The following entry will befuddle about half of the audience

The wonderful thing about games like World of Warcraft is that instead of interacting with a computer, you can play with your friends.

Unfortunately, this rarely happens.

After moving aimlessly from server to server like a hobo hopping trains across the country, Troy, Kimberly and I have settled on the Feathermoon server and started up new characters to play together.

Troy is playing a paladin (protection spec.), Kimberly is playing a shaman (of which I know very little) and I am playing a gnome mage (fire spec.) which I have affectionately named after Dantzel.

We have started up a pretty good business as far as professions go. I have taken mining and tailoring, so all the ore and gems I acquire I send to Kimberly, who has taken gem crafting. She then sends finished goods to Troy and I to use. I, in turn, gain a lot of cloth that Kimberly and Troy pick up along the way to boost my tailoring skills to make armor and more importantly, bags for loot, and then keep the green items I can make and send them to Troy, who then disenchants them to their basic arcane elements and use to enchant our gear and sell components at the auction house for ridiculous amounts of money. I often find my mailbox filled with cloth and other things, while I am busy sending packages of gems I've discovered to Kimberly.

Kimberly is around level 18, Troy at level 15 or so, and my gnome mage at a rather pathetic level 13. We're trying to get to around level 18, which is when we can run instances together. Troy's roommate Tyler was also supposed to be party to our party, but because he's on a pretty serious raiding schedule, has done little with his new character on Feathermoon.

World of Warcraft is much more fun and rewarding when playing with friends, I've discovered, and time (and quests) pass a lot more quickly when in jovial company. Unfortunately, for those familiar with the players on World of Warcraft, mature, calm, rational players are far and few between, so sometimes we in real life must band together in the digital world as well, as to preserve our sanity.

For those who are in sociology, I would totally write my capstone paper or dissertation on the social mechanics in World of Warcraft. You'd be surprised how incredibly complex they are. Justask Troy about Levy and the story of the guild Rotten Apples and how it imploded in a most spectacular and drama ridden manner possible.