MMORPG: How a Computer Game Becomes Deadly Serious (9 page)

“Well done. We had it down to four minutes, forty-one seconds in and out.”

One of the members of team Q cheered.

Pharad continued as if he heard nothing. “Remember, we still have to do this one more time, and we’ll have to do it even better. We’ve rehearsed this operation so many times, that everybody should know what he has to do. Are there any questions?”

It remained silent.

“All right, we’ll meet again in six days time. Make sure that you’re well equipped for the Raid. We will not fail. THE WORLD WILL TREMBLE FOR THE HAMMER OF RIGHTEOUS JUSTICE!”

***

“There is one thing that we can do, but it’s going to take some time. Ten minutes at least.”

Robert looked hopefully at her. It didn’t feel right to have come all this way, and not be able to actually observe what was going on.

“I could get m-” She broke off in midsentence. “SHIT!”

Robert turned to see what she was looking at. On the screen, the two dots had disappeared. Rebecca immediately opened the friends window. There they were, all of them still online, but not in Ashenvale anymore. Three were in Dalaran, two in Ogrimmar, and the rest in different other locations.

“Damn, they used their hearthstones to move out. All at the same time. We’re too late!”

“What-” He started to ask what she meant, but seeing the expression on her face, he thought better of it. Instead, he watched as Killermage rode her horse right through the bushes and trees into the grounds of Raynewood Retreat. He saw a large gloomy building in a big dark clearing. Killermage dismounted right in front of the entrance and they stared down at the corpse of the Cenarion Defender that lay sprawled in the doorway.

“Now we’ll never know what they were doing!” Rebecca said bitterly.

~~~

CHAPTER VIII

The
next day, Robert actually had a conversation with Khalid. Until then, their encounters had been brief, no more than a greeting when they accidentally met in the corridor. He’d casually asked several fellow students in the house about their opinion of the man, but most people just shrugged. Khalid obviously kept to himself, not engaging in the many social events of the student house. Only Lisa Duchamps, the good looking girl from France, had really talked with him on two occasions. According to her, he was from Egypt and was in Leiden to follow a course on the faculty of Art History. She thought he didn’t mingle well because he drank no alcohol, being a Muslim. Considering that drinking alcohol was one of the favorite pastimes of students anywhere in the world, the community in Leiden being no exception, this seemed a plausible explanation. That was, if you didn’t know anything else.

It happened when Robert was returning from the kitchen. The front door opened and Khalid stepped out of the pouring rain. He was wearing jeans and a dark blue wind breaker, dripping great rivulets of water onto the floor. He shook his head vigorously, sending small droplets of water flying. Robert decided to seize the moment.

“Hello, Khalid. You’re brave to go outside in this weather!”

The subject obviously didn’t feel heroic, but he managed a smile. “You mean stupid,” he answered. He spoke English with a slight accent.

Robert smiled back. “I’m from England, the weather is even worse where I come from. For you it must be terrible. You’re from Egypt, aren’t you?”

Khalid narrowed his eyes and nodded. “Yes, Cairo. Hot and dry. We never have rain like this.”

With these words he started up the stairs. Robert walked right behind him. He kept the conversation going.

“So how do you like it here?”

“It’s okay. The classes are good.”

“Really? What are you studying?”

Khalid halted and turned half around to look at him. He seemed a bit surprised to be talking to him. He answered nonetheless pleasantly and without noticeable hesitation, “I study Art History. I follow the courses Highlights of Dutch Art and Highlights of Dutch Architecture. Rembrandt, Vermeer, Van Gogh, and many more. I like it.”

Robert gave him another smile. “So do I. I study History myself, specializing in the Dutch Golden Age. Rembrandt van Rijn pops up now and then.”

When they reached the landing, Robert changed the subject. “Do you still play that computer game? World of War or something?”

“Yes, I do,” he answered, reaching with some effort into the tight pocket of his soaked jeans for his key. “World of War
craft
.”

“Right, that’s what I mean. Someone else told me about it yesterday. He said that I’d like it. Do you think I should buy the game?”

Khalid laughed. “That depends on how much spare time you have. It can be addictive. You wouldn’t be the first student who failed because he spent all his time playing WoW!”

Robert laughed back. “Will you help me a bit if I buy it?”

The Egyptian shrugged. “Sure, just ask me.”

With these words he turned the key and opened the door. He gave a last nod and disappeared inside. Robert stood looking at the closed door for a few moments. He had to admit there seemed to be nothing wrong nor suspicious with Khalid’s behavior. Suddenly doubts about what they were doing assailed him. Were they judging someone prematurely? Was it all a waste of time?

***

“Of course not!” Rebecca answered when he expressed his doubts. “I think we have good reason to be worried. Besides, you’re playing WoW now and I suspect you’re having fun. So we’re not really wasting time anyway.”

She was right on the mark. Robert was surprised by how quickly he’d become involved in the game. It was the combination of the magnificent fairy tale world, the thrill of taking on and killing the creatures and also the multiplayer aspect that made it so compelling. Robert had played other computer games before, but none gave that special feeling of being human in an entire living and breathing world.

“What are we going to do now? More quests?” They were talking by typing messages to each other.

Killermage sat on the ground. “No. You must do that by yourself. When it gets too hard for you, you can ask me for help. It would be too easy if I were going to help you all the time.”

“Why?”

She sighed. “Because it would take away all the fun for you. Do you have any idea how powerful I am?”

“Ehhh. No.”

“Do you see that Prairie Wolf there?” She pointed. At least, there was a red message in the text log that read:
Killermage points at Prairie Wolf
.

“Yes.”

One moment later, there was a brief flash of light. The Prairie Wolf gave a surprised yelp and tumbled to the ground. Apparently, it had died instantly. Robert was impressed. Those wolves were tough animals. It took him several shots with his gun, followed by a fight with his axe, to kill one.

“If I killed everything for you, it would be boring. No fun at all, because you wouldn’t achieve anything yourself. More important: you wouldn’t learn anything. The whole point is that, by discovering things for yourself, you gradually start to understand how things work here.”

“Okay,” he answered. “Is it going to take long to reach level eighty?”

“I already told you that. The answer is yes. It will become easier and more fun when you progress. I’ll explain it all to you later.”

Robert saw a chance for a new date. “How about tonight? We can go out for a beer and you can tell me all about it.”

Killermage’s horse reared on its hind legs, whinnying loudly. “All right, but now back to work!” she agreed.

The next moment, Killermage started to cast a spell. It took some seconds, then suddenly a portal appeared right in front of him. When Robert moved his cursor over it, he saw it was a portal to a place called Undercity.

“This is one of the advantages of being a mage,” Rebecca explained. “Mages are the only ones who never have to worry about travel. We can teleport ourselves to every major city on any continent. Travelling and distances are the greatest nuisance of WoW. The world is so large that going from one place to another often takes a lot of time. Fortunately, mages can also provide portals for other players to use. Like this one. Step through, please!”

He clicked on the portal. A few seconds later, Gunslinger found himself at a new location.

He was standing on some plateau in a big gloomy cavern. At least, that’s what it seemed to be, judging by the arching ceiling of rough masonry high above his head. The surroundings gave off an indefinable purple glow. Immediately to his right was a kind of waterfall of a sickly bright green color. More of the same unhealthy green substance was cascading down from outlets in the wall that were sculpted to resemble human skulls. After the friendly and sunny grasslands of Mulgore, this was quite a transition.

As if reading his mind, Killermage poked him. “Hey, cheer up, it’s not real!”

“It’s depressing. Where are we?”

“This is Undercity, home city of the Undead the race Killermage belongs to and the capital of the Horde on the continent of The Eastern Kingdoms. As a fellow member of the Horde, you’re welcome here!”

Killermage started to descend some stairs, turned left and walked to a bridge. Following, Robert noticed that the bridge spanned a whole river of the green fluid. Huge guards, fat and bulging like sumo wrestlers, were standing near the bridge armed with enormous cleavers that looked bigger than Gunslinger himself.

Suddenly it came to him: “Are we in some kind of sewers?”

“Yes, we’re in the catacombs of the Ruins of Lordearon, a once magnificent city that stood on the shores of a large lake. The city has been sacked and destroyed. Only some ruins remain. Or so the story tells us. The Undead have taken over the extensive underground catacombs, including the sewers, and made it their home. That’s why it’s called the Undercity. It’s not as bad as you think, by the way. This city isn’t nearly as depressing as it seems.”

His screen told him they had entered the Trade Quarter.

“Where are we going?”

“We’re not doing the sightseeing tour. We’re just here to pick up your flight path. Patience!”

Killermage ascended some stairs and they came onto a small platform. In the centre were windows that looked to be barred, like at a bank. Robert moved his cursor. It was as he thought. The man behind the window was labelled Mortimer Montague, banker.

“How do the banks work? Do I have to put my money there?”

“No, the banks are there to store your stuff. You’re going to accumulate many things that you don’t want to throw away. But you can’t carry it all with you because your bags simply don’t have enough room. So you put them in a bank. You can access your bank account at any bank around the world, no matter where you are.”

Killermage had already passed the bank and was halfway a stone ramp that led farther upward, when she suddenly stopped. She turned around and went back to the bank. Robert couldn’t see what she was doing. The next thing that happened was that Rebecca opened a trade window with him. She was giving him three bags.

“I suddenly realized that you have no good bags yet. Bags are important, and expensive. I just gave you the second best bags in the entire game. Many players can’t afford them.”

He grinned and typed another thank you. He fitted the bags in the empty slots on the bottom of his screen.

“Are you ready?” Without waiting for an answer, Killermage walked away again. Robert followed her up the ramp, which brought them onto a broad ledge. Now he could see that they were inside a huge cavern that appeared to be the city centre. The ledge they were on circled the entire space, like a gigantic balcony. On the outer side were many smaller caves that accommodated all kinds of different shops. They were right in front of a shop that sold trade supplies. Out of curiosity, he clicked on Felicia Doan, the shop keeper. Browsing her wares, he saw all kinds of thread, a fishing pole, skinning knives, and many colors of dye.

“Are you coming?”

He looked up and saw that Killermage was waiting for him. She was standing next to a rather shabby looking man. He had a green exclamation mark above his head. His tag read
Michael Garret, Bat Handler
.

“Can you click on him, please?” she asked.

He walked up to them and did as she asked. Immediately, he got a message on his screen:
New flight path discovered
.

“What does this mean? Can I fly now?”

“No, because you don’t know any flight paths that are connected to this one. It’s an important flight path though, because this is the major city on the continent of the Eastern Kingdoms.”

“Will I be coming back here?”

“Certainly. Sooner or later your quests will lead you here.”

“How do I get more flight paths?”

“By discovering them. Flying is the fastest way to travel. The only problem is, you have to discover each destination first. In other words, you have to take the walk before you can take the flight. So pay attention while you’re discovering the world. Check every village or town for a flight master. They’re not in every village, but there are many.”

“So I have to look for green exclamation marks?”

Killermage nodded. “Now, Undercity is one of the most confusing cities there is, unless you understand its system. On the lower level, there are four quarters. The Magic Quarter, the War Quarter, the Rogues Quarter, and the Apothecarium. They’re on the outer circle. The city is set up like an onion, with different layers. If you go one layer inward, you find shops that are directly connected to the quarters. One layer more inside, you find the auction house. The nucleus is the bank. From there you can take stairs to go a level up, where you find more shops. That’s where we’re now.”

In Robert’s opinion it sounded like an enormous shopping mall. Comparable to the one they once went to in Florida. Ashamed, Robert’s thoughts flashed back to the trip his family had taken for his parents’ twentieth wedding anniversary. He and his brother had wanted to do some shopping as the prices in the United States were ridiculously low. They decided to all go their own way for two hours in a huge shopping mall. After two hours Robert couldn’t find the rendez-vous point. When the police finally brought him back to his panicked parents, he had to admit once and for all that his sense of direction was way below average. In the real world he avoided complex places, now he had to face them again in the virtual world.