Saturday, January 26, 2008

So I'm Playing an MMO....

I never thought I'd play an MMO (Massively Multiplayer Online, or Majorly-Massive Obsession). I thought I'd never be able to play the game enough to justify the monthly membership fees. Well, along comes Trusty Friend Rogue Nine with Guild Wars. For this MMO, you simply buy the game(s) (there's 3 in the series, plus an expansion), install them, and play online with a few million of your favorite friends.

I had heard about people joking about World of 'Warcrack' being addictive, and never understood it. Until I started playing an MMO.

Sure, it's not an RPG game where I get to make choices that ultimately alter the world. In Star Wars: KotOR, you can be the purest halo-over-the-head Jedi, or the vilest Sith Lord, and save the galaxy or turn it into your personal dominion. Since MMOs are played by literally millions, you can't have the game world being altered every 2.3 seconds when someone beats the game. That'd be a little tough on the continuity. However, GW does manage to hook you anyway--just completing the game Nightfall is an achievement in itself, since it takes hours over 6 large areas to complete the 20 missions. Then there's the search for elite skills instead of the ordinary ones. After that is the search for perfect weapons to do the maximum damage and also look cool at the same time. Then you can redo all the missions on 'hard mode' (read, crazy-kill-you-dead-fast mode) to get another title. There are still other titles for opening up treasure chests, being lucky or unlucky, drinking, and even eating sweets (which would be my personal favorite if it weren't hard to find the chocolate bunnies and candy canes).

After several months' play and help from a host of guild mates, most of whom are crazier about this game than I am, I've managed to max a couple titles (Protector of Elona and Legendary Spearmarshal, thank you) and am well on the way to a third (Holy Lightbringer). After maxing 2 more titles after that, I'll be Kind of A Big Deal and ready to move on to something like God Among Mere Mortals. However, I'll need to play a _lot_ more before getting to that lofty title. So if you go on the Guild Wars site, I'll probably be there--whisper Alina Stormseeker and you'll likely find me.

Saturday, January 12, 2008

Geeky Mom Holidays

Happy New Year! OK, it's 12 days late, but it's the thought that counts. :) I hope you had a wonderful Christmas and New Year, and that you were able to enjoy the holidays.

What do geeky moms do on their holidays? Work. Spend lots of great time with family eating way too many things we shouldn't. Then game.

I ended up having to work both Christmas Eve and New year's Eve, and it was pretty busy both days. For some reason, everyone and their brothers, sisters, parents, children, dogs, and 5th cousins twice removed simply must come in for an eye exam on the last day of the year. This is generally to use up either insurance benefits or flex account dollars. Now, I know when they had to sign up for those plans, and it was over a year earlier, assuming they've been employed the entire year, of course. Why, then, did the thought of scheduling an eye exam not occur to them the other 364 days of the year? We actually had a guy come in at 5pm on the 31st to get an eye exam. He was surprised that we couldn't take him right then. First of all, on my planet, you're lucky to even find a doc open on New Year's Eve, much less at 5pm. However, coming in at 5pm when we close in 15 minutes and expecting an exam and glasses is either the height of arrogance or idiocy, and probably both. Needless to say, he got scheduled for another time, and maybe he'll schedule a little earlier next year, like maybe the 30th.

It was a good thing we got done at that point because I had to drive home through a snowstorm. My normal 50 minute commute (43.6 if speeding, which of course I never do) turned into 90 minute, stress-filled one. By the time i got home, I wanted nothing to do with a. people exhibiting abject stupidity or b. driving. Not like we planned on going out that night, but this geeky mom definitely was not going anywhere after that. So, we stayed home and were a very happy and geeky family that night. We enjoyed dinner together, then the kids played video games while hubby and I played Oblivion and Guild Wars respectively on our computers. We cheered when midnight struck. Then we went back to gaming into the wee hours of the New Year. There are not many geekier ways to ring in the New Year than that.