Girls' Guide to Gaming

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.

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.

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?

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?

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!