Newcomer to WoW: Luv in Unexpected RP

A few nights ago, I logged in to WoW for a really quick late-night bout. My goal was to finish off the level I was on – at the time, that was level 7 – and get a few quests finished up. Only, something different happened instead.

As I was minding my own business and turning in quests, another Panda bowed to me. I’d never seen him before, but being polite, I bowed in return. This apparently opened up the way for unexpected role play. He began chatting with me in character about the situation at hand (we needed to wake up the earth sprite, who was stubbornly asleep). At first, I froze up a little, because I’m just shy like that and didn’t expect to find RP in the intro areas. But then, I told myself – this is an RP server, this is what you signed on for. So I RPed back to him, feeling awkward, because my character isn’t exactly a fleshed-out character or anything.

At one point, I thought he was going his own way, so I wished him luck and continued with my quests. To my surprise, and slight dismay,  he began to follow me. I wasn’t sure how to take that at first – being a girl gamer, I’ve seen my share of rudeness. But he didn’t do or say anything crude, nor was he doing anything annoying, so when I returned to town for the turn-in and he began RPing about the quests we were on, I responded with RP once again.

Before I realized it, I had earned a RP travel companion. We spent about 30-40 mins working through quests and exploring together (though I could tell he knew where he was going, he let me lead and make my own pace). He was even patient when I stopped to listen to a local storyteller sharing lore with Panda children. In fact, he cheerfully RPed with the NPCs, and had me laughing quite a bit.

It was late for me, so I eventually had to tell him that I needed to “rest and meditate” once I arrived in the next village – RP for I needed to go to bed. He accepted this, but not before giving in to the casual flirty complement, hug, and declaration of his love for my character. It was actually cute as he stammered it, blushed and sped off over the hill as if totally embarrassed about his revelation. The whole thing was amusing and in good fun, I could tell, and a refreshing change from the toxicity I experienced in other games (AA, I’m looking at you).

Thank you, sir, for making me feel welcomed and offering me an unexpected RP experience on my second night in WoW.