Easter and MMORPGs

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Tomorrow, Friday, and Monday are public holidays in South Africa, so I'm taking the opportunity now to wish all my blog readers a very Happy Easter. Have a great break, eat lots of chocolate and marshmallow eggs, keep safe - just don't drink and drive please.


I've got a few activities planned for the long weekend - a birthday party, baby shower and going to watch Juno probably. My car is also in desperate need of some cleaning and polishing TLC. Otherwise I'll just be using the time to relax, sleep, work on some of my creative side projects and play some World of WarCraft.

I'm still pretty bummed that I missed out on this year's CokeFest. I left things too late, so that once I got my act together, I just couldn't co-ordinate tickets AND flights. When I could get a flight, tickets were gone. When I had the option to buy an unwanted ticket, flights had either vanished or tripled in price. So that was the end of that:( Once again I've paid the price for my hesitant Capricorn nature...

Anyway, speaking of World of WarCraft, here are some screenshots from last night. Anyone who plays the highly stylised game knows that characters can end up looking like ridiculous rainbows. Somehow though, I managed to get my 2 main characters all colour co-ordinated.

Here's Bestilla the orc hunter:


Eurydicce the undead Warlock got herself some swanky new warlock robes last night... to become almost entirely "olive".


I've been thinking a lot lately about how Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games (MMORPGs) are so often labelled addictive and, more importantly, "a massive waste of time". Really, how different are MMORPGs from any other game in that respect? Or reading a novel? Or plonking your ass down in front of the TV? They're all forms of procrastination and escapism.

And unlike TV (which I actually hardly watch anymore), at least with gaming you are "doing" something. You're mentally active. Faced with a corridor full of ents, grubs and serpents, you have to strategically think about how you, all on your lonesome, are going to take them down... and survive the battle.

Sure I do think about World of WarCraft when I'm not playing. Mostly it's in terms of planning for my next session: where I need to go, what quests I can accomplish in 1-2 hours before bedtime - basically maximising my playing time.

Where I do think MMORPGs are particularly bad is that they distract you from other games. I've made a number of purchases in the past 6 months or so, and I've hardly touched any of them. I also think that once you pick a MMORPG, that's it. You're in a committed relationship, unwilling to share your limited time with any other title, regardless of how appealing and "new" it may sound.

My MMORPG choice: World of WarCraft. 9 million+ people can't be wrong ;)

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