I've been thinking a lot lately about things I've done in the World of Warcraft over the years and mentally organized them and labeled them accordingly. Labels like "Moments I regret" or "Moments of bad assery" and others. But the one category that stuck out to me most was "Moments I was most proud of".
What makes you experience a feeling of pride in a video game? When you finally get a weapon you've been working toward a while? Or maybe when that mount you've been farming for for weeks finally dropped? Get a character to the highest level allowed? Just like a lot of things, we all have our own perceptions as to what fills us with pride and what are deemed "memorable". Many of you may not find anything worth mentally archiving in a video game; while others may find a figurative gold mine of things to save in their mind forever.
A lot of people may argue and say video games can't be so involving that they invoke immortal memories, but those people probably have never been seriously interested in games. Anything can be meaningful, it's really just up to the person. And that's how I see memories, things that are meaningful to you. Events that you want to carry with you for a while or even forever. Moments that enable you to go back in time and potentially re-inspire you.
Do people influence how important you consider circumstances to be? How many memories do you have that just include yourself and no one else? It's definitely a variable, but not necessary. I can at least think of a few worth noting that I did by myself. But the thing is, they aren't as important to me. If I ranked them in importance, the experiences I shared with others in the World of Warcraft seem way more important. I guess that makes sense, considering this IS an MMO.
Anyway, back to the important question. What makes you feel proud in the World of Warcraft. When I say "proud" I mean you feel accomplished, where you enjoy telling your friends. Not bragging, but pride! I'm so proud of some things I tell my non-WoW friends and always get that "Cool story bro" look, but I DON'T CARE BECAUSE I'M SO PROUD OF IT! Does having a rare mount make you proud? Or are you proud of something that isn't bound to an achievement in the game, say leveling a character to eighty in three weeks with no Bind on Account gear? Or are you the opposite and only find pride in the things that have proof to them, proof being actual in game achievements or feats of strength. What makes you overflowing with pride that it just bursts out of the seems of you until you start telling your cat about how awesome your new title is.
If you asked me what moment in my WoW playing lifetime I'm most proud of, I wouldn't be able to answer right away. There are too many that I am personally proud of that I wouldn't know which tops which. This way of thinking got me curious even more so to find out what other people are proud of. So I went on a journey to ask people and NPCs alike the not so simple question: "What are you most proud of in WoW?". Their answers differed.
One person I asked said that his most proud moment of WoW was doing an Undying run of Naxxramas with eight people and succeeding. Another person (after much self-deliberation) said his proudest moment was his Hunter's first epic way back in the original WoW. The thing I noticed though as I asked people about their memories was no one knew right away, it was always a hard decision. However, a majority of the people I asked exclaimed there's not much they've ever done in WoW that they were legitimately proud of. I guess I can understand that though. I can understand it, but definitely not relate.
What makes me proud of myself when it comes to WoW? A majority of the people I talked with asked me the same question afterwards, and just assumed my answer would be my Ashes of Al'ar. I don't see it that way. Sure, I'm very happy I have that mount and am proud no doubt of it, but for different reasons. All I did for that mount was get lucky and have a raid leader accidentally leave the loot options on group loot and I rolled a 99 need roll. Being proud of my phoenix really just says "I'm proud of having RNG go in my favour for once."
After much thought I did come up with an answer though. And it doesn't even have anything much to do about the game itself, more the social aspect. I'm proud of my ability to lead raids and a guild. My raids and guilds haven't been that successful in terms of "super srs raiders" that min/max everything, but successful in a way that I'm happy. There's been rough moments, of course. But I must admit it puts a smile on my face when I have old friends asking when I'm going to put together a guild again, and tell me how I'm the best guild leader ever. Who knows if they're being truthful, I'll just let it slide. Like I said, my guilds were never that successful, but when I run a guild and a raid, downing even just one boss makes me feel more proud than any Ashes of Al'ar could.
A lot of people may argue and say video games can't be so involving that they invoke immortal memories, but those people probably have never been seriously interested in games. Anything can be meaningful, it's really just up to the person. And that's how I see memories, things that are meaningful to you. Events that you want to carry with you for a while or even forever. Moments that enable you to go back in time and potentially re-inspire you.
Do people influence how important you consider circumstances to be? How many memories do you have that just include yourself and no one else? It's definitely a variable, but not necessary. I can at least think of a few worth noting that I did by myself. But the thing is, they aren't as important to me. If I ranked them in importance, the experiences I shared with others in the World of Warcraft seem way more important. I guess that makes sense, considering this IS an MMO.
Anyway, back to the important question. What makes you feel proud in the World of Warcraft. When I say "proud" I mean you feel accomplished, where you enjoy telling your friends. Not bragging, but pride! I'm so proud of some things I tell my non-WoW friends and always get that "Cool story bro" look, but I DON'T CARE BECAUSE I'M SO PROUD OF IT! Does having a rare mount make you proud? Or are you proud of something that isn't bound to an achievement in the game, say leveling a character to eighty in three weeks with no Bind on Account gear? Or are you the opposite and only find pride in the things that have proof to them, proof being actual in game achievements or feats of strength. What makes you overflowing with pride that it just bursts out of the seems of you until you start telling your cat about how awesome your new title is.
If you asked me what moment in my WoW playing lifetime I'm most proud of, I wouldn't be able to answer right away. There are too many that I am personally proud of that I wouldn't know which tops which. This way of thinking got me curious even more so to find out what other people are proud of. So I went on a journey to ask people and NPCs alike the not so simple question: "What are you most proud of in WoW?". Their answers differed.
One person I asked said that his most proud moment of WoW was doing an Undying run of Naxxramas with eight people and succeeding. Another person (after much self-deliberation) said his proudest moment was his Hunter's first epic way back in the original WoW. The thing I noticed though as I asked people about their memories was no one knew right away, it was always a hard decision. However, a majority of the people I asked exclaimed there's not much they've ever done in WoW that they were legitimately proud of. I guess I can understand that though. I can understand it, but definitely not relate.
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| "My guild I lead a while ago after the first guild downing of 10 man TotC." |
After much thought I did come up with an answer though. And it doesn't even have anything much to do about the game itself, more the social aspect. I'm proud of my ability to lead raids and a guild. My raids and guilds haven't been that successful in terms of "super srs raiders" that min/max everything, but successful in a way that I'm happy. There's been rough moments, of course. But I must admit it puts a smile on my face when I have old friends asking when I'm going to put together a guild again, and tell me how I'm the best guild leader ever. Who knows if they're being truthful, I'll just let it slide. Like I said, my guilds were never that successful, but when I run a guild and a raid, downing even just one boss makes me feel more proud than any Ashes of Al'ar could.
I like your answer. I still need to write my 20 days of warcraft, but this one will need a long, hard think ;)
ReplyDeleteThank you! I'd love to see what other people find that they are most proud of in WoW, I guess I'm weird but I find that stuff fascinating!
ReplyDeleteI'm proud of rep grinding with different factions. My main Bloodshrike is my achievement whore, with a lot of vanilla,BC, and Wrath reps at exalted. Yeah, it only takes time, but it also takes dedication to log on and do the dailies for some of the factions.
ReplyDeleteI think you're absolutely right, and I think reputation grinding is very admirable (especially for some of the harder ones). And dedication is something you should definitely be proud of... oh and the probably ten thousand titles you have from grinding all that rep!
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