I love WoW with a passion. It is my biggest guilty pleasure but I am not very good at it. It started one day when I was at my son’s and said to him, “I have a game to show you on the computer”. He kindly and patiently sat through my demonstration of Slingo. Then he said, “I have a game to show you,” and proceeded to show me WoW. It was one of the most exciting moments of my life ~ the clouds parted, the angels sang, the air around me turned a different color when I realized there was a whole new, magical world to explore. It was Magical Realism, stepping through the Looking Glass, The Master and Margarita, Dungeons and Dragons, Kali come to earth, all the myths, legends, and fairy tales I ever read, all the adrenalin , terror, and addictive highs of dirt biking and four wheeling ~ Right there in my computer. I instantly wanted a character. I think she was a priest and I named her Garbanza after the can of beans that caught my eye. She only lasted that afternoon but I will never forget her. Do we ever forget our first?
When I first started playing I was always looking at the ground, hurtling over green terrain trying to keep up, not knowing where we were going or why, didn’t know how chat worked, how to vendor anything, or how to save myself from dying. In fact, I was kicked from the first guild I joined and was broken hearted. I asked my son to find out why. He talked to the guildmaster and found out the GM thought he had recruited a bot because I didn’t answer him when he talked to me. How was he to know I was not ept at chat. I still can’t chat and play. I can do one or the other but not both. I am blown away by those players who can write reams whilst fighting or galloping nonchalantly towards Balinda.
I am lucky enough to belong to a small guild that has a couple of great players who are blessed with patience and a sense of humor. I stumble around dark dungeons trying to track them on the mini~map. I fall off cliffs, into pools, poke into caves I shouldn’t, all the time trying to hustle up in time to do enough damage to make it worthwhile for them to put up with me.
I revel in the game itself. I enjoy the little details that are everywhere. I love watching and taking part in the spontaneous byplay and interaction that happens between characters. I know that has slowed me down in my efforts to get a character to eighty. But so what? Also, I am big on learning from repetition. So I have a few hunters. So what?
I know that as an older player I must bring something else to the table. There is a quote from The Battle of Malden that inspires me both ingame and in RL.
Mind must be firmer,
Heart the more fierce,
Courage the greater,
As your strength diminishes.
It is a good and humbling experience to play WoW with my son and his friends and know that I will never be as good as they are but that I am accepted.
