Visiting Italy – Greve in Chianti and Pisa

David and Nathalie had reserved a vehicle ahead for the next 5 days so we could take out-of-town day-trips to Greve in Chianti, and Pisa. We would also use this vehicle to ferry us all down to Italy’s Amalfi Coast on the Mediterranean Sea to visit the towns of Pompeii, Naples, and Sorrento later in the week.

To our surprise and delight, David returned from the rental car agency with a brand new Mercedes VITA passenger van that seated 7 comfortably, and 9 not quite as comfortably. It was a beautiful blue color and was shaped much like an American pet carrier on four wheels. The only thing sticking out on the entire vehicle, were the two side rear-view mirrors which could be folded in flat so that nothing stuck out, if necessary. And, indeed, that did prove necessary in Sorrento, but more about that later. I was skeptical that we would be able to navigate the Italian alley-sized streets in this veritable bus, but thanks to David’s prior experience of driving the University of Michigan bus for 2 years while a student there, I was confident that if anyone could do it, he could.

We loaded up our blue mammoth with strollers, bags of ‘kid’ supplies, bags of ‘adult’ supplies, and toys. We also had along a 12-volt DVD player in case of a ‘kid’ melt-down which could precipitate an ‘adult’ melt-down. So, off we went over the rolling hills of Tuscany. David expertly managed to maneuver our behemoth through the other traffic consisting of Italy’s Lilliputian cars and trucks.

As you can see from the above photo, our van was nearly as roomy as a small Italian apartment, and it could even drive down the Italian ‘street’ you can see beside it. That is really an Italian two-way street – not just an alley.

Our destination was a village called Greve in Chianti about 20 km south of Florence. It is in the heart of the Italian Chianti region from whence flows the famed Chianti wine. Wine produced from this region is the only wine allowed to be called ‘Chianti’ much like sparkling wine called Champagne is supposed to be only from the ‘Champagne’ region of France. The best Chianti is the D.O.C.G. Chianti Classico I spoke of in an earlier post. Greve is a picturesque little village, nestled in a small valley on the Fiume Greve (Greve River).

Above is a lovely outdoor fruit market in the town square. We walked around the historic town center, looking in all the little shops. We then chose a restaurant for lunch. We ate at the Pizza Matteotti, which featured pasta with Wild Boar Sauce, a delicacy of the Chianti region.

David, Passie, and Adrien are checking out the stuffed wild boar in front of the restaurant in the above photo. Scary!

We all traipsed in to the tiny restaurant and took up fully half of their seating area with all 7 of us. We ordered a variety of delicious pasta dishes along with some local Chianti wine. We talked Grandpa Paul into ordering the Parppadelle con Cinghlale, which were wide pasta noodles with a traditional wild boar sauce. We all tasted it and it was just fantastically flavorful and rich. We regretted not ordering it ourselves, also. Grandpa Paul, who is not noted for eating things that can’t be found in Minnesota, was rightfully proud of himself for being so reckless and adventuresome by ordering wild boar.

Hey, Grandpa Paul! Its just wild boar ‘hot dish.’ You can eat that!

Above is a photo of Dan, Adrien, and David in the Pizza Matteotti restaurant at lunch.

After lunch, we went back to a tiny little wine shop and bought some wine-related souvenirs before going over to the Le Cantine di Greve in Chianti, est. in 1893.

This serves as the biggest wine outlet in the Chianti Classico region. It stocks over 1200 varieties of Chianti for sale and sells wine-related souvenirs, etc. It contains a library of wine publications and collections of antique wine paraphernalia for the aging and bottling of wine. For 10 Euros, you can buy a pre-paid wine card and go around the shop sampling any of 140 of their wines by inserting your card into an automatic dispenser on a barrel and getting a couple of ounces to taste. On our way out of this treasure trove of Italian wine, it is located down a long flight of stairs, deep underground to keep the wine at a stable, cool temperature, we purchased some bottles of Chianti to take back to Florence. This was kind of like ‘carrying coals to Newcastle’ but we got some good prices buying it at the actual winery in Greve.

Above is Grandpa Paul at the vino store. Heaven!

Above is the stuffed wild boar with a potted plant modestly screening his boar ‘package.’

We took the scenic route back to Florence, stopping at the huge grocery store by the Florence airport called COOP, to load up on groceries while we had the luxury of a vehicle to take them right to the door of our villa. Otherwise, one must lug everything up the long hill – either by hand or in Passie’s stroller. For those of you familiar with Seward, Alaska, it is the equivalent of pushing an over-loaded baby stroller up Mt. Marathon. Not such a great thing to have to do.

The next day, we packed up our Mercedes and headed East out of Florence toward Pisa. Nathalie and I had made sandwiches for all of us so we could picnic on the extensive grounds surrounding the Leaning Tower of Pisa. We had delicious tangerines and oranges that we purchased at the fruit market in Greve the day before. A couple of bottles of Chianti wine rounded out the repast.

Below are Joan, Nathalie & Dan picnicking on the steps of the Baptistry next to the tower.

And, below is a photo of our family, Nathalie, Adrien, David, & Pascale, by the cathedral in Pisa.

We spent a long time just looking at the Leaning Tower from every angle. For 15 Euros, an adult could climb to the top of the tower, but no one in our group could be persuaded to climb up any more towers for a while. The tower was the original bell tower for the cathedral which was started in 1064 A.D. The Cathedral is built with alternating bands of dark green and cream-colored marble which is characteristic of the Roman-Pisan style. This became the model for Romanesque churches later built throughout Tuscany. The tower is made of white marble and began ‘leaning’ after only 3 tiers were erected. It continued to lean about 1mm/year. Many ideas were unsuccessfully tried to stop it from leaning, as it would eventually fall. In 1998, cables were attached to it and workers removed small portions of soil underneath the north side of the tower. This created a counter-subsidence which decreased the amount of lean and stopped it from leaning any further. They say it will be stable for the next 300 years.

One of the classic tourist photo-ops is an optical illusion pose that makes it appear a person is holding up the tower. Below, Grandpa Paul appears to support the tower.

Uncle Dan supports the tower to Adrien’s delight.

Uncle Dan pushes the tower over.

Basta! Enough with the tower! We toured the Cathedral and Baptistry which were magnificent. They sit on the Campo dei Miracoli which is one of the world’s most beautiful squares. The acoustics beneath the dome are so perfect that a low whisper will echo around and around. Pascale proved this to be quite true, as we could hear her everywhere in the church as she repeatedly chanted “bah, bah, bah, bah, ……..” etc. Basta, Pascale! Enough with the echoes.

Above is the Cathedral of Pisa.

And, above here, is the Dome of Baptistry of Cathedral of Pisa.

The above photo shows the Altar in the Cathedral of Pisa. It is spectacularly ornate and beautiful.

Below are Joanie and Paul in Pisa.

We left the Campo dei Miracoli as the sun began to set. The view of the tower in the setting sunlight was really beautiful.

Here (below) is a shot of the fading sunlight on the back of Cathedral and Baptistry of Pisa.

We left Pisa and took a short detour on the way home to visit the historic little village of Lucca.

Lucca is completely enclosed by monumental Renaissance walls. It was founded by the Etruscans in 180 B.C.E. and grew to wealth and fame because it was a stop along the silk trade route. Today, it is an important agricultural center and because it flourished during a long period of peace, its walls are pretty much perfectly preserved. It was dark by the time we got there and we only got to drive inside the walls for a short distance. From what we could see of the streets, they were absolutely beautiful – all strung with twinkling lights – and we regretted having to pass on exploring it due to the late hour.

In my next post in our Visiting Italy series, I’ll tell you about our trip to Naples, Sorrento, and Pompeii; all in the shadow of the famed Mt. Vesuvius.

Ciao,
Joanie

Playing World of Warcraft

Way back in early 2005, I caved into the pleas from my kids and grandkids to start playing World of Warcraft with them. I had never played a video game in my life and had successfully resisted their invitations to play with them for at least a year or more. So with the help and encouragement from them and their promises to help me out of difficult spots until I learned what I was doing, I created a character – an avatar – in game language. Son, Daniel, loaded the original World of Warcraft game by Blizzard Entertainment, on my computer and got me started off.

World of Warcraft, or WOW, is a Massively Multi-Player Online Role-Playing Game (MMORPG), meaning that people from all over the world who subscribe to the game are playing at the same time. You can choose to play with these other people (often called ‘toons), or you can play by yourself, whatever you choose. The universal language of WOW is simple English but over the past 10 years I have played with people speaking lots of different languages. In fact, WOW operates in 56 different languages and you choose at the beginning what language you wish the game to appear in for you. Incredible.

If you look up World of Warcraft on Wikipedia, they explain far more details about WOW than I will here. They do a far more complete and better job than having me just repeating that same information.

What I want to mainly focus on are my experiences playing WOW over the past 10 years – in playing by myself, with family members, with strangers, in small groups, in large groups, on raid teams, etc. It has been a terrific learning experience for me in ways I never dreamed possible before I began playing. My motivation for starting to play this game as a Grandmother who had never played a video game in her life, was that my grandchildren were all playing. It is my belief that if you don’t keep up with the world your grandkids live in and participate in, you will become marginalized and have little credibility with them as they get older. Technology-wise, this can often be challenging.

The youngest grandchild who was playing WOW in 2005 was 4 years old – going on 5. At the time, he was in Italy, but he was able to log on and play with his cousins who were in the U.S. They arranged times when it worked out for all of them, then they would all get on WOW and play together with their characters – talking to each other online using an in-game system called Ventrillo. Sometimes, they just typed in what they wanted to say to each other right on the screen in a chat box. Their characters could go on Quests together and help each other achieve their objectives.

I had never seen a 4-year-old type so fast and proficiently as when he was playing WOW. It was truly amazing. The kids all learned reading, spelling, typing, and grammar very quickly because they were so motivated by wanting to communicate with others while playing WOW. It was truly phenomenal. Among the other skills I watched my young grandchildren learn early on were map reading, using GPS coordinates to navigate their characters around quest areas and the WOW world, and money management through the need to manage their in-game money to buy the things their character’s needed with money they had to earn through completing quests and selling the goods and services they learned to make or provide.

At level 10, they could choose two professions to pursue to make goods or provide services to other characters in order to produce a steady income so they could build their characters faster and equip them better. They could choose amongst professions like Blacksmith, Tailor, Leatherworker, Jeweler, Alchemist, Herbalist, Miner, Engineer, Enchanter, and Inscription maker. They could only choose two of these but they could also learn and develop the skills of fishing, cooking, first aid and archeology. No amount of studying these subjects in school could teach the real-life lessons learned from practicing all these skills as when the kids are motivated to learn them in order to play this game better.

As a side note, Blizzard Entertainment employs thousands of people as consultants to make sure the in-game content as close to the real world as is practical. They hire Blacksmiths to review the blacksmith profession, and Engineers to design and maintain the engineering professions, etc. They employ several PhD Economists to design the in-game monetary systems, the auction house, and real chemists and herbalists for the professions of Herbalism and Alchemy. Not all of the herbs or minerals that you find in the game are ‘real’, many are made-up to suit the game, but overall the values and uses for these items are pretty realistic. An Alchemist makes potions and elixirs out of the herbs they gather, or buy from others, or trade. Miners smelt down ores they gather for use by engineers and blacksmiths, or can choose to ‘prospect’ the ore to get valuable gems needed by Jewelers.

I want to add that there are parental controls on WOW so parents can control the language their children will be exposed to. There is no nudity or inappropriate behavior in the game, other than running into another character who might be rude and inconsiderate. Learning how to deal with people like this happens everywhere – including in an on-line game situation. Rude, inconsiderate characters are pretty much censored by other players. No one likes to play with a character like that.

I began playing by choosing to create a female Night Elf Druid. I designed her facial expression, hairstyle and color, skin color, and markings such as tattoos and jewelry and gave her a name. After I got her just like I wanted her, I was ready to play. I started off at Level 1 in the WOW land of Teldrassil. I will choose a few of my other characters, which in the game are know as ‘alts’ and allow them to tell their stories in their own words. I have too many to list all of them, but I want you to see some of the wide range of characters one can create in this wonderful fantasy role-playing game of World of Warcraft.

Here is my Druid’s story in her own words.

My name is Semalu. I am a Night Elf Druid and I was born in 2005 in Shadowglen, near the town of Aldrassil, on an island called Teldrassil, which is just off the continent of Kalimdor. The capital city of Teldrassil is Darnassus, and the whole area exists in the top of a gigantic tree. At the base of the tree are boat docks and a flightpath which you can use to leave the island to go to other places in the WOW world.

As a Druid, I can use the powers of nature through spells to smite enemies and heal myself and my friends. I can even bring players back from the dead. I can shift my shape into those of various animals or trees. “Druids harness the vast powers of nature to preserve balance and protect life. With experience, Druids can unleash nature’s raw energy against their enemies, raining celestial fury on them from a great distance, binding them with enchanted vines, or ensnaring them in unrelenting cyclones.”

The first monsters I had to conquer after I was born were little boar-like critters called Thistle Boars, and panther-like animals called Nightsabers. As I gained levels, I had to tackle harder and harder monsters. The scariest for me were the Webwood Spiders who lived in the Shadowthread Cave. I have always been terrified of spiders (I may have picked up that fear from my mother) and in this quest, I had to confront and conquer my very worst fear – SPIDERS! Lots of spiders. What a confidence-builder to complete and turn in that quest!

In the little village of Aldrassil, I met with a Druid trainer and began my education to get to the level 90 Druid that I am today. I met with a Druid trainer many times along the way in different places as I grew and leveled and perfected my Druid skills. I continued completing harder and harder quests all around my native land until I was ready to leave Teldrassil and begin venturing in the big world outside my homeland. I first went to the continent of Kalimdor and from there I took a boat across the Great Sea to the city of Stormwind, one of the main Alliance capital cities on the continent called the Eastern Kingdom.

Every WOW character is born with what is called a Hearthstone. This has magic powers to transport them back to the last place they set it for, at an Inn in a village, or camp, or city. When I got to Stormwind, I set my Hearthstone for that city at The Gilded Rose, a local Inn. The hearthstone can be used to get me out of a world of trouble in a hurry if necessary, or simply travel back to my base city. I re-set it many times throughout my life to wherever was the most convenient place close where I was questing. Here is a picture of my Hearthstone.

From my new home base of Stormwind, I began exploring and conquering the known world of Azeroth, and later, the expanded worlds of Outlands, Northrend, and Pandaria.

Over the last 9 years on my way to level 90, I have learned many things – I learned a career as a Leatherworker, making clothing and armor for myself and to sell to other characters in the game. I’ve learned how to make and handle the in-game money to support both myself, and later, my brother and sister characters that my birth mother created. I’ve learned to play in groups with family, friends, and complete strangers, and kept up my part as a spell caster and healer in conquering large monsters and completing complex quests. I’m a member of a family guild called ‘death rabbit’ and we’ve played together for many years of fun and adventure. I’ve played with other characters of all different races, genders, skill levels, abilities, languages, and personalities in a fun, cooperative, and productive way.

My creator, my birth mother, is known by many as Grandma Joan and also by many as the Carpy Harpy. I am her first-born and I believe I am her favorite. I am her Semalu of the Nightfall.

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My name is Orebane Jenkins. ‘Jenkins’ is a special title I acquired at level 58 by completing a particularly difficult achievement in a dungeon called Black Rock Spire. I had to round up and kill 50 dragon whelps within only 15 seconds – a very hard thing to do.

I was created second by my birth mother. I am now a level 90 Dwarf Paladin.

“This is the call of the Paladin: to protect the weak, to bring justice to the unjust, and to vanquish evil from the darkest corners of the world. These holy warriors are equipped with plate armor so they can confront the toughest of foes, and the blessing of the Light allows them to heal wounds and, in some cases, even restore life to the dead.”

Yep! This is me. I may be a Dwarf, but I am tough and formidable. I was born in the village of Anvilmar in the snowy province of Dun Morogh, which is in the Coldridge Valley on the continent of the Eastern Kingdoms. I started off killing Rockjaw Invaders, Rockjaw Scavengers, and Cragboars. I leveled up enough to move on to the town of Kharanos where I chose my professions and got trained. I chose to be a Miner and Jewelcrafter. I mine valuable ores and either smelt them into metals or prospect them for valuable gems. I use these things to make magic jewelry and gems which I sell to other players in WOW. Along my road to level 90, I have made and sold thousands of gold worth of these items supporting myself and contributing to my little WOW family.

I leveled further and then journeyed to the capital city of the Dwarves called Ironforge. I set my Hearthstone for the Stonefire Tavern Inn in Ironforge and continued my education as both a Paladin and as a Miner and Jewelcrafter. I also learned cooking, fishing, and first aid.

As a Paladin I wear plate armor – the strongest there is. I am skilled at hand-to-hand combat but I can also cast powerful spells to do damage as well as to heal and resurrect dead characters. I can also grant blessings – the most powerful and sought-after being the Blessing of Kings. Pretty slick, eh? Everybody wants a Paladin with their raid group.

I am Orebane, my creator-birth-mother’s first-born son. I believe I am her very favorite character.

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My name is Marzipan. I disagree with Semalu and Orebane because I believe I am my mother’s favorite. I am a Night Elf Hunter and my pet, which fights and protects me, is a powerful Core Hound. My pet’s name is Algernon. Algernon is named after the charming and witty bachelor friend of Jack Worthing in the play ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’ by Oscar Wilde. I tamed Algernon in the bottom of a cave on Azuremist Isle which is off the coast of Teldrassil which is my birth place. I share the same beginnings as my sister Semalu as we are both of the race of Night Elves.

I am the third child. I am fun and carefree and a delight to be around. I am a Hunter character which means my pet, Algernon, is an integral part of who I am. I chose as professions that of Herbalist and Alchemist. I gather herbs from wherever I go and use them to make magic potions and elixirs. These are of great value to myself, my brother and sister characters, and other people’s characters. I can sell these items on the WOW Auction House. Other players will pay a lot for gold for these items I gather and make. I can’t cast spells but I can heal and resurrect Algernon if he gets low on health or dies in a tough fight.

My weapon is a powerful bow and I am a Beastmaster which means I can summon and command animals to fight for me and protect me and any friends I am playing with. I can summon a Murder of Crows (my favorite ability) or a Dire Beast which will do powerful damage to a targeted enemy.

Over the years I have leveled all the way up to 90. I am skilled and talented and cute and fun to play with. As I said earlier, I think I am my mother’s favorite of her 17 characters.

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My name is Cucina – the Italian word for ‘kitchen.’ I was created after my birth mother returned from a trip to Italy, and she was all about everything Italian. I am a powerful Shadow Priest who uses spell casting for protection, fighting and healing.

I was born at Northshire Abbey in Elwynn Forest in the Eastern Kingdoms. My birth village is in the shadow of Stormwind – the Alliance capital city. I am of the Human race and all Humans start off at Northshire Abbey.

I am a spell caster and as a Shadow Priest, I can cast some powerful dark spells to fight and heal for me. I have very great healing powers which I can use on myself and other players. I can resurrect other characters when they get killed, which makes me a very valuable team member on a raid quest.

Although I am the fourth character created, I believe I am my mother’s favorite because of my beauty, skill, power, and versatility. I’m sure Semalu, Orebane, and Marzipan would disagree with me, but I know my mother’s heart. I am her Cucina of the Nightfall.

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My name is Quidaxle and I am a level 90 Goblin Fire Mage. I belong to the Horde faction and we are sworn enemies of the Alliance. Although I am a sister to Semalu, Orebane, and the rest of my birth mother’s Alliance characters, we can never meet or communicate in any way. She has 6 other characters that are Horde, too. At least we have each other here on the realm of Eitrigg. Those Alliance ‘toons are all in the realm of Trollbane.

Mages demolish their foes with arcane spells. They can cast powerful offensive spells but they are fragile and lightly armored, making them very vulnerable to close range attacks. Mages must make careful use of their spells and abilities to keep their enemies at a distance or root them in place.

“Mages can expend mana in order to deal high amounts of damage with amazing speed, though they must be wary of exhausting themselves. By calling upon sheets of ice, columns of flame, and waves of arcane power, mages can effectively attack multiple foes at the same time. A mage has many options for controlling the battlefield, from freezing enemies in place to transforming them into helpless critters.

Mages also possess the ability to transport themselves and their allies between cities and can summon replenishing food and water.”

I love being a Mage and casting amazing spells and using my magic to turn my enemies into sheep and create portals to go to any capital city in the world. I can also portal other characters, as well which makes me a very valuable character.

Above is a picture of me. Am I not cute? I am a Goblin which means I’m tiny, but not as tiny as a Gnome. My professions are Mining and Engineering. I smelt the ores I mine into metals which I use to make all kinds of useful things. I can even build and entire helicopter which is what I use to fly around in. I have sold helicopters to other characters for thousands of gold each. One gold is about equal to one American dollar. At one point I had over 30,000 gold which is a whole heck of a lot for a video game character! They are very valuable and lots of other characters want them. I can also make many other things like parts, blasting powders, power cores, casings, plasma shields, magic goggles, Goblin barbecues, tackle boxes, mechanical dragonlings, portable mailboxes, guns, crossbows, army knives, lock openers, fireworks and far too many other things to list here.

I make these things to use when I build stuff and I sell the things I build on the Auction House. I make a lot of gold selling these valuable items. I think my birth mother likes me the best because her own dad was an Engineer who made lots of cool things including airplanes – but not helicopters. I learned all these things working my way up to level 90. I am now a Zen level Engineer – the highest possible level.

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My name is Shinai. I am a level 90 Pandaran Monk. I am everything Zen and Asian. I was born in late 2012 when the new continent of Pandaria was created by Blizzard. There are many different lands in the World of Warcraft – alpine, deserts, arctic, swamps, jungles, rain forests, extraterrestrial, but there was nothing Asian. Pandaria fills that vacuum with lands mirroring S.E. Asia, China, Japan, and the great mountain areas of Nepal, etc. It has pandas, bamboo, yetis, Mongolian aspects, rice paddies, water lilies, temples, shrines, Buddhas, prayer flags, etc. New characters were possible so my birth mother chose to create a Panda creature and make me a Monk.

I am a Mistweaver Monk which means I have powerful Zen and healing abilities. I can also resuscitate dead players. I was born on the Wandering Isle which exists on the back of a giant turtle named Shen-Zin Su, who is swimming around the world’s oceans. I trained at the Temple of Five Dawns. I leveled up while training my skills until level 10 when I had to choose a faction to belong to forever. I chose to belong to the Alliance and I had to leave the Wandering Isle forever. I continued questing, training, and leveling in Alliance territories all over the world until I reached level 85. At level 85, I could finally go to Pandaria, my race’s homeland.

I chose Herbalism and Alchemy for professions. Those seemed like fitting professions for a healing Monk. I gather herbs and make potions and elixirs for myself and to sell to others. I am a Zen Master level in cooking, fishing, first aid as well as my Herbalism and Alchemy. I am a Zen level Potion Master which means I can make rare and valuable potions at a very high level.

I am Shinai the Patient. I do not worry if I am my birth mother’s favorite character or not. That is not the Zen way. You would have to ask her to find that out for yourself.

********

After many years of playing with my kid and grandkids, they began either growing up or getting too busy (or both) and wandering away from the WOW. It seems like the grandkids quit playing first – seduced away by the advancing technology of other games – X-Boxes, Wii Play Stations, Rockband, and Minecraft games – the forbidden and realistic games of Halo and Grand Theft Auto. Music lessons and theater camps and after-school activities, play-dates with friends, cell phones, i-Pods, texting, Facebook, etc. all hold more interest than a role-playing fantasy game. Grandson Adrien stopped logging on with Ciaobello.

The first of my sons to wander away was my youngest, Dan, with his character Rolf, who leveled alongside my character, Orebane, all the way to level 80. Such fun we had! Then I was left with just one son still playing, David, and his characters Baudrillard and Haethcyn. We played levels 80-85 together in Mt. Hyjal – doing daily quests to earn special flying mounts and rewards in the Firelands. David would get home from teaching English Literature at his college and picking up the kids from school, and log on and we’d play together for about an hour almost every day. Such fun for me! Now he is too busy to continue playing. He has not moved his characters beyond level 85 and has yet to venture to Pandaria. I have hope that all those guys may decide to play again someday. In the meantime, I love playing and have had a lot of fun just playing with my own characters and with others.

There is one friend who still plays who we all met playing WOW from the very beginning of the game. She has the characters named Alliecat, Ghostcat, Sage and Mid. She is a true horse whisperer who raises race horses in the Blue Grass part of the United States. She used to join us on all kinds of family quests and even let my 3-year-old granddaughter, Pascale, use her character Mid so she could play along with us. A sweeter, kinder person you could never expect to meet online playing a video game! I still talk to her when she’s playing WOW and I am on, too. She’s such a joy. We commiserate about how none of our families have time to play anymore. We remember the ‘good ole days’ of family quests and raids and the fun and adventures we all had playing together.

I want to relate a story about the values kids learn playing this game. My then 5-year-old granddaughter, Pascale, wanted to play with us when some family members were all going on a large, complex dungeon quest together. Our group was going to include David, (her Dad), her brother, Adrien, myself, our friend Alliecat, and son, Daniel. We told her she could go along as a Priest character that Alliecat would let her use, and she could be in charge of healing all the rest of us. We told her that she would need to keep us from getting killed by the monsters. She knew how to cast Priest spells and healing spells even at age 5. The raid took a long time to complete and part way through, Pascale wanted to quit playing. Her Dad patiently explained to her that if she quit, the rest of us couldn’t continue and finish the raid, because we would get killed without her special Priest spells to keep us healed and alive. He told her she really couldn’t quit part way through. It wouldn’t be right. So she agreed to finish the raid and kept us all healed and alive even though she was tired of playing. We finished the raid and we all shared in the rewards from doing so. I wish I could have learned a lesson like that when I was age 5. Priceless.

I want to say a word about guilds. People form guilds by taking out a guild charter in a WOW Capital city. They get other players to sign it and then a guild is formed and other players can become members if they choose. Guild members help each other with quests and share resources. They organize specific raid times when they can all be on together to accomplish difficult tasks and conquer very hard monsters. Running a guild is like running a company. You have personnel issues to deal with between guild members, the scheduling of events, making sure everyone is happy and productive. You need to open bank accounts and decide who has access to which accounts. You need to be vigilant against theft and you need to deal with discipline problems if another player reports one of your guild members for being rude or inappropriate. In fact, running a large guild successfully is something that people put on their resumes when they look for a job. A person who has successfully run a guild is a person an employer will look seriously at to hire. They have many proven and valuable skills.

So I will continue to play World of Warcraft. I love the game. When I feel a little down, I can log onto one of my characters and take a tour around the world visiting exotic places, doing a raid with a group of people, or talking to some other characters and people who I’ve played with before. I am keeping my mind active and exercised. I figure I am maintaining an interest I can continue to pursue when I’m old and confined to a nursing home someday, God forbid! As long as I have a computer and an internet connection, I will always be free to roam the WOW world anytime I feel like getting out.

And those are some of the reasons this old lady loves to play a video game.

The parts of my blog in quotations were taken from either Wikipedia or the World of Warcraft website.
All references available online on the Wikipedia site for World of Warcraft.