Just when I thought I was out they pull me back in.
Up until about six months ago I was an avid World of Warcraft player. I didn’t play everyday, and certainly not every hour of my free time like some people do, but I played enough and was good enough that I saw much of the end game raiding content that only the most serious players see.
Then I got burnt out and decided to quit.
I sold my level 70 Paladin character, Zeusjones, for $325. Officially, selling a Warcraft character is against game policy. So what you technically sell are the hours you’ve invested to level a character. Selling him was my first big step towards quitting. A few months after I sold him, I cancelled my account.
Recently, the Wrath of the Lich King expansion pack came out. Among Warcraft players, this was a highly anticipated event. I didn’t pre-order it. I didn’t have the date marked on my calendar, or like others I used to play with, schedule time off work so I could level my character(s) to the new level cap of 80 as quickly as possible. The launch date for the expansion passed uneventfully for me.
Then the IMs and phone calls started.
Everyone I used to play with in the game wanted to let me know how great the expansion content was. They regaled me with detailed descriptions of how cool it would be to ride together on mechanized mounts and battle with siege engines. One of the people I played the most often with put it simply: “All I’m gonna say is, remember how much fun we used to have?”
So I caved in and bought the expansion. And I discovered a few interesting things.
First, there is a new “organization” in game called D.E.H.T.A., which stands for “Druids for the Ethical and Humane Treatment of Animals.” An obvious P.E.T.A. spoof, D.E.H.T.A. is a group that penalizes you in a certain area of the game if you kill the innocent creatures that are running around.
Many of you will recall that a year and a half or so ago we here at Zeus Jones released a viral Warcraft video in which an imaginary group called T.E.T.A.A., or Toons for the Ethical Treatment of Ambient Animals, lobbies World of Warcraft players to stop the slaughter of the innocent creatures running around in the game. I can’t say if Blizzard, the creators of Warcraft, were influenced by the video, it could just be coincidence. If they were inspired by our video, I think that is awesome.
One of our goals at the beginning of Zeus Jones was to influence pop culture, and even though Warcraft is far from pop culture, its been around for about five years and is around 10 million players strong. If someone from Blizzard reads this and can comment on the origin and inspiration for D.E.H.T.A., I would appreciate it.
The next thing I discovered was related to online identity. After installing the expansion, I quickly proceeded to the new area of the game with my level 70 Hunter. Until I sold Zeusjones, my hunter was what was referred to in the game as an “alt.” An alt is an alternate character who you spend less time playing. Many people play alts when they are bored with their main character or just want to try out some of the other character classes in the game.
However, my alt had become my main, and he wasn’t named Zeusjones, which I found out messed with all my friends heads. It turns out that for many of the people I’d become friends with in the game, I was Zeusjones. A few of them told me, “I don’t care I’m still going to call you Zeus.” One of them started calling me by my real name instead of my new character’s name, which no one every does in the game. That even weirded me out.
So after discovering my Warcraft identity was firmly entrenched as “Zeusjones”, I did the only thing that I could. I got a new main.
I paid to transfer a character that I had left discarded on a sever I no longer played on. Then I paid to rename him Zeusjones.
I felt a collective sigh of relief from my Warcraft social network. I was greeted with lots of “He’s back!” Strangely the reception I thought I would get when I renewed my account didn’t actually come until I’d taken the extra step of renewing my old identity as well.
We see more and more in the news these days about the seriousness of people’s online identities. People are charged in Scandinavia for theft from and harassment of people’s online personalities. A couple in the U.K. who met and got married in Second Life are now getting divorced because she caught him having sex in the game with another person. Who better to understand that virtual cheating is really cheating than someone who forged their relationship in that same virtual world in the first place?
So am I glad Zeusjones is back? You bet. It is fun. It is like it used to be. At least for now. Who knows what type of character Zeusjones will be in his next incarnation? Maybe even an Alliance character.
Nah, I’d rather fight than switch.
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