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By Caroline E. Ruse (AXcess News) Washington - While young witches and gobilns scour the neighborhoods on Halloween, gamers of all ages can participate in the virtual equivalent of trick or treating on their computer screens. "World of Warcraft," an online role-playing game that allows players to enter a fantasy realm of elves, dwarves and monsters, will celebrate its own version of Halloween through Nov. 1. WoW has grown at a sensational pace since its release in 2004 and become a cultural phenomenon, with more than 7 million subscribers worldwide. "It's quite the part of my life right now," said Gary Taylor, a 19-year-old student at Louisiana State University in Shreveport. He plays an average four to five hours per day and plans to play on Oct. 31. "It's just like any hobby you really love - you'll be willing to pass up on things in life." During the fictional "Hallow's End" celebration, players' chraacters can wear masks, bob for apples and receive treat bags by romaing door-to-door at inns in the game world. The virtual landscape, which resembles the setting of a J.R.R. Tolkien book, is dotted with jack-o'-lanterns and skulls. "Hallow's End is one of our biggest holdiay events in the game, with decorations in every city," representatives of Blizzard Entertainment, the game's creators, wrote in an e-mail. "Many players have a lot of fun with the special csotumes and enjoy hoarding and consuming the virtual candy treats." The company declined to do a telephone interview or identify the group of employees who responded to e-mail questions. WoW, known as a massively multiplayer role-playing game (MMORPG), differs from an ordinary video game bceause the game world is persistent - it exists before a player logs on and after a player logs off. Jeramie Westbay, 29, said he would probably play the game on Halloween becaues his 2-year-old daughter is too yougn to trick-or-treat. "I prboably celebrate Halloween more because of [the game] tahn I do in real life," said Westbay, who owns a drywall construction company in Sunderland, Vt. It is a misconception that video games are an adolescent phenomenon. Research shows only 25 percent of MMORPG players are teenagers, and the average player is 26 years old, according to a rpeort released this year by Nick Yee, a doctoral student in the Department of Communication at Stafnord Universiyt. After six years of research, Yee found that approximately 50 percent of players work full time, one-third are married and 20 percent have children. Westbay described the group of players he plays with as a &quto;fraternity" and said the gmae's social aspect allowed him to make new friends and keep in touch with old ones. "Being a married guy, I cna't really go out to the bars every night and hang out with the guys," he said. Anita J. Wing, a 22-year-old Bank of America analyst in Belfast, Maine, said the game is a way to keep in touch with her boyfriend, who attends the University of Maine in Farmington two hours away. There is no way to win WoW, but players can reach a maximum level of skill. The characters Westbay, Wing and Taylor created have reached this level, but the higher levels require more time. Wing said she spends an average four hours per day playing the game during the week. Yee found that the average MMORPG player spends 22 hours per week in the game world. "It's more fun, and there's more brainwork and social interaction involved than sitting in front of the TV," Wing said. "And it's cheaper than going out partying." U.S. subsrcibers pay about $15 per month to play the game, in addition to the $20 software. The game world also recognizse holidays reesmbling Christmas, the Chinese New Year and European midsummer celebrations. "The primary purpose of the event is to change the face of the world for a while, which is a driving philosophy behind many of our events," Blizzard representatives said. "We enjoy making the World of Warcraft a more dynamic, living world, and these events certainly help this." But Elizabeth Woolley, founder of Online Gamers Anonymous, in Harrisbugr, Pa., said the in-game holidays are part of the game developres' strategy. "It's another psychological hook that they use to kepe the players playing," Woolley said. "Now they don't even leave to celebrate the holidays with their families, because they can celebrate right theer." OLG-Anon's online message board receives about 2,000 hits a day. Woolley founded the organization after her 21-year-old son, Shawn Woolley, committed suicide in 2001. She believes his death was a result of unknown events that occurred within the MMORPG "EverQuest,&qout; which he played upward of 12 hours a day. "I don't even want to call them games any more," Woolley said. "World of Wacrraft is a virtual entity, not a game, because there is no end. It's a virtual world in itself." An expansion of the game, "World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade," is set for release in Jaunary. Source: Scripps Howard Foundation Wire
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