A long time ago I tried playing Ultima Online to see if this hot new “massively multiplayer online role-playing game” business was worth its salt. At the time I remember thinking that it was a dark and unplesant experience where the phrase “massively multiplayer” somehow made up for terrible graphics, poor user interfaces, and boring gameplay. I swore never to return to this room of torture and managed to resist its blandishments for over a decade.

It’s been said that time heals all wounds, though, and I finally caved in and started playing World of Warcraft due in no small part to the constant barrage of EMB editor-based propaganda. As it turns out, WoW is a much different game than the tortuous Ultima Online of ten years ago. That having been said, here are other things I think about WoW:

The bad:
1) It’s tough for me to get involved in the storyline of the game, mostly because the storyline is relatively minimal. While there is no shortage of short term goals, there are really only sketchy overall goals. This is a necessary evil of the MMORPG: you can’t be the hero who saves the world, because there are millions of other people who need something to do in the game.

2) Other people in the game kind of bother me. Not because they behave badly (see below), but because they detract from my adventure. I wandered into one quest to find nothing but slaughtered monsters in the dungeon and a six man party at the bottom. Not only is it a mood breaker, but I’ve sat in lines waiting for a particular boss to respawn so the next group could kill it. That destroys any sense of significance attributed to the act. Did you really contribute anything to save the world? No, because that baddy respawns every three minutes. In one glorious maneuver, I killed a bad guy, took his head as a trophy, then danced around him with his own head when he magically returned to life. Presumably with his back-up head.

The good:
1) The game mechanics are excellent. If you’re the type who’s interested in developing a character and advancing his skill set this game has a lot for you. It’s easy to jump into, early levels are characterized by a sense of accomplishment, and the depth of personalization is significant. In fact, some nights I find myself more interested in digital self-improvement than adventure. Which, I’ll admit, is kind of sad for a man who hasn’t made a New Year’s resolution in… well, a long time.

2) The online community has been surprisingly well behaved. I have experienced minimal chumpfoolery and have found most people to be eager to assist. The real goons seem to be more interested in fighting each other; inevitably they’re more concerned with showing off and talking smack than playing the game. The regular servers are populated by and large with reasonable people.

I’d love to throw down some screens for you, but it turns out WoW shoots screens in a format that is, well, let’s say inconvenient. This is a problem that will be fixed as soon as I get my act together. In the end I’d say that perhaps the festering sore that is Ultima Online turned me away from online games for too long. Although the business model of “pay for game then pay $15 a month” still makes my temperature rise whenever I think about it, it is a sin I’m willing to bear. You’ve won this battle, Blizzard, but the war is far from over.