Everyone is a little OCD

When WoW servers are down, members of the community flock to the Main Forums. Mostly to bemoan the down time, but occasionally to just talk about things they usually only talk to guild members about. These topics can be anything, from hidden places, to new changes, to why Warlocks are far superior to Mages.

One of these that recently caught my eye was: Funny Things You Do In WoW.

Everyone has their own unique quirks. Do you double check your pockets before leaving the house? Do you keep pressing the button until your car honks, plainly telling you “Yes, I am locked, please stop pressing the button”? I do these things. These and dozens of other little quirks, but it never occurred to me, I do these quirks online just as much as I do offline.

Of course there were the common responses like: Always jumping when entering an instance or Always carrying ammo and reagents in even numbered stacks for what is needed to cast it.

This of course got me to pondering all the little OCD things I do when playing WoW.

1. I always log off in an inn. WoW has a mechanic that boosts the amount of experience you can earn if you are “rested”. You earn rest by not playing that character. Rest earned is boosted if you log off in an inn. as a raving altoholic, rest is vital to leveling efficiently. So I always log off in an inn. This thought was so ingrained that as a level 80 toon, I will still do this, despite the fact I no longer need rest.

2. Jumping. Constantly. Much like millions of other players, I get some form of visceral joy out of pressing the space bar repeatedly and watching my little puppet immediately leap to respond to my command. Jump monkey jump! Dance monkey dance! Most players do this, especially people who play Night Elves or Blood Elves as they occasionally flip. I find when I go to play other games I will start hitting the space bar at random times. I am trying to jump. I don’t even think about it, I just try. I also jump when going off ledges, as soon as I mount a flying mount, and when riding through cities.

3. WoW has a ton of iconic lines. Through the course of the game, there are certain places you will go so many times that every detail of the location becomes ingrained in your mind. Some of these iconic lines are voiced, and so you hear them more that anything else. It gets to the point where you parrot the lines. One of my little ticks is every time someone says the first part of a paired line, I say the other. One of these is “Arise my Champion. At your side milady.” from Scarlet Monastery. It became a favorite of my friends to say around me so I would parrot the second line.

4. That’s my banker/auctioneer/trainer. I have very specific people I talk to in each city. I know they NPCs. But I like to think we have a rapport, and they will give me a better price than others. So I always use the same people. I also tend to go to the females. As a female gamer this tick makes a bit of sense.

5. /Wave. As a Warlock, I have a pet. I also have to worry about soul shards (or used to) and so when I want to dismiss my pet, I don’t dismiss him, because then I would lose the soul shard. So instead I change his setting to stay and then run away. When he despawns, I get my shard back. As I run away I wave good bye. Every. Single. Time. I like to think this makes me less of a jerk for abandoning him. I also /hug and /love non-combat pets frequently. My own and other player’s. /slap is reserved for my imp when he does bad things, which he frequently does.

6. One of the most disturbing things I constantly did was back in Burning Crusade when Warlocks had a talent that let them sacrifice their pet and gain a buff. So I would summon my Succubus, hug her, flirt with her, kiss her, laugh at her and then sacrifice her.

We all have our little ticks, but WoW players, much like other rpg players have their own little way of doing things. From organizing bags a certain way, to pull orders, we all tend to stick to a set pattern.

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