The Game Dame

Dear Badger:

You are so awesome. You are one of the reasons I keep blogging. Your endorsement got me one the front page of BotD.

It’s almost delicious enough to lure me out of my sabbatical. Almost.

I need a break from the internet. I’m sure the tubes will do fine without me for a while.

http://flickr.com/photos/darwinbell

Warning: This post contains adult language.

I will probably leave my guild over this issue. Someone used the word “rape” in guild chat today in reference to wanting to PvP against Alliance. I told him I wouldn’t tolerate that word. He said, “Geez, what’s the big deal, calm down.” I said, “It has happened to me, so I don’t find the word funny or casual. And don’t tell me to calm down, asshole.” He basically said, “Whatever,” and never apologized.

So I told the Guild Master. I felt at least I deserved an apology. (Keep in mind that this guild member is still temporary — he hasn’t been fully accepted as a member.) The GM didn’t like the guildie in particular but he defended his use of the word. “It’s very common and it’s tolerated all over WoW.” WTF?? No, it’s NOT tolerated. I asked him if people used the “N” word would he say anything to them? He said, “Personally, the word does not offend me so it wouldn’t bother me.” I said, “I make a habit of standing up for things that are right regardless of whether someone’s watching me or not.” His essential reaction was a shrug. I’m so upset that I will probably transfer Slig off the server today, not even bother to /gquit.

WTF is going on with gaming? Is it like the last stupid bastion of the Little Asshole Boys Club?? I write a post condemning domestic violence on WoW Insider and I get PASTED and some people even defend wife-beating!!?? Now I stand up against a word that should never be used lightly and *I* get lectured for being offended??? What the hell is this, the freakin’ Stone Age? AR AR ME MAN YOU WOMAN ME PULL HAIR LAUGH LOTS AND USE MY PARTS IN YOU AGAINST YOUR WILL. Are gaming men really that freaking insecure? That they have to create a little bubble around themselves so they can make gay jokes and racist jokes and jokes about violating women?

And it’s not like there aren’t any women in my guild. Most of them are wives of other players. Why are THEY not standing up against this kind of bullshit?

I should probably have waited until I calmed down to write a nice, thoughtful post on this issue. But I was far too angry to wait.  Oh my gosh, I’m so angry that I’m shaking with rage. Why are gaming women tolerating this boysclub bullshit??

Isn’t misogyny a wonderful thing? As a result of offensive comments directed at me, I’m closing comments on this post. Wanna say something? Get your own blog.

Find out what it means to me…

Leeroy Jenkins Style: …when my level 70 shaman graciously agrees to heal you & your level 52 buddies on a run through BRD. Without telling anyone that you’re going AFK, put yourself on Follow for the first 20 minutes of the instance. Better yet, follow me, making sure that your hairy Tauren butt is always in my way every time I turn around, making it impossible for me to see everyone I need to heal. When you come back, fail to drop your totems, target the right mobs, and then you and your friends laugh at me because I’m angry. Then, enjoy the fact that “at least you have chicken” when I wait for a mob pull directly on you as I Astral Recall out of there, leaving you to ponder RESPECT.

Henry Paulson Style: …when you hit level 30, ask to borrow 33 gold from me, not knowing me from Adam, even though you belong to a guild (not mine). Plead with me. Badger me at the Auction House. When I tell you to ask your guild, you say “No officers are online.” I say, “Then you’ll have to wait.” Ask me one more time and you’ll get /ignored so you can meditate on RESPECT.

Biting the Hand that Feeds You Style: …when, after hearing that I’ve been selected as the head of Inscription for our guild, and the GM has just asked everyone to send me herbs for leveling, buy out all of the low level herbs from the Auction House and then whisper me that you need more herbs for leveling Inscription yourself. While you’re out farming in the post-Echoes of Doom herb wasteland, you’ll be learning the meaning of RESPECT.

Kamikaze Style: …when a Rogue or Mage of my own faction ninjas the mob I was about to fry on the beta server and then finds himself surrounded by more than he can handle, your little green life bar begins dwindling down to nothing. You look pleadingly at me for a heal, a Lightning Bolt, anything. Even better, maybe you emote or yell, “I need healing!” Instead, I watch and scratch my big hairy Tauren butt. Maybe your RESPECT for me is in there somewhere.

Photo by Marcelo Tourne

Last night, after the monster patch Echoes of Doom downloaded, my curiosity got the better of me and I logged Slig onto Drenden for the first time since I got a beta key. (Yes, it’s been that long.) I was a tad apprehensive, thinking they might’ve gkicked me since I’d been gone so long. My first run of Kara had happened only a few days previously — during which I’d received Gloves of the Fallen Champion – so it would’ve been easy of them to assume the worst of me.

But, gosh-darnit, those Honor Guard folks lived up to their names! I’d forgotten that I’d told the GM that I wrote for WoW Insider, but he remembered and figured out the rest, even keeping me at my rank! I’d forgotten how much fun they were. They welcomed me back with open arms and much cheering.

I was shocked by two things. First, the guild had quadrupled in size! Second, I guess working for WI slants your view of things. (Ya think?!?) It was downright shocking how little everyone knew about the patch! Most people didn’t even know a patch was coming, much less what it contained. So I set about hogging the [Guild] chat by ’splaining people what was going on, what was cool, how to find their mounts, etc. Since I’d leveled Inscription on the beta realms, I became the guild’s first scribe, explaining glyphs and single-handedly borking the Drenden economy by buying out all the low-level herbs. Heh.

I didn’t do any questing, but one look at my old gear brought two reactions: (1) my TBC gear is much easier on the eyes than my Wrath gear (yoo-GLEE!), but (2) how depressing it was to see my spellpower slashed back to level 70. Sigh. My biggest insight of the night, though? The difference between beta testers and people on live realms? The QQ level. All people did on the beta was bitch, bitch, bitch, and yet here were my guildies giggling with joy at “like OMG, we’re OP now!” Quite refreshing.

Thanks for reminding me that I had some stuff still stored at Wikipages. I never liked that site but it did have a lot of information still there. I think the new wiki being on Google Sites is going to ROCK. It’s WAY frickin easy to use and resetting all this stuff up only took me a few hours this morning.

Beefing up this bad boy will be my project this week. PLEASE HELP IF YOU WANNA! All you need is a Google Account.

UPDATED TO ADD:

Here’s how you can get logged in to help out:

1. First, you need a Google Account. If you don’t have one, go here to get one.
   
2. If you already have one, you’ll need to log in. At the bottom of the Shaman Wiki home page (or any page on the wiki, really) you’ll see some tiny links. The first one says Sign In. Go there and put in your Google Account information.
3. After you sign in, you’ll see “Edit Page” and “Create new page” buttons all over the wiki where you can go nuts!

After generating interest in the shaman wiki on the Twisted Nether blogcast, I see the link to the wiki getting a bunch of clicks on my site. Wooo! Right?? 

Um, no.

This morning I discover this: ScribbleWiki is Shutting Down.

Because their hard drives failed, I can’t even load the wiki to pull its information down for transfer.

It’s completely hosed. If I want to continue this thing, I need to start over from square one. 

/cry

You can find it here. We had loads of fun! Don’t forget to leave voicemails for them and ask them questions: 206-203-4546.

Oh, and when you listen, you’ll understand the significance of this picture.

I blame BRK. Thank you!!

Goodness knows why, but Bre and Fim have invited me to be on the Twisted Nether podcast tonight. *GULP!* I hope I don’t screw up a good thing they’ve got going there. I’m so nervous — they have featured all my favorite bloggers on there and I am certainly not one of my favorite bloggers so I’m baffled by their choice. And then there’s the fact that I have a cold so I’m going to sound like a cross between Kathleen Turner and Kermit the Frog. So that should be, you know, good times. Please join us! They promised to ask me a lot of interesting questions which should, interestingly, make me sound more interesting than I am. So that should be fun! Y’all come out and play with us, ‘k?