Project Lore

I fell for you. I spent all the money on a time card, game discs and all, then she gave up before level 10. So irritating. Apparently its too much to do at once, something that seems to be an almost universal thing with women and MMOs.

I had a girlfriend, that once I introduced her to WoW,
she played more then I did. To the point that on her
days off, she would roll out of bed go straight for the
PC and not get off till late night.

i personaly don't know bout making gfs play wow however my best does play with his so will tell u their story ^^
they acctualy met on a MMO acctualy and went to meet eah other irl blah blah couple of years later they now live with each other both lvl 80 and raiding ulduar and doing all the other great stuff wow has to offer us :)
in fact our guild seems to be full of love connections one of my female freinds i met on wow has had 2 guys like her and go meet her XD and i may like her sister... and went to meet her (her sis is my age shes 3 years older)
also theres another couple like tht who are gonna meet each other in couple of weeks... lovey guild hehe
oh yeah and there was another girl who used to play with her bf but they both quit now and also a girl who plays but her bf doesn't...
anyway yeah u get the point it can work out fantasic and works both ways to the girl can become the sole player ^^
oh and don't judge me cus i met a girl over the internet i've met gfs in the non virtual world to

My boyfriend and I both thought of getting WoW for a long time, but he ended up getting it first because he had the funds to do so. I eventually got it as well after I made a toon on his computer and became hopelessly addicted.

At first we played together, but that quickly stopped. He is a power gamer and I enjoy a more casual approach so when we play together we get on each other's nerves. I went Alliance and he stayed Horde. Recently, I went back to my beloved Horde. We are in the same guild, but we don't play together unless there is a guild run. It works out nicely.

A very apt assessment of a major failing in most MMOs. With endgame as the obsession the early levels become a tedious experience for many losing value as anything but a way of establishing extra sources of income/mild amusement

As MMOs grow and expand, new content additions and often inherent dependencies that come with those new additions result in endgame starvation since endgame players wind up leaving, without being replenished.

"Sure, we have our differences - Battlestar Galactica vs The Hills" bwahaha, I can totally relate to that. BG is such a soap opera! (not that the hills is much better...)

Gaming isn't for everyone, whether they're male or female. I think that's the conclusion that I've come to. I'm pretty damn girly, and I love games. So it undoubtedly depends on more than just that extra chromosome :)

I tried to introduce my girlfriend to the world of Azeroth, and failed... Apparently, my destiny is to be THE Gamer of our relationship.

I tried this with my last gf and it didn't seem to work. I helped her start a character and showed her the controls and let her loose on Azeroth. she starts off a like rock (I think we all did) but I was there to give support and advice like: ok that ! means he has a quest for you and no no honey, warlocks shouldn't be stabbing, you should be casting spells. Here let me show you, then my hand was promptly slapped from the mouse and I was sent to the corner being told that I play enough of this game and its her turn to try.
so a few hours and a full 6 lvls later she stood up and said "I'm done." never to return to WoW again.

My wife joined WOW about 3 mos. after I did and she persevered until Lvl 74. Took her about 18 mos. I think the thing that keeps guys in the game (mechanics, graphics, PVP, etc) just didn't really work for her. We've played a lot of titles to completion (Diablo 1 and 2, X-Men) and I've found that your storyline comment is spot on. She still likes the game well enough, she just doesn't prioritize it like I do, so we end up more often then not just bagging the game as a team. One other thing that I noticed is that she didn't like the level disparity. It's not much fun if I'm smashing the hell out of the enemies and she is struggling to mitigate the same damage. It just turned her off to the gameplay.

I agree with the lack of an entertaining backstory to enthrall new players into the game. That maybe why I enjoy the Draenei and Blood Elves because there is a consistent theme and story behind the quests, in my opinion.

There is a story, but they're almost all the same.

To Humans, it's check to see how big of a threat the kobolds are, then suddenly realize that the Defias are a big threat. I think we all know where this leads.

To Dwarves and Gnomes, it's to gage the trolls as a threat, but they then see the Troggs as a threat. They then see the Dark Irons are teaming up with them a bit, and I think we all know where this ends up.

To the Night Elves, the new World Tree is under attack by demons trying to corrupt it. They're stopped, end of story.

To Draenai, they're trying to find their place in the world, make contact with the Alliance, and try to fight the legion. After 40 more levels, this story comes back to them. I think we all know how that ends.

Orcs and Trolls grow up, fight the Shadow Council, etc etc. The Tauren are just chillin'. The Undead are trying to mess everyone over, and the Blood Elves are trying to help.

There are stories, but that don't do a good job at making them clear. The only reason I'd see any of these (or still don't) is because I've played the game all the way through so far, and the starting areas over again.

Short version: I agree.

If you played Warcraft, 1-3 and WoW and all the expansions there is a story.

Whether the storyline was better or not your GF probably still wouldn't have stuck around just because, as you mentioned, she felt questing was a chore.

Also, I dont think Blizz should put all the time writing quests because frankly.. 85% of the WoW community don't even read the quests. I dont know how many times you see someone link a quest and say "who do i talk to?" when the quest specifically says who to talk to.

a bit off topic but... my friend introduced his mom to runescape 3 years ago. she hasn't quit yet and he has (and she was better than him when he was playing!)

@ sathas

i understand the feeling on that one, my wife's mother plays PS2 all of the first person shooters, like Hitman, Ghost Recon, etc. she's good too

in relation to the blog....

my wife introduced me to WoW and we met on Myspace of all places. she liked my picture and i liked her's the rest is history.... one year of marriage next month.

My g/f doesn't like WoW, but plays games like might and magic and heroes of might and magic. She says one of the reasons is because m&m you control the whole party, and she doesn't like being confined to one role/player at a time. I figured WoW would be up her alley, but she thinks I'm the nerdy one... >.<

I bought my girlfriend WoW for Christmas. She was a nerd and I loved the game so I thought it would be great to have her along side me in the world of Azeroth. She was so overjoyed at the chance to play with me. I never expected such a response. Since then she has a 71 rogue and a 49 priest and plays to this day.

A wonderful Christian girlfriend the plays MMO's with you.....how can you ask for anything better?

I tried introducing my gf to wow then on are toons we got to lvl 70 then she stopped playing her toon for a while.. Then on my b-day i logged on to see all my dallies were done since then she does my dallies almost everyday and enjoys it..i guess she shoulda rolled a troll mage in the first place /shrug

Well, I managed to convince my ex to play, she started with a Female BElf Huntard on my acct. Figured at least this way if she didn't like it, no loss. Well, she made it to lvl 22, and decided she wanted her own acct. She upgraded her laptop, and made sure it would run WoW. Now she has a 72 Fem BElf Mage, which I will be taking because her connection is bad enuf that spell casting is a no-go. Her new main has become a DK on a different server, and is now lvl 80. She also has a pally on that same server. Only downside to it is that they both are Alliance. (((Horde))) So, all in all I would have to say it was a success, and no it wasn't WoW that broke us up, infact we are still good friends. How else would I be able to get the BElf Mage, LOL.

Well IMO opinion I think blizz should introduce the concept of cut scenes about the stories behind the quests you have to do from early on till end game (lvl 1 to lvl cap) it'll make doing the quests not only fun but also give people a reason to do as many quests as they can.

I kinda agree w Ms. Itzkoopa, some (more like most of it) of the quests are chores given by lazy NPCs that could have done it themselves, like that troll in Swamprat Post in Zangarmarsh, it's his job to kill the Marsh Stalker, but we end up doing it while he fantasies about "not even his" lady troll.

I currently have two friends that do NOT play WoW, or any other MMOG. The key reason for both of them being the O part (online)> In the case of one, he feels that any game where you HAVE to play with other people, but is still a video game is a bad idea. He leaves arcade games when people join in without his permission for the same reason (to his credit).

The other is more amenable to a forced socialization game, but does not want to have to keep paying for it. This is in addition to a personal problem he has with WoW, and takes out on other online games as well (Basically it's a matter of the game 'stealing' people from other hobbies. He actually has a case for this as several dozen people spontaneously quit playing a certain trademarked minis game long enough for the shop that sold them to shut down in our area, and yes, because they were all playing WoW instead...)

So, two extreme cases, yes. Both have reasons that they refuse to see past to even try the game. Not sure if it really illustrates my point or not, but the basics of it is that some people just aren't going to like the game. Even if Blizz designed offline levels, my first friend would complain about how it's pointless to use a controller, while insisting he could make it work. The second, even if he didn't blame the game instead of the people who dropped out of his game, might give it a shot, but that is heavily in the "only if" side of things.

So if one person (or two, or three, whatever), doesn't like the game, so what? Do I like it any less? No. Do i think most of my friends would enjoy the game if they played (female or otherwise)? Yes. That's life, basically. And with... what's the official figure up to now? some 10, 11 million regular paying customers, SOMETHING is being done right to get and keep new players.

Interesting side note to finish on here: I have become one of the more popular men in my neighborhood since roughly half a dozen women discovered I play Wow, and asked what server I was on. I haven't met any yet that play on my server, but it's nice having an ice-breaker that actually favors my inner geek.

Ms. Itzkoopa here,
When I was younger I could play gameboy Tetris for hours, for a few months one summer it was my teal Tamagotchi, and in college it was Snood. Now I have "quests" 9-5 a.k.a. my job. Not to say I dont have time, bc I am on facebook for 2 hours after work.

I guess WoW didnt have that addictive quality in the beginning. I got excited after a few quests to get a little bling, but all i saw was an icon on the screen.

Also, there was no one to talk to in cold, cold beginners-ville. End point, I gave it my best for 2 hours, but it was too much a culture shock with no immediate gratification. I will leave the gaming up to Itzkoopa.

-RIP Lillyterran

Wow, man that sucks. It is weird that she thought the quests were a chore, but then again she rolled a dwarf, I think, IMO, that the whole dwarf/gnome starting area is very boring, I prefer the Draenai or Human starting area. With that said I rolled horse after BC came out, lol, and all of their zones are fun and entertaining at least the first time around, lol.

I got my wife into WoW after a few months of being married, I played it for two year prior to us getting married, and she was trying to stay away from it, more because he parents do not like games like that, long story... Anyway she would still be playing but since then I have lost a job gained a new one lost it and gained another, and on top of that we have also had two kids which take alot of her time, so she got to lvl 20 and has not played for a while, but she still wants to play and may renew for a month here and there, lol.

My boyfriend was asking me to play for a few months but kept putting it off. Looking at his screen and all the columns he had, it was a bit intimidating. I took the plunge last August and never looked back. Since I went back to school, I don't play often during the week but when I play on the weekend, there's nothing like having all that rested XP. :) I <3 WoW.