The Cockpit, er Tool Bar

One of my original wonderings as I began to play WoW had to do with the complexity of the interface, not just the game play. I was struck by how rich and layered and multitasked the game console was, relative to the textbook interface to information and engagement in Sarah's school experiences.

Oddly enough, it wasn't until Eric showed me last month that I discovered how to array my toolbars so that I didn't have to keep spinning the one bar on the bottom of the screen. This meant I could have all my spells, potions, food, equipment, and minions arrayed before me, on screen, as I played. This meant I could play faster and smarter.

Look at that array. In addition to the infromation contained in the icons, there are icon layers. If I were to open my saddle bags, on the lower right side, those would each contain an additional 16 slots of icons. Some of those icons would contain icons, for instance, a quest object that when right-clicked opens a quest description.

Or the even more complicated character icon that opens up several panels, each of which contains additional panels of iconic and textual information: talent trees, reputations with different game factions, skill levels, honor kills and pvp standings. Here's a look at my character panel, for instance, with the one trinket for the Argent Dawn faction highlighted.

So what might a textbook look like, or rather, what might a substitute for the functions of the textbook look like? Or well, maybe the functionality would be different as well. What would the icons be and what functions would they enable? What tabs might there be on my character bar? Good heavens, what character would I be?