Category Archives: Games

My Favourite Place in WoW, Lore Musings, and More Weird Worm

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Got a few different topics today.

First, Weird Worm has published another of my articles: Eight (Bad) Ways People Talk on the Web. I believe this to be my funniest contribution to them to date. Which is to say that it may actually be funny.

Next, there is news on the WoW lore front. Blizzard has recently released the latest in its series of leader short stories: “As Our Fathers Before Us,” focusing on Baine Bloodhoof. This wasn’t the best of their stories to date, in my opinion. For one thing, it was less of a Baine Bloodhoof story and more of a story about how Hamuul Runetotem is awesome and Garrosh Hellscream is an idiot. Which is redundant, since we already know that Hamuul is awesome and that Garrosh’s IQ is about on par with that of those level one zombies that wander around the Forsaken starting area. Mostly, the story just made me miss Cairne. Sigh…

Also on the subject of lore, as someone whose favourite expansion was Wrath of the Lich King, I’ve been continuing to ponder the answer from Ask CDev that stated the Lich King never unleashed the full power of the Scourge. I assumed it must have meant Uther was right about Arthas trying to save the day and hold them back (even though that makes little if any sense), but reading the answer again, something caught my eye.

“Yes, that does also mean that Arthas and Ner’zhul were not unleashing the full force of the Scourge during their respective reigns: you are welcome to speculate on the reasons for that.”

My bolds. This means that Arthas can’t have been what was holding the Scourge back. So then the question becomes, why was Ner’zhul holding back? Initially, the threat of a sudden attack by Kil’jaeden seems like a good option, but considering he got facestomped by the Shattered Sun, it seems unlikely the Lich King would still be worried about him by the time of Wrath. Could Uther have been right, but about the wrong person? Could there have been some shred of goodness left in Ner’zhul that was holding the Scourge back? I’d certainly find that much more believable than the idea that Arthas still had some good in him.

One wonders if the Lich King wasn’t afflicted by the same lust for destruction that affects death knights (the Endless Hunger, also discussed in the Ask CDev answers), but on a much larger scale. He was, after all, created to be a weapon. Maybe he sowed destruction not because he wanted to, but because he had to.

Alas, we will likely never know the answer to these questions, but it’s fun to speculate. After all, what’s the point of being a fanboy (or fangirl) if you can’t obsess over every unanswered question? Feel free to share any theories you may have in the comments.

Finally, I recently read a post on another blog where the author discussed their favourite spot in the game. This seemed like a pretty good topic, so I’m just gonna go ahead and steal it.

Those of you not intimately familiar with me may be surprised to learn this, but I’ve been pretty heavily critical of a lot of aspects of WoW (especially prior to Wrath of the Lich King), and there are still many aspects of the game that drive me crazy. But one thing I cannot fault is the massive, beautiful, and incredibly immersive world Blizzard has created for this game. There are many places I enjoy going just to be there and soak up the atmosphere.

It’s difficult to pick any one single location as my favourite, but I think I would have to go with the Snowdrift Plains at the northern edge of the Storm Peaks. The Storm Peaks are almost certainly my favourite zone; they’re incredibly fantastical and exotic, but they also feel incredibly real, so much so that I almost feel cold just looking at the visuals. Couple this with the beautiful and haunting soundtrack and the spectacular questing, and you have a zone I couldn’t help but fall in love with.

The Snowdrift Plains are just the perfect distillation of what makes the entire zone great. Standing at the cliffs and looking north, I really do feel as if I’ve reached the edge of the world (and not just because I know the game world literally comes to a stop not much farther north). It’s such a lonely, exotic-feeling place. It’s that sense of adventure and exploring the unknown that really attracts me to fantasy in general and WoW in particular. Plus, the graphics for the drifting snow are simply beautiful. The Canadian in me can’t help but approve.

And what of you, dear reader? What is your favourite place out of the whole wide World of Warcraft? Please comment and tell me where and why.

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Gender roles in gaming + machinima awesomeness

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I’m greatly fascinated by the effect games have on our psychology and the way we interact. One thing in particular that interests me is the way games seem to blur the lines of our usual gender roles.

We’re by now all familiar with the stereotype of men playing female avatars in role-playing games, and there is a lot of truth to it. We don’t even give much thought to it anymore; it’s considered fairly normal and insignificant, at least in the circles I run in. I’m not saying it should be a big deal, but when you think about it, it’s surprising that it isn’t. It is, essentially, a form of cross-dressing. I don’t see a huge amount of difference between running around Azeroth as a female Night Elf and walking down the street in a dress.

I see nothing wrong with that, but I think most people who play these games would disagree with me. Gamers are not known for their progressive mindsets, as a general rule. Anyone who plays WoW (or, I suspect, most any other multiplayer game) will know this. Why, then, are they so happy to be virtual transvestites?

Of course, one simple answer readily presents itself: people like looking at hot girls, and most video game avatars tend to look like they came straight from the Playboy mansion. But I still think it odd people are so willing to become a hot girl, as opposed to simply seeking them out. And I don’t think this explains nearly as many guys playing women as you’d think.

Take me, for example. I play a pretty even mix of both male and female characters. I’d be lying if I said I was completely immune to the physical perfection of my female avatars, but I maintain this is not why I play them (whether you believe me is up to you). For me, it mostly comes down to variety. I try to make each of my characters as different from each as possible by spreading them across different races, classes, and factions, and gender is just another example of this. Take also female avatars that are not attractive. My father, also a WoW player, plays an Undead female, and I’m pretty sure he didn’t make her just to leer at her decomposing attributes (“Yes, they’re real! They’re not mine, but they’re real!”). So there’s a lot more going on here than just hotness.

But the blurring of gender lines is more than skin deep. I’ve often found gaming has a way of bringing out personality traits in men that are usually classified as female. Particularly fashion. As a general rule, chattering about the latest fashions is not something a lot of men are into. I’m certainly not. I couldn’t care less about clothes. Unless you stick me in a fantasy game, in which case me and my friends in the game (often also male) chatter about our new tier 11 pieces like a bunch of fashionistas gushing over the latest Gucci handbag.

My father is another good example. I’ve never known him to display any metrosexual tendencies, but put him in a fantasy RPG, and suddenly his entire universe revolves around shopping for new clothes. There are times I think he enjoys that more than the monster slaying which is supposed to be what the games are really about.

What can we take from all this? I don’t really know. I’d be tempted to say that maybe our traditional gender roles are more artificial than we realize, though that may be a bit hypocritical of me as there are many other areas in which I very much subscribe to stereotypical gender roles–sorry, but men aren’t supposed to cry.

I realize I’ve only really covered how gaming affects men here, and I apologize, but I honestly never really thought about the effects games have on women in this area. Also, I don’t have as much firsthand experience with female gamers. I’ll give some thought to it, and I would appreciate some comments (especially from female gamers) on the subject, and perhaps I’ll do another blog on that topic down the line.

Finally, on a somewhat unrelated note, I came across an awesome machinima today that I would like to share. I came to WoW late and didn’t hit 80 until Icecrown Citadel had already been released. Plus, I’m honestly not much of a raider (too lazy to rearrange my life for a game), so the end result is I never had much experience with Ulduar, and to this day I’ve yet to make it past the Keepers. Tired of failed PUGs, I decided I’d just watch the Yogg-Saron encounter on YouTube. After wading through several mindless kill videos drowning in techno music and vision-obscuring addons, I came across Ulduar: The Movie. All the parts were pretty good, but part three was the most enjoyable, especially for me, as it covered the parts I haven’t done.*

*My gamer’s pride requires me to state that I have downed Algalon–a few days ago with a full group of 85s, with me dying halfway through. I fail.

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