World of Warcraft, Etc.

A few people have expressed interest in knowing more about my gaming habits. I haven't really talked much about it, save in passing, since I figured most people wouldn't care at all.

That, and I've already proven definitively that I am, in fact, a nerd. Why add more evidence?

But it is true that I play World of Warcraft, among other things. I have played for a very long time, actually. It came out when Nick and I were engaged (he got it at midnight the day of, back when you didn't have to wait in a line to do that), and I watched him play with interest for a few weeks before I asked him if I could try it.

It was my first MMOPRG (Massive Multi-player Online Role Playing Game [I think.]), though I have played video games since I was a kid. I remember the Nintendo fondly—Tetris and Super Mario and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. When SUPER Nintendo came out? Dude. It was so awesome. I remember rainy afternoons spent trying to beat my brother at Mario Kart and Street Fighter. I didn't win often. That first time he beat M. Bison was like winning some epic war.

Then came the RPGs—Secret of Mana and Chrono Trigger and Earthbound. That's where I really started to love video games. They were always fun, but a video game with a story? Heaven!

And then I met Cloud Strife.

Oh, Cloud, how you changed my life. *mwah*

Final Fantasy VII was...how can I even explain it? The Sony Playstation. This game. It was kind of like when Apple introduced the iPod, I guess. Or maybe when TV started coming in color. Suffice to say, it was BIG, guys. If you don't know video games, at least know that. And if you do, you know what I'm talking about.

Like it or hate it, Final Fantasy VII was one of those games that changed the face of the industry. The graphics were insane for the time. The cut scenes! The story! It was Freaking Amazing.

I cried at that one part. WHO DID NOT AT LEAST TEAR UP AT THE ONE PART?!?!!

I was kind of a Final Fantasy fanatic after VII. I waited anxiously for the subsequent games. I hunted down the older ones. I played Tactics, both of them. Heck, I was a Squaresoft junkie. I even loved Saga Frontier! (Who remembers Saga Frontier? I will hug you if you do. One of my all time faves.) And since then I've always been on board for a little gaming, though I thoroughly SUCK at 1st person shooters. I'm pretty awesome at DDR though. Just saying.

Anyway...going a little off track here. I guess this just proves that I was kind of primed to like World of Warcraft (WoW). I'd even played Warcraft 1-3, but I had this terrible opinion of mmorpgs. Why? Because the Final Fantasy franchise decided to make XI online, and I couldn't afford a monthly subscription!

Talk about devastation.

But that day Nick let me play? Oh, I was hooked. I still couldn't afford it, what with paying for school and rent and all that, but he let me play his account and we talked about buying one for me when we got married. As luck would have it, my brother left on a mission shortly after we married and I stole his account, mwahaha.

So yeah, I've played WoW on and off for six years. Boy, have I learned A LOT about online gaming in six years. It's fun and fascinating and very much a "man's world" still. I still remember going to the midnight release of Burning Crusade and getting stared at. I was one of maybe 7-10 girls. Out of a few hundred at least. Things are changing, though. Seems like a lot more girls are trying it out and discovering how fun it is. Time sink, sure. BUT A FUN TIME SINK.

For the WoW players out there who want to judge my playing habits, I've been both horde and alliance, so I don't make fun of either (Except Blood Elves, because almost every noob/alliance deserter goes BE, and they're supposed to be an "endangered race." Snarf, they're usually half the Horde's population now...) I've played almost every class except paladin, because they bore me to tears (though they aren't half as bad as they used to be). I'm currently leveling a warrior. I have two druids, one on each faction, but don't play them now because the new healing changes SUCK.

Also, I'm pretty sure this new Archaeology thing is a huge inside joke, because it's the lamest profession ever created.

If you know what I'm talking about, high five.

Lately I've been thinking it'd be cool if I could play with some of my writer friends who play WoW. It's like my new fantasy to have y'all on RealID so we could at least talk cross server.

So...yeah. I guess you could say I'm kind of a gamer chick. Not like Hard Core, but I like me some video games. I think a lot of people still have this idea that gamers in general all live in their parents' basement and are super losers who don't contribute to society. Well, I'd like to refute that stereotype. WoW in particular has brought gaming to a more mainstream player, for better or worse. And while it's certainly its own kind of culture, it's not as crazy backwards as you'd think.

And it's really fun, kind of like pretending to be another person. Hmm, that doesn't sound anything like writing...

You should try it.