How Wizard101 changed my life

Oh boy, this post. It's been a long journey and I often muse on how this game, this company has changed my life. It's changed it in so many different ways some big and some very small but all matter...so let's start at the beginning.

It was 2009. I was 18 years old, gamer fanatic, and trading card collector. As a younger lad I was enthralled with a game series called Pokemon and since 1998 I've been rolling with Pikachu, Charizard, and the gang. As an adult I was an avid card collector hoping to hoard the rarest cards I could find and trade or sell for the ones I didn't have but where would one find a guide on prices? Where would one find the latest on the Poke-fandom as well? Beckett Pokemon Unofficial Collector Magazine of course! [Little history note; I had actually come upon ads for W101 in 2008 but never paid them any attention]

So here I am purchasing the newest issue of Beckett and as I read the various poke-articles I come upon curious ads for a new(ish) game called Wizard101. I think nothing of it as the main reason I've bought the magazine is for the card price guide. Flip, flip, flip...something catches my eye, an article. "The Worlds of Wizard101" alright, I'll read this. Hmm, seems interesting but it's missing something. Oh, look, free stuff, I'm sold! Thus, Alric Ravensinger, Sorcerer, was born July 26th, 2009.

At this point in my life, I was very much identifying with the gamer/geek group (with a hint of ne'er do well more on that later). I wasn't socially awkward or anything but I didn't have a lot of true friends. Wizard101 would change that as would Pirate101 continue it much more later on in this story. I'll be honest I don't remember a lot about the earliest days but I do remember making good friends fast, like Grace Souldust (a retired PO), Caleb Deathstalker ( a college student), and I started to get involved with a newly formed group called the Mercenaries for Hire on a site called Wizard101 Central. 

My first real entrance into the community at large came from a awesome social site called Diary of a Wizard. I was a member on that site and it helped me not only fully embrace the online community but it put me on a path that would change my life forever. So as I enjoyed my ventures with DOAW I find myself now listening to a podcast called Ravenwood Radio, then going to Meet and Greets, in-game Balls, meeting  and making comics for Friendly Necromancers, Voting for Tenure for Dworgyn, After parties in Nightside, Making friends with Spiritcallers, Battlebloods, Darkhearts and I am having a complete joy ride! Wow! This is great, these people are great, I could stand behind these people, this community.

April, 2010 a new system for pets is coming to the Spiral and the Mercenaries for Hire are planning an ambitious farming event known as the Tri-harvest festival. It's a good time for me. I am now a F2M4H or Friend 2 the Mercenaries for Hire, AKA a potential to join the team as a full mercenary. I've enjoyed helping people complete their quests and farm for their items in my spare time. At this point I start a friendship with an Ice wizard known as Kevin Battleblood. Who will later along with Miguel Wildthorn create The Petnome Project.

At this farming festival (April 24th, 2010), I meet a girl named Briana Mooncloud and my goodness she is a feisty one. (She was Storm after all). Witty, Stubborn, and full of a special something I cannot quite explain. I also meet two other wonderful ladies who will become some of my closest friends, Cassandra Dragonheart and Autumn Blade. Turns out these 3 ladies are Mercenaries. As we all become fast friends I find myself talking to Briana more and more outside of the game. Now I know her by her other name, SorceressMiklai.

As the months pass I find myself completely falling for SorceressMiklai. I write poems for her, read stories about worlds I've created that up until those points no one but me had seen or read them (Some of them are over 10 years old), I find us talking on the phone for hours. While I don't advocate you find someone in what's suppose to be a child-friendly game I can't help but feel that I am meant to be with this person, it was destined. We both definitely did not plan for this to happen. I was a young man just happy in helping people in a new found love for the community. SorceressMiklai was playing for her own reasons. But I can't help but want to meet her, be with her and rid the Spiral of evil until the sun sets for us both.

We meet over time (Both of us traveling over 900 Miles different times and Texas IS big afterall), continue to fall in love, riding the Spiral of evil, and now more 3 years later we are living together in Texas. This Arizonan man and my fiery Texan woman. Now? I'm looking forward to the future. Having our own family someday. Earlier I said there was a hint of ne'er do well but in reality I didn't know what I wanted to do, I was lazy, I was very smart but I was blowing my potential. I had no future, no goals. I was starting involving myself with the wrong crowd doing very bad things. But one day I bought a magazine, that led me to a game, that led me to something more and my life was changed. My goals now? Well I went back to school after dropping out. Got my act together and now I'm planning on doing something with this degree. If that's not life changing I don't know what is. It's definitely been hard at times and there was times I doubted myself but when I did SorceressMiklai and my close friends from Wizard101 reinforced my resolve.

As for my community life? Well, I got to see the rise of the community and see Wizard101 propel from an indie game that was shaking up the MMO world to now a major game and guess what? 30 + Million players later Wizard101 and Pirate101 are as groundbreaking as ever! I tearfully saw some friends leave the game like Kevin, Autumn, and Heather. Friends I lost contact with like Caleb and Ronan Dawn. I saw some sites close down like the beloved Diary of a Wizard. I had people who once might not of liked me at one point like John Lifeglen (Through the eyes of a Sorcerer) turn into friends. I found myself becoming a Mercenary for Hire (Retiring some time later). I found myself becoming the new owner of the Petnome Project after Kevin departed in 2012, The Friendly Necromancer become Community Manager of Pirate101, Making friends all across the United States and then around the world (Serbia, Canada, UK, Japan, Caribbean, Greece), and I have now seen a new generation of fansites emerge.


While there certainly been many ups and downs in the community and I have questioned: "Maybe I should step down" one thing has remained true. This community is still worth standing behind and I can never say thank you enough for all the life long friends I've made, experiences I've had, and for the best gift of all; giving me someone special to spend my life with. Love is a powerful thing and I am quite certain these games and this community was built up by it. People with a passion and love for community, family, and fun. How has Wizard101 changed my life? In many ways and all of them I am thankful for.