World of Warcrack

I have become slightly addicted to World of Warcraft over the last week. Jordan gave me his free ten-day pass last Friday, so after work I installed the game and started playing. I played quite a bit over the weekend and also for a couple of hours that I could squeeze in on Monday and Tuesday.

It was Sunday afternoon sometime when I realized why people can become literally addicted to these games. There is a strange phenomenon in these Massively Multiplayer Online (MMO) games in which people become obsessed with levelling up their character as quickly as possible until they hit the level cap that is set by the developers. Instead of taking time to enjoy portions of the unfolding narrative or marvel at the colorful environments that have been designed by the artists, what do we watch? We watch that little purple bar at the bottom of the screen that indicates how much experience we have and how much we need to achieve the next level. It's the one that makes us glow in an explosion of yellow light when it fills completely. With so many phenomenal things to look at in this game, I find myself watching this bar a few times too many.

So, why do we watch this bar so closely? What compels us to pay more attention to that bar than game world? I believe that there are two reasons. The first reason, the one that applies to the game itself and is quite obvious, is that as I increase in level I also increase in power. As my power increases, my status grows in the game world, not only because I can vanquish increasingly powerful enemies controlled by the computer, but also because I am stronger in comparison to the other humans playing the game.

The second reason, while still relatively obvious, is more socially inspired than the first. If my online companions are playing while I am not, their characters are slowly growing better than mine while I am away. If I don't play for an extended period of time, when I finally do log into the game server, I risk not being able to play with those people with whom I have established relationships. In other words, the game itself has rolled the idea of "keeping up with Jones'" into the act of playing the game. Not only will my online companions be able to go to areas where my character would easily be outgunned by enemies, they also have no real incentive to play with me. In World of Warcraft, if my character is 5 levels or more below another character, there is no incentive for that other player to play with me because they will receive little to no reward in terms of experience for doing so.

In a game based at least fifty percent on social interaction, this seems strange. Do I want to be required to make new friends if I can't play with my regular friends for a few days, or heaven forbid, a couple of weeks? I hold the opinion that it is more fun to play with people you actually know in real life than those you only know in the game. Regardless, while I very much like my friends, I can't control when they play the game and when they don't. Therefore, I am continously logging into the game simply to ensure that I am still able to play with them.

This question becomes even more relevant when considered in light of the fifteen dollar monthly fee that is all but standard for these types of games. If I am paying additional money on a monthly basis to play, I feel obligated to get my money's worth out of the game. I already payed $50 for the game itself, and I pay almost as much for the internet service required to play it.

So, in short, I very much like World of Warcraft. It is a fun game with so much to see that I can't even begin to fathom how long it would take me to experience everything the game has to offer. But, the verdict on my interest in the game for the long haul is still out. There's something about feeling literally tethered to a computer game that warns me to enjoy it, but at the same time, to keep my distance.