WoW....or not so much....

World of Warcraft... where do I even begin....

The task given to us was to play to be a level 6 player. I have gotten to level 5.... 5 and half to be exact. I can’t seem to get over the hump to get to level 6. I have completed several quests, but all the quests now available to me (or at least that I can find), I die trying to complete them. I can’t kill the Boar or Kobold (sp?) before it kills me first. It’s the never ending circle-- go from Goldshire to the mine, try to kill the Kobold to get the candle, get killed by the Kobold, end up back in the cemetery in Goldshire, take my spirit/ghost back to the mine, accept my body back, regain my health, try to kill the kobold (for a candle of course to give to the apothecary guy), only to be killed and have this process start again. I think I have spent more time traveling back to my body after dying than actually fighting the kobold for the candle. This game was just not meant for me. (sorry to those that are offended and LOVE the game.... its just not for me.)
That being said, I have spent a great deal of time playing the game and trying to understand the game to advance. I have a bit of the achiever in me that Bartle discusses, so when at first I don't succeed, I try, try again. (Or in my case, if after the first 30 attempts I don't succeed, I will just keep trying.....) I want to "win" the game and complete the quests! In last week's class discussion, we talked about if WoW is designed for achievers. We basically said that it allows for all to find a niche as well as flexibility for all types of players. While I agree that, for the most part, that is true-- people, whether Achiever, Socializer, Killer, or Explorer, can succeed, it seems like it is geared most to achiever. I am part achiever, but mostly explorer. Maybe it is the architect/designer in me or maybe just my personality in general, but I wanted to go and find every nook and cranny in the game. I want to explore the mountains, the forests, the rivers, etc. I found it very hard to explore many areas because I was getting slashed by random bad guys in the game or crazy big spiders and other such "animals" that were to keep me from different areas. Sometimes I found ways around the killers, many times I would get killed and then have to start the cyclical process again. As for the achiever in me, it may be that with a little help from someone who knows more about the game, I would be more successful. Even if I knew how to use the money I have collected/earned to buy better armor or a better weapon, I would be more successful. I could not figure out how to do it. I would buy something and it would tell me I could not use it. I don’t understand the rules enough even after playing for probably 10+ hours. For me, that would lead me to believe that the procedural rhetoric of the game is lacking. If, as Bogost defines, procedural rhetoric is "the practice of authoring arguments through processes," then it would seem that the game would be designed in such a way that even a gaming newbie such as myself would be able to understand the process enough that some argument could be made. For me, the argument is losing strength when the process is so complex that I have lost total sight of any argument that may or may not be made.