Wraith of the Lich King

In the early minutes of Nov. 13, the first boats to Northrend pulled up outside of the Alliance capital. Despite the hour, hundreds of players crowded each ship. Depriving myself of sleep to play World of Warcraft’s second expansion, Wraith of the Lich King, I questioned why I was among them. Sure, there is the appeal of a new continent in The World overflowing with quests, dungeons and towns to explore. Still, couldn’t that wait until the sun came up? Lich King’s storylines proved to be more engaging than the previous expansion, Burning Crusade. The beautiful tundra blanketed with wooly mammoths sprawling before me wouldn’t disappear into history by morning. What was it that motivated thousands of people to take the midnight voyage across the fictional sea? Disembarking in Northrend, I watched a swarm of players flood out of Valliance Keep and onto the battlefield already filling with corpses, and it struck me. I wasn’t a fan of the game; I’m a fan of The World.