Measuring Enthusiasm

Big Bear asked today “how’s your enthusiasm?”. And my reply, formed as I was taking a break from WoW to cook dinner ended up too long for a comment.  So, I guess I can thank him for giving me a blog post. It’s fairly obvious enthusiasm levels for WoW and WoW blogging vary by large degrees. You see people either blogging more than ever, (or in the case of Matt branching out and forming an empire! ), you see some remain steady as she goes, others give it all up. And some give up playing, and blogging about the game, but continue to blog about life in general.  And there are people like me, who blog less when they’re playing, more when they aren’t.  Bloggers and players are about as varied as you can get. But this isn’t about them. It’s about me.

My relationship with blogging and WoW is like that of a happily married couple. Having been married for just over 16 years, I feel I can safely compare the two accurately.

When I first tried WoW, I fell head over heels. I was lovestruck and giddy as a schoolgirl. That was almost 3 years ago now.  In that time, I leveled my first toon to 80, and 2 others. I’ve leveled a few alts to their 30′s. I’ve raided, PvP’ed, collected pets, farmed til my eyes bled, and cursed the day I ever met the game. But I don’t love it  any less.

Over time, the giggling school girl has calmed a little, but never for long. Why? Because much like a relationship you’ve had for 16 years, those feelings, are always just under the surface. Sure things may seem commonplace now, predictable and comfortable. BUT just like my husband, every single day WoW never ceases to do SOMETHING to make me fall in love with it again.

For example, I was on my warlock awaiting a boat to Ratchet on my trusty Felsteed. And I was looking at this mount, and marveling over the details of his skin. The stunning job they did in his texture. Like you could reach out and run your hands over the rippling muscles and accented veins, and burn yourself on the flames coming off of his muzzle.  It was in that moment, my heart skipped a beat, and I smiled, reminded of how much I do still love this game. Much like when I’m annoyed with my man, and he looks at me with a grin and winks a wink only he can wink, and makes me smile and my heart tumble in my chest.

Blogging about WoW is a container for me enthusiasm. For when I’m overflowing with stuff I want to talk about that noone but WoW players would understand.  As long as I love the game, I love this blog. Should that ever change however, I’ll continue blogging. I have been blogging since 2001, when the husband joined the army. I maintain a seperate blog for real life. Though it’s seldom updated alot of the time, it’s there, awaiting an overflow of thoughts and feelings I need to spew into it. That’s how I blog. I don’t do it every day. I do it when I have something to say. That’s a long stretch from how I started, blogging about every day…what I cooked, what I cleaned.

My level of enthusiasm for both blogging and the game remains unchanged. There is always something there. Sometimes, when things are annoying, or changes freak me out, or it does something to piss me off, I do have to look a little harder for what it is I love, why it is I still play…but it’s never failed to give me a wink and remind me.