The Barrens, or WoW's Daycare?
The guys from Penny Arcade sum it up well.
[link to comic that may be NSFW].
As I entered Elwynn on my way to the Darkmoon Faire last month, a wash of childish imprecations and accusations of homosexuality flooded my general chat channel. I always forget how ridiculous starting areas are. I wonder why there is such a marked difference between, say, Barrens Chat and STV chat. Both are hugely popular, highly traveled areas, but Barrens chat is like a foul-mouthed 3rd grade recess where everyone has bullhorns, while STV chat is helpful and civilized, for the most part. Are there really, as I strongly suspect, hordes of hyperactive 11-year-olds who create character after character, never having the patience to level them up past 9 or 10? Do these hypothetical hordes just sit and mouth off to each other in an orgy of puerility, while the serious players just quietly power through those early levels until they can be free of the starting areas?
On the other hand, perhaps each of those darling youngsters matures at a startling pace. After the brief few levels of immaturity, they grow into productive players.
I suspect that it is the former, while I hope it is the latter. Heaven knows that I've never stayed in a starting area for one instant longer than I needed to. It will take someone with a stronger stomach than I to test my theory.
