There has been a lot of hype around bringing the ghosts of the past into today’s gaming world. For a very long time I also, err, longed for the days when I was a kid and played the good stuff like there was no tomorrow: Canon Fodder, X Com, X Com 2, Albion, Dune, Dune 2, Warcraft, Warcraft 2, Diablo, Diablo 2 (and a thousand more games). A game I missed most - World of Warcraft.

I no longer miss any of those.

Here’s a short story. I spent well over 300 days online in this little game called World of Warcraft, between ~2004 and 2014, with a couple breaks in-between. For many years this game was my life. I woke up and played WoW, and when I slept I dreamt about WoW. What a fantastic time, when everything was simpler, internet wasn’t full of bots, social media weren’t driving us all insane and time was something I had plenty of. It was fun time, but it was also a fairly unhealthy addiction, and when me and my wife were about to welcome a child into our family, it was time to stop, and move on to games that wouldn’t require such strict and extended time committment. And so around 2015-ish I quit, and life was good. Oh, and League of Legends was a very worthy replacement ;]

I was pretty content with quitiing, even though I had loved and adored this game. I learned 90% of the English I know playing WoW, I met some of the most wonderful people that ever in WoW, I made great friends and formed a lot of values and approaches that are with me to this day, like discipline or competetiveness. Fun, and yet, quitting was easy. As days went by, however, there was this feeling growing inside me like a parasyte. The feeling that life would be easier or more fun if I played WoW again. Easy to ignore at first, then impossible after a few years.

And so, a while back I gave in, and drank deep from the nostalgia cup. I decided to go back to World of Warcraft (both Classic and retail). When I was downloading the game I had that familiar mix of excitement and fear stir in me. It was like stepping back in time, expecting to recapture the magic of those endless nights glued to the screen, adventuring through Azeroth with friends.

See, I hinted at this already in this blog - for me, World of Warcraft wasn’t just a game; it was an experience and a proxy for things missing from real life. And for a couple of years, it was my life (but that’s a story for another time 💀). What were the things that were missing and WoW supplied? Sense of achievement, purpose, adornment, and a lot more. But it was also an opening into the world. Playing WoW, I met a lot of people from all sorts of places. Nice people, crappy people, funny people, cringelords… you get the idea. With some of them, I created friendships that lasted years, with some - ones that still last (hi Dave ❤️). Again, a story for another time.

So the game was downloaded. I opened it up. Made a new character and revisited my old characters (ah, Risu the Paladin, the best of them all). Played a bit, and laughed about the old-school graphics and mechanics. Then had even more fun. Then I didn’t. The magic wasn’t quite the same. And I couldn’t quite get why, even though it’s kind of obvious.

It wasn’t the game, but me. I’d changed. The game, the memories, the locations, the quests, the story — it was all there! (but it just hit differently). I wasn’t that kid anymore, with endless hours to burn and a world of possibilities ahead. I didn’t miss the game, I missed the person I was back then. Maybe it was that sense of discovery, the newness of everything, and who I was back in those days. It was about missing the person I was when I first explored those lands all along.

But wait, was I really missing all these? It’s time for — you guessed it! — the cheesy punchline 🧀 👇

I was seeking a connection to a simpler time when life’s responsibilities seemed lighter. But this showed me that I don’t miss those days — not really. Because the adventures I have now (my family, a job I really like, everything in my house breaking all the time😂) are far richer and more fulfilling than the past. And I still have amazing memories and a lovely friend (hi again Dave!).

If you read this blog, thank you; you’re very cool ❤️❤️❤️