Paintball, It Hurts So Good.

Last Sunday night I was invited by a coworker to take part in a little paintball action. If you have read my blog you may know I have my own equipment and am always ready to trade paint. The battle took place in a friend of my coworker's back yard. After piling up as much crap as we could find to make a most excellent ghetto field, we played late into the night. Fun times. It's been a week and the bruises are starting to go away.

To Azeroth and Back Again: A Gnome's Tale

As some of you may know (well one or two of you), approximately one year ago I started playing World of Warcraft. For the uneducated, WoW is a Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game that allows the player to create a custom character, choosing from various races, classes, talents and professions. The player can then journey through an online world, growing in experience and ability while interacting and questing with countless other people from literally all over the planet. I have been playing video games for nearly 25 years. I have owned an Atari, Nintendo, Sega Genesis, PlayStation, Xbox and an Xbox 360 and have played allot of games in my lifetime. To be completely honest, WoW is one of the most elaborate and impressive games I have ever played. The world within the game is gigantic and there is never a shortage of things to do. The most attractive element of the game is the ability to interact and fellowship with real life friends and online companion while you quest and build your characters together.

That being said this game takes time. Allot of time. There is no logging on for 30 minutes to kill time. Once you log on it is easy to spend 2 to 5 hours questing and grinding. When you get hooked on the game, your mind becomes dominated with character builds, gear sets and acquiring enough gold to get that epic mount. Periodically real life interferes with your virtual life and sometimes you can go days without logging on. When you are finally able to return, you realize you are many levels behind your guild mates and the grind is on to attempt to catch up. Personally I have had little success catching up on multiple characters. After nearly a year of playing, the game has started to lose its luster. While it's still a great game, I am feeling a little burned out. The grind kinda feels like a chore and playing just isn't as fun as it once was. Furthermore, I feel I have reached a point in the game where being a casual player is no longer a viable option and I am not prepared to devote the time required to actively participate with my comrades.

So here I sit on a Friday night resolved to give it up. The one aspect of the game I will truly miss is the fellowship with the friends I know, both new and old, that play the game. However, I feel the time gained from not playing WoW will give me the much needed time to work on various areas of my life I should have given attention long ago. So fare well WoW. You will be missed.