League of Legends 101 Part 1

After a decent amount of time wanting to try playing League of Legends, I finally tried it for the first time this past weekend. One thing I’ve noticed about my gaming over the years is that I like to be introduced to video games by friends. Even if I’m interested in trying a game, it usually takes a bit of friendly encouragement to try it. League of Legends followed a similar pattern where I wanted to try it but never did on my on. Part of the reason was because the game looked decently complicated, and I knew I’d have an easier time playing the game if I had someone there to help explain it. I had thought about getting a friend to explain the game to me over vent or Skype, but I never got around to it. If I was gaming, I’d just play SC2, and I wasn’t even sure who to ask for help.

On the weekend, Overklocked Gaming hosted its second Locked IN event. The premise of the event is that you get into the LAN centre by 10pm and are required to stay until 10am. You’re not allowed in if you arrive late, and you can leave early, but you’re not allowed back in if you do. It seems strict, but I don’t think they’re actually that strict about the rules. There were a handful of people who came and went, but the majority of the gamers were there from dusk to dawn. If you’re in a city with a good LAN centre and a fun group of gaming friends, I’d definitely recommend heading down for a locked in event if you have the chance. It’s not great for your sleep schedule, but locked ins are a fun time.

There was a League of Legends tournament and a SC2 tournament at the event. I had never played LoL before but was roped into joining a team. I signed up for an account a handful of weeks ago and downloaded the program at home, but I had never used it. Clonze was sitting beside me, and he took it upon himself to teach me the game. I started off the game with the tutorial because it made sense, but after a handful of minutes, Clonze made me exit, stating that the tutorial was shit. Instead of playing through the tutorial, I was supposed to just play a real games.

Throughout the night, I played somewhere between ten and twelve games. Whatever team I was on lost every single one. Needless to say, my team did not win the tournament. I played a handful of pug games on the internet, too, two of which were with my DotA expert friend, Darthozazn. I’m not even sure if pug means the same thing in LoL as it did in WoW, but I was playing with randoms on the interwebs. Despite the fact that my team lost every game, I found the game incredibly fun minus handful of hiccups. The basics of the game are easy enough to understand, which was nice. I am miserable and clumsy at the game, but I think that I have a solid grasp of the bare basics. I am confident that with more practice and more time, I will be able to understand more in-depth aspects of the game. It’s always comforting to know that I can understand it one day even if I don’t. I am looking forward to learning more about the game and excited to play more. The only aspect of the game that I really disliked was how people refused to surrender even if you were clearly losing. When we were about the start the tournament, I was stuck in a pug game because my team refused to surrender despite our impending loss.

I’ve been out of town for the last two days but will be home early this afternoon. I have a mid-afternoon conference call to do and some work to get done, but I’d love to play some LoL later this evening. As much as I like traveling, I truly miss gaming and my computer when I’m away.

a postcard project

Postcards and mail are both on the list of things that I love. When I was younger, I used to have a number of penpals around the country. I love to send mail, and I love to receive it. Sadly, mail is a rare treat these days.

When I was in Vancouver last weekend, I bought a set of Pantone postcards from the Vancouver Art Gallery. I love art history and design, and I especially love colour. Pantone is the epitome of colour. I am now the proud owner of 100 postcards and have nothing to do with them. I had thought about putting them up on my wall, but I have decided to use them instead of using them as decorative artwork.

Who doesn’t love mail? That’s why I’ve decided to send the postcards to people on Twitter! Why not? It costs $1.84 to send a postcard anywhere in the world which is less than a cup of tea, especially one from Starbucks. I am sure people are hesitant to email me their address, but I am thankful for the ones who have. I’m excited to see the countries my mail goes to over the next few weeks. I already have 15 people to send postcards to from seven different countries.

As a writer, I think this will be a valuable exercise as well. A typical postcard says something like “The weather in [insert country name here] is lovely. Wish you were here!” As I am not going anywhere and do now know the people my postcards are going to, it will be a challenge to think of something to write. I refuse to write the same message over and over, and I will have to think of something creative to write each time. This will be quite the creative challenge. Wish me luck!

If you’d like a postcard, email your name and address to thehandsomenerdette@gmail.com! I will send the postcard anywhere in the world but cannot guarantee how long it will take or if it will even arrive.

two days left of unreality

Monday morning, my parents arrived in the gorgeous city of Vancouver for a lovely family vacation. As much as I love my parents, surviving the week is a test of my patience. Ask anyone who has moved out of their parents house what spending time with them is like and the answer is usually “I love my parents and enjoy spending time with them but…” Traveling is always a treat so I was more than happy to invite myself on my parent’s vacation. To be honest, I did invite myself on their vacation, but why would I pass up an opportunity to travel for free? They’re happy to have me along even if they won’t openly admit it. My parents are avid travelers, and this trip to Vancouver just one of many vacations the two of them will take this year.

Since arriving in town, we’ve done a handful of tourist activities. We have gone on walks, taken ferry boat rides and visited Granville Island. The food here is incredible, and we’ve eaten some great meals since arriving. Today, I took a break from spending time with my parents to enjoy the afternoon by myself. I live by myself and appreciate me time. After two straight days of hanging out with my parents, I was in need of a break. Vancouver is close to my hometown and since it’s quick trip, I do not feel desperate to run around like a mad woman absorbing as much of the city as possible. Taking a day off to relax does not seem like a bad idea. I wrote a bit in the morning, watched a bit of the Latin American Battle.net SC2 Invitational, took an afternoon nap and went for a run beside the ocean. Living no where near the coast my whole life, it was a neat experience to run along the shore. The Vancouver shore is stunning. If you ever have a chance to visit, take it!

The bad news is that the hotel room does not have internet access. The good news is that the hotel lobby has phenomenal WiFi access. I’ve been able to stay connected to the SC2 scene and keep on top of writing. Part of me feels like an addict, but I genuinely enjoy being a part of a community. My Devil Plays Protoss article on Ladder Anxiety this week has had a shocking amount of feedback on Reddit. The last time one of my articles had any comments on Reddit, it was exclusively about the fact that I am a female and that compLexity uses my photo to attract readers. It’s nice to see people comment on my content instead of my appearance. I’m a bit overwhelmed by the response, but it’s great that there are people reading my writing. I’ve been doing a tonne of writing this summer, and it feels good.

I set up camp in the hotel lobby last night to watch the GSL. Despite loving my sleep, I was determined to stay up late to watch the Swedish boys in Code A. I bought a Dr. Pepper and candy, which I regretted in the morning when my stomach was upset from the sugar I consumed. My parents have been warming up to the idea of SC2, and my dad actually asked if he could come down to the lobby and watch a game with me. He does not know much anything about SC2 at all, and he was genuinely confused about what was going on. The good news is that my dad is interested in learning more about SC2 and is willing to learn more about the game. I was disappointed to see all the Swedish boys fall to the Koreans, but I know that if these players dedicate themselves to their training, great results will come in the upcoming months. I am looking forward to cheering for SaSe, ThorZaiN and NaNiwa in the upcoming months, and I am excited to watch them develop and grow as players.

On Friday, I return home to Edmonton and back to real life after a whirlwind three weeks. I have a tonne of work to do in the upcoming weeks including freelance writing, cleaning my neglected apartment and job hunting. I have been ignoring parts of life for too long, and come this weekend, it’s time to return to the real world. While I’m in Vancouver for two more days, I might as well enjoy the last bit of time away, though, right?

“cheers to a new year and another chance for us to get it right”

Little known fact: I used to write a gaming blog. This blog, actually. After over two months of having the account registered, I took the plunge and wrote my first post in March, 2010. At the time, I was working an starter job that did not challenge me whatsoever. Coincidentally, I was also in a relationship that did not challenge me whatsoever. I felt bored, stuck and a touch useless. I needed to do something creative that gave me something to be proud of. I needed something to be proud of.

I’ve written on and off for the past 17 months. Mostly off. The last time I published a post was nearly five months ago when I was desperate to get out of bronze league. When I’ve written, I’ve linked to the posts to Facebook and the reception from my friends has always been positive. When I first started writing the blog, I loved the positive feedback, and my blog truly did give my something to be proud of. The blog title, ‘Girls Guide to Gaming,’ is the title of an introduction to video games book I’d love to write for women. I knew the blog would be entirely different than the book I might never write, but I loved the name regardless. It’s cute and catchy. I often wrote about my WoW in-game adventures, but I would write about a handful of other video game-related topics as well. When I quit my boring job for an incredibly challenging one, I was busy and lacked time to write as often as I’d like, and I fell out of the routine. As I’m writing professionally now, I can’t quite figure out what why I feel so compelled to start doing more personal writing, but I do. We’ll see how long this phase lasts.

The idea of starting an entirely new blog is tempting, but I’m quite attached to this one. There are some nostalgic older posts covering everything from my hardcore WoW raiding days to my first interactions with SC2. Plus I have the domain registered for another nine months. As I write a good amount about video games between compLexity and the GeForce Pro/Am, this blog won’t be as video game centric as it once was, but as I am much more entrenched in the video game community, it kind of will be. Instead of writing about what announcements I’m excited about from E3, I’ll write about day-to-day life. My justification to keep the same blog is that my life itself is now video game centric, and I’ll write about my gaming adventures regardless because that’s my life. I want to put some work into the blog itself and change the theme, colours, etc. but if I start writing after I change everything, it will just give me more excuses to not write.

My 24th birthday was on Thursday. My plan to do more writing could just be a symptom of a new year and the ambitious feeling that accompanies milestones. Who knows? You know how it goes, though: “It’s the New Year/my birthday/the start of the school year! I’m super ambitious and am going to be all sorts of awesome!” I love to write, though, and personal writing could help me sort through important feelings. Who am I kidding? Everyone knows I’m an emotionless bitch. Not actually. Well, sometimes. Worst case scenario is that I’ll only post one blog post every five months which is what I was already doing so no big deal. I have no idea if anyone will read my posts, what I’ll even write or where I’m going with this new personal writing kick, but let’s have some fun, shall we?

a little bit of balance

My biggest concern at the moment for improving my Starcraft2 game is balance. And I’m not talking about imbalance.

I am not professional gamer. It is not entirely impossible that one day I will have a job in the video game industry and I’d like to compete in SC2 tournaments within the next year, but I will never solely make a living playing video games. There is only so much time I can reasonably dedicate to gaming even if I’d like to spend all day, everyday behind the computer playing SC2. I have to find balance between gaming and real life, and this is going to be a solid challenge.

One parameter that I have set for myself is that if I do not work out a minimum of four times in a week, I cannot play SC2 the following week unless I skipped the gym due to illness or injury. Staying active is important to me, but it is quite easy to just skip the gym to hit the ladder. Really, what sounds more fun? Dragging my butt to the gym to workout or sitting at my computer in my pajamas and playing video games? Is that even a real question? Unfortunately, my body feel gross and I get fluffy if I don’t work out on a regular basis, and I need to ensure that I keep going regularly, even when I’d rather much be gaming. If I don’t make it to the gym my minimum number of times, I simply cannot play Starcraft the following week. I can play Warcraft3, World of Warcraft or any non-Starcraft game, and I can watch unlimited VoDs, but I cannot log into Starcraft. I think that is reasonable.

Day-to-day life requires a certain amount of upkeep, too. My job can be demanding, and I can easily be working seven days a week if work gets hectic. I live on my own, and I have laundry to do, cleaning to do and errands to run. As much as I hate to admit this, as I’ve been playing more SC2 the past week, I have been doing less cleaning, and my kitchen was a bit of an unfortunate mess until last night, and I am in dire need of clean socks. I least I have clean panties…? I don’t know if that really counts for anything. I’d also like to keep up some semblance of a social life while climbing my way to the top of the ladder.

It won’t be impossible to get better at SC2 and maintain a regular lifestyle, it will just take work and discipline. It will be a challenge. The past week, I have played at least five games a day, and even though that isn’t much, it’s a good start. I’d like to try to keep up with a minimum of five ladder matches each day, which is laughably easy to do if you’re a pro, but isn’t as easy to do when you’re not. I just do honestly want to get better and don’t want to either play too little to get better or too much to keep up with the rest of my life. It would be unfortunate if I wound up playing too little to get good.

If you’re wondering, I won the bet against SolidWolf. I did not get promoted to silver before Monday, but I have been playing higher league players, including a gold that I beat earlier this evening. When I viewed the other player’s profile, I was quite, quite excited. It’s a solid milestone for me. I’d like to get promoted before the end of the month, but who knows? I’ll be trying to play much, much more ladder matches on Saturday, but we’ll see how that goes.

“a goal without a plan is just a wish”

When I stopped playing World of Warcraft last year, my blog lost its purpose. Although I had started writing it to detail my life as a gamer, my blog became a place for me to discuss my in-game adventures, and although I did write about other games, I primarily wrote about WoW. When I transitioned out of playing my warrior and into playing Starcraft2, I found that I did not have much to write about. Starcraft2 is a phenomenal game, but as I was just a casual player trying to get better, there was no story. I would watch some Day[9], watch some VoDs and play a handful of games without much directions. I could realistically have written about it, but it would not have been interesting in the least: “today, I watched a Day[9] daily while I ate dinner and then I played three ladder games.” I now have a story to accompany my Starcraft playing and a new purpose for my blog, and I’m ready to write.

I want to get better at Starcraft2. After four months of having this goal, I finally have the time, the energy and most importantly, the support network needed to get better. It’s going to be hard work, require dedication and discipline, but it will be a grand adventure, and I can’t wait.

The most daunting part about wanting to get better at Starcraft is there are not real plans for it. When I want to get back into running shape for the summer, there are dozens of programs, articles, experts, magazines and books to turn to. There’s an infinite amount of steps I can take to get myself back in shape. Unfortunately, SC does not have the same steps and plans to get better. There are no “Bronze to Diamond in Just 10 Weeks!” or “Get to Masters in just 30 Minutes Each Day!” esports workout plans. And when you get down to it, that’s exactly what I need: an esports workout plan to get me into Starcraft shape.

It is fortunate, however, that there are loads of advice and tips on the internet to help me become a better gamer. The href=”http://www.teamliquid.net”>Team Liquid forums have an unlimited amount of information and knowledge. There are trolls and useless posts galore, but Team Liquid has helped me in the best way possible by connecting me to my local Starcraft community.

In World of Warcraft, the sense of community is immediate. You are online with hundreds of other players, and in order to play the game in even the most basic of ways, you have to interact with other people. Whether it’s in dungeons, guilds, raids or just trolling in Stormwind, you are surrounded by other WoW community members and forced to interact with them, even if you’d rather not. I have always had friends on my servers and in my guilds, and to me, WoW was always part social and part community. I have always had people to help me with my game play, and I’ve made dozens of friends through WoW.

Starcraft is different, though. When you ladder, you are playing other players, but you don’t really have to interact with them aside from “glhf,” “gg,” and the occasional unsolicited nerd rage. For the most part, games against a person on the ladder could easily be games against a computer. In order to become a part of the Starcraft community, you have to seek it out and you have to make an effort to get involved. It’s not immediate like WoW. I did interact with the Starcraft community while I was at BlizzCon, but aside from playing the odd team game with friends, I didn’t do much to get involved with the gaming community. One day in January while on the TL forums, I saw someone, kcaz, was hosting a GSL 4 finals party at his place, and I decided to go. I dragged a friend with me, and it was a great opportunity to meet local Starcraft players.

Since the GSL 4 finals party, I have been a spectator at two local tournaments and have attended two practice sessions. Easily the best local Starcraft2 player, tQArchaic, is often found in the North American Top 200 players list and truly wants to improve the local SC2 gaming quality. Every second week, he hosts a practice session for gamers to come together and improve. tQArchaic’s brother, Gofarman, is a protoss player and has been helping me as well. I have just recently become a member of the local SC2 community, but I know that they are supporting me and want to help me get better.

My newest SC2 friend is SolidWolf. He’s a protoss player working towards competing at higher levels, specifically in MLG. SolidWolf has adopted me as his SC2 student. I have been playing hard the last five days, and with his help, I am seeing serious improvements. It is great to have a coach, and it is so helpful to have someone who really wants to help me get better and will put in the time and energy to do it. Last night, the two of us played easily 10+ PvZ games where I focused on my opening build order and walling off until I got it right. I was having a bit of trouble with PvZ the past week, and I haven’t lost a single PvZ yet today. SolidWolf and I currently have a bet going that I will get promoted to Silver league by Monday. As possibly backwards as it is, he’s the one betting that I’ll be promoted when I don’t think I will be. Whoever loses buys the winner lunch, which is solid. My game has improved greatly the last week, and in the last four days, I’ve won 25 games and lost 14, which is a solid win to loss rate. Best of all, most of those players have been silver!

I plan to document my journey towards becoming a Starcraft2 Diamond League player in my blog. It will be great to have a place to discuss my goals, my plans for improvement and my hurdles, and it might be a good read, especially for those wanting to get better at SC2 themselves!

Wish me luck.

geek is: BlizzCon 2010 Recap Part 2

The opening ceremonies for BlizzCon 2010 were well-done and quite exciting. The final playable class for Diablo III, Demon Hunter, was announced as well as a DIII arena-styled PvP system. The trailer that made the Demon Hunter announcement was incredible and further proof that Blizzard should make animated movies. If you haven’t seen the trailer, watch it. No major announcements were made in regard to new games, but Chris Metzen made a phenomenal speech about geeks, and there was a great recap of the year for Blizzard. The speech was talking about what stereotypically makes a person a geek and how everyone a BlizzCon is connected with that word. It was good. Melerose got bored and left, but I stayed for the entire opener. It was informative, and the atmosphere was energetic and excited. There are live blogs who were reporting on the event, and I’m sure you can find a great recap of the opening speeches if you want to read them. I did adore Chris’ speech.

Before the opening ceremonies, I wandered around the halls for a bit to check them out and of course continued to walk around when the opening ceremonies were over. To say BlizzCon is a bit overwhelming at first is a definite understatement, and I know other first-timers were feeling the same way. To begin with, the space is huge, taking up four convention centre halls. Then you add the thousands and thousands of people at the convention, and it gets a bit crazy. Just a bit, though. To be honest, I had no idea where to start or what to do first. I was just aimlessly wandering around. The first thing you will notice is that there are huge lines for absolutely everything. Although there were some cool things to try out, such as Diablo III, Cataclysm or gaming on the world’s largest 3D television, the lines were ridiculous. I am not a huge fan of waiting and am general impatient, and I could not believe that I would have to wait in a huge line to do anything at the convention. I was a bit disappointed that everything had such a huge line, but I learned quick that I would much prefer attending panels and watching eSports games rather than trying out new things and waiting in lines. Not that I wouldn’t have loved to test out some of the new games or products, but I just did not want to spend an hour in a lineup to spend twenty minutes testing out Diablo III. I had planned on trying it out for Pelvicexam, but I didn’t – I’m sorry, Pelvs. The wait times seemed beyond ridiculous at times.

The first panel I attended was the StarCraft II: Secrets of the Masters lecture and Q & A put on by the StarCraft II Balance Team. I have decided to become more serious about gaming, specifically StarCraft. I have much work to do setting up my home still, but I am in the process of making a ‘get better at StarCraft plan.’ I will be discussing it in a later blog post, but I spent a good portion of my time at BlizzCon in the StarCraft realm which surprised me. A year ago, I would not have had anything to do with StarCraft, and this year, I am more interested in StarCraft than WoW. Don’t get me wrong, I still adore and love World of Warcraft. I just want to focus more on StarCraft. I promise that I’ll discuss this in further detail at a later date. As we all know, I’m not the best StarCraft player but what better way to start getting better than to be more active within the StarCraft realm at BlizzCon? The discussion was informative for me. I did learn some tips. The big news of that talk was that two new leagues were announced: 1. Master League, which will be the top 1-2% players in each region, and 2. Grand Master League, which will be the top 200 players in each region. The Grand Master League will be followable by all Battle.net players in all leagues, and their games and ranks will be open for all players to watch and follow.

The World of Warcraft Quests and Lore panel came after, and it was mostly a Q & A format as well. Some individuals asked the strangest questions, especially from RP server players. Chris Metzen and Alex Afrasiabi, the Lead World Designer, were the panel members. Both Chris and Alex were hilarious, especially as some of the questions were just out to lunch. My favourite response was probably to a question about the clan origin of one of the secondary orcs which went something like “He’s from the uh… um… he’s from the Blackrock clan.” The woman who asked the question followed up with “Are you sure?” to which Chris replied “Yes. It’s official. As of ten seconds ago.” Of course, as he is Chris Metzen, Sr. VP of Creative Development, what he says goes, so it’s official now. For the most part, there were a lot of “just wait for it in the next expansion” or “uh… we’re definitely working it” sarcastic responses to many of the more bizarre questions. People were asking about minute details or characters, though. Some of the more notable questions were (and of course, they are not going to be the exact wording):

Q: Is there a possibility of a Windrunner sisters reunion?
A: We’re working on it (or a variation of the sarcastic tone).

Q: Are Jaina and Thrall ever going to get married?
A: Well, I do not want to spoil it for you… but NO. You will find this out in Cataclysm, but Thrall is a traditional orc male. He finds a nice orc female and makes nice orc babies.

Q: I’m from a role playing server, and we constantly argue about some of the details such as would warlocks have their pets out in public etc. Thoughts?
A: On a typical Wednesday in Stormwind heading to the cheese shop, I would not walk in with my void walker to be greeted with ” what a cute void walker!” or whatever, but there are just some mechanics in the game like that which we cannot control because of the game play.

Q: As undead are the only class to follow the Cult of Shadow, will it ever be developed on how the other races can be shadow priests?
A: We’re working on it (or a variation of the sarcastic tone).

The live raid was after the Quest and Lore panel, and it was hilarious. Before this year’s live raid, the caster discussed how the year previous was just the raid fighting a bunch of old bosses from old raids. He said this year, however, would be different. The raid did start with fighting vanilla bosses, but instead of the old friends from Molten Core etc., the raiders were fighting super buffed bosses. The first two waves were each four vanilla bosses. The raid wiped a lot in the run. It was impromptu called “The Gates of Ogrimmar” and the premise was that all these bosses were about to attack Ogrimmar. Paragon, the top EU guild and first guild to down ICC on Heroic 25, was the guild doing the raid. Two or three of the players were live at BlizzCon and the others were in Europe playing across the pond. It would have been neat to hear what was going on in vent, but I am guessing their vent was not in English. The third wave was bosses from the Cataclysm heroics. It was neat to see, and the bosses were new and hard. The caster said at one point “I wonder how they even got ready for this raid. Did they decide to just fight every boss in World of Warcraft ever day for the past three weeks?’ Of course that did not help them on the third wave. They would not have downed any of the waves if the raid hadn’t figured out they could run back to their bodies from the cemetery. It was a bit of a gong show but fun to watch. The fourth and final wave was a variety of dragon bosses which the raid managed to down with decent ease. That was until the final boss, Deathwing, came and one shot the raid to conclude the Live Raid.

Next up on the Main Stage was the Dance and Costume contest. As mention before, I was planning to dress up in the Love is in the Air Lovely Red Dress and decided not to due to time restraints. I do not regret not dressing up because I honestly did not have time to make a costume, but I would have loved to dress up. Perhaps next year? You know I have a love of machinima movies, and I was quite excited to view the movie contest winners as well. All three were quite great, and I will be re-watching them on YouTube again. Check them out if you get a chance! Some of the costumes were intense and amazing. Some of them weren’t so intense or amazing. I’m not sure what the judging criteria was, but clearly some of the best costumes did not make the top 5. Factors such as relevance to the year’s big game (Diablo III) as well as uniqueness and interest must have been included in the criteria as well. Jay Mohr was the host for the evening and was decently funny. He is a WoW player himself, and it was neat having someone from the gaming community hosting instead of just a random comedian. The dance contest was interesting but a little bit poor. I easily could have done one of the dances and may not won but done well. The man who one did the dwarf male dance, and it was quite amazing. I left a touch early to see some of the StarCraft II games. I saw all the dances and machinimas but missed the announcement of the dance contest winners.

That night, Team Liquid hosted a StarCraft party at one of the local hotels. I had heard about it on Husky StarCraft’s YouTube channel and decided to go. Melerose and I had split up during the day, and he had gone back to the hotel hours before I left the convention for the day. For anyone going to BlizzCon 2011, one of my best tips would be do not travel in packs. There is too much to do in too little time, and no one is going to want to do the same things at all times. I was lucky to be able to travel spend time with a handful of different people, but I also did spend some time by myself and meeting new people. I attended a panel or two alone as well as the dance/costume contests alone. It was much easier than spending time doing things you didn’t want to do or forcing someone to do something they did not want to do. Getting back to the Team Liquid party, Melerose was napping when I got to the hotel room and when I asked him if he wanted to come, he said he’d rather stay in bed so I went alone. Going around alone was honestly not so bad. I do like spending time by myself and it was quite nice to have some Versailles time.

The party itself was neat. They had booked a conference room at the Doubletree Inn and turned it into a StarCraft tournament of sorts. There was no real competition but some good PvP action including games with some of the pros. I got there about 10:00pm and stayed until almost 2:00am. Some of the games were great to watch, and I love watching games with casters. If you have never watched a SC game with casters, get on it. Or a WoW arena PvP game or anything. Just do it. There was free pop and pizza, and many people brought liquor from the hotel bar, but I chose not to drink. I made two new friends during the gameplay. Fruitdealer surprised everyone by making an appearance as well as answering some questions during a quick Q & A. And for all of you who are curious, his favourite fruit is the watermelon. I felt bad for the translator when individuals tried asking long-winded questions. Sure, we get that he’s a great player and an inspiration to all, but can you just keep it simple and ask the damn question? There was a girl vs girl game that I was too shy/nervous to nominate myself to play in. Each of the girls was given a pro to coach them, and looking back, it would have been so neat. I thought I would have done poorly but honestly would have destroyed them. I’m not that bad and know my hotkeys well enough to build a decent army or cannon rush. Yay. I’m a bit disappointed that I didn’t nominate myself, but next year, I’ll be good enough to actually compete against the boys. Don’t worry about it. At the end of the night, I introduced myself to one of the SC Legacy gentlemen, SaharaDrac, who I spent most of the rest of the convention with. He is a caster, great SC2 player, and an absolute pleasure to meet. I’ve been toying with the idea of starting my own YouTube channel, but it would mostly be just me talking about the things I would write about in my blog. We’ll see.

I did not get myself to bed until nearly 3:00am. I was tired, but when I woke up at 7:00am, I was too excited for BlizzCon Day 2 to fall back asleep!

honk 4 BlizzCon: BlizzCon 2010 Recap Part 1

As I have had numerous inquiries about how BlizzCon 2010 was going throughout my trip, I will be writing and posting my trip memoir over the next handful of days. I do not know how much I’ll be writing or how many separate posts it will take me to write about my trip, but I will be trying my best to get it written as soon as possible. Girls’ Guide to Gaming has never been a blog about the most up-to-date gaming news but rather a blog about my experiences within the gaming community. If you are looking for a a recap of the news and events at BlizzCon 2010, this is not the blog to be reading. I will be recapping my experiences at the convention as a member of the gaming community and a huge Blizzard Entertainment fan.

A guildie from my I Gank days, Melerose, and I went to BlizzCon together. The original plan was for the two of us to go with Atticusi and Damier, but in the end, the two of us landed up going without them. Of course, I missed both of them during the trip, but what can you do? The trip from my apartment door to the door of my hotel room took nearly twelve hours and included too many hours on a packed bus with screaming children. You know how traveling days are. As Melerose and I were walking to what would be our home for the next week, we passed a car that had ‘HONK 4 BLIZZCON’ written on the back window, and it hit me that we were going to BlizzCon! I squealed, which I seemed to do a decent amount of this trip, and took a picture before the rain washed the sign away. I was not sure if this was creepy or not, but I decided to write a note to leave on the car’s windshield introducing myself and telling the party to introduce themselves if they felt inclined. I felt a bit awkward doing it, but what was the worst that could happen? No, wait. Don’t answer that question. The next morning when the rain had died down, I slipped the note under the car’s windshield wipers before Melerose and I went to Downtown Los Angeles for the day.

When we returned home hours later, I was disappointed that there was no note or anything taped to our door and assumed they thought we were obviously creepers, but Melerose quickly pointed out the note written on our hotel room window saying to come visit their hotel room. I was quite excited, and we headed over to their room nearly right away. There were three friends staying in the room, two of them who came out to dinner with us.

Time and time again, I am constantly surprised at how quickly WoW players, and gamers in general, click with each other. I am sure not every player gets along, but from my experiences meeting other players, there is never a lull in conversation and there is always an instant connection. Plus gamers are generally quite friendly. Players love their games, and it is incredible to have this instant connection with another person. Needless to say, the conversation at dinner flowed effortlessly, and upon return to the hotel, we joined another group of players in their hotel room. It was a bit of a gong show, people and laptops everywhere, but it was great to meet new players, especially Degan, who Melerose and I spent a decent amount of time with during the trip. Degan and his brother are WoW players from New York, and they were meeting up with some of their core guild members for the first time at BlizzCon.

The day before the convention, Melerose and I went to Disneyland for the first time. and we ended up meeting with Degan and his group later in the day. While the two of us went around Anaheim and Disneyland, Melerose and I placed odds on people and groups of their likelihood to be attending BlizzCon. Some individuals, ie. the girl with the Horde tattoo or the man in the Alliance shirt, could be easily placed at 100% but other people were harder to place percentages on. Sure it was stereotyping geeks a bit, but it was a little bit of fun. When we met up with Degan’s guild, we all clicked instantly and had plenty to talk about. The lot of us had fairly little in common outside of the game. For example, the guild master was a sports broadcaster for a Texas radio station, in love with football. I honestly have little interest in most sports, and I doubt he has much interest in my love of the fashion industry and Cosmopolitain. We clicked instantly, though, because of our shared love and passion for the World of Warcraft. It’s connection is neat and something all gamers need to experience. When the park closed for the day, we all headed back to our hotels and got ready for the first taste of the BlizzCon 2010 experience. I was beyond stoked!

My first mistake was most likely wearing a dress to the BlizzCon pre-registration. It was nothing fancy or particularly impressive, but I have never held so much aggro from the men around me. It was ridiculous and a bit of a shocking experience. For the most part, there were men that just stared at me, but there were some men who were quite vocal about getting my attention. While I was walking to the Hilton from the Anaheim Convention Centre, one man said in the typical hitting on you tone “I want to join your guild!” Not being shy or reserved, I turned around and much to his surprise, introduced myself. I don’t remember his name and did not run into him again, but he was quite keen on getting my number if he saw me at the convention. Even at the Hilton hotel while standing around with one of my university friends, men were introducing themselves to me. It was kind of surreal at times. If any readers decide to go to BlizzCon 2011 or even 2012 and so on, do your best to make it to the pre-registration. It was a quick process, and I am sure much faster than waiting in line the next morning. It took the group of us less than twenty minutes to get our swag bags and illustrious name badges. I was so thrilled to get my name badge that I was half considering sleeping with it on but didn’t in fears of a) wrecking the pass or b) strangling myself. The swag bag contents had been leaked by WoWhead.com earlier in the week so I was not surprised to find a mini-Deathwing, Deathling, statue as well as a limited edition authenticator and a handful of other items. I had no authenticator previously and do plan on using my new one when I get back home. The Deathling will be joining my limited edition boxes on top of my kitchen cabinets as long as it is still visible. If not, I’m not 100% sure were it will be going. I’ll find a place, though.

The rest of the evening was spent eating and drinking. Melerose and I returned to our rooms around 1:00am to get some sleep before the official start of BlizzCon 2010! I was worried that I would be too excited to sleep, but I slept well the entire trip and Thursday night was no exception. When we woke up in the morning, we slowly got ready for our day, and I was incredibly giddy for what the day had in store. I wasn’t sure what time we had to be in line, but I overheard some people outside our room discussing BlizzCon 2011, and I poked my head out to ask about when we should line up. The answer was “people are already lining up,” which resulted in Melerose and I scrambling to finish getting ready and to eat so we could get to the convention centre. After a quick bite to eat, we went to get in line and of course, I was even more excited. There were thousands of people in line, and I could not wait to get inside. The two of us spent some time in line talking with the woman who is married to the man responsible for approving the World of Warcraft trading cards. Looking back on the BlizzCon experience, the best part of the trip was meeting people and networking on the trip. I am shy and introverted, but I come to BlizzCon with the intention of meeting people and being outgoing. It was a bit of a challenge, but it paid off. I met some incredible people, and I will write more on the in the next post.

After what seemed like hours in line, we were finally able to get into the doors. BlizzCon 2010 had officially begun!

let’s just rush

I am in love with StarCaft. This isn’t just a crush or lust. This is real, heart pounding, breathtaking, obsessive love. I won’t be writing about my love of StarCraft tonight, though.

Discussing the midnight launch is a bit irrelevant two months late, but I’m going to write about it anyways.

The midnight launch similar to the WotLK launch except a bit warmer. I dressed much warmer this time and was a much happier camper. Threebetlife, Dramamine and I stood in line together, but Cobrak was also in attendance but with his friends, earlier in line. Launches are a bit of excitement, and I like the thought that every person in line is waiting for and anticipating the same thing. You are just standing in a line, but the energy is different. I am planning on going to the Cataclysm midnight launch this winter, too, but something tells me that it’s weather permitting. The WotLK lineup was during a mild November, and I was cold and grumpy. The next launch is expected to be even later into the winter, even though Blizzard has yet to give an official date for the release.

For whatever reason, I landed up getting the Collector’s Edition. I’m not quite sure how it happened, but it was late, I was tired and the Best Buy employee came around with the vouchers for the Collector’s Edition, asked me if I wanted one and for some reason I said yes. I would have bought the WotLK Collector’s Edition when it was launched, but I was a student and couldn’t justify the extra $50 or so. This time around, I’m a working woman (I know that sounds bad), and I can afford the collector’s edition. Besides, I’m spending how much to go to Blizzcon. We all know how much money I’m willing to sink into the Blizzard Entertainment franchise. The Collector’s Edition box also makes for a great home decor piece.

About a month ago, I moved out of my parent’s basement. Shocking, I know. I’ve been consumed by and focused on my move and setting up my place that I haven’t even given a second thought to my blog. That’s a lie. I have honestly been thinking about my blog and updating, but I have been too busy buying lamps and kitchen gadgets to have the energy to write a blog post. It’s been such a while since my last post that I’m awkward about writing and posting a new one, but it’s a start and will get me back into the habit of writing. I do have plenty to write about from the fun with my 3s team to my minimal but growing excitement for Blizzcon.

Speaking of Blizzcon, I will be leaving for California in less than three weeks. I would love to say that I’m excited, but I am so focused on work right now that it doesn’t even feel like I’m going anywhere that soon. I did just watch the Virtual Ticket commercial and am getting a bit more exciting for going. I was planning on making a costume, but I’ve changed my mind. I was determined to make a Lovely Red Dress to wear at Blizzcon, but I’ve changed my mind. I know that I’d look hot in it and get attention, but I just don’t have the time or energy to make it. Plus, have you seen the costumes people wear to Blizzcon. They are so intense. My costume would not have been able to compete at all. I would have loved to have the time and effort to make an epic costume, but not only would that be a lot of work, I would really have no way to get it to California. At least the Lovely Red Dress would have been easy to pack, but it’s a good idea if I decide to go to Blizzcon again. Let’s just see how this year’s convention goes first before I start planning my costume for 2011.

I am excited to buy some amazing items for my new place while at Blizzcon. I have a nerdy/geek theme for my pad, which I’ll have to dedicate a blog post to in the future. No one has been surprised by that theme. I have been collecting choice nerdy items like the Portal Weighted Companion Cube Plushes for pillows for my granite couch which I’ll be pairing with baby pink throw pillows. I think that it will be super cute. I could easily spend thousands of dollars at ThinkGeek.com, but I’m limiting myself to an order every couple of months. One item I do really want for my place is the Asteroids Wall Decals. I need to see where everything else in my place fits, though. There are a handful of items at the Blizzard Store that I’ve been eying, and I’m hoping to pick up one or two while I’m at Blizzcon.

Regardless of how all over the place this post is, I am going to publish it. Step one to getting back into the routine of regular updates is just pushing the publish button, right?

Midsummer blahs and seasonal gaming

I gave up. After half a year’s worth of What a Long, Strange Trip It’s Been achievement mashing, I gave up on the Midsummer Fire Festival. I’m not sure if it’s the fact that it’s summer, the fact that I’m a little over WoW, or the fact that I just couldn’t be bothered to spend that much time between flight points, but I didn’t do any of the achievements. It will take another year if I decide I want my Violet Proto-Drake, but honestly, I just don’t care at this point.

Summer is an awkward time for gamers, or maybe it’s just an awkward time for me as a gamer. This statement, though, would apply more to gamers in climates where there are more defined seasons, I can only assume, if this isn’t just a Versailles thing but something other gamers experience as well. I live in a climate that has long, harsh winters, and once summer rolls around, there’s a pressure to get out and enjoy the sun! It’s not that I don’t love spending time outside, and it’s not like I don’t spend time outside because I do, but I don’t like the pressure I feel that I have to spend time outside. Some days, all I want to do is just curl up in bed and game. Everyone looks down on you when you choose to game over enjoying the sunshine. I look down on myself when I choose to game over enjoying the sunshine! I have no idea how people in constantly sunny, warm and happy climates game. When you have four seasons of sun, I assume there isn’t the same desperation to enjoy the sun because you only have approximately 54.6 more days of summer left, though, which would make gaming while it’s sunny easier.

Does my lack of summer gaming make me a seasonal gamer? Maybe my video gaming season matches up roughly with the indoor soccer season. Not that I play soccer, but you get the idea. I tried to Google “seasonal gamer,” but the results were not quite the same as I was looking for. There was one G4tv forum thread that suggests that I am not the only person with these seasonal gaming feelings, but the majority of replies said something quite like “I play video games in every season!” One person replied that they play more in the summer when the days are long and weather warm, which would also make them a seasonal gamer but the exact opposite from me. Another forum thread that I found was talking about seasonal gaming in a way so that your gaming matches up with the season you’re currently in, for example, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11 in the summer. That type of seasonal gaming definitely does not appeal to me. I can honestly say one thing I hated about leveling to 80, aside from the obviously fact that it’s leveling, is the fact that Northrend just loses part of its charm when you’re living in the Borean Tundra. I practically live in Coldarra minus the Nexus, the dragons and the mages. I’m sure if you live somewhere that never gets snow, Northrend seems quite foreign and exciting, but I was not happy with having constant snow in-game and outside.

In other gaming news, Starcraft 2 comes out on Tuesday! My previous “there’s a good chance that I’ll purchase Starcraft 2 and play through some of the campaigns” statement from my Starcraft 101 post is definitely being changed to “I’m going to the midnight launch at Future Shop and playing Starcraft 2 campaigns for hours on end starting Wednesday!” I had sort of planned to buy Starcraft 2 but wasn’t as into the idea until today when I realized that I knew quite a few people from WoW and otherwise who would be playing. The fact that I know so many people playing is quite encouraging to try it out. At least I’ll have people to try 2s with as well as get help from during the campaigns. Something tells me that there’s going to be quite a many late night vent chat over Starcraft. An old friend, and ex-boyfriend, Dramamine, is going to the midnight launch at our local Future Shop with a few of his friends, and I maybe invited myself along. The first, and only, midnight launch I have been to was also with Drama for the Wrath of the Lich King! It was a bit cold but definitely a memorable experience. It will hopefully be less cold this time assuming it doesn’t rain. I would be so unimpressed if it did rain, but I am stubborn enough to stand out in the rain for my copy of a video game. Thankfully, The Weather Network seems to think that Tuesday will be sunny. Don’t let me down, Weather Network. Rain or shine, I’ll be there, in the middle of the night, waiting for my copy of Starcraft 2.

On another SC2 note, a perhaps final trailer for the game was released earlier today. Nothing gets me hot and bothered quite like a good video game trailer.