I have no acceptable excuse...

I maintain that the holidays have been hectic, however, still no excuse.

Things are a little slow right now so it's time for some catch up. Unfortunately I can't remember like 90% of what I wanted to mention... So I'll start rambling and hope I catch everything.

EQ2: Back to my pet subject with regards to this or any other game. Community. In this case guild dynamics.

Believe it or not, finding a good functional guild is a very important part of game longevity. Soloing my way through EQ2 would have had me packed up and leaving on a jet plane long ago. And I was on the verge just lately. I don't have a ton of time to play, and I'm a genius and made a cleric. Whilst, as an Inquisitor, I can solo quite effectively in most cases, it's still slow as ass.

And when one has a deadline to reach a certain level? Slow as ass soloing just doesn't cut it.

As much as I love my guild, it has it's faults. One of which is a propensity towards cliquishness. We have a lot of people who have more play time than others and spend a lot of time grouping and getting to the level cap before some of us with considerably less play time could hope to. Rather than help the rest of the guild, they go off together on their own and fill in their empty spots with folk from outside the guild.

I had some rather heated words for the GL about it... and unfortunately that's what it took for me to actually get invited on a guild group. * sigh * But things really didn't seem to matter to the GL until this person ran into the problem. Naturally a GL who can't get a guild group tends to get cranky.

The subsequent events led to my taking a week off from the game and doing other stuff. I couldn't really bring myself to log in I was so torqued off. Same GL who had just been complaining about cliquishness decided that they couldn't take two people of the same class to an instance cause that wasn't the optimal set up to win at the instance.

Which is completely counterproductive to building a cohesive guild. You can't have it both ways. I'm not exactly shy (shut up the lot of you) so I made my thoughts on the subject known. I'm still not really sure I feel like logging in at all... But I've got 15% to go until I get to level 75... So I'm sure I'll be in soloing a bit... Yeah it's back to that.

Book reviews: I can't remember what I've read lately... so once I've sifted through the stack of read vs need to read I'll fill this in.

Movie reviews: I went to a movie!!! In an actual movie theatre! How totally awesome is that! No, this doesn't really happen on a regular basis for several reasons, but mostly time... That and popcorn gets stuck between my teeth and I hate that... Blame my OCD.

I went to go see Sweeny Todd on Sunday. Now, I knew vaguely what the story was about, but I've never seen it before. It's just always been there on my to be seen list of Sondheim. So there I was with my soda and junior mints (after having driven home from the movie theatre 15 mins before the movie started because I thought I'd left my debit card at home and needed it to pick up my preordered tickets only to find that it was in fact in my purse the whole time).

I loved it. It was dark and kinda gothy. Helena Bonham Carter, who is not my favourite actress ever, was frankly amazing. She was lovely and voluptuous and goth and dark. Her comic timing was perfect and I was incredibly impressed. Johnny Depp, on whom I've had a crush since 21 Jump Street, was also just amazing. The fact that he'd never sung before just made his performance that much more impressive for me. I've read some reviews that say it fell flat... But I thought they did an incredible job with it.

It's so getting added to my dvd collection.

Christmas Dinner at my Mom's house: Didn't suck this year. Anyone who knows me well knows the sheer unadulterated suckitude of my family. My mom specifically. Like seriously, Margaret Cho's mom has NOTHING on my mom... My mom is a great gaping black-hole of suck. So naturally her house on any major holiday could literally destroy the world as we know it cause the gravitational pull of the suck would draw the sun into the earth and incinerate us all.

I hate my mom's house on any normal day... but holidays are worse.

There's a good 30 to 40 screaming Koreans. 90% of whom speak little to no English. So they're screaming at each other in Korean. Which is a major hairball language. And it sounds angry. Kinda like German. Both very angry sounding languages. Most of what is screamed in this loud angry hairball language is cracks at me for being fat and how I need to lose weight and what a disappointment I am to my poor mother. After mom gets done yelling at me though, most of the rest of the family is fairly nice.

So. There I am, all snug in my bed christmas morning, looking forward to a long day of doing nothing and playing EQ2... and my mom calls. Fortunately I didn't actually talk to her when she called cause I was still asleep. So I got a voicemail and I called back. Unfortunately, it was too early for me to have thought of a good reason that I couldn't go to her place later. DAMNIT.

I wasn't really looking forward to 10 screaming and poorly behaved monster children... So I did what any sane woman would do... I took guitar hero with me. I figured it would mesmerize the little brats and I'd be able to eat in peace and make a break for it at a reasonable hour.

I got to my mom's a little early (I have punctuality issues... blame the OCD). No screaming rug rats. No population of a small Korean village. I don't think there were more than 10 people there altogether.

SCORE!!!! I didn't even have to help cook this year... So I got to hang in the TV room and watch James Bond with my step-dad (who delivered a playful smack upon being told that I couldn't come up with a good excuse not to come by) and some other random family members.

Even better than no small screaming kids? My step-sister and two of my younger girl cousins were there. We played guitar hero. It was hysterical on every level. Ages: me=30, step sister=23, older girl cousin=20, younger girl cousin=17 (christmas baby! she was stuffed into a stocking at the hospital when they brought her out). Now, I've been playing gh pretty hard to try and not suck at it, so I'm pretty good. My step sister was just as bad as I was the first few times I played. My older cousin's boyfriend has the game so she didn't suck. My younger cousin smoked us all and had never picked up the damn game before.

There she was, kicked back on the couch and sleepy and she still kicked our asses. Her older sister was all kinds of into it and jumping around and screaming and doing the rock and roll finger thingie. I giggled.

Oh, but it gets better!! They're catholic, right? So their priest came by. HE tried to play. Little old Korean priest guy... hitting like every fourth or fifth note and making kung fu movie noises... He was awful and totally failed the songs he tried, but it was hilarious. My sister and I were both in tears and almost passed out cause we couldn't breathe we were laughing so hard.

So, cheers to the first ever holiday at my mom's that didn't suck. I'm fairly convinced that I have a terminal illness or that the end of the world is coming cause my mom was actually nice to me, too. For once instead of telling me how fat I was she told me I looked pretty... So maybe she's the one with the inoperable brain tumour... I've heard they change your personality...

New Year's Eve: Is actually gonna be spent out of the house this year. I know, right? I normally stay home and just chill out, but this year, the best friend and her boyfriend and I are all going out. No, we're not partying or anything. Just a really nice dinner. Which is good cause omg I looked at myself in the mirror after my shower last night and about puked. That has GOT to go. My happy butt is gonna be glued to the eliptical machine starting Jan 1st and isn't leaving til I can look at myself in the mirror without wanting to give myself home liposuction.

New Year's Resolutions: The aforementioned being able to look at myself nekkid in the mirror without having horror movie reactions. And I'm finally going to make the time to write a novel like I've always wanted to do. I can make excuses til judgement day, but the reality is... There is no excuse for me to not do this.

To one and all: Have a happy and safe New Year. May things be better for you in the coming year and may you accomplish at least half of what you set for yourself (since I know I usually don't make it to a full quarter of what I set ;) ).

just call me mrs. fields!

So, all caught up in the spirit of giving and generally feeling domestic and nestish, I hied myself to my kitchen and cooked up about six batches of snickerdoodles.

Best. Cookie. Ever. Bar none.

Which also leads me to the notion that now that I've finally got some time, I'll be sending some cookies to SOE in general appreciation.

Along with a note that says they can have the antidote just as soon as I get my purple flamed nightmare * nod *

KIDDING!!!!

I've actually been thinking a lot about the recent events in our little community of Dark Elves and all the rest of you...

I'm reminded again of just how important it is to have open and truthful communication between the company and the playerbase. We'll forgive a whole lot of stuff as long as we're told the truth.

It seems so easy. Unfortunately sometimes it isn't easy to keep up completely truthful communication and transparency. Sometimes there's information that just doesn't need to be conveyed. We don't actually need to know the step by step of server updating or build loading or any of the rest of that. But there are times when that's the answer to the question: Why?

I think it's a fine line to walk. A balancing act of ginormous proportions with a bunch of torches and pitchforks at the bottom of the pit.

It's also interesting to see how individuals handle it on both sides.

There are still hiccups here and there, but I think we've got a good bunch of community managers for EQ2 and they do a pretty good job of keeping open and truthful communication with the community.

It's Mon.... oh wait. Tuesday!!!

My days are currently messed up. It's kind of sad that I've gotten to a point in my life where if I miss a day of work, I don't know what day I'm on.

Couple of points of interest, prefaced with the standard disclaimer. The following are my personal views and have nothing to do with any of my employers either past, present, or future.

There was a giant bruhaha last week about a guild being moved from Test to a live server.

First point. People are * sigh *. They sit there and bitch and moan about how evil SOE is and how they don't care two cents for their customers and only want to squeeze as much money as possible out of them. When SOE turns around and does something nice, contests, giveaways, whatever, these same people turn around and bitch about whatever nice thing they've tried to do. Nothing is ever good enough, nor right, nor caring enough about their customers.

Second point. Yeah, it was done the wrong way. It was a nice gesture, implemented incorrectly.

But come on... When faced with an example of SOE trying to do something nice and make a gesture, what did all these ravening fans of the little guy do? They frothed at the mouth and DEMANDED that it be undone. Which it was. Rather than being happy for fellow players, they cried, whined, screamed, and generally pitched fits. They slung mud at anyone they could. They even accused Grimwell of instigating the whole mess because they said he had a character in the guild that was transferred. It was a ridiculous and childish display. Wholly unworthy of the community I've been with and loved for so long.

I'm heartily ashamed of this. Mistakes aside, it was a kind gesture. I applaud the sentiment behind it. And to Grimwell specifically, I give huge kudos for handling the whole mess with grace.

Second point of interest.

During this whole mess, Scott Hartsman announced his resignation from SOE. He'll be moving on to other projects. I wish him nothing but the best. I'll be sad that he won't be involved with EQ2 anymore. He and the dev team have made huge strides over the years together.

This news was leaked weeks ago. There have been rampant rumours and general nonsense. Some total crap about why he was leaving. The whole mess was handled with so little respect for Scott that I was appalled. I understand that people think they have a right to know every little aspect of someone's life if they are even remotely public, but come on people. If someone had splashed details about your job all over the internet, I'd imagine you'd all be more than a little torqued off.

Once again, handled with considerable grace.

These are both stellar examples of the people who work on EQ2. They've brought passion and dedication to our game and made it better by leaps and bounds. They've taken the venom and disrespect flung at them from the community and moved on and kept making the game the best they could.

I'm disappointed in the community right now. I've come to expect so much more. I can only hope this is one of those rare flukes caused by the full moon and that I'll soon have my mature, kind, and helpful EQ2 family back.

Oh... and I wish Bruce Ferguson good luck.

zzzzzzzz

There is snooziness in the air. I wish I could say it was because of the weather, but it isn't. Because the weather blows right now. It's all icky and muggy and humid and wretched. It's so sad. It's supposed to be all cool and crisp and junk this time of the year. I feel so cheated.

I listen to the radio online everyday at work. Right now the morning show is doing this thing called Drive-by Dating. They pick some random guy and stand him out on a street corner. Women drive by and call into the station and try to convince the radio people that they should be picked.

It seems so desperate on every level.

Which funnily enough (yes it's a word cause I said so) makes me think about people online. Cuppy had an entry in her blog the other day (this means you should go click on her name and look at the entry) about some dude from Rhode Island making stupid comments about online games and predators and freaks and junk.

Some general nonsense about how MMO's are more dangerous than stuff like Myspace and Facebook (both of which I vehemently boycott). Why? Because you're forced to be anon and make up a character. Riiiiiiight. Cause ya know. Myspace and Facebook force you to be honest. Wow... just wow.

I can't even believe the ridiculousness of it all. If someone is going to lie, they're gonna lie no matter what. People are gonna use anything at their disposal to try and get a date or whatever they can. It just doesn't matter. So it seems kind of silly to say that people in MMO's are worse than people on any dating or "social" site.

Maybe I'm biased.

It's just like attributing bad behaviour to playing video games. There's discussion going on right now because this whacko couple in texas (yeah yeah trust me I know) met online whilst playing WoW. Does that mean that WoW turns people into killers? * gasp * OH TEH NOES!!! Give me a break.

Stupid anti gaming people yapping about stuff they know nothing about just to get their time in the limelight.

potpourri

Not the kind that you put in a bowl to make your house smell nice (glade gel oil candles are way better for that omg), or the kind that I drink in a cup at Starbucks (according to Radar). Just the general jumble of junk that floats through my consciousness...

Which considering that I'm tired as hell this morning should prove rather entertaining.

EQ2 - I'm a scant 7% away from level 72. Which is really good for me without a regular group like I used to have. Running around and doing quests and soloing has gotten me rather far. And I have had help here and there which breaks up the monotony a good deal.

One of the lovely people I truly enjoy is in my guild now. Shipwreck. He isn't really mean and hateful nor cold-hearted... although there is a LOT more mocking of me going on... However it's making me giggle and ya know... Shippie. Can't really beat that.

There's going to be another write up of my adventures in RoK... Cause seriously... someone needs to smack quest writers for some of that nastiness.

Life in general - Changing dryer sheets goes right up to the top of my "do not" list. Jeez. I have very fair skin (thank you dad and the lovely celtic genes) and it happens to be very sensitive as well. So when I changed dryer sheets to the downy ones that smell all yummy and lavanderish and stuff? Yeah. Hi, rash. Big, angry, red, itchy rashness. Everywhere. * twitch *

So I rewashed all my clothes and went back to the old dryer sheets. One major downfall to being girlie and liking stuff that smells good. Stupid dryer sheets. Stupid mountain of laundry that wants folding and putting away. Stupid writers strike with no Heroes and lots of time to fold and put away laundry.

I have a purple phone. That's right. PURPLE PHONE. Ask Promise to sing the purple phone song. It's highly entertaining.

I also have yet another (cause you people really need another reason to laugh at me) confession to make.

I'm a literary snob. Always have been. And the number one no no book on my list has always been a romance novel. Any romance novel. I've always snubbed them and turned up my nose. This isn't to say that one or two haven't slipped through under the guise of another genre... I mean, hello, have any of you read the Earth's Children series by Jean M. Aeul? Totally romance novels on the DL.

That having been said, I actually went out and deliberately picked up a romance novel. From the grocery store.

Embarassing confession = I actually really enjoyed it. So I'm having to revise my opinion it seems. They aren't all Roland's throbbing manflesh and Jessica's heaving bosoms. Nor are they all mad passionate joinings every few pages. The one I read was fairly well done and managed to... somewhat, tastefully work in the sex and actually have it fit where it was stuck in the story. As opposed to the stories that just sorta shove it in there because it's been a whole chapter and no one has been brought to the screaming edge of pleasure.

* sigh * I'm such a girl :(

Oh, and I suck at guitar hero. There is simply no measure of my suckitude. My hand eye coordination blows. I can hit all the little coloured tabs in time with the buttons (and no, you don't have to be able to see colours to know which ones to hit) no problem. Oh, you want me to flip this little bar thingie to REGISTER that I'm pushing the right buttons at the right time WHILE still pushing the buttons....

ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR FREAKING MIND???? * sob * The pressure is unbelievable. They boo at you if you miss notes. THEY BOO!!! Talk about stress. Holy crap.

That having been said... I managed to rock me some Pat Benetar at around 85% on my second try. And yes, I did in fact choose the cute little asian chick in the school girl outfit as my avatar. She's in purple and has pigtails. What's not to love? Pat and I have a date later tonight...

Oh and yes, I play on easy. It'll probably be a very cold day in hell if I ever manage to play the game on anything other than easy. So shut it, right now.

woohoo!

So I finally got around to claiming my little badger dude for the RoK preorder.

Cutest thing EVER omg. He's adorable. He has a little flat kung fu hat. I just wanna give him chopsticks and a bowl of rice.

Best part? HE GIVES YOU SHINIES!!!! True, you don't get to harvest them... so there's a certain amount of gratification gone. BUT OMG HE GIVES YOU SHINIES.

I won't even cop to how much I spent on badger food. But it's been worth it. I've gotten shinies I needed and couldn't get. I've gotten rare shinies. Rarer shinies.

I'm in shinie freaking heaven. I may never leave my room again.

On a side note, my CS issue has been resolved. And whilst it turns out that nothing can be done about my problem, at some point during the back and forth they started acting like people and actually taking a minute to respond like a normal person to my statements and not automatons.

I hate that it took me being flat out rude to get there... but I'm happy that they did get there.

* tucks away her little hope for SOE's CS for safe keeping *

On a side note... I've applied for a job to get me out of the grind of number crunching (which actually isn't all that bad, I like my job just not the oppressive atmosphere). So let's all cross our fingers and toes and eyes and whatever else can be crossed without causing damage :)

Customer what?

I am a fangurl. Not a fangirl... an actual honest to goodness fangurl. I know this. I admit it freely. I make sure that everyone knows that my opinion is severely biased.

That being said, however, I can point out when SOE drops the ball. There are things I find disappointing in game here and there. I wasn't particularly thrilled with the Arasai... I thought they could have made them something other than carbon copies of Fae. I'm not entirely overjoyed at the heavy emphasis on questing in RoK. It isn't that I don't like to quest, but I'd prefer to have other options of advancement that are just as viable, and currently there aren't. I'm not loving the lag issues.

None of these things are really deal breakers for me, though. They're annoyances but I can deal with them, because all of the amazing things they've done with the game are offsetting these problems for me. I can wait it out til they get things fine tuned.

My problem isn't with the game.

My problem is with customer service. I try to give CS the benefit of the doubt. I really do. It's a hard, thankless job. You deal with so many people a day that it's ridiculous and when you go home you want NO ONE to even look at you let alone talk to you.

I get it.

I can even see how it applies to email if I squint and hop on one foot and sorta tilt my head to the left. Really. I try hard to sympathize with how crappy a job it is to be a CS rep for any company let alone a company like SOE that supports several different games. Also, let's face it. Gamers aren't always the easiest of people with whom to get along. We just aren't. We're picky, we're demanding, we have major OCD issues, and we want things a certain way. Most of us are also smart enough that we can't really be placated with nice words and soothing tones of voice. We want results. And by gods we want them NOW.

All the same...

My current dealings with CS at SOE are leaving a less than pleasant feeling in the air. As a matter of fact there is a distinct aroma of brimstone and some rather noticeable puffs of smoke around my apartment. I'm irate. Not even mildly annoyed. Flat out irritated in bad ways. At this point I am no longer inclined to be understanding. I am, however, going to use my nice words.

The issue is my displayed account age when I type /played in game. It's a small and rather insignificant thing. It really only affects my vet rewards. However, since I've been playing this game since beta... It matters to me.

I sent my original ticket in... about a month ago now. I politely explained the issue, suggested that perhaps it had something to do with me hopping servers at some point, and asked what could be done to correct the problem.

I got the "we've received the petition email" and then... nothing. I think to myself, no big, my problem isn't major and they have people with actual problems that are severely affecting their game play.

I pulled my ticket back up to check it out and see if they'd done anything at all with it, as I haven't had the follow up email that tells me they've looked at it or responded or anything at all... It's marked solved. I beg your pardon, but my problem is not solved. A few deep breaths and I go ahead and read the responses. In game support can't deal with your problem, okay makes sense. CS dude says there is nothing I can do without first confirming your identity. Well alright... And there's a list. A long frelling list at that. They want the last four digits of the original credit card I used to activate the account, the account registration key off the dvd's, my station name, my real name, my email address, and the answer to my security question.

None of this is really all that bad... Except that they went in and closed the ticket without ever having followed up. There's this tin can response and boom closed and done.

I don't think so.

So now I'm a little irked. I start a new ticket referencing the old one. I restate my problem, add in the fact that I now have a further problem with the way that things were handled. I don't appreciate being blown off, even if my problem isn't a major deal, without the least bit of acknowledgement that you'd looked at my ticket. That's just rude.

I provide the requested information with two exceptions. The original credit card and the security question. I explained that I couldn't give them the original credit card number used to activate the account because I wasn't still using that card for the account and I couldn't remember which of my cards I had used to start it up or if I still even HAD said card. So that was out of the question. The security question... Well, great. I'd be happy to answer it. What is the question? I don't remember what I chose as the security question. I didn't write it down. It's there if I need to change something. Are you honestly suggesting that I go tracking this down to give you the answer when you can pull it up and ask me the question? Please. Get real. Ask me the question and I'll answer it. But since you can't be bothered to at least notify me that you've seen my ticket and answered me, requiring further information I won't run around doing your job for you.

This time I got a response within a day. Imagine that.

Unfortunately, the response was less than encouraging and really did nothing to help the downward spiral my opinion of CS was taking.

I got the same response about in game support not being able to help. Again, understandable and no issue. The problem was the response from the CS person.

Thanks for contacting us and just so you know, your bank has to keep your credit card information for 5-7 years, so ask them for it. Also, we need your registration key. Let us know if you need any more help.

....

Yeah. Fortunately, my first response to this was lost to the world of automatically generated emails to which one cannot respond. Oh, but would you look at that? Go back to my ticket and not only is it open, but so is the one before it. Interesting. I can add a comment.

I added a comment. Given my state of mind at the time, I was as polite as I could manage to be. I didn't swear. I didn't yell. But I did point out that there was clearly a lack of reading at all or a lack of comprehension of what was being read.

I let the CSR know that if he had read my petition which was quoted below for his convenience he would see that I couldn't give him the credit card information he wanted because I didn't know which card I had used and I wouldn't be giving him four years worth of credit card information in the hopes that one of them was correct and that the original hadn't been long since cancelled.

I also pointed out that in the petition below, which was once again quoted for his reading pleasure, I had given said registration key from the dvd case of my original collector's edition version of EQ2.

I further went on to explain, again, what my issue was since we obviously had either not read that or fully comprehended what the problem was. Which is quite simply that my account was activated on Nov 11, 2004 and my first character, who is my main and is still played and has never been rerolled EVER, was created on this date. However, her /played shows her creation date as June somethingorother, 2006. Which is a dramatically different date. This is what I want corrected.

I do admit to a rather high level of snarkiness at this point. I know this because I then went on to request that my petition be thoroughly read before responding to it again, and that if comprehension was an issue, rather than deal with the patronizing tone used with teenagers who don't know what they're doing that I be given the contact information of someone who could read and comprehend my request and with whom I could converse accordingly.

* twitch *

At this point I do feel a bit bad for breaking out the claws. But for crying out loud. If it's right in front of you and the information is there, why on earth would you ask for it again? And to tell me that my bank has to hold the card information is absolutely ludicrous if the reason I can't provide it is that I don't know which card I used or if I even still HAVE that card.

I think my biggest problem with all of this is the way it's being handled. I don't mind so much that they aren't really firing on all cylinders when responding. I understand they deal with a lot of issues in a day and sort of run on autopilot a lot of the time. I also understand that there are procedures.

However I do have a problem with my original ticket being marked solved when I was never notified that someone had responded to it. If you're going to do an email based customer service deal... Send freaking emails to people to let them know you're dealing with them and not ignoring them. I'm not going to sit around and refresh my ticket every 10 minutes while I wait for you to do your job.

Likewise, take an extra two minutes to slowly read through and pay attention to what was said. Please. I know you have a lot on your plate, but it's called CUSTOMER service. And the last time I checked, I am in fact, a customer. As such, I expect service.

It hasn't been delivered. The original issue was never addressed nor has the issue of their shoddy and sloppy handling of the original ticket been addressed as of now.

Customer service is a major sticking point for members of the EQ2 community and I'm sure other SOE games. I've defended them all along by saying that they have a hard job and a lot of people with whom they have to deal. I still say this. It is a hard job. Here's the thing though. And you really can't avoid this, as it's the bottom line. Customer service is very often the ONLY contact some customers have with the company. Not everyone is a giant geek who mortgages their soul to go to Fan Faire and meet developers and producers in person.

Only. Contact. With. The. Customer.

And you're failing miserably. Customer service, not just at SOE but anywhere, has a vital job. In a lot of cases experiences with customer service can make or break whether or not a company keeps someone's business. No one can afford to have sloppy customer service.

'Tis the season...

To level like crazy.

Oh wait... sorry. The holiday season is always hectic and full of pressure.

Usually my escape is diving into EQ2 and trying to get away from all the crap the holidays bring. Buying presents, visiting family, blah blah blah.

Unfortunately, this year the level cap raised. So now I have... * counts * Five characters to get to level 80 in one form or another. That's three crafters and two healers. For some of them the trip is relatively short. For others... * shudder * We just don't talk about them.

It certainly isn't that I don't love the game and the excitement of leveling and getting new gear and new spells and all that. But there is pressure involved.

Because I'm in a raiding guild. Granted, we're not exactly uber or anything, but we want to do certain things. This requires leveling up to the cap in a rather short period of time. It also involves upgrading spells and gear etc. in that same period of time.

This is an expensive proposition on several levels. First, the time factor. Second, plat.

Time is an issue. I have two jobs. And believe it or not, even with being sick for a few weeks and slacking off ridiculously during that period, it still takes up a lot of time. I still need to find a way to work in time for other stuff too. * frantically tries to activate her mutant power of time control *

Finances are an issue too. I'm not rich. Either in real life or in game. Winning either lottery would be helpful here. Real life lottery solves my time issues and that in turn would solve the problem of not having money in game cause I'd have SO much more time to do stuff that makes money... * buys a ticket for the lottery and tries to activate her mutant power of whatever would make her win *

So there is no rest for the wicked here. I'm actually not really that upset about it or anything. I love the new expansion. I love that I've got 10 more levels to get and work through. I don't love that I have a time limit... but that was my choice and I'll live with it.

In the meantime I'm loving the new expansion for the most part. I'm fond of the quests, but I would love to be able to get experience effectively by grinding again... just a little bit. There are nights when I just don't want to think as hard as I have to in order to do quests. I just want to mentally phase out and heal through a two hour run of mob slaughter.

That small annoyance aside, I think they've done an excellent job thus far.

And I still love my little guild. So yay me.

I'm going to go back to trying to activate my mutant abilities now. I wonder if juggling a zillion things at once and trying to cram everything I need to do into a 19 hour day qualifies as a mutant power...

why i need to win the damn lottery...

Because work keeps getting in the way of this. Alright, it gets in the way of a lot of other stuff too, but it's seriously putting a cramp in the time that I have to blather at the four poor sods who read this junk.

Thus, I have decided that this weekend I'll be winning the lottery so that I don't have to work anymore and will have time to post every. single. day. Yeah, I know, you're all so thrilled that you've gone numb and that's why there's no applause. It's okay. I love you too.

After being out of touch for a bit as I was and then the mad crush of trying to figure out how to catch back up with junk, I got back into game for real and was kind of at a loss.

What to do and do I really want to keep playing?

It didn't really hurt me to not do much in game for a week or so. I read like four books, watched the entire first season of Heroes, and some other junk. I felt all productive (and yes I have to review books. I know. Shush). It was kind of nice.

Well, I was reminded why I keep playing. Besides, of course, for the fun factor.

The people. I can't ever stress enough how important the people and community are for the longevity of a game. I've been bored to tears a number of times and on the verge of taking an extended haiatus and managed to keep going because of the people.

I think I know some of the funniest people in game. Personal bias all the way, of course.

My guild is awesome too. We joke and laugh and everyone has a sense of humour. Or most everyone does. The people who don't usually don't last that long.

The other night, one of our templars decided she was going to move her alt into a lower level guild to play with some friends.

One of the officers went to boot her out of the guild cause it's fun and it would be amusing to have on the guild events. Except that she was either too quick on the draw or he was too slow... Because she ended up out and he ended up kicking a necro. A necro with a LOT of guild status. A necro who was in fact online at the time and in vent.

From what people said his comments in vent were priceless and I'm actually really sorry I wasn't there for it. As it was, I was crying so hard I could barely see the screen. It was seriously priceless.

We got him reguilded and all, and I THINK he's forgiven our officer for accidently kicking him. Maybe. We'll find out at the next raid.

We're social creatures, we humans. It's an incredibly effective tool for game companies to use to their advantage. You can have the most incredible game on the face of the planet and no community and it will fail. You can have a mediocre game and have a fantastic community of people and it will thrive.

Happily, EQ2 is both an amazing game and has a fantastic community.

I know that I wouldn't still be here if it weren't for the people I've met. SOE does a great job of trying to promote that feeling of family you develop in these kinds of games. Sure, there are people who complain and don't like it... but there are people like that everywhere. Nothing pleases them. They sure are fun to mess with though ;)

What does this have to do with the lottery? Well, DUH. I'd have more time to play. Sheesh. Try to follow along...

weeeeeeee!!

Thanksgiving!

There's some story about pilgrims and a thanksgiving feast to commemorate them making friends with the Indians (whom they later royally screwed) and having enough food to survive the winter blah blah blah.

It's a holiday to get together with friends (or if you happen to have a family who isn't bat shit insane, with them) and eat. Socialize a bit and watch lots of tv as well, but mostly to eat.

Now don't get me wrong. I love food (as can be seen just looking at my ass). I love to eat. But the best part for me is actually the cooking. Yeah don't ask me why, I just love to cook.

This year I've made enough food for about 10 people and there are going to be two of us, a few cats, and my best friend's boyfriend whenever he gets back from his parents' place.

I was gifted with a groovy idea about mixing my stuffing and mashed potatoes this year. It looks and smells divine and I'm pretty sure I'll be doing this every year for the rest of my life now. I mean seriously... what's bad about it?

Then there's pie. I love pie. I was going to make three kinds this year... But I ended up deciding it might be a bit excessive. See? I have self control. So there!!

Mostly the reason that Thanksgiving is one of my favourite holidays is that it's sort of the trigger for fall and winter. This is my time of year. Everything cools off, the air gets crisp. Everything is a little cheerier.

So for those of us chowing down today, enjoy! For everyone who doesn't have this silly made up holiday with no real basis in anything? Have a happy Thursday and remember the weekend is damned close.

back in the saddle again!

I had my very first ever trip to the ER. Then I got to spend a week doing my very best impression of a teenager (read: sleeping 16 hours a day). Not the best week of my life.

However, it did afford me an interesting little tidbit to mull over.

Today's update was going to be all about community and its importance to gaming in general and MMOs in particular. But that can wait til tomorrow.

I'm still trying to wrap my mind around this blurb I saw on 60 minutes when I was sitting in the ER and trying not to cry from pain that was actually worse than being in labour. Yeah. That bad. I was immediately reminded of why I am not in a rush to have more kids.

The 60 mins blurb sort of reinforced that notion.

There were a couple of guys going on about how kids today (godsdamnit that makes me feel old to say it that way * sob *) aren't expected to be adults until after at least 26 years of age. There's a whole generation of kids out there who are living at home until their 30's. Or later.

All pain was momentarily forgotten as I tried to grasp that concept.

They went on to talk about how they don't need to focus on finding a career. It's acceptable to shop around now. Four jobs in a year on your resume is no big deal now... Colour me surprised. I can't get anyone to LOOK at my resume unless I've been somewhere for a year.

Add to that the fact that if I could have gotten out of the house and on my own at 16, I'd have been that cute little dust cloud that the Roadrunner leaves in the cartoons.

I understand that economically it's a good move and all... but I still can't imagine staying at home so long.

Do you have a curfew? Do you have to tell your parents where you're going and when you'll be back? How do you DATE? You can't very well bring a date home and hang out and stuff, can you? How does that work anyway? Hey baby, my parents are out tonight, wanna come over and watch a movie? That isn't even getting into the logistics of having a sex life. * shudder *

Perhaps it's a difference in rearing techniques on the part of the parents. The way I was raised, there as no way that I would have been able to remain at home a second longer than absolutely necessary. One, I was raised to be independent and get out and do for myself. Two, they were distinctively NOT of the nurturing variety.

At any rate, my best friend and I were sitting there with sick kids, kids with puss-filled elbows, and creepy guys who we couldn't tell what was wrong with them, kinda looking at the tv and each other...

And promptly forgot it all when a girl walked in with a t-shirt that said: I'm not a model, I just look like one... And well yeah. She really didn't.

Still sick... * sigh *

But that's okay!!!

Because it's November. It's national write a novel month or some such nonsense. Basically it's a challenge to write a full 50k words in 30 days. Sound crazy? It surely is. And I'm already 6 days behind.

Chances are I won't even attempt it simply for the lack of time to devote. I mean hello!! there's EQ2 expansion launching in exactly 7 days. I don't know how anyone could expect me to miss that for some silly novel.

However, the event does conjure up the desire to finally get off my fat ass and write. So I've made a solemn vow to actually make the effort to do some "real" writing and not just the randomness I torment you fine folk with or the stuff with which I torture the Zam folks.

I know... non gaming related writing... Almost seems like blasphemy doesn't it?

Speaking of which... The writer's unions are on strike. They think they should get paid a bit more and get a bigger cut of dvd residuals as well as get kickback for the internet sales and all that. And I agree. They get shafted. Hard. Yeah they make good money... I'd be thrilled. However when you look at what other people get for what the WRITERS produce... Yeah it's complete and utter bullshit.

The problem is... If the writers are on strike? That means that Heroes is in danger. Since this is literally the only TV show that I watch and I have to go on NBC.com in order to do so... Yeah. I'm distressed. They need to clear this up in a big fat hurry.

To the corporations... Stop being greedy bastards and frelling pony up the damn money. I want my freaking Heroes.

(Sidebar: I'm listening to the radio and evidently there's a little girl with 4 arms and legs and stuff... some sort of conjoined twin thing. Spiderbaby. * nod * Spiderbaby Spiderbaby does whatever a spider can...)

At any rate. I'm a firm believer in paying people what they're worth. And in this case, the corporations need to start paying their writers. Period. Because without the writers, the TV networks are boned. They're going to be losing FAR more money than they'll be paying out if they give the raise they should. This boggles my mind. It's just so easy.

Everyone cross your fingers. Heroes is on the line here.

oh the amazing slackishness of me

In my defense, the last couple of weeks have been rather hectic for me. What with worrying about extra crispy grandmothers who turned up in Las freaking Vegas (and without me!!! wtf???), a busy couple of weeks at BOTH jobs, and lingering sniffles and general sick in bedness... yeah. There has been little to no writing. There has been lots of soup though!

Today is one of my favourite days of the year. Halloween. But I think I like Coyote's definition better, so on the off chance someone reads this who doesn't already read Coyote (yeah... that'll happen) go scamper over and check it out. He gives good giggle.

I've decided that there just isn't enough time in the day to do all the stuff I want to or need to do. I need more hours. I need to be able to play twice as long so I can fit in all the stuff I need to do and then have time to write on top of it. I need to be able to find a way to squeeze in another few jobs (*nods to radar and his in living colour jokes*). But most of all? I still need time to sleep.

I've decided that sleep is a GOOD thing. I don't do it nearly as much as I should. I think my love of sleep is compounded by a love of my big comfy bed. It's a lovely and wonderful bed. And oh so very comfy. I need to spend more time bonding with it.

Thus, I have decided that the time has come to achieve a state of independent wealth wherein I can do whatever I want whenever and spend more time bonding with my bed.

So I'll be winning the lottery this weekend. No one else buy a ticket. And to the lottery people? I'll be emailing you the numbers you're to choose on Friday. kkthx.

sometimes it's better not to worry...

But when you have family in the midst of wildfires, you can't help it.

Of course, then you hear from them three days later and find out they were kicking back and having fun in Las Vegas... yeah. I was so relieved that she was safe that I decided not to strangle her.

More and more people that I know in the area are checking in and are all okay. As awful as this has been so many have been lucky. My heart goes out to those who are still in danger and who have lost things in the fires.

i got your jam right here!

So. I had my very first jam making experience this weekend.

As it's something I've always wished I knew how to do, this is quite a milestone for me.

The one thing that really struck me (other than how totally cute the friends who were doing it are) is that it really isn't that hard.

There's always been this thing in my mind that making jam was some sort of mystical and difficult thing that would require me to dance naked at midnight, backwards, on one foot, whilst chanting monty python quotes in order to accomplish it.

Yeah. So not. What does this mean? Yeah. I'm making some jam.

Of course, this also reminds me just how lacking my domestic skills still are. There's so much stuff that I want to know how to do that I've yet to learn. I'm getting there though. Slowly but surely. I've finally mastered the whole bread making thing. Which is highly groovy. I'm still trying to learn how to make soap.

Most of my projects are slow going, mostly because I just don't have the time to squeeze everything in. Which is yet another reason I need to win the lottery.

Thank you, my lovely friends, for teaching me to make jam!

(insert witty title here)

Yeah... I got nothing.

Well for a title anyway.

Mostly just a lot of thoughts floating about in my head. So I'm just going to sift out the game related stuff, cause the rest of it is none of anyone's damned business.

Gods and Heroes

While I called the death of this game from the second I read the first interview with Steig (incidentally, Steig was reached after much debate over the correct spelling... We've all seen it both ways and can never decide which is correct. So if it is misspelt, send your hate mail to radarx@tentonhammer.com kkthx.), I'm still sorry to see it crash and burn.

There are a lot of factors that contributed to its demise that I'm sure I have no clue about one way or the other. The main one that I see from a player's standpoint, though, is that it tried too hard. They took Roman culture and mythology and made unnecessary changes to something that didn't need it. They also tried to incorporate what seems like all the most successful aspects of major games on the market. And in the end... It was just too much fantasy in a glutted market. When someone like me, who has eaten up mythology since 3rd grade, throws up their hands in disgust, you're doing something wrong. Period.

Gallenite, who's terribly smart and awfully cute too, posted about the development side of game making and all that's involved. Go read.

My guild

Are a bunch of loons. I love them dearly :) They're curing my burnout most handily.

Crafting

Must. Get. To. 70... * twitch *

Warhammer

Arugh. Just... Arguh. I wanna play this game. I give them massive props for having the brass to take down the beta servers and say "Hey, you gave us good feedback... we're fine tuning and reopening the beta later." That's awesome. DAoC should have been bigger than it was. It was a well made game. So hopefully they'll do good stuff with WAR.

Tabula Rasa

Not sure... still debating. I like the idea and the feel... but there's a learning curve that sorta turned me off at first. Hopefully they refine that a bit.

Winning the lottery

I need to. That is all.

* does the happy snoopy dance of I told you so *

I absolutely, without a doubt, love to be right.

It doesn't happen often. In fact, all too often I make really ridiculous mistakes.

But just this once, I bask in the glory of rightitude. Yes, it's a word.


** for the people who don't know what this is about :)

Gods and Heroes has been cancelled. I said a year ago that this game was never going to make release. * flex * Yes, my ESPN is strong!

Hello, I love you. Won't you tell me your name?

I often joke that I have a "Freaks and Creeps Apply Here" tattoo on my forehead. Whilst this is obviously not true, as my forehead isn't large enough for that, it is an on going sensation.

Being female in an MMO is... interesting, for lack of a better term.

One need not even really be female to experience this. Which is an entirely separate discussion.

Just being perceived as female often garners attention. You'll get random pressies just for being a chick and showing up in the newbie zone. Can you say, eww?

What's worse is when you're minding your own business and making some potions and poisons and such (what kind of an idiot messes with a woman who can make poison, btw???). Sitting there crafting away, carefully measuring out components for that oh so dangerous hemotoxin...

freaky_guy_01 tells you: nice underwear!
....
I beg your pardon?
freaky_guy_01 tells you: do you often craft in your underwear?
* twitch * The plate gets in the way * goes back to crafting, mildly amused *
freaky_guy_01 tells you: a bunch of stuff that can't be repeated, not even here.
* gags * You're creepy. Go away.
freaky_guy_01 tells you: even worse things that make me want to go bathe in acid..
/ignore freaky_guy_01!!11!one11eleventyzomg!

guh. guh guh guh and a big heaping side helping of GUH.

Now, I know that this is an extreme case. I know that this doesn't really happen to all that many women. But good gods it seems to happen to me a lot.

Obviously my own fault for having a Dark Elf (superior race, hottest chicks in game, etc etc).

But it kind of makes you wonder about people who just randomly strike up that sort of conversation, if that's what you wanna call it, with a pixilated version of a totally fictitious race and assuming that just because these pixels are female means that the consciousness behind them is also female.

If I'd been thinking clearly at the time I'd have busted out with: Dude, I'm a guy. That would likely have been the end of it. But I'm just not that quick and I was so thrown by the whole episode that my mind was reeling.

I get flirted with a lot online, it's just sorta what you deal with being a chick gamer. Random and kinda sad PM's on forums from people you don't know, tells, mail, whatever. Somehow they always find you because you're Eleanor. Two points for the reference.

I honestly don't think people know just how creepy this really can be. And then I think to myself, good GODS why do they do it in the first place?

When someone figures it all out, lemme know! I'll just be in the bathroom trying to scrub this invisible tattoo off my forehead.

Barbara had a point...

People... People who need people....

Okay, that's enough of that. I'll not be singing in the blog. Something for which I'm sure you're all profoundly grateful.

Life being what it is, last week was a ridiculously non productive week work or writing wise. (And while that entire sentence reads like poo, it makes sense in my head and we're going with it.) Thus, the all of one entry.

Today is a brand new week, though, so here we go.

I've long held the firm belief that there is one thing that makes or breaks an MMO. The people who play. A lot of people won't agree with me. They'll site gameplay, or fun factor, or whatever other hot buzz word is being bandied about that week.

Whilst all these things are an important factor in the success of a game, I still hold that the community devoted to the game is the most important variable.

Look at EQ2, my game of choice. I think it's the best game on the market and has been since it's launch. I will likely never be swayed from this opinion either. I can admit that the launch was a little rough and that the game needed some serious polish.

However, even as far from the yummy perfectiony goodness that it is today, nothing could have drawn me away from EQ2. The reason for that is simple. The community.

I got involved in the EQ2 community in April of 2004. The official forums hadn't been up for very long at that point and the community was in its infancy. Moorgard was still the only one running the show and we all spent a good deal of time chit chatting and speculating over every tiny tidbit SOE slipped us.

The months leading up to beta and then to launch gelled the forum community into a rather lovely and fun place to make friends and get game information. We figured out what did and didn't work, both in the game and on the forums.

I've made some very good friends from EQ2. But I didn't meet them in game. I met them there, on the forums where the community congregated during work hours when those of us not lucky enough to be able to play from work (yes, there are people who can do that... lucky bastards) would hang out and get our fixes.

Of the games I've played and the communities of which I've been a part, EQ2 has one of the tightest knit and mature bunch of game addicts I've come across. (By now I think I've used the word community a dozen times or so.... I suck.) This is what's kept me around, even through the burn out and the lure of other games.

Nothing else has had the feel that EQ2 holds and a large part of that is the people. For the most part, because to be honest every game has asshats, the people of EQ2 are warm and welcoming. They help newbies get started in the world and share amongst themselves.

I'm not saying that other games don't have solid communities. They do. No MMO out there can make it on gameplay alone. Man is a social animal and we congregate in groups. The trick is finding the group that fits all your kinks and quirks and makes you feel at home.

* brushes off her little "Home, Sweet Home" sign and hangs it up on her door in Neriak *

This is mine and you're all more than welcome to stop in anytime for the grand tour.

Will they never learn??

The lovely people over at Online Gaming Radio let me get on EQ2sday and yap for a couple of hours last night.

I've been on before, not EQ2sday but Friday night's Ravecast, and for some reason they keep inviting me back. I think they're gluttons for punishment or something. But, hey, I get to yammer about EQ2 and whatever else crosses my mind for a few hours, so I am happy!

Zanadi mentioned a pick up raid she'd gone on and that let me touch on a topic near and dear to my heart. I didn't get to say as much about it as I would have liked, which is probably good since it would have occupied way too much time and ended with me totally monopolizing things. So, now all four people who read this must suffer. Send your hate mail to OGR ;)

So. Raiding.

I love to raid. I have since EQ1. There's just something about the whole experience that opens up all new avenues for fun and excitement in the game for me. It isn't all I do by any means, but it's definitely a big part of things for me.

One of the problems I've always had with raiding, though, was that it seemed like a part of the game only the super uber elite folks could do. I've never held with that mentality and I have never agreed with the strangle hold the "uber guilds" have tried to keep on raid content.

I'm of the firm opinion that anyone who wants to do it should have the opportunity to and more importantly CAN raid. Here's the thing. Raiding isn't HARD. Yes, you do need to focus a little more than you do when you're soloing or grouping. There are more people to coordinate and get used to. But even with all that, once you get yourself in that mode and know what to do, it isn't hard.

More and more lately I'm seeing casual guilds run through raid content. Pick up raids are all over the place. Yeah, they're a little rough and not as smooth as say NPU or whatever other uber guilds are out there, but honestly? Who the hell cares? It isn't about who can do it the fastest or with the least amount of mistakes. It's about FUN.

You don't have to be a rigid militarily precisioned guild to do any of the content in this game. I mean you can't run around and half arse it or anything cause you won't get very far. The point is, that all of the content can be done even if you aren't "perfect" at the game.

I absolutely LOVE to see casual guilds, raiding alliances, pick up raids... whatever. I don't care who it is. I'm just happy to see people who want to do this stuff getting out there and doing it. It's an aspect of the game that is becoming more accessible to the player base and I can only see good in that.

There are elitests out there who are pissy about the hoi polloi out there getting the gear and such that they think should only be reserved for the "better" guilds. I think they know where they can shove that nonsense.

This isn't a contest. It's a game. It's there for people to have fun. That being said, yes, these folks need that competition and sense of accomplishment for their fun. Good for them, and I hope they're getting what they want. It's the attitude that the gaming companies need to cater to them that makes me grind my teeth.

It isn't about a fraction of the player base being appeased and elevated. It isn't about keeping the super uber elite so far above everyone else that no one can hope to attain those levels. It's about everyone having as much fun as they can. That can't happen if content is focused on just one type of player. It has to incorporate things for everyone.

The more people who raid? The more attention that can be given to raiding content.

**note: there's a lot more to say on this... but I have a day job, so it'll have to be a continuous thing.

believe it or not...

I try to be fairly laid back. I get excitable about things, but for the most part, I like life to be drama and hassle free.

Mostly because I'm high strung and something of a perfectionist (which is really just a nice way of saying an anal-retentive Virgo). As such, I tend to get a little... invested in things. Anything that puts pressure on me tends to end up magnified by like, oh a million or so, because of the added pressure I put on myself to do it right and make it perfect and whatever else leads me to develop an ulcer.

What the hell does that have to do with anything?

Shut up and read. Gods. Impatient much?

I'm applying for a job. An honest to god, real life, grown-up job. Which means instead of filling out an application with all the relevant information, I have to send a resume and a cover letter.

I never knew that writing a little 3/4 page blurb about what I want, who I am, and what I can do could be so stressful. My head is seriously on the verge of explosion. (It's a damned good thing I'm wearing black today. Brains are SO hard to get out of clothing.)

So here I am. Fretting. I swear if I were a cat I'd be shedding fur so fast I'd be bald.

I love pressure :D

And the award for dumb idea goes to...

This lady.

I get how she thinks that things are gonna go down the tubes after seven years. I can't really say I blame her going strictly off personal experience.

I'm just not sure what exactly she thinks she's going to accomplish with this. It's just divorce with another name slapped on it.

It isn't going to make people more interested in staying together. It isn't going to take any pressure off and make it easier to get along.

If a marriage is over, it's over. Likely because the people shouldn't have gotten married in the first place. If it's going to last, it's going to last because the people involved are committed to making it work no matter what.

So I'm really failing to understand what the hell is going on in her head. Maybe she's seen too many reality shows.

oooo i LOVE quizzes!!!

And this one just amused the hell out of me.

My favourite question?

You know that being a dev groupie is weird, right?

Yes, YES I do.

I came out to be Risque-Intense. And yes I think that fits.

book review

So. I finished Echoes of the Fourth Magic the other night.

Gotta say that I'm truly impressed. It was a fresh take on a post apocalyptic society.

I don't want to say too much and give anything away for those who haven't read it. If you haven't, I highly recommend that you do. The hottest geek I know told me to read the series, and damned if he wasn't right yet again.

There are two things that I really liked the most about the first book in the series and have me ready for the next.

The first is the way that Salvatore tied the old world to the new. This includes everything from the hold overs from the dead world that went before, to the speech patterns of the various races that were inherited from the few who came forward. It provides a nice solid background to the characters in the story and makes them feel like they fit in the places he's put them.

The other thing I liked, which will likely be a topic of future musing, was the main protagonists view of war and violence. Despite my road rage and the general joking about that I do, I'm actually not violent in the least. I unleash my temper through words and vent out the angry grr feelings by imagining horrid things and then throwing them away. I'd never actually do any of it because violence is... well... eww.

It's abhorrent and does nothing but beget more violence. We're a primitive people, genetically, and our biological urges haven't caught up to our super ego imposed societal mores. (Re-reading that, it looks dreadfully pretentious and vaguely along the lines of one of our all time favourite subjects of pokeage... so... it stays.) The point is, we're still rather base creatures. Prone to fighting and given to vengeance.

It's a hard urge to overcome and I battle with it every time some halfwit in a toyota cuts me off. But, battle it I do. And so does our hero in this novel. That, more than anything, is what endeared the story to me.

Yeah, we can make the world better... but we need to start with ourselves first.

Note: I no longer have a ton of time to read, as I've managed to wrangle myself all kinds of obligations for my time. So these will happen whenever I manage to finish a book. On my desk to be read (and waiting to be pulled out of boxes) there are currently at least 14 books. So bear with me. I'll get to them all eventually.

The Blizzardification of the Gaming World

I was talking with a brilliant and rather delicious friend one day about making video games. A subject which I know nothing about, but about which he knows a TON. The very great advantage to having a few friends in the gaming industry is that when I can get them chatting about what they do, I learn a lot.

One thing that he mentioned that stood out in my mind and has been really making me think for several months now is how things have changed in the gaming industry since WoW hit it so big. Gaming talk has started to revolve around WoW and Blizzard and that model. No longer abstract and gamey, it's now all WoW this and WoW that.

The phenomenon that is WoW has taken over and seeped into every aspect of the gaming world.

This is a problem.

Not because WoW is a bad game or anything. For what it is, it's really great. It has its appeal and that's all good. It doesn't appeal to me, but that's just... ya know, me.

So why is it a problem? Because in their desperate race for power and glory, game designers have forgotten one thing. They forgot to hook up the doll. (2 points for getting the reference.) No really. The problem is that WoW has become the benchmark for so many people. It has become the standard by which success is measured.

Unfortunately this is an inaccurate and fallacious measurement. It's like the view that women who read a lot of romance novels develop about sex and relationships. It isn't normal. And it sets standards that are unattainable.

So what happens because of this? We end up with a lot of games that are clones of WoW. They're out there trying to make it WoW, but different in the hopes that they'll hit on that mystical combination of variables that gets them the nine million subscriptions.

Grimwell wrote a great bit about it in his blog with regards to venture capitalists and what they look for when investing in game ideas. I agree with him on a lot of points there. Since he was focusing on the business end of things though, he neglected to mention how this burning desire to hit the million sub mark is hurting the gaming industry in other ways.

That way is the players. We're being hurt by this WoW cloning machine. Games are getting a little cookie cutter and boring. All these new games coming out that should be good and fun to play because of the ideas behind them are losing. There isn't a lot of market for the same game over and over with a different paint job. Well, except for Madden... but that's another fluke.

Eventually there are going to be so many games out that are boring copy cats of WoW that people who play MMOs are going to lose interest entirely and look elsewhere.

SOE down!!

The sky is falling! The sky is falling!

Okay, it isn't really. Just some updates and such.

So check out the fluff Cal and I have posted for your viewing pleasure.

And don't expect an updated blog entry until later today. I'm having too much fun making up downtime haikus with Coyote.

Everyone has an off day...

But gods is it embarassing when it happens.

Calthine sent me a link to this thread and I have to admit that I giggled. Fortunately it hasn't happened to me yet, but I wouldn't be surprised if it did at some point. Like the poor person in the thread I, too, have a tendancy to get a little distracted. Forums, blogs, netflix queue (mine's at some 300 or so movies eep!), tv, books, shiny objects... You get the idea.

This made me giggle since I'd just been telling her about an article I'd written (we'll be tossing that up late tonight for tomorrow's downtime) about how I multitask when I heal.

The bad part comes in with the fact that I was actually writing that article during a labs raid.

Okay, so labs is easy right? We farm it weekly (and this week was a GOOD loot run omg), and as such, we usually run through it in about an hour and half or so. Two hours if people are going ld or we're just goofing around.

This last run was one of our really not good runs. There was much badness when we got to Vymenn. This is a little amusing to me just because normally we're so good about it. The very next day, we spanked the Lyceum the way we're supposed to.

So that got me to thinking. What exactly is it that makes a day run so wrong that your raid just totally screws the pooch? I'd love to say that it can all be chalked up to the distracted inquisitor, but I know I'm just not that integral. What is it then? Just too many people woolgathering? A split second off on the pull? It can't be a lack of skill, cause we do it all the time. Perhaps a general klutziness about the entire raid force?

I have no idea really, but it made for an interesting saturday afternoon. Maybe next week, I'll turn off the tv...

More stuff that makes me cranky...

I was raised by my grandparents. They were born in the 30's. So I'm a tad on the old fashioned side. I don't think that my current rant is a matter of generational gappitude though. I think it's just sheer frelling laziness.

What the hell am I talking about?

Parenting.

Or rather the lack thereof.

Examples of the things that annoy the piss out of me about parents today:

Blaming their kid's bad behaviour on music, games, tv, music.

This has to be the biggest cop out ever. Oh my kid beat up that poor person because they played a video game and it's the fault of the video game makers. Umm... Wrong, Kato. It's your damn fault for buying the violent video game. It's your fault for not teaching your kid right from wrong. It's your fault for not disciplining your kid and fostering in them the idea that they can do anything they want and blame it on something else. It's your fault for being a shitty parent.

Allowing their little girls to dress like prostitutes.

This bothers me on so many levels that I choke on the words. No way in hell should a six year old girl be wearing crop tops and leather pants. No way should a 12 year old girl be trying to look like Britney Spears or whatever other slut pop star is currently setting trends. What the fuck ever happened to letting your kid be a freaking kid?

I was hanging with my little five year old son getting mommy hugs and smooches and the little spaz tried to tongue kiss me. I was livid. I was all kinds of set to talk to the teachers at his Pre-K, the parents of the little girls he learned that shit from, not to mention the verbal lashing his father got for not putting a stop to that crap right out of the gate.

I don't care if the kid is 16 or four. It makes no difference. Cause even at 16 a child is still a goddamned child. And our duties as parents are to ensure that our children are protected and grow up able to think for themselves and protect themselves when we let them go out into the world. The only thing they learn by being allowed to emulate skanky chicks or adult behaviour long before they are able to understand the consequences of such, is to be trash.

The early and oversexualization of children is abhorrent. I just want to beat people who allow it.

Child Abuse

This is a lot broader a category than it appears on first blush. It isn't just people beating their kids or locking them in closets. It isn't just sexual molestation, which also makes me damn near homicidal. It's also neglect.

I don't just mean not feeding or taking care of a kid. It also means not taking an interest. Not teaching your kid. Yeah, that goes back to an earlier topic. Not actively guiding and teaching a child is neglect as surely as anything else.

I also classify as abuse limiting your child. Not limiting like giving them rules to follow to keep them safe, but like crippling them by enforcing on them the idea that they aren't capable of doing something. Not encouraging and supporting a child, not instilling in them a belief that they can do anything they set their mind to, or at the very least TRY. I was in Best Buy one day and about choked on my own tongue when some (insert an insult of your choosing here because I won't repeat what I called her) woman looked at her little girl and the movie she had and said: You don't want that, that's a boy movie. Her voice was dripping with disgust and you could just see the little girl wilt under the scorn. I've never wanted to punch another human being so much as I did at that instant.

Obviously, I get a little tense about children. My maternal instincts are definitely in overdrive and always have been. I see people who use their kids to hurt an ex and I just want to beat them. Kids are one of my hot buttons. The possibly psychological causes and ramifications of this are not lost on me and I can make fun of myself for it, so it's unlikely I'll go postal any time soon...

A heaping helping of humilty...

I made a new friend recently and was directed to their site...

Browsing through that site alone was impressive, but rolling through some of the linked blogs and pages was indeed a humbling experience.

I like to tell myself that I'm a writer, and to be absolutely technical about it I am. I mean, I'm doing it right now. I write everyday. Most of it is drek and I don't do anything with it.

There are times though, when I feel like a little girl playing dress up with mommy's clothes.

Today was completely one of those moments of "Oh my gods... I'm so completely deluding myself." Fortunately, rather than having the urge to just throw up my hands and find a new dream, I'm thinking it's really about time to get my happy white ass in gear and start writing for real.

People only really need a few hours of sleep a day anyway... right?

Things that make me twitch...

Legends of Norrath

I hate this game with a particular purple passion. No really. I freaking hate it.

I don't understand it. It makes me feel stupid. The AI cheats like a total bitch.

But I can't stop playing it. It fascinates me. The cards are gorgeous, and there's just something about it that calls to me. I don't know if it's because I can't let the AI sit there and be victorious or what.

Whatever it is, I can't stay away from it.

Typos

Mine, other people's, the ones in professionally edited and published novels... I don't know why. It isn't like it really matters. But for some reason it's like that little scab you have on your knee from when you tripped over that ginormous freaking, grand canyon sized crack in the sidewalk. It just sits there and makes my teeth itch and I have to correct it.

I've gotten a bit better about it lately. Mostly cause I have a friend who now does it on purpose sometimes just to eff with me. Or refuses to fix them because he knows that I'll sit there and twitch about it all day. Yeah.

Celebrity Bullshit

Who. The. Fuck. Cares. Seriously, I don't give a rat's nasty stinky ass what the hell Britney or Paris or whatever other skanky ho who passes for a famous person is doing.

I pick up way too much of this by osmosis for my personal happiness. I get the obsession with celebrities and all, but I don't share it. I've got better things to do with my time.

Although I will admit to getting a massive giggle out of the Oscar de la Hoya in drag pictures. Now, I just need to figure out who he is...

People

Alright, not all people. But a good portion of them. There are some massively useless people who work in my office. I would cheerfully pit roast them.

There are also some ridiculously pretentious and annoying bastards out there who make me (to borrow a good word) stabby.

There's a whole lot of other crap, but those are probably the top of the pile.

I'm going to go back to sleep now... I mean work. Really. I know my eyes are closed, but this is TOTALLY my working face.

My cats are magpies...

They very nearly didn't make it to their first birthdays.

Picture this. 5:30 in the am (which is simply an ungodly hour and which I should not see except on my way to bed), and I'm in the shower. Washing my hair and trying to wake up.

I hear a little "tink" from out in the bathroom and immediately think to myself, oh hell. I peek around the shower curtain and there are two very guilty looking little fuzzballs. One on the counter and one peeking around the door. I look at them, they look at me. Then the little toe chompers dash out of the bathroom as if Cerberus were after them.

I hurry up and finish my shower and get out to look in the sink. Sure enough, one ring. The other three that I wear on a daily basis are no where to be found. I mourn their loss down the drain and start thinking about what I want to do with the cat corpses. I consider cooking them, decide it's too much trouble and decide to just huck em in the dumpster and then start mentally spending the money I'll be saving on cat food and litter.

I wander downstairs, half dressed and cursing enough to peel the paint off the walls. In the kitchen, on the floor, there sits a ring. That's right. The little bastards took it off the counter in the bathroom and carried it down to the kitchen and then WENT BACK FOR MORE.

Now, I'm a kind and generous and forgiving soul. So, instead of killing them, I've now decided that I'll just go ahead and maim them a bit. After all, I've gotten one back and a little leniency is in order now. Over by the door at the bottom of the stairs is another ring. Pull the blinds at the sliding door onto the porch aside and there is the last missing ring.

At this point, I quite simply can no longer be annoyed and give myself over to laughter and give them full amnesty.

And on a side note? Home grown radio commercials are really really bad. * shoots the naughty store ad in the head *

Back to things that...

Piss me the hell off.

Last time it was entitlement. I could probably continue to go on and on about that. It's everywhere and it's a disease that is destroying our society... But onwards!

Drama whores. I probably could just stop there, but I'll go on a little bit.

EQ2 is a game. G-A-M-E. It's there for fun. It's there to help you forget about the crap you deal with everyday in your life and provide a few hours of escape and imaginative fun. Of course there are people out there who take it too seriously, just as with all things in life. Then there are the people who try to ruin it for everyone else.

Every so often you'll run across someone who seems perfectly normal. Then BLAMMO!!! Out of freaking nowhere the shit hits the fan. The real reason that someone goes off the deep end doesn't really matter. It's the made up reasons that create the drama.

The people who are known as women online and seduce and romance guys and get presents and such out of them... Surprise! I'm really a man and don't you feel dumb now?

The bored wife who cybers everyone and their dog until her husband finds out and pitches a fit and forces her to quit the game or lose the cushy lifestyle... Suddenly turns into the uber bitch from hell and tells everyone that she was thrown out of the guild and forced to leave because people are stabbing her in the back.

It doesn't matter who or what. It only matters that they do everything they can to make everyone around them miserable and ruin the game for everyone else.

I hate this crap. It interferes with my fun and it's just too much real life invading my escape.

I know it's hard to avoid drama and such when dealing with any living being (please note I didn't say intelligent cause most of them are shit stupid). It's my own fault for playing games instead of reading books. I love my MMOs (bite me, I'm not saying MMOG so don't even start) and will continue to play them. I still just want to throw stuff at the stupid drama whores though. Fortunately, I've still got my books to escape from my escape... Which, in retrospect, is a little wrong, but oh well.

omg I won EQ2!!!

Again!

I finally got my little provisioner to level 70. I now have a level 70 inquisitor (okay, I cheated there and leveled her up to 68 as a templar, first, but it counts!) and a level 70 provisioner. I've finally reached the end of the... what? My defiler? My tailor and alchemist?

Hell.

So much for being done. Evidently there are still more things to accomplish and goodies to accumulate. So, why is that I'm willing to go through the whole thing all over again? Cause there's stuff I want.

That's a major reason these games suck us in and keep us playing. Goodies. Or if you wanna be fancy about it, incentive. We stick around for that next shinie, that next level, that next piece of class armour in our neverending quest for a matching set of armour, that uber spiffy weapon... whatever. Even the people that we play with.

It doesn't matter what it is, but it's there for everyone. A bit of carrot to keep us coming back and striving for something.

The problem of course comes from balance. If it's too easy to obtain, we won't want it (unless you're one of those lame arses who buys their crap for real world money because you're just too damned lazy or have too much disposable income for your own good). Conversely though, if it's too hard, we'll lose interest and go elsewhere.

From a player's perspective, I would think that this would be the biggest obstacle facing a game designer. How do I make the game challenging enough to keep people wanting to play without making it so hard they give up in frustration. How do I make it easy enough that the lazy, instant gratification tossers will stop their whining or go play WoW. How do I balance the classes just right so that no one feels too anally violated or too godlike (yeah that one is a real kick in the pants).

They walk a fine line, that's for certain. In the end, you're going to have some stuff that most people aren't going to want to bother with, like raiding, and you'll have a small percentage of the game population striving for that aspect. You'll have people who go the easiest routes possible. Then you'll have the majority of us who dabble in all aspects of the game (dear gods soloing with a defiler is an exercise is masochism).

Whatever that undefinable thing is that draws people into a game (alright, so it isn't really all that undefinable, but damnit it sounds better my way!) EQ2 holds it for me.

So I'm off to try and win EQ2, again, on my defiler and tailor. Too bad they aren't the same character * sob *

There are a few things...

That just piss me the hell off.

I'm not talking little annoyances like the guy in the office with the ridiculously loud voice. I'm talking things and people who make me want to track them down and vivisect them.

That's right. Jack Thompson! (Alright. Not really. I just threw that out for Mads *blows a kiss*)

In actuality this is probably going to be a two day rant. Today it's all about entitlement.

I loathe and despise the entitlement attitude that the vast majority of the world seems to have with every fiber of my being. I hate it the way raiders hate casuals and soloers hate everyone.

What set me off this time was a discussion about fluff items in game. Can you freaking believe? Something that has no effect whatsoever on your game play. It's a triviality at best, and yet there are people out there frothing at the mouth and whining like little bitches about this.

Mind you, these people will whine like little bitches about any and everything. The biggest whine is that SOE deliberately excludes people. Especially people who aren't American. Contests are thought up with the sole and express purpose of blowing off any customer who doesn't live in the US. My response to that? Bull. Shit. And quite frankly it blows my frelling mind that you are actually that shallow and self absorbed and CHILDISH to really think that a major company, located in the US, would seriously sit down at a meeting and ponder all the ways they can tell the rest of the world to go eff themselves. Grow the hell up.

What set me off? Fan Faire cloaks. That's right. People who preregistered for Fan Faire and managed to drag their pasty white arses out to the desert to sweat and suffer from sun exposure got a little fluff item just for going. It's pretty and purple (WOO!) and it shoots off fireworks. Wow. That's a frelling game breaker right there. Stop the goddamn presses! That's gonna swing all the raids. EVERYONE NEEDS ONE!!! Oh wait. Not everyone made it to Fan Faire. Well, hell. Everyone should get them anyway! Cause that's just elitist and exclusionary and just flat out rude. If everyone doesn't get it, no one should.

* boggle * SG-01, who is a rather lovely and sweet boy, came from overseas to go to Fan Faire. Gods only know how much it cost him. I called in favours, begged, borrowed, and sold off one of Radar's kidneys in order to make it to Fan Faire. It isn't exactly like I flashed my tits at SOE and got a spiffy little item just by virtue of living in the boil on the ass of the US or anything.

And yet there are honestly people out there in the world who still think it's all about them. The people who made the effort and sported the cost of getting out to this event and supporting their game and the company who makes it shouldn't get anything as a gesture of thanks or appreciation. You know what? My 5 year old is more mature than that. People like this make me sick and honestly make me fear for the future.

This whole "give me," "I deserve," "I am owed" mentality is truly frightening. It's a rampant freaking disease. Instant gratification and self absorbed behaviour is becoming the norm and it's throwing society down the toilet at a rapid little swirl.

Grow. Up. Not. All. About. You.

* twitch *

On turning 30...

I wish I could say there was something profound and life changing about it.

But yeah. Not really. Today is just like any other day. I don't feel wiser or old or anything else that is supposed to be attached to the mystical 3-0. Just isn't blowing my skirt up.

I may very well be defective.

On the other hand... In the month or so preceding my induction into the land of grown ups (yeah, right) I have come to the decision that it's time to stop messing around and go back to school so I can get a real job. Cause this working for 15$ an hour crap is old.

I've also been giving serious thought to my love life. Or perhaps lack thereof. It isn't that I don't know what I want. I do. I'm actually quite thoroughly and completely certain of what I want... It's now a matter of getting the courage worked up to do something about it.

So... yeah. 30 is really no big deal. Maybe 40 will be...

Summer is officially over...

It's labour day and the kiddos are back in school.

I always had to go to school on my birthday because it oh so conveniently fell after labour day. Such a freaking bummer.

As I stare straight into the face of 30, I'm looking back at my life and wondering how the hell I made it this far. Then I wonder what the hell I've done and come up with the answer: Not enough.

So it's time for some changes. I'm going to go back to school (or try, at least cause there's no law says they have to take me) and get an advanced degree and actually start doing something with my life. I think I've screwed around at this whole work a job I don't like and barely get by thing far long enough. It's time to get serious.

So I'll be leaving behind childish things... Except for games. And maybe I'll hang onto that whole soulmate thing too...