On Friday night I installed a “Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game” (MMORPG) on W’s laptop called “Dofus” for her to try out. At the time she said “Are you sure this is a wise thing to give me?”, and I laughed. I should perhaps have listened…
Quite apart from W becoming instantly hooked, and being absorbed by the online world of “Dofus” throughout much of the bank holiday weekend, I have to admit that the game is wonderful. It’s by far the cheapest online role playing game available - starting out free, and rising to peanuts.
The style of the artwork throughout the game is wonderful - a fusion of French and Manga styles, and the gameplay is refreshingly simple. Of course the main draw (as with any MMORPG) is that the people inhabiting the world are real. They are other people, playing the game at the same time as you, elsewhere in the world. Thousands of them. There are also “non player characters” within the world - who ask for favours, give you missions to accomplish, and keep the world ticking over.
In the world of Dofus, far flung people search for treasure, band together into “guilds”, and fight battles together or against each other while attempting to help or hinder one another in pursuit of quests. The possibilities handed to you as an individual are huge - you could be a wizard, a warrior, an archer, or any of a number of “classes” of character. You could even run a shop buying and selling items from other people within the imaginary world.
Even as the apathetic games player I am, I can see that I too would be sucked in. Giving the game to W was probably a very bad idea. A little voice in my head is also saying “what the hell - if it’s fun, and it does no harm, what’s the problem?”. Amen.
If you do find yourself wandering into the world of Dofus, look for W (aka “Indawene”) - she’s a level 10 “Iop”, whatever that might mean.