The lack of a post yesterday was due to WoW. No, I was not playing WoW, I was reading about WoW. I started looking at the list of EverQuest-speak that I’ve collected over the years, and then started looking at a number of pages on Massively Multiplayer Online Game terminology, and before I knew it, it was time to go to work and I hadn’t written anything.
If you’ve never played one of these games before, chances are you’ll find it quite bewildering when you log in and see a continuous stream of almost incomprehensible text scrolling down your screen. In WoW:
WTS [Striker’s Mark] 300g pst
Enchanting +4 chest 1g or free with mats pst
WTB port to Darnassus 1g pst!!!!!1
LF2M UBRS healer and tank plz, whisper Pwrkillr
L60 holy priest LFG Scholo, UBRS
WTB dark iron pst
LF1M Gnomer nukeage
Bigphat is a noob ninja dont group with him
L19 rogue twink LF guild pst
What do you expect from a pug?
WTB port to Darnassus 1g pst!!!!!1
WTS [Libram of Hope] pst with offer
56 lock LFG ST
I find it fascinating how players find the fastest ways to communicate, and how particular conventions or forms of in-game language develop over time.
I could have written last night when I got home from work, but I er um.. started playing WoW instead. This time I am playing on a roleplaying server instead of a PvP server. This means that M and I are on different servers, which is a pity, but I really hate getting ganked on PvP servers. I wonder if I can maintain the role of the detached observer and see how I relearn what I need to do in game. After all, MMOs offer lots of learning opportunities! Right?