The World of Warcraft
Otto and Tito - Shadowmoon Valley.
The World of Warcraft has been part of my life since December 2004! Although I have definitely taken some long breaks during that period, I have never totally left the game. WoW, as it is known, was my first experience with MMORPGs and like many other people I was quickly hooked. I have to confess that I find it utterly fascinating when 40 people from all over the world can log in at the same time and run a precisely coordinated raid through a challenging dungeon such as Molten Core. I love the coordination of tactics that takes place immediately before the pull for a major boss encounter, and the huge sense of accomplishment that everyone feels after dropping a tough boss, especially if there have been wipes on prior attempts. This is a weird but strangely compelling alternative world, almost a science fiction world, that could only exist in the era of the internet and I feel oddly lucky to have been alive at the time when this experience is technologically possible.
I really only have one main character - Otto, a level 70 Dwarf Hunter on the Draenor Realm. I have had the same pet - Tito, a Dun Morogh snow leopard - ever since I trained him at level 10. Here is a link to my page in the Armory.
I have belonged to three guilds since I started playing WoW. My first guild was The Sarmation Knights, of whom I was a member up through about level 50. At that point, all the original founders, including Crixie, the GM, hit 60 and moved to a PvP server. The Sarmation Knights quickly withered away after that. At the bitter end I enherited the role of GM though I was virtually the last remaining member (except for some never-played alts). I was the individual who issued the extremely rare /gdisolve command. I reckon very few WoW players have ever had to do that!
The Wanderers confront Rag.
I soloed to 60 and then joined Black Lace. Black Lace was (and still is!) a great great guild, and I have many fond memories of my experiences with them. It was where Tito and I got our first real experience instancing in places like Stratholme and Upper Blackrock Spire, and it was with Black lace that I completed my Onyxia key quest, one of the pinnacle attunements of the early releases of the game. My heart first and foremost belongs to Black Lace. Black Lace experienced tremendous growth in the spring of 2006, and the guild developed a serious raiding component. However, all good things eventually come to an end, and for Black Lace, guild drama lead to near collapse, so now I find myself in The Wanderers. With the Wanderers I furthered my participation in instances, and it was with them that I experienced many runs into Zul'Gurub, Ahn'Qiraj, and ultimately Molten Core.
Since the expansion into Burning Crusade, it has been difficult for me to find the time necessary do my attunements, heroic keying, gear improvement, and progression through the BC end game content. There is probably little to be done about this, like anything else in life, my free time experiences ups and downs (mostly downs).