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.