Homosexuality and Homophobia in World of Warcraft

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“Hi gays,” says a player. Here’s the picture of someone saluting us with a “hi gays”.

You know, when someone includes that phrase in their salutation, I’m never quite sure how to react. When someone uses “gay” or “fag” in World of Warcraft, they typically use the word to describe a heinous action, such as ganking a lvl 3 newb at lvl 85, or the people who commit what the victim considers to be reproachful, or unacceptable behavior. With the example of the 85 pwning a lvl 3, I watched as lvl 3 toon rage-exit the game, respawn with his lvl 85, and terminate the other player. His words were as followed: “Don’t duel my lower level toon you fag.”

Within a day, I see the word replayed over and over again. It’s said in anger and in jest, but what are the repercussions of using the word as a way to belittle and berate another human being? Could it be that it instills fear of accepting homosexuality?

WTF Healer?!: How to Break Your Healer

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* BECAUSE I KNOW YOU’LAZY, CLICK ON THE LAST PICTURE.
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There Should be a Music Video about Healers and QQ from Party Members

Healing has to be the toughest part of the game. Healers are hit hardest with QQ and nerdrages, bearing the brunt of sewage spewage.

Why is this?

Understandably, there’s an edge, a certain undercurrent of anxiety, when you flag yourself as healer for a dungeon or raid. As a healer, you’re responsible for the lives of your entire team; you have power to control over who lives and who dies. Peter Parker’s grandfather had it right: with great power comes great responsibility. The question is what kind of responsibility does he mean or did he mean?

After a quick search on Thesaraus.com, which, by the way, reminds me of a dinosaur, multiple synonyms popped up that perfectly encapsulated what dynamics a healer undergoes upon entering an instance. Here are some of the words listed:

1. obligation

2.reliability

3.dependability

4.authority

5.contract

6. trust

7.burden

8. liability

9. blame

When it comes to healing, responsibility can be understood in two different lights. One, you have an obligation to keep all of your party alive; people are relying on you to keep vigilant of their health points; and two, you carry the burden of all blame if the dungeon or raid goes awry. Whether or not it’s fair, or who should share blame is up for question; but it’s fact that you, healer, will be pinned with complaints, accusation, and censure for any and all wipes (which sucks).

Human beings encourage the habit of placing blame on other people, places, or things instead of their own shortcomings. Of course, the other extreme, where you think you’re the wost and to blame for everything is just as arrogant as the previously mentioned case. As for raid/dungeon wipes,typically, it is never one person’s fault. The blame distribution for a fail group falls among party members, and if it is one’s person’s fault, that’s the exception rather than the rule.

Which, is why we earthlings are the most hilarious creature on the planet! We easily work ourselves into a pouting and tantrum-throwing degenerate, and others have a good laugh at our expense. So, ragers and victims of rage alike are necessary for the continuation of the planet. Here are some of the ways we slowly convince our healers never to heal again:

Tanks:

  • Get high and/or drunk before entering instance
  • Wear cloth and leather instead of palte to “stack stamina”
  • Wear a dress
  • Pull entire room
  • Have a 2H weapon instead of a shield
  • Treat “OOM” as an option

Random DPS person should say the following:

  • “heal me” (multiple times…perferably by the same person for maximum results)
  • “rez me” (multiple times…preferably by the same person for maximum results followed by a “KNOW YOU”RE CLASS NOOB”
  • “healer?!”
  • “heals/z?”
  • “HEALER?!”

DPS:

    • pull aggro
    • stay AFK for long time
    • DKS, wear cloth and leather
As a Group:
  • Don’t release; don’t run back of wipe
  • Treat “OOM” as an option
I’ve included below a Flow chart on how to optimize (gotta love those chessy salesperson words) your chances for healz. Enjoy!

I Can Haz Healz: Click Me: You Will Like It and You Will Thank Me For an Awesome Upload

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If you have advice or stuff you want to talk about, tell me in the comments below. :)

 

 

 

Is the Written Word a Fail for World of Warcraft Bloggers; Should We Give Up and Try Making WoW Videos?

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You created a blog to write down your thoughts, your ideas, and your opinions; you know, stuff that interests you. I’m guessing that the point was not to keep a public diary and later chastise people for peeking, but to gain an audience.

WoW youtubers have the most success in gaining a large audience. Tradechat has over 93,000 subscribers and WoWCrendor takes the lead with nearly 93,000 now 98,000 subscribers, 24,000,000 views and growing. To put it mildly, we’re talking about a large media interest that only increases over time, setting off a crescendo effect that rises up like a wave, as facebook and twitter spread their content to far corners of the earth. With that many viewers, these people are getting decently paid to play games and  make videos; enough that they don’t need a part-time job to pay the bills.

On the other hand, top Wow bloggers find themselves in a revolving door cycle as their interest in WoW decreases or increases over time. Sites are filled with broken links, or sites have moved to other URLs but somehow remain lost. I’m not saying that their content isn’t good (a lot are great) but how can it compete against youtube facetime?

The argument against my observation would probably be that you didn’t start a blog to gain a huge audience. You’re in it because writing is your passion, and you have a lot to say! I argue that, as authors, we have a voice, but a voice that is not heard by other people doesn’t make a sound.

So, how is your blog going?

No, I Don’t Like Your Totems, and NO, I Don’t Want to Touch Them

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They Say My Totems Are Too Powerful...If you get my Drift (winky face)

With the release of the Burning Crusade expansion, shamans became available for the Alliance through the Draenei, and paladins for the Horde through the Blood elves. Previously, shamans were available solely for Horde and paladins for Alliance. Shamans, as gifted warriors, are spiritual visionaries and guides for their tribes; they are immersed in the world of spirits and act as a link between the physical and metaphysical world. Wise and serene at first glance, they pose a formidable opponent when angered.

Their signature weapon, the Shaman totem, is an immobile instrument of war capable of Area of Effect spells. In a set of four, a portion possesses destructive power that deals out a small amount of damage over time. The remaining totems assist allies by refilling mana and health points.

The notion of a class ruled by a higher cosmic order enthralls our senses, and the ability to transform into spirit wolves enchants our imagination. Who doesn’t like the idea of living in a suspended reality of elves, orcs, and trolls? Now, insert a World of Warcraft Player IRL. You’ll find that the romantic cloud woven by an idealistic realm bursts asunder because boys like sex jokes. Boys like sex jokes, and some accomplish mild, subtle ones such as the example above.

As I stood near the gold mine flag in the Arathi Basin battleground, an orc shaman leered, “you like my totems?” I didn’t reply to his question, but he added the happy face with long eyes (=]) and dented smile as if to detract from his creepy attempt at a pickup line. The player proceeded to dance with another blood elf priest that was with me and left me alone to inflict his skills on somebody else. She was wearing a skank outfit, which I actually envied because my priest wears a cat lady frock.

Here’s the sexy version of the Black Mageweave set she wore:

Probably Copyrighted but have no idea

My Booty Brings All the Boys to the Yard

Honestly, wouldn’t you rather have your character’s booty hang out from her gear, while rockin’ some daisy dukes, than hidden in a frumpy bag lady skirt? Either way, she haltingly and awkwardly replied to his antics and comments about totem poles.

So here’s my point.

To all the creepers in World of Warcraft, ladies do not want to hear totem pole innuendoes; they don’t care about your totem poles, and will most definitely never want to touch your shaman’s totem poles, so don’t ask. As women socially educated to be caretakers, we will most likely give you “lol”s or awkwards “haha”s to spare your feelings, but we really don’t mean it; we just want to keep the peace and skuttle away from you as soon as possible. And if there are women who are so desperate for crumbs of affection, however slimy and demeaning, they’re probably in the no-my-husband-boyfriend-??-didn’t-beat-me-I-ran-into-the-door-what-are-you-talking-about camp. IF this is you, you know what you should be doing.

If you have your own experiences with fail totem pole pickup lines, I would love to hear it in the comments!

Agh Jesus, I Just Got Tagged by Some Naked Dude

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Thanks to the naked cowboy of World of Warcraft, Nevernude, I’m now partaking of the 66 meme phenomenon sweeping WoW bloggers (maybe other blog types? I don’t know). Here are the rules:

  • Go into your image folder
  • Open the sixth sub-folder and choose the sixth image.
  • Publish the image! (and a few words wouldn’t hurt, though I dare say I couldn’t stop a blogger from adding a few words of their own).
  • Challenge six new bloggers.
  • Link to them.

Click Me. I do something fun!

I don’t have so many photos that I have more than six folders in a folder, so I chose the sixth picture I’ve taken so far. If you do have thousands of pictures, they are probably slowing your computer waaay down, leaving you with the cray-slow, glitchy computer. For the love of unicorns and My Little Ponies, delete the sad and neglected photos!

Anyhoo, here I am waiting for the Arathi Basin battleground to open up. I arrived in the waiting pen and said “howdy” to the people already there. It was a nice group; most of them said “hi” back to me, which was awesome!

I’m going to go rogue and break some rules, so I won’t be tagging anyone.

Why? you might be wondering.

Well, I don’t feel like poking anyone to pass it along, BUT, if you want me to link your website, holler at me in the comment box below!

 

The Rogue in World of Warcraft: A Rumination On Existentialism and T-Cell Enhancement

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Them Rogues are Funny Peoplez 

Ha! Did the title catch you? You’ll find out a bit later what I mean.

Our society is one giant swirling cesspool of stress, but dying to rogues can start a good laugh on the battleground; and laughter can save your life and help you live a good one!

Nothing starts a good conversation like dying to rogues…multiple times. Everyone comes together as a team to bond over their death count from a rogue in stealth. Like hugs, rogues promote a healthy social interaction (maybe…if people don’t start pointing fingers) with fellow teammates and light-hearted laughter (sort of). And Laughter, my dear readers, boosts your immune system!

Yes, that’s right; you read correctly. According to Sigmund Freud, relief theory explains that laughter releases tension and built up “psychic energy” and can be used as a coping mechanism for anger and sadness! Friedrich Nietzsche, on the other hand, and as a deep feeling and thinking dude, theorizes that laughter is a reaction to the sense of existential loneliness and mortality that only humans feel.

Laughing increases blood flow by dilating blood vessels, reducing inflammation, and decreasing platelet clumping. It releases endorphins that relieve some physical pain, and enhances T-cell effectivesness, leading to a stronger immune system, which I just mentioned above!It has been beneficial in reducing cortisol and epinephrine  hormones.

You know what that means ladies and gents?

Yup you’ll be looking good around the middle in the bikini or speedo.

Stick around for my upcoming posts about Totem Innuendos…and something else that I forgot, but I’ll remember later.   Douchebag theory.

:)

I would love to hear your comments about rogues and your experience with them!

 

Anxiety Treatment: Be Excellent to Each Other

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Make love, not warcraft…

Lately there have been lots of posts and blogs about people buckling under loads of stress from trying to balance work and life,  about struggles in relationships and self-esteem issues, and about trying to live a life well-balanced, filled with happiness and love. This deep-seated, enduring need to have peace live and infuse our cells with serenity, calmness and grace clashes against our present reailty, causing struggles to erupt.

Instead of tranquility and predictable outcomes, life can be messy, as you all have probably experienced. Anxiety seems to be on the rise these days, ranging from mild to severe.  Medical News Today describes Generalized Anxiety Disorder, or GAD,  as  a “long-lasting anxiety and worry about nonspecific life events, objects, and situations. Sufferers expect failure and disaster to the point that it interferes with daily functions like work, school, social activities, and relationships”.

I call it falling into the deep, yawning abyss where everything seems overwhelming yet wholly un-fulfilling and empty. Everything seems unsatisfying and you can find yourself running on autopilot, experiencing robotic movement and the fuzzy mantle of a depressed system. It can be a “hole” lot of nothing.

I just want to add something that proabably will probably change your life. If you find yourself at this particular stage in life, you aren’t alone. If you’re at a place in your life where you’re on your knees under the lash of your present circumstances, you are actually very fortunate.

What the hell Pink? you may be thinking, but it’s true.

In fact, it’s good because it’s what I call the “jumping off point,” or the fork in the road. Here we have an opportunity to decide where we want to take our lives. It is the catalyst moment where things need to change, maybe not external conditions, but rather a mobilization–a call to arms if you will–of our inner strength. It’s a chance to really examine your life and see where you’re coming from, where you are now, and where you need to go.

I need to examine my life because if I  don’t get busying living, I get busy dying. I had to the learn the hard way that I can’t design the life I want if I don’t take the time to step back and look at it. Jim Rohn says it best:

If you don’t design your own life plan, chances are you’ll fall into someone else’s. And guess what they have planned for you? Not much”

In order to live, I have to keep changing and growing. That is the nature of things as Darwin has once famously said:

It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change.

Outside circumstances are always fluctuating; our internal serenity, composure and happiness should not be predicated on external conditions. I’ve learned that if I let my outsides dictate my insides, I usually fall into the if-only-X, I-would-be-happy sand trap ( I wonder what a sand trap is…). Nothing is ever perfect enough if I let my perspective wander that route. Funnily enough, everything is perfect right here, right now, good or bad.

How do I keep my cool? I focus on two things:

1. Self-improvement. I have a focus in which I play small role of something much bigger than myself. In this space, I try to make a contribution to the world, however big or small.

2. How can I help somebody else? If I’m stingy with my time, talents, and company, that’s what the world will repay me in turn. Instead of feeling sad about a lack of friends, I have to learn and practice how to be a good friend. If I want understanding, I have to understand others. If I want love, I have to give it without any strings attached. Everything should be done for free and for fun.

Don’t cry over the past, it’s gone. Don’t stress about the future, it hasn’t arrived. Live in the present and make it beautiful.