Games 'n' Books

I hate MMORPGs. (That's Massively Multiplayer Online Roleplaying Games, for the uninitiated). I had a subscription to Everquest once, a few years back. It sucked. You kill monsters so you can get points so you can raise your character level so you can get better gear so you can...kill more monsters. Lather, rinse, repeat...always repeat. Actual roleplaying? Hah! Forget about it--most people run around speaking in acronyms designed to inflict maximum confusion on new players. And it's ridiculous to dish out $40 for a box of software, then still get socked with a fee every month to continue playing.

So why, then, am I hooked on a new MMORPG?

The game is World of Warcraft, and it's not at all like I remembered MMORPGs. I was going to let this one pass just like all the others, but was talked into it by my gaming group, as well as one of my co-workers. It took a lot of convincing, but they were right...it was worth it. There's a huge variety of races, classes, and skills to choose from, and though I've only created one character so far, it seems like the early expriences are customized based on what race you choose to play. Once you get powerful enough, it's out into the big mixed world with you. And the kill-level-equipment-kill circle? Warcraft busts it wide open. Oh sure, you can spend all your time just roaming around killing random monsters, if that's your thing. But don't count on levelling up too quickly. Quests, baby...quests are where the big prizes (experience points and equipment) are at. There are so many of them that you'll never finish the ones that come out of the box, and they've got programmers working full-time on new ones to add in. Let me also add that the graphics are beautiful on my Athlon XP 2700 with the 128 MB Radeon 9500 Pro, but the game also runs acceptably with the settings turned down a bit on my iBook G4 with a 32 MB ATI graphics card. (It warned me that my 800mhz G4 didn't meet the game's system requirements, but it allowed me to install anyway.) This is a great feature inclusion by Blizzard--PC and Mac versions in the same box means I can get in a quest or two over lunch, or in bed before I go to sleep (now that my house is wireless), or wherever. And I probably will--this game's hooked me in good. Look for Droxel on the Azgalore server--a crack shot dwarf hunter (marksman).

And lest you think my life has become completely consumed with video games...OK, well, it has, but I've also been reading some good books. I recently finished two of the latest from one of my favorite authors, Jeffery Deaver (best known for writing The Bone Collector, an excellent book that became a mediocre movie). The first one is a collection of short stories called Twisted, a very apropos title for a collection of thriller stories that have endings worthy of O. Henry, or at the very least, Law & Order. The other is a tale of assassination in pre-World War II Nazi Germany, called Garden of Beasts. It's highly recommended to people who like historical fiction--Deaver took great care to get the cultural details right, although he did take some liberties with some of the historical figures and their activities. There's also a subplot with a German police detective worthy of Bobby Goren that feels tacked on, but stick with it, because he's likable enough, and his presence makes sense at the end.