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On weekdays I am a programmer...
...but in my spare time I am a Tauren Druid.
In the World of Warcraft.
What is World of Warcraft?
Warcraft is an MMORPG. You create a character and enter an online world...
...that you share with thousands of other players.
That world is enormous: there are two planets, with four continents,
and a total of 66 zones.
In the North the ice and snow of the Borean Tundra,
...and to the South the deadly deserts of Tanaris and Uldum.
The designers took their inspiration from many different cultures:
The Egyptians, the Aztecs...
...the vikings...
...Victorian England...
...and the native Americans.
It was here, on the peaceful meadows of lovely Mulgore...
...that 5 years ago Krytharn was born, and my adventures started.
Of the 12 playable races, I liked the honorable Tauren the most...
...probably because they, like me, are 2 meters tall...
...but that is where the similarities end.
Warcraft is, to put it simply, all about getting better and stronger.
You start at level 1, armed with a simple staff and a single spell.
Your enemies are non-agressive and easy to beat.
With every fight you win, and every quest you finish, you gain experience points.
When you've earned enough points, you gain a level and get access to new abilities.
Warcraft was my first multi-player game.
Up until then, all characters in my games had been computer controlled.
The first time I met another player, on my PC, in my game...
...I won't forget easily.
That is what sucked me into the game, and the reason I have been playing...
the game these past 5 years, with the occassional break.
She was sitting in the grass, so I decided to chat with her.
She said she was on a quest and she quickly found out I was new to the game.
She herself had been playing the game for a couple of months.
Her name was Karen and she was from Stockholm, Sweden.
She showed me around: we hunted lions together...
...we crossed the border to the lowlands of Mulgore...
...and then she showed me how to swim by jumping into ice cold water!
Krytharn was not what you'd call a hero back in those days.
We warmed ourselves at a cosy fire.
Sitting on a chair behind my computer, I had had a wonderful adventure...
with someone from Sweden I would never had met otherwise.
It was fun playing together and we became good friends.
To be honest, she wasn't really a pretty blood elf girl...
...but an ugly troll!
In the months that followed, we played together almost daily.
Our characters slowly grew stronger, and so did our enemies.
And every time we gained a level, we travelled to a new zone, with new enemies...
...new stories and new adventures.
While we walked through the game world, we talked about our lives.
Eventually we got to know each other very well.
Where Skype or Facebook only allow you to communicate using text,...
...which can lead to misunderstandings because you can't use body-language,...
...in Warcraft you can use more subtle ways to communicate.
For instance, you can turn your characters towards other players...
...to show them you are listening.
And there are more than 50 different so called 'emotes'...
...like laughing...
...crying...
...and being shy.
And then, one day, we reached the highest level. Our training was over...
...and it was time for 'End Game Raiding'.
Karen and I joined a 'guild', a group of players with leaders and rules...
...who share the goal of defeating the toughest enemies.
Monsters you'd never be able to beat on your own.
Instead, you form a 'raid team' with 24 other players...
...in which every player has a specific task.
In general, there are 3 tasks in a raid:
Absorbing damage, called 'Tanking'...
...dealing damage, called 'DPS' or 'damage per second'...
...and healing other players.
Each task has unique challenges and is equally important.
Your success as a team depends on working together, learning from mistakes...
...and revising your strategies...
until you know how to beat the enemy.
Raids are lead by a 'raid leader',...
...a player who knows the game inside out, has a talent for tactical strategies...
...and most of all knows how to keep other players focussed.
Each enemy requires a different strategy...
...and sometimes the fight is so difficult, it takes a lot of time to learn.
The monster that posed the toughest challenge for us, was Yogg-Saron...
...the God of Death, based on the novels by H.P. Lovecraft.
The fight has 3 phases and lasts for almost half an hour...
...if you survive that long.
It took us 50 hours before everyone knew the ins and outs of the fight...
...and did what they had to do.
And then everything falls into place, and with nerves racing through your body...
...with beads of sweat on your brows and hoping nobody makes a fatal mistake...
...you take down the final percentages of your enemy.
Our guild has members from all over Europe...
...and some of them I have met in real life.
It's wonderful what playing a computer game can lead to...
...something I would not have thought possible 20 years ago.
I have enjoyed being part of the hype and subculture around Warcraft,
...and I hope I gave you a nice impression of it with this movie.
THE END �