Rerolling

After a long day of work, some people enjoy relaxing by kicking of their shoes, taking a shower or any other relaxing activity. Personally, I enjoy hurling missiles of frostfire at the faces of my enemies while a warrior in impenetrable plate armor shields me from damage. When I am hit by the occasional blow to side, I am healed by the powers of an elemental shaman carrying a mace twice the size of my head.

Now some of you might be questioning my sanity as you read this, but I assure you that I participate in such activities on a regular basis. In fact, 12 million people do. I am talking about the Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game developed by Blizzard Entertainment, World of Warcraft. For those who do not know of or play this online sensation, WoW is an online game in which players create avatars that resemble the various archetypes of medieval myth. I personally don the persona of the frostfire mage Fenice, ambassador to the forces of the Alliance. All of these players are then thrust in the immense digital realm of Azeroth where they band together to complete quests, slay terrifying beasts and obtain valuable weapons and armor. The beauty of the game is that while it is set within a digital world and therefore meticulously regulated by ironclad rules, it allows for social interaction and emergent gameplay.

However, when I take off my robe of +43 Int and +28 crit chance I once again become a student of ludology and aspiring game designer. While games have been around for millennia, video games were developed within the postmodern era, the latter half of the 20th century. Perhaps it is because of their infancy that many scholars look at the study of games with disdain. However, I believe that games offer a vast amount of material for study. Whether they realize it or not, people are always enveloped in games, even creating their own without even realizing it. Have you ever suddenly bet your friend that you can race across the field faster than he can, or that if you step on every line in a crosswalk that you will have a great day? I certainly have, and according to the theories presented by French ludologist Roger Caillois, these and many other activities are in fact games.

Now. I realize that games as a whole encompass many activities such as the aforementioned race to complex games such as football, Monopoly, or Half Life 2. Therefore I will be focusing on a specific aspect of games that I find fascinating, social interactions between people in a digital environment. In particular I will be examining World of Warcraft and how players develop relationships with each other and this magical digital realm. Every day, groups of strangers meet online to take on difficult quests, sometimes playing together from across the world. Many serious gamers use the popular voice chatting program Ventrilo in order to increase efficiency and teamwork during the more difficult dungeons. These group encounters often require 25 players to work together for many hours at a time. At the heart of World of Warcraft there is a strong sense of community.

I would also like to explore several of the other systems within the World of Warcraft community including the game economy's relationship to the real world economy and the various social structures that have developed amongst players. While the game is quite comprehensive and well built, occasionally the players themselves develop new and innovative ways to take part in the maintenance of this digital universe.

So sit back, kick off your shoes and join me as I dive back into the world that is World of Warcraft.