You can believe it or not, but I never was really interested in any form of online RPG. I really love this type of games in solo (single player), but I have always been extremely reluctant to have to pay a monthly subscription to a service like World of Warcraft or Final Fantasy XI. With the recent release of The Burning Crusade, the very first expansion pack of the most successful MMORPG I gain a new interest to understand why people were bent on playing it.
I’ll be honest that even though I am using a trial account it is not the first time I get to play around in World of Warcraft, in fact, last year a friend of mine introduced me to a way to play the game without paying monthly fees of around ($14 USD). The system was pretty simple, there was ways to play the game on private servers, but very soon I understood why it could not keep up interest with the real thing. On most private servers there was a limited number of players. You were basically playing alone for a very long time, imagine there being 200 people on the entire planet, chances you find one of them would be pure luck. None the less I did get a few weeks of experience and got through the learning curve back then. As for my rediscovery of the game, I told myself that this online community had to be worth a while if Blizzard reports 8 million active players. Indeed I found myself to partner up with a few dozen players, sharing quests and battling fiends. The mechanic of the game is pretty simple, you accomplish quests to gain items and experience points, you also get these points by defeating enemies. I could estimate my time playing for those 10 days to something like 25 hours of game play. I’ve developed two characters that are around level 14. If you consider that the maximum level that can be reached in the base edition of the game is 60 there is still a long road to go before I get that close.
Now that my trial is over I’m faced with the choice to start paying up to keep enjoying the game play and all things considered the amount of time you can spend playing it can easily cover the monthly fee. The problem is you got other stuff to do in life! There are other games, studies, work and just the part where you need to get out of the house from time to time. What to do then? I’ll wait until my semester is over and purchase myself a copy of the game (it comes with a free 30 days and cheaper then their online activation), then for my four months of vacation (from school only) I should have plenty of time to discover the World of Warcraft. I just hope I don’t loose my characters before the end of April.
I have to say I’m quite impressed. This movie shocked me, it made me think about humanity and I really enjoyed my time at the theater. You now when you are torn inside, and you feel for the characters. That’s what happened when I saw Children of Men, starring 
I can’t believe I was actually drawn to this movie! I know I have a sweet tooth for characters with special powers but in this case it’s closer to witchcraft then anything else. The Covenant is about four teenagers who are descendants of family of witches. They survived the hunts over the years but are now facing what everyone has to live through High School! The trick is they have access to a limited amount of powers over time but the more they use of it, the more life spawn is taken from them. Finally you get some logic with the mystical. If you have extra powers, it has to come with and extra price. So not only each time they use their powers they waste up part of their life, using their powers is addictive in nature. The movie tries to be dark, but not too creepy. It’s made for a teen audience. I mean you get young actors, that should be models of some sort. The villain is pretty linear; I want more power type. Last time I’ve checked the rating on Rottentomatoes they were at an outstanding 3%. Meaning 97% of the critics who saw this movie did not like it very much. Numbers can help you decide but it’s not a boring movie either. It’s entertainment, fair for a day when you got nothing to do. Or on your next holiday, wait for the cheap rental. For your money you get a shallow experience, but pretty nice visual effects. The Covenant hits DVD January 9th 2007.
Some poetry might be in order for the new year but I don’t think you would really grab the feelings I want to share with you. Every year we celebrate a new beginning, this marking of time is shared by billions of brothers and sisters. We are one great family and we take this time to rejoice and make resolutions that we will not keep. We are still at war with our neighbors. Bitter with our friends and egoist to the need of others. For 2007 I wish you love, happiness and good health. But for all that to happen we must change; the way we see the world, the way we behave and our perception of the others. I do believe that we can all make it better. Once again; Happy New Year and make it a great year. Not only for your sake but for your friends and family.