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Breakfast Topic: How do relationships in game affect relationships in real life?

(Peter Anargirou) — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 08:00:00 EST

This Breakfast Topic has been brought to you by Seed, the AOL guest writer program that brings your words to WoW Insider's pages.

Most of the time, relationships in and out of World of Warcraft are completely separate. There are people I know in the game and people I know out of it. With the number of available realms, even the people I know in real life who play WoW are on different realms. This contributes to keeping in-game and out-of-game politics separate. But what happens when these two parts of your life come together?

At the end of Wrath, most people I knew played on different realms than me. I always wanted to play more with my friends, and we decided to do something about it. For Cataclysm, a large group of us transferred to a single realm so we could play together. We formed a guild, and suddenly my roommate was also my guild leader. In fact, that meant four major raid and guild members lived under the same roof. If any drama were to unfold in guild, surely it would spill over into my house. What if someone I liked in real life was terrible in WoW?

Unfortunately, that guild started to fall apart on me. As I thought about leaving the guild, I wondered what it would do to my relationships out of the game. Would there be hard feelings? From my experience, guild drama definitely did spill over in real life, although no friendships were hurt. In the end, I did feel it best to leave the guild, and everybody understood. I was lucky.

Do you play with people you know outside of the game? Has drama in WoW ever become drama in real life? What do you do to separate the two?

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Breakfast Topic: How do relationships in game affect relationships in real life? originally appeared on WoW Insider on Wed, 01 Jun 2011 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Breakfast Topic: Are you a closet roleplayer?

(Peter Anargirou) — Wed, 25 May 2011 08:00:00 EST

This Breakfast Topic has been brought to you by Seed, the AOL guest writer program that brings your words to WoW Insider's pages.

Most players don't actively roleplay in World of Warcraft -- however, it sure seems like some people do without realizing it. Tabards, when not being used for reputations, are usually picked for cosmetic reasons, as are mounts and non-combat pets. Faction loyalty can be seen as another type of roleplaying. A lot of people seem to hate Garrosh, even though his character doesn't actively affect raiding or PVP.

Personally, I like to think about what my character would think of things. I might not roleplay in game, but I know his political opinions. I've created some backstory for why he feels the way he does and why he became his class. After seeing his mother die, he knew he had to be a healer, and the priesthood seemed the best choice for someone distancing himself from the more barbaric ways of the Darkspear. There are even some quests I've completed that I've felt my character, story-wise, would never have actually done (such as killing Alliance members without provocation). Despite these tendencies, I don't actually engage in any roleplaying in the game.

Do you ever do any kind of roleplaying, even if it's in your head? Have you thought about your character's personality or history? Do you ever think about how your character feels about the various faction leaders and the recent changes in power?

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Breakfast Topic: Are you a closet roleplayer? originally appeared on WoW Insider on Wed, 25 May 2011 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Breakfast Topic: Has your perspective of Azeroth changed over time?

(Peter Anargirou) — Sun, 22 May 2011 08:00:00 EST

This Breakfast Topic has been brought to you by Seed, the AOL guest writer program that brings your words to WoW Insider's pages.

The very first time you load into Azeroth, you don't know what to expect. If you're familiar with previous Warcraft games, you might recognize some places, but many of the locations will be new to you. As a level 1 character, you can't ride a mount at all, let alone use a flying mount. The world is huge, and it's actually difficult to get across a continent.

My first character was a night elf. I remember trekking into Kalimdor and thinking that the world was dauntingly massive. It felt like I was on the frontier, and the civilized world was on the Eastern Kingdoms. I distinctly remember traveling to Stormwind and later Ironforge, which is still my favorite city, despite now playing Horde. Ironforge was huge and majestic. It gave me the same feeling that the world gave me -- that I was very small compared to my surroundings.

The perspective changes as you play the game longer. Now, I'm familiar with all the zones, and it's easy to get around. Zone progression isn't random, nor is it something I completely control. There's an order to the zones, and I know the sequence in which to visit them. While it's nice to know the game well, sometimes I miss that feeling of mystery in discovering such a huge, new world.

How did your perceptions of the world change as you played? Did you feel awe at Azeroth when you first saw it?

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Breakfast Topic: Has your perspective of Azeroth changed over time? originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sun, 22 May 2011 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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