Exterminating for the Horde

I was home today when the exterminator came to do his regular inspecting and spraying. My boys were very interested in watching him work. The exterminator said he didn’t mind; in fact he said all kids are interested in watching him, and he loves it.

While inside the house, he noticed the books on my gaming bookshelf. His 14 year old son plays Dungeons & Dragons, and they both play World of Warcraft. In WoW, his son has a level 70 undead rogue, and he has a lower-level undead mage. He bought a second computer so they could play at the same time.

When he asked if I played Alliance or Horde, I could tell in his tone of voice that he sadly expected me to say “Alliance.” His face brightened in a smile when I said, “Horde.” I told him I had a level 68 orc hunter, but I hadn’t played in a couple months. (More people play Alliance characters—the civilized, pretty races like humans and elves—than play Horde characters—the savage, ugly races like orcs and undead. It’s a common complaint in WoW gamer circles.)

There’s something just so cool about meeting a fellow gamer like that, at an unexpected time and place. There’s upwards of eight million people who play WoW. If half that number are Americans, that’s a little more than 1 person in 100. Not high odds in a normal slice of society. My next door neighbor used to play WoW, and I’ve encountered 2 or 3 in my corporate workplace. None of them, my neighbor or coworkers, are the stereotypical geek-types that most people associate with online role playing games (RPGs). Add in the exterminator, and you blow the stereotype right out of the water.

Players are all around. When you consider that there are many other such games online, not just WoW, the odds of meeting someone who plays a computer RPG gets high enough that everyone probably knows someone who plays one.

Unfortunately, table RPGs, like D&D, have far fewer players—around one to two million—and so don’t have near the population representation. That’s a shame. Computer RPGs have the immediate and easy access, but table RPGs are usually much more enjoyable. And where computer RPGs generally have a monthly subscription cost, table RPGs are costless after you buy the rule book.

Bullgrit
bullgrit@totalbullgrit.com