MMORPGs.

MMORPGS are massive multiplayer online roleplaying games.

If you are a computer gamer, and an adult, you are seen as...different. :-)

Funny though. If you sit in front of the TV all night watching crap, you're normal.

MMORPGs differ from other computer games in that they are set in a large, persistent fantasy or science fiction world. Players build a career over weeks, months, even years in the game, slowly growing stronger, accumulating skills, wealth, and perhaps fame. Certainly friends.

If it sounds like a second job- sometimes it can feel that way. But it is interesting to create another persona and guide their career. What profession should I become? What shall I do to succeed in this new world? How shall I relate to my fellow players? What role shall I take up?

There is the escapist element of fun in such a process. There is also a sense of enjoying the journey- it tends to be a long one. Players that rush through to the ultimate level in such a game mystify me. There is also the sense of mastery and control over an exotic situation. An exciting alternate career for a cubicle jockey. And a way to interact with people of similar interests. Thousands of people are often on one server in such a game.

MMORPGs are a long-term process. You have an alternate persona that you invest quite a lot of time and effort in. This is definitely not a first-person shooter, where you can start off powerful immediately and end the game mere minutes later. Nor is it a real-time strategy game where you might play for an hour or two, thinking out chess-like moves. It is almost a lifestyle, for those who play a lot.

I play a couple of MMORPGs currently. I don't spend as much time as I used to playing- reading, and the occasional writing claims some leisure time, too.

Check out Camelot Journeys and Warcraft Journeys for a couple of Websites about MMORPGs that I've played. I obviously like taking screenshots.

Word Journeys is a blog of the stories I have written about the games I've played in.