4) Long journey to find a friend

My friend contacted me in WOW, and he had someone go to Darnassus to fetch me to where he was - Iron Forge. It was a really long journey, about 40mins (real time).

But it was all worth it as I met up with Pascojunior!!!

4) Make Friends, Dont Wait!

Waiting for friends to quest with me can be quite tiring. So I decided to go in and intentionally make friends.

See the number of monsters I have to fight? I can only do it with a friend.


Met "her" online, and she is from Singapore. She seems like a young "girl" because of the way she communicates over the chat platform. :)

4) Party Time!!!

Party : a term used to describe a team effort in completing a quest. (Jhee's Wiki)

Yes, it is time to party. I have been playing for hours already, and I keep getting killed trying to complete quests. It is no fun because I have go find the place of "death" and ressurrect myself.
Finally, my friend Angie joined me. And she was a blessing! With her I completed the quest faster and earned lots of "in game" money at the same time.

Now I will only go into a game when my friend comes in with me. :)

3) It was a BREEZE!!!!

It was so easy to play the game and level up. There were quests that slowly teaches you how to play the game. If you think it is difficult, it is not so.

It was interesting learning how to play, because the learning was BUILT into the quests...:)

Also, I leveled up to level 2 within 10mins, and then to level 3 in the next 20mins. To reach level 4, it took me 40mins.

New learning :

• When you are lower levels, it is easy to level up. The higher you go, the harder it is, and the longer it takes. :) Now I am level 4. :)

2) I changed my NAME & CHARACTER!!!

After my trial version ended, I decided to start a new character. This time, after being immersed in the game for some time, choosing a hideous character did not seem to "dislikable" anymore. Also, I took my friend's account so that I only have to pay subscription when I play, I dont have to pay for the CD/box. Therefore I choose a Night Elf - with still some good looking features.

I also choose a name where I would not be identified. Being anonymous does help me do things that nobody can implicate me or track me down. The name that I chose is my name in Japanese, the land where I started WOW.

Therefore, this day Hikiju is born!!! :) Check out my good looking character!!

2) Choosing a Character

My friend Angie asked me to choose a character call Blood Elf. But after going in I realise that it was really hideous looking. I chose a Human Mage. I mean, who wouldn't want to choose someone who can cast spells.

My main motivations for choosing that character:
1) I wanted the character to look like me as much as possible.
2) I also chose the name Jhee for my character's name.

I think this really helps me engage in the game better. I am more integrated with my character.

1) Kopiahcek jumps from MapleStory to WoW...

For the past 9 months, I have ben rather active in playing MapleStory as part of my research. I have invested time and money into building up my virtual MapleStory character to become both powerful (Level 48) and rather nice looking. Now my attention has turned to the latest craze and talk in town...... WORLD OF WARCRAFT!

I have heard so much about it, but has always been reluctant to jump onboard it because of my already huge effort investment in MapleStory... But still I decide to take and leap and bulldoze my way in.



What caused me to make this jump across to WoW?
1. For the sake of research. I want to find out what's the big hoohaa going on about this new game which has close to 9 million subscribers.
2. Because two of my good friends (Jhee and Pascosenior) also entered the game and I felt drawn to try it out too. I don't want to be left out.
3. I feel that WoW is a "more matured" game comparatively with MapleStory. Now I am slashing monsters rather than just snails and mushrooms. I have "grown up"!

What are the implications about this for youths whom go into WoW?
1. Social factor - Many of their classmates may jumped into WoW and they do not want to feel left out. Imagine everyone talking about it in class and they can't connect with their classmates!
2. Sense of achievement - Every kids want to grow up. Digital immigrants (You and me) feel grown up when we have transited to doing greater things i.e. promotion, new education levels. For digital natives (the kids), they feel grown up when they have jumped from a seeminly childish game to something more matured. BEWARE!! Matured games tend to come with more violent or mature themes in-game too i.e. violence, blood, gore, sexual content.

1) What got me started in WOW

I have heard of World of Warcraft from my friends and some of the youths that I have been working with. I have been resisting to start WOW because I foresee I will not have the time to carry on. However, after much contemplation, and constant encouragement from my friends, I have decided to take it up. I signed up for a 10 days trial, in case I dont want to continue with it.

Basically my motivation:
1) Friends encouraged me
2) Wanted to know what everyone was talking about
3) In order to reach the youths in the area of Cyber Wellness, I need to know what the youths are doing in WOW
4) As a PhD student researching into Internet Gaming, especially MMORPGs, I cannot help but at least play ONE of the MMORPGs

Here begins my journey!!!