Blog Archives
Twitch TV
Twitch TV is an interesting phenomenon. When I first heard about it, I actually thought it was kind of stupid. Why would I want to go to a site and watch other people play video games, when I can be the guy who is actually playing the game! Not very voyeuristic I know, but I can watch myself playing video games and, dare I say, probably get more enjoyment out of the experience.
However, I’ve come to learn that Twitch is more than just watching the worst chatroulette ever.
It’s About Content
Blood Legion is a raiding guild that takes a raid encounters, pushes its face into the pillow, and tells it to bear down. On Twitch, you can watch them have their way with Warlords of Draenor raid encounters in beta. I haven’t raided anything but the fridge, so it’s nice to be able to see encounters like this that I would never have the opportunity to see otherwise.
It’s About Learning New Skills
The best way to learn a skill is by watching other people do it. Sure, you could do it yourself, but if you have no clue what you’re doing then you might as well be humping a doorknob. Figuring out PVP by doing it is like sticking a fork in a wall outlet. You knew it was going to hurt before you did it, but when it happened (and happened very fast) you were sprawled out on your back, halfway across the room, with smoke coiling off your body. Quick and painful is what I’m saying here.
Gold making is another skill that somehow people just can’t seem to figure out in WoW. It’s like they’re trying to figure out the square root of the letter G. They’re boggled, and after selling all their gear they have just enough cash to buy a tabard to cover their shame.
A number of gold farmers and highly skilled arena/pvp studs spend hours a day doing their thing on Twitch. Watching what they’re doing can put some coin in your pocket, or honor/conquest in your honor/conquest purse.
It’s About Meeting New People
There are some unique snowflakes out there streaming content, yo.
Sodapoppin plays WoW, League of Legends, and a little bit of Sims. But mainly he’s on WoW doing PVP, and generally engaging in good-natured dickbaggery. He’s a guy who makes gold in-game by accepting 1v1 challenges from viewers who want to kick his ass. And they pay big gold to do it too. It shows a good reflection of his character. Little bit cocky, a whole lot of entertaining.
Umren wanted to hit one million gold before WoD. He’s done it, and after watching him fly in circles for hours at a time… well you can certainly understand why he looks a little haggard in his black cowboy hat. He offers a free guide to viewers to help others make a pile of gold of their own. By mentioning this, I have also fulfilled my TGIF gold making tip for the week. Brofist!
Bajheera is a guy who I’ve spoken about on numerous occasions. He’s a top-shelf PVPer who really interacts with his community. He often involves his views by doing transmog raids with them, or battlegrounds. Those who have the chops, he’ll even do arenas with. Hit ‘im with a flex!
Kaceytron primarily plays League of Legends, but she also involves herself in WoW every once in a while. Yes, the ladies or “girl gamers” also have channels on Twitch. Many of them sit with their cleavage on full display (gotta get them subs!), and even more are harassed because DURR PRETTY GIRLS ON COMPUTER! Kaceytron is different because she actually trolls the trolls. She plays the character of elitist girl gamer, who isn’t really as “diamond” as she thinks. But she knows how to ride out the wave of horny angry boyslabs, and she’s actually kind of entertaining once you “get” her. But she usually has plenty of cleavage unleashed, which pulls the blood from the brain and therefore makes trolling the trolls that much easier for her.
Do you watch Twitch? Who are your favorite Twitch streamers?
Why I Quit World of Warcraft
(Editor’s Note — I felt I should post something regarding my absence. I could have just let the blog disappear, fade away, but I really enjoyed writing for it. I still enjoy blogging, I just do it over HERE now. But since World of Warcraft was a part of my life for so long, I felt I should give it proper closure. It’s not you, WoW, it’s me.)
See the thing is, I think I quit playing WoW long before I quit playing WoW.
I’m sure many people were (or are currently) the same way. You log in, pick your toon of choice, and do your chores. Chores can be anything you do on a housekeeping level, game-wise. For me, I would log in to my AH toon and check the mailbox. I’d gather up the gold from any sales, bundle up whatever didn’t sell, and repost it. After that, I’d bop over to my main and plant crops, then maybe run some dailies. That was it. That was my daily play sessions.
But WoW is a MMORPG. It’s flexible for different playstyles, but if you’re not personally interacting with other people you end up going through the motions, much like I did. I was a Lone Wolf player for 99% of my online gaming history. I was in guilds, I’d chat occasionally, but for the most part I just logged in and did my own thing.
Two things happened that really finished my WoW desires. The first happened when Blizzcon 2013 was announced. I was lucky enough to attend the past two Blizzcons, but the timing of them were horrible for my academic schedule. I was going to Trades School during both of those Blizzcons, and it turned out that school started the Monday after Blizzcon, two years in a row. To make matters worse, school was also a 6-8 hour drive from home.
The Sunday after Blizzcon was a nightmare for me. I would check out of my hotel at around 4am, catch a shuttle to the airport to catch my flight, get off the plane a few sleepless hours later, drive home, pack my stuff, drive another eight hours to get to the place I was staying at, unpack for the second time that day, and get ready for classes the following morning.
It was totally worth it because I got to experience something amazing with some very cool people.
This year, not only did I not have to go to school, but Blizzcon fell on my scheduled days off. No rushing to catch a flight on Sunday. I could casually fly back to my igloo the following Monday if I wanted to, giving me more time to hang out with folks from the community. It was as if Fate was finally throwing me a bone after two years of cutting my Blizzcon experience short.
Then I didn’t get a ticket. I didn’t even get the opportunity to try and buy one.
Instead of throwing me a bone, Fate dangled a carrot in front of me and yanked it away before I could take a bite, then kicked me in the balls for good measure. Twice.
Getting kicked in the balls, even metaphorically, really sucked the WoW mojo out of me. I’d kept up with the community, tried to get involved, because I felt I had people I could connect with at Blizzcon. When I realized that I wasn’t going to Blizzcon, my already dwindling motivation for playing WoW sank right to the bottom of the toilet. There would be no personal interaction. No handshakes and smiles. No conversations. No faces to go with the voices.
Then something else happened to take up my time.
WoW had always been something I would do to kill time when I had it. Instead of watching TV or surfing the Internet, I’d play WoW. I was a single guy who didn’t have much else going on, so I had plenty of “disposable time”.
Then I met a lady and my life went from World of Warcraft to World of Wowcraft.
The RL game became much more fun to play, as it tends to be when you’re grouped with the right person. In the past six months, we’ve travelled from Canada to Las Vegas twice (raiding for phat loots at the roulette table… she got the purple drops, mine were grey, stupid RNG). We’ve seen sharks and dolphins, white tigers and lions, and even a polar bear (OMG rare spawns). We’ve even checked out one of the oldest but well designed zones in the RL game, the Grand Canyon (the designers did a great job at making a giant ditch look epic). I’ve never had so much fun grouping up in my life, and when you’re in a good party where everyone clicks, you never want it to stop. That tends to pull time from things a little lower on the priority scale.
I have pretty much dropped off the WoW grid. I don’t follow WoW podcasts anymore, or check out the various sites. I have no idea what patches are dropping, or what class changes have been happening. I still keep in touch with folks on Twitter, but unless things change I’ve found another game to take up my time. That used to be WoW. Now, it’s RL, and I don’t miss the virtual reality world all that much.
I never say never. But for now I’ll say… for now.
Rokk Talk 