A Virtual Life

Heroes

2009-07-31T10:44:00.004-04:00

No, I won't talk about the famous show on TV, but the ones you can find in Nightfall!

From time to time, I am playing Nightfall. Now, I am stuck at the end, unable to finish the game. I find it quite difficult to continue doing the quests and missions with NPCs only. Somehow, I find that the community spirit I liked so much with the Prophecy campaign was lost with the introduction of Heroes.
What are Heroes? For those who don't know, they are henchmen that belong to your character. They have skills and armors you can customize, and you can bring them with you (maximum of 3) on a quest or mission. You can complete your team using the regular henchmen. By doing so, you can avoid joining random groups. For me, it kinda killed the fun...
Don't be mistaken! I really think that the ArenaNet developpers came up with some very nice features, and it is really a lot of fun to customize your heroes, train them so that they reach the famous level 20 and so on, but I don't meet people regularly now, nor do I rarely chat with other players (other than for trading).
Maybe it's me not doing the right thing?

Technorati Tags: Nightfall, Heroes, Henchmen

Warning

2009-02-24T15:44:00.002-05:00

I receive lots of comments that deal with advertising.
Be aware that comments are monitored on this blog, and I will reject anything that I don't deem pertinent.
And no, I am not looking into marketing my blog. I am just trying to communicate some of my ideas and my thoughts here.
If people like it, I am happy with it!

Ruins of Morah

2008-07-15T17:58:00.008-04:00

I just saw that I haven't written for more than a year!
Things have changed so much in-between. My private life has been pretty full with new events.
I am still playing Nightfall from time to time with the Dervish I initially created.

I am currently at the Gate of Pain. I guess I am closer to the end now.

It took me a long time to move forward, I must admit that I got stuck at the Ruins of Morah. I read quite a bit about that mission, and really wanted to get it done on my own. I finally decided to use PUGs instead, but it was even worse (we didn't even manage to kill the first Varesh as I managed to get it done with heroes and henchmen)! I really started to hate that mission and was seeing myself stuck here forever...
As I was about to give up, I decided to give it another try. Here are the heroes and henchmen I used: Morgahn, Zhed, Koss, both of the monks, Herta, and Odurra. Not sure if it will work for you, but I managed to get the mission done in 5 minutes! I just focused on killing Varesh by pulling her, and I brought with me Lightbringer's Gaze and Avatar of Balthazar. I was so happy after! :-)

Technorati Tags: Ruins of Morah.

Some news

2007-03-02T19:31:00.000-05:00

It's been a while since I have played... The reason why is that my computer is out of service. It's been over 3 months now, and it is really annoying. It is even more annoying as I finally got Nightfall at Christmas! I just had the time to create a Dervish and that's it! She is Level 2 and kinda in limbo I guess.
I didn't merge my 2 accounts, because I thought it would be a good idea to start from scratch. To answer Cathan, yes I still play alone, which is somehow too bad. I miss the interactivity between people, and that is what this game is about in my humble opinion. That's all for now. I hope I can play very soon!

Technorati Tags: Guild Wars Nightfall.

Back to Blogging!

2006-09-05T21:18:00.000-04:00

It’s been a while that I haven’t written anything.
Some professional duties are keeping me away from the gaming world and I guess, somehow, it’s a good thing for me! Just kidding! Somehow I miss my online friends.
A few weeks ago, I had time to get connected and I was lucky enough to talk to some of my online friends. It was very nice to learn a bit more of what happened to them in-between.
To be honest, there are two main reasons that keep me away from the game. The first one is the one I mentioned earlier. And the second is that I haven’t bought the new game. I am still playing with the Prophecies Campaign (the first Guild Wars version), and I am not really decided to buy Factions. This version seems to be very PVP oriented, and as I don’t play PVP…
On the Prophecies side, things are pretty boring. I finished the game a long time ago, but I still enjoy the game and my characters. The only problem is that the new players are a bit different from those I’ve always known. I cannot define precisely in which extent they are, but it is a fact for me. On top of that, at high levels, there are only a few players and it is quite difficult to create a group (without mentioning that there is still the problem to find monks!).
I saw on Guild Wars official website that they will be releasing Nightfall, their new standalone version, on October 27, 2006. I had the occasion to play with the new characters: the Dervish and the Paragon. The Dervish is so cool! It was a lot of fun to play with it and it seems to be a very powerful character. Stay tuned!

Technorati Tags: Guild Wars Factions, Guild Wars Nightfall.

Questions and Answers

2006-06-04T18:12:00.000-04:00

I thought it would be a good idea to dedicate one of my posts to questions you may have about the game or anything else! To start with, I will answer questions I have been asked earlier and may seem a bit random. The most recent have been added to the top of the list in ascending order.
To ask a question, just leave a comment and I will update the post with my answer to it.
I hope you will find the Q&A useful.

8. Can you join 2 guilds?
As far as I know, you can be part of only one guild per account. To join different guilds, you have to create several accounts.

7. How long does it take to reach level 20?
Depending on the chosen character and your skills as a player, it will take about 50 hours to reach the level cap.

6. What are the Best Profession Combos?
Depending on your way of playing, you want to optimize your character’s skills by selecting the best secondary profession.
Here are the different professions you can choose amongst: Warrior (W), Monk (Mo), Necromancer (N), Elementalist (E), Ranger (R) and Mesmer (Me).

Warrior
- W/Mo: The most common combo. The Warrior can deal lots of damage and still heal himself. It’s a good choice to solo.
- W/R: You can use the Marksmanship attribute and/or have a pet to help you.

Monk
- Mo/W: Very common combo, as you can heal and use the Tactics attributes to protect yourself and your team.
- Mo/R: In that case, you would use the Wilderness Survival attribute.
- Mo/Me: It can be a good combo too.

Necromancer
As I am not very familiar with necros, here are the most common combos I’ve seen so far:
- N/Mo or N/Me
- N/R

Elementalist
- E/Mo: As a secondary Monk, you will be able to focus on healing and maybe protecting if you have point attributes left.
- E/Me: As a secondary Mesmer, you can use the Illusion Magic and Inspiration attributes.
- E/N: By using the Blood Magic attribute, you can explore corpses for regenerating your health.
It seems that you can also combine successfully an Elementalist with the Ranger profession.

As I don’t have any Mesmer nor Ranger characters, I asked some of my friends, and here are their best combo selections:

Ranger
- R/Mo
- R/W
- R/E

Mesmer
-Me/Mo
-Me/E

Technorati Tags: warrior, monk, elementalist, necromancer, ranger, mesmer.

5. How to level up quickly?
This is a question that I’ve been asked frequently.
You have several ways to do so:
- You can pay someone to run you through the missions and quests (can be expensive if you’ve just started to play),
- You can ‘be run’ (again you have to pay) to the different towns and arrive to Droknar’s Forge (one of the advanced towns) at low level and find a “power-leveler”. The latter is a player whose character level is 20. He will “farm” with you, i.e. you will go outside of the towns with him and he will kill enemies and thereby you will get experience (XP) points without doing a thing,
- You can also play the game!
Needless to say that I totally disapprove the two first solutions.
I don’t understand people who resort to those tricks. If you proceed like this, you will miss lots of things in the game, like quests that give points and free skills, the pleasure of discovering the game environment. You won’t know your available skills until you discover for yourself the best way to use and/or combine them.

Technorati Tags: runners, level up.

4. What is the best profession?
In my opinion, there is no such thing.
You choose the profession that suits your game style the best.
The Warrior/Monk combo is definitely the most frequent one. There are lots of them, and at higher levels, you can even have problems to find a team due to their overabundance.
The one considered as "indispensable" is the Monk. You can find a team very easily.
I don't know why, but it seems that the less popular profession is the Mesmer. I like having them in the team, because they are at least as useful as the other ones.

Technorati Tags: best profession, warrior, monk, mesmer.

3. Can I reach the level cap (level 20) in pre-searing?
No, you cannot. If you stay in pre-searing until you reach level 8, you will gain no further experience points (XP) by killing enemies or completing quests.

Technorati Tags: level cap.

2. What are “pre-searing” and “post-searing?”
“Pre-searing” corresponds to the tutorial part of the game. You can leave that part once you have reached level 3 at the minimum. You must then choose your second profession. After your return to Ascalon and mandatory talk with Tydus, you will leave this part of the game for good and never return to it. This is called “post-searing.” However, it is recommended your character reaches level 6 before moving on. This can be done in about 2 hours.
People in pre-searing and post-searing cannot play together. If it's not your first character, you cannot have access to your storage space while being in pre-searing (it would be too easy!).

Technorati Tags: pre-searing, post-searing, Ascalon.

1. What is the level cap?
The level cap is 20, which seems to be low compared with other games.

Technorati Tags: level cap.

Creating a Guild

2006-05-29T21:29:00.000-04:00

To create a guild, it’s relatively straight forward, provided you have enough money. You must go to the Guild Registrar to register your new guild, you must also create the cape, which will represent your guild, then if want, you can then purchase your guild hall (not mandatory for the guild itself, but necessary for GvG (Guild versus Guild) battles). The latter is the most expensive element, as it will cost you 20k.
That is the easy part.
Once the guild is created, you have to actively recruit members. In my opinion, this is the hardest part and it requires lots of work and effort. To start with, you’re gonna probably try to recruit amongst your acquaintances and friends, and unless you have lots of friends, it won’t be enough, for example, to build a GvG group (you need at least 8 players). So you will probably need to advertise randomly for recruits. However, not all recruits are ideal guild members and some might not fit in. By using that method, you will have in your guild members who can be very nice, or altogether the opposite.
A guild includes a simple hierarchy:
- A leader who has the full powers of recruiting, promoting, demoting, etc.
- A few officers, who have restricted powers. They can recruit members, promote them as officers, etc.
- Non-ranked members.
I have been an officer in two guilds and I can tell you, it’s a lot of work trying to recruit new members. And it is for that reason that I don’t want to create my own guild.
You have to deal with lots of weird people, and you never know how those new recruits turn out. Here is a sample of the questions I had while recruiting people:
Potential member (PM): Can I become an officer?
Me (M): Not right away, you have to demonstrate your capability.
PM: OK, good bye then.

PM: Can you give me money?
M: No, a guild is not a place to beg.
PM: Good bye.

After becoming a member:
- Oh, that cape looks gay, I quit!
I just hate when people use that expression, as if being gay is lame…
- Can I have money?
See above.

And this one is probably my favourite. The member is designated by LM:
LM: Can I become an officer? It’s been already 3 months that I have been in that guild and the leader promised me that I will be promoted.
Me: I don’t know. As the guild leader is not online, I would suggest you wait until he’s back.
LM: Please, promote me!! I love power and I wanna have some. I have been officer in all the guilds I have been!
Me: Why did you leave them then?
LM: Because I wanted to have more and more power! Please, promote me!
Me (starting to get annoyed): No, you wait for the guild leader.
LM: Please, I am so fascinated by power! But don’t worry, I do respect power…
Me: I cannot promote you without the guild leader’s consent. Wait for him.
LM: OK then.

And he left.

I was pretty pissed off because of his attitude. I don’t like it when people beg non-stop, and to be honest, I really don’t have any clue what he was talking about. You have a sort of power when you are in a guild, but it has nothing to do with real one. People tend to forget that it is a virtual world, and they sometimes confuse everything.

Technorati Tags: guilds, creating a guild, guild leader.

Being part of a guild (Part II)

2006-05-06T17:40:00.000-04:00

In one of my previous posts, I mentioned that I was going to leave my guild. The main reason for which was that none of the other guild members were ever online when I was playing. I left that guild about two weeks ago. It didn’t take a long time before I got an invitation to join another guild. That one inducts new members only after playing with them beforehand. They screen people that way, to see if their attitudes and way of playing would fit to the guild style. I must admit that the guild members are very nice and quite helpful. This guild has everything: guild hall, cape, dedicated website, team speaker, and plenty of active guild members. Its size is ideal to me: not too big, but not too small. The members are young adults, which is nice as some kids really have a behavioral problem. So, it seems that all the ingredients are gathered for me to be happy in this guild!
The reality is a bit different… The guild members have known each other for quite a while now and seem to get along very well with each other.. I have the greatest difficulty to integrate in the group. I have the feeling I am an outsider.
Moreover, there is something else that bothers me.
I did several quests and missions to help ‘guildies’. It’s nice to play with players who won’t quit the party. But, the guild members (i.e. people who are not the guild leader or officers) have to follow the instructions given by the person of the highest rank in the team. So the leader will tell you what build to use, the spells and skills set, which target has to be killed first, the strategy to follow... He will also arrange the team members in a certain fashion. I don’t know how it sounds to you, but to me, this is just too much. I might very well be resistant to authority (has been proven before :-P), or just picky, but whatever the reason is, I don’t feel at my place in that guild, and I don’t have much fun when playing with them. So again, I might be searching for a new guild soon. Will I ever find the right one?

Technorati Tags: guilds.

Being Part of a Guild (Part I)

2006-04-10T20:22:00.000-04:00

Today, I will talk about my experiences with guilds. After all, this is what the game is about.
Basically, a guild is composed of a Guild Leader, some Officers, and the Guild Members. To create a guild, you have to have a bit of ready cash. The requisite cape costs 2 platinums (2k gold), the guild hall where the GvG (Guild versus Guild) battles take place costs 20k. After that, the Leader has to pay 100g per person he invites.
When I started to play GW, I had no clue what a guild was about. I guessed it was like a group of fellow players, knowing each other and having fun together. That is more or less it.
The first guild I belonged to was not very large (about 10 members). I was not paying too much attention to it, and after several weeks, I noticed that I was... the only one left.
The Guild Leader left me a message wishing me well!
Hmm, at that time, I didn't know what to do with it, so I finally quit it. I should have tried to sell it or something like that, but I had no clue at that time.
Being 'guildless' with level-20-characters is annoying. I got spammed by lots of people to accept being part of their guild. Feeling weary, I finally decided to join a guild, but one I could enjoy. I was invited by a nice guy. We get along pretty well (having the same views about the guild), and he promoted me quickly as an officer. We started to recruit a lot and finally have about 20 members. The drawback is that whenever I am online, none of the other guild members are... Talk about team spirit! It's been a while like this and I’m starting to be fed up of the situation. The only few active members we had are progressively leaving the guild. Most of them had the decency to talk to me before doing so, and yet I could not convince them to stay.
I'm going to leave this guild, I know. It's only a matter of time. A friend of mine who just created his own guild invited me. At the same time, there's another guild where there are only 'mature' players who recently invited me. They seem to have lots of fun together. Anyway, I will make my decision soon.

Technorati Tags: guild, GvG.

What's Wrong With You Guys???

2006-04-09T09:52:00.000-04:00

OK, maybe it's not the best day for me to write and publish.
I am quite pissed off today: I have some personal problems, the weather looks simply awful outside, and it's still cold.
This is winter-wonderland! :-(
Well, I am also grumpy because of my previous day’s game experience.
One of my friends started a new character yesterday (by the way, he's one the sweetest guy I've ever met!), and asked me join him with a new character of my own; as I like him a lot, and wanted to please him, I created a new one too so that we could play together (people in pre-searing and post-searing cannot play together).
So I created a new character (my fourth and final slot!). I hesitated quite a while between the Mesmer and Elementalist classes and finally made up my mind for the latter. She's very cute and sexy of course. Two minutes after starting to play (and I am not exaggerating!), a guy whispered to me: "Hey cuttie, you're very hot!" I just thanked him and stopped. He then wanted to play with me (in pre-searing, you can just build team of 2 people), which I refused as I was waiting for my friend to join me. He insisted and finally managed to get on my nerves! I could be a guy for crying out loud!

Technorati Tags: cybersex, relationships.

Playing in Groups

2006-04-03T14:52:00.000-04:00

At the beginning, I started to play alone, mainly because I was eager to discover the ropes of the game on my own. This period didn’t last long, as it is almost impossible to manage to do the missions alone or with NPCs.
As I was leveling up my character, I had to collaborate with other players to manage to do the missions. And there starts the “fun.” By launching a “LFG” (Looking For Group) statement, generally speaking, you can be picked up pretty quickly depending on the profession of your character. But what is particularly interesting is the group dynamic that it should take place very quickly. As a matter of fact, you are supposed to be a team player without knowing the people you are playing with and must adjust yourself to their style of playing (as they should do it for you too), and their attitude. Depending also on their behavior, you can also estimate pretty quickly their gender as well as their age. I have played in many groups and each of them is different for sure, but you can draw a general scheme. Some people are very supportive and will do their best to finish the mission successfully, other will drop you in the middle for whatever reasons, and some will just insult you because you don’t play according to their standards. Those people generally take the game too seriously. I find them at the same time obnoxious and very interesting. Obnoxious because they spoil the pleasure of playing and interesting because I am wondering why they are so serious while playing.

Factions Event

2006-03-27T20:00:00.000-05:00

Last week-end, there was a special event in Guild Wars.
People with a valid licence could play the new version called Factions during the whole week-end! They also had the possibility to invite three people of their choice to test the game.
I must admit I had lots of fun.
What I first noticed was the predominant Asian theme. The new environment looks gorgeous and the colours are vibrant, which is a nice change compared with the previous version where most of it is very dark. I guess it's aimed at grabbing Asian players in mind.
The new map is awesome. I liked the fact that everything is much closer now, i.e. you don't need to run for ages to find the quest location. There are lots of new characters, new armours, new quests and missions, etc.
The major new concept in this version there now exist two clans perpetually at war with one another and you must take sides in this conflict by building alliances with other guilds. I am not quite sure I understood the concept properly though. I am part of a guild that is not very active, which is a bit boring.
Although the game has not been fundamentally modified there are some nice changes.
I still don't know if I will buy the Factions version. I would be interested in buying the collector's edition, but for some obscure reason it seems hard to come by in Canada.

Technorati Tags: Guild Wars Factions, collector's edition.

All by myself...

2006-03-22T19:27:00.000-05:00

It's been a while since I have written, but I have quite a good excuse. I have been trying to revamp my blog, which is quite time-consuming, and the fact that my PC has gone to the repair shop is another factor...
I know the title of my post sounds a bit melodramatic (but I really like Celine Dion though!), but this is pretty much how I have been playing lately. The whole point of playing online is to play with people, at least theoretically...
Lately people I met on the Internet have been pretty obnoxious. I am quite fed up of being insulted by other online players, either because they don't like the way my characters look, the way I play, or because they think that my combination of profession is "stupid". It happened to me two days ago again. I was playing with one of my friends (hopefully I have my online friends to make me laugh!), and we had the same profession combo. As a result of insults and name-calling, we quit the party. Although I feel bad for the rest of the team, I don't regret it. People cannot insult me in real life without accepting the consequences, I don't see why it shouldn't be the case in a virtual world. The downside is that those people don't understand how childish or useless it is to act that way, and within the timeframe and the environment, it is impossible to make a point. Since then, I have been playing alone with NPCs, and I have been doing fairly well. I will for sure start to play with people again, but for the moment, I am pretty much disgusted about their behaviour.

Guild Wars Basics

2006-03-16T10:15:00.000-05:00

Maybe I should have done this before, but today I decided to talk about the game itself. (Many thanks to Soto* for providing me with the topic!)

Guild Wars is a MMORPG (Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game). The current version I am playing costs about USD40 (CAD60)**. The game editor NC Interactive will be releasing at the end of April a new version of the game called Guild Wars Factions. This version of the game can already be pre-ordered for USD45 (CAD60)**.
The major advantage with this game is that it’s all you need pay. There are no subscription fees whatsoever! Therefore, you can play as much or as little as you like without being worried by wasting your money! I think that’s one of the reasons why this game is so popular.
The updates are made automatically on the server when you log in using the software client. Bugs are corrected pretty quickly.

So after installing it, what’s next? The fun starts by choosing your character and his/her profession (Warrior, Monk, Necromancer, Mesmer, Ranger, or Elementalist). Then you begin to play. The learning curve is easy. (Just to make things clear, I would like to say that I am not a proficient player. Guild Wars is the first game I’ve ever played intensively.)
You start with a tutorial (called pre-searing Ascalon) where you learn the basics: move your character, use the weapons, get the quests, talk to other players, choose your second profession, etc. By realizing the different quests and missions, you acquire more experience (which shows in your character's level) and skills specific to your first and second professions. It is fairly easy to level up your character. When you reach Level 3, which can be done in less than two hours, you can leave the tutorial part and go to post-searing (it is though strongly advised to do it when you are above Level 6). The highest level you can reach is 20 (you are then more or less halfway through the game), which is considered low compared to other online games. Depending on how often you play (and how talented you are!), it can be done rather quickly. The fact is that the level cap is so “low” is to “force” the player to focus on their skills and ability to play, and not to the level itself.

I think I told pretty much the basics of the game. The main thing to remember is that it’s only a game and that you should have FUN with it! :-)

* Visit Soto at The Flip Side. You can there read her posts, submit your website, etc.
**Prices to date, before taxes, and indicated for information only.

Technorati Tags: Guild Wars, MMORPG, Guild Wars Tutorial.

Blackout

2006-03-14T18:06:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, something curious happened.
The Guild Wars server encountered a problem that had an impact on the game economy. For nearly an hour, in-game traders were selling items at unrealistically low prices. To solve the problem, the ArenaNet people decided to roll back the server before the problem began.
As you may understand, it was impossible for us to play.
And as a consequence, all the online Guild Wars forums were invaded by worried players, who wanted to know what was going on. Those servers were at turn overloaded leading to some discontented people.
On my side, to be honest, I missed playing yesterday and also missed chatting with my friends. But I was also wondering: what were the other people doing during all that unexpected free time?
Were they bored? Did they miss the game only? Did some of them realize how addicted they are?
The good surprise for me is that when I logged on to one of those forums there was a thread dedicated to what people did during the rollback! What a gold mine of information! Well, maybe not a mine, but it gave me some insights into the situation. Most of the people played another game (very surprising!) or spent their time catching up with homework (which in my opinion is a very good thing). But some of them (a minority) admitted that they were extremely bored and had the feeling that they had no life. The fact that they couldn't get access to the game left them with a feeling of emptiness.
So does it mean that the game represents the whole life of this person? It seems to be the case... It is very sad to see that.
It reinforces that idea that some people use the game to live a virtual life...

Technorati Tags: Guild Wars Blackout, virtual life.

Cybersex?

2006-03-12T08:22:00.000-05:00

The time before, I explained how you select your characters and its possible impact on the relationships. I also mentioned how people would flirt with me easily, which leads me naturally to talk about cybersex...

Cyber-sex seems to be common. Ok it might be a “big” word, but sometimes, it comes pretty close to it. One of the men I met found my monk to his taste. He was friendly at first, and I was pretty open to meet other people and maybe to become friends with them. One of the first questions was related to my gender and age. He really wanted to make sure that I was not an underage girl. At first, I found it quite normal. It was not the first time a relationship would start that way. The second time was a bit different. He didn’t remember my name nor my age, and so he asked me again. Suspicious as I am (!), I asked him this time why. He replied that he didn’t want to get in trouble, or even worse, that I get in trouble.
Maybe I am a little naive, but as far as I know, we are playing an online game, so how is it possible to get in trouble (unless you are a scammer and you don’t respect GW rules)?
The answer was that he plays using adult themes. My suspicious mind became very agitated and I couldn’t help asking for more information. He meant that he is “trying to emote sexual interactions with the available game actions" (sic). To be honest, I found that attitude disgusting. I replied by saying I was not interested at all and I didn’t know if I really wanted to pursue a relationship with him. The reply was “Let’s start playing together and you will decide later”. As I wanted to give him a chance, we started playing (with my warrior instead). As we were only the two of us, my character died pretty quickly. Then he starts asking me questions about my experience about the game, if I am good enough to survive, etc. He was pretty patronizing. I left him quite quickly and since then I don’t have any news from him.
Maybe my reaction was extreme, but how would you have reacted?

Also, the main question that remains unanswered is what is the point? I know for fact that the Internet allows you to act as you like, and you can lose your inhibitions quickly. There are no barriers and the rules in this virtual world can be broken without hardly any consequences.

Technorati Tags: Guild Wars emotes, relationships, cybersex.

International Women’s Day

2006-03-09T14:18:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was the International Women’s Day. Yes, I know what you’re thinking: boring, another feminist, out of topic, etc. But I allow myself here to open a parenthesis about that subject.
Well, not so much…
Yesterday, I played as usual my favorite game (Guild Wars for those who still don’t know!). I was in one of those outposts when a girl asked out loud for some help. Before I could ask what she needed, a guy replied by stating that girls don’t play computer games… Why? The reasons are multiple and simple: because girls are bad at it (this is of course the toned-down version), they are not made for that, implying that it is only a guy thing. They started to argue and I couldn’t help sticking my oar in. The situation became worse because some other guys intervened too, supporting that first guy.
The positive point is that some guys supported the women’s side, but it was the minority. I had the feeling to be back at the Stone Age.
I know it is a little incident, so why am I making such a big fuss out of it?
Because we are now in the 21st century, and this male chauvinistic behavior still arises.
Whatever the political situation of the country, women have still to defend their rights.
I agree the latter is different according to the country you live in, and the cost of their defense can be very expensive too. In more developed countries, you have disparities in terms of incomes. But in some less-developed countries, women don’t even have the right to be …women (for more information, you can have a look on the Internet, or read that recent article about women in Bangladesh. Be careful before jumping, for sensitive people, it can be harsh to stand). And the price they pay is losing their life.
To come back to my little incident, I would like to say that I know it was probably some kids who wanted to be a bit provocative, but even if it is the case, isn’t it sad somehow? Children represent our future, and if we, as adults, don’t help them to change the mentality, who will?

Technorati Tags: International Women’s Day, female players.

How to choose your character?

2006-03-08T11:36:00.000-05:00

It is fairly straightforward to create a new character. You can choose to be a male or a female and according to your profession, you will look different. And that will also determine your relationship with others, not always the case, but most of the time.
The majority of players are male. But you would notice that you can meet lots of female characters, which I’ve always found very weird. All my characters are females because they reflect a part of me, or the person I would like to be or how I would like to imagine myself (!).
These are only assumptions of course, but it seems that some guys don’t really like how the male characters look like, hence their preference for a female character… As I think it is a minority, then what about the rest?
That’s simple: most of them find the female characters sexy… For the rest, I really don’t know and I could write pages on that topic without finding a decent solution.
But what surprises me the most is that your choice of character will determine you relationship with others. My second character is a female monk. One of the best armors for that profession are tattoos, meaning that your character’s body is covered by tattoos, and therefore, pretty much naked. I must admit that the graphics designers made a really good job with the characters. She looks awesome, and really sexy! Suffice to say that I got chatted up with several times!!! I could hardly believe it myself, because for me, sex in a virtual world is impossible… Obviously, I was quite mistaken, as I recently read an article about virtual sex amongst Canadian students. And it seems it is much more common than I had previously thought.

Technorati Tags: create a new character, relationships, female monk, virtual sex.

What is Guild Wars?

2006-03-07T18:26:00.000-05:00

Guild Wars (referred to later as GW) is a massively multi-player online role-playing game (also known as MMORPG), i.e. a game played over the Internet. Hence, it has the big advantage of being very interactive by attracting as wide an audience as possible. You choose a character at the beginning and you develop it by completing quests and missions. To do so, you can play alone (almost impossible at higher levels), either with henchmen (non-playing characters a.k.a. NPCs), or in a group made on the moment or with people of your guild.
The latter is the basis of GW. It is a hierarchical group including a leader, officers and members. This group is made mainly to organize Guild versus Guild (GVG) battles to gain points and ranks.

Technorati Tags: Guild Wars, MMORPG, role-playing game.

Introduction

2006-03-06T14:45:00.000-05:00

First of all, I would like to say a few words about my background, which will explain much about the context.
I am a woman in her late twenties playing Guild Wars. Yes, I know, I don’t fit in the presumed category of the game…
Anyway, I would like to share my experiences I’ve found virtual environment very interesting from a sociological perspective. I would also like to add that I am not a sociologist, so everything here is only the product of my own brainstorming.
I might also talk about the relationships built over the Internet, and some phenomena such as online dating.

Technorati Tags: Guild Wars, GW, relationships.