I waited on the last reflection, just so I could put in some time to really think about the experience as a whole. Since the last post on March 9th, I have been at the game everyday enjoying each time I do play, even if I am trying to hide my phone as much as possible when I played in public. Like using Snapchat in public, I do not care to share with the world what app I am using at the moment. Because ultimately, I would rather not be using my phone when in public so I can talk to people, and take things in through my own eyes.

Though by March 19th, I have gotten to level 12 and have evolved a few Pokemon, in addition to feeding them a couple of their respective candies has made their CP’s over 400. With this, the list of Pokemon captured has grown substantially, and no longer fits within one page. Plus, I have received over 10 medals for the different accomplishments in the game.

No longer do I care to make jokes about this game for the fact I have a new found respect for it. Because there would be times when I was getting on “the heater” in regards to catching Pokemone you could say, when walking from my house to the gym. Then all of a sudden, one of my friends who I am with will start giving me a hard time.

Looking towards the future, it will be interesting to see if other games will come out that will be like this in a sense, or how will other companies use this style of game play as a stepping stone into another virtual world. The game exhibits a lot strong suits when arguing how good it really is overall, but like virtual reality itself, it has a long ways to go before getting into this industries prime.

IT HAS BEEN A BLAST PLAYING VIDEO GAMES FOR HOMEWORK, AND THANKS FOR THE TERM!!!

Daily update: In a short amount of time, it at least feels like, I am now level 8! Four levels in a little under a weeks time I am happy with. In addition new Pokemon include Ledyba, which is one I really do not remember, and Houndour! Now this one I do remember, and I can not wait to be able to evolve this Pokemon into Houndoom. Though kind of like Pikachu to Richue, I just do not want it to happen, because it is the first puppy to stay a puppy!

By finally getting to level eight I really wish I could still battle. None of my Pokemon at this point would even stand a chance going up against any player that could be found at a gym here in Eugene. I have always teased myself with the thought of getting into a battle, but never follow through with it. I can just tell it will be over in a matter of seconds, merely because of the differentials in CP’s in comparison of mine to my possible opponents, as well as their Pokemon are always further evolved than mine.

This leads me to my next point of discussion, will the next update allow players to battle outside of these gyms? It would be nice to say the lease, because it would allow more people to actually experience a large reason why so many people fell in love with this series: the Pokemon battles. Likewise, it would help add life to the game. By having friends to play with “in” the game could open up the door for designers to allow both of you and one’s friend to be present on screen while finding Pokemon together. Instead of always having to look at their respective phone to see their progress, one could open up their account to see what kind of Pokemon they have acquired throughout time.

Daily update: today I added some new Pokemon to the collection of what I own. For instance, Spinarak was one of them. It was annoying I tried to capture him a couple of times before, but never did. I also even added a Staryu! This was one of my favorite Pokemon as a kid, and it left me pretty content after capturing it. Lastly, I am passed level 6 now!

Today I was thinking about who I am, and what I represent in this game. Personally, I identity as male, and with this have a male character. Looks wise, I thought well my avatar needed a make over, and in the spirit of the fact I miss the sun, I gave my character a little extra color to his looks. Continuing, I started to think what do I represent inside the game outside of my image. Well that is, being a member of the blue team A.K.A. team mystic. With this, my avatar should not be wearing yellow, but instead blue seems to be the appropriate color! Plus having a black backpack would add a little swagger to the looks.

All this said, I find it interesting it is very hard to see other people’s avatars. It would be fun to see what others have done with theirs, and this would allow us gamers to see how people project into this cyber reality. If this be a person using a different gender than that they identify with, or even race. Understanding why people chose to use something different then what they personally identify with could go to show more about them to some degree, and at least give credit to their creativity. I do not know what it is, but i feel like every trainer who represents a gym looks exactly the same.

I have forgotten some of things you can, and can not do in this game. So with this, I am experiencing a bit of a learning curve for leveling up quicker. For example, like you want to throw the Pokeball into the inner circle, and spinning the ball can get you more experience points. I totally forgot too, there is a difference between lures, which can only be used a Pokestops, and incenses, that helps a trainer get more Pokemon in certain time period. For the last rookie mistake, I forgot how the process of evolving works tell the end of this recorded time period. If you are wondering, you transfer the Pokemon you want to the Professor, and you receive candies for that particular Pokemon, which can go to evolving it. Though all in all, this made a big difference for making me feel like I was making some progress in the game.

I started to think about it too, I should taking advantage of favoriting feature in the game. This way I could keep track of the Pokemon I wanted to keep, generally it was for the higher ranked Pokemon if I ever had more than one. Then as well organizing them in fashion based on their CP verse their Name or Health. Doing the little things, now I thought would be good so it would only enhance the future experience. Ensuring too, the best Pokemon in my possession.

In other news: today I had fun catching Pokemon in classes today, I bet a teacher does not want to hear that, but it gives a quick little refresher to a daily lecture. Also this game in class in retrospect is not that big of a distraction, because if no Pokemon are around then what is the purpose for playing? And on top of this fun endeavor, I earned a metal for catching 10-flying type Pokemon!

Oh boy the day has come, and I am playing Pokemon Go again. I never saw this day would come to be honest tell I saw the course syllabus. I honestly had to laugh a little, it was like life telling to give even video games a second chance. With a fresh mind towards it, knowing things had changed since I first started playing, I began on day one more than less. Like when I first started, I had fun!

To begin, it is nice where I live now Pokemon where in my place a couple of times today, where in comparison to my old place it never did. I am now (and hopefully this continues) blessed with something new that I never had before, resulting in it being more enjoyable to play the game. I like to think I have been granted the lazy trainer’s experience.

I took a second too, to look at the other small things like if I had any eggs I had started that I left, and what items were in my bag. I did this partially to see where I am at for starting purposes, so I can compare how much I did this time around to the first.

Before really catching new Pokemon I took a second to look back at my old ones, and quickly realized I did not have a lot from when I first played. So this would make things fun I thought, because in a new area this meant finding new ones a lot easier, plus the update that was released during my absences. Sure enough, the first Pokemon I saw I had not yet captured was a Sentret. In the first day too, I made it to level 5, and also caught a Natu, and Spearow. I would like to think this was a successful day for getting back into things to say the least.

I started playing this game when it first came out, due to the fact my roommates at the time were all about the hype. It was funny to see too how everyone else was reacting, and likewise how many people were playing. Too say the least, people were not trying to hide the fact that they were playing this new game that was sweeping the nation. Maybe it was because it was summer in Eugene, when much is very quiet here, or maybe it was because it allowed people to get out to enjoy Eugene’s trails. Furthermore, I will never forget the stories on Reddit of the people getting lost falling of cliffs, and so on. To me, it epitomized the addiction found in humans for their technological devices.

Back to my personal experiences though. Like I said earlier I did initially enjoy it, but lost interest pretty quickly. During the two weeks I first had the game it was fun to get out via the fact it was technology driven at moments, and in other instances I had a game to play that would change based on my location. When opening the game, you could find “Pokestops” everywhere, and gyms to conquer. Though, within this original period of playing the game I was never ranked high enough to take these on.

It was fun exploring different areas, or walking in certain ways because each area would have certain Pokemon. If not always had a new Pokemon I had not caught yet. It was fun seeing this childhood character again, but in somewhat of a more real version then playing cards, and even video games or movies. With this, the fact you could get eggs at Pokestops or for leveling up. Then one would have to walk a certain distance for it to hatch.

I could go on about everything I initially enjoyed, but it was all short lived. Simply due to the fact I could not stand being on my phone all the time when I was out on a nice sunny day. As well, having friends who were always playing. The game became a center for jokes in my book, and much of respect for it was gone. I could not get over the fact so many people began carrying portable chargers so they would always have battery to play the game. Oh yeah! It drained my battery all the time, and it was very annoying.

Warcraft is a special world, and it will be fun to see where this game goes. As a millennial growing up, for a long time this was THE game. Personally, I believe this game should have a metal/reward for the fact how long it was the world’s most popular game. Then looking towards the future, how will Blizzard maybe revamp the game so it is compatible with later platforms that we may see ourselves playing on one day. Or a more simple question, will Blizzard continue to grow the World of Warcraft to make it something even more progressive than we all once thought.

Looking back on this experience, this was the best game so far in the class (cant leave Pokemon GO out yet). It was interesting using this game as a point for personal identity as well. The idea of identity too, is highly contrasted from the switch from Zork to WoW. The readings in which covered projecting a gamers personal identity, or what they dream of onto the character, I thought were the most intriguing. My mind was reminded too, that many of the general physical traits that can be found in video game are also something I identity with not ever making it more or less hard to relate with the story ultimately. WoW offers it all, and I believe it is the reason why some more modern games are doing so well. League of Legends, and Blizzard’s newest game, Overwatch, give equal abilities for the respective characters who identify as male or female, and as well an equal number of options. Never would I have ever thought that I would use World of Warcraft for this discourse, and sure glad I did. Best part too, as I write this last post my roommate turned on the WoW episode of South Park!

Finishing up after hour five of playing this game, I started to feel the monotonous  actions of the game. Resulting in me realizing why I really have not played this game for almost ten years, and thats because I find myself getting bored way to easily. Maybe it is because I need to keep working deeper into the game, or I need to change how I play it so I can have a better overall experience. Just maybe, I am playing it wrong, I thought, and I could go about it differently. One of my initial critiques about myself was, maybe I am too lonely in this game, and I should start to make friends who are at a similar level as I, and maybe even the same class. A few issues a rose quickly: at first it was an issue of wait you are taking my kills, which means I can not complete the quest…. So this is going to take me an extra five minutes while we wait on both of us to reach that mandated number.

Secondly, its not a personal experience. You might be thinking, “wait Nils you’re earlier posts talked about all your different options when you are first starting to make the avatar a reflection of the players creativity”. Yes this is true, but personally I HATE playing video games with random people online, that I will never meet. Back in the day when I could afford the time to play video games, I would in a heart beat, play with anyone I actually knew before playing with a random. Likewise, I have never been a fan of the concept where you send random friend requests to people in the game. Yes they may be helping you get through it all, and solve things; but at the end of the day I reason that actually knowing the individual dictates their friend status. I know its something weird, or simply goes to show my own personal investment into video games like this.

When I first started to play World of Warcraft back in my late elementary, and middle school days there, there were not as many races as there is now. An edition to this being the Worgen race. At this point in time into the assignment I figured it would be fun to go ahead, and try a new character (Worgens being this). A couple initial thoughts:

-Who is suppose to be represented by the Worgen, and with this is there a classic folklore book with a very similar premise, but its about a doctor? <—- Sorry, random thoughts

-Secondly, how they start to build the back round story to this race is a lot different in comparison to many of the other races. Analyzing this from a cinema perspective, there are cut away scenes to help tell exact information within the story line. This helps game developers to ensure a more common experience amongst the gamers. And generally speaking, World of Warcraft does not do this. A player may start with a race that has very talkative computer operated players, but at the same moment time a player can leave. This too, goes in a couple different directions.

Like stated earlier, cut away scenes help to enforce a more exact experience. Doing so in a reenactment, simply lets the premise be dramatized more which creates an overall greater experience. The trade off though in comparison to some of the older races, one can not break away as easily. It is more easy as a troll to say you are done with the initial quests, and can leave to a distant land when you want. With the Worgen, you must learn about how you came to be, then you are aloud to move on into the real world to develop that personal gaming experience. I never see one way better than the other, it just comes down to how a play embraces the experience, and act within.

In the first two sessions of play I spent the time exploring the space and world that World of Warcraft has created, and seeing what is new. I explored the initial area in which trolls start in, Durator. I partially did this, because it was fun exploring how the game reflected Jamaican culture through dialect, and setting. And then going from there, how the Tauren race reflects Native American culture in the same ways, but even more so through cultural artifacts too. With this, much respect should be given to Blizzard for their ability to recreate human culture(s) in a metaphorical world.

With this aside, I returned to “playing the game”, that being completing quests to earn EXP and as well some change to get some cools things! I love games that hold many quests that an individual can go and explore, which in return reflect the development of the gamer’s avatar. This is due to the fact that along the journey one acquires specific skills that help further the players growth. In the trolls case (which is probably true for many of the races), the quests help to provide a back round story about the specific race that is chosen. One also learns, about the environment which he/she originates from, and how it helped to shape the race. For example, the Tauren race reflects Native American culture, and in initial missions one explores the country side, and the creatures who roam there. One can find: wolves, boars, an assortment of different birds, and even poachers. A specific mission too that coincides with this all is one that asks the player to go out and eliminate the poachers from the country side to recreate balance in nature. Little quests like these helps the player create an experience of meaning that reflects their own personal morals. Ultimately, making the game that much more of a personal experience during game play.