A burning crusade

Jan 17, 02:31 AM

You’ve seen them in your classes and at work. Tired eyes and bobbing heads, nodding off in classes or on the job.
Little do you realize they’ve spent the night prior slaughtering murlocks on the north shores of Azeroth in the online computer game World of Warcraft. For many it’s more than just a game, for some it’s a pastime, some a social venue, and others a second life in a fantasy world of elves and orcs.
Burning Crusade, the expansion set to the MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game) World of Warcaft officially went on sale at the stroke of midnight on Tuesday, January 16th. The release brought crowds to the Best Buy at Bay and Dundas, and the video game store, EB games, in the Eaton Centre.
More than a few Ryerson students braved the bitter cold, the long wait and the less-than-rowdy crowds to be among the first in the world to get their copy.
“I’m going to go with a Blood Elf” say Michael Damaskinos, a second year Aerospace Engineering student at Ryerson University. He’s referring to one of the new character races the expansion pack adds to the game. Many players have multiple characters which they switch back and forth between.
Michael has about 25 to 30 hours of class a week, and spends another 15 studying. He says he plays World of Warcraft about 20 hours a week.
“Tonight, I’ll play 12 hours straight. I’ll probably skip my morning class,” admits Michael.
For him missing class tomorrow is a one-off event. But for many skipping class, skipping work and avoiding outside social contact is a consequence of playing Warcraft.
The allure of the game is that thousands of people are online playing at any one time in massive virtual world. To join you need to purchase the original box for the game which retails for $20 at most stores. Additionally, users pay a $18 a month subscription fee.
Burning Crusade costs $49.99 for the basic box, but most of the people waiting in line are here for the ‘collectors edition’ box, which at $99.99 comes in a fancy box and includes maps, trading cards and other ‘collectible’ items.
Richard Mater, a Graphic Communications student at Ryerson University is standing standing in line outside Best Buy with a group of friends waiting to buy a copy. He pays the $18 a month subscription fee with a small website design business he runs. In Warcraft he’s a night elf druid.
Richard says he has about 24 hours of class a week. He spends more time playing Warcraft.
“A lot, more than I’m willing to admit,” laughs Richard when asked how many hours a week he plays. He admits he plays the game more than he studies.
Courtney Gray, a first year undeclared arts major at Ryerson, was also waiting in line. She plays the game to keep in touch with friends in Brampton. She was accompanied by three friends who dont play, but wanted to see what all the fuss was about.
She guess she plays as much Warcraft as she spends in class. But according to Courtney, its socializing time more than anything else.
“My friends started playing. I didn’t see them a lot and wondered why and realized it was because of World of Warcraft. So I got a copy and started playing.”
“My marks dont suffer,” says Courtney. “If I wasn’t playing World of Warcraft I’d be doing something else recreational.”
At 11:15pm Monday evening hundreds of people were already lined up outside the Best Buy. The line wrapped around the Ryerson University School of Business connected around the store. Around one hundred more were lined up outside the EB Games in the basement of the Eaton Centre. Because they had pre-ordered their copy, some of them months in advance, they were lucky to escape the cold. By midnight, close to 500 people were waiting at all three stores selling copies of the expansion box for the game.
None of the staff of either store would comment on the midnight madness, but a security guard chuckled that he didn’t expect any problems from the crowd that gathered.The story was the same at the Best Buy at Scarborough Town Centre, where one Best Buy employee claimed the line reach 400 people at its height.
Since it’s release in 2004 Blizzard has sold more than 8 million copies of the original game, giving it over 50 per cent of the online multiplayer game market.
David Nickolls is a first year Criminal Justice student at Ryerson University. He waits alone outside EB Games for the chance to get started levelling up his Human Paladin, which is capped at level 60.
Characters ‘level up’ by gaining experience points from killing both player controlled characters and non-player characters (NPC’s or ‘mob’ in World of Warcraft terms). Higher level characters are exponentially more powerful and gain use of deadlier weapons and more protective armour. Before the expansion, the highest level attainable was 60, where most of the people lined up tonight, and millions more are stuck at.
After the expansion, the highest level attainable will be 70. The expansion also adds new territory for players to explore, as well as hundreds of new quests to accomplish with other players online, and hundreds of new items to ‘loot’ from slain players and mob.
David says he plays a lot, “Six hours a night, something like that. I try to play every night.”
In August 2006, Dr. Maressa Hecht Orzack, a clinical psychologist at McLean Hospital in Massachusetts, claimed that 40 per cent of World of Warcraft players are addicted to the game. Given the number of hours played a week by Ryerson students it’s no surprise the game has been dubbed “Warcrack” by many.
Tim Hong is a Ryerson industrial engineering graduate from Ryerson University. He researched online social networking and gaming as part of his masters thesis. While he acknowledges the negative effect the game has on some, he thinks Warcraft is part of a new online social movement.
“Racial and verbal barriers drop, it becomes just hanging out,” says Tim. While the game is divided between two nations, the Horde and the Alliance, and within each is a bevy of races (Elves, Dwarves, Humans, Orcs amongst other more exotic races), Tim thinks the rivalry between nations and races in the game is friendly in nature. For him, the game bridges divides rather than opening them.
“There’s exchange of cultural and political ideas from around the world,” says Tim.
“I’ve seen a way wider range of people play WoW. All different age groups, different people from all walks of life. I’ve seen grandparents playing it. People with young children.”
“It’s a huge phenomenon, much more mainstream than anything else on the internet.”
However real world disparities are also manifested in World of Warcraft. In December 2005, a New York Times article highlighted the story of people in China who work in real world sweatshops mining virtual gold in the game. The gold, which is the currency for the game, is sold, along with equipment and even characters on eBay for real world currency.
University of Toronto students Jeff Parker and Katie Stein were second and third in line at the Eaton Centre EB Games. They’re dating in the real world an an inseperable team in the world of Warcraft. They’ve been waiting outside EB Games since 8:30pm.
They play online together as a dwarf hunter and a human priestess. They play an estimated 16-20 hours a week, although Jeff admits he plays more even when Katie is busy.
“I’m not a night elf. that’s my only saving grace.” Says Katie.
“Isn’t that both our saving graces?’ Laughs Jeff. Night elves are derided by some players as a rip-off of Japenese Anime characters and as a cliché which damages the illusion of the virtual world.
For Jeff and Katie, the game is about connecting with distant friends, in Edmonton, Texas and Colorado, as well as for socializing with other couples.
“We get together and have double date LAN parties,” laughs Katie. LAN is an abbreviation for Local Area Network, and refers to any network of computers. LAN parties are when a group of people meet up, network their computers, and play computer games.
“Between the four us we have a warrior, a mage, a priest and a hunter. So we just stay up in our basement for 8 hours until 4am just raiding dungeons.”
Not everyone came with friends. At the front of the Best Buy line stands a lone figure. He has with him his sole earthly possessions, the clothing he wears and a rucksack with a sleeping bag. Online, his level 60 Druid’s possessions likely hold far more value both virtual and real.
Robin describes himself as a “homeless druid,” and with good reason. He says he panhandles by day and spends his evenings at internet cafes playing World of Warcraft.
“ I tried to sell my spot for $100. Nobody wants it. They’d rather wait in the cold,” says Robin. He’s been waiting outside the Best Buy in subzero temperatures since 4pm.
“Nothing else better to do. Look for a place, play for awhile.” shrugs Robin.

posted by: Michael Lehan

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