Expect this sort of thing to happen more and more in the future. You have been warned.

So I’m deep in Alliance territory with my level 32 orc warlock trying to find a certain breed of evil warlock who has a 4% chance of dropping an item I need to finish up a quest. I’ve killed my fair share of Alliance players to make it this far, dying only once. I’ve learned to stay off the roads and to avoid any major points of interest where players might gather. Trees, bushes, and mountains are my friends.

I finally find the tower I’ve been searching for, it’s interior is a twisted maze of staircases and balconies populated by demon-controlling warlocks. The warlocks on the lower levels are slightly weaker, and this weakness brings with it a slightly lower chance of dropping the item I so desperately seek. My initial attempts to work my way towards the top of the tower fail. I barely escape death more than a few times, collect myself at the tower’s entrance, and try yet again to reach the top of this deadly spire. I just used the phrase “deadly spire.” I think that calls for a little change of everything.

So I’m sitting there, my health and mana are as close to zero as they can be without me being dead, when these two Alliance players, a human rogue and a night elf hunter, run up behind me. They’re both the same level as I am, give or take, so I’ve already given up on my life. I don’t even bother standing up. One of them waves at me, the other one points, and they walk into the tower to do whatever it is they feel needs doing. It’s certainly not a first, but it’s a rarity whose occurrence should be savored. So I savor it.

When I’m done I collect myself, resummon my voidwalker, create a healthstone, create a soulstone, and run into the tower just as the two Alliance players are running out of it, a trio of pissed off warlocks behind them. So I help them out. The three of us take down the three warlocks with a great deal of difficulty, but all three of us live through the ordeal. Both Alliance players thank me. I express happiness. Only we can’t actually speak to one another directly. These two Alliance players are speaking common. I’m speaking orcish. We can only communicate through the most basic gestures and movements.

The two players run back into the tower. I follow them. They point to a warlock; all three of us attack it. I point to a warlock; all three of us attack it. Slowly we make our way towards the top of the tower where we find, among the higher level warlocks which will eventually deliver the prize I’m after, a level 31 elite unique night elf (i.e. an ass kicker). There’s a rather exaggerated moment of awkwardness. Both of us wanted to reach the top of the tower, but we’re unable to communicate exactly why. Were we both after this unique creature? I know I wasn’t, but the Alliance players aren’t aware of this. Eventually they point to the night elf and attack it. I join in and we easily kill it. They express their thanks; I express my happiness.

But they don’t leave just yet. They sit with me for a while, killing warlocks as they respawn, until the unique night elf respawns. The human runs up to me, points at me, then points at the night elf. I wave. The human points at me again before pointing at the night elf once more. I wave again. Then I understand what they’re trying to say, attack the unique night elf, and with their help, defeat it. I express my thanks; they express their happiness. They wave. I wave. They leave.

The whole affair lasted a little less than an hour, but is easily the single greatest experience I’ve had playing this game which is filled with great experiences. Just a few hours earlier, I had come across a group of Horde players sitting around a dancing dwarf in a neutral city. “Is anybody gonna help me kill him?” I asked. They were so we did. Earlier in the day, Piyonugget, PopcornChicken, LeadPipe and I emerged from the sea and killed a duo of questing Alliance players on the shore of their own city. The game is largely a player versus player experience, though it doesn’t seem designed to be one. Alliance hates Horde and Horde hates Alliance. Roaming parties from each side constantly patrol contested territory, “ganking” any opposing player stupid enough to wander alone. Yet these two Alliance players not only let me live, but let me play with them. We found means to communicate in ways other than language and ultimately accomplished something neither of us could have done alone. It was pretty awesome.

That being said, I still have every intention of killing my fair share of Alliance players, but I’ll do it in a more consensual environment. I’ll think twice before attacking a lone paladin running down the road or the helpless gnome running from a pack of angry wolves. The usual reaction to being killed is one of anger and frustration. We then kill to get revenge. Up until that moment I’d been killed countless times by Alliance players, but never helped by them. It’s nice to see the ambiguity that comes with interacting through virtual avatars online transformed into something other than uncaring aggression and hostility. Kindness is fun, kids.

Geoff Frazier though, he deserves to be killed several times over while a huge group of players camp his corpse. Someday… Someday.