Personally, I love the game, perhaps because of the fact that I'm on an RP server, or maybe because I'm just addicted for the moment. I've only played about a month and it's safe to say I'm hooked. Either way, from the outsider's point of view, I can see why such a thing seems ridiculous. After all, the game is nothing special in terms of either gameplay or graphics, and to pretty much everyone it's just a major grind fest that has some hex woven into the programming that gives you a short zap unless you help noobs run through WC for the umpteenth time.
What I'd like to address is not the more common complaints and issues, but the cause of them. The whole reason why the game is so addicting and so fun is the social networking. The game is, in fact, a virtual world. You start as a single person in a sea of users, and with time, you build status. You meet others, join a group, and attend meetings. Soon you find yourself grinding to keep up with friends you've never seen in person, and you raid because it's a lot of fun to do as a group. Eventually, the line between Earth and Azeroth becomes blurred, and you start doing odd things like reaching for a nonexistent L key to check what all you have to do that day, assuming that simply crouching will render you invisible, and saying something awkward aloud when you intended to whisper a person across the room. (I've actually done all three.) What I'm trying to point out is that the game's core mechanics, the battle system, the leveling, they aren't that great. But the fact is that WoW is a world in and of itself, and people begin to live in it. And once they do that, they become comfortable with what they've been through. The decent gameplay becomes second nature. The cartoony graphics take on a sort of subtle elegance. And after some time, people begin preferring that world to this one, because in that world they aren't some average Joe, or the overweight 35 year old that lives in mom's basement. They're great heroes and cunning villains, with friends who are just as epic and just as interesting.
Turning even farther toward the RP spectrum, and continuing from the last sentence, the game allows us to become things we can't normally be, or in some cases things that we simply hope to be. Take for example myself. I have a tauren named Equani (on Moon Guard if anyone's interested). He's a wise man, a weapons master, and is one with nature, despite being a warrior. And though I'm well on my way to all three of those, I'm not quite old or experienced enough to truly reach that level. So, Equani is acts as a realization of my aspirations, which I enjoy playing because he is, in all reality, an amplified aspect of myself, which in the RP world is what every character is, regardless of what the player claims. And it is because we can further develop our characters and in turn ourselves that we enjoy walking this virtual land.
So, to top it all off, I love WoW, and I happily accept the world it gives me, but I can't help but wonder what all these people could be doing in the time they spend grinding. But, it's escapist entertainment, and it's bloody great fun.
Now if you'll excuse me, I've got some mobs to grind.
![[zonking great]](https://eg-forums-escapist-data.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/data/avatars/l/36/36225.jpg?1620302945){kind=avatar}
