War?  War is everywhere.

All this talk about Wrath of the Lich King made me pine for some good ol' massively-multiplayer online action.  So I picked up Warhammer Online.  I ain't got time to level to 70 in World of Warcraft in order to enjoy the new expansion, and I'm digging my fingernails into my skin -- itching for something fresh.  And all I can manage to disclose from my first infantile steps into the world WAR is that -- wow -- this bad boy is deep.

I went into the character creation screen blindfolded.  I haven't read a novel, haven't watched a trailer, and haven't rolled a single die in the name of Games Workshop's tabletop-to-online role-playing game.  But the introductory video had me at "Hello! Who's that crazy Johnny Blaze dude breathing fire on everyone?!"  So it was love (and immolation) at first sight.  They're called Bright Wizards, eh?  I like the play on words, because I bet they're really smart, too.

I prepare to step for the first time into the Age of Reckoning.  I reckon that I've already got the torches, so I name him "Pitchfork" and get ready to riot.  And even though Pitchfork the Incredibly Smart and Bright Wizard is on the side of Order (vs. Chaos), I bet there's some disorderly conduct I can throw at an enemy that's just dying for some crispy critter time. 

Now everything looks all jim dandy from a high-fantasy perspective, but I hear explosions slamming into the hillsides the second I appear in the gameworld.  The Chaos warhost has arrived pretty much just now and the small hamlet I spawned into is getting pummelled with zipping cannonfire.  I'm pretty sure I can hear the debris raining down where I stand as well.

So while I'm much more naturally an explorer and one who takes their time jaunting through the countryside at a leisurely Hobbit's pace, I'm suddenly feeling like, y'know, I might be in the middle of a serious conflict here.  The starting missions aren't neccessarily any more complex in nature than any other MMO, but they feel unmistakably relevant to the war effort.  I'm saving people from burning cottages.  I'm rallying farmers that have long since turned their swords into plowshares.  I'm stiffening the weak spines of militia members that are suddenly taking on tougher baddies than the town drunk.

I've shown up on a front line that doesn't even fully realize the breadth and depth of the enemy forces on its doorstep.  My actions feel like they are making a difference in the war effort; and making a difference is typically a farce that MMO players are used to swallowing.  But I'll be darned if WAR didn't take the battlefield mentality of Tabula Rasa and make it even more integral to the gameplay from the get-go.  No time to admire that vista of the windmill, or the lakeside, or the pine-scented trees, laddy.  Because war?  Apparently it's everywhere.