Grant Caskey

Professor Gabrielle Turgeon

UWRT 1104-013

21 January 2018

Narrative First Draft

When I first heard that we would be required to play World of War Craft, I was excited.

I never thought that I would be asked to play a video game for a class in college. I downloaded

the game, booted it up, and was pumped to play it after watching the cut scene. It was an epic

fight with some amazing looking characters and armor. After watching the cut scene, I was

prompted to create a character. I actually had the opportunity to play the game using a couple of

different characters, but I will explain more about this later.

I took some time looking at all the characters and different classes I could choose. Since

this was an avatar-like character I wanted to find one that had some of the traits and strengths I

think I have. For my first character I ended up picking the Druid class. The Druid class is

described as healers that want to protect life. They can also change their form to take on

different roles in the game. I thought this class fit me well because I do not like to see people or

animals get hurt and I like to help my friends when they need me. Generally, I am easy-going

and can get along with anyone. I also thought that I could play a lot of different roles in the

game with this character. I then choose the Worgen race. This race was part of the Alliance.

The Worgens are a type of werewolf that can change from human into a werewolf. I picked this

race because I like dogs and wolves a lot and the character looked really cool. The Worgens are

also known as good fighters. I see myself as a fighter because no matter how hard something is,

I never give-up. I wanted my character to look cool so I gave my werewolf pitch black fur and

neon blue eyes. Since Worgen’s transform from humans to werewolves I picked a fairly young-

looking guy with light colored hair that somewhat resembled me as my human character. This

seemed to be a good fit for me because I do not like to stand-out, but I am very competitive.

After doing all of this, it was time for me to pick a name for my character. This is when I hit my

first road block. Almost every name I tried was already taken. I ended up going to a website to

generate names for my character and class. After generating many names, I finally found one

that worked and I liked. I picked the name Whiteclawer because I have light colored skin and

hair, but my wolf character has very big, sharp claws.

When I got into the game, I noticed how different it was compared to other games I play.

Most of the video games that I play have someone talking to you, but in this game, I had to read

a lot of dialogue boxes to understand what I needed to do next. I also had to get used to the

controls. It took me a little bit of time to figure out how to fight enemies and complete the

quests. My character only had magic to work with, so every fight consisted of me throwing

fireballs at the enemies, which got boring. When progressing through the early levels of the

game, I noticed dialogue that said I had been bitten and wasn’t feeling well which is what caused

me to transform into a werewolf. Around this point in the game, I had hit level 5 and the time I

was required to play the game. The place I stopped at was called Gilneas. A few days later I got

a message that the Dalaran server, which was the server I was playing on, was full, and that I

needed to join the Aggramar server. This is where I had the opportunity to play the game again

and create a new character.

My second time around, I decided to pick a different class and race to see how the game

changed with another character. This time I chose the Warrior class and the Draenei race. This

class and race had some of the same traits as the Druids and Worgens. The Draenei are also

healers and they are heroic with a lot of strength. The Warrior class are very strong leaders that

use heavy armor and weapons to defeat their enemies. I also I liked how the Draenei looked.

This race was also a part of the Alliance. I changed the look of my character by making it as

blue as possible with some wicked facial hair. I added the facial hair because my mom gives me

a hard time about not shaving. Once again, I struggled with finding a good name for my

character, so I just let the name generator built into the game give me a name. The name I got

was Thaarr.

When I started up my second run, I immediately noticed that I was not in the same place

as I had been during my first run. This time I was in a wooded area. During my first run I had

been in a city. In this play I went around healing fellow members of my race and fighting

assassins as well as evil flowers. I enjoyed this play much more because I knew what I was

doing and I liked using the sword better in fights than the magic. I again stopped at level 5 at a

place called Azuremyst Isle.

I really thought about how playing this game related to me when I considered the

question, “Why does this story matter?” The game allowed me to pick characters that I liked and

had traits and strengths that described me. I think the game helped me understand my likes and

dislikes, including how I like to learn. I prefer learning by listening to others over reading,

which is why I struggled some early on in the game. I also like to be challenged and try different

things which is why I switched characters because I wanted to see if I would like the game better

and play differently with a new character.