Play time: 5:45- 7:15pm

I started out playing WoW today in reflecting on the idea of persona and player. This is a concept from some of my research on role-playing games that I thought would be a great intersect for starting to play and creating my avatar. And then…

I don’t know what exactly is wrong. It may be how old my computer is. It could be the amount of time my computer is running. But every time I have gotten into the swing of things, my computer overheats. In an hour and a half, I was only able to create a character (a little too quickly might I add) and complete two quests. During this time as well, I have to manually restart my computer four times and wait for the processor to cool off. I guess this could also be a glimpse into how games like WoW were played on early versions of personal computers and laptops. Personally, I am not a fan of the fact that I need a better fan.

The highlight of this unexpected turn of events was the opportunity to watch the beginning sequence of the game a few times. I was a little confused in the beginning because I have friends that play WoW and they let me watch over their shoulder in the past. And this looked nothing like what I had seen before. I kept getting distracted by the dirigibles in the sequence and the some of the aesthetics. And by distracted, I mean I was a little excited. I wrote my senior thesis on steampunk material culture and identity. All of a sudden I open the game and I am seeing flying airships and brass detailing on the motorcycle and sidecar! Not going to lie, I want to see how this aesthetic is tied into the overall aesthetic of the game. After recently seeing a terrible attempt at steampunk (I have a rant on randomly slapping gears on things and calling it steampunk which I will save you from), I am a little nervous. But still excited to see how things go in the future.

Here’s hoping my computer will let me play longer next time!