March 30 marks my birthday. This year I’ll be an age that’s relatively unimportant, but the milestone is 12 straight years of playing MMOs. I get asked by blokes in some circles what my utter fascination is with the genre, whether it be some of the horrid F2P games down to the more epic P2P ones, and the answer is pretty simple. Much like Brisco County Jr., I’ve been searching for the next big thing. I’ve been seeking this game for the past couple of years, but it has eluded me. Don’t get me wrong, World of Warcraft is a pretty amazing game. It did what a lot of previous MMOs failed to do. It augmented the genre as we know it, making it something more than massive. Every game that has followed has pretty much gone down the same road, some with their own spins and some complete copy cats.

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Finding the right members for a party in an MMORPG is a lot like figuring who you want to go to the bar with you. You have plenty of choices from your contacts, if you’re lucky enough, and these people are from different walks of life, a lot like the people you’re grouping up with in the game. Each member you find yourself inviting to the group has a special function you’ll need for an instance of pub crawling. This is my usual line-up:

The tank, as you might imagine, is someone who is the loudest, but not necessarily the largest, member of your group. They’ll be six pints in before you’re done with your second. They are machines with no equal when it comes to laughing loudly, spending most of their skill points on aggroing the bartender for more drinks for you and your party. The healer of your group is the one carrying aspirin in their pocket or purse, telling the tank they’ve had one too many and can’t keep up with the speed of the tank. They are a crucial member to help keep your party alive through a pub instance; they’re bossy but will always call a cab when they know the instance is over, making sure everyone gets out alright.

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I think a getting-to-know-me blog is a little past due on my end, so I hope this helps you understand where I come from as a gamer. My father got an Atari a little after I was born. He and a good friend used to compete in those Asteroids and Galaga tournaments back when arcades actually had substance and the games were impressive. His friend was so good at these games that he could walk outside, have a smoke, and still have more than 50 lives remaining when he returned. Back then he was considered a lazy person who lacked passion, but if he had been born today he’d be considered a “cyberathlete” for his feats of video-game prowess. This brings me to an interesting realization: the world is a random place, and so am I.

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