MMOemories…

I was sitting in a dark cubicle in 2003 when I received a mysterious phone call.  The voice on the other end of the line was shrill, slightly raspy and spoke with  frantic urgency. “What faction are we playing when World of Warcraft comes out man, I can’t decide what do!?” After spending countless hours reading forums I called the mysterious stranger back and uttered a single phrase, “For the Horde!”

Like an army of revolutionaries my friends and I gathered on launch night and wandered into the world of Azeroth together, dumb as to what was about to happen to us. For the next few years almost everyone I knew was playing WOW, old friends, new friends, my girlfriend, the kid at Walgreens.  WOW was everywhere back then and it was a glorious time to be a gamer.  While playing WOW I met some great people, got to stay up all night being irresponsible while shooting lightning bolts out of my avatar’s hands. Only recently did I realize that back then while leading a large guild and dealing with people of all personality types I was actually helping to forge the persona I would take on as a high school teacher.  As a “guild leader” I was forced to be a more patient and somewhat idealized version of myself. In all honesty I don’t know if I could be doing the job I’m doing now, without the training that WOW provided.

Why bring up these old memories of Cheeto beards, Mountain Dew and addiction? Well last week I received another mysterious phone call from the same slightly raspy, shrill voice asking nearly the same question, “When SWTOR drops are we going light side or dark side?”, this time without any hesitation I answered “Dark Side… duh”.  See you all on launch night.