The Quintessential Lesson

My current guild on World of Warcraft is rather casual with minimal guild drama and marginal progression. We target a very specific demographic of people and play on an RP-PVP server, which isn't conducive to recruiting. As such, we have virtually no 25 man raid experience but have had Karazhan on farm for many months at this venue. With that said, recently we had a new member run Karazhan with us and collect some gear. He seemed like a decent guy and a good player and by the end of the night, he had a guild tag. All seemed well as growth in a guild such as ours is a difficult task. Unfortunately, by the next week, he randomly /gquits and joins a different guild without notice or remark. At first, It was a bit abrupt and disappointing as fielding 25 people for us is difficult. Losing people at the rate we grow does not lend itself to exploring further content. Alas, sometimes things work themselves out for the best.

Yesterday, I had the distinct displeasure of logging into the WoW Realm forums and learning this individual apparently ninja looted an item in a normal five man group. While the details of this event were convoluted at best, it is apparent that this individual did indeed ninja loot the item. Of course, this warranted the flame thread where I learned this information. Now various people are taking time out of their day to flame each other. Perhaps I am in the minority but when I think of playing a game, having the equipment ninja looted by one of the members ruins the experience. Not because I care about the loot; because I care about the people in the game. And actions such as that, qualify that one of the individuals in the group isn't someone who I truly wish to associate.

In nine years of online gaming, it is easy to learn that in game items, most notably in games such as Everquest or World of Warcraft, have a shelf life. My Everquest cleric was at one point one of the best geared toons serverwide. Fast forward several years and I would be outclassed by even the most casual player of EQ. I really don't remember looting many of those items on that toon, yet I see the old guild's message boards and stay in touch with the people who I spent hours and hours grinding mobs and learning content. World of Warcraft is even more severe with TBC rendering even some of the most challenging pre TBC raid content obsolete.

The Quintessential Lesson is to play the game for enjoyment and the enjoyment of the others who share the experience. The true rewards are the friends you make along the way. They are the one non piece of virtual loot in virtual worlds. The items are binary code.

An Introduction: A Glimpse into the Hollow

In reality, a squirrel's den is nothing more then a hollowed out domicile, used for shelter and warmth by Tamiasciurus Hudsonicus (American Red Squirrel). From a metaphorical standpoint, this blog will mimic such a place. It will be a small escape from the world of $3 gas prices, traffic and global warming and instead focus on the virtual worlds of MMORPGs (Massively Multi-Player Online Role Playing Games) with a focus on World of Warcraft. Before I continue, I feel it necessary to provide some background regarding who I am, my experiences within online games and a general direction of the blog in weeks to come.

Many years ago, a good friend of mine was discussing his downtime from work. One of the items he mentioned as a hobby was a game he played called "The Moosehead Sled". Without getting into too much detail, it was a very simplistic form of online roleplaying game. It consisted of classes, races and random number generators, designed to progress a character through levels. The major difference between the Moosehead Sled and today's MMORPGs was that the Moosehead Sled was all text based, much like old school Dungeons and Dragons. Nevertheless, the game was very interesting to watch and marked an introduction into online gaming.

Several months later, Verant launched Everquest in March of 1999. Having caught the online gaming bug, I purchased a copy and the rest was history. For five years, endless Mistmoore and Karnor's Castle trains and an unbelievable ride through the Planes of Power and beyond, I found myself investing excessive amounts of time raiding with my guild on the Quellious server. After defeating most of the bosses in Gates of Discord, I felt it necessary to reallocate my time in other ways. Quite simply, while raiding was excellent fun, it was an incredible time investment. At that point, I felt my online gaming experience had come to an end.

Then, out of the blue, a friend introduced me to Planetside. Planetside was a far cry from EQ and didn't require the extreme time investments to make headway. For two years, we had a great time with the game. Unfortunately, Planetside really never evolved and after some issues with hacking and imbalances, we stopped playing the game. On occasion, I activate my Sony account to play for old time sakes but the amount of cheating that takes place on an every day basis takes the fun out of the game. (And by seeing the total lack of players on all servers, the cheating seems to have taken the players out of the game, too.)

After being gameless for about two months, we settled into World of Warcraft and that is where we currently reside for the time being. The game is fun and polished and relatively easy to play with a family and a full time job. At this stage of my life, that's exactly what's necessary.

I know what you're thinking and you're right. Yes Squirrel, this is all great. You seem like you have lots of gaming experience but, quite frankly, I don't care. What's the point of your blog? What can I expect to read? Why should I read it? Well, I'm glad you asked...

• The contents of this blog are the opinions and thoughts of me, the squirrel unless otherwise noted. Any content that is not original will be sited with a source. Providing credit to where credit is due is paramount in any literary medium.
• The opinions listed upon the blog are just that; opinions. I don't claim to hold the truth in all scenarios. On the contrary, it is beneficial to obtain some dissension. Bill Gates once said "Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning". In the context of debates, the individuals that disagrees vehemently with a given topic may provide the most interesting debates.
• Debates are encouraged to be civil. Posts full of profanity may be deleted. A post will never be deleted for an opposing viewpoint.
• Content posted that does not pertain to the blog or that is deemed as malicious to the site will be deleted. This includes things such as keyloggers, trojans, or links to commercial websites.
• Readers may suggest topics to discuss although if I feel unqualified to write on such a subject, I will make that reader aware of the situation. While I am well versed in a variety of topics, I will never write on a subject that I don't feel qualified to provide insight upon.
• I don't claim to be a fanboy of any game and will try my best to be as impartial as possible. No game is perfect and the flaws and imperfections of the industry will inevitably be a topic of discussion someday.
• Accountability for statements made by all on this blog are the responsibility of the individual who provided the statement and all statements made on this blog by myself will be qualified or defended when necessary. The degree of anonymity used within the parameters of the blog will be kept to a minimum.
• Articles posted on the site will be in my writing style, which has a degree of magniloquence and sophistication. This goes against conventional wisdom as most professional writers will stick with a "less is more" attitude, which is in many cases the best road to take. Readers are encouraged to comment upon how this style of writing conveys the necessary message with each post.
• These guidelines are subject to additions and modifications as the need arises.

In conclusion, I want to thank anyone who has made it this far. The first topic of discussion will be posted as soon as possible and it is our hope and desire that the blog become a regular contributor to the MMO community. Until next time...