Sideshow & Syrana

I’ve been trying to come up with a fun and different contest idea for a couple weeks.  After my Say it Loud, Say it Proud: I Love WoW post, the comments on it, and other posts and comments around the blogosphere… it got me thinking… a lot of people hide the fact that they play.  And others show the world subtle (and not so subtle) clues.  So…

I have (unofficially) declared the week of July 5th through the 11th to be WoW Coming Out Week. Celebrate it anyway you want.  There are no achievements or titles to be gained, only the satisfaction of not hiding your hobby!  Feel free to leave comments here or post on your own blog about how you’ve chosen to celebrate this week.

“Hey, Syrana… someone said there was a contest or something?”

Oh right!

Win an Authenticator!

These babies are currently out of stock still.  I have one, and think it’s a great way to protect your account.  As careful as we may be, there are still some nasty tricks out there that could lead to someone snaggin’ your account name and password.

So, I want to give one away!

(continue reading…)

Yesterday was Independence Day over here in the States…. which includes parades, food, family, and bright lights that go *BOOM* in the sky.  I like watching fireworks, but I could do without the sound… and crowds.  (You know, you’d think they could come up with a silent firework by now.)  Last night also marked the end of the Midsummer Fire Festival in Azeroth, and it was the first time in the past 3ish years that I’ve been playing WoW that I got to experience the fireworks spectacular (and have some festive brew!).

So today, I shall share with you some of the fireworks display in case you were unable to see them.  They did occur on the hour, every hour, after sunset at Booty Bay and all capital cities.  Sideshow watched some of the fireworks show while he was outside Exodar! (continue reading…)

Welcome to the 2nd Sims Saturday.  Last week we explored Sim Syrana’s traits and I justified them as being warlocky enough to represent WoW Syrana.  But, I now have further evidence of Sim Syrana being truly evil.

She glows.

Red.

In the dark.

And apparently in the house too.  The effect seems random.  I have not discovered any sort of discernible pattern as to when it will appear.  At first, I thought it was the result of a science experiment gone wrong within the house.  But then, I connected it to Syrana’s evil trait and her evil criminal career.  And not just her career, but having reached the top of The Organization.

So, since Syrana is the Empress of Evil, it causes her to glow red from time to time.  It does not create a moodlet (a buff or debuff that affects her mood and/or needs) for her or for Sims around her.

But, it does affect relationships.  At the present time, the ONLY people that Syrana likes in her household, are her two children.  And they are the only ones that like her back.

Ghost Grandfather Brian = Dislike

Twin Sister Summer = Dislike

Nephew Austin = Dislike

Wait, who is she talking to? Who's that kid? Why is she in her nighty?

Having Syrana and her twin sister disliking each other was just a matter of time (and took longer than I thought it would) because Summer has the Good trait.  I really started to notice the deterioration of the household relationships around the time Syrana began to glow.  She always had some struggles with getting along with others, especially family, but they just can’t seem to stand her when all anyone can see is red.

You know what? We really should backtrack this family legacy and start at the beginning, shouldn’t we?

*imagines heads bobbing up and down in agreement*

Yeah, I thought so.

Next Saturday will begin the history lesson and we’ll work our way up to where Empress Syrana stands now.

Sorry that this is going up a bit late today.  I have off and forgot to schedule it last night… and just plain ignored my alarm clock this morning.  (Why’d I even set it on a day off?!)

I read this amusing post by Jonathan Kimak over on Cracked.com called 6 New Personality Disorders Caused by the Internet.  I think I’ve seen examples of all 6 (we all know those kinda people), but the way he writes this list out is just hilarious.  Here is one of my favorite parts and hopefully that will whet your appetite to go and peruse the rest!

Regarding #3: Online Obsessive Compulsive Personality Disorder (aka The Grammar Nazi):

At the heart of the real-life OCPD sufferer seems to be an irrational fear that the rest of the world is sloppier, dirtier and more disorganized than it should be, that it’s rapidly getting worse, and that the world will fall to pieces unless someone straightens it up.

On the Internet, five minutes spent reading YouTube comments can convince even an average, level-headed person that the Internet is about to suffer the same fate. The old-fashioned holdouts who insist on typing in actual sentences see what seems to be an inexorable move toward a language based entirely on texting abbreviations. It’s not hard to feel the desire to take up arms to defend language at all costs. Srsly.

• An interesting post by Elnia (the barkeep over at The Pink Pigtail Inn) comparing car and gaming business models.

• Gnomer of Armaggedon’s Coming shares a lil’ secret about in-game envy (and started the support group too, I think!)

• Blizzard’s garden is full of carrots.  Both Darraxus the Warrior and Tobold discuss the dangling carrots within the game that keep players going, for better or worse.

• Anea of Holy Discipline shares her thoughts and frustration about grinding dailies…. and the guilt that sets in when you skip ‘em for a few days.

• Elleiras of Fel Fire ponders cross-server recruiting, especially of the PvE to PvP transfer flavor, as well as, how to (or whether or not to…) sell the server as a whole in the pitch.

• Tamarind of Standing at the Back in My Sissy Robe (a newish blog I’ve recently found and am reading) posted an epically hilarious (yet a smidge embarrassing) story of emailing screenshots to himself and having to explain to the boss that he wasn’t looking at anything… naughty.

• Pike of Aspect of the Hare tells a tale of venturing into Magister’s Terrace to face Kael’thas with only her trusty companion at her side.

• Bust out the blogwarming gifts and champagne glasses, and go check out Samodean’s new blogspace.

• Although I have yet to post an entry… don’t forget to check out (and send in submissions!) Nourish! The Azerothian Menu.

• Also, a farewell to Blogatelle.  They provided some wonderful RP discussions, thoughts, and ideas.  Even though I no longer actively RP in-game, their posts still help inspire character ideas for me.  If you’ve never checked them out before, I would still recommend their archives.  Or at least this interesting post about why so many players seem to be threatened by those of us that enjoy “unintended” play.

Do you, Syrana, take Sideshow as your leveling partner,

For richer for poorer,
Through rez sickness and full hp,
For epic or greens,
Til death do you corpse run?

I, Syrana, pledge my less than 3 to you, Sideshow, in game and out.

Ok, so it didn’t really happen like that.  But it would have been damn funny if it had (or sad…)  I was inspired (for lack of a better term) to provide a Syranasponse* (Yes, a new word to describe responding to a topic in Syrana fashion.  See the full definition at the end of this post.) to Rhii’s (of I Sheep Things) post about playing WoW as a couple.

Rhii’s post is an interesting one because it explores a very real issue: when a couple’s gaming goals don’t mesh.  Some people that don’t have their other half in game with them may wish to have their partner play and/or talk about how lucky gaming couples are… but what if it’s not all it’s cracked up to be?

All Gaming Couples are Not Created Equal (continue reading…)

While Brajana at Mend Pet likes to help broaden our vocabulary with her WoW Word of the Week posts, we like to take a look each month at a little bit of gamer vernacular history.  (We do enjoy her posts and if you haven’t checked them out yet, I suggest you do so!)

Considering it is July… hot, fireworks, Midsummer Fire Festival… I figured DIAF would be an appropriate word (well, phrase really) to look at this month.  (And yes, yes, I know I skipped June with the hiatus and all.)

DIAF

DIAF stands for Die In A Fire.  When we throw insults at others we like it to be something short and quick to type out in case they leave group or logout before we can sputter our anger at them.

Or we’re lazy. (continue reading…)