Cataclysm Screenshots

Okay! I finally fulfilled my promise. Screenshots of my goblin, Ozari. I must say, I was very impressed with the goblin starting zones. It's a story-based portion of the game, where you begin as the most popular goblin in Kezan--Your supporters want you to become the prince/princess of Kezan. But too late for that! Enter Deathwing, and the rest is a long escape/survival story, with support from the Orcs of the Horde. I wound up in Orgrimmar around level 11, quite attached to my new character, who is now at level 17.

Want to play DCUO

I want to buy DCUO... but I can't, at least not yet. I want to play WoW with Anton and Stone, but I can't. We just put in a bid for a home and will be bidding on others shortly in all likelihood. We are looking to move to the southern Silicon Valley someplace. Once I get moved and housing payments stabilize my spending power should increase. (crosses fingers) And yes, once my birthday rolls around I'm ninja-ing back my Wii and you can expect a review on Monster hunter Tri, Rune Factory Frontier, and a backlog of other games...

New Years Resolutions

Play more games.

Stop being so organized and getting stuff done.

Spend less time cleaning the house and more time being lazy and goofing off.

Eat more snacks and treats.

Gain a few pounds.

Play more games.

A present for y'all

Here's a neat taste of what improvements they have made to flash and its drawing/physiucs abilities. Enjoy!

http://www.sideroller.com/wck/

The Haul

I got a haul of games this year, and other fun toys. I've really been enjoying the old ones the most though. Icewind Dale 2 multi-player ftw! its even fun with just three people, but we had all my brothers and my sister, 6! Totally awesome strategy and lots of stupid moves and reloads :) . The games I got were Trine which is also available on PS3 and is a very decent platformer if you have at least two people to play. Very fun to be the wizard with all the physics in that one. (He can levitate stuff while the other players stand upon it) Next up were two Wii games that I haven't opened yet but look like fun. I told me sister she has until my birthday and I'm commandeering my Wii back. The games are Rune Factory Frontier (woot!) and Crystal Chronicles the Crystal Bearers (Hope its not just a lot of fighting cutscenes like most FF games during battle).

In case you didn't read his comments, here is what Anton got:

" I cheated and bought myself 6 games this week. I got Portal from Steam for $4 and a 5-game indie pack including Crayon Physics Deluxe, Max and the Magic Marker, Toki Tori, Delve Deeper, and Secret of the Magic Crystals, all for $5. Also just renewed my WoW expansion...I got my son Zelda 4 Sword Adventures which he will be playing with me in the morning, if there's any room for more excitement after all his other presents. Merry Christmas! "


Anton, Toki tori is an awesome Wiiware puzzle game. 4 swords adventures is fun sometimes... Frustrating other times when your fellow players are determined to impede your progress because they get bored or frustrated too ;) I'm waiting for a report on the other ones. Hope all our readers are having a great time!

Merry Chistmas!

Merry Christmas everybody! I'm so happy to be taking the next week off! My family is in town and we've been playing five player Icewind Dale 2 which is totally da bomb. On another tangent, I saw Tangled and liked it more than the latest Harry Potter Movie. I might begin to question my masculinity but critics and fans alike have acclaimed it to be better as well, it grossed higher and got a higher metascore (whatever that means). I still want to see Megamind though of course. How are all your Christmases going? Hope you get lots of great games!

"ur gay" -- What does that even mean?

Last night, a friend and I used World of Warcraft's dungeon finder to join a 5-man group for a dungeon. I was very impressed with everyone, and the run went perfectly smooth from start to finish. Except after the 3rd or 4th boss, they all decided to tell me "ur gay". This is the first time I've turned a whole party on me like this.

What does "ur gay" even mean?

I didn't have a retort or defense on hand. I only tried to ignore it and keep things up as usual, but they only said it more.

I thought about this a lot until it dawned on me...People are very emotional creatures. I decided that "ur gay" usually doesn't mean what the words themselves mean. It is merely a part of internet culture that for many has come to represent distaste for another person. If you look at the emotion behind the words, it's simply a way to communicate negative feelings towards another.

I tend to talk a lot, so obviously, it was either something I said, or just the excessiveness of it that set them off. Again, this is my emotion coming through...it was the first time I'd played the dungeon, so I was showing lots of enthusiasm, excitement, and friendliness as frequently as possible.

It is very tempting to retort when one insults you. I tried to think of cruel, witty things to say or do to get back at them, but that didn't seem like it would help anything. Continuing to chatter the way I like to didn't work, either. But seeing the insult as a representation of an emotion makes the statement very clear. Rather than "ur gay," they might have said, "Something you said (or Some things you said) have made me uncomfortable/upset/bothered."

Stated like this, it's far more clear how to respond. If someone is hurt by what you said, you can simply apologize, try to clear possible misunderstandings, and offer to change your behavior.

Suppose the conversation had gone like this:
"ur gay"
"Oh, I'm sorry, did something I say bother you?"
"Yeah, you're annoying"
"You mean I'm talking too much?"
"And stop using !!! all the time."
"Sorry about that...I was just excited because it's the first time I've been in this dungeon. I'll try to tone back and say things that are more relevant to beating this dungeon."

I think that could have resulted in them coming off with a much better perception of me, and they might have dropped the whole "ur gay" thing at that point.

Saying sorry is important too. People generally forgive when you apologize. And if not, you did your best to keep the experience positive for everyone.

Still...it would have tasted so sweet to just stop lending heals on that final boss *evil grin*.