day weekend, and I sat down to play for the first time since the trip. And as I was looking over my quest list while grinding in Un'Goro Crater, I realized why I wasn't getting into it.
What made WoW unique to me was that the quest system drove a story, but did it in a way that kept you exploring and engaged. hat was most unique was that the vast majority of this content could be enjoyed solo.
Now, I'm a pretty intense gamer in general, but when it comes to MMORPGs I would be considered a casual gamer. I don't dedicate entire weekends to raiding. I don't play PvP. I don't fiddle for hours looking for that perfect combination of equipment. I play, I enjoy, and when it's time for bed I hearthstone home and turn it off--no matter what I was in the middle of doing.
The problem now as I reach the upper bounds of power in the game is that its solo nature is disappearing. In a full list of 20 quests at level 51, I have a grand total of three that can be done solo. The rest are instance or dungeon quests that require at least a small team to accomplish.
I'm in a guild. I have a couple of real-life friends on the server I play on, and I joined a guild with them. They're all very friendly and always willing to help if I ask. But I rarely ask. And I find myself hesitant to ask now. Because that's not why I was playing this game. This is odd because in another setting it's that kind of cooperative play that I would really find intriguing.
So as I sit here right now writing this--one kid over a this friend's house, the other asleep after a late-night raid I let him stay up to participate in, and my wife at work--I have the perfect time to play WoW and I just don't want to any more.
What I really want to do is dust off some of the German boardgames I've been buying and not playing for the last couple of years. There's a boardgaming club in San Antonio. Maybe I'll join them and play World of Warcraft: The Boardgame.
First post from my eMate 300. I just couldn't resist this when I found it at the Goodwill Computer Thrift store. (I love that place--a veritable cornucopia of obsolete equipment.) $35 including the power supply. Since I already figured out how to get my Newton MP2100 rigged as a blog editor, getting this running was a piece of cake.
Now my wife says I can't buy anything else for awhile.
I'm such a geek.
Well, first post from my Newton, via my WLAN. It's taken a couple of days to get the configurations correct, but now I'm stylin'!
One thing this does mean is I can more idle moments composing posts, which may translate into more frequent posts from me.
Not that anyone is reading this, of course. :)