Diablo 3

I like the way the Diablo angels look with wings made of white ribbons.

I've always played Blizzard games, and Diablo 3 is no exception. When I played World of Warcraft, I would spend an hour a day combing the forums for strategies and/or reading patch notes. Diablo 3 is no exception. I wanted to show you a list of interesting facts that I found.  But to understand them, you might need some information first.

My favorite class to play thus far is the demon hunter. I like how lean
he looks, and the dual wielding crossbows that shoot out like machine guns
is kind of awesome-looking. It makes me feel powerful.

The game has several layers of difficulty of which "Inferno" is the hardest.  Hardcore is a kind of character that you make that when it dies, there is no resurrection.  The object here is to be so confident and skilled that you play a flawless game. So here's the list:

• On average players have created 3 characters each. I thought this was interesting. I have exactly three characters. Hmmmm.
• 80% of characters are between levels 1 and 30. This is also me. I haven't had time to play because of writing and/or editing commitments I made with friends online that I wanted to get done, and because the drama with my dad is unending (since mom went into the nursing home in April he's lapsed into a terrible depression--a thing I did not expect).
• 1.9% of characters have unlocked Inferno difficulty. The only person I know personally that is doing this right now is my really smart friend Kevin, who goes by Modhne in-game, and runs the most successful guild on Ravencrest-US and has done so for the last four years. It's called Requiem--I always liked the name.
• 54% of Hardcore players chose a female character. I wonder why this is? Two of my characters are females--my barbarian (I love smashing things to bits) and my sorceress (I love smashing things to bits)...hmmm maybe I'm using Diablo 3 as therapy... I must say that smashing things to bits does help alleviate the stress that I feel whenever I get another phone call telling me that dad is headed to the emergency room or that mom has missed yet another dentist appointment because she threw a fit (mom has severe dementia). In case you don't know, I live in a different state and am unable to render much assistance right now because I dropped two weeks of vacation in the last two months to rush to their aid. I have a job where the only time off you take is done with vacation or sick leave. We do have a care provider hired to help dad every day though and that's been a big help.

Fan art. This is a witch doctor. Pretty cool huh?

Do the ladies of Diablo have all the style? Is that why
so many men are playing female characters? I guess I'm
assuming more men are playing than women...

• The majority of Hardcore deaths (35%) occur in Act I Normal. I'm surprised by this. I thought that people would be more prone to die in Act II or further on. Maybe they just underestimate things.
• The most common level 60 build in the game is only used by 0.7% of level 60 characters of that class.

Below, you will find a 7 minute animated sequence called "Wrath" in which the angels go up against the demons and specifically Diablo. It was made by Blizzard. And who doesn't like epic battles between angels and demons (here's looking at you, Ciara)? But I'm guilty of this too. My own book SLIPSTREAM is ultimately the first installment in a story/slugfest between angels and demons. If you have the time, click play, sit back, and watch the tale unfold. If anything, the storyline of Wrath is good writing (and we all like good writing tied with strong paranormal images of kickass-ness, right?).

I know Alex C. is playing Diablo 3. I have yet to make it out of Act II yet. I kind of like group play so if the people I play with are busy doing their level 60 characters, I kind of find something else to do.

So do any of the above statistics surprise you? Do you think it's okay for a person to use video games as therapy for real life? Have you ever tried a video game personally, or do you shun them and shun those who play them?