By Corbin Hosler, Multimedia Editor
The Night Elf Druid is tired after hours of fighting Thistle Boars in the woods. But the boars served their purpose. The Druid leveled, and now he is back in Darnassis to meet up with Fylerian Nightwing to learn the newest spells and enchantments available. While on his wait to meet up with the high Druid, the hero stops by a small pond to try his luck at fishing. While leisurely dropping his line into the water, he strikes up a conversation with the Dwarf Paladin beside him. After catching a few Darkshore Grouper, the Druid continues his tour through Darnassis, the Night Elves’ capital city, taking in the magnificent scenery.
This is how Sam Pettit spends a typical afternoon in the World of Warcraft, the Internet’s most popular role-playing game. For Pettit, there’s nothing more relaxing than escaping to another world during a quick study break, all while wearing his pajamas in his Banning Hall dorm.
“The fact that you can sit there for a couple hours and it only seems like minutes is what makes it great for me,” the acting freshman said. “If I have free time, and I feel like playing, I’ll spend my hour in between classes logging in.”
Pettit entered the World of Warcraft a little more than a year ago, after downloading the free trial to play with a friend while at home in Sherwood, Ark. Pettit’s friend quit the game after a few weeks, but Pettit decided to stick with his Druid.
“I kept playing because it’s so addictive,” he said. “There’s a lot of awesome elements to the game, and it held my attention because there’s just a lot of stuff to do.”
Despite knowing others who went from being World of Warcraft “noobs” to spending hours a day playing, Pettit tries to limit the amount of time he spends playing.
“Some people think you have no social life if you play the game, but I do because I don’t play it religiously,” he said. “Sometimes I’ll stay up until the early morning on the weekends playing, but it’s not all the time.”
Conventional wisdom is that playing World of Warcraft cuts down on social interaction, but Pettit has had the opposite experience.
“Normally people I talk to about the game eventually end up playing it with me,” he said. “I even got my girlfriend to play it with me for awhile.”
While Pettit treats the game a hobby, other students are more dedicated.
The Troll Hunter Silverspade is locked in a desperate fight with Lord Marrowgar, far away from the peaceful halls of Darnassis. He is concentrating on not slipping up during the battle because he has 24 guildmates counting on him to perform. He casts Steady Shot at Marrowgar just as the ancient dragon turns and blows blue-hot flames on the raid. Silverspade knows what to do. Sidestep, Freezing Trap, Steady Shot. He avoids the spreading flames while staying locked in on his target. He knows the consequences of this battle. If his guild kills the dragon, there is loot to be had. If they fail, Silverspade will have the Guild Master to answer to.
Josh Merry and his hunter Silverspade entertain a much different experience than that of Pettit and his Druid. While Pettit plays the game casually, Merry is a part of one of the top guilds on his World of Warcraft server, an accomplishment that comes with responsibilities.
“We have a weekly raid schedule that I try to stick to,” the accounting senior said. “Real life stuff comes first, but if I can, I make our raids.”
Raiding, where groups of up to 25 people cooperate to “down” bosses that no single hero could, is an integral part of the World of Warcraft experience for hardcore players.
These encounters are designed for players who already have achieved the maximum level the game allows and are looking for the ultimate challenge.
Raiders take their craft seriously, talking over Internet voice chat rooms and sometimes spending multiple nights attempting to kill the same boss. It’s a sense of accomplishment that drives Merry on these late nights.
“It feels good to kill the hardest bosses in the game,” he said. “Whenever you play a game you always want to beat it, and that’s what raiding is.”
Merry has been immersed in the World of Warcraft since its release in 2004, and has watched the game change since then. Since 2004, the game’s player base has grown to nearly 12 million active subscribers, a record it is set to eclipse after the Dec. 7 launch of the game’s third expansion, Cataclysm, according to Blizzard Entertainment.
“The game’s creators do a ton to keep it new and interesting, even for players who have played forever,” said Merry, who was on hand to purchase Cataclysm at a midnight release event. “I’ve taken breaks before, but I always come back to it after awhile.”
Merry has heard the criticism that players who raid can’t lead social lives, but he vehemently refutes it.
“I have an active schedule outside of Warcraft,” said Merry, who plays intramural football and participates in fraternity activities. “At the same time, I have a lot of friends I play Warcraft with because it’s something fun for us to do together.”
This article initially appeared in the Jan. 12 issue of The Campus newspaper.
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