One of the neat things about our guild is that it has a very large number of people that are in their 50s and 60s, level-wise. These are all people who are either playing for the first time, like myself, or have largely abandoned previous high-level characters and are now leveling alts almost exclusively. It’s quite handy because you almost always have some people to quest with or run instances with, and I’m excited because so many of us are coming up on 70 now so it’s like we’re already going to be pretty much set for doing all those big 70 instances that are coming up (including our little guild’s pipe dream… it starts with a K and ends with an -arazhan.)

The other day, our guild’s current main tank, a 64 prot warrior who is fantastic to work with, whispered me and told me that I had to meet him in Blasted Lands, and that it was urgent. I was mystified, but quite intrigued, and hightailed it out of Nagrand and back to the old world so I could meet him there. Once we met up, he had me unequip my bow and quiver, toss all my arrows, and then he opened trade and gave me a present: [The Gunblade], complete with a +10 damage scope, a 16-slot ammo pouch and the bullets to go with it. It turns out he and my boyfriend had both pooled their extra gold and bought this present just for me. I was informed in a sort of semi-roleplaying-fashion (I love RP servers) that the gift was a thank-you to me for providing quality DPS and CC in instances, and in general “being good at your class”.

Then… you know those guys in Blasted Lands whose HP falls down to about 1% and then they don’t die? Yeah, best guys to grind your weapon skill on ever (because I’ve actually never used a gun before, even though I had the skill trained).

Anyways, the reason that I’m sharing this story isn’t just to show off my new weapon (even though it is very shiny), but because it really showed me that even though WoW “is just a game”… it also “isn’t just a game”. The reason it isn’t just a game is because of the people that you meet. These are people that you might not have met otherwise if you hadn’t played the game, and yes they might be people that you never do get to meet in person. But just because you don’t get to see them in person, doesn’t mean that they are any less important or any less capable of doing kind deeds or being good friends. I was really touched by the present that I got and what it meant, and I hope that I, too, can perform similar acts of kindness and gratitude to the people that I hang out with in-game.

I’ve met a lot of great people in this game and I can’t wait to meet others. And that’s my little feel-good story of the day. ^^