Acid for Blood

Multiple Weblogs, Inc. Profiles - Doh!

Weblogs, Inc. as many gamers know, plays host to several major gaming blogs, including Joystiq, Massively, WOW Insider, and the Fanboy range of blogs (PS3 Fanboy, etc.), as well as tech/gadget blog, Engadget. If you comment on a Weblogs, Inc. blog, you need to leave an email address, so they can send you a password. You use the password to confirm your comment and login to the site. Before they added the ability to login to the website itself, you had to confirm and enter their auto-generated password on the site each time you wanted to leave a comment. If you are commenting for the first time, a universal Weblogs, Inc. profile is created for you. You can then login and change your password to something more memorable than the randomly generated password you're initially given. You can also change your user icon and add a website.

I recently discovered that I have two Weblogs, Inc. profiles: my original profile and apparently a more recent profile I created right after they announced the site login feature. I have the password information for the newer profile so I can change whatever information I need to. Everything is cool with that one. The problem is that I don't have the password for the old profile, and is no password retrieval information in the login area. I did a search of Joystiq and Weblogs, Inc. and couldn't find a solution. I want to regain control of that old profile and use that instead of the new one, but I can't!

Has anyone discovered, by chance (or magic), how to retrieve a lost or forgotten Weblogs, Inc. password?

EDIT - 21 August 2008: Right. I found our how to retrieve one's Weblogs, Inc. password. You just need to remember which email address is associated with your profile. If you attempt to leave a comment as a new user, you will get an email confirmation and a password to verify your comment, and gain access to your profile.

Unfortunately, there is no way to change your email address or delete profiles. I think my rationale behind creating the new Weblogs, Inc. profile was based upon my preference of email address. I have a particular email address that I only use for administrative junk like this, and I didn't want to use the email address I'd originally used to comment on Joystiq and WOW Insider. Sigh. Now I remember my dilemma! If only I wasn't so damned picky. :-) All my problems would be solved if I could delete the new profile and change the email address associated with the old one.

Vexation

After I started my new job a couple of months ago, I was going to respond immediately to the bigoted, ignorant, and narrow-minded views of several people in various gaming communities. Since then I've been busy at work and at home, and frankly I haven't been in much of a mood to blog, nor have I been able to gather the mental focus to sit down and organise my thoughts on this topic until now.

When I introduced myself to the Guild Wars community, I did not discuss my personal life or my personal worldviews at all. However, after some Google searching, some people decided to take it upon themselves to bring up issues related to my personal life and ideological beliefs.  Hearsay being what it is, a few even accused me of starting these discussions about my personal life in the first place.

It made me angry that people, who know nothing about be apart from what they found through Google, targeted me with sexist, misogynistic, anti-feminist, racist, and homophobic comments.

It made me angry that people made sexist and objectifying comments about my appearance. Apparently I am supposed to welcome comments from people (I assume they are males) saying that they'd "hit it" or "tap that" because they found me attractive. Comments that reduce me to an object without agency or will are compliments, right?

It also made me angry that people made racist comments. Oh wait, fetishising me because of my race is supposed to be a positive thing as well? Get a clue, people -- it's not acceptable. It's racist and ignorant.

It made me angry that people who don't have any clue about feminism believe that feminists are a threat to their "fun". Following that line of logic, apparently sexism is fun? Eh, not so much. I find it depressing that the most basic tenet of feminism -- equality between the sexes -- should be viewed as a threat to the existing (un)acceptable behaviours in gaming communities.

While I am on the subject of feminism -- I am a feminist. So what? There are games industry women, more famous, more high-profile, and with more widespread influence, than I who identify as feminist. Feminists are out there.

It's irritating to read comments from people who mindlessly swallow all the stereotypes they've heard about feminism. Moreover, the idea that all feminists are ideologically identical is both stupid and ignorant. The main belief that all feminists hold is simply equality between the sexes. That's it. Anything beyond that depends upon the individual.

It made me angry that at least one person did not welcome the fact that I am female. It's a surprising attitude to find in 2008, but it exists. What was almost as surprising as this attitude is the fact that before and after I joined the game, the ratio of female and male Community Managers was identical. Why one would oppose maintaining the same female/male ratio is beyond me; god forbid the ratio ever be equalised at some point in the future.

It made me angry to have people speculate on and make assumptions about my sexual orientation, too. It was not acceptable for people to make the assumption that I am a lesbian, assume that I am out to everyone in my life (including work), and parade these assumptions around as fact -- publicly to the internet. News flash: being a feminist does not mean that one is a lesbian and conducting an interview with a founder of LesbianGamers.com doesn't necessarily mean that one is a lesbian either. One a sidenote, it irritates me that people continue to cling so desperately to their narrow, black and white views of sexuality and sexual orientation, assuming that if someone isn't heterosexual, they must surely be homosexual because nuances in the human condition apparently do not exist.

Furthermore, the homophobia that some people showed, after they assumed that I was a lesbian, was absolutely repulsive and apalling. There was even a comment from a homophobic "concerned parent" who was convinced that I was personally responsible for corrupting their child because some random members of the Guild Wars community decided to speculate on and discuss my sexual orientation.

Another thing that these people didn't think about or probably even care about is: what if I was a lesbian and wasn't out to everyone at work and at home? Did they even care that their comments and discussions could have an impact on my career and personal life? Not everyone in the world is equally tolerant, as evidenced by the "concerned parent" above, and unfortunately gay people often have to choose the terms under which they come out. To rob someone of that choice, regardless of the correctness of the facts, is wrong and thoughtless.

To make things perfectly clear: I am not a lesbian, but I am not not a lesbian. My sexual orientation, whatever it is, isn't something that I'd even consider discussing with the Guild Wars community at large, much less any other random gaming community.

I did know that people would do Google searches on me. I knew they would find articles I'd written, interviews I'd participted in, and so on. My blog is public, and it's not hard to link my handle to my real name. However, just because I expected some of these responses doesn't mean that sexism, homophobia, racism, or all the rest of that shit are remotely acceptable.

Some gamers really need to grow up.

P.S. -- Before someone tells me that I'm being too sensitive or that I'm too uptight and just need to get laid... News flash: I am sexed quite regularly, and yet sexism, racism, homophobia, and all the other bigoted and ignorant attitudes that fester in gaming culture still piss me off.

EDIT: 31 July 2008: Some kindly person has linked this on the forums, and I'm receiving an influx of comments. I don't know why people feel the need to resurrect discussion on a post that I wrote well over a month ago, about stuff that happened nearly four months ago. I have moved on. You should probably do the same.

Fear not. The response that I received from the bigoted members of the community has decidedly not affected the way that I approach my job. I practice the fine art of keeping my personal life separate from my professional life. This may explain why, ya know, I haven't expressed my displeasure about these bigoted members of the community in the forums.

“STFU and GTFO”

Priceless quote from a commenter on a recent Joystiq post about Gaymer.org (emphasis mine):

I'm sick of hearing about gay gamers and female gamers. When 90% of their audience is straight men, why would any developer care about any of you? I know that trying to segregate yourselves is a lame attempt at getting a bit of love from devs, but it's not going to happen. Oh sure, some indie game company is going to come along and throw a gay romance and whatever it is that women like in there games, into one of their games, and their sales will see a spike from what they'd have been without, but will you ever see Mario having homosexual relations with another man (like Toad)? No. And if you ever did, I'd be willing to give up gaming right then and there. So here is a bit of a reality check from me to you; You are not special, you aren't entitled to anything, and you really need to just STFU and GTFO.

1) If he's going to quit playing videogames just because Mario and Toad get into a relationship, then gaming culture as a whole will probably be better off without him. How childish.

2) Someone seems to be a little over-protective of their heterosexual male gamer "club". He's assuming that 90% of the gaming market is composed of straight males, but that's just not true, at least for the male bit of his assertion. Attitudes like this alienate many gamers who aren't male and who aren't heterosexual. It's just embarrassing behaviour. And people like him wonder why LGBT gamers and women gamers have formed their own online communities when they get treated this way on general gaming sites? Also, he's telling us to "STFU and GTFO". Who is being unwelcoming to whom?

3) LGBT gamers and women gamers don't want special treatment. They want to be treated without the kind of hatred and venom displayed there. The idea that some people have to speak out or even fight in order to be treated with respect is completely foreign to this person, thus he regards it as people seeking special treatment.

4) The comments to the post, as a whole, are actually pretty tame as far as homophobia goes.  I'm not excusing it, of course, I'm just saying that I've seen a lot worse. We'll see what happens tomorrow.

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Experienced Players Are Often Worth Listening To

One of my friends recently started playing World of Warcraft. He's one of those people who would rather ask someone about something instead of first searching for the information for himself in the instruction manual or on the internet. Indeed, he actively refuses to read the instruction manual.

I don't mind answering questions if the information is complex, not intuitive, or not easily found in an information resource. It's also fine if people miss some things when they read the manual. I know I have missed many details in the manual, and it's nice when people are patient with your newbie-ness. It also helps when experienced players give you advice that is not found in the instruction manuals.

He also asks questions I consider stupid/not serious, such as "How do I change my [character's] boob size?" or "How do I whore myself out?" or "How do I have sex in the game?" Questions like this irritate me, but whatever. I played along and told him to announce his intentions in General Chat.

Last week, he actually had a serious question, about selling items. Basic information, of course, can be found in the instruction manual, but I guess some people like consulting others. The conversation went something like this*:

Newbie Friend: How do I sell stuff?

Brinstar: Talk to a vendor (open the dialogue window).

NF: What vendors?

B: You know those people at the inns who sell you food and drink? You can sell stuff to them.

NF: The innkeepers?

B: Yeah, it's sometimes the innkeepers. So you talk to one of them. Then you open your bags and right-click on the item you want to sell.

For many items in World of Warcraft, selling crap ("grey" items) to merchants is fine. However, there are some items that could be sold to other players at the Auction House, fetching higher prices than selling to an NPC.

When I was a new World of Warcraft player (and I think I still have a lot to learn), I was told to download the Auctioneer Add-On. I was just told that it would help me sell stuff at the Auction House. Fair enough. Things that help are good. I deferred to the greater experience and knowledge of other WOW players, as well as their higher levels of nerdiness. I was told it would be useful, so I installed it. Though I didn't do any background reading on Auctioneer at that time, using it for the first time revealed how the Add-On worked and just how invaluable it was.

Auctioneer is a tool used to help you buy and sell items on the Auction House by taking a snapshot of current market prices for a particular item. It's extremely helpful in determining what prices you should set when you create auctions. It saves you from taking the time to scan the market manually, and saves you from making all the calculations about the prices you set for your items.

So, I told my friend:

Brinstar: You can get better prices for some items if you sell them on the AH.

Newbie Friend: AH?

B: Auction House.

NF: Ah.

B: I recommend that you download the Auctioneer add-on. It helps you determine what prices you should sell items for by telling you the current market price for goods.

NF: I don't cheat.

B: It's not a cheat. It's a tool to help you set prices for items you sell.

NF: I don't cheat!!!!

The conversation ended there because he continued to insist that he wasn't a cheater, despite my attempts to explain further what Auctioneer does.

Another MSN conversation about selling items ocurred a day or so later. He had been happily selling items to NPC vendors, which is fine and dandy. I suggested that he should be selling "green" or "blue" items on the Auction House because he would get significantly more money selling there rather than to the NPCs. He asked me how much more money he could get, and I told him that it really depended on the item and the level of demand for that item, but he would usually get more than what the computer would give him. He then told me that he had sold a few green items to NPCs.

A couple days after that, it seemed that my advice about selling items on the Auction House had finally sunk in. He sends me a message on MSN:

Newbie Friend: Okay, how do I make an auction?

Brinstar: Talk to the Auctioneer to bring up the auction panel. Navigate to the Create Auction Tab (at the bottom of the auction panel). Open your bags, and right-click on the item you would like to sell. Set your base price and the buy out price in the auction panel.

The next day, I get an IM on MSN:

Newbie Friend: How do I know what price to sell my items for at the Auction House?

*facepalm*

Brinstar: This is why I told you to download and install the Auctioneer add-on. It scans the current market price for items and helps you set your prices for when you want to sell stuff.

Newbie Friend: Is that illegal?

B: No. Blizzard has made it easy for people to create add-ons for World of Warcraft. This isn't a cheat, it's a tool to make your life easier.

*sigh* :? We'll see if he actually follows my advice.

* I'm paraphrasing these conversations because the actual conversations are more drawn-out and digressed away from WOW at times. I'm conveying the important bits of this particular topic.

Leveling Speed Theory Based on Anecdotal Evidence

Players on PvP servers level up more slowly because while out questing, they keep getting interrupted fucking ganked by players of the opposing faction all the fucking time.

I had an absolutely terrible night on WOW last night.

I was unable to find a group for Gnomeregan after trying to find one for nearly 45 minutes. I asked a group (which didn't have a Warlock), who were headed in, whether they could add me to their party, but they didn't even give me the courtesy of saying, "I'm sorry, we're full up." I joined the LookingForGroup channel, hoping this would meet with success.

Someone was looking for a tank for the dungeon, and I asked them whether they wanted a Warlock as well. I didn't get a reply at all. I asked someone else, who was also LFG-ing for the same dungeon (and the same party, I later found out), whether they'd want a Warlock, and they added me to their group. Ten seconds later, I was dropped from the party without explanation. After they spammed the LFG channel for a while, I was re-added to the group. The group leader apologised: "Ha ha I thought you were a tank, sorry!" Like I didn't tell you before that I'm a Warlock, and like you couldn't fucking Shift + click on my name in the chat window to find out my level and Class! So why did he re-add me to the party? I don't know.

Then they found a level 60 and added them to the party. This level 60 wanted everyone to pay him to run us through the dungeon. I was like, "What?" because I was surprised. Then the group leader told me, "Stop talking before you hurt yourself." What the fuck. What was going through my head was, "How much would this level 60 make us level 30-somethings pay him to make the run worth his while?" Anyway, the idea of paying for a dungeon run was distasteful. If I wanted to get run through, I would have just asked Id to run me, and he'd do it for free. I want to learn how to function in a dungeon with players of my own level. One of the players left the party because he didn't want to pay for a run. I left the party, too. I didn't give them the courtesy of a good-bye.

I was in a slightly foul mood, and didn't want to deal with people, so I decided to go to Desolace to pick up a quest I'd dropped earlier. I was only one "bar" away from level 34, and there were parts of the area that I hadn't explored yet. I was hoping to get some exploration XP on the way to the quest giver's location. After killing some monsters, I did reach level 34, so I went to Ironforge to learn new Warlock spells and get new spells for my demons.

On the flight from Desolace to the port of Theramore, I impulsively decided to leave my guild. The whole guild except for two people, including myself, is composed of alts. If no one in the guild plays except for one other person, I saw little point in membership. I don't know if I'll look for another guild.

After getting upgraded spells in Ironforge, I decided to start on some quests in Arathi Highlands. I hadn't explored much of the area, and I wanted to do that. There were also some Herbs I wanted to collect for making potions. I had visited the area a few times, and I found it to be really pretty -- almost as pretty as Pre-Searing Ascalon, but not quite. However, Arathi Highlands is also a Contested Area. Whilst it's not quite the gankfest that is Strangelthorn Vale, Horde regularly visit the area as well. I was trying to find a farm for a quest, and of course I met a few Horde. I avoided some of them, but I wasn't able to avoid all of them. I was killed a couple of times by a level ?? Horde before finally getting to the farm and completing one leg of the quest.

The next leg of the quest was in the Hillsbrad Foothills. I stopped by Southshore for a bit. In General Chat, a level 33 Warlock complained about a level 31 Horde Mage he'd killed three times, but who kept coming back. The Warlock was fed up because he was trying to do a quest, but the Mage kept coming back to fight. A level 60 went to go take care of that.

My quest required me to intercept an NPC headed to Tarren Mill, located to the north, which, as I discovered just now, is a Horde town. Right. I wish I'd known that before. Why does WOW seem to require so much meta-gaming for players to know what is going on? Fuck's sake. Is it too much to ask to be able to play a game well without having to meta quite so much? Not everyone who plays WOW is an obsessive nerd. Feeling the need to meta-game breaks what little immersion WOW offers.

Anyway, I was headed to the road near Tarren Mill to camp for that courier. The courier appeared almost suddenly, surrounded by about five level 35 guards, who all attacked me. I put my DOTs on as many as I could and Feared a few, but I was overwhelmed. I Sacrificed my Voidwalker, but I died. But at least I knew what I was up against for my next attempt at the quest.

I resurrected, buffed myself with Demon Armour, and summoned my Voidwalker. I was busy regaining Health and Mana when I saw a 31 Horde Rogue walking along the road to Tarren Mill. He was escorting some Goblins. I ran away from him, and then suddenly realised that my Voidwalker wasn't anywhere near me. I looked back, and it was attacking the Rogue. Zhar'nos was set to defensive, so it wouldn't have attacked unless someone attacked it or me. I called off my Voidwalker and tried to get away, but the Rogue turned his attention to me. He stealthed -- as if I couldn't bloody well see him with Perception (!) -- and started attacking me again.

Now, if I'd had my wits about me, and hadn't become progressively more frustrated with all the interruptions, I might have had the foresight to prepare myself, and had the focus to put up a better fight. My only thought was to get away so that I could regroup and try the quest again. I Sacrificed my Voidwalker again, giving me 30 seconds of shielding, but the Rogue was able to kill me.

Id joined me with his level 48 Night Elf Rogue shortly after I resurrected, but my mood was quite foul by this time. The Horde Rogue wasn't around, and the Horde that were about just avoided us, but my heart was no longer in the game. I decided to call it a night.

Honestly, I am so fed up with this stupid server. I just wanted to do my quests in peace. If there was some way I could move this character to a PvE server, I would seriously consider it. I'm almost tempted abandon this server and just play my Undead Warlock, Vorastrix, on her PvE server, but I would have severe regrets about the time I'd spent on Vorelisk, whom I've grown to like. Also, the server on which Vorastrix lives has a high population. My attempts to log in lately have been met with notifications that I am 253rd in the queue to get in. :? Vorastrix is relatively wealthy, having 15 gold at level 9, and all bag slots filled with 12-slot bags, so I'm hesitant to start a new character from scratch on a different server where I will be bagless and poor.

I don't know what to do. There are so many things impeding my enjoyment. As much as I try to take everything in stride, these situations frustrates me greatly from time to time. When I get frustrated like this, WOW's other flaws stand out even more starkly. It becomes difficult to remember why I enjoy playing this game.

I've never completed a dungeon where I wasn't run through. Finding a group for dungeons has always been difficult. My guild was useless for this, since 90% of the characters in that guild were alts. Hardly anyone was on, and when they were, they were off doing their own thing or of vastly different level. I'm trying to play the game properly -- not getting runs, so I can learn how to play my class better, but it's hard on a server where nearly everyone has already done the quests multiple times, and they just want the easy way through. Dungeons are supposed to be more fun and challenging than overworld quests, but so far I've never been able to complete one the right way (in a party of players who are of similar level). As a result, I don't have a good impression of dungeons in WOW.

I'm trying to avoid quests that bore me, the ones which require you to kill X number of monsters, but there are so many of those that I don't know how fast I can level without taking them. When I am on quests that I do like, the ones which require you to search and explore and speak to distant NPCs, I keep getting interrupted by the Horde.

I want to explore new areas, but my level is a big determining factor in what areas I can safely explore.

I just want to get my mount so that I can explore more efficiently, and hopefully get to the more interesting quest content, but there seem to be so many delays along that road.

Overheard in Ashenvale: One Night Elf Says to the Other

I was walking east on the road in Ashenvale and see two male Night Elves walking towards me. Nearby is the corpse of a player. It appears to be an Undead character. One of the Night Elves says to the other, "He's dead now. Let's go skull fuck him." Then they bound over to the corpse and proceed with their business.

Sorry, no punchline here.

EDIT: Now that I think about it, he could have said: "He's dead. Now let's go skull fuck him." The player didn't use punctuation or whatnot. :P

The Ideal Environment for Schadenfreude

Tara has a post about why she dislikes PvP servers in World of Warcraft:

People hunt down and kill easy marks, just because they can. Then, when those victims get to a higher level, they do the same thing. I get beat, I beat someone else. It's classic bully behavior, and it really bothers me. I'm not just talking about how annoying it is to get ganked over and over when trying to do the simplest things in game. I'm talking about what it says about people that so many of us find satisfaction in torturing and tormenting other people. They gain pleasure from wreaking havoc and making things difficult for others.

The PvP structure in WoW has created an environment where vindictiveness is encouraged and perpetuated in a continuous cycle. It brings out the worst in people. When they're a lowbie and get ganked for the first time when they're out questing, they feel angry. They want revenge. So they say to themselves, "When I'm level 60, I'm going to hunt that guy down and kill him" or "If those level 60s are wasting their time killing me, though I'm worth no Honour, I'm going to do the same to their lowbie allies. They make my gaming experience miserable, so I'm going to do the same." When they do take their revenge, when they do gank those lowbies, they derive so much glee, so much satisfaction. How is it cool to take pleasure from making others miserable?

It's irritating that this sort of behaviour isn't discouraged enough. Getting a Dishonourable Kill doesn't seem to be enough of a deterrent, since the disruptive and malicious ganking is so widespread.

EDIT: I wasn't aware of this, but apparently there is absolutely no deterrent for killing other player-characters that are "grey" (e.g. worth no Honour points). You only get a Dishonourable Kill if you kill civillian NPCs or vendors.

From the World of Warcraft FAQ:

What is a 'Dishonorable kill'?

Any NPC that is marked with the green word 'Civilian' in its tooltip is considered a 'dishonorable kill'. The 'Civilian' marking will be applied to general NPC's such as vendors and quest NPCs as the level of the player begins to exceed the level of the NPC. This means that players of the appropriate level are allowed to kill general NPC's that are considered to present a fair fight.

So this means that WoW PvP is even worse than I thought it was. So let me restate my suggestion: Getting a Dishonourable Kill Killing any player-character that is grey should be further penalised by getting a Dishonourable Kill and a loss of XP and/or money, which is then given to the victim. XP or money loss should be scaled so that you lose more if the level difference between you and the victim is greater. Maybe that would discourage people from ganking lowbies.

What would prevent a large mob of lowbie characters from ganging up on a level 60 to get Honour points? Well, I suggest that the level 60 should be grey to them. In addition, how about if you could only gain Honour by killing other player-characters within X number of levels (say 5) of your own level?

I was certainly angry when high level Horde players killed me without provocation and without the possibility of gaining Honour points. Killing me for Honour, I understand and accept; that's what you're supposed to do. Otherwise, people are just being assholes. I thought about the situation for a bit, and what this sort of behaviour said about the people behind those player-characters. Engaging in the sort of spiteful cycle of revenge that others so gleefully and thoughtlessly participate in is a dreadful practice, and paints a rather depressing picture of the people who do these things.

I am not sure that it would be fun for me if I tried to fight another player of a similar level. I accept my lack of skill and experience, and understand that it's frustrating for anyone to go up against players who have been PvP-ing for a long time and who have learned the best tactics for fighting the various different classes. It's not like I haven't fought people in Tekken who are better than me, or been outscored at DDR by people of a similar skill level. I doubt that in any potential random encounter, I would have good odds of winning because I expect the opposition to be better outfitted than me and more skilled than me. Fighting against a more skilled player, I can deal with. It means I would need to practice, to learn some tactics, to understand how fights work in WOW, etc. However, I haven't got the time to grind for uber gear, which can really make the difference in an otherwise equal fight.

I had a goal to try and make it as far as I could without killing any Horde. Obviously, I couldn't avoid meeting any Horde at all, so my participation in PvP was strictly as a non-agressor, or "victim" if you will. I know it was perhaps a stupid goal to have, playing on a PvP server, but I wanted to see how far I could make it. It was a challenge I set myself.

Unfortunately, I failed. I managed to get 3 kills because I found myself in a Battleground, not knowing how to leave before my party started killing. I was in Darnassus, checking my auctions, when some random person whispered me. He wanted me to invite him to a party and get him in the queue to Arathi Basin. Obviously, his messages were more like, "Cn u queue me in BG in AB? accept invite! Plzzz!!!" rather than actual English. He was being really persistent, and like an idiot I tried to help him out. I wanted him to stop pestering me. I was just logging in to check my auctions, geez. I had no idea what he was talking about or who to talk to for this. I happened to be on the phone with Id, so he directed me to the relevant NPCs. I got in the queue, and before I knew it, I was transported to the Arathi Basin Battleground.

I wanted to get out, but asking people how to leave the instance met with no success. "How do I leave?" I asked. My character was inside a house of some sort. Someone replied, "Just walk out. LOL." Gee thanks. I was getting more agitated. Before long the battle started, with Horde swarming all over the place. The Battlegrounds Leader was shouting at our team, calling people names, and saying stuff like, "I bet you all have grey gear!" Whatever. I didn't know what to do. I wandered out and got killed a couple of times. I logged out, but that didn't work either. I was at a loss, and this made me anxious. I made my character sit down. Finally, a guildmate happened to login, so I asked him. Apparently, I just have to type "/afk."

God, I felt like a n00b. Anyway, as a result of that, I now have 3 kills on my record. I was very disappointed that I couldn't even make it to level 30 without killing another player. While I didn't technically kill, being in a party that killed other players made me an accessory, and therefore the computer says I have 3 kills.

I know that I wasn't playing the game "right" and that on a PvP server you're "supposed" to fight the other faction. Apparently, as a Warlock, I'm supposed to be really uber at PvP and that people will expect me to fight. I knew eventually that I would probably have to kill Horde to defend myself, but I was hoping that it would be when I was level 35 or higher. I am just about to hit level 26.

I will defend myself from Horde who start a fight with me, who I can't get away from. I expect people to want to kill me, especially in Horde territory. I will not, however, start fights with players on the opposing side, even if I can gain Honour points by killing them. If a lone Horde player that is so powerful that I can't even see what level the are ("?? Level") approaches me and doesn't immediately attack, I will /wave to them or /greet them and run away. If they start to attack, and I have time before they slay me, I will either /sit or /sleep. If people think I'm stupid for being a "care bear" on a PvP server, for not totally conforming to the server's "requirements" and resisting the server's cultural environment, I don't care.

Will I call for help from allies in the area if people are ganking me and making the game difficult to play? Calling for help would perpetuate the cycle. Not calling for help makes the game extremely frustrating because of all the interruptions. If too many players are being disruptive to me time and again, I would have to call for help or else suffer. Unfortunately, I am another cog in this big PvP machine, which so effectively dredges up some rather deplorable examples of human behaviour.

Punished for Eagerness

Eleven days ago, I placed my order for the Collector's Edition of Guild Wars Nightfall on GameStop.com. This was two days after pre-orders for Nightfall became available. At the time, GameStop.com were offering the Pre-Release Bonus pack for an additional $4.99 with the purchase of the game. I checked the site just now, and they are offering the Pre-Release Bonus pack for free with the purchase of the Collector's Edition. GG, GameStop! Way to reward people for placing those orders early!

Curse You, GameStop

Right. Pissed off now. The Guild Wars: Factions Collector's Edition has been delayed. This has been known for about a week. GameStop and EB Games have been instructed to tell their customers that the CE will not be available on the 28th of April. Looking on various message boards and forums has confirmed this information. Just rang my GameStop, and I'm not guaranteed a copy because they were not provided a SKU for it. I should never have trusted them. Not only may I not get a CE, but I won't even get to play Factions on the day of release if I do manage to get my hands on a CE. They say that I can wait and see if they get any Collector's Editions in with their shipment. Yeah... No.

Now I'm looking at various online places, hoping that one will allow me to place an order for the CE. ArenaNet instructed all retailers to pull listings of the CE from their sites. I think demand has been higher than they expected. I want that Collector's Edition! eBay...?

EDIT: Right. Placed my order with CompUSA, but feeling very pessimistic about their ability to provide me with a Collector's Edition, knowing that it's possible that they may say "Sorry, we neglected to tell you that we don't have enough copies to ship to all of our customers. You are out of luck".

Well, at least I'll be able to play the Factions content from tomorrow until Sunday, because I've got the pre-order pack. I'm still pissed off that the rest of my guildmates will be playing Factions ahead of me. Yeah, I could get the standard edition, and I suppose this part is my fault because I "have" to have the Collector's Edition. *sigh*

Yes, I am complaining because I may not get what I want. So?

EDIT: After this shit, and the other shit I went through with my pre-order for Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence, I don't think I ever want to use a bricks-and-mortar store to reserve games ever again.

Objection

Last night, one of my guildmates suggested that I stop going to my table-top Dungeons & Dragons games every single week so I had more time to quest with him regularly in Guild Wars. Unlike my D&D party, he can group with Henchmen and other players. My DM will generally not use PCs as NPCs when the player is absent. This guildie didn't seem to understand that I have a group of people who rely on me to be there each week. My Rogue may not be the highest damage dealer or damage soaker in the party, but she does contribute to the team in her own way.

I have always contended that I'm not the most skilled Guild Wars player, but he seems very dependent on me to go on Missions with him. The reason I do my extracurricular Guild Wars reading is because I enjoy the game, and I like knowing how to complete Missions most efficiently. I don't mind the pressure to know the Missions and Bonus Missions in detail, to know where to go, and to lead our guild on the rare occasions that the most active members (three of us) get together to quest. However, usually it's just me and him because we live in the same time zone. To be honest, I'd rather quest with the other guildie than with him most of the time.

Bearing the weight of knowledge is totally fine, but I object to him suggesting that I sacrifice one game for another. Granted, if I spent more time doing Missions with him, I would progress as well, since we are in the same area. At one point, he progressed further than me, and now he's stalling. He dislikes the idea of joining PUGs unless I'm in the same party because he has had several frustrating experiences with randoms recently.

I would love to play Guild Wars every night of the week, but it's impossible. It's nice to feel needed, but I won't tolerate someone making demands on my free time, and putting pressure on me to quest. He says there's no pressure, but each time I log on to MSN recently he's all "Can you quest tonight?" or "Will you have time to play Guild Wars tomorrow?"

I also discussed the lack of appreciation for my contribution to the team, which he was very defensive about, saying that he expresses his gratitude by giving me money and items. If that's the case, I don't recall him offering anything to me after the Galrath quest. I have always refused to accept items from him unless he insists. I don't want gold, I just want acknowledgement. The other guildie is much better about showing her appreciation, and noting my contributions.

And I brought up the point that because our guild didn't have regular meet-ups, I felt that we didn't have unity. He interpreted this statement as an accusation that he was disloyal. Urgh.

The frustrating discussions last night have led me to the decision not to speak to him or play Guild Wars with him until I am no longer angry.

EDIT: We talked things over on the phone, and we have come to an understanding.