Have you ever stopped to think about all the people you know in game? Whether they be on your server, in your home town or whether it's just a random person who started following you on Twitter...the Internet really is a marvellous tool for connecting people.

In the last year, I've discovered not to judge people by the kind of character they may play in WoW. Stereotypically, healers are played by females and tanks are played by guys. That theory of mine has since been shot full of holes as I know some excellent healers played by the opposite sex...and my self? Well, I'm female and my Death Knight alt is a tank. People don't like to be pigeonholed or stereotyped. Is that why they set foot out of their comfort zones to play something not exactly expected of them? Do they enjoy a challenge? In my case, I actually enjoy tanking and healing with the favourite being healing. It's my personality I believe that dictates that, I'm a caring person by nature and feel it my calling in life to help and comfort people.

Sometimes, I am amazed at the lack of females playing this game...I've been playing since the beta and slowly, but surely the female population in the game has gotten larger. Guys I meet are still amazed at the fact that I am female when they hear my voice on Vent. A lot of the female toons are played by guys on my server, and I'm sure that stands on a lot of other servers too. But because there is this anonymity in WoW, people tend to just interact through the character and sometimes this is where RP comes into place. As people get to know each other, they become friends and play together more. Occasionaly they will chat to get to know each other better...sometimes leading to RL meetings. And when this occurs in two people of the opposite sex, relationships start. Whether that leads to a friends-only relationship or something more, it's sometimes nice to have guys watching your back in game.

On my server, there tends to be a lot of creepy dudes who hit on me for the pure fact that I have a British accent. That usually means that the guys fall into two camps, the 'Oh! She has an accent, and I'd like to be friends with her!' camp or the 'OMG, it's a girl. And she has an accent! I think I need to go jack off about this!" camp. UGH, I really hate the guys from the second camp and sadly a good 50% of the guys on Cairne fall into that camp. It's very annoying to be treated as a sex object just because you have an accent. It happened again last night while I was rep grinding on ICC trash, I spoke briefly and some guy was like "Ohhhh....an accent!" so that shut me up straight away. He proceeded to send me a whisper apologising if it sounded like he was being rude and I liked that. I don't tend to get apologetic whispers a lot. I was in there with my guild though, and I know those guys have my back if anyone gets too creepy cause they know how much I hate being singled out for having an accent.

I have met a lot of cool males on my server though that understand that I don't like having an accent on a US server because it tends to single me out. I'm in the understanding that I'm the only British female on Cairne...and if I'm not then the rest aren't as vocal as I am. But how important is it to actually physically make your presence known on a server? There are a lot of ways to communicate in game (chat, in-game mail, Vent, in-game voice) and as an Officer in my guild, I think of myself of a pretty vocal person. Think of the people who rely on the communication abilities in-game and treat this game as more of a social network like Facebook than a game. The people who meet others from the otherside of the world on their server, get to talking and become fast friends. Those in long-distance relationships and rely on the game to make cheap contact with their loved ones. How do they make their presence known on a game? Do they spend as much time together just to be with one another?

Think of those in the Military services this Christmas and how WoW may be their only connection with their loved ones back home and playing with them in game makes them feel like they're spending time with them...even as bombs are being blown up 10 miles down the road from them. The internet really is a marvellous invention, and WoW is just the piece of the puzzle that completes communication for so many people in the world.