Tag Archives: RL

Annnnd we’re back

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My site was apparently hacked in the last week or two. It seemed to be the work of some individuals who were showing off, or objected to the fact I am American??? I am not really sure. It didn’t make a great deal of sense and played some very loud music, so I didn’t hang out long to read it. Suffice to say it took me like an hour and a half to find all the changed files and change them back.

The funniest thing, to me, is that this even happened at all. My blog has a readership of like 4 people, ever. I mean, seriously, it was hacked for like 5 days and no one noticed. I would say I have *the* most unread blog on the internet, but there are probably ones that even the blogger’s own mother doesn’t read. (I think mine hits this like once every three  months or so.)

I get the mentality of hacking something to show off or “be awesome” but at least do it where someone, anyone, can see. This is the proverbial tree in the woods. It fell and made no sound. It was only by walking back into the forest that I noticed and went, oh hey, that wasn’t like that before. It seems like there are better targets, more challenging targets, and honestly, more interesting targets. I am under no delusion that nothing said here is fascinating, compelling, amusing, or even salacious. (On a side note I am now tempted to try and write said salacious post. It might be funny.) I spend 90% of it talking about WoW, and I wouldn’t even expect WoW players to read it!

Ah the absurdity of life.

Confessions of an Online Packrat

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I collect things. I just can’t help it. I can try to blame my mother and grandmother. I guess I could try to blame adventure games. (How many times in those games did you pick up everything NOT nailed down because you never knew when you would need it?) I could even try to blame Mario and Sonic – Get the coins/rings! I am doomed in games like Suikoden or Pokemon. In real life, I collect toys, art, movies, books, games…

Is it any surprise I would be any different in World of Warcraft? While reading wow.com today I came across this picture.

Oh yes, that looks shockingly familiar. Actually, it even has more useful items in it than my bank does. I have about 10 spaces in my main vault page that can be used for “useful” items. The entirety of the rest of my bank: crap I can’t get rid of, but is completely useless. (Let me pause to say this refers to my main character, Joyia. While some of my alts are getting just as bad, none are nearly as bad as her.)

One stellar example I trotted out the other night while chatting about just this thing in guild chat is Carrot on a Stick and item from Zul’Farrak by way of a quest chain. The thing is, this item no longer works over level 70. I am level 80. meaning it no longer works. Back in the day, it was VITAL to speedy land movement, and a prized possession one always carried in their bags. But then, it was changed in a patch, and most people deleted or sold their carrot. But I persisted. I worked very hard to get that stupid carrot and there was no way I was getting rid of it now. Plus I have a key chain that has a Carrot on a Stick icon! How could I get rid of it?!?

This is even worse with armor sets. I have half of dungeon 1, all of tier 4, most of tier 5 and 6, and all of tier 7-10. Including some pvp pieces picked up here and there. That’s a ton of gear taking up space. So why save it? Because I worked hard for it. I scraped badges, farmed bosses, worked hard to keep my guild rank to ensure my raid spot, the sheer amount of work that goes in to getting a gear set is staggering. Plus some of them just look cool. Tier 5 for Warlocks for example.

Add to this the mountain of soul bound holiday/flavor stuff and I literally have massive space issues. I keep nothing that isn’t soul bound on my main. It all goes to my bank alt. Thankfully they allow instant mail between characters on the same account. 154 slots of stuff that does nothing currently useful.

Someone said, “Why keep it?” And I don’t have a good answer for them. I have a collection of on use pet summoners. I have a collection of old gear. I even have Rivendare’s sword DESPITE the fact I can’t use it. I don’t have a good reason, but I like keeping it around. I am a pack rat in a virtual world. I am a pack rat in the real world too. I guess my avatar isn’t too far off from real life eh?

RRoD Part 2

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Here, now, almost a month after the dreaded RRoD, our beloved family member is set to return home.

It has taken this long to get used to *not* having the Xbox 360 around. When you get used to doing things a certain why, you develop the habit, then breaking it is shockingly hard to do. We have all done it at some point of other. I can remember being a kid, the power would go out occasionally, and my mother, now unable to play on her computer would say, well I guess I could watch tv.

I did the same thing. Well I don’t feel like playing WoW, I guess I should go play xbox and get a few gamer points. Oh wait.

Now we get our baby back and I am sure the resulting flood of gameplaying will make it feel more than loved.

RRoD Part 2

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Here, now, almost a month after the dreaded RRoD, our beloved family member is set to return home.

It has taken this long to get used to *not* having the Xbox 360 around. When you get used to doing things a certain why, you develop the habit, then breaking it is shockingly hard to do. We have all done it at some point of other. I can remember being a kid, the power would go out occasionally, and my mother, now unable to play on her computer would say, well I guess I could watch tv.

I did the same thing. Well I don’t feel like playing WoW, I guess I should go play xbox and get a few gamer points. Oh wait.

Now we get our baby back and I am sure the resulting flood of gameplaying will make it feel more than loved.

Something on my Desk

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Just recently Watchmen came out on DVD. Of course it was immediately purchased and watched in my apartment. As far as comic book adaptations go, this one was superb. When I read the graphic novel, I was mildly entertained, philosophically provoked, and very curious as to how they would make this into a movie.

For today’s something on my desk, I choose the Nite Owl (Modern) figure. Nite Owl is by far my favorite character in Watchmen. The characters are deep and flawed, but the irony is they are all the same. Rorschach, who will kill in the line of his work, even those who are not “evil” (like the guy he dropped down an elevator shaft). Veidt, who realizes that one on one he has no hope of making a true difference and must commit terrible acts of terrorism to achieve his ends, regardless of the cost to humanity or himself. They have the same goal, the same methods for achieving their goals, but the scale of which they do it varies. But throughout the entire movie one character carries the flag of hope and valience. Nite Owl still believes, even now that they can make a difference, not by destroying the world, but by working within it and doing their part to move it forward. He clings to the old thought and school of Hero. In the face of it all, he remains as he has always been, a man who wants to be a hero.

Who watches the Watchmen? Hopefully the one who believes in humanity and holds the flag of hope and goodness.

Something on my Desk

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Last week was a holiday. I got the day off work and spent it NOT at my normal desk, but rather my home desk.

Which begs the question, which desk item should I write about? One on my work desk like I normally do? One on my home desk? Or an item that miraculously appears on BOTH! How strange that there is in fact two items that appear both on my home desk and my work desk.

Of course, any RPG gamer knows this is a vital part of your gaming kit, and is often used in other games.

Magic the Gathering uses them for life counting and calls them “spin down” counters.

Erick Wujcik insists you don’t need them to play RPGs and he might be right.

They can be as small an eraser on a pencil to as big as pillows.

They can have anywhere from 4 to 100 sides.

I have hundreds of them in various shapes, sizes, and colors. I love collecting them.

Guess it yet? D20s, or 20 sided dice, are the mark of a nerd and gamer.

I have three of them on my work desk, each taken from a Magic the Gathering fat pack. I have two on my desk at home, both purchased for playing D&D that got separated from the bunch and now sit looking pretty. I often pick them up and hold them, much the way I will do with a book, to simply feel it in my hand.

When working with Erick Wujcik I was privileged to get to participate in a game he ran that was diceless. It was completely fascinating to see the game and the player response to not having a random element to it. Before this I had played pen and paper RPGs for years and had amassed quite the collection of dice. I was foolish enough to believe I had seen “everything” there was to see with RPGs. (I had even LARPed.) At least I was delighted to discover how wrong I was. Since then I have reveled in learning about the ways other people play RPGs.

As an added point of interest it is quite amusing the rituals and superstition people have about their dice. For instance, I have “friend” sets that my friends can use and I have my set. Don’t touch my set. You will contaminate it and I will start to roll poorly.

Something on my Desk… I will catch up, I swear!

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As a game developer who knows a ton of game developers I tend to hear about games before they are announced and I hear things about games that are not released. It is great fun to know all these things, even if I can’t tell anyone else about it. Just for the record, you won’t be hearing anything secret here.

So this weekend I was at Gamestop in our local mall and I noticed they have “Coming Soon” boxes for Bioshock 2. Bioshock 2 isn’t going to hit shelves until October 30th, but they already have pre-orders up.

For me, Bioshock 2 hitting shelves is totally different than it is for most people. My husband works as an engineer on the development team. Which means more often than not he stays late at work and often works on weekends. Bioshock is a big game and as such requires people with a great deal of commitment and diligence. Bioshock 2 hitting the shelves means his big dream game is done. He will likely get to spend more time at home in the evenings, but mostly I will be thrilled he worked on and shipped one of his favorite games. It is every game developer’s life long dream. To work on a game you love and enjoy, doing the tasks you love and enjoy, and then going into stores and seeing the space on the shelf where your game should be, but isn’t because it is sold out. 🙂

So with that in mind, the item on my desk this week is the Limited Edition Big Daddy, and the slightly less Limited Edition Little Sister statues. They are great figures. My big daddy protects my little sister. 🙂

Oh just for good measure some links!
Cult of Rapture
There’s Something in the Sea
Official Game Site

Something on my Desk

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Okay, I forgot.

I forgot that I had planned to do this feature every Friday, but more importantly, I forgot that it was Friday.

I am getting very close to the end of Valkyria Chronicles and I am re-starting playing Legend of Dragoon, a Playstation 1 JRPG title. Toss in some frustration over Sony’s PSN Account/PS3/PSP and what can be downloaded to a PSP and I forgot about life that wasn’t right in front of me.

I talked about Magic the Gathering earlier this week so I decided to pick a Magic the Gathering card I have propped up against my monitor. It is the Lorwyn version of Chandra, a Planeswalker. I love the art, the fiery redheaded woman, and the power of the card. In addition, she was the first Planeswalker I ever got. I am a fiery redhead and thus love seeing them in popular culture.

In addition, it should be noted that Magic 2010, the new core set, is coming out July 17th, and will include new versions of all the previous planeswalkers. I am very excited as I need all the other Lorwyn planeswlakers.