WOW, where did March go?

So if anybody still reads my blog, I want you to know that you are an extremely dedicated individual, or an extremely bored one. Either way, I'm glad you decided to come by again, and heres a look at where I've been the past month.

You may be wondering: where did John Kelly go? I used to see him around once and a while, but he seems to have disappeared. Well, I've got the answer to that question: World of Warcraft.

To anyone who already knows what that is, I pity you- you, or your loved one that has vanished due to that game and its addictive qualities. But to those of you who don't know what World of Warcraft is, let me give you a thirty second brief on the game: (You can start your timers now)

World of Warcraft is a MMORPG, which stands for Massively Multiplayer Online Roleplaing Game. Now, online part is probably pretty self-explanatory - its is an online computer game. The massivel multiplayer part means that when you play World of Warcraft, you are in a "world" that is occupied not only by yourself and computer controlled characters, but in a world filled with other human players just like you. You interact with these people by joining groups with them to complete quests, buying and trading items from them (all with ingame money, never with real cash), and you can even war with your opponents by raiding enemy cities. The Roleplaying Game aspect is supposed to mean that when you play World of Warcraft, you are acting a role - you are acting like the character you are playing, a character you created and outfited yourself to explore this complex, imagined world. Many people do not roleplay, which is fine - I really enjoy the game because it is a great opportunity for me to spend time with my gaming friends in an enjoyable atmosphere.

The following are a few photos of my friends and I exploring this complex world, this World of Warcraft:



Here's a picture of my friend Ian (remember? the guy that was sleeping on my futon?) and I attacking an extremely oversized boar. As Ian typed - "mmm... bacon."



In this picture, you get to see something that happened to poor Toto here quite often (yes, I did play a character named Toto) - death. In this particular episode of my untimely demise, I was killed by dragonkin, things that are very large, scary, and deal three times as much damage as I have health in one hit.



Here is another photo of something that happened QUITE to often - the game lagging out. Let me explain what lagging out means. Lagging out, in my limited understanding, means that the World of Wacraft servers, for one reason or another, decide to no longer work. Its really fun if you get stuck inside the server when this happens. It would really be kind of like when Agent Smith took over the Matrix - there is nothing you can do, and the world collapses. All of the computer characters disappear, and for the most part, so do the players. But if you are one of the lucky ones that gets stuck in this state of limbo, you can't even exit the game. Good times. In this picture, my character Meatshield is saying - "Hello and welcome to Ironforge! There are currently no NPCS available. Enjoy World of Warcraft!"



This is my favorite picture out of all the snapshots I have taken during my hours and hours and hours of playing this game. This is a snowman, and Toto is dancing with him. Good Times.

I really have enjoyed playing World of Warcaft. A word to the curious - this game can be enjoyable, and is an excellent opportunity to spend time with friends and waste time when you have nothing better to do. However, be careful. Don't let a game take over your life. Its almost summer outside, and that means GO OUTSIDE!!! Wait till October to play games like this.

Until next time, I hope you all enjoy the rest of your spring, and do well on finals. Peace out and in the words of the infamous Colin - "Go outside and play"