Musings { Fear and Loathing in Azeroth.

I have World of Warcraft. It was my rewards for finishing the basement and making it liveable. The game is very impressive. I've been playing for two weeks. I've played quite a bit, but nothing matching the time I used to spend on Planetside or Tribes 2. I play in the faction called 'Horde' and I am an Undead Rogue. I made level 26. Leveling is both a good thing and a bad thing. For example, I find it frustrating that I can't fish anywhere. But also it ensures that I won't be insta-killed by monsters if I stay within 'safer' areas close to my level. WoW as it is called is immense. Players choose from Alliance vs Horde factions and within each faction they have a choice of various races. Once you have a race, a variety of classes are possible from fights to magic-users. After you choose a classes you choose up to two primary professions. These are things like engineering, blacksmithing, enchanting, alchemy, skinning, mining, herbalism and are how you primarily make money in the game. As a rogue I thought it would make sense to be an Alchemy/Herbalist as I can gather reagents and make potions to help me with 'soloing' which is where you journey through the world and quests alone. This works for most quests and areas, but the game has content definitely geared towards group play, some 'mobs' a strange MMO term for 'mobile monster' will take more than one player to defeat. Groups of people can form a Guild which is a clanlike/tribal-like collection of players. Guilds have heirarchies and personalities of themselves. On the server I play most of the Horde guilds are devoted to helping others, which is great, since Alliance outnumber Horde almost 3to1 in WoW. I have chosen to not join a Guild, as I am still new to the game and Guilds can bring with them certain dramas and headaches that I do not want to deal with. So I've been soloing and joining 'pick up groups' with other players who are trying to complete the same quests as me. One of the strangest things I've met is the generosity of complete strangers in the game. Passing Priests and Mages will randomly 'buff' you (give you bonuses). In the groups I have been in, many of the other players are working on their sixth alternate and are willing to give you stuff they have in extra, or make you gear just to practice their skills. This struck me off guard as I am used to a world that works in which nothing is free. In cases where people have made me gear, I have at least tried to reimburse them. Some accept the donations or contributions of materials, others just smile and say 'no need.' It has left me conflicted. But it has also setup a kind of 'pass it forward' type of mentality. I now when passing through lower level areas often stop to help and chat with newer players and when I have the gear gifted them things I can't use (I gave a warrior a decent axe for a starting level because as a rogue, axes are not my primary weapons). This helped this player immensely and we started talking. He was an interesting person from Quebec and couldn't speak english well (and my french is non-existent), but none the less we had a great chat and I can now say I have a new friend and met an interesting person.

This can also lead to certain complications. Yesterday I joined another person in completing quests. This person was very nice and very helpful. A little odd, but we all are. We completed many quests and as she was a more experienced player I asked many questions about the game (and learned a few things like I can learn to use other weapons, I just need to find a weapons master). I gave her some materials and she crafted me a gun (a nice one) and both she and her husband helped me through ShadowFang Keep, a very very hard Dungeon and impossible to do alone. We 'power levelled' through it, meaning her husband ran her level 60 character as a meatshield/tank and we followed getting stragglers and looting. I picked up some nice gear (we both did). It felt wrong, but I had spent two days and had been unable to find anyone else interested in doing the Dungeon, so I was grateful for the chance. We talked for a while, and while I did not disclose much about myself (I prefer to be a little secretive, especially online and around people I have never met in person), but with her it was like a flood gate opened. I started feeling uncomfortable. I found out a lot about her, her kids, her husband, where she lives. I tried to get away, but the game has a nice feature where you can add people to a friends list and they can find you in the game. I can set an ignore flag, but honestly that is rude, and she has helped me, and I am just not a mean person by nature.

I won't be back in the game for a few days as I have many things to do, busy with work and I need to do a few chores around the house. I hope when I go back, she will have moved on. Her and her husband, as well as their Guild members have been pleasant helpful folk, she was just a little too flirtatious and self-disclosing for my taste. I should say something next time.

I have learned this since playing MMOs for many years. People are people in reality virtual or not. But the anonymity of the virtual world can make crossing certain lines easier. You need to be careful.

PS Gifting in WoW is tricky and make sure before you wear something you really want it or want to accept it. Once an item has been worn (or in some cases picked up) it becomes 'soulbound' and is now only usable by you. This makes it so you cannot return things. I think from now on I will not accept gifts unless I can recompensate the other player with either material components or a reasonable cash value (WoW's well developed economy uses gold, silver, and copper pieces). But also know their gifts were appreciated as it helped a newbie out a lot.