First off let me say that I love Blizzard; however besides being very nice people to work with, they have cost me hours, perhaps years of sleep. First with Diablo I and II and then the expansion pack (damn you expansion pack!); now its’ gotten even worse, World of Warcraft is the most compelling, bigger than life and compulsive MMORPGWXYZ game ever!

Now for all of you FPS purists who would never, ever venture into the world of RPG or at the very least won’t admit to it, old Razerguy has and still plays Q2, Q3, UT, HL and Far Cry … so don’t give me a bad time about playing this game. One can have and enjoy diverse gaming tastes.

First of all my compliments to Blizzard Entertainment for this game; ten years in the making and worth the wait. However, don’t they know that this game could cost someone’s job or marriage? Addictive is not good enough verb to describe this game; compulsive is probably a better definition.

At the recent CeBIT expo in Germany, nearly every casual lunch and dinner discussion surrounded this game and what are your class, profession and level? Are you Alliance or dreaded Horde? Not even a please pass the salt. Every, and I mean every conversation dealt with this game and its story and civilization. People even ask me what server I play, like there’s a chance they will run into me on the streets of Storm Wind and want to discuss the specs of our latest mouse (see Razer Plasma).

Now, not to be a cyber wallflower, so I was proud to enter into the conversation with my lvl 53 dwarf, aptly named “HellRazer”, which I must admit I borrowed from my good friend Andreas in Stockholm. What’s amazing to me about this game is the personal attachment each player seems to have to their main character. They talk about them as if they could show up at the table at any moment. Sometimes you have to realize that these “characters” are merely pixels or at best sprites.

I looked in the mirror while shaving the other day and noticed an advanced case of WoW-eyes. You know, kind of red and swollen. I’ve been trying to get my wife to play so we can be together again, but she doesn’t want her eyes to look like mine. She seems to value more than 4 hours sleep a night. I call that irrational on her part, besides having to pay for a second account under the same roof would annoy me.

I’ve had people tell me that the mouse or the sensitivity of a mouse isn’t important in a game like this. I disagree having been “forced” to play WoW on my notebook with “another” mouse. I may not be tracking a moving target but against tough mobs moving around the screen and clicking is crucial, particularly at higher levels of this game. One error on some 55 elite will give you the early lunch.

I actually spoke to my wife the other day. She really is a very lovely person and I made a mental note to chat with her again as soon as I lvl at 60 (63 more links). I used to have two cats in the real world; I wonder what happened to them? I do draw the line though … I don’t play at work or while I’m in the bathroom. One must have a balance.

What my wife doesn’t know if that the game really doesn’t end at lvl 60 and it can go on and on so long as those devious Blizzard Gods choose. Then there’s always the other classes … what do I want to be in my next virtual life? A mage, paladin, rogue, warrior, priest, etc., etc. Let’s see … which one of these will look best on my resume?