Reflections From The Pond

Archive for the ‘There Is No RL - Only AFK’ Category

There are bosses in RL too, you know.

No, I’m not talking about the one sneaking up behind you while you browse WoW blogs at work, I mean the real nasty bosses that eventually may kill or severely cripple you.

Bosses like depression and diseases, self-inflicted or not, some of which may be one-shotting you, some of the more slow-moving variety but in the end not less painful or lethal.

Do you think a RL BossMod would help?

It’s one thing knowing that smoking is bad for you, that a sedentary lifestyle is equally bad, that additives in your food may be bad, etc etc but how would you feel if a Skull Icon suddenly popped over your head with a raid warning telling you in no uncertain terms:

Tessy has Couch Potato!

Couch Potato – debuff caused by a sedentary lifestyle. All stats are decreased by 1 every day as long as the debuff is on. Failure to get rid of the Couch Potato will result in one or more severe debuffs like Depression, Muscle Atrophy, Heart Disease and Premature Death.

Depression will adversely affect  the targets health, her social relationships and her sleeping and eating habits.

Muscle Atrophy will render the target unable to move.

Heart Disease may take one of several forms, including Coronary Heart Disease, Cardiovascular Diseases and Congestive Cardiac Failure.

Cleansing the Couch Potato debuff requires the target to engage in Physical Activity. Physical Activity will increase that targets Strength, Agility and Stamina. If the Activity goes on long enough, the target will gain the Runner’s High buff, granting her a Spirit increase and a sense of remarkable well-being and power, aka King-of-the-World-syndrome. As the buff fades she will keep a feeling of happiness and being one with the world, affecting people around her and increasing their Spirit.

In a raid environment, you can’t say “yeye, I’ll run away from the boss tomorrow”, you need to do it NOW! You need to do it right away or you risk wiping the raid.

In real life, you can say “yeye, I’ll get off the couch/stop smoking/eat healthier/whatever tomorrow” and you only risk wiping yourself.

In fact, I can almost see that Skull icon hovering over my head as I write this, so I will take my body, which is already aching from a sweaty kettlebell workout two days ago after a month long hiatus, out into the sun and work on getting me that Runner’s High buff.

As I was standing in line at the local game shop late at night the day before the WotLK release (WoW geek, yes, that’s me) I had not planned on getting me a Collector’s Edition, but on an impulse I asked the cashier if there were any left when it was my turn. There were, and I bought me one.

For these extra euros (don’t remember the exact difference, about 20 euros or something I think) I got myself not only the game, but a mouse mat with the Northrend map, a hardcover dustjacket book about WoW art, a packet of the WoW trading card game and an in-game pet, Frosty the dragon.

The packet of cards contained a code for an in-game stack of Pet Snacks, which will increase my pet’s size when used.

Spectral tigers or disco balls does not interest me but I have long been thinking about getting me a Comfy Fishing Chair from E-bay, simply because it looks so awesome and because I enjoy fishing, but so far I have not yet actually purchased one.

As you probably understand by now, I am not averse to spending real life money for in-game vanity items.

So why did it make me slightly uncomfortable when I saw that Blizzard had opened a pet shop, where you could buy in-game pets for real money? 10 Euros and a Li’l KT or a Pandaren Monk would be all yours.

This pet shop is now the subject of quite a few posts on blogs and forums all over, with opinions ranging from the blackest of black to the “aww how cute!” to not caring at all but nevertheless writing about it.

I don’t really have a formed opinion yet, but I am very curious about why I feel there is a difference between dishing up 20 euros for Frosty from the Collector’s Edition and dishing up 10 euros for Li’l KT from the pet shop.

The mouse mat is good indeed, after a year’s hard gaming it is still as smooth as when I got it, and it has survived a variety of beverages and chocolates being spilt on it. I did actually leaf through the book while I waited for the game to install, and I looked through the packet of cards at the same time, but for the extra money I spent I could have bought a sweet Steel Series mouse mat that would not require a big book under it if I want to play in bed instead.

So what’s the difference?

Maybe it has something to do with the fact that I can’t really imagine how one would actually find either of the pet shop boys pets in-game.

Sure, there are many strange pets out there but they have at least a theoretical explanation of how and why they exist in the game. Most are actual animals of some kind, some are mechanical contraption presumable made by gnomes, and some are obviously highly magical residues from festivals and other world-wide events, like the Summer Spirit and Sinister Pumpkin, and my Frosty could conceivably have been found as an egg and raised with loving care by someone, his growth being halted due to his not getting enough essential dragon nutrients.

But Li’l KT and the Pandaren Monk, on the other hand, what can explain their existence in Azeroth? Are they real live pets or are they toys, magicced into life by some mad toymaker?

I read an interesting theory once in an old science fiction book, which stated that the reason most people on Earth found spiders repulsing was because spiders did not originate on Earth. Spiders were, in fact, an alien species and humans did not feel that deep-rooted common genetic bond with them as we (according to the theory) feel with other species, and instead we are repulsed by the arachnoids. Quite xenophobic a theory but being scared of the unknown or the different-looking is alas all too common.

So maybe my aversion to Li’l KT and the Pandaren Monk is just xenophobia? I don’t feel they originated within WoW and thus I dislike them?

But then, come to think of it, the Spirit of Competition, another odd pet that surfaced during last year’s Olympic’s in Beijing, is not very WoW-compliant at all with its Chinese dragon look. How can I explain the existence of this dragonling? The answer is I can’t. It is definitive not indigenous, it is not from here and yet I merrily bring it out once in a while when on a pet spree.

So I guess it boils down to the money – maybe I feel uncomfortable because buying the pet shop pets is akin to buying gold, spending real life money for virtual worth and virtual worth only, and this feels like cheating to me.

The Collector’s Edition gave me a real tangible book and trading cards, the Comfy Fishing Chair cards have a valid existence in the out of game trading card game should I want to play that, but the pet shop pets have no worth for me outside the game, they give me nothing I can hold on to when my internet goes down.

Maybe that is why Blizzard stuck the charity thingy on them, to make it possible for people like me to persuade myself that buying pets is not the same as buying gold, since it will be For A Good Cause.

I am not sure I am buying it.

The first time I understood it for what it was was when I read Phaelia’s goodbye post to the blog and WoW community some weeks ago.

The realisation that I will not be playing this game for ever. That some day I will log out and never log back in.

Ever since I started playing I have of course known that this game won’t be in my life forever, but it has been an abstract knowledge, something remote, unfixed in time and unanchored in reality, like the knowledge that I will die someday. I know I will, but not today and not tomorrow, and, come to think about it, not ever, actually.

But that day I read her post I could almost see the remote, I could almost see that day when I quit before me. For the first time I felt it was not just an abstract thing, it was a certainty.

I have played WoW for three years and I have blogged about it for a year and a half and I have spent countless hours immersed in this fictional fantasy universe.

These are not wasted hours, I have had great fun and I have met great people. I have enjoyed fiddling with macros and spell rotations and writing posts and working on different layouts for my blog. It is not something I wish undone.

But nowadays I sometimes find myself thinking that this game has lost its sparkle. I don’t want to join the QQ’ers who keep whining about the game being dumbed down, and that everything was better in the good old days, when the young people treated their elders with respect and didn’t hang out on the lawn with boomboxes, I think many aspects of the game has been greatly improved over time, but somehow it’s a bit lacklustre.

Maybe it’s just the fact that after three years it is not shiny brand new anymore, no matter how many times we get new varieties of spells and mobs and gear, the underlying game structure is the same. After levelling an alt or two (or three or four) you know the world, the fights, the tricks and the shortcuts. Sure, you find new things and new tricks, but it’s a far cry from that first time you levelled when everything was new and every step you took was a step into the unknown.

And then there’s the social part. I play with my husband a lot, instead of watching a movie or playing Trivial Pursuit we play WoW together. I’m rather shy and not big on going out a lot, so those nights when my husband is working and I am all alone I find comfort in logging in and level an alt and chat a little with my on-line friends, without having to leave the comforts of my own home. Those nights would be pretty lonely if I didn’t have this game and breaking those social ties would be hard.

Or perhaps it’s the warm sunshine on my face when I ride my bike home after a long work day, after a long grey rainy winter, that makes me increasingly reluctant to sit indoors in the darkness and hunt pixels.

Whatever the reason, I know now, really know in my heart and in my mind, that someday, sooner or later, all my accumulated gear and gold will be like dust and all my girls – my little babies! – will be like dolls in a forgotten toy cabinet.

I know now that there is a life after WoW. I wonder what it will be like.

Real life raiding! 

The bold and the brave – Kaitsja with his wife, Dalno, Portshia, Paxinarion and me and Petson – met up on the Silja Line ferry going from Stockholm to Helsinki on Friday afternoon the 20th of February to spend some afk time together. Was good to get a face to some of those voices I’ve been hearing in my head for many months now ;P

By a cunning combination of asking nicely in swedish and being more direct in finnish (chopchop! bottoms up! move along!) we secured ourselves a table at the ferry pub and started introducing ourselves to each other and discussing important things like why would anyone buy a cheap whisky just to get a coffee for free with it?

While the men were getting involved discussing the whisky questions us female raiders decided it was time to get the show started with a little pre-raid of our own. We worked our way down the ferry promenade and found a promising shop. Skillful and experienced as we are, we one-shotted the shop! It dropped loot for all of us, a pair of boots for Kai’s wife, a bag for Portshia and a very bling-bling bag for me!

(No, this is not the bag that dropped, but it’s about as bling as the one I got ;P)

You know what they say, time flies when you are having fun, and before we knew it it was time to go freshen up and get dressed for dinner.

We had all made reservations at the buffet, two hours of unlimited food and wine and beer and it was very good actually! So we ate and we drank and we talked more or less non-stop.

Somehow we managed to miss the karaoke but we did try out both the live music dance floor and the discotheque one. The first one was pretty lively and you could dance pretty much any way you wanted, the second was more or less dead but at least you got a lot of elbow room there ;P

The black jack casino raiders emerged victoriously too this night, having defeated the BJ boss against all odds! More drinks for the people!

Those winnings did seem a little less attractive the morning after though, when resurrection sickness – dry mouth and sore head – reared its ugly head. An abundant breakfast buffet helped remedy that a lot though. 

Petson had explored Helsinki before and I’m not that much of an explorer so we headed back to the cabin for a while to get us some rested bonus while Dalno, Paxi, (edit: apparently me and Petson were not the only one gathering rested bonus, see comment below!) Portshia and Kaitsja defied the sub-zero temperature and earned themselves a new achievement: 

Congratulations to them!

When the explorers returned we all teamed up for some serious buffing. Kai took us to the Zetor restaurant where we all enjoyed delicious traditional finnish food (and a lot of it! the servings were huge! Real gonna-go-chop-wood-all-day servings!) in traditional finnish surroundings. The restaurant is allegedly owned by the Leningrad Cowboys but we didn’t see any of them around.

Anyways, for starters we shared some savumuikkpurkki, which is smoked vendace in oil on toasted rye bread. Really really tasty!

For main course I had blinis with sour cream, onion, smoked reindeer and roe (yummy!) while the others had some more muikas,

and Petson, the brave soul, even dared the creamy finnish hash, also known as Dr. Feelgood’s Creamy Super Mega Unhealthy Dish.

(No wonder he was not hungry for the rest of the trip, eh?)

Mikazh joined us at the restaurant at about this time and treated us all to a mana refill – cheers!

Before we headed out again to engage and defeat the lurking shopping mobs, Kai introduced us all to another finnish delicacy, consisting of oven-baked cheese in caramelsauce and brandy-marinated arctic cloudberries. Not bad!

We had one more stop before we headed out to engage and defeat the lurking shopping mobs, the Ateljee Bar at the top of a tower hotel. The view was truly breathtaking, and we all got the ka-ching! of yet another achievement;

The view from the bar’s bathroom is equally breathtaking I hear, so if anyone plans to spend some time in such a facility this might be the place to visit. But don’t take my word for it, ask those who did spend some time there…

By this time we were overdue for some serious shop raiding, so we said our goodbyes to Mikazh and headed out our separate ways to find the rare shop mobs.

There were quite a few shop trash mobs but I successfully steamrolled through them all and finally I encountered a worthy shop boss! It put up a semblance of a fight but I pwned it with my enchanted magic card and a pair of black leather jump boots dropped for me!

Muahahha!

Heading back from the successful raid I suddenly spotted a rare shop mob lurking stealthily on a street corner! Taking a few minutes extra to stalk that one my magic card once again did the trick and the mob dropped another pair of boots for me!

Muahahahaha again!!

Before we ended our Helsinki raiding we visited the Karl Fazer Café where Kai and Dal had the best hot chocolate I’ve ever seen! Melted chocolate in a huge cup, served on a tray with whipped cream, hot milk, crushed mint chocolate, cinnamon and cardamon to mix to perfection! I was still soo stuffed from our lunch but I was really envious!

Back on the boat some of us attempted some spa raiding but were told that additional instances could not be launched, please try again later.

That night we went to the Happy Lobster, where they served the mother of all seafood platters,

although some of us went for spicy shrimp soup and rare steaks instead.

The spicy shrimp soup, although tasty, was about as spicy as a bowl of oatmeal, but informed sources told us that finnish people generally don’t like spicy food, so we guessed the soup was finnish-spicy variety and not generally spicy. Good to know for future reference.

After dinner we headed over to the karaoke bar, and suddenly all my preconceived notions of how a cruise on the Finland ferry should be turned out to be true! Damn, I felt old there! ;P

We studied the clientele for a while, sipping champagne, and then we headed over to the other nightclub, where we gambled at the black jack and danced the night away to the tunes of Frank Sinatra.

All too soon it was Sunday morning, the ferry was coming back to Stockholm and it was time for us all to say goodbye for this time =(

So, what are my impressions from this my first RL raid (was actually the 4th Ascendo Tuum RL raid, the AT gang has been in Dublin, Gothenburg and Glasgow those last two years)

• It was great! I had such a blast and I am looking forward to our next one already!
• While we were only six that could make it this time, it was pretty good actually because you got to spend a lot of time with each and every one, getting to know them a little bit more than if we had been more.
• I like the game a lot already but I am sure I will like playing even more now, because now we have some real great afk experiences that will knit us closer together.
• I was a bit worried beforehand that we might snow in on non-stop game-talk but we actually didn’t talk very much about the game at all, we talked about our families and work and hobbys and habits and dreams and past trips and travels.

So if anyone out there is trying to decide whether to join up for a real life raid or not, I can only say one thing: Do it!

I was talking to a fellow WoW-addict the other day and she told me her bottom was beginning to take on a very chair-like shape. You take me, she said, you get the chair.

I laughed, and told her to get a laptop and a wireless internet connection so she wasn’t tied to a chair (not literally ofc ;P) when playing, but could alternate between the couch, the bed, the kitchen table or wherever she’d like to play, and she could be sitting, lying semi-recumbent, or flat on her belly, or however she would like to sit/lie down/whatever.

I do this. But even when I move around a lot during my playing I still feel like my bottom is squashed, my back is like a stiff hundred-year-old, and my neck is severely vulture-like after a several-hour-long bout of WoW-ing.

And beach -08 is closing in on us real fast!

I wish I could be more like my WoW-girls, who run wherever they are going! (Well, it’s not that bad because luckily I like to exercise as well as play WoW, and although its really difficult sometimes to tear myself away from the flickering screen and go to the gym or outside for some fresh-air exercising like running or cycling, I have been doing it regularly lately.)

And I have some other tips for those who start to feel their body is failing them and is starting to object to the constant screen-staring and key-clicking.

- Remember to blink a lot. Staring at the screen all day will make your eyes go dry and blinking will keep the tear film intact on your eyes, rinsing them clean of dust particles and other irritants.

- Switch mouse hand. I always use my left hand for the mouse at work, and my right hand when I play.

- Use key bindings whenever you can instead of mouse-clicks. Macros are very handy here to save action bar space and limit the number of clicks needed to get a certain spell.

- Take occasional small breaks, 1-2 mins in your instance runs and jump around afk to get some blood flowing in your bottom and the rest of your body again. Blame the phone if nothing else works.

- Open a window and let some fresh air in. (If Mohammed can’t come to the mountain, let the mountain come to Mohammed, eh? :-)

And those times when you just stare at the screen, bored, not knowing what to do and not really feeling like doing anything, turn the computer off and go outside into the real world for a while. You will feel so much better when you come back.

It has a flashy title, Office of the Director of National Intelligence, with a .gov adress so it must be official, and it has spent a lot of RL gold (I guess) to produce a 15-page summary report on data mining.

The report outlines a few up-and-coming projects, but what I think will catch most gamers’ eyes are the Reynard Project, “a seedling effort to study the emerging phenomenon of social (particularly terrorist) dynamics in virtual worlds and large-scale online games”.

The data mining is defined as “a program involving pattern-based queries, searches or other analyses of 1 or more electronic databases” in order to ” discover or locate a predictive pattern or anomaly indicative of terrorist and criminal activity…”

Terrorists in WoW?

Of course there are, let me introduce to you mr Ganker and his friend mr Scammer. But I guess you have already encountered them several times, in various guises.

You know any other place where it is totally legit to harass and grief other people? Didn’t think so. Yeye, QQ more nuub, or whatever that kind of people say.

The relative anonymity and the lack of any real consequences really bring out the worst in so many people it seems, patterns of suspicious criminal and terrorist behaviour must be emerging all over the place.

I think the Reynard project would have had an easier time tracking decent, friendly and unselfish behavior in online games. Although it do exists, there really are a lot nice and kind people out there too, and I am really glad every time I meet one :-)