Well the best intentions for this recurring column/post series couldn’t keep life from getting in the way.

Today marks the 14th day of my 14-day trial and, while I’m going to pay for the full version and likely sign up long-term for monthly membership, I’m kind of sad that I didn’t blog more often about my newbie experience.

I’ll likely devote one last post after this one to the process of purchasing the full retail game and moving from n00b to full-fledged warcrack addict.

But this time around I wanted to mention community as the real “killer app” lurking in the bowels of Azeroth. Last week I posted a tongue-in-cheek link (sorry if that wasn’t clear, my internet irony senses are failing) about WoW being a detriment to relationships. In reality, I think nothing could be further from the truth.

In the comments to that post there are a multitude of folks who talk of playing with their significant other or meeting new friends playing WoW and I completely agree. Far from the flaming hordes and unwashed masses of folks too busy to chat or lend a hand directing you in a quest or helping you fight off an attack, I’ve found the opposite to be true.

WoW enables quick, ad hoc group generation for specialized tasks like playing simultaneously on a random Tuesday night, but it also allows for longer term guild-building and relationship formation. I actually became the charter member of a guild last week and I’ve taken great advantage of several raiding parties and small groups to help distribute the risk of leveling up and enjoying the hell out of it.

It’s great to see other character classes, weapons and abilities combine to defeat a knot of gnarlpines or harpies. Certainly nothing like Leeroy Jenkins, but I’ve got to aspire to something, right?

In the end, I think the real reason Wow or any other MMOG survives is because of the MMO and not necessarily the G. The fact that we have millions of people all over the world playing at once using the internet is really the amazing innovation and wonder here. Sure, it doesn’t hurt that the world is immersive and beautiful and meticulously-planned, but if everyone playing were an egomaniacal asshole, I’d have left the first day.

So this isn’t the end of my n00b-ness, I have much left to learn. And this isn’t my last post in this series, either, since I’d love to stay on as an author after my column is done.

It is, however, the end of this particular diatribe. Good night, and thanks for helping me out or playing along with me, internet. I’ve enjoyed it.