I didn't intend to become one of "those" people. I tried hard to avoid it. Oh, I like my computer games. Those with a plot, some action and an eventual end. Except for the Sims and Sims2. But I just wasn't going to become one of those "gamer" people who was addicted to some online role playing game. Then my oldest married a Geek. I watched him play a couple of times and it didn't seem all that interesting. Especially when there didn't seem to really be a point to it.Ok, so there was the fact that I couldn't see buying the software and running it for a month to decide if I liked it. $20 and I might hate it.
Blizzard (the company that owns Warcraft) got sneaky. They sent a round of pop-up ads (which I never click on) through the net. I saw one, killed it, updated my pop-up blocker and was done with it. But all night I kept seeing it in my head: Try it free for 14 days! Download the game for free...play it for 14 days. FREE. With nothing to lose, I went directly to the Blizzard website.
Now I anticipated I'd have to secure it against my credit card so they could automatically bill me when my trial period was up. This was where Blizzard was really smart. I didn't have to do this. I just clicked for a free trial account, downloaded the software and I was off and playing.
So I created a character, which was very easy to do and stood in the middle of a town looking around and trying to figure out what to do. I figured it out quickly enough and before the hour was done I was a level 8! Then a 10! Wow, I'm good at this.
Of course it became more and more difficult to level the higher I got. It also required help from some of the others playing the game. Some quests required several people to bring down the bad guys. So I met other people who like to play.
On the 15th day, when I went to log in, was a very nice message from Blizzard telling me that my free time was up and I would have to subscribe if I wished to continue playing. Either way, they hoped I had enjoyed my Warcraft experience. Now the easy click button to subscribe is not a surprise to anyone. What was nice was the button to remove Warcraft from my system. In other words, they understand that I may not wish to continue and that is fine, but hey thanks for looking and we won't screw up your computer or leave you with a huge set of files to deal with on your own. I liked that about them. It was thoughtful. I clicked the subscribe button.
On December 24 of that year, I was supposed to meet up with my oldest and her husband. She was going to call me so that my departure to their home was in sync with them. While waiting I was playing Warcraft. I found a group of 35+ level players who would run me through the Deadmines (Really tough for a lower level player!). No sooner had we started towards the Mine when my oldest called to tell me to leave. I said ok and hung up. How long could it possible take to run to Westfall and then through the Deadmines? Turns out, to do everything I needed to do in there was about 35 minutes. I thanked the other players for their help and logged out.
Then drove really fast and arrived only about 45 minutes late. My oldest was asking where I had been, so on and so forth. I gave her a hug, gave her hubby a hug and then moved him between the two of us so I could tell her "I was running the Deadmines". She was not amused. He was.
So after a year I'm still playing. I've got a number of characters, including Denarra pictured here.
Yes, I recommend this game HIGHLY! But don't take my word for it. Hop over to Blizzard and try it free for yourself.
Oh, if you are ever in the Realm of Stormrage, look me up!
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