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Life & Arts

Newbies can learn a lot from ‘Azeroth'

by KELSIE HAHN
The Daily Cougar

If you've ever had your good loot ninjaed, your alt twinked or your character rezzed, you will probably enjoy The Battle for Azeroth, or at least chuckle at a few parts. 

The Battle for Azeroth, one of many pop culture books in the Smart Pop series, pulls together essays from video game and science fiction writers on the background and culture of World of Warcraft and other massively multiplayer online role-playing games and fantasy role-playing games.

The book is peppered with interesting factoids about the game and its history. Several authors also explore some of the social and economic implications of WoW, both in the game and in that poorly rendered and un-fantastically populated land known as IRL, aka "in real life." 

Almost all the authors are genuine diehard fans of the game, and often tell their own sad stories of WoW and its infamous time-sink effect, which prompts players to say, "Just one more level" or "Just one more bloody troll necklace." 

While the book provides some interesting (and some mundane) looks into WoW, most experienced players will quickly tire of having the concepts of guilds and camping explained to them over and over. Those who are new to the game, the genre or the basic premises of fantasy gaming will deal with the repetition better, but anyone with a character higher than Level 30 shouldn't worry too much about rushing to the nearest bookstore for this one. 

Serious WoW players can still enjoy the book, though, especially the trivia bits or background on the historical and literary inspirations for the various classes, but chances are they won't be able to tear themselves away from their raiding groups and battleground skirmishes long enough to read the nearly 300-page compilation. It can be a bit of a chore to wade through the basic information to some of the juicier bits of trivia, such as the fact that WoW in-game gold is now worth more than Japanese yen on the real-world market. 

Older players will be more interested in some of the history of the game itself or insight into issues such as the oft-criticized business of farming gold and selling it for real-world cash, the rising popularity of RPGs and MMORPGs among female gamers, or the subtleties behind in-game romances, weddings and, well, cybersex.

In addition to being rather long and too simplistic for most players, the book misses the mark in its focus on the role-playing servers and capabilities of the game, since the majority of WoW players are far more interested in skull-bashing and Chuck Norris jokes than they are in developing complicated characters and intricate storylines.

The Battle for Azeroth is not a great buy, especially for the reader already familiar with WoW, but it might make a nice gift for the WoW player in your life -- perhaps with the appropriate sections on recognizing and overcoming WoW addictions highlighted -- or for a new gamer looking to pick up introductory information on some of the finer points and history of the incredibly expansive game.

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