Midterms, Buying, and Selling

Midterms have come and gone, and a second round is coming soon for some of us. Annie is one of the lucky few! Given this, she has been quite busy lately. This has not prevented her from logging on to earn virtual gold, however. In WoW, items collected by the player through their interactions in the world can be sold to other players, and most items found are of some value to someone. In this sense, it is much like the real world. Also the like the real world, WoW has an economy. And in the time of midterms, Annie has discovered a way to exploit the WoW economy to continue earning her upkeep.

I logged on one day to realize that my level 70 (maximum level) character has less money than Annie's level 44 character. Much to my dismay, I realize that she also has not been logging much time playing, given that she has needed to study for various tests lately. When I asked her how she earned all her cash, she gave me a fairly short explanation on how easy it was, and how she just logs on a for a couple minutes per day to do a few simple things. Astounded, I implored her to elaborate.

Apparently, in her experiences within the game so far, she has realized that certain items she collects sell best under two conditions: 1.) there arn't very many of them currently on the market, and 2.) it is a time of the week that has quite a few players online. Following these two conditions, she proceeded to buy up all of the items that she knew normally sell for a certain amount, especially those she saw being sold cheaply. Then, she waited until the weekends when many players are online, and sold them all off. The end result was just slightly under double the amount of money she put into it. And she did all this in just a few minutes per day.

The question is not necessarily why this works, or how this works, but more how did Annie figure it out? Or more specifically, why Annie? She has no experienced playing online games, and she has little idea the scope of what items are particularly valuable to player, and for what reasons. She is, however, extremely smart. Like deadly smart. Like, I embarrass myself around her, smart.

In fact, many players have to consult online guides in order to figure out how to manipulate the virtual world in the manner that Annie has. I would assume that most players have to consult an outside source, either a guide or another player, in order to figure out the strategy that Annie is using to make money. She is using simple economic theories of the marketplace in order to sell her items. First, she is buying items at a low price, and selling them at a high price. Second, she is choosing to sell her items at a time that gives her a market advantage. However, Annie is not an Economics major, nor does she particularly enjoy economics.

Perhaps, it is her inexperience with virtual worlds that is giving her the advantage. Since games like WoW, called massively multiplayer online role playing games, or MMORPGs, have been around for many years, many players are multiple generation users -- that is to say, they have a played several MMOs, for several years each. When a user has this kind of experience, they tend to interact with each game in similar ways -- the way that one kills monsters and gains levels in one game is very similar to other games. But a strategy that works in one game, or a theory that works in one game, may or may not work in the other. People who have this type of experience seem to be blinded by the fact that there are many theories and ideas of the actual world that apply to virtual worlds.

honestly, I haven't quite figured out the extent of this phenomenon regarding the interaction between experience, virtual worlds, and the actual world. It is obvious, however, that Annie's advantage comes from the her application of her knowledge, and that she is able to apply her knowledge because she recognizes the virtual world of WoW as similar to the actual world in certain aspects, in particular the economy. She provides an interesting example regarding why some players apply their knowledge, and some don't.

Can I Kill Him?

The first choice any WoW player makes is what type of server to create their first character on. There are two primary types: PvP (player v. player) and Normal (player vs. environment). In the latter, players primarily test their skills against computer controlled monsters. In the former, players are able to attack each other in most areas of the world, creating a virtual environment that is war-like in nature. Annie and I play on a PvP server, as the element of fighting other players adds a layer of excitement to the game.

In my previous entry, I discussed the decisions players make regarding what types of monsters to kill. Annie has certain precautions she takes when making these decisions. However, when it comes to deciding whether or not to attack another player, there is very little thought that goes into the decision.

Regularly, Annie and I will pass by another player in the game world, and she will be firing spells at him or her before I even have a chance to voice my opinion. Sometimes, her unhindered attitude results in the both our deaths. This does not seem to sway her actions, either.

Annie's behavior illuminates another point of player decision making that I did not thnk of when composing my previous entry. A player may not want to kill the cute and cuddly creatures that wander the world, but he or she may want to draw blood from every single enemy player they encounter. Virtual worlds allow for this type of expression, where an individual can choose to be violent toward their fellow gamers characters. In the actual world, violence isn't tolerated. In WoW, it is almost encouraged, but in an acceptable, safe, consequence free environment.

The Gender Ethics of WoW Combat

A primary component of World of Warcraft, or any online game, is the killing of monsters for the sake of obtaining 'experience points'. These points, when enough are accumulated, allow you to progress through 'levels', thereby advancing your character. In WoW, there are all manner of creatures, including harmless creatures, angry animals (wolves, bears, coyotes, lions), demons, dragons, and so on. Myself, being a male player of WoW, typically kills whatever yields the most experience. However, not all players operate by the same rules. This is something that i've noticed is dictated by the player's perception of the monster at hand, regardless of whether or not it actually yields experience or treasure. Additionally, the gender of the player seems to dictate what action will be taken for example.

Take me, for example. I like to kill even the most harmless of monsters, regardless of what, if anything, it will give me. Particularly squirrels. I like to crush squirrels. I also like to chop kittens in half, or blast them with a fireball. These creatures are not monsters, and they will not even attack you. I've also seen this behavior performed by other players who are also male. WoW is a game where the player can exhibit a certain amount of power against other beings, and this seems to be a manifestation of traditionally male characteristics: exhibiting control, displaying power, killing?. We don't typically understand these characteristics and action to be female. It is an interesting sociological experiment to observe the behavior of such players for other reasons as well. For instance, not every male player will choose to kill the squirrel. When entering a situation where there is one tiny wandering kitten to kill, some players will repeatedly kill it, every time they encounter it. On the other hand, other male players choose NOT to kill the kitten, everytime they encounter it. In fact, a group of players I used to play with regularly explored a dungeon every thursday night. And every thursday night, the monsters in the dungeon would reset, so they could be killed again. Each group of players could only do this once a week. In the beginning of the dungeon was a non-hostile wandering kitten. It would not attack. it could not damage the group. It's electronic life was hanging in the balance of the power weilded by testosterone driven male gamers. And inevitably, every thursday night, the kitten would die at the hand of the same player. As it turns out, this player was a relatively young, teenage, high school sophomore, male gamer. He was relatively mature in all other facets of play, but he could not withstand the urge to kill the kitten.

Most players do not think of kitten-killing as a sin, but it was brought to my attention in the early weeks of Annie and I's mutual adventures within WoW that it was certainly innapropriate to murder harmless animals. It was even un called for to murder certain monsters that were deemed 'cute' by the forces of feminity. Annie took the time, one particular night, to scold my killing of a particular cat that had a piece of treasure I needed, by yelling 'Taylor!, what are you doing?!" and smacking me abruptly on the arm. I've seen other players chastised in the game by other female players for similar behavior, though often in a joking manner. Ultimately, the most interesting insight gleaned from the situation came from the instinctual urgency of both the male and female reactions. Neither could I stand to kill the cat, nor could Annie stop to think twice about injuring my much needed arm. And it does desribe something about the way individuals relate to virtual worlds. To Annie, my offense was along the same vein as being cruel to some sort of cute creature in real life, and should be punished as such.

Introduction

Welcome to my blog. As the title may imply, this blog is dedicated the online adventures of my girlfriend, Annie, within the virtual world of Blizzard Entertainment's World of Warcraft. Having worked for Blizzard for five years, and being in the credits (for something innocuous and unimportant), I have a fairly extensive curriculum vitae when it comes to online worlds, video games, and World of Warcraft. I have recently discovered something new: Annie has never ventured into the sometimes frightening and always challenging World of Warcraft, and therefore has never experienced the depths of depravity, Chuck Norris jokes, acronyms, stress, and competition of World of Warcraft's online universe (hence forth: WoW).

In discovering Annie's lack of experience, I've also discovered that her experiences reveal careful details regarding the interaction between a virtual world and those individuals who have remained naive to their existence thus far.

Annie's first adventure came in the challenge of naming her character (avatar) within the game. When we first fired up WoW so that she and I could play side by side, she had no idea that she would have to create a character of her own. She was under the impression she would assume the role of a premade mario-and-luigi esque character. After realizing this was not the case, she quickly became lost -- she had no idea what to name her character.

A little more background -- we had chosen the same game world, or realm, that Annie's friends play on. The intent was to adventure with them when we got to their same level. Annie decided that it was appropriate to make quite the entrance into WoW and her friend's online lives. This, also being the same week that the final Harry Potter book came, became the perfect opportunity to simultaneously destroy her friend's enjoyment of the book, and serve as a constant reminder (to her friends) of this victorious feat. Thus, she settle on the name of "Potterlives". She created her level 1 blood elf mage, and began running around killing little angry cats and other assorted fauna. Potterlives continues to this day, and this blog will remain about the adventures of Potterlives as controlled by my lovely girlfriend, Annie.