My Guild Wars 2 account turns 500 days old today. It seems like a nice round number, and a good reason as any to write some thoughts. I’ll start with a not-so-hyperbolic statement: Guild Wars 2 has made a serious impact on my life. These 500 days, plus everything before that has changed the course of my life and my family.
500 days ago I was alone in gaming in my family. My wife appreciated my hobby, but she didn’t understand all my running (LOTRO) or all the killing (TF2). My two girls understood a little more. I actually had my eldest (4 or 5 at the time) do a basic LOTRO skill rotation. She also liked going around on the horse. Still, LOTRO was incredibly hard to explain to anybody not a gamer.
It’s hard to say when that changed. Perhaps my zeal for Guild Wars 2 was greater than any other game I had putzed around with. I let my daughters create a character, and they mostly destroyed her clothes, made me buy new ones, and then played around with dyes. It was fun for our purposes. I bought a second account for me, mainly, so that I could get more laurels and one-time loot, but I also let the girls have it. Their style of play changed from destroying clothes to destroying characters. Every game session was a restart in their 2 characters each (I kept one off-limits so the account could have some “useâ€).
My wife took notice after a half-year or so of Guild Wars 2, and she finally gave in to my constant pressure just to try it. I thought I would be able to putz around with her once in a while, probably at my behest. It would be akin to a spouse saying “hey, want to watch this movie with meâ€. I never expected Mrs. Ravious to become nearly as zealous as I am, on a different wavelength though. She became first in the household to get a legendary, which is a significant thing.
Now it is a household thing, like a favorite TV show or tabletop game. I got a text this morning from Mrs. Ravious paraphrasing a conversation with my girls, who on a snow day got to play Guild Wars 2 for a few minutes. My 7yo was asking why my 4yo was wearing all red. ‘To look bloody’ was the answer. This is the same mind that brought Guild Wars 2 astronauts. I know tonight that Mrs. Ravious and I will likely do the daily together before either signing off or heading off to another Guild Wars 2 adventure.
In 500 days, I have had a lot of good adventures in Guild Wars 2. A nice video recap gives some of the best bits of the Living Story so far. But, my favorite memories are those of Guild Wars 2 with my family. And, it keeps getting better. Mrs. Ravious has gotten her feet wet finding a guild she really enjoys. I find her building relationships, and I am quite impressed. The girls continue to play Guild Wars 2 in their own way (the 4yo was talking to a friendly jaguar in Caledon Forest the other day), and I can’t wait for the day when we get more gaming rigs to all join in together.
I started the journey practically alone, and after 500 days a lesser game would have been shed from the hard drive. Now, I have my best friends along with me, and the journey keeps getting better.
–Ravious
Awww, such a sweet story! Gaming with the wife is really fun isn’t it? =D
I can’t imagine how often I gamed with out her. Such a treat!
I loved your “personal story” instance. ;-) My wife has less than zero interest in gaming, but my son is one of my fellow guild leaders. As he’s grown up (and headed off to university), it’s still something we can share.
My husband and I play GW2 together when we can (having a 2-year-old does cramp our style). However, we are not members of the same guild, for the simple reason that we have very different play styles and what suits me in a guild will not suit him. People seem to think we should be in the same guild, but this works for us.
Yes, I sometimes join her guild events and vice versa. But we did need this.
And, bonus: you have access to two pools of players to create teams for dungeons and whatnot. ;)
Nice! Stoked for you and yours.
I was wondering if your daughters were still playing. Actually, I was wondering if you were still playing :P
It took about two sessions of watching me flailing away at bats outside Freeport in Everquest nearly 15 years ago for Mrs Bhagpuss to want to get in on the act. We’d been playing the same offline cRPGs for a year or two before that, though. We’ve been playing MMOs ever since although not always the same ones at the same time. Even when we do play the same one we probably only spend maybe a quarter to a third of the time doing things together in game.
The best part isn’t the stuff we do when we’re playing though. It’s having a mutual interest that we both share in and understand. Given the sheer amount of time MMOs demand I it must be a particularly difficult hobby to pursue f you have a partner who doesn’t join in.
Then again, golf…
Such a lovely, encouraging story. Guild Wars 2 is still the game Mr. Randomessa and I run around in the most – whenever we stray to explore different interests, it’s the one we come back to. Here’s to another 500 days of gaming with family.
A lovely, positive post. Although my interest in other games has dragged me away from Guild Wars 2 I can see it has a very low barrier to entry for non-gamers or new gamers! I play occasionally still with my nephew, niece and their partners for dungeon runs and it’s always fun. GW2 isn’t the first family game though as I did get my Mum, Aunt, Cousin and niece all playing WoW years ago. My partner still plays WoW almost exclusively so for us WoW is still that shared hobby and along with other relatives a chance for some virtual quality time with people living in a different city from us.
I’m so envy! XD
My story is completely opposite. I started with friends. Many friends – around 20, maybe 30. Those who didn’t like difference between GW1 and GW2 disappeared fast. Rest of us was hunted down by Scarlet (the perfect villain) one by one. All of us, (and many many more friends who we met online in GW2) meet our sad end. I haven’t log for a month, maybe more. Non of my friends did. I was the last one with game still on my hard drive. Today, after reading how Anet employee is “amazed” by their work, I uninstalled the game. I’ll keep my eye on it for some time after LS season 1 will end, but I have no illusion. Probably will never play GW2 again.
Simply – my expectations were exactly what Anet promised with manifesto, so completely opposite to what have been delivered by Living Story :(
You always seem to have constructive comments and a solid vision. Probably you don’t have enough stock in the game anymore, but if you do, I would suggest perhaps giving your thoughts on all the CDI stuff going on in the forums. They’ve been hammering around horizontal progression for quite some time now, which I think really relates to the manifesto, and gap thereof.