I play a dragon. Deal with it.

I can hear the gasps of the role-play elitists out there: “OMG thou play a dragon! Burn the heathen!”. Yes, it’s true. Playing a dragon is often referenced in the same breath with characters that are half-demon, half-vampire, half-blood elf, half-night elf, and the adopted son of Illidan. All rolled into one person.

Unlike that particular example which is actually impossible for lore reasons dragons on Azeroth do indeed shift to humanoid shapes. Instead this comes more from the dislike of the “special snowflakes” in general.

This is certainly understandable to an extent. Too often players make the mistake of thinking their character must have something special in their past or background to stick out in people’s minds. But this is not so.

Here’s a secret: No one cares about the past or background of your character other than yourself. You can play the princess of Stormwind all you want and no one is going to care about your character.

It’s not your character’s past but how you play your character in the present that makes a character memorable in people’s minds.

So why am I playing a dragon?

Because I have always wanted to play her.

In a way I’ve been playing her for over three years. Ruby has been my mage’s pet whelpling (or maybe he’s been her human) all along and she’s always been as much a character as the person I was playing. During this time I’d always had the idea in the back of my mind that one day I would focus on her and give her the attention she deserved.

With Wrath of the Lich King Blizzard has put red drake flying mounts in the game. I’ve been waiting for this since before there even were flying mounts at all. The thought that Rhune would fly on the back of any other dragon than his beloved Ruby was really not ever going to happen. Even in the midst of the Burning Crusade, before red drakes were even mentioned for Wrath, I refused to get a Netherdrake just in the HOPE that there would be red drakes in our future.

This meant it was time for Ruby to grow up. And to grow up she needs to explore her draconic abilities, and one of those abilities is shape shifting. More importantly this would give me a chance to play her separately from Rhune and grow as a character in her own right.

After three years of playing her as a whelpling vanity pet, I think I’ve earned the right to play her in gnome/drake form. And to anyone who doesn’t agree…

Well that’s fine. No one is forcing you to play with her. But for myself, I intend to have a blast. In fact I already am.