A magician, an archer and a troll can all be found in Bartlett Hall. By day, Robin Knight, Dan Bruington, and Colt Radigan are students at UAF, but in between classes (and sometimes during them) they are characters in the interactive pastime Everquest II.
Popular online games like Everquest and World of Warcraft allow players to interact with people all over the world. The characters in the game travel through different worlds, fight and flee enemies, collect credits and participate in an artificial economy. The games create "another social reality," said 21-year-old Bruington, a computer arts major.
Everquest II is an entirely online game. Gamers pay a subscription fee of $15 per month for unlimited access and participate in role-playing games that people around the world play at the same time.
"It gives you the ability to be someone you're not, someone heroic," Bruington said.
Knight, 20, used to spend 10 to 12 hours a day playing, but now limits herself to only one to two hours per day. She described playing as a kind of escape. Knight began playing when, Bruington, her fiancee, got her into it. Knight said the game was "dangerous" because she is on academic probation. It's so easy to get sucked, she said, "I don't even encourage people to start."
Bruington, looks at gaming as stress relief. He used to play as much as 12 hours some days but realized it was hurting his social life. Bruington believes his real friends are much more important. Radigan, 21, plays Everquest II for about four hours a night and eight hours on Sundays. He got started on video games at about age five or six when he began playing Nintendo but didn't fully appreciate gaming until high school.
Knight used to play on Bruington's computer because hers was not powerful enough, but the two wanted to play together, so for Christmas she and Bruington went in half-and-half and bought a capable computer. A sticker declares, "No, this is not my boyfriend's computer."
When Bruington and Knight play from their separate dorm rooms, they cooperate by lending one another powers. He is a ranger whose weapon of choice is a bow, and she is a magical being.
Radigan's character is a "troll berserker." He chose this character because of the Northern European Viking background that he shares with the troll, and because he enjoys playing "pillage and burn." The game provides him with an outlet to experience things he would never experience in real life.
Radigan may live up to some gamer stereotypes, but he is also very articulate and has many interests outside of gaming and his computer. He is a self-described history buff, follows news and politics, and has stern stances on most current issues.
"I revel in the social stereotypes of gamers," said Radigan. "I love being a nerd." A sticker on his computer begs, "Talk nerdy to me."
Though Bruington believes it is a fun and worthwhile hobby, he cautions that gaming is a dangerous addiction that can eat up too much time.
"It's easy to let it go too far," he said.
