Saturday, June 26, 2010

Confessions of an alt-aholic

Yes, the "warcraft" in "Cynicism and warcraft" refers to World of Warcraft. I've played for about two years now, and despite playing regularly and thoroughly enjoying the game, my main still hasn't reached level 80.

It's true - I'm an alt-aholic. I'd guess that over time I've had about fifty or so alts, most of which I got bored with and deleted to make way for a new race and class combination I wanted to try on that server, or on a vain attempt to force me to focus on poor, neglected Catalana (who has been level 72 for some months now). And every time I get sick of trudging around Northrend, I start a new alt.

I even have a warrior alt, a class I really have no interest in playing (I much prefer ranged attacks and magic abilities). I've had multiple paladins, warlocks, mages and druids on my account, a handful of death knights (I only like their starting area), shamans, priests and rogues. Oddly, I've only leveled a few hunters as far as level 10 or so. I say oddly, because hunter was the first class I played and is still one of my favourites.

I love starting areas. I think some of the best quests in the game happen before a character reaches level 20. I remember the pride I felt when I first killed Hogger (hey, I was a n00b, and I believed all the chatter that he was scary). I remember the thrill of fear of running Catalana through Duskwood, expecting Stitches to lurch out from behind a tree and kill my squishy little self in a few hits. Somehow, even Outlands failed to capture that.

I'm slowly breaking the cycle though. Hi, my name is KJ and I haven't created a new character in over two weeks. I even have alts higher than level 20 now, and with the amount of time I spend playing Fainne (level 39 hunter) she almost counts as a main.

Thursday, June 24, 2010

Faith in humanity: dropping

You'd think that today would be a good day for any female in Australia, regardless of her personal politics, because our first ever female Prime Minister has taken the stand (grumble grumble it's about time). But today, I'm feeling kind of down on humanity.

It's the news websites that did it, the ones that allow people to post anonymous comments about an article. Why do I even look? There lurk the dregs of humanity, the psychopathic miscreants who get pleasure from other people's pain. The pathetic little worms who want only to stir up trouble like a naughty six year old with a stick and a bull-ant nest. The fanatics who want nothing more than to clobber their beliefs into others heads (preferably, I'm sure, with a spiked mace).

The thing that gets to me is this - these maggots on the backside of humanity probably don't even have so much as an outstanding parking fine in their name. Just like you and me they're regular bored people with an ADSL connection and far too much time on their hands. Why, then, why do they write such spiteful and hateful things? I'd be willing to bet most wouldn't dare open their mouths and spew such hatred in company. What is it about the anonymity of a comments box that brings out the arsehole in so many?

What is it about this lack of accountability that tempts the nastiest of trolls? Perversely, I have a lot more respect for people who'll say such horrendous things in public, where they're accountable for their actions. The Mayor of this town is in hot water for not "giving a damn" whether or not 56 young asylum seekers have access to free soccer facilities, but she said it publicly and signed her name to it. She's accountable and she knows it, and while I don't agree with everything she said, I respect her ability to say it loud and proud and cope with the backlash.

And with every anonymous comment left on the news article quoting her, I admire her more. Grow up, commentards, and sign your name or shut up! I say down with anonymous commenting on news websites.