Here's to the World of Warcraft.

I first started playing World of Warcraft in late 2006. When you experience something like the World of Warcraft for so long you develop a connection to it. Although I officially quit the game in the Mists of Pandaria expansion last year my connection to the world itself is such that I can't bring myself to throw away the game, as it were. I'm not done with it and I'm not sure I'll ever be. Indeed, I don't think of World of Warcraft as a game any more, more a sort of virtual experience that allows me to explore regions of a uniquely beautiful fantasy world. I no longer play the game, I experience the world, I say. And no matter how many times I venture into a zone I find it doesn't get stale. Everything about the World of Warcraft is timeless. From the musical to the aesthetic aspects, Azeroth and Outland's regions are endlessly fascinating and, for me, deeply nostalgic and emotive.

I can imagine it's quite hard to comprehend just how large this virtual world is if you've never experienced it. In February I made a video series titled “The Beauty of Azeroth and Outland”, which showcased most of the regions in the game world. However I feel I should talk more about these virtual places from a personal perspective.

Although I don't have the greatest amount of knowledge when it comes to Warcraft's lore, I find myself constantly enamoured and fascinated by the natural worlds of Azeroth and Outland, its flora and fauna. I have a stronger connection to the lore, the history behind a fantasy world such as Tolkien's Arda, but it's this interaction and advantage of being able to experience the World of Warcraft first-hand that's appealing. You can walk through the land, hearing the birds call and seeing its inhabitants thrive in their natural environment. For such an archaic game engine, World of Warcraft delivers an incredibly immersive virtual experience that really hasn't been rivaled by any other game of its kind. I think that's indicative of the amount of care and attention to detail that has been put into the world.

Each region is so unique and has its own atmosphere. The world itself is so well constructed that everything flows seamlessly together. A lot has changed over the years, indeed the lands themselves have been shaped and reshaped, but with each new iteration I find I'm always eager to see what Blizzard, the developers of the game, have to offer in terms of natural sights and sounds. Whenever they add a new land, or even a new continent, it feels like they're building upon the foundations of a world that I've been lucky enough to explore. I may have been very young when I first stepped into the World of Warcraft, but I don't regret spending as much time as I did exploring every facet of it. 

Although the World of Warcraft can never replace the real world's beauty and scale due to its limitations as a simple computer game, I find myself constantly drawn back to it as a source of inspiration and comfort. World of Warcraft is essentially a heightened version of the real world, and it's World of Warcraft that changed my outlook on life. I wanted to experience the World of Warcraft in real life, as it were. I wanted to walk through the forests of Teldrassil and climb the snowy peaks of Dun Morogh. The game world motivated me to go out and experience nature and for that I'm genuinely grateful.

It's World of Warcraft that has made me who I am today. Despite the fact that I've “outgrown” computer games, I'll always appreciate and value the creative elements that go into making the world feel alive. So here's to the creative team at Blizzard. Here's to every ambient footstep, bird call and NPC dialogue line. Here's to World of Warcraft.