The Republic of T. Archives

Lately, at night, when the rest of the family has gone to bed, I sneak away to another world; one that I only became aware of a couple of months ago, but one which draws me back repeatedly. In this world, I am a warrior.

Wondering what the hell I’m talking about? Well, if you recognize the picture above you already know I’m talking about World of Warcraft. It’s the first online game I’ve really gotten into, thanks to the influence of several of my co-workers. I wasn’t sure I’d take to it, because I thought—much like this article says—that games like this one are “the preserve of only the most serious players.” I figured I wouldn’t have nearly enough time to get into it nd get good at it.

But the draw was too much. Computer games have always appealed to my escapist side, not to mention my inner geek, and looking at the news lately only heightened the desire to escape into another world. Surprisingly, I was better at it than I thought I’d be. It didn’t take me long to get started with a character (a druid night elf), but I didn’t feel he was as powerful a character as I’d like to have. So, I switched to a female warrior character, whom I named Nialle (pronounced as “Nile”), and who bears a vague resemblance to Storm from the X-Men. When I figure out how to do a screenshot in the game, I’ll see if I can post a picture of her. (No, that’s not her in the picture above.) She’s currently closing in on 18th level.

What surprises me most are the social aspects of the game. You can play by yourself, but sooner or later you’re going to have to work with a group to accomplish a quest. Groups form all the time around particular quests, and then disband. It’s also interesting how quickly people will join in to help you out of a tight spot even if they aren’t in a group. More than once, someone has seen me nearing the losing end of a fight, and jumped in to help save my ass. (Of course, getting killed isn’t a big deal, since you can resurrect by finding your corpse or getting a spirit guide to assist you.) I find myself doing it too. If someone is being attacked by two monsters or in-game characters, I’ll jump in and take on one of them. People have done it for me, so why not? Also, players with magical abilities will often stop and cast a beneficial spell on me—usually for strength, fortitude, or healing purposes—and then dash off to wherever it is they were going.

There is, however, a dark side to this online gaming business that I’ve only just become aware of. Who knew that there were online-gaming sweatshops?

Virtual goods now appear for sale in the real world, on eBay. Exchange rates for game currency and U.S. dollars are posted on sites like IGE. An island in one virtual world recently sold for $30,000!

That kind of money attracts attention. Digital sweatshops, businesses where Third World laborers play online games 24/7 in order to create virtual goods that can be sold for cash, are also on the rise. One such business, Blacksnow Interactive, actually sued a virtual world’s creator in 2002 for attempting to crack down on the practice. The first of its kind to center on virtual goods, the case was eventually dropped.

I guess it just goes to show that if there’s a market for something, someone is going to figure out a way to exploit it, and a few other people in the processs.

Still, I can’t imagine buying a ready-made, high-level character on Ebay, and still enjoying the game. Call me a geek (I know I am, but what are you?), but I get a little excited each time my character earns enough experience to “level-up.” Given the story above, I think I’ll stick to my own characters, etc., rather than purchasing “virtual goods” on Ebay.

Any other Warcraft players out there?

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 10th, 2005 at 4:20 pm and is filed under Computer Games. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.