World of Warcraft may be the most prominent example, however, people making friends online exist in any given MMO. They are testimony that the cliché of anti-social gamers is but a myth. Stories like Evo’s are fairly common in MMOs and other gaming communities. What remains is their friendship outside the game. We are still friends and he attended my wedding last year.” His Swiss friend also rejoined him for Classic, albeit for just a short time. We got along so well, I visited him in Switzerland shortly after, and he came to Germany. “When Burning Crusade came out in 2007, I met a guy who’d become a good friend. He even kept some friends from his early days, with whom he is still in touch with today. Above Average did not.Įvo has a long history with Blizzard’s MMORPG, playing the game when it launched first until around 2011 (with some breaks in between). Usually people often joke around when it comes to real-life gatherings and keep postponing. In late 2019, only three months after Classic’s launch, the newly-founded guild met on one of Germany’s many famed Christmas markets to talk, have a drink and get to know the people behind the nicknames and adventures. I like that we can also talk about topics outside the game and find common interests.” Although most of his guild-mates live far away, the bond they formed already transcended into real-life. “There are some people I’ve become friends with. Just like in team sports, it is much more gratifying to reach our goals together as a group as opposed to do so individually,” explains the MMO enthusiast in our interview.īesides from his real-life friends who joined him in founding this guild last summer, the Rogue player has met quite a few people while playing.
To him, playing WoW with his guild is more than just a game.
It is just another Thursday for Evo and his guild in the – at that time – most challenging raid dungeon in World of Warcraft: Classic.Įvo is the guild leader of Above Average, one of the best guilds on the German Classic server “Venoxis”.
The well-coordinated 40-player raid acts as one entity, reacts perfectly to the attacks of the fiend, slaying him with ease. The giant black dragon Nefarian, who is the final boss in the Black Wing Lair, falls after just about five minutes into the fight.