By day I am a short, forty-something journalist with a particular interest in soap operas and shiny technology gadgets. By night, however, I am a dumpy gnome called Pollydolly - currently at Level 10 - with a particularly nifty line in killing monsters by chucking fireballs at them (I did flirt with being a Night Elf, but they were a bit too patrician for my tastes - and too tall).

No, I haven't been dabbling in psychedelic substances; rather, I am just one of hundreds of thousands of players who log on to World of Warcraft to battle monsters, collect loot, and potter around the beautiful world that Blizzard - part of the Vivendi entertainment group - has crafted.