This is Not a Warcraft Post

Well, that's not strictly true. You'll see what I mean in a second.

Two things happened today (well actually yesterday now, but still) which have moved me a fair way out of my Blogging comfort zone. Both were my fault, can't deny that. One involved the post below being posted as a bit of lighthearted whimsy on another Internet Social Networking Site, whereby both it and me were ripped to shreds. I have no problem with this, on reflection, as I have only myself to blame. I misjudged the mood of the community and I failed to register how my comments would read in that context. I made assumptions on a very narrow and specific field of reference. Then I stupidly attempted to justify myself when I simply should have walked away. The other event came as a result of this, and involved someone who's been an Online 'friend' for several years unfriending me. I'd love to say I know why exactly he did it, I can take a guess but really that's his decision to make.

Needless to say, both fights were as a result of what I chose to write.

I learnt, a long time ago, if you don't want to be misinterpreted, say nothing. If you have something to say, then say it and stand by the courage of your convictions. Everyone has the right to be respected for their opinion: whatever it may be and however much you may personally dislike or disagree with what that is, it's still valid for them.

I don't regret anything I may have said in the last 24 hours. Yes, much of it could probably have been said better, but in the end it's what I am, and if people have a problem with that, so be it. As a writer you must be prepared to stand and fall by the words you use. I stand by what I said, and I apologise to anyone who I may have offended. I assure you, it was NOT my intention to do so.

To my now ex-friend: were we ever friends at all? Such is the way of this virtual world. You liked to be provocative, you always seemed to want to pick a fight, and when I responded finally with one you left. I think if you really cared, something as stupid as this would have simply been taken for what it is, pointless, and simply forgotten. There's a reason I don't have a thousand friends on Facebook, after all. The word for me has more than a passing significance. Yes I deserved the criticism. Pity you left just as it was getting interesting.

However one of the last points he made is one worth repeating: you shouldn't take things so seriously, and he's absolutely right. It's a collection of pixels. Never forget that. If the people matter to you, you find them outside the game. Everything else is simply a diversion.

Time to move along.

Honesty

I like Billy Joel. I am comfortable admitting this to you guys, because with nearly 200 posts under my belt, I feel I can be honest with you. Please don't hate me as a result, ok?

Anyway, I am doing some Real Life at the moment. It's stuff that, to be honest, I need to do before the year is out, and now that both my kids are doing full-time at school, it really should be sorted sooner rather than later. So, I apologise in advance if things are a little slower than usual, but this is a good time for me to stand back a bit and sort out the Things Not in Warcraft. There will still be posts, but if it goes quiet from time to time, you know why.

Having said that, I have a post coming later, once I find the kitchen table again. It was there this morning, I swear, but now seems to be covered in a Large Pile of Stuff... ^^

Question:

Sam Raimi to direct the Warcraft Movie.

YES! or NO!!!!!!!!

Well, in this space at least the Jury has retired to consider. We have the man who has just pulled together one of THE best horror movies of recent years in 'Drag Me to Hell'. It's a man whose pedigree with movie blockbusters is beyond reproach. Then I just have to say one name to you.

BRUCE CAMPBELL.

The mental image of Mr Campbell doing the Male Human dance... well, I'll just leave that with you for a moment. MmmmmMMmmmmMMMMMmmmmm.....

I'd like this to be a mix of real life and actual game footage (in a South Park stylee) I'd like to see the real world spill into Azeroth and vice versa. I'd like it to be done well and with a sense of humour.

Even though I'm not 100% sure, I think the prospect of a Warcraft movie is a heck of a lot more attractive than it was yesterday.

I mean, do I have to remind you about Mortal Kombat? Or Bob Hoskins in Super Mario Brothers... and don't get me started with Angelina and Lara...

Why?

Why do you play Warcraft?

It's a question I've been asked by many people, in the four years I have been. The answer tends to depend on a huge number of variables on any given day: in the end however it always comes back to the fact I love Azeroth. I never get bored of the landscape, the possibilities: progress and achievements notwithstanding I love to get lost sometimes: wandering around Arathi looking for mining, fishing in obscure places, simply spending some days rediscovering the simpler pleasures of questing alone. I spent a long time playing this game to begin with very early in the morning or very late at night whilst my daughter breastfed. Some days, it's just more fun to solo.

The great thing about Azeroth is that it allows a vast range of play styles and aspirations to exist simultaneously. You can have hardcore and casual existing in the same place, you can spend your tokens on heirlooms or a chef's hat, on PvP gear or mounts, all are perfectly acceptable. All it needs to work is the people around you to accept your desires. That's where the problems normally start. It's very little to do with the game and a great deal about the people who play it. Drama is a human thing, after all. The NPC's don't make it happen, the bosses don't generate it, but that lovely purple and blue (and even green) items they drop... once the humanity gets added to the equation things can get very messy, terribly fast. The flip side of course is if you find a decent and well- balanced group of people to play and hang out with, you're pretty much set for your online life.

My Guild is great in that respect. Yes, I could pull out many stories of drama and stress, it's not like we're a bunch of superhuman super-evolved mega-hyperbeings. It happens. However, what sets my bunch apart from most of the other bunches of people on my server is the fact they recognise that Azeroth is a place you visit but you don't live in. Sure, there are some people who do, but inevitably over time they come to grasp the inescapable truth that the best way to play this game is to know when to type /logout. The Open Door policy we have (which has let people back in after over a year of absence) works on the theory that everyone who takes part brings something unique and special to the mix, something no-one else really can. So, by definition no-one can ever be replaced. Long may this outlook be perpetuated by as many people as I can impress it upon ^^

I count myself as one of those people who could do occasionally with being reminded of the benefit of knowing when to stop. I have always been an obsessive type, forty plus years on the planet and I will still take things to extreme. Kids tend to help in that respect, but more importantly than that there has come in the past year or so an understanding that this kind of virtual community will play an increasingly more important part in the future of my kids and that I NEED to understand how it works, how people interact... and most importantly how Real Life has an affect on what goes on 'out there'. My son already has girlfriends giving him their screennames for any number of virtual 'gaming' communities... and he's not even nine. Azeroth will have a relevance I believe far beyond the time I spend in it, however long that may be.

I play Warcraft for a great many reasons. I've lost friends because of it. It's given me new relationships and a valuable sense of being a part of something more than simply a game. Why I keep doing it does occasionally flummox me until I realise that deep down it allows me to do whatever I want in a way I enjoy and with a measure of control I don't posses in reality. However, at the end of the day I can see the difference between what is real and what's not. I know when it's time to leave.

I do wish some days however that other people could see things as clearly as I do. More importantly, I wish some people would allow themselves the chance to enjoy the simpler things the game has to offer, without the need to be the best or have the most points or simply to be better than the person they think they need to aspire towards or beat.

It doesn't happen in reality nearly as much as I wish it would. Maybe I can hope for better in Azeroth.

Hmmmmmm

So, WoW Insider has become WoW.com. Have to say, not liking the change. They say less cluttered, I see more ads. I've NEVER been a fan of ads on sites EVER. I am aware that the Internet has the ability to generate revenue, but I've really never wanted to use it for that. It's free, baby. Or at least it should be ^^

The jury will be retiring to deliver a verdict shortly.

I've added Aspect of the Hare to my reading list. Her shot rotation for Marks Hunters has revitalised my interest in P, added to some GM comments that Marks could be on the rise with Ulduar gears. All Ulduar and Naxx 25 ranged weapons are getting a buff. Watch this space.

I'd like to apologise for the intermittent nature of posts generally in the last couple of weeks, but the kids health really is my main priority on any given day. The little girl is getting better, and hopefully this means Normal Service very soon.

The Delicate Balance

BRK 'takes a break' to concentrate on his family.

This game, like many things in life, has the capacity to be all-consuming. All too often I think people don't realise this as well, you end up sliding into a routine which is no different from any other you might have in your life. Too much of anything, whether it be gaming or drinking or the internet generally has the ability to negatively impact your life. All things in moderation really is the phrase that pays.

If (like me) you are well aware of your obsessive tendancies it's not that hard to know when you're pushing the line and to step back. I've had my moment of overexcess with Warcraft, and it has passed, and I can now slot in everything into my life without too much of a problem. It should NEVER negatively impact anyone else's lives, most especially those of your kids. We do pretty well with our two I think: both are happy, smart and NEVER suffer at the expense of our online interest. However we are both constantly reassessing where we stand on this and things will change the moment we believe that any of the far more important part of our life is being degraded.

I applaud BRK for being honest, and for apologising in public to his family. I hope he can fix the issues he has, and I hope that in the long term the WoW Community doesn't lose one of it's most entertaining commentators. I hope he can find his own delicate balance.

Shhhhhhhhh...

Our daughter is currently in an insomnia-cycle.

She goes to sleep at 9 pm.
She wakes up at midnight.
She wakes up at 2.45 am.
She wakes up at 4.55 am.
She's ready for the day at 7.30 am.

Needless to say I'm good for pretty much nothing at all. This, as you can see, is affecting the game playing (and everything else for that matter). I hope to get some much-needed kip this afternoon.

Normal service will resume at some point.

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz............

Life? Don't Talk to ME about Life...

It's pretty easy most days to see how life affects people's gameplay. I'm a fairly typical example, if truth be told: if I log and don't say anything in Guild until someone prompts me, it's a good bet I'm:

a) Not awake
b) In a mood
c) Mid-kid/house/money trauma
d) All of the above

It's easy sometimes to forget that life, however hard you try, is not excludable from Warcraft. I don't know how true this is elsewhere, but certainly I know it used to be the case back in the Golden Era of Usenet (posting 325 times a day) where you could tell the angry people. The angry ones always pressed the 'Post' button without sitting and reading back on what they'd spouted, they never thought twice about how the way they saw the World would affect other people. They never pressed 'Delete'.

In a world where there is no 'Post' button, simply everything or nothing, it is often even more surreal.

Most of the GM problems I have, if truth be told, stem back to this issue. Yes there are loot dramas and general stupidity but on any given day it's not the game that's gonna be the problem, it's what I and others can't see. I can cope with loot whoring and meleeing hunters and random afk-ing until the Taurens come home. However, when someone publicly has a breakdown, different story altogether. Mostly it's made worse because you've played with this person when they're not in full-on issue mode. Dealing with fallout, wherever you may be, is seldom pretty.

When this happens openly as well, then it just gets messy and horrendous and like some kind of Virtual Car Crash, with people scuttling to a capitol to watch the destruction unfold in ./Trade. Fortunately (touch wood) we've never had anything like that happen. However, the longer we survive (and it's coming up for four years in May) the more the potential is there.

One of the reasons why I pulled my finger out to do this blog was because the last few weeks have been particularly fraught, something which seems to have played out across the Server generally. A New Year has bought a lot: some have realised they simply play too much and need to change their habits, some have new jobs, some have realised that actually once you've done 25 man Naxx there's not that much left to get your teeth into. Flying dragons aside, the Easy Mode that Naxx has created has done a lot to make people look at themselves and the game generally, especially at the higher end. For our Server at least a great deal of people are pouring into Wintergrasp (6 x 40 man is the max I've seen on a weekend) which in turn causes it's own traumas. Lag, anyone?

What makes me most distressed, when all is said and done, is that if people just spent some time sitting down and actually telling me/Officers/friends what the problem actually was, there's be far less confusion, more openness and less problems in the long run. Most people don't find the right words, and therefore the problem is never out there for us to deal with, until it's too late and everything just spills out in a Wall of Crit.

If we could just talk to each other a bit more, things would be so much easier.