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Copyright (c) Noelle Adams. All Rights Reserved.

I’ve written a lot these past two years about online gaming. Particularly about how exclusionary it is in a South African context, given our expensive Internet connections. But even in that brief time span, things change. Four months ago I dipped my toes into the ocean of online gaming for the first time.

I’ve never been one to leap on the fad bandwagon. I’ve seen it splinter too many times under the crushing weight of hype. So it seemed only appropriate to join one of the world’s major online gaming phenomena just as many gamers seem to be leaving.

Then again, the departure may just be among ‘hardcore’ gamers who can’t stomach sharing an experience with over 9 million people worldwide – a playing experience that’s become so commercially popular it’s been dubbed ‘the New Golf’ for business executives.

I’m talking about Blizzard’s World of WarCraft. It’s just one of a dozen Massive Multiplayer Online Role-playing Games (MMORPGs) available to play in South Africa, but in commenting on it, you touch on features common throughout the genre.

Online gaming’s most instantly recognisable feature is social interaction with other players. You’re all functioning in a shared world, for better or worse. And this surprisingly accurate reflection of human relationships and behaviour takes some getting used to.

On one hand, you have people collaborating in groups and guilds to accomplish shared goals. Complete strangers will cast ability-enhancing buffs as you run past, help floor a difficult opponent or hand you free healing potions. On the flipside, you have gangs of players roaming Azeroth intent on the unsportsmanlike ‘ganking’ of low-level solo players. There are pests who harass you by constantly demanding duels. And, of course, you’ll encounter posturing Level 70 players who enjoy hanging around in cities to be admired, much like someone who parks their Lamborghini outside a popular nightclub.

As for MMORPG addiction, personal playing experience seems to determine how susceptible you are. You’re likely to quit out of frustration when you continually die, and have a 5-minute jog to reach your corpse. Even if you’re enjoying yourself, it’s possible to overplay to the point of exhaustion – particularly if you’re someone who feels compelled to ‘collect’ every available quest.

This isn’t to say that you’ll stop playing for any significant time period. Many MMORPGs, like World of WarCraft, have a monthly subscription fee. As a result players feel compelled to get their money’s worth. You ignore other games, or dabble in them superficially until you realise you’re wasting time that could be spent levelling your character.

What’s perhaps most enjoyable about World of WarCraft, and presumably so many other MMORPGs, is that the gameplay is as simple or involved as you choose. You can strictly stick to quests. You can roam the world randomly killing creatures. You can put all your time and effort into your character’s money-making profession. The genre functions on so many levels that playing becomes a continually rewarding learning experience. What other genre offers that? Four months on I’m still discovering new things every gaming session.