While fishing this weekend on my mage, aiming to get her skill to 450 (which she accomplished), I had plenty of time to think.
I fished up a penny with Private Marcus Jonathan’s wish upon it:
“I wish to grow a glorious, bushy mustache someday.”
I read that coin, then cast my line into the fountain.
What would my wish be, I thought to myself, that I would toss into that little wishy well?
I suppose, this lady’s wish would be that she hopes to fight for the liberation of Gnomeregan someday.
I stopped to ponder what my other characters’ wishes might be. Candy would wish for 150 vanity pets. And Anexxia would wish that tailors could make custom-dyed voodoo doll vanity pets. And my undead mage would wish she could make a flying potion, and enchant a broom with it…
At first blush, it may seem that they have wishes all over the place. But on closer look, they actually reflect what I like to spend my time in game. I love to collect the virtual pets and bring them out at every opportunity. And it’s truly leveling my professions and collecting all the patterns that motivates my leveling a new toon. And after all that is said and done, it’s the raiding that keeps me interested in my main.
What’s interesting to me is that these things that keep me interested in the game and coming back for more are just but one tiny sliver of the things that keep folks engaged in the World of Warcraft. Some love to level alts. And others love to PvP. And then there are all the creative RPers. And all of us have found our very own happy place within the same game.
How crazy (and awesome) is that? That one game would appeal to so many of us from such varied backgrounds, across the U.S. — and the planet for that matter. And that we can each choose to play the game and focus on those aspects that truly speak to us.
I think it’s pretty fabulous. How about you?