I reached the tipping point for WoW interest. Previously, I wasn't really engaged with the game. I felt lost and uninterested. I played the game for the obligatory hours.

Last night, however, something changed. Let's look at what was different...

1. Social:
My friend has committed to playing with me. That meant chatting while in the game (and figuring out how to do that). He also had already played for about an hour on Friday night and had advanced to Level 2, by killing wolves and doing some other quest as well. I had already finished a couple of quests, but mostly I had been just exploring and trying to avoid possible griefers! Thus, I was not yet Level 2. Being very competitive by nature, this increased my interest, my belief that the game would be accessible, and my drive to perform. Motivated to perform, not to learn? Uh-oh!

2. Success:
I finished a quest, I found me way in and out of several labyrinthine structures, I found my friend's character, and he and I completed several more quests. I killed wolves, I looted bodies, I gained magic skills... I am a Level 4 mage now!

3. Accessibility:
Last night my machine was working much better and faster than it had in the past. Without long load times or moments where the screen was frozen, the game was much more seamless and engaging.

I played the game for about an hour and a half last night. During that time, I was totally immersed. I lost track of time, I felt like I was engaging in a Flow activity... My friend reported that he did not feel as immersed, and we speculated that it was because he was listening to oldies on itunes while he played instead of the game audio. We'll experiment with this in the future.

There was a significant trade off that I noticed last night. Usually my friend and I chat about politics and sort of debrief about our lives when we are both online, but last night all our conversation related to WoW. When bedtime rolled around, I had definitely had fun with him, but he and I had missed out on the usual emotional connection. I wonder if we will continue to feel this as a loss, or if it will become merely another way to interact; another bond forged between the two of us.

I am looking forward to playing again and using the new magic skills I just learned. Next time my friend and I may try to use voice chat instead of the text so that we are more connected as we play. Maybe I'll crack the Game Manual and find out a little more about our characters and the game in general before I play next.

Until then...