Black-out Wednesdays

It's 11:08 a.m. (12:08 CET) and the World of Warcraft site is still down for maintenance. Nothing unusual, I rarely expect it to be up before noon, but it would've been nice if it was back on-line on time. If I can't play, I might as well blog about playing. Addicted? Who me? Never. I'm just not a hard core player. Wish I was; wish I could be some days, but musculoskeletal problems and well, having a non-virtual life sort of preclude ridiculously long stints glued to a chair, monitor and computer keyboard.

I have never played any MMORPG (massively multiplayer online role-playing game) before. In fact, I have never understood the appeal of gaming in general. Bring out a board of Scrabble or Monopoly any day, but computer games held no allure. I did find myself with an inordinate amount of free time due to major physical restrictions over the last couple of years, and my husband gently tried to fill the empty hours with gaming. First arrival was a copy of an outdated Simcity picked up at a car boot sale for 20 pence. It was fun for a few days, but grew a little tedious. He came home with an old version of The Sims from the car boot sale the following week, purchased for 10 p. A similar pattern emerged. It was fun figuring out the game play, but then it becomes boring. The next car boot sale yielded the latest version of Simcity and it was amusing for a whole two weeks. Christmas came and I received a copy of The Sims II, which was amusing all through January and then petered out rather quickly.

Wondering yet why my husband has been trying to raise my interest and awareness of computer games? Well, he's had his eye on World of Warcraft for three years. But unless I play, or find some hobby that I can engage in for more than 10 minutes at a time, he doesn't have the time to play. Being the ever loving wife that I am, I bought him 'The Burning Crusade" pack for Christmas. (I knew so little about gaming that he did not receive a wrapped packaged, but instead a trip to PC world and the gaming isle.) I also reassured him that he could indulge at his leisure without any unnecessary interruptions.

However, I thought it necessary to occasionally interrupt with important questions. Whilst reading my book on the couch whilst he played, I couldn't help but notice the screen. Within a week, I was a passenger seat driver, directing his game play. So much so, that was banned from the living room whilst he played. I couldn't help myself, it was just so interesting and luring. Three weeks later, I received a belated second Christmas present - my very own Warcraft installation pack.

Less than two months later and here I sit on a Wednesday morning, twiddling my thumbs and waiting impatiently to log in. I want to level up my rogue, I want to go farming, I want to twink my Level 18 hunter just a little bit and I even have the shopping list to prove it.

• Silk Cloth And Wool Cloth
  
• Bronze Bars
  
• Fire Oil
• Large Fangs
• Medium Leather And Heavy Leather
• Small Illustrious Pearls
• Fade leaf
• Grave moss
• Silver ore
• Lesser Astral Essence
• Fine Thread
• Grey Dye

It's 12:36 and my server is still off-line. I'm quite content to enjoy the real sunshine rather than the imaginary rain, but it annoys me that I'm not playing because I can't rather than because I choose not to. I have my ring splints on and I'm ready to do some mining, a little grinding, a lot of fishing and plenty of 'herbing' along the way. Guess that will have to wait. If I'm lucky, it will be raining in-game when I finally get there. There's nothing quite like the pummeling wet sheets of water obscuring your view in the wetlands as you jog along the path hugging the hills. Addicted? Not really. But some things are just worth putting aside a little time for. This is one of them.