I'm from the old school of MMORPGs. I played MUDs back in the day, then I played EQ when it first came out, and so I remember how things "used to be" "back in the day." Let's have us a walk-and-talk on the subject of PvP while we're here.

I remember PvP being a holy terror in EverQuest. If you played on a PvP server, there was unrestrained chaos. High-level characters ran roughshod through the low-level areas killing off the low-level characters just to be dicks. It was awful. If you wanted to do any real gaming, you had to be on a non-PvP (the term "PvE" didn't exist at the time) server. Flash-forward: 2k5, WoW. Obviously, Blizzard learned from what earlier games did wrong in this regard, and PvP in WoW is relatively tolerable. There is NO intra-faction PvP. Horde and Alliance have to fight against each other, and may not fight amongst themselves. Also, if you're in faction territory, any opposing players are not allowed to attack you (they can, of course, defend themselves if you attack them). These two things combine to ensure that newbies are not constantly being harrassed by tougher players, while at the same time opening it up to the sort of tension and aggression you can only get from PvP.

I've been a longtime fan of the non-PvP server type. Stephen informed me, however, that we were playing PvP and THAT'S ALL. I think he planned to kill my dog if I didn't agree or something. Since Stephen's frightening when he's in his cups, I went along with it and joined a PvP server. And you know what? PvP in WoW rather thoroughly rules. There seems to be just enough of it to keep you on your toes, while not inundating you with opponents constantly. And I'm playing Alliance on a server that's 60% Horde. What I'm getting at here is that anybody who's a longtime enemy of PvP for the aforementioned reasons - you know, that it's obnoxious - should give PvP in WoW a chance. It works the way it was always supposed to, for the most part.

But WoW offers a third server type - the RP server. RP in this context stands for "Role Playing." Now, I've not been to an RP server, but I have a hard time imagining this is anything but PvE goes to Ren Faire. Can anyone confirm or deny?

DARIEEEEEENROY JENKINS