Page 3: Private server as a way out

Contents

I look for a large private server and try it out. And it works. Everything is reset to the state of "Lich King". The old world before the cataclysm, the talent trees, the level levels of the zones. It looks like before, feels like before and is fun like before.

It would be interesting to find out how private servers work. The players use the original client, just on an older version. The address of the alternative server is entered in a text file. The client already contains the graphics, the sounds, the entire game world. It "only" simulates everything on the server side.

I have now been playing for 10 years on the server on which time stands still. There is no new content, so there is no pressure to catch up after a break.

There's no boredom: I've discovered my love of PVP (almost all private servers are PVP) and attack Horde players wherever I meet them. With the three PVP forts in Hellfire Peninsula that need to be conquered for a quest, I've worked out a real system to be as annoying as possible. Through attacks, tactics, deception and manipulation – and often with multiple accounts. It's thieving fun. This is made easier by the lack of subscription fees. You can easily create several accounts and even be online with several characters on one PC at the same time: You start WoW multiple times and switch with Alt-Tab.

An international community

Above all, I like the internationality of the server, which Blizzard cannot offer. If you ask a player where they come from, it's not unusual to hear countries like Brazil, Romania, Iran or the Philippines. This also means that you can always find enough players around the clock. For whatever reason.

Some players, like me, miss the old days. Some live in countries where they can't play WoW regularly. Some only have an old PC and couldn't get the latest WoW to work at all. Some play for a few weeks. Some, like me, have been playing for years. Of course, I've tried other online games in the meantime, but I always come back to Azeroth. To the most versatile and best game of all time.

Epilogue

The editor asks what influence the game has had on my private life. Of course, I played far too much WoW and missed out on other games and other things – but I also made new friends and spent time with our children in Azeroth. WoW can be both a curse and a blessing. I know players who have sacrificed their real lives for WoW, with serious consequences such as failing their studies. And I know players who have never had a fulfilling real life and only found friends and steady partners and celebrated successes through WoW. Leading a guild and several weekly raids with the guild on the Blizzard server got out of hand for me. So on the private server I make sure not to burden myself with any obligations. If I realize that I'm overdoing it, I put up barriers: I move my characters to "vacation regions" where I won't meet other players or delete the WoW.exe shortcut from the desktop or directly delete the file or, as a last resort, the crucial folder.

(nie)