Lua + XML = Customized World of Warcraft

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A couple weeks ago I broke down and purchased World of Warcraft. I'm impressed that it was released simultaneously for Windows and for OS X.

The game is fun to play, and at least on the realm I'm on, fairly family friendly. Meghan likes to fish and Caleb enjoys exploring the cities within the game. What's a father to do when his kids ask him to play WoW so they can watch? ...

Very intriguing to me (but as of yet unexplored) is the ability to customize the interface:

The interface of World of Warcraft is built from XML files which describe the look and layout, and lua files which contain scripting functionality. . . . Customizing the interface is a very technical endeavor, and you should not attempt it unless you have a good working knowledge of XML and Lua.

While I don't have any prior experience with Lua I trust it wouldn't be too hard to pick up, having had exposure to as many other languages... I should learn it, since it was created at a Brazilian University.

Half the fun of playing Ancient Anguish a few years ago was developing mudfest, my own customized mud client. I'm already starting to think of UI customizations/features I'd like to have. Yet another language to learn ASAP I guess!

—Michael A. Cleverly

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