I've done it. I've now joined the world of an MMORPG (that's massive-multiplayer online role playing game). In my quest for "the next Diablo" I've decided on World of Warcraft
Matthew and I had been discussing this game since it came out last Tuesday and since it was on sale at CompUSA Friday for $10 off (gotta love those day after Thankgiving sales!) I decided to give it a try.
I've played it a couple days now and while it's mostly fun, it's still not Diablo. Mostly what's different from Diablo are the battles. In WOW you don't really have control over the battle. You press the "weapon attack" key and it all goes automated. You do have the ability to activate special skills or spells that make your attacks more powerful - but that's about all the control you have. And you also have to "select" a target to attack. And once a target is selected, that's the only target you can attack. This makes it really difficult when two or three (or five) monsters want to attack you and you can only do battle with one at a time. This also makes it extremely difficult to run away from a battle you can't win. I've died way too many times trying to run away. I just can't run fast enough! (Now, I haven't exactly fully read the manual - so it very well could be that I'm doing things wrong, so if someone out there in blogdom plays WOW and I'm doing it wrong, please tell me!!)
But I love playing the Tauren race. They're so cute! It's fun being able to customize my character. I also love the "quests". When I complete one, I feel such a sense of accomplishment. It's still a little weird playing with "live" people. Since I'm still in the early levels and getting my feet wet, I haven't been too concerned about joining any parties.
But if I decide that I really do like it, it shouldn't be too hard to convince Matthew to get it and we can play together (which would probably make it even more fun!) And that would be cool since it is something that we can do together even though he's
in Hawaii!
It's funny that when he first told me about WOW and how his friends would probably to get him to play it too, I (half jokingly/half seriously) that he wasn't allowed to play any more computer games. (He loses all focus and sense of priority when he gets into a game). But since it's something that I am now interested, it would be ok if he plays it with me!

