On Achieving

I live for achievements. The burst of that commendatory banner, the satisfying soul-soothing song of that /script PlaySound("ACHIEVEMENTSOUND"), the unwieldy list of titles that will never grace my name, the pets and mounts and tabards that stay hidden for 99% of their lives. Above all, the systematic completion of that achievement window and the steady increase of points. In a game where nothing really is, achievements are markers of times past and reminders of great adventures, of all those times I went There and Back Again. They inspire me to stop and smell the more outdated roses in WoW, which I never regret. They immortalize acts of otherwise ephemeral epicness.

On the other hand, they can also inspire me to depopulate entire zones for days on end, like my recent collection of nearly 1400 dampscale basilisk eyes, not to mention my subsequent genocide of the Dawnblade Blood Elves in order to compile a library of arcane tomes. But I ask you, is it not worth that glorious sound effect? In these dark days of pre-Cataclysm unmotivation, my compulsion for completion is what convinces me to log on most days, or drives me to rash actions like joining an arena team. Scroll through that list of deeds well done, and remember the glory of yesteryear.