Apparently, I smell nice. (Spacial phenomena)

I've always been a fan of the 'personal space bubble.' Everyone has one. It's that area of space that you feel most comfortable in, and uncomfortable when anyone unwanted invades it. Everyone's personal bubble is slightly different, but I can safely say that very few people enjoy having someone stand right in their face when they're talking to them.

Imagine if society worked that way? Breath-mint and chewing gum sales would skyrocket. You could read more about someone through their complexion than their clothes. Eye colour would be a sign of station and rank.

Oh dear, I think I strayed a bit too close to reality there. Moving quickly along, before someone invokes Godwin's Law.

In any case, I find that even in multiplayer games, real world habits invade fantasy, and people have that same personal bubble around them. Just try herding a group of 25 people into a small cubby - it doesn't work. The logistics are fine; after all, avatars can stack on top of each other unlike real human beings, but people are resistant to the idea. Eventually one person scoots forward to exert his own personal space. Another person sees it, does the same, and before you know it, the raid leader is yelling for everyone to get their asses back into the gods damned cubby hole.

By the way, this whole process takes roughly four seconds to complete, and cycles indefinetly.

Lately, I've found that my fishing pole acts as a gigantic neon sign that says - "I no longer have any personal space. Please avatar hump me." For the life of me I can not figure this out. It doesn't matter where, though I find Wintergrasp is probably the most common place to find these peculiar brand of leech. The brand of fishing pole doesn't matter, though the basic pole tends to attract /laughs from the leeches. Open water, fish nodes, floating wreckage - all the same result.

Try it for yourself. Find yourself a secluded spot all to yourself, where you can fish in harmony without anyone else's bobber confusing theirs for yours. I damn well promise you that within 20 seconds of pulling out your fishing pole, a minimum of two other people will suddenly show up and fish right next to you, even though there's a gigantic zone full of other water areas that they can go fish at.

Aggravating.

As if that wasn't bad enough, though, I've witnessed at least one leech gain sentience of their actions. I was fishing in Wintergrasp, simply doing the daily. I walked a significant distance away from the Horde camp where you arrive from, and no other fishermen were near me. 10 seconds into my first cast, a solitary leech found me. My normal response is to move away from the leech and hope they find a new victim. Often times the leech will grow bored and move on to other functions... but this leech was persistant.

I moved away. He followed.

I moved again, further into dangerous territory known to house Alliance patrols. The leech stuck with me.

This both intruiged and aggravated me. I had to know why he was set on fishing right next to me. His response - "i dunno. u smell nice?"

Fishermen... I implore you! Stop using those Old Spices on each other! The only conclusion I can surmise so far is that it is somehow attracting the leeches to us, even long after the effect has dissipated.

It's to the point that I'm going to break a promise I made to myself. I'm going to buy a toy train set, and use it to scare away the leeches. And, if that doesn't work, I'm not above farming a Piccolo of the Flaming Fire. Let's see the leeches fish through that.