neils clark

And not always all three at the same time. This entry is going to return to a common theme on this blog: that what we call “game addiction” is complicated. While there are elements that we can take from things like alcoholism and gambling/behavioral problems, these online (especially MMO) games are their own unique beasts. Some of the things which keep players coming back cannot must be understood in their own right.

Magic Swords

Of all the things that keep people playing World of Warcraft (WoW), currently the world’s most popular MMO game (8.5+ million players strong), magical swords might just be the most potent. More specifically, something called “character progression,” is built into the game. As has been brought up on this blog more than once, there’s undoubtedly this sense of a need to “keep up with the Joneses.” We need to keep up with our neighbors in this game, to the best of our abilities. That means putting in the time, money, and effort required to obtain comparable stuff. Not all players are raging pack-rats, but in order to enjoy many of WoW’s key features, you do need to make a certain level of commitment.

A red-haired elf with a katana. Why does that sound so familiar?

Lately, for me, this has meant building a new character. If you try to enter into Warcraft with established players, so that you can play with maximum-level characters, then you’re probably looking at two or three months of playing — before you can join them in dungeons, player vs. player (PvP) battlegrounds, or raids. As leveling starts to become more difficult, and for Warcraft I would pin this at about level 25 for new players – level 45 for experienced players – you’re going to need to invest more time in order to get your character “up to snuff.” For a lot of people, that’s not addiction so much as a structural characteristic of the game that promotes them to play a lot. Some of these people are going to be able to jump right off, have no withdrawal, and wouldn’t neccessarily qualify for the designation of “addict.” Should we give them heavy pharmaceutical reigmens? No way.

But back to the story, sometimes magical swords come out of nowhere. Something that kept me inside of Warcraft’s dungeons this weekend was a magical sword. One of my good friends inside of WoW (I’ve played games online with him for over 5 years now), came to a low-level dungeon so that he could help me get some experience – and so that I could complete a few quests. After tackling the hardest boss inside this dungeon, I got a magical sword. I don’t usually use swords, so I wasn’t too excited. My friend, however, was a mixture of livid and thrilled.

“I can’t believe that sword dropped for you on the first run. Oh my God you have no idea how lucky you are. People do this dungeon dozens of times and never get that sword.”

I had never heard of this sword before.

But hell, my friend seemed to think that it was worth it. Apparently this was the hard sword to get, and that it combined with another sword that could be found in this dungeon in order to create one “all-powerful weapon of destiny.” Neat. So I spent the next couple of days trying to get the “easy to get” sword. In all honesty, it really only took a couple, maybe three hours, and it’s a nice-looking sword. Since I’m holding onto a lot of swords and outfits for this character, it was a nifty find. Still, it was interesting to see how magical swords can pull people in. I wasn’t one of the people who was going to spend days trying to get a sword – until I found out that other people were doing it. And there are much harder swords to make, swords which can take months of dedication.

Or one lucky night.

Drinking with Friends

And it was all more fun, because I was doing it with cool people. For four nights in a row, at least four of the people in my guild (including me) got drunk “together” over a voice chat program called Ventrilo. One of them is a longtime friend of mine (the one who was quoted in the sword story) who lives about 700 miles away, and the others are new friends who live at similar distances. We crack jokes, crack open beers, talk about what’s happening in the game, and sometimes we’d talk about specialty cheeses. I think one of the main draws back has been that I’ve met interesting people. While the experience is different from hanging out face to face, Ventrilo and Warcraft, taken together work a little bit differently than just a telephone conversation. First of all, you can have a number of people talking – making it a bit like a conference call. People connect to a server, can come and go as they please, and sometimes they’ll organize themselves into different rooms. These rooms, or entire servers, can be password protected. Meanwhile, you’re having a visual experience of these people inside of the game. At times you can engage in extreme combat situations, where you heavily rely at them to “have your back.” Other times you might be dorking around, trying to find super duper magic swords. So you see and hear these people, and sometimes you drink beers with ‘em.

And sometimes you raid Dwarven strongholds with them.

Philosophical Conversations

And sometimes you have deep, involved, philosophical conversations with them! This can really fall under the last heading – drinking with friends. I just wanted to note that I had one of my first really stimulating philosophical conversations in months, maybe years – with someone who I had never really talked to prior. It was all in Ventrilo, the online voice chat, while me and him went to PvP battlegrounds, did random things in the game, or played with kittens in real life.

Hamburglar

I just wanted to also note – last night I suffered from what the book is calling the stomach confusion effect. The game stole my hunger. I hadn’t eaten a rounded meal in probably 9 hours, but after playing – I just wasn’t hungry at all. And since it’s such hard work, defining my 300 abs, I decided to have some Gatorade and conk out.

And just this morning I realized that I had used up my pre-paid time for this month. Now taking bets on how long it’ll take me to reactivate.

Neils Clark :: Jul.16.2007 :: Neils' Gaming Journal ::

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