World of Warcraft: Burning Crusade is out and I’ll be purchasing a copy today at lunch. What’s great about this expansion is that it virtually makes all level sixties even again, whether they’re decked out in tier 3′s or still wearing greens. Since I’m only a casual player, this is great news for me.

I loathe 40 man raids…

I played World of Warcraft for over a year. Night after night I would play with my friends, exploring the vast lands of Azeroth with thousands of other players. It was really fun and I still consider it one of my best gaming experiences of all time. Unfortunately, for me, that fun came to an abrupt end. Once your character hits level 60, the game switches gears drastically. For those of you who are unfamiliar with MMORPGs (massively multiplayer online role playing game), let me bring you up to speed. All new characters start at level one. As you progress through the game, your character gains levels. The higher your level, the more powerful you are. Most games of this type have a level cap. World of Warcraft’s level cap is 60.

So what then? At level 60 you really only have 3 options.

1. Roll a new character and go through the leveling process again. My A.D.D. won’t allow that. It was fun the first time, it would be tedious the second time. Or the third time. Or the fourth time.
2. PvP (Player vs Player) This is where you pit your skills against other live players. At present, there are 3 fighting arenas called Battlegrounds, each with their own objectives. This is fun for a while, but in order for you to increase your standings (rank), you would have to commit an obscene amount of time to the game. The higher your rank, the better gear you get and at level 60, the only thing that matters is gear. That brings us to number 3.
3. Endgame instances. This is where you get together with 40 of your closest friends and try to tackle various dungeons. These dungeons (also called instances) have to be completed in a certain order. In order to attempt AQ40, you need to complete Black Wing Lair. In order to attempt Black Wing Lair, you need to complete Molten Core. And so on, and so on. A guild could spend months on one dungeon, doing the same thing over and over again, night after night. Not just to beat the dungeon, but to equip 40 people with enough gear to be able to beat the next dungeon. And why would you want to beat the next dungeon? To get really cool gear. For me, the tedium out ways the fun. Gaming A.D.D.

This is just my perspective on the game. Seven million people play (or have played) this game, so Blizzard is doing something right. And at $15.00 a month, they are pulling in some good loot too. Pun intended.

There is a serious problem with these types of games though. They take people out of reality and put them into a fantasy world where they can be whoever and whatever they want. That’s really the point of any such game, to allow oneself to temporarily escape reality. But they did such a great job of creating a fantasy world that people sometimes lose site of the fact that’s it’s actually just a game. For those of you who’ve never played such a game, you must have a hard time believing this, but it’s true.

This isn’t a problem exclusive to World of Warcraft. In fact, it’s not even a new problem. Back before WoW was even conceived, there were games like Everquest and Ultima which posed the same problems. Why be a nobody in the real world when you can be a god in a virtual world. For some, the lure is too great.

I actually had no intention of writing this much. What provoked this written commentary was a blog entry that I read yesterday called A View from the Top, which was written by a former World of Warcraft player. It explained how the game almost ruined his life and why he eventually quit the game altogether. I thought it was a fairly intriguing post. What I found more intriguing were the 700+ comments that were left in response to the post. If you have the time, I would highly recommend checking this out. At the very least, you’ll get an interesting cross section of the World of Warcraft community. That’s interesting enough in itself.

I just want to mention a couple of things before I finish. Though there is an obvious problem with the way that some people latch on to these types of games, the majority of people who play MMORPGs are in it just to have a good time. It’s very similar, in my eyes, to ones usage of alcohol. I know a lot of people who drink (myself included), but that doesn’t mean they’re alcoholics. Like everything else, when something is used in excess, it has the potential to be harmful, whether mentally or physically.

And lastly, I actually like the World of Warcraft. I don’t want this post to be interpreted as a WoW bash session. I’ve met dozens of great people while playing this game and have had hours of fun doing it. I truly think it is one of the greatest games ever created. But like I said, I have gaming A.D.D. — and for me, sitting in Molten Core night after night for hours on end is about as stimulating as watching reruns of the Golden Girls.

I was sitting at my desk, like the good little employee that I am, when my diggtray alerted me of a new story on digg.com. Usually I ignore these alerts since there is a new story on digg every 10 freak’n seconds, but this one caught my eye. It was called The End of an MMO and the excerpt was as follows:

What happens when a massively multiplayer game is approaching it’s final days? Asheron’s Call 2 is doing just that, and Clive Thompson is taking a look into the desolate, anarchic final days of the game which will be turned off forever on Dec. 30

For those of you that don’t live in the fascinating world that I live in, i.e., normal people, mmorpg stands for massively multiplayer online role playing game. And these games really are all that. They are gigantic virtual worlds where thousands of players interact simultaneously. To help maintain these massive worlds and keep them running 24/7, mmorpg’s usually require a monthly subscription. Subscriptions usually range anywhere from $10.00 to $15.00 a month. Asheron’s Call 2 is one of these said games.

Now, I’ve always preferred playing first-person-shooters (f.p.s), and still do for that matter, but around 2002 I started really getting curious about mmorpg’s . You see, in a f.p.s. you usually play on servers that host 8 to 64 players at a time depending on the game. You can usually walk from one side of a map to the other in a couple of minutes, sometimes even seconds. Now imagine playing on a server with one to three thousand players at the same time and with worlds so big and complex that it would take you hours or more to reach the other side. Not to mention, the world is always there. Even when you aren’t playing, thousands of others are. It’s a world that never stops. I couldn’t even fathom it at the time. They must be exaggerating. It must look like crap or run like crap or just be boring as hell.

Then the day came when I had my chance to see what all the fuss was about. Before Asheron’s Call 2 was officially released they had an open beta for people to try. Essentially, the point of an open beta is to work out any bugs in the game before its final release. Beta’s are also free; so I signed up, downloaded the client, and installed the game.

I was a little apprehensive at first. I’ve never played anything remotely like this. I’ve also heard how irritated some veteran players can get with noobs entering their territory, but I put that thought aside and logged in. The first thing I had to do was create a character. Next, I chose a name for my character. From there, I worked on the characters attributes, appearance, race, class, skills, etc… I may be confusing some small details here with other mmorpg’s, but they’re all basically the same. Once I was done creating my character, who I believe was a ranger, I entered the world. They start you out in a series of caves. In the caves you run through a string of training exercises and tutorials. I remember it being pretty neat, but nothing I hadn’t seen before in other games. I was essentially by myself in an enclosed area running around doing quests. It was still fun, however, and very nice looking. The graphics were beautiful and very detailed. Once the training was finished, maybe an hour later, I was able to enter the world of Dereth.

I was absolutely blown away. I had never seen anything like this. I was on top of a large hill looking down over a valley. There were mountains on either side of me. I started making my way down the hill. When I reached the bottom I saw other players doing various things, most likely just getting used to the environment themselves. When I looked up I saw stars sprawled across the sky with a large moon off in the horizon. I kept walking, still reveling in the enormity of this place. In the distance I saw menacing looking creatures ducking in and out of the trees. The ambient music was soothing and yet very eerie. In fact, the whole experience was eerie. The first couple of days were very quiet and one couldn’t help but to feel alone. The beta was still relatively new and the thousands of players that would soon occupy this land were not yet there. It felt like one of those movies where everyone in the world was gone except you. Like walking down the streets of New York City in perfect silence, completely devoid of life.

Over the next couple of months I continued to explored the world of Dereth. I saw rolling hills and green fields that seemed to span miles. I saw great cities with hundreds of people bustling around in the streets, selling there goods, playing music, or just chatting with their fellow citizens. I saw beautiful coastlines that stretched as far as the eye can see. I went on dozens of adventures with friends I met in-game and some I new from my real life. I watched my character grow from a fragile apprentice to a seasoned warrior. It was one of the greatest gaming experiences I ever had. If you’ve never played a game like this before then you are probably thinking I am a lunatic. But that’s okay. I felt the exact same way you did at one time.

Over time I started drifting away from the game. It ceased to be fun for me and felt more like work than pleasure. After about 5 months of playing AC2 I finally logged off for good. At the time, there was no sense of remorse. I just moved on to the next game, almost relieved that it was over. But the world continued on with out me.

I’ve since played other mmorpg’s and dozens of first-person-shooters. Great ones too. I’ve played hundreds and hundreds of games throughout my life, but there are only a select few games that give me such an overwhelming sense of nostalgia the way Asheron’s Call 2 does. It was one of those few gaming experiences that really piqued my emotions.

In the article by Wired, Clive Thompson writes:

“Anybody out there?” I type, but I already know it’s pointless. There’s nobody anywhere near me. For almost an hour, I’ve been wandering around a desolate plain: Gray clouds scud slowly over rough quartz mountains, while a few birds wheel in the air near mushroom-shaped trees. I never see another living soul. It feels like the end of the world.

We have come full circle. When I first set foot on Dereth, it was beautiful and desolate. And now, at the end, it is desolate again. But in between these two times, thousands of people occupied this virtual land. Friendships were made. Countless hours of adventuring were had. You could come home from a long day at work, sit down at your computer and escape from reality for a time. You could be alone in your house and yet surrounded by hundreds of strangers, all there to have a good time and to meet good people.

It was quite a time. I will especially miss those first few weeks I spent in AC2. As of December 30th, all Asheron’s Call 2 servers will be shut down forever. No one will ever set foot on Osteth, Omishan, or Linvak Massif again. All characters will be permanently deleted.

The point of this entry was for me to just reminisce about that world I had almost forgotten, and to say one last goodbye to Dereth and to all the people who made it such a great experience. Good luck to you all, and thank you for the great times.