One Game World, Many Games

Bainbridge, whom I refereed to earlier, called World of Warcraft a Game World rather than a game. This distinction is becoming increasing more obvious. In this post, I would like to distinguish among several of the potential games that one might play.

Game 1: The Stranger - In this game, you create a single character and pursue solo requests until you reach the desired level.

Game 2: The Stranger with Many Faces - In this game, you create multiple characters to explore different capabilities and give each one different professions.

Game 3: The Bastion of the Battleground - In this game, the player advances by repeatedly going to battle grounds rather than pursuing quests.

Game 4: The Guildie - This person joins a guild as soon as they can find an appropriate one and focuses primarily on their role in the guild.

Game 5: The Twink - This character is usually an alt and thanks to gifts from a higher level character is way over specified for their level.

Game 6: The Griefer - This character focuses on harrassing newbies.

 Game 7: The Tag Along - In this game, a character is 'escorted' through dungeons and difficult quests by another player of advanced level and capabilities.

Game 8: The Grinder - The sole purpose of this character is to hang out in an area where resources can be farmed and acquire resources. 

Game 9: The Vendor - The sole purpose of this character is to hang out at the auction house looking for deals and trying to get the best price for items they have to sell.

This list is neither exhaustive nor mutually exclusive. However, it does provide an idea of the variety of games one might play in this 'Game World'. Over the next few posts I will elaborate on these roles explaining their game goals and providing some tips on how to play these different games.