Fallon Fireblade is a long-time Wizard101 player and housing expert sharing her adventures across the Spiral. Not all wizards have lasted so long, but Fallon's explorations and discoveries have kept her entertained for years. Learn more about what keeps her going in her blog post.
I created an account for and began playing Wizard101 on November 14th, 2009. It was actually the first video game I had ever played, and I remember how excited I was. I had entered this whole new world full of magic and combat and all these new places, with so many different types of magic.
The Early Stages
First, with the help of Merle Ambrose and Gamma, I looked to the Book of Secrets to determine what school of wizardry I belonged to. The answer was the school of Thaumaturgy, Ice. I immediately went about leveling her, marveling at each new world I came across as I played through the game. I quickly got this wizard to level 50, the maximum level cap at the time. Next, I created a storm wizard, which opened me up to a new, completely different type of magic with a play-style that was nearly the exact opposite of Ice.
I was so engrossed with this I played for that entire day, zipping through most of Wizard City up to level 11. Over the years I repeated this process until I had a wizard for every school of magic, (and two accounts to be able to hold each one!), who was either at the current level cap or fairly close to it. After all these years, I still play Wizard101. In a sense though, I had already done everything there was to do in the game. The resulting question some people have is why do I still play?
Really, this is a very common topic regarding the game, not just for me, but for many others. There are many different answers to this question as well, but there's a good reason for that. The main reason that people still play, in its most stupidly simple and overall form, is because of its structure.
Beyond the Quest
Wizard101 isn't just a game, it's a universe. A virtual one, of course, but it's still essentially a literal new world to be involved in. Most importantly, just like the real world, there are things to do. MANY things. Sometime in my (very) early days of playing the game, I was playing on my Myth wizard and had teleported to someone's decorated in-game Life House. I was astonished to see rugs FLOATING in the air on top of crates! I knew right then and there that that was something I wanted to do; to be able to create that. Though I didn't know where to go to learn it, and I didn't have anyone who could teach me, I was still determined.
So, I played around with housing mechanics until one day, I had finally made a breakthrough and figured it out on my own. I was thrilled.
Adventures in Housing
From that point and on, I was building floating structures by connecting rugs together with crates and other, smaller rugs. It became my favorite thing to do, to see how crazy cool I could try to make something, what kind of structures I could build, and what kind of places I could now create access to. A little later on, my furniture glitching skills were brought to the next level after meeting a new friend (who I am still good friends with today) who showed me a brand new type of glitching. This method was not only simpler and faster to work with, but also allowed me to create seamless results. This energized my passion for building even more, allowing me to build much larger structures while having more control. The next thing I knew, I was creating brand new worlds, places that had only ever been seen before in my own imagination. And the rest, well, is history.
Yes, I play for the storyline, the combat, the new worlds that get better with each update. The gear farming, the leveling, the dungeons, and even just seeing what it looks like to run around and jump and go backwards on a new mount. But the main reason, for me, is my passion for building new things in the game.
Magic Motivation
Maybe this has been a long-winded way of saying it, but my point is that all the reasons are especially individual for each and every player. Unlike some other games, Wizard101 (and also Pirate101) actually provide what it takes for an answer like this to be possible. There is gardening, fishing, PvP Combat, leveling through the storyline, crafting, pet training, pet derby, gear farming, badges, (housing, of course!), and more. At the root of all of it is the community of people that allows you to make close friends and to be able to share these experiences and passions with others, and they with you.
Now, back to the question. Again, why do I keep playing? I love the experience of getting to create and share my art in the game with my friends and the community. It's something I'm passionate about. That's why I play.
Why do you play Wizard101?
Thanks to Fallon Fireblade for this post!
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