Faith in humanity somewhat restored

As many of you know, I'm a computer gamer. My game of choice these days is World of Warcraft, a massive, multi-player online game. I've been playing the game for the past year and a half and really enjoy it.

Now I bought my version of the game in the US while visiting my mom because at the time, it hadn't been released in Korea yet. I didn't think anything of this especially since I got the game home, fired it up with my Korean issued credit card (you have to pay a monthly fee to play), and proceeded to play happily for a year and a half. However, last June, my credit card was renewed and for some reason couldn't be used to pay for the game anymore. To my dismay and frustration, I was told by the folks at Blizzard.com (the makers of the game) that the US version of the game was only meant to be used in certain regions of the world (the US, Canada, and get this, Singapore, Australia, and New Zealand). Thus, if you used the game outside those regions, payment options didn't exist. This made very little sense to me since I'd been playing on a Korean credit card for a year and a half with absolutely no trouble at all. The Blizzard folks were basically telling me that I was screwed and that if I wanted to continue to play, I'd have to buy a Korean version of the game. Great with the exception that I had already dropped $50 to buy an ENGLISH version of the game (not to mention the $15 a month for a year and a half) and was not about to drop another $50 for a KOREAN version. Needless to say I was less than happy.

Now one of the things I really enjoy about WoW is that you get to meet and play (albeit online) with folks from all over the world. Also, there is the ability to join a GUILD, an in-game organization of players who work together on the more difficult adventures, help out with game info and tips, and generally chat it up. The guild I'm in, The Legend of the Pheonix, was created by a guy from Australia whom I had been adventuring with for quite a while and had been with in various other guilds. When he created his own guild, I jumped at the chance to get in on the ground floor.

When I found out I might not be able to get back to playing, I posted a message on the guild website telling folks I probably wouldn't be back and thanking them for all the fun. Well, another of the original guild members sent me an email saying he'd try to help because they didn't want to lose me from the guild (an ego boost in its own right).

World of Warcraft has a number of different payment methods, one of which is a two month, pre-paid game card. You buy these at a game store, type in the ID number, and it allows you to play the game. I don't know how much these cards cost, but this guy Steve, who I only know from playing with him online (he lives somewhere in the States), went out and bought a game card for me out of his own pocket and sent the ID to me in an email. Now since Blizzard had told me that because I was playing in Korea with a US version of the game, even the game cards might not work and are non-refundable, Steve (shit, I don't even know his last name) was taking a chance. Well, long story short, the card worked, and I'm a happy camper.

Steve certainly didn't have to do what he did, and I have no idea what I can do to thank him. The thing is that this cynical old fart (me) has had a little of his faith in humanity restored because one relative stranger did something incredibly nice.