There's Always the Milk Option!

Examination Contamination

Exams are now in full swing, I don't think it's hit be quite yet that in less than a week I'll be asleep in my own bed back in Four Oaks. I'm really going to miss it hear a lot. I know next year can't be the same and that I'm already growing up like "woah" but I don't want to feel that way, you know? Sigh...

Two of my exams are already over, here is how that went. Both of them were at 8AM, one Wednesday in Math 101, the other this morning in Global History. Now, thinking that Math 101 was just SOOOOOO easy (which it was) I decided that I could just glance over some of the stuff we went over in the study session and be just fine. I ended up sitting at my desk during the exam cursing myself for looking up all the "simple" "easy" stuff that I had forgotten. It wasn't that bad though, I'm pretty sure I passed it OK.
The History exam was cake like all the rest. I greatly appreciate the help of the mildly intelligent Lindsay West (just kidding, super intelligent!) in studying with me last night. The study session was more or less Lindsay rambling off important information whilst I enjoyed her Live-Wire Mountain Dew and drooled over her day old Krispee-Kreme. Whatever happened there must have helped because I only got three questions wrong on the exam! That should safely put me in "A" range in that class. ((Knock on Virtual Wood.))

Now it's time for me to talk about a new sad addiction that I am going to resist, after the next 9 days. This addiction is an online computer game called World of Warcraft. Those of you familiar with computer gaming, especially Mac gaming, should recognize the "Warcraft" brand. It's creator, Blizzard Entertainment, is one of the few game developers that still develops for Mac. Anyway, the past Warcraft games have been real time strategies. In other words, you play an "overloard" and build an army of underlings to wage war with different races and colonies in a "Lord of the Rings-esque" fantasy world. This game takes that world and puts the player on an amazing individual level.
I know some of you have heard of the game EverQuest. Developed by Sony, this computer game is a Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game, (MMORPG.) It was pretty much the original and claimed the lives of many bored individuals. The newer version of EverQuest actually includes an in-game way of ordering Pizza Hut pizza and having it delivered. Sad huh? So if you know how EverQuest works, even if you've never played it (because I never have) then you know how World of Warcraft (WoW) works, only WoW does what EverQuest does much better.

For those that don't know anything about MMORPGs or just want to know why I'm so afraid of becoming addicted that I'm not allowing myself to purchase the game when my free 10 day trial expires, keep reading.

SO NATHAN, TELL ME HOW SOME WoW WORKS!

Well OK, I've only been playing for a day but I'll give you my impressions.

First of all, the game is literally, it's own separate world. Your character can set out north and just keep walking until he/she hits a mountain, or an ocean, or a wall or something it can't pass. You can walk for virtual miles and run into new cities and villages and there is always something to do. You play as a character on either "The Horde" (Mean people) or "The Alliance" (knights in shining armor). Within each side there are 4 races to choose from, and, in all there are nine different classes to of those characters. Let's break it down.

THE ALLIANCE:
Humans
Dwarves
Gnomes
Night Elves

of these races you can pick from these "classes" or types of characters:
Hunter, Mage, Rogue, Paladin, Priest, Warrior, Warlock, and Druid.
Not all of the races can be any one of these, but, you get the idea.

THE HORDE
Orcs
Tauren (Minotaur)
Trolls
Undead

aaaaand their classes:
Hunter, Rogue, Shaman, Warlock, Warrior, Druid, Mage, and Priest

Once you get your character you have to run out into the woods and start beating up on animals and weird humanoid creepy things to get money and gain experience to make your character stronger. You also gain experience and money from completing "quests" which are assigned by non-player characters, (NPC) in-game. For instance, an NPC at a small brewery gave me the quest of going to the local popular brewery and replacing one of their kegs of whisky with one of the small brewery's. Rivalry crap or something. Anyway, upon completion you get money, items, and/or at the very least, good experience points.
Where other players online come in is that some of the quest can be too difficult to take on solo. That's when you get a pal, or just some random gnome guy, to join up with you and help you complete a quest. The bigger the group you can get together the faster you get it done.
There is so much to talk about with this game I actually couldn't finish if I wrote all day. Basically its just like the real world, only fake. You can get jobs, make goods, sell them, auction them off in the big cities (ebay style) take trams to other cities, joke around with other people, and basically waste HOURS.
Yesterday I killed a rabbit, skinned the rabbit, and then if I had wanted, I could have made a shoe from the leather and traded it to a random guy from Canada for 45 copper, or one silver, or a bundle of shiny apples, or whatever I wanted for it. This is why the game is so addictive, it never ends!!! And there is always something to do. I'd love to talk more but I have to do some reading for my next exam and then, yes, travel once more into the world of Azeroth for mind-numbing fun.

KEEP YER FEET ON THE GROUND!