“As Real as Your Life” by M. Highland made me really think about life as a “gamer girl”. I’m not the most intense gamer, my boyfriend and roommate are definitely more into video games than I am, but I do see myself as a gamer. Even though my video game playing time has decreased from hours daily in high school to hours monthly now that I am in college, I am still a gamer. Even though I don’t play games like World of Warcraft or Final Fantasy, I am still a gamer. I play games like Left 4 Dead, BioShock, and yes, I do play the Sims. But does it really make me any less of a gamer than my guy friends who play games like Halo, Call of Duty, and Assassin’s Creed? What makes one person a gamer and another not? Personally, I have no idea what makes one person a gamer and one person not but I do know that there is definitely a large difference between people who are passionate about gaming and people who are addicted to gaming.

When I play a video game, I do get emotionally attached at times. When I played Kingdom Hearts for the first time, I ended up playing for five hours before realizing what time it was. My sister and friend had fallen asleep and it was already 5:30am. I thought I had only been playing for one, maybe two hours. Was this bad? Yes. But was this the start of an addiction? No. Sometimes I loose track of time when I’m reading or watching TV. People do it all time. Once I noticed what time it was, I saved the game and went to sleep.

When I walk outside, I don’t compare the scenery to that of which I see in video games. I don’t compare people I know to people to characters in video games. I am not addicted to video games I am just simply a gamer. I watch my younger cousins play video games and see that they are not just playing a video game, they are learning. Video games aren’t this horrible thing that some people set them out to be.

Yes, I am a girl. Yes, I play video games. And ya, I’d say I’m decent at them. Average at most, and probably better than you at some.

It amazes the crap out of me the way we are portrayed. Even by fellow gamer girls. The internet is flooded with pictures of girls either eating their controllers, using them as clothing or weighing 400 lbs sitting in a pile of jellybeans. Although I’m not against any of these things (I do like jellybeans) It’s just not who I am. And it’s not who I want to be portrayed as.

I wouldn’t describe myself as a hardcore gamer. I have been playing pretty much since I can remember. My parents were avid Space Invader & Frogger players before I was even born, and the first thing I remember getting for Christmas was a Nintendo. I play almost everyday, read a few gaming magazines and follow some blogs but I couldn’t tell you Desmond Miles’ family tree or the history of Donkey Kong to save my life.

I like to talk about stuff. I like to bitch and moan. I like to hear other peoples opinions. And I sure as hell want people to hear mine. I want to talk about games. My averageness, how totally stoked I am to play Bioshock: Infinite, why the hell I can shoot someone 20 times and they still don’t die, and how uncomfortable the old mom lady working at Gamestop makes me.

Maybe I’ll even try taking pictures of myself eating my controller.

You should probably hold your breath.

]]> http://8bitkit.wordpress.com/2012/12/03/she-licked-it-like-a-lollipop/ Mon, 03 Dec 2012 23:44:01 +0000 kitlenoir http://8bitkit.wordpress.com/2012/12/03/she-licked-it-like-a-lollipop/ So, I just started playing Lollipop Chainsaw.

I thought it would be fun.
I’m a girl so every once in a while I’ll take a break from Call of Duty or Star Wars Battlefront and play something a little bit more feminine, like Cathrine or The Sims.
So I decided to try this game out.
I’ve been DYING to play it and I finally got the chance so here’s my review.

Meh.

The game graphics and cut scenes are AMAZING, but I just didn’t like the game play.

It was mediocre at best.

It was:

1-boring
2-predictable
3-unchallenging
4-annoying

I mean, it was fun for the first ten minutes, but by the time I finished the school, I was bored.
It’s too cute and not enough actual challenge.
I really liked the idea of being able to be a girl character (usually you automatically have to be a guy on most games), but this particular character is just fricking annoying.

Anyways.

I would rate it a 6 out of 10.
Just above average.
Not the worst but definitely not the best.

My controller and my words are all that SHOULD matter!

I am a fledgling gamer.

I like to play video games. I enjoy the video game culture. I like to write about it too. I also happen to be a woman.

Does this make me ‘special’? Do I think I deserve extra attention and priority treatment?

No.

I’m just a writer with a hobby I am passionate about. My gender should not matter more than the words I write.

According to a 2010 survey done by the Entertainment Software Association, 40% of the gaming population are female. They also reported that 46% of games are actually purchased by females as well. That is a great increase from their 2004 survey, which stated that 25% of console gamers and 39% of computer gamers were female. As a demographic, female gamers are on the rise. The gender balance of gamers as a whole is now practically even. However, the perception of female gamers is still grossly inaccurate and hugely unfair.

Look at the term ‘female gamer’ for example. By asserting a ‘gender denominator’ in front of the title of the culture it wishes to describe, it perpetuates the idea that women are a minority amongst its people. By looking at the facts, this is clearly no longer the case. By clinging to this ‘title’, we are damaging the perception and growth of women of the gaming community. Sure, the ‘slut with the controller‘ kind of gal is out there. But they are the exception, NOT the rule!

It should also be noted that an estimated 85% of playable characters in all video games are anatomically male. The majority of the anatomically female playable characters who DO exist are often portrayed as ‘lesser’ than the playable male counterparts. They also are typically stylized in a fashion that is either hyper-sexualized, or overtly-masculine and practically sexless. There is no real middle ground. It could be argued that females involved in the gaming culture and community feel forced to edit their own femininity to conform to either one of these ‘norms’ perpetuated by the games themselves.

Above all else, think of where the term ‘female gamer’ or ‘gamer girl’ came from. Though embraced by the industry, it was the GAMERS THEMSELVES who created this title. It has been argued by many critics that male gamers and industry leaders who use this term, are doing so to exert superiority and marginalize women in their own adopted ‘social culture’, as they have been traditionally marginalized themselves by mainstream culture and media. Several critics agree that the title ‘female gamer’ is not only oppressive, but downright archaic! With gaming culture now being more readily accepted by the mainstream and increasingly gender-neutral, it’s high time women were fully accepted and included in video game culture and held in the same high regard as their male counterparts.

To all the people out there who have judged me and called me derogatory names simply because I am a woman who plays video games, AND I like to write about games and the gamer culture: Do your research. I am NOT a minority. If you want to call me something, call me a gamer. Leave my gender out of the equation.

Now we are all used to seeing anime based cosplays and its cool and they keep getting better. Its rare to see someone cosplaying as anyone who originated from a video game and didnt get any anime spot light. Ms.Dragonblade does the characters she cosplays a nice justice. Not only is she doing something a little off the cosplay norm she id doing it well. I was lucky enough to spend some time with her so let me share our moments together with you .

MAGIK_FOX: Thank you for coming, I have a lot of questions I would like to ask so let me ask the obvious one.  What made you decide that video game cosplay was the way you wanted to go?
Dragonblade: To be honest, I’ve always been more of a gamer than an anime fan. I’ve been playing games for as long as I can remember, and they’re very important to me. But I have done some anime cosplay in the past. If there was a character from a show I really enjoyed, there’s no reason why I wouldn’t consider making a costume of them — I just play video games more.

MAGIK_FOX: GAMES FOR LIFE..cough… Everyone has their pride and joy cosplay but all of yours are so well done; which one is your favorite and why?
Dragonblade: You know, I have a habit of always picking my most recent costume when I’m asked this question, so I’m going to probably say my skull suit for Raiden from Metal Gear Solid 2. I love being able to actually dive with it in photos.

MAGIK_FOX: What was the first con you went to? how was the experience?
Dragonblade: My very first convention was Otakon 2003 — about 10 years ago. I don’t remember much of it, other than that I went with my best friend, and that my costume was embarrassingly bad. I didn’t have a digital camera, so thankfully, there’s no existing proof of the travesty that was my costume. I know I had a great time, though.

MAGIK_FOX: Well some one else had a camera…na I’m kidding haha.What kind of music do you like? What do you like about it?
Dragonblade: You know, I’m not a big music person. I like really bubbly pop songs and dance music with lyrics, but I also enjoy almost anything with an electric violin in it. I’m not a big fan of harder stuff, and songs where I can’t make out what the singer is trying to say.

MAGIK_FOX: There are many coplayers out there; are there any specific people you want to work with?
Dragonblade; I’ve never really cosplayed in groups before the last couple years, and even so,it usually happens to be a coincidence because we all met in costume! So I’m not really used to thinking about who I’d want to work with. Finding a partner to put together a team for the World Cosplay Summit has been on my mind, though.

MAGIK_FOX: You are in a dark room and their are zombie squirrels are surrounding you out side. These is a rocket launcher, a flamethrower, and Ramona Flowers’s favorite hammer what do you choose?
Flamethrower, because I can keep my distance, hit a lot, and not get bitten as easily.

Results: We took a long time to think about her answer and we are sad to say Ms.Dragonblade would die. simply because 1. squirrels are really fast so dead ones are half as fast. they could easily get around her. plus we put her in a room so the after math of the flame thrower would be a burning room and with it being surrounded by zombie squirrel she wouldn’t be able to move as fast with out getting caught, but we can say be for her false death she would successfully burn 88% of the zombies. CONGRATULATIONS

MAGIK_FOX: What inspired you to start cosplaying?
Dragonblade: You know, I’m not really sure. I’ve always loved costuming, Halloween, and pretending to be fictional characters. I guess that it was a natural fit once I discovered that it was totally cool to dress up like a character when I first heard about anime conventions.

MAGIK_FOX: Do you have anything to say to your new fans?
Dragonblade: I’m very thankful that you enjoy my work, and I hope you enjoy more of my upcoming costumes this convention season! I’ve got a secret costume for an event coming up next year, so I hope you all are as excited as I am!

DataFist: COSPLAY SURPRISE!!!!!!!

Hello! As you might already know (or will soon find out!) I advocate video games. I don’t play them enough to call myself a “Gamer Girl” or anything so prestigious. Lol! But I’m a girl who enjoys playing video games, and even has a moderate skill level. XD Ok, I’m about average (and even that’s a tiny stretch…) This blog is time sensitive. Why? I have to write it while I’m still in my Halo phase!!! I get bored with things quickly and have trouble staying focused on something long enough to finish it. (That’s why it takes me forever to actually post something on this damn site. XD Hahaha!) So while I’m still on the Halo bandwagon, I would like to share my fascination with the game’s hero: Master Chief/John 117.

This all started one day as I was playing the game (or more accurately: watching my brother play the game. Hehe!) and we were making jokes about how Cortana is so bossy. I said about Master Chief: “Now THERE’S a man who knows how to listen to a woman!” We had a good laugh, but it did get me thinking: I actually really like the way Master Chief treats Cortana. I know she’s just an AI, but she is the bossiest, bitchiest AI I’ve ever met (and I’ve met a lot of AIs) and she sure demands a lot of his patience. She flips out, scolds him, is emotionally stressful, and even goes completely crazy! But Master Chief never so much as raises his voice to her. He’s always calm even when killing tons of bad guys, which is what obviously makes him so cool, but it actually portrays a sadly rare level of maturity. I know he’s genetically enhanced, and probably trained to be a Vulcan when it comes to emotions (i.e. an annoyingly hardened soldier, a character all too common in war stories. Ugh!). But I’ve noticed throughout the series that’s not the case. He’s shown emotion on several occasions, it’s just not glaringly obvious; and thankfully so, because I also hate overly emotional characters used in stories (games AND movies/TV!) just as a sorry attempt at an appeal to Pathos. Sorry…that rant should be saved for another time. But anyway, my point is that he’s an emotionally mature character, and that’s a refreshing thing to see.

Master Chief not only shows emotional maturity through his patience with Cortana’s very female-like tendencies to be…well, annoying; but he also shows respect for her. ((Alarms go off and red lights start flashing, Oh no!!! Nykki’s saying that it’s cool to actually RESPECT a girl!!! Omg, this Master Chief character must be a major pussy if he respects a female. Pfffft!!! He must just stare at her practically naked body all the time and never listen to anything she says.)) Wrong! I haven’t met any Halo fan who says Master Chief’s a pussy (I mean, hellOOOO!) … and for most of the game, he can’t even see Cortana’s boobies/booty because she’s literally in his head, TALKING to him. ((*faints* If I had a girl in my head talking non-stop, nagging and telling me where to go and what to do… I would DIE!!!)) Boys: so dramatic! Anyway, he seems pretty fond of Cortana (a little too fond for military professionalism… and I think interracial relationships are awesome, but uhhh…she’s a computer. How does that even work? As far as I can tell, she gets around a lot, I mean he’s always plugging her into different computers and stuff… he might have to get checked for viruses.) and he VOLUNTARILY takes her everywhere. (See guys? If you just took your lady everywhere, she wouldn’t keep pestering you about where you’ve been, and accusing you of lying…etc. XD I’m just kidding!) So their relationship obviously works. And if it’s true in a video game, it’s true in reality too. Just ask the internet. But in THEORY, their relationship is pretty optimal. I have no idea about how she’s so attractive (I mean, come on! She’s funny, but she’s annoying! And she really packed on the weight in Halo 4… seriously girl, hit the virtual gym) but I can tell you why he’s so attractive! And it has nothing to do with looks (obviously, you never see what he looks like) or the fact that he singlehandedly saves the world a few times and kills tons of aliens. It’s because he’s not a freaking douche bag!!!

I don’t care what you say or think, but girls like me don’t like assholes. Do we like strong, dominant men who command respect? Yes. But guys who demand respect and will take it by force? No. Do we like gentlemen who will treat us little ladies with kindness, patience and respect? Yes. But little wussies who let us push them around? No. (Again: another blog, another time.) So now you’ve gotten a taste of the Nykki style: taking forever to get to the point. Lol!

Well that’s all I’m gonna say for now, but I will definitely go more into this topic later! I plan on picking apart and analyzing some specific conversations between Master Chief and Cortana. But for now, please comment and let me know what your thoughts are on this topic! Talk to you soon. “Killing Spree!”

I nicely asked my own copy back and we started playing as soon as the family dinner was over.

We enjoyed our subscription more then we could’ve thought, not only was it a new start of the year, we had also just moved together and were able to enjoy our passion to the fullest.
I can’t thank him enough for making me appreciate as Star Wars almost as much as he does.
But not too long after the launch, people were abandoning the servers which lead to an almost zombie apocalypse like game.
While we used to have almost hours of waiting time to log into our server, 3 months after there was almost no one to play with and so we didn’t bother to pay for our subscription even longer.
Gamers were heading back to WoW, LoL and were awaiting the Diablo 3 release.

A few month’s passed, my love for Star Wars was still strong and I thought about the game quite some times, but I couldn’t bring myself paying the subscription fee to only find a few more players, even the re-release of Star Wars: Episode 1 – The Phantom Menace in the theatres and the french fastfood company “Quick” joining in with Jedi & Darth burgers, even a nearly black looking burger for Darth Vader, couldn’t convince us to use our online force.

But all had turned as SWTOR announced the FTP option to the game, which roused my interested and made me follow this a little closer.
November became a month to look forward to and celebrate since Star Wars: The old republic would become free to play that month.

Today is my fourth day in which I actually found some time to investigate the free game and so far I’ve stumbled upon only a few disadvantages, my boyfriend who owns the special edition of the game, has lost his mount, since apparently now you need cartel points to buy these, only 5 medical droids are given to resurrect you from times you fail, or in my case get distracted, that’s my main issue during games, these droids do not come back and so far I’m guessing that I will need to buy more with cartel points as well, which you can get by paying your monthly fee. So far these were the only disadvantages I’ve noticed and I will stick to this game until I reached the max. level. If after that these things will become a black mark for the game I will consider paying the fee or just go on to the next game. That will depend on how much this game will grow on me.

Does anyone else here play? I’m on Agamaggan, if you have a Horde toon, or make one, on that realm I can invite you to my guild ^_^ it’s not “mine”…but I’m co-gm so close enough lol.

Were a lvl 25 raiding guild, doing end content raids.The realm is pvp though so we do also have a lot of rbgs and arenas going on. I’m prepping my hunter, Belirina, for that right now.

I’ve been holding off on the gaming posts…it’s like Pandora’s box with me. Now it’s open, prepare to see a lot more about it.

I do play other games though. I have a Wii and PS3 as well, I’m on my pc more than anything though. Currently getting into Minecraft and LoL. I like rpgs more than anything, but games like Limbo and Portal (1&2) are great too!

My boyfriend is getting me into Minecraft, I have one mission…Princess Peach’s castle! That is my goal and I will be living there forever <;3 Really though, if you play Warcraft or Diablo ask for my battle tag and if you have steam add me: amonslady
I don't play a lot of games synced with steam but I'm getting back into it rn.

…shutting up now.

Also in case you hadn’t noticed, there’s been some uproar in the media recently over the topic of geek girls – in particular one rant from Tony Harris (an artist behind such comics as Starman and Ex Machina). Here is just one excerpt from that rant, which also features appalling grammar and use of  ’you’re’.

“but dammit, dammit, dammit I am so sick and tired of the whole COSPLAY-Chiks. I know a few who are actually pretty cool-and BIG Shocker, love and read Comics.So as in all things, they are the exception to the rule. Heres the statement I wanna make, based on THE RULE: “Hey! Quasi-Pretty-NOT-Hot-Girl, you are more pathetic than the REAL Nerds, who YOU secretly think are REALLY PATHETIC.”

Just… what? Now, I don’t cosplay but I would love to. I do, however, fully appreciate the effort that cosplayers go to for their outfits and think they look wonderful – and even if the cosplay goes a bit wrong the confidence to stand out in the first place is awe-inspiring. Especially when you could get targeted like this. It is disgusting.

The general tone of Harris’ full rant is horrible. Even when referring to other, ‘cosplay-chicks’ he looks down on us, who are actually interested in comic books. Well rain fire and cheese on me, who would have thought girls could like comics?! You know, how do we have the time to read comics when busy making slutty costumes to attract all the virgin, socially awkward guys?

I am not really a feminist. I have seen plenty of girls in the geek domain, and even more guys who are accepting of that and don’t even bat an eyelid. IT IS NORMAL.

It reminds me of one week when I picked up the latest Before Watchmen (that time a Comedian issue) and took it to the counter of my local comic store. The guy at the checkout inquired as to which story I was enjoying most, to which I replied that I liked most of them but I was quite enjoying the Silk Spectre at that time. He nodded wisely and then said, “that’s interesting because we get a lot of guys in here and they all like Minutemen. They can’t stand Silk Spectre.”

Why should that be interesting? Why do we make a point of determining the differences of opinion between the genders? I liked Silk Spectre because of the simplistic but effective artwork, the spunky character of Laurie and the sense of impending doom surrounding her new-found freedom. I also greatly enjoy the other Before Watchmen stories and the Minutemen I really love too. Does that make my answer any less of a commentary on the girl’s perspective?

Why are we still getting reactions like this? I know girls who aren’t interested in ‘geek’ things, but not a single one of them would want to dress up as a scantily clad character they have never heard of just to get the attention of geek guys. And the ones that do dress up as a scantily clad character I admire for their courage, because they look better than I would and they do have knowledge of that character. Why would you waste money and time going to cons in cosplay if you had no interest in it?

But if a guy bulks himself up and wants to dress up as Batman (complete with accurate chest size and six-pack) is THAT acceptable? Especially if, hypothetically, the only knowledge of Batman he has is maybe watching one scene of Batman, Dark Knight. Surely that is just sexualisation to attract women and therefore the same as ‘cosplay chicks’?

For me, I am just happy wearing a Doctor Who T-shirt, always having my DS in my bag in case of Pokemon emergencies, and going to cons (with my boyfriend – i.e not looking for ANY attention) with my purple Harley Quinn converse as my most daring clothing item. Why can’t that just be acceptable? AND I DO NOT HAVE BIG BLACK GLASSES OR PLAY VIDEO GAMES IN MY UNDERWEAR.

I do not wear/ own glasses like this. Or pout/ have a socially awkward general expression. But type “geek girl” into google images and this is what you get in various degrees.

Maybe I can’t recite every type of spaceship from Star Wars, or claim to like Star Trek (sorry guys) but I know what I enjoy, and I know what hobbies I have. And to me, it is classed as geeky. What is the problem with that?

What are your opinions on this? Geek girl or guy, get in touch! I’d love to debate this topic…

So today Halo 4 came out in Australia and I stayed up till one last night at the Halo 4 Midnight Release! Scored some free posters and got to watch the game being played in multiplayer by noobs. Being honest it was really odd with how little amount of people actually went but I suppose that’s a given since we are only in Springfield. I began playing it today with my boyfriend in campaign and omg it is amazing. I’m not going to give anything away because that’s mean if anyone does happen to read this. The graphics are amazing even on a TV that isn’t HD. Although I’m not sure if it tops Halo Reach in my opinion, I think Master Chief is fucking amazing, but I loved being able to create my own character and that we could be a female and I was so devestated when the character died. I love games where you are able to make the character more your own. Even if it was just the armour for Reach.

Yeah. That just happened.

So! In anticipation for Halo 4, which is less then 24 hours from being released, I finished the Halo Forward Unto Dawn series. And I believe everyone should watch it before they pick up their copy of the game. It was beyond amazing, my mind was seriously blow at how great it was.

I have never experience a better build up to a game ever. I keep typing sentences and erasing them in fear of giving away too much. So just do yourself a favor and watch it. Beyond how striking the compelling the story was, the overall quality of the series was to die for. The series was also an eye opener to the whole picture of Halo. It made me personally realize how much more goes on beyond Master Chief . It may sound a bit cheesy but playing it I am so focused on Chief sometimes I forget it’s a war. It reminds you of all the soldiers in the UNSC and their struggles. Ok now I KNOW I am sounding cheesy. In layman’s terms it makes you want to squish that nasty Covenant! Yeah fff them!

At this point I don’t know why you’re wasting your time reading this instead of watching. But please! Proceed and they are attached at the very end.

So my plan for tomorrow is pretty clear. Sit at Gamestop til midnight, then go home and shoot stuff. Sounds overall pretty good. I hope the game is everything promotional have built it up to be. I was not really interested at first, but the sneak peaks I’ve been seeing have sold me. Fingers are majorly crossed for this.

And in the spirit of Halo that is all over this post. I actually spent my Halloween swooning over and kissing Master Chief himself. Oh yes. Be jealous. Very. Very. Jealous.

So I guess the real message of this entry is my already bad habit of not updating this regularly may continue on because I will be extremely distracted as I have been by Borderlands (you may have been able to tell by the Lilith costume I am rocking with Chief) and just life in general. I have at least 4 photoshoots I have no properly given the update and attention they deserve. I may just compile it into one big update. When I stop geeking out and have the time.

Altho I am pretty good about uploading them to my facebook and deviantart. And last but not least I did FINALLY get that wesbite up so give it a look. I typed loot originally. Deeefinitely too much Borderlands happening. And finally, speaking of Borderlands, I plan on getting some great shots of my Lilith cosplay once I am 100% with the costume so watch for that.

Wheeewwww! Anything else? Think that about covers it. HALO. HALO. HALOOOO.

xoxoAly

I was at the young and very impressionable age of 6(ish), my cousin had a really cool new gadget for playing games.  I went over to my Aunt’s house to see what all the hype was about, I watched him play for hours before I was finally allowed to have a turn.  He put the controller in my tiny little hands, I couldn’t seem to stop smiling.  Nearly trembling with excitement, I pressed the start button…  Stepped two feet onto the screen with my little tiny Mario.  Jumped too soon and got killed by a little guy that looked like a mushroom…  And just like that, my turn was over!  We spent hours taking turns and I don’t think that I ever made it past the first level.  Twenty years later and I still haven’t beaten the game although I do still love playing it!

Who knew then what my little eyes had been opened to.  It wasn’t until a few years later that I had my own console and my very own game to play (The Little Mermaid, yes really!).  It was the beginning of a wonderful adventure in my life.  So thank you cousin Corey, for opening my eyes to the wide world of gaming.

There were many games after that but I will never forget the excitement of my very first time.

Come find me on Facebook!

When we moved to Central Australia two and a half years ago, I was shit scared. We were leaving behind an incredibly supportive network of friends and family to settle in a place where we knew not a single soul. Our son had just turned one at the time, and I gingerly left an introduction post in a Facebook Mother’s Group where an amazing lady took me under her wing. She showed us around town and our kids had a few play dates together, but we eventually drifted apart. Since then, I have struggled to find mothers that share something in common with me other than having both successfully spawned humans, and my social life has suffered greatly because of it. I am yet to meet another woman in this town who plays World of Warcraft at all, let alone ones that also have children! If they exist here — and I really hope they do! — perhaps they are just like me and they’ve given up on trying to find fellow gamer mums and they just stay home playing WoW all day too?

Forever alone.

Failure to Assimilate

In a vain effort to get to know people, I begrudgingly dragged my kid to a few play groups. To say that it was not my kind of scene is a massive understatement. Those who know me personally will know that I don’t identify well with the stereotypical “Stay At Home Mum” role; I continually struggle with feeling like I’m trapped or not contributing to society, or that I’m just another woman who has nothing to talk about besides how amazing my child is and/or how gross/painful/incredible the birthing process was. The kinds of conversations that happen at Play Group made me want to stab myself in the face with a fork. No, I won’t “change my mind” about settling with one child, I do not want to hear about how “Breast is Best” or whatever other morally superior technique is making the rounds at the time, and I certainly do not want to be involved in the, “My kid is better than your kid!” pissing contest that seems to break out when large groups of parents get together.

It’s not that I’m anti-parent (Although reading back on what I just wrote, it certainly sounds that way), it’s just I don’t really identify with that kind of behaviour, and I certainly don’t enjoy the atmosphere that comes with traditional meeting places for Mums. I would much rather hang out in someone’s backyard and have a few beers (Coffee or Diet Coke are also acceptable beverages, depending on the weather) while the kids play together, rather than being crammed into some room and forced to make kiddy small talk while nibbling on morning tea. I don’t mind the occasional parenting chat, but I would fucking love to casually drop into conversation that our raid team was short a healer for Mogu’shan Vaults last week and I drew the short straw, while the others nod sympathetically and share their own gaming stories, instead of just staring at me like I’m a nut job. There is more to me than my child, and I would dearly like to talk about something which actually interests me, as opposed to rehashing the same old potty training stories for the 50th time.

“Ahh, peace and quiet at last!”

Escapism or Addiction?

Since I am in a guild full of friends and family from back home, World of Warcraft began to fill up more and more of my time. In Azeroth it didn’t matter that I was socially awkward, because here I could choose what conversations I took part in and I had time to craft thoughtful responses where I mostly didn’t look like a babbling moron. My interactions with actual humans and not avatars were becoming more and more scarce, but I didn’t really notice because I felt like I was socialising.  I was playing so much and neglecting the “real world” enough that my husband attempted to stage an intervention earlier this year.

That chat certainly opened my eyes and I cut back. When I started playing properly again a few months later, I noticed that even my interactions in-game have changed over time. I used to be able to strike up a conversation with strangers; I was that person who always said ‘Hi!’ in pick up groups, hell, it’s hard to believe that there was actually a time where I participated in PuG’s at all! Nowadays I rarely run LFG and LFR without a guildie there to hold my hand, and there is no way I’ll ever participate in a public conversation, lest the trolls come out to play. However, it hasn’t been until recently — probably when Casadalla moved away — that I realised just how small and how very lonely my world has become. I have two friends here in town that I actually interact with face to face. Two. Friends. Friends that don’t even share the same interests as me. Friends who are more acquaintances through my husband rather than friendships on their own merit.

How fucking depressing.

:’(

Getting Back in the Game

It would be wrong for me to lay the blame at the feet of World of Warcraft or even Alice Springs for turning me into a hermit. The problem is me and my painful shyness, my limited opportunities to get out of the house (It is ridiculously hard to get a placement in Day Care here and my Husband worked shift up until one week ago), plus my tendency to stick my head in the sand and pretend like everything is A-OK. The game certainly served as an outlet, and for a long time I’ve been able to function on what social interaction it provides. The issue here is that I turned it into my only outlet, and my social life has suffered greatly. I now need to work hard to break out of my comfort zone and try to expand my interests, all while putting on a brave face and throwing myself into situations that feel unnatural and awkward. I may never find that perfect friend who also likes sunshine, beer and World of Warcraft, but that does not mean that I should stop searching. Expanding my social circle can only mean good things for me and my family!

Now it’s just a matter of taking that first, scary step back into reality.

Have you ever found yourself retreating into World of Warcraft or other hobbies at the expense of real life? Do you ever feel like you’re out of touch with what society considers normal, and had a hard time making friends because of it? Have you ever had the strength to break the cycle? Share your stories in the comments below. 

I am also in the process of making a list of gamer girl problems.  I’m having a ton of fun with that!  A little sneak peak?  Well sure!  Gamer Girl Problem #1: You tell someone that you are a REAL girl, not a guy playing a girl toon, and they never believe you.  How many times have you heard “Pics or it didn’t happen!”?  Seriously…

On another note, I’ve found a bracelet that I want desperately.  I found it on Pinterest but it’s actually for sale on an Etsy website, which you can find here.  It’s SO cute and I will be buying it!  Soooooon.

That’s all for now friends!  =)

I mean there are things that I could complain about…  Like the fact that character customization still sucks even though you can tell they tried to improve it.  You can choose one of three hair styles and you can change your outfit/hair color.  If I’m totally honest I spent about 15 seconds looking at the customization page before I clicked play.  The excitement you know… There’s only one girl still and that’s lame. I will be purchasing the Mechromancer but first I want to play through the original character.  But I won’t complain, I will play instead!  Because even though there are a few things I wish they would improve, it’s way awesome.

As I said, I only played for a short amount of time and I plan to write out a more in depth review later.  What’s my quick opinion?  Love it!  Go out right now and buy it!  If you use Steam, save a trip to the store (I know, gamers don’t like leaving the house unless they have to!) and do the digital download.  If you don’t want to drop the $60 on it and you haven’t tried the original Borderlands yet, then I suggest you do that while you wait for the price to come down.  The original is just as awesome.  If you like FPS or RPG games you will love this game.  You’ll love both of these games.  Go get em!

If you are on Steam and you would like to come play BL2 with me, add me!  My Steam username is hrhodes8137, you can email me at GirlyGamer86@gmail.com, or leave me a comment here.  I am working on a couple small side things like a Facebook page and maybe, maybe, a youtube channel!  Who knows?

What’s the point of this blog?

Well the point is actually pretty simple, I love video games and I am a girl.  Plus I have a lot to say and being a nerdy gamer, I don’t get a lot of outside interaction…  Maybe this will keep me from going completely introverted?

What if it’s never seen by another pair of eyes except mine?

I think I would probably be OK with that…  I’ve heard it’s difficult to get your blog out there in the world but really don’t we start them for our own personal reasons?  Hopefully I will have a ton of readers and it’ll all be fabulous but I know that’s not really how life works.  You get what you put in right?  So I’ll write a lot, about things I love, and hopefully that will be good enough to attract some readers!

What if people DO see it and hate it?

This one is easiest of all!  I would just smile and say “Oh well!”, continue to play my games and continue to write about it.

What am I going to write about?

Anything that tickles my fancy probably.  I’ll write about all of the different games I like to play, maybe my opinion about those games, maybe a review or two, girl gamer problems (nobody ever believes you are a REAL girl!), gamer friends, and anything else that may come to mind.  I feel like there are a TON of options when it comes to topics.  I worry that I will get all caught up in trying to settle on one topic when there are so many to choose from.  I’ll just remind myself there is plenty of time to cover them all and maybe I’ll draw a number out of a hat!  Or do a /random 100!

What if it takes up too much of my gaming time?

Pfft!  Fat chance of that happening.

There we have it…  My very first blog post!  Do you have questions or comments for me?  Leave them here or feel free to email me at girlygamer86@gmail.com !  Check back soon for post number two.  I think it will be…  Where’d I put my dice again? >.<

In honesty, I don’t really remember my life without videogames. My earliest memories are of playing Giana Sisters at my cousin’s house and I remember (or have I been told so often that I think I remember?) my family buying Super Mario Brothers 3 upon release when I was only 3 or 4 years old. In short, I grew up with a controller in my hand.

I love videogames. I honestly, sincerely do. When I was in around grade 3 – 5 I would get asked why I liked them so much and my answer was very simple “Playing a videogame is like reading a book but you play it out and see what happens. But it’s not like a movie because you play it yourself.” A lot of people didn’t really understand my sentiments. Especially the girls I went to school with, videogames were ‘for boys’ after all. But looking back I have to say that my reason for gaming really hasn’t changed much. Yes, I still love to read and I enjoy watching a good movie but my true love with always be videogames because of how immersive they are.

I was bullied at school, like many geeky or nerdy people are, especially because I was a girl and into comic books, videogames, and science instead of boys and fashion and shoes; and videogames were a real outlet for me and they helped me cope.  Bad day with the bullies? Win a boss battle, you’ll feel strong. Physical confrontation at school  (there were a few)?  Save the princess, you’ll feel empowered. Scathing remarks from the ‘popular’ girls at school because you get along better with the boys than they do? No worries, you can kick the boys’ butts at tekken anyway.

I get very defensive about my gaming and I always have because it’s always been a major part of my life. Games have been there for me in times when others haven’t been, and while that can sound like an addiction abuse it really isn’t. I’ve never had trouble putting down a controller or portable console to spend time with people, and for people that are worth my time I’ll gladly put off playing a new release game.

What always confused my mother, however, was that most of my friends, and I mean the people I actually put stock in as human beings and not just people that I know or spend time with because they hang around my friends; most of these people are gamers. Or relatable to me in another ‘geeky’ way. The people I care most about are the science buffs, the comic collectors, manga readers, anime watchers, and of course gamers. It’s how we interact and how we communicate and how we understand one another.

My family have said to me on many occasion that they don’t know where I get it from, or don’t understand what I’m saying sometimes. Which is something I have always understood and I came to terms with a long time ago. There was a period where I didn’t get along very well with my siblings because they couldn’t understand what I was saying because I was so academic but she was more practical. But ‘my people’ as my sister calls the nerd/geek community are much more easily understood to me. “How was your day?” “I felt like going a bit Bruce Banner there for a while…” “Yikes, that could’ve been messy.”

But back to videogames and the bad press they get. Yes, playing games late at night can interrupt sleep patterns – but last I checked so can getting absorbed in a good book, or watching a horror film, or playing a board game. Yes, some people who play videogames withdraw from society or do badly at school – but in most cases videogames aren’t the reason for this. If you’re letting yourself get absorbed in a virtual world at the compromise of the real world the big thing shouldn’t be ‘the game is bad!’ the big thing should be ‘what is going on in the real world that makes one need to withdraw?’ If your child starts getting immersed into videogames in a way that is out of character or destructive odds are there’s something else to blame – are they being severely bullied at school and need an outlet in which they feel powerful? Do they have friends at school, or are the only other people they relate to in this virtual world? The internet has been great for uniting the gaming community and I can honestly say that I feel less alone now, simply knowing that other gamers with as much love for games as I have even exist, than I felt at school surrounded by people that just couldn’t understand ‘No, I’m not going to go and parade in mini-skirts with you, I’d rather stay home and play Zelda.” But now I have people that will gladly spend a Saturday night playing games with me and it’s much more agreeable.

“But violent videogames cause violence in children!” Pfft. Now I can honestly say that my mother was always concerned about my gaming, worried that I was an addict or that I would start falling into a violent rage because I played some violent games. But I have to vouch for videogames on this, I never felt inclined to be violent because I knew how to commit fatalities in Mortal Kombat at 8 years of age. Shooting people and aliens in first person shooters never made me want to pick up a gun and conduct a shooting or massacre. I feel videogames get a lot of bad press for this. “So and so shot everyone at school because he played an FPS” Um, no. I seriously doubt it. The FPS may have been an outlet at first which got out of hand but the game was not the underlying problem.

I’m very passionate in this respect because here is Australia, at present, we don’t have an adequate rating for videogames. There are steps being taken to implement one, but I honestly wish it would hurry up. I used to work for a videogame store and the real turning point on this subject hit me like a Falcon Punch one day when a mother came into the store wanting to buy Grand Theft Auto San Andreas. Which is fine. But she wanted to buy it for her 7-year-old son. The highest rating we have at present for videogames is MA 15+ but people don’t pay attention to these things (and when I was 8, yes I played MA 15+ games). But I learned in this interaction that mothers when coerced by their children can be idiots. No offence meant towards the mothers out there but seriously, if you don’t know the content of a videogame, don’t buy it for your 7-year-old. This woman argued her son’s case adamantly for some time, proclaiming ‘how bad can it be? It’s just a car racing game!’ it took a long time in a store full of staring customers (a couple of our regulars shaking their heads in shock and dismay) and for my manager to tell her bluntly and loudly ‘I will not knowingly sell you a videogame for your underage son in which you can beat prostitutes to death with a dildo.’ She was so embarrassed and shamed that she left the store in a huff and we never saw her again. Though I do sometimes find myself worrying if she went somewhere else and her son ended up getting a game entirely inappropriate for him. So whilst videogames get the blame for subjecting children to inappropriate subject matter – surely parents should be to blame for buying their kids these games in the first place?

My eldest nephew, a few years ago now, asked my mother to buy him a Grand Theft Auto game (he was 8) and my mother called me to ask for advice, having never heard of them. Now I’m not against these games even though it seems like I’m singling them out. I’m not. They’re fine for an adult audience. And I told her that he was under no circumstances to have one, to which his rebuttal was ‘but I play it at my friend’s house’. This is another issue I take with the videogame naysayers. If you do not know what your child is doing at a friend’s house, that is your fault. I called my sister to inform her and she was horrified and now knows exactly what videogames her son’s friends play and he has clear guidelines set out for him.

I know I’ve gotten a bit ranty and high-and-mighty in this post but it is an area I’m passionate about and without videogames I wouldn’t have the life I have today. Even just one example can prove that – I met my husband, at 8 years of age, because we both played pokemon. I saw him playing his Gameboy (old school, chunky, black and white screens back then) and asked him what he was playing, now this was a big thing as I was very shy as a child, and he replied ‘Pokemon’. I asked which version and when he said ‘Blue’ it was an instant friendship. I played the Red version myself and suddenly, in the middle of our very non-geeky community I had found a battle and trade partner. And yes, we do both still play (we just bought Black & White 2 for ourselves, and will be giving copies to our nephews for Christmas) and we have a lot of fun with it. It’s nice that we can sit around together and play Halo, Mario Kart, Smash Brothers, Mass Effect, Guild Wars, Battlefield, Mortal Kombat, and a vast myriad of other games together. It usually is together too, we get too competitive when we aren’t playing cooperatively.

But I guess what I’ve tried to say through all this, is that videogames aren’t evil. They get a bit of bad press but hey, what doesn’t? To Kill a Mockingbird was once an ‘evil’ banned book. Once upon a time my husband and I could never have gotten married – being an interracial couple as we are. These things were once ‘evil’ just as videogames are seen by some to be a big bad boogie-monster. They aren’t. They’re an outlet, whether for fun, to bring people together, or to cope, or any other reason. And with the implementation of the internet to gaming every single geek and nerd on the planet is not connected in ways not once fathomed, even by a 20-year-younger me. And we all realise now that we’re not alone, there are many of us. Videogames are good, and no one should ever have to play alone again. The ‘minority’ that gets bullied and that loves to live in these virtual worlds are not a minority at all, but a huge community which if friendly and accepting and loving. I have never met nicer people in the world than the other gamers, the comic readers, the cosplayers, the convention-goers, the sci-fi junkies….I could list them all but I’ve already taken enough time. I am sincerely grateful for the world I live in and the people who inhabit it with me. I hope none of them have every been made to feel guilty or inadequate (even if I haven’t met them) for speaking Klingon,  putting games before the ‘popular’ kids, for reading comics, or anything else, but especially gaming.

In any case, I’m late for a previous engagement so, if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to go save a princess.

Ask any girl who games if she is a gamer and she will likely deny the title vehemently. The term gamer has negative connotations for a woman and society judges ‘gamer girls’ harshly. Women, after all, are not supposed to enjoy the violence and competition that games often embody. Yet in 2010, more than 40% of the worldwide gaming population were female (Graziano, 2012). In Korea, 50.4% of the online gaming population are women a figure that slightly outnumbers the men.

The initial gaming population however had obvious gender disparities, especially in the case of MMORPGs. In 2001, only 20-30% of Everquest’s subscriber base were women. This is because marketing efforts for online games almost completely ignore women. They are seen as flukes in statistics, exceptions to the rule and thus not a sustainable target audience. Gender-swapping players also give rise to the belief that ‘there are no girls on the Internets’. Some men create female avatars so they can get free items and be treated nicer. Some women create male avatars so they can avoid flirtatious personal messages and sexist stereotyping. This makes ‘I’m a girl’ claims suspicious and the avatar, which is the only perceivable representation of the person, somewhat misleading. Perception, however, does not reflect reality. And women love games for very legit reasons; namely interpersonal desires, identity exploration and freedom.

MMORPGs possess a vibrant social community that creates friendships, romances, betrayals and all the drama that comes along with them. ‘What women are finding so interesting about these games is that they provide a sense of community and social structure you don’t see in other games’ (Laber, 2001; 1). Whether this is among her party, guild, faction, enemies, opposing guilds, opposing factions or the whole server, MMORPGs offer a variety of interaction opportunities. In Ultima Online, Maplestory and Everquest, in-game marriages are a common affair. The couples might never meet in real life, but their avatars are bounded in marriage in-game. Game Masters (game administrators) sometimes recognize their union by summoning wedding rings named after the husband and wife or even allow the sharing of surnames (as in the case of Everquest). Sometimes, they may even adopt other younger players as ‘children’ and they all act out their appropriate roles, or ‘roleplay’. They date in-game and display their affection through words, emoticons and emotes (social commands that animate an avatar).

MMORPGs provide identity exploration. Women are forced by society to define their identities very early on in real life (Hall, 1990) and sometimes feel very constricted by them. Online games offer a platform for identity exploration, letting women create an online persona that might be incongruent to what society view as normal. The avatars may not have the same looks, temperament, morality, character or even gender of the player. They can give their characters personality attributes they would never dare express in real life: lustful, seductive, aggressive, powerful, dark, mysterious, violent, masochistic etc. What society might see as immoral is, in virtual worlds, simply a form of innocent roleplay.

Freedom is enhanced in virtual worlds. Women are not inferior in strength or status in online games. They need not worry about travelling alone at night or not being accorded the same amount of respect as men. They can go where ever they please as long as their characters are sufficiently ‘leveled’ (a measurement of strength; the more you play, the stronger, or leveled, you are). They have an equal opportunity to become guild leaders or business CEOs (as in the case of Eve Online) without sexual prejudices being an obstacle (avatars are technically gender-neutral). The more work a woman puts into her characters, the more freedom she gets. Essentially, online games provide a platform to experience a feminist’s utopia. They are truly equal in every sense of the word. Women are stripped of their child-bearing roles but still keep whatever degree of feminity they desire (even none if they so wish). She is given as much freedom and status as men, is as physically capable as men and can fulfil whatever roles men fill (and vice-versa). While I don’t readily agree with the viewpoints of some feminists, this unique facet of gaming could contribute much to the field of sociology and gender studies, and opens the door for women to live in a gender neutral universe. Whether this will attract feminists to online gaming is another matter altogether. I am of the opinion that hardcore feminists would not like finding out that the only way they can attain ‘perfect equality’ among genders is to enter a virtual world (note: my belief is that women and men can never attain a perfect equality; it does not exist so long as there are men and women). Still, the majority of women would find such a gender neutral world liberating.

These reasons are likely major influences in the gradual influx of female online gamers as both women, and increasingly publishers, become aware of the potential entertainment online games offer ‘gamer girls’. I am optimistic that the current gender disparity will eventually dissolve as publishers and game developers start taking notice of the female demographic. After all, females make up more than half the world’s population. That is quite a lot of profit to ignore.

References

Graziano, Dan 2012, ‘Gaming isn’t the boy’s club it once was; almost half of all gamers are female’, 1 August, BGR, http://www.bgr.com/2012/08/01/video-game-demographics-2012-study/.

Guernsey, Lisa 2001, ‘Women play games online in larger numbers than men’, The New York Times, 4 January, http://www.nytimes.com/.

Hall, C 1990, Women And Identity : Value Choices In A Changing World, New York : Hemisphere Pub. Corp.

Laber, Emily 2001, Men are from Quake, women are from Ultima, The New York Times, 11 January, http://www.nytimes.com/.

Part of what I am trying to do with the surgery is to change some of the non-food related activities that helped me get fat and kept me fat.  One of the things that helped keep me there was my video game addiction.

For about three years, I was pretty seriously addicted to World of Warcraft.  I kept the account open for about a year after I stopped playing on a daily basis.  I would still log on from time to time and look at my characters.  I also went through short bouts of playing for a couple of days, but the game as a whole had lost interest for me.  This summer, I closed the account completely and removed the software from my computer.

While I was deep in the thralls of Azeroth, however, I did not recognize how completely addicted I was.  I played every day for several hours at a time.  This required hours of sitting in one position with little movement.  I ate in front of the computer.  I played when I was sick.  I took staycations and played WoW all day long.

It did not help that I had family and friends who also played the game.  We would all get together on weekends, usually at my sister’s house, and play.  It was a lot of fun.  In fact, many of my friends are gamers of some sort or another, although not all of them play WoW.  Many of them do, however, play some sort of MMORPG.

For those of you not familiar with gamer-speak, MMORPG means Massively Multi-player On-line Role-Playing Game, or as it is also called…Many Men Online Role-Playing Girls.

I have to admit, it was very interesting to be so immersed into such a male dominated world.  Yes it was imaginary, but you constantly have to group up with other players to accomplish goals and complete quests.  Unless you actually carry on a conversation with the other people, they really do not know much about you and assume you are a guy.

I had one character on my realm that was fairly well-known.  I created a healing shaman and I named her Anaxamander.  Healers are always in short supply, so I was often invited to groups and raids, even if they were above my current ability because people were desperate for healers.  This taught me to become very good at healing very quickly.  It also helped me to very quickly gain the items necessary to improve my healing skills.

An in-game friend of mine invited me to a group.  He had a ventrillo account set up so that we could all log on and talk to each other live in real-time.  I started talking and one of the guys interrupted me.  I had run some dungeons and raids with him before, but we had never really talked.  He was in one of the top guilds on the realm and was fairly well-known him self. He said, “Wait…who is that talking?”  I replied, “Anaxamander.”  He replied with, “Anaxamander is a GIRL??  Dude, all this time I thought you were a guy!”

I ran into that a lot.  And I have to say, I kind of enjoyed it.  I was good at the game and I loved that it shocked the guys who dominated the world population.

Most of the in-game people I became game-friends with were guys.  Mostly, though, I stuck to gaming with my sister and some of our other friends that played.  We enjoyed doing a lot of the silly stuff.  We did the holiday quests.  We ran around getting in-game vanity pets.  At Christmas time, we would take stuff from our guild bank, wrap it in virtual wrapping paper and give stuff away to other characters.  During that time, we also started city-wide virtual snowball fights and created campfires and sat around telling holiday stories.  We were always amazed by the number of people who would come and sit with us and egg us on with our story-telling.

I also really got into doing player-versus-player battles, also known as pvp.  Many of the people who I became good gamer-friends with all played pvp.  The battles are basically two teams playing either games of capture the flag or protecting bases.  It was a lot of fun.

But as fun as the game is, for me,  it is a form of escape.  I could feel a sense of accomplishment completing game achievements, quests, and difficult raids and dungeons.  I was proud to have one of the top healing shamans on my realm.  I had a lot of in-game friends and was in one of the best guilds.  Unlike my real life, my in-game life was awesome.  I could do stuff in-game that I could not do in my real life.

Here’s the problem, none of those fun, awesome things fixed my life.  I was still morbidly obese and getting sicker.  I still had many other problems that I was not dealing with, and I was not doing the other things with my life that I wanted to do.  So, I made the decision to quit the game.  I had really stopped playing for the most part.   Closing the account was merely a formality, but an important step.

Now that I’m not spending all of my time playing WoW, I am amazed by how much time I have to do the other things I love.  I am working on improving my health. I am getting ready for the gastric by-pass surgery.  I am writing more.  Blogging more.  And I have started taking care of other things in my life that I was struggling with.

I have to admit though, I really do miss gaming.  I was surprised to discover this myself.  Recently, I read a news article about the game.  Someone was able to hack into the game and do mass killings, killing off nearly the entire world population in minutes.  I watched several videos on youtube watching an entire city of characters just drop dead.  I was cracking up.

Watching those videos though made me realize how much I do miss the game.  I actually thought about reactivating my account.  The thought scared me and I immediately shut down my web browser, closed my laptop, and walked away.

I have not reactivated my account.  I really do not want to go back to the way I was.  I want to continue to take care of my health and my weight.  I do not want to escape my life or my problems.  Maybe sometime in the future, after I’ve lost weight, fixed some of the other problems I have there will be a place in my life for video games.  Maybe not.  What I do know right now is that as long as I feel that need to fill the emptiness inside with some kind of addiction, whether it is food or games, I cannot invite WoW back into my life.

All of the images included in this post are characters that I created and  played during my time in WoW.

I have never been a table-top player; I’ve tried several times with different games, but I can’t seem to get into playing.  I do enjoy many a good board / table game, and am an avid FSP (ie:  first person shooter) gamer when my Doom Sickness doesn’t kick in.

And then I discovered LARPing in 1999.  It appealed to the actress in me.  I liked the idea of putting together not only a costume and gear, but an entirely different persona, even a different race.

My daughter was just 2 when I went to my first LARP.  It was a day event; a convention / debate regarding various weaponry, magics, and Alchemy.

As I write about the trials of my various characters, I will likely not be in any sort of chronological order as that is simply not the way my memory works.  But hopefully, I’ll be able to keep you entertained with a few stories of how I’ve made my way through game, in this case, Epoch Toronto (http://www.epoch-larp.ca/).

OOG (out of Game), the club itself was social and my group of friends and acquaintances was ever-expanding.  There was a weekly pub night which I was terrified of attending at first.  What if I was the only one who showed up?  My fears were greatly unfounded as the average night saw about 20 or so people coming and going over the course of the evening.  I took advantage of those nights to learn more about the rule set, to ask questions about the “history” of the game (as in, things that someone who had lived in this world from the start might know), and generally tried to suck in as much knowledge as possible.

Photo courtesy of MoPo Photography

It wasn’t hard.  I asked or simply listened and they talked.  They discussed past exploits, previous encounters and how they reacted.  They spoke of “groups”, such as the “Red Coats”, an army that had presented significant challenges to them in the past, and how they had overcome that threat.  I learned more about the different races and their particular traits.

At that time the races where limited to:  Human, Elf, Kaern, Orc, Dwarf, Faun and Halfling.

Humans were and are simple.  No special costuming required.

Elves must wear elf ears.  They also needed to adhere to the Elven Code of Conduct which essentially states that they cannot lie to, harm, or permit to be harmed another Elf.  They are also considered the eldest of the Fae races (anything not Human), and must try to protect them to the best of their ability, as long as it doesn’t interfere with the first part of the Elven Code.  Confused?  Don’t worry; so are most of the Elves.

Kaern are required to wear cat-like make-up and a tail.  They are a matriarchal society where males are not more than property of the females.  A smart female will treat her males well, or else she may find herself abandoned.  Kaernish politics are convoluted and one must tread very carefully when playing a Kaern; you are not just a big kitty.  It is a proud and vicious race.

**NOTE:  I always suggest to new players to avoid playing either an Elf or Kaern for at least a season so that they can get a better grip on the intricacies of playing such a race.

Orcs are required to wear green make-up and tusks.  They may not be the brightest beasts in the pack above, but they are by no means stupid.  They can be cunning, they can be battle-devious.  And mostly, they are damned tanks.

Dwarfs are required to wear beards; lady dwarfs are required to wear dainty beards (in other words, we can get away with wearing eyeliner make-up to create a small goatee, while the gents need to get themselves a big burly, manly beard).  Dwarfs have long memories; don’t get on their bad side.  There are far more male Dwarves than females, and so the females tend to be favoured and even a little spoiled.  Any female Dwarf coming into game can expect any unattached male Dwarf to quickly befriend and then court her, likely with gifts of precious metals, stones and a gallant display of clog dancing and Dwarven poetry *cringe*.

Fauns are required to wear horns and a small tail of deer-like nature; most also wear furry legs.  They are very focused creatures; sensual in the true sense of the word in that they revel in all five senses.  They are pranksters of the highest order and want nothing more than to be the center of attention at all times.

Halflings are required to wear furry hands.  Think Frodo Baggins and his lot, and you’ve got yourself Halflings.  They love their food, and doing for others.

I chose to play a Halfling.

Even though this was going to last only a few hours, I was terrified along with my excitement at getting a chance to try out LARPing.  Did I have everything I was going to need?  Would I understand the rules and what if I needed to ask a question out of character?  Dear Gawds, would I walk into a room to discover everyone laughing at my pathetic costuming and role-playing attempts?  Would anyone even talk to me?

I was greeted at the door by a Minotaur.  Seriously.  Huge freaking Minataur.  My thoughts ran along the lines of. “Yup; this is going to be fully immersive.”  And it was.  Not everybody had the perfect costumes I had expected, which was a relief to me.  I quickly learned that by holding your hand with your thumb against your chin and your fingers extended essentially meant that anything you were saying was OOG (Out of Game); it wasn’t really happening in the world we now existed in.  One player in particular, Dweena, took an interest in me as a newbie, as well as in my character as a junior alchemist.

As it turned out, Dweena (a Master Alchemist) was searching for an apprentice and along came my desperate-for-knowledge Halfling.

That afternoon, I discovered a new love of LARPing, and found what is now one of my dearest friends.  Win / Win.