I'm 1 of 11.5 million

World of Warcraft is a computer game that I had heard about many years ago from friends who played it. I believe it was around 1994 or close to that time. I wasn't interested in it and didn't ask many questions and I never even watched them play it. What I remember about it now is that I only associated the game with role playing and spending long hours in some kind of war scenario. The guys I knew were immersed in it, this was back when laptops weren't all that popular with my crowd, we all had big heavy desktops and large monitors. These guys actually got together on a specific night of the week and transported their computers and even their monitors, speakers, keyboards, and mice over to each others houses so they could sit and play this game in the same room. I remember thinking it was really strange. I loved my friends and all but I did associate the game with what I thought was "weirdness". I didn't understand much of what they were saying about it and I suppose that in all honesty since it had the word "War" in it's title, whatever they did say to me about it, I simply wasn't all that interested in. Still, it fascinated me enough because of the devotion these friends of mine put into it. With my friends having a background of playing Dungeons and Dragons and having seen the cover of the software box in the stores, I assumed the game was some sort of role playing game. If I happened to neglect noticing what day of the week it was and accidentally called them during their playing time I could tell immediately what they were doing without asking. I remember it went something like this:

• ME: "Hi ! how are you tonight?"
• Them: "Hi."
• Background chatter: "Hey, get over here, get off the phone. Come on !"
• ME: "Um, did I call at a bad time?"
• Them: "silence...distraction...."Huh?"
• ME: "Are you busy?"
• Background noises: "Groans, sighs, shouts of joy at different intervals."
• ME: "Well it was nice talking to you, I'll call back later."
• Them: "Oh, okay yeah call me later, bye."

Now, any other conversation on a regular night would take several other hub pages for me to write about. I finally caught on and got a clue that , "Oh! this is Friday, the World of Warcraft night , I better wait and call tomorrow." My friends didn't try to exclude me or ignore me or anything like that, but I don't actually remember being ever asked by them to play. I think seriously though that it was because I was not so computer literate at the time and that is the main reason. See, back then, you had to connect your computers together with software and cables in order for each other to network together and you each had to buy a copy of the computer game. They didn't use modems and the internet to play at that time.

Skipping forward a few years, I had finally found the internet ! These same friends were ahead of me and were very excited about being able to teach me all the stuff I needed to know about it. First I got on something called ICQ. I noticed while trying to learn all about this program that there was an area I could click on that would allow me to play World of Warcraft with other people right there on the computer. I figured my friends were all doing that but still, I was not interested all that much in playing a computer game. I was overwhelmed with trying to figure out what the internet was all about.

Without boring you to tears, I will move on a bit more rapidly. Eventually, I was married with three children and had a husband who decided to play World of Warcraft with some guys he knew from work.

He brought home a trial disc and since I was more computer literate than him (I had learned a lot trying to keep up with my buddies.) He asked me to install it and get it ready so he could go back to work and let the co workers know that he got an account and would play with them. I kept putting it off but one day when I wasn't quite so busy, I decided to install it while he was at work and get it ready for him.

I put it on the computer and created a quick character. I got to pick the way it looked and chose a name. "Okay." I thought, "This isn't like what I thought." A nice movie trailer type thing played and it looked really cool. I didn't see any tanks or soldiers or anything that I thought a "War" game would be like. I went ahead and tried to start playing a tiny bit so I could explain it to my husband when he got home. Well, I was lost . I had no idea what to do and I sort of made my little character run around on the screen and saw some kind of neat scenery and I pushed a few buttons and then got a bit bored so I logged off but really I didn't even know how to do that properly . So, I actually just shut down the application so it would get off of my screen.

I have to say that I went from all that I described above to being a devoted player myself in a relatively short time. My husband got tips and information from the people he knew who played, he would bring it home and tell me and we'd spend about an hour a night playing a character he created. He would play the game and I would watch over his shoulder and get all excited and tell him where to go and what to do and he would get nice and annoyed at me and finally suggested very sweetly that I make my own character and play it when he was at work or some other time.

So, I did. I made a Troll Priest and tried to play her and learn her as I went along. I have to say the real true way to even learn how to play WOW is to get on and just try to do it. And most of all, learn from other people who already play. We tried buying a guide and learning that way but it was much easier and quicker and better to just ask other people and learn from them then adapt our own ways. My husband chose a hunter and he still plays a hunter to this day. I am now more of a Druid player myself but I still have my original Priest.

My advice when starting to play Wow is to put out of your mind all kinds of preconceived notions of what you do or do not think about the game. Start fresh.

World of Warcraft started out as being a stand alone computer game then it moved into what is called a MMORPG game. It became available to play over the internet with other real people while they are at their own homes connecting through the internet as well. MMORPG means Massively Multi-player Online Role Playing Game. I will admit that when it said ROLE PLAYING GAME, I had preconceived notions about that. So, I had to start fresh.

What happens in WOW is that there is a variety of characters you can customize and play. I suggest that you try quite a few characters , if not all of them, before you decide on which one you really want to choose to have as your main or final character. You advance in levels throughout the game so I would start playing one or more of these characters and go up a few levels to get an idea or "feel" of whether you think you'll enjoy playing it or not. The object is to go explore the world, fight in some battles, complete quests and interact with others both "real" players and also the computer characters-the NPC's. (Non player characters).

Different characters play in different ways and the races that you are able to play have certain abilities specific to that race, etc. Some characters are only able to use certain weapons and things like that. It is a very immersive and massive game. You actually do not feel you are playing a "game" when you are online. There are no areas where suddenly you can't walk any further- like an invisible wall , etc. You can walk all over the world, go to towns, you can fly, swim, climb mountains, chat, do battles one on one with your friend down the street if you want to. There is a LOT to do in this online world. Some people take their characters and become specialists at their hobbies such as cooking, fishing, leatherworking, engineering, etc. They sell their items they make or their services to other players. Some people play the game just to make lots of money in it and they play the auction house very well.

You can get rare items in the game and some players strive to just get to the point where they are in the right place at the right time to get those items. Some people play for hours and hours at a time and others limit their playing time. There are women, men, teens, old and young alike who play this game. In fact, as my title shows, there are Eleven million people worldwide who are currently paying every single month a subscription fee simply to be able to get online and play this game. - It's that good- that fun-that massive and immersive.

In my case, I believe it brings our family closer because both my husband and myself play it together. We each have several characters on different "realms" (when you get online and play wow you have to connect to a computer on their end - they call these "servers" or in the game itself it's called a "realm.") and we see each other in real life and also in the game world.

It's kind of funny when you are off searching for your quest objective and a player walks by you and you realize it's your own husband on his own quest as well. Since we both play, when my husband talks about something in the game, I am not without a clue. I showed an interest in what he wanted to do and ended up liking it myself. I am glad that we can stay at home, enjoy some fun on the computer together and like I said, I feel it helped us find a common interest that helps bring us together .

My friends from way back at the beginning- Yes, they STILL play. It has evolved and changed a bit over time but it has not lost it's appeal and after all these years it is still enjoyable enough to continue playing. Funny, I don't think of my friends playing this game as "weird" any more. And I think that soon the eleven million people will grow to a considerable amount more. There is a new expansion of the game coming out in November 2010.

For more information about World of Warcraft First-- see the official website listed below.

 It is massive and there is information and books, and ebooks, and blogs and all kinds of things out there that deal with the phenomenon of World of Warcraft. Both negative and positive.  Even by going to the official site first, you will be confronted with information overload.

 Just start small and learn as you go. Don't forget the knowledge and tips other players can give you while learning.  You may end up being One of Eleven Million as well.