Confessions of a WOW addict

WOW: That's World of Warcraft for the uninitiated. One of those massively multiplayer computer games that teenagers and computer geek recluses like to play. Think virtual-world, Dungeon-and-Dragons-type universe.

Speaking of Dungeons and Dragons, I might as well confess that I played that, too, in high school and college. And I like Star Trek, and I like Star Wars, and I work in the computer industry.

Does that make me a geek?

No, I don't think so.

I think that what will make me a geek is this: a photo of my player in World of Warcraft. Posting this makes me a geek. Merely playing the game is normal. Millions of people do it around the world.

And it does become an addiction. Hours spent on the computer. If I can kill just one more rabid thistle bear, I'll complete the quest and go up a level. Oh, but then I have to take my character to get her armor fixed, and train her in new hunting skills, and feed her pet moonrake giant cat, and, and, and... oohh, a new spell! How does it work? Let's go try it out on another rabid thistle bear, and maybe I'll "discover" a new territory and get some experience, and pick up some more quests and, and, and...

It's like reading a good book that doesn't have an ending. Until eventually your character reaches 60th level and there's not a lot left in the game to keep you entertained, so then you start a new character of a different race in a different part of the virtual world and, and, and...

And that is why they call of World of War"crack".

P.S. And anyone looking for me online, that's Lasair on Thrall. (Lasair, gaelic for flame, also a name used by a character in Prairie Fire.)