First, thanks to my wife and best friend, Liz, with whom I hold a mutual sanity pact: nobody gets to go all the way crazy. Thanks also to my parents, Steve and Mary; my in-laws, Judy and Beto; and all the family who never gave me too hard a time about this video game fixation. This work would not exist without the tireless advocacy of my agent, Dawn Frederick of Red Sofa Literary, nor the foresight of my editor at Chicago Review Press, Yuval Taylor. It was vastly improved by all the World of Warcraft players who shared their stories and voices with me, particularly Rumay “Hafu” Wang, Chris, Noah, Chelsea, Gabriel, Jessica and Aaron, Everett, Laura, Max, Dan, and Steven. Tremendous love to T K T and Elitist Jerks, two families who adopted me. Thanks to everyone I ever played with, especially Paches, Meaning, Tyrawick, Gurgthock, Mem, Zkar, Loderunner, Hornsbuck, Savena, Yueng, Kalick, Salem, Slipo, Modu, Anwyn, Karma, Kaetau, and Malicia.