Technological Disappointments.

Or, how my Christmas morning plans were foiled by PC only titles.

My mother listened to my constant woes and complaints over the past few months regarding my ancient macbook, and ended up getting me a new macbook pro (with retina display!) for Christmas. Sadly(?) I knew about this marvelous gift because my mother lacks sufficient knowledge on what makes a good computer, but also because she didn't know my specific needs. Somewhat indifferent to the lack of a surprise, I ordered it and then sat with my hands in my lap waiting patiently for Christmas morning.

Pictured above: one of the many things that eventually fell into my lap.

I had grand plans for holiday gaming, you see. Until last year I was never much for computer gaming, just Minecraft really, but then I started Fallout 3 and Skyrim files on a friend's computer and, well, I've decided that I like the keyboard and mouse setup quite a bit.

My sister and her family weren't set to arrive until around noon or one o'clock Christmas Day, which left my mother and me with plenty of time to drink mimosas while watching the Doctor Who Christmas special (me, not her), and setting up my new macbook. I decided that the first order of business would be grabbing Steam and installing Fallout 3. Because nothing screams 'Christmas' like a post apocalyptic United States of America.

Something unrelated that screams 'Christmas': a ten week old springer spaniel mutt 

who wants to get his sleep on in your lap. You just say yes.

For some reason I had it in my head that Fallout 3 was PC/Mac, but all signs online point to it being PC only. Color me devastated. I sat melancholy on the couch, sipping my mimosa and watching the snow fall (all the while quite paranoid of sentient snowmen).

I have come to really enjoy the functionality of the macbook, and I have zero desire to switch to a Windows based machine in the near future. Why must companies punish me so? I've considered a Windows desktop to accompany my macbook for the sake of increased ease of access in software scenarios such as this, but no. I don't imagine that will happen.

Perhaps a dual boot is in my future.

In the meantime, I'll cry quietly while clutching my new Dalek plushie to my chest. Isn't that what you'd do with yours?

-MJ

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Wow... WoW!

Yes that's right, I am officially a World of Warcraft player.

If we're being honest here, and I hope that we are, I've always wanted to play an MMO. I've wanted to be a part of that online community because I find it fascinating! I'm not talking about the 13 year olds who can't type and call everyone a fag, I mean the other people like me who have real lives and derive great enjoyment from video games! It's nice to meet new people, even if they are online.

When World of Warcraft came out I was a fresh faced GameStop employee. It was November of 2004 and I remember it well. I was hired on for the holiday season and, more importantly, the launch of Halo 2. I would like the record to show that I don't give a fuck about Halo. We can move on now. So, I'm learning the ropes, we're prepping for Halo. I am also being prepped for Everquest II and the much spoken of World of Warcraft. It was one hell of a month.

Flash forward five and a half years (yikes) and I have yet to really *know* anything about the game. People were very consistently purchasing it at work since its release and I have been privy to the releases of The Burning Crusade and Wrath of the Lich King. There is an apparent frenzy for this game and I just got curiouser and curiouser. About two years ago I ventured into a 10 day free trial, but I didn't care for it. I think this is mostly because I didn't understand how to play the game. At this time, also, no one in my "circle" played. This is definitely a social game and I was missing that aspect in a big way. I kept getting murdered by the same Harpy over and over again, each time running back to my body only to get slayed again. "Well that wasn't fun", I thought to myself before uninstalling the trial.

In September of 2008 Warhammer: Age of Reckoning was released and I thought it would be my chance to get into an MMO. I care much more about the Warhammer universe than I do the Warcraft universe. I've played Dawn of War and I have an army of Witch Hunters for tabletop 40k. There was a pre-existing investment here. Well, no one I knew wanted to play WAR. I thought I'd be able to get past this, and I might have been able to if WAR weren't so PVP heavy. Even though I'm interested in making new "friends" over the internet, I'm not really into the idea of creating strict guild requirements and having these sort of strange online "commitments". I'm fairly wishy washy with my gaming time, I don't think I would have been a good member.

This story is going somewhere I promise.

I recently received the Netflix instant watch disc for my Wii (about time), and the first thing I did with it was start searching for instant watch content of course!

Now I had heard of The Guild before and I had a vague inkling of what it actually was, but I had never watched it. Seasons 1 and 2 are available on instant watch and I instantly watched them.

Highly entertaining! I definitely recommend them. I need to start on season 3. But the point of this is that it centers around people playing WoW. The show started to stir my curiosity and thirst to be a part of an MMO. That and about once a month Penny Arcade does a WoW comic and I swear it just makes me burn to be involved. Agh!

The final straw here happened last weekend. I was home from school visiting friends and family, and on one particular outing Jake and I went to the GameStop where I sometimes work. My fabulous friend James was on shift and he told me he started playing WoW. I looked at him incredulously (he wouldn't play WAR with me, afterall). Apparently he started playing and was running around with another friend of ours, Amanda, who has been a player for a long time.

I turned this information over in my mind a few times before starting a 10 day trial just three days ago. James sent me a recruitment thing and apparently we get more XP or something.

I love WoW! I'm pretty damn happy to say that. I'm currently trying my hardest to level up to mid 20s so I can go questing with James and Amanda. I'm level 12 right now, not bad for three days of playing if I may say so (although I really have no basis for comparison).  I am a troll mage specializing in alchemy and herbalism. I hail from Zangarmarsh, fear me!

There's a boar stuck in the canyon wall. His legs were going as though he were running. I found this to be pretty funny.

I just want to add that, under different circumstances, I would have chosen Alliance not Horde.

-MJ

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