Rivals

Back in the day, I played World of Warcraft. All obvious assumptions or interpretations aside, I lost myself in a fantasy world much more fulfilling than whatever else I might have been doing at that time. In hindsight, it filled a gap left by the inability to find adventure in my life.

Mostly, I found myself taking up guide roles as either a healer or a tank. Even though I was reluctant to do these things, I found that I was not only really good at them, but my retention of knowledge within the game allowed me to expedite many processes that were otherwise deliberately designed to take up lots of time.

During the golden era of player versus player combat (approx. right before the first expansion and for a good while until the end of the third expansion) my usefulness found its pinnacle with mid-range "twinking." Twinking involved taking an alternate character, leveling them to the maximum within a bracket, and finding the best possible armor and weapons available for that range. For example, my warrior, Dalwyn, was one of only a few characters capable of defeating another twinked rogue (whose name now escapes me, unfortunately) in both the 30-39 and 40-49 level brackets.

For the first time in my life, I was not only fulfilling a definite purpose, but I also had a definite rival. Now, in retrospect, I wish I had communicated more with that rogue and feel slightly disappointed in myself that I did not turn it into some kind of oddly forged friendship.

Another one of my characters, Kynaro, was a max level druid (a hybrid role, and thus my favorite). Mostly, I played the hand dealt to me, and usually filled the role that the talent points were strongest for. Sometimes the best was healing, sometimes more geared for tanking. The best, undeniably most fun role to fill as a druid was what was known as a "boomkin." Basically, a moonkin was an owl beast that utilized the power of the moon's light to blast enemies, and thus, boomkin. The boomkin's main ability was wrath; a ball of green light that was similar to a semi-automatic moon rifle. I specifically remember competing in raids for the top damage per second spot with other dedicated damage-dealing classes, such as the rogue, mage, or hunter.

Speaking of hunters, I should mention that my first character, Kusaris, was a hunter. Admittedly, I followed a stereotype where new players typically played hunters, and when they were at max level, served a limited use due to low skill and therefore low damage output. I didn't realize that I was more or less wasting my time until the second expansion, after I had spent many days worth of time in-game running through a place called Dire Maul. Outfitting in World of Warcraft was key to "skill." In other words, the gear you had told people up front whether or not you could be trusted to fill your role appropriately. In other words, my hunter could fill no role, except maybe meat shield.

I think the point of all this is to remind myself that despite of its slanted perception and the sheer amount of time dedicated, playing these games during their prime defines who I am as a person, and helped form my demeanor and principles to what they are now. Despite the observable lack of friends produced by playing online games like WoW, I feel that even now, many years later, and after having abandoned what at the time were more or less "bad habits," the things I accomplished in virtual worlds - with hardly anyone to prove it - were still enough for me to find joy in my life.