Project Lore

Seriously, My Girlfriend Thinks My Hobby Is A Chore! I tried to get my girlfriend to join me in Azeroth with the best of intentions.  Really, I did.  We spend tons of time together, from cooking to working on our domicile to watching numerous TV series and movies.  Sure, we have our differences - Battlestar Galactica vs The Hills - but we find common ground in every facet of our life - STRIKEOUT Plants vs Zombies STRIKEOUT Dishes vs Laundry - we both hate them.  With that in mind I thought introducing her to World of Warcraft would be worth a shot.  After all, I am forced, arm-twisting and all, into playing hours of WoW a week.  Why not spend some of that time, and get some extra material, with my girlfriend? She thought the idea was cute and obliged with a long decision making session (a female-played female drawf!).  After that tiring ordeal we waited a bit before tackling the early levels.  We never got through them.  It wasn't the controls, the universe, the inability to level outside of combat or the massacring of defenseless animals that got to my partner in crime.  She didn't dislike WoW for any of the staple reasons.  Nope, it wasn't just WoW.  It seems that she'd hate nearly any MMORPG because it was the entire idea of quests, the openness of the world and always having something to do that got to Ms. iTZKooPA.  To her, all of the content that we crave was seen as a "chore"! From a game design standpoint, I'd place the blame on WoW's lack of an engaging story.  Looking back the designers should have included an early storyline, preferably started in the opening cinematic, that would capture players right off the bat.  Extremely casual players like Lesley need to be enthralled with fun or entertaining mechanics (Tetris, Super Mario Galaxy) or a well-crafted story in the first 20 minutes or they are lost.  As most of you will agree, there is little in the way of memorable storylines or exciting gameplay in those very early levels.  Thus, the Lilyterrain experiment was an utter failure (I wish I was tauren so I could say udder and get away with it), but I am glad we attempted it. It looks like I will remain the sole player of WoW in the house, but it isn't then end of the world.  We do plenty of other activities together to keep us both happy.  Having your own little slice of life to yourself isn't a bad thing either.  I wonder what the success rate on converting your partner to an MMOG is.  How many of you have tried and failied?  How many of you have pulled off this life achievement?  How many dare not try for fear of ruining your "me" time?

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