The Perils of a Casual Gamer

It is kind of funny if you think about it.

The wife of an "Esports Shoutcaster", doing a blog about casual, noncompetitive gaming.

I get it. The irony is not lost.

Allow me, however, to explain. I love watching esports. I love hearing, first hand, the ins and outs of the tournaments, I love the set up, the hype, the community (for the most part) surrounding and supporting the game.

When I play however, give me a pace that is a little, well.... more casual. Maybe even just single-player, solo play.

Why? It is a mix. When I play, high-level stress does more harm to me than good. And unfortunately, it's because a few people are jerks.

Food Friday: LFG Bar Kalamazoo

Every once in a while, Breaky and I get a date night or two. We are getting to a point where we are more comfortable leaving BabyCPK with others, AND Breaky has been home for longer than a few weeks.

Fortnite and Esports: Thoughts

Breaky and I finished up eating on Tuesday the 12th and made plans to continue our Marvel CU run through with Thor: the Dark World .

Breaky quickly realized that it was actually the night that E3 was hosting the Fortnite Pro Am at E3. The Pro Am at E3 was Fortnite's big debut in to esports for the game, combining pro streamers and players with celebrities who play the game. All proceeds and winnings went to charities of the players' choosing.

Recently, Epic Games announced it would be providing a $100,000,000 prize pool for their first year of esports. The big question remains, though, is how they are going to divide that up and with how many games/tournaments. Epic Games stated it will not be in a league format, like that of Overwatch, and will be open to everyone. They, however, have given little details as to what kind of games/tournaments. Will they continue with this celebrity trend? Groups of two? Teams of 2+? Individual/solo tournaments? Personally, I'd like to see teams of more than two. But I digress.

Tuned into the stream, only to realize that it is unfortunately already a half hour late to start. We both can empathize, we have both been a part of and witnessed how things can go behind the scenes at esports evens. However, being it's first inaugural esports event, it did not bode very well.

I was  most interested in how the spectating was going to happen for this game. If you are not familiar with Fortnite or any kind of battle royale style game, think Hunger Games, but with building supplies, pinatas and emotes. Oh, and weapons.  Which means you have 100 people in different points of the map doing different things, and battles happening everywhere, or nothing happening. Turns out, it took quite a while for us to find out. Pre-game shenanigans occurred, like interviews, crowd shots, information about who's competing.

When the competitors came on stage, no formal introduction was done. Just commentating on specific people if the casters happen to notice. Read: if you were not Ninja, Marshmellow or Joel McHale, you got very little screen time. I think this annoyed Breaky the most, was the very disjointed announcement of competitors on stage.

When the games actually started, I have to say, for the most part I was pretty impressed. The spectating was better than what I had imagined. I think the only complaint that either of us had was the fact that the system did not yet have the capability of alerting when a big fight was underway, similar to the HoN system, which still has one of the best spectating systems in place. Not that we are biased or anything.

Overall, we were entertained. Not surprisingly, Ninja and Marshmellow took home the "gold"

Not going to lie, I did play Fortnite: Battle Royale when it was just a free-to-play add-on to the original game: Fortnite, which was debuted at E3 last year, and both Breaky and I were interested in it. It was a zombie survival game in which you can build structures and traps to destroy the impending zombie waves. It seemed that the Battle Royale option was a tag-on to get people interested and to ride the wave of success PUBG was having. Breaky and I and a few friends played probably for a few weeks, enjoying the game very much. Personally, I wasn't very good at the whole building things, which you have to be now to be any good at it whatsoever. It has definitely changed, and I don't think I would be any good anymore. How hipster is that of me to say? I liked this game before it became popular. Ha.

Oh?

You may be an esports significant other if

I think I've had a draft of this blog post since my blog's inception.

But recent events made me realize that there may be some (a few, not many) people out there that may feel the same way. That is, the weird life that is the significant other of someone in the esports or video game industry.

I have been Breaky's "other half" for 5 years. I have alluded to the struggles of being a wife to someone who travels a lot for their craft. There are many other struggles that other significant others may find they can relate to. Or maybe not, maybe these struggles are unique to me, I dunno.

Anyway, I figured it may be fun to actually hunker down and finish this blog post about things I've noticed have become a part of my identity as the wife of an esports figure. Enjoy.


You may be an esports significant other if:

1. You have no idea what their schedule is for the next week/month/year



My family can attest, his schedule makes it really hard to pin down family vacations, dates, holidays etc... Heck, this past year was one of maybe two Thanksgivings he was able to enjoy in the states! Although, did I mention he was in Sweden like, two days before our wedding? Yeah...


2. Learning names feels like double duty



Not only do you have to remember a person's real name, but very often their gamer name. I do not think there are many of our friends who calls Breaky by his real name.

There are times we are gaming together and I have to ask who this particular person is because I forgot their gamer name. On the flip-side, I sometimes forget that people have real names, and are, for example, not called WZA in real life.


3. Getting their attention can be a task




Esports is a career that is steeped in technology, including social media. Whether it is an important Skype conversation about how they may be traveling to Sweden next week, a Reddit post about the latest tournament drama, or checking their official Facebook page, their attention may have to be dedicated elsewhere other than you talking about how your work day went. Heaven forbid if you need to ask a question while they are actually in a game! (I know better now).

I personally handle this pretty O.K. I am not one who needs like, constant attention, and honestly, I have a lot of hobbies that would require me to not be around other people all the time. However, I can randomly be needy. Breaky knows this. I am very obvious about it too, which helps him figure out when he needs to pay attention to me for like, 20 minutes. Communication is key.


4. You check to see how much time you have when someone asks what your significant other does for a living.



For me, the quick and "easy" version is "he does a lot of video production in the video game industry" or "he works for a video game company". Obviously, that's not wrong, but when I am running down the hall to grab something from the printer, I do not want to have to explain to Bob from HR what an esport is, or how there are "broadcasters" or "casters" for these events.


5. You get a lot of questions about how an esport can be considered a real thing



I used to get really excited when there is a segment on esports on TV. Like the CBS morning show, or another news segment. I couldn't understand why Breaky didn't get as excited as I did. But then I watched them. The amount of condescending, un-informed dribble that would come out of these segments was astounding. Much of this information was false and based on opinions of a generation who not only doesn't "get it" but doesn't want to try to hear the other side.

The episode of Bull on CBS did a better job of portraying esports. Who knows, maybe things are getting better. Then again, maybe not.


6. You find yourself lost when your significant other has conversations about a game, event or feature you know nothing about



Especially in the beginning of our relationship when Breaky and his coworkers started talking "shop" I found myself zoning out. As many of those coworkers got significant others, I had people I could converse with about something else.

More recently, I find myself in the middle of those conversations, but am acutely aware if there are stragglers who may not know what we are talking about. I do my due diligence to make sure to either steer the conversation in a different direction, or try to engage them in some way.


7. If you are a gamer too, date night could mean gaming date night



Breaky and I have been doing a lot of Minecraft together lately. We call these nights "gaming date nights." They are nice, until you know, one of us accidentally hits the other with a shovel, or laughs so hard they cry when a creeper blows up after falling from God only knows where on top of their head (oh goodness was that funny, one minute he was there, the next BOOM, gone! haaahaha....sorry babe)
I even have a blog post about our Minecraft adventures, but I am not sure my enthusiasm for figuring out how to make colored carpet warrants a full blog post, but Breaky was excited for me, so that's that. True love ladies and gentlemen.


8. If your significant other uses a headset mic, you often get frustrated when you think they are talking to you, but are talking to internet friends


Sometimes this is ok though. For example, last night Breaky said to his teammate "don't decapitate me!" or something like that. I, for one, would never do that, nor would that be something he would ever have to worry about from me.

HOWEVER, sometimes if we are in the same room and he starts talking, I can't tell if he's talking to me or not. So we have a system. He lets me know when I have to pay attention to him (see #3)


9. Loud noises/shouting is background noise



I am married to someone who's official job title is "Shoutcaster". No joke. Also, about 90% of his job is done in our house in our studio/office. Has been this way ever since we lived together in our apartment. Now, a good chunk of the "yelling" isn't like, angry yelling. Well, sometimes there is raging, but most of the time, it is hype yelling. It is something that I have just gotten used to. Heck, after 2 months, the dog got used to it too.

There have been many times we'll have company over when Breaky is still streaming or casting, and they will stop mid-sentence because of the shouting. I get confused about why they stopped and what they are hearing. Then it hits me. Normal people are not used to shouting as background noise.


10. You learned a new language without realizing it




I actually did a blog post about this too. I have had to learn a lot of acronyms at first. Now the struggle is to remember to not use them, oh, let's say...at work. Or around my family. Or at the farmer's market. Normal people don't know what to do if I randomly start spouting off about Linda down the hall being "super salty" or Mike from finance being a troll. Especially if your boss is an older medical doctor.



Well, I hope you all had as much fun reading this as I had making it. It was loads of fun. If I missed anything, please leave a comment!

Another Day in the Life of an E-Sports Wife

Once again, Breaky is taking off to broadcast another fabulous event. This time in California!

He is broadcasting the "MarsTV Dota 2 League which you can watch here:  https://www.twitch.tv/evilgeniuses and Breaky will start later tonight (hopefully) but still check it out!

Watch live video from EvilGeniuses on www.twitch.tv



My last blog post about Breaky leaving and traveling was a bit negative and a little sad. I think that had partly to do with that I missed him and it was our anniversary. I highlighted some of the things I forget from last time like realizing how much louder little noises are in the middle of the night, or how much I rely on him for day-to-day chores.


So, this time, I am going to highlight some of the more positive things about having Breaky traveling and out of the house.

• I can get away with rearranging the basement (Breaky is a kind of "if it isn't broke, don't fix it kinda guy)
• A lot of cleaning gets done. I am the kind of person that if I am cleaning, everyone cleans. Makes it hard on a marriage if your significant other isn't cleaning too. So I wait until I am alone to really clean
• I don't worry about having to explain how I finished that container of ice cream I bought on a whim. Hey, I did yoga today, and I earned a treat!
• Same as above with a sleeve of Oreos. You could bribe me to do unspeakable things for Oreos. 
• I get all the puppy snuggles to myself
• The dishwasher gets loaded the correct way :) 
• I can actually eat pickles, fish and olives! 
• No one will know I poured myself that second glass of wine. Except the dog, but she doesn't judge. 
• I know my husband is having a great time doing what he loves and there are people around him who support him
• I also know my husband will soon be on his way back to me and our puppy and that puts a smile on my face more than anything else

So, I will miss him this time, and all times coming, but overall it is not that bad. He gets to do what he loves! Safe travels love. 

That Pokemon Glow is Gone

Pokemon Go was fun while it lasted.

Both Breaky and I have told each other lately that the game has lost its....vigor? Chutzpah? Appeal? Whatever made it so that ever time I would be walking more than a few feet, it had to be running, or encouraged Breaky to go on that extra walk with DogCPK and me after dinner.

The walk to and from work for me used to generate some unique Pokemon. In an upgrade, they removed both a gym and a checkpoint, and I am lucky, in a 1 mile walk, I get 2 Pokemon. Usually a Pidgey or a Weedle.  I may get a Zumbat or even an Eevee, but that may be once every other week. The eggs I hatch are becoming repetitive and it is pretty rare if I get a new Pokemon from an egg anymore.

The last straw was how difficult it has become to catch even low-level Pokemon. I run out of balls (*snicker*) or berries (*snort*) and cannot catch a damn thing. I essentially stopped playing when I tried 8 times to catch a Squirtle. The little dude didn't run away.... but I ran out of berries, and heaven help me if I was going to run out of balls too.

That was it. I was no longer having fun with it. My phone hated trying to run it. It would get too "overheated" and go in to a "timeout" and the game would be running, but no Pokemon would show up, checkpoints wouldn't work, and I am pretty sure the egg thing wasn't working either.

That being said, I am still glad I downloaded it. I am glad it was something Breaky and I could bond over. I also had some great quotes that I saved up for a blog post:



Me: I hatched one of those Geodudes or what-ever-you-call-'em
Breaky: That's literally their name.
Me: Oh. I was being funny. But go me.


Me: I evolved my "Radish"
Breaky: Your what?
Me: Radish
Breaky: You mean like your Rattata?
Me: No, the little blue dude that looks like a radish
Breaky: You mean Oddish?
Me: Yes. That's what I said


Now, if I find myself in an area known for a lot of checkpoints and multiple Pokemon, sure, I'll play. If a restaurant throws down a lure for an event like trivia or something, yeah, I'll play a little. I just won't make it a point to play every time I walk. I am going back to listening to audio books while I walk.

Now, if/when someone creates a Harry Potter Go, or a Sailor Moon Go, you would bet your sweet patootie I'll be all over that.

Guest Blog Post: BreakyCPK

Below is a guest blog post by my husband, BreakyCPK, who frequently appears in my blog. He is often asked how he got in to the industry of esports and video games, so he decided it would be neat to share with everyone! Below is the blog post: 

My name is Nikolas Caras, but most people that know of me know me by the name that I go by online which is BreakyCPK.  My closest friends and even my wife refer to me as Breaky instead of Nick, and it doesn’t faze me.  I started my Video Game casting career back in 2009 and over the years I have had the privilege of traveling all over the world, as well as my current place of residence in Kalamazoo Michigan where I met “The Good Geek Wife” or as I know her as, Kelsey.

But this post isn’t going to be a full story of my journey over the years of casting (that I am saving for either future posts, or hey even a book).  Instead, I wanted to go over the story of how I even got into casting Video Games in the first place some 7 years ago, which is probably one of the most popular questions I get to this day.

The very short version is simply I was looking for more ways to get experience with sports casting, so I decided to give it a shot with video games, specifically Heroes of Newerth since I was playing it at the time.

The more detailed version is as followed.

Back in 2005 I graduated from high school, where I was overall a fairly good student.  When it came to my first year of college up at a school in northern California however, I let World of Warcraft get the better of me.  As a result of flunked out after my first year and decided it was best to come back home to San Diego, and live with my parents.  So here I was, in the “what the hell am I going to do with my life” phase that I am sure most others have gone through or are possibly going through as well.

I worked several different retail jobs over the next ~3-4 years including Blockbuster Video and Home Depot, while at the same time attempting to go to some local community colleges just to simply keep up with education and earn some type of degree that I could use to further pursue a career.  It felt like I was just going to school just to go, not really knowing what I wanted to pursue and really just getting general education classes done, but mainly because my parents told me I had to.

During this time as well, I continued to play plenty of computer games and also become more and more of a follower in a very new competitive gaming scene.  Ranging from CS 1.6 to WoW arena, to DOTA, I even did a little bit of writing for some gaming websites just to be involved in that scene.

In 2008 however I happened to be looking at upcoming classes for the new semester of a Community College, and came across sportscasting / radio broadcasting.  I have been a lifelong sports fan, specifically a San Diego Chargers and Los Angeles Lakers fan and I also have been told many times that I have a great voice, and I should do radio.  So it just seemed fitting that I should give it a shot and see where it took me.

I ended up taking the class for the two semesters of that year, and both enjoyed going to school for the first time in a very long time, but also started to gain experience in a career I would potentially be pursuing.  I started to cast some local high school football and basketball games for the college AM radio station.  However those seasons only lasted so long and the opportunities for them were constantly shifted from person to person.

A game that I happened to get into recently was called Heroes of Newerth, a recreation of the popular game DOTA which I had previous experience playing with friends.  Streaming video was also starting to become a more popular thing, however the tools were nowhere what they are today.  But I wanted to get more experience in this career that I have come to realize is something I could really make something out of in broadcasting, so I decided why not.

Now to be clear, streaming has evolved a LOT in very little time.  Back in 2009 when I did some research and a lot of testing, I was lucky to get a stream going with 360p quality.  But hey, that was great for its time and the idea that people could just see what you had on your screen was cool enough.  For a better idea of what it was like to stream, you can check out this video that I made in the earlier days, before Twitch was a thing. 

The first couple of times I did it, I don’t think I had any viewers, especially without there being a platform like today with Twitch where people would just go to watch streams.  But that never deterred me, I honestly wasn’t doing it for recognition or in hope that I would one day be a video game caster.  However after a couple of weeks of casting random games, between “in house” matches to some scrims between “top teams”, I started to gain some recognition within the scene.  It wasn’t until I was contacted by someone concerning a project they were planning to start about streaming HoN matches that eventually became the Honcast we know today that I realized maybe I could get something out of this more.

Over the next year things drastically changed, going from me just doing this on the side for experience while still working my retail job living with my parents, to getting a monthly pay check and eventually moving out on my own.  My parents, especially my mother were never really behind the idea of me focusing so much on a video game, especially with my history and of course I can’t blame them.  But in summer of 2011 the offer came to move out to Michigan and work officially as the head caster of Heroes of Newerth for S2 Games, and the realization finally hit that I had started what would be an awesome journey towards being an esports caster.

Test Driving the Overwatch Healer/Sniper: Ana

When I play games, I usually with choose either a sniper or healer. So you can only imagine my enthusiasm and excitement when Overwatch announced that the new hero would not only be a healer, but a SNIPER, I got super excited. It was like it was MADE for me.

For those that have not played Ana, or Overwatch and have no idea what I am talking about, Ana is the new hero in the multiplayer first-person shooter video game created by Blizzard available on PC, Playstaion and Xbox One. The newest hero is Ana, who is a sniper, whose weapon also heals her teammates. She also has a Sleep Dart for enemies, a Biotic Grenade which heals teammates and does damage to enemies. Her "ultimate" ability is a "Nano Boost" which is given to an ally and allows them to move faster, deal more damage to enemies and take less damage.


When I first logged in to try her out, I found out I was not the only one who wanted to play her. Funny thing, it is not a good test to see how a hero will work with others when every.single.other.person.is.that.character. How dare everyone else in the world try the character * I * wanted to try (sarcasm font not available, so use your imagination).  I swear, if I hear another chorus of "warihum quwitak" I may lose my little mind. Did not really give me a feel of the character. Got me a little frustrated, and I was sure the experience had soured my preconception of the hero.

I had actually had a draft of this blog post now for at least a week. I wanted to have a little more to write other than bitching about have 4-5 Anas on a team and how I didn't like the hero like I thought I would.

So. I took a "time out" and waited until I could fully appreciate the hero, aka trying Ana with a team of non-Ana heroes.

My opinion, now that I have taken the time to actually try it, is that the hero is very much map-specific. She does not have a way to get to "safety" like the others do. For snipers, Widowmaker has her grappling hook, and Hanzo has his spiderman-wall-climbing-thing going on. For healers, Mercy has her guardian angel left shift, Lucio has the whole speedy thing going on. So Ana joins the ranks of Zenyatta in the way that they both are healers without a way to get to safety. At least Zenyatta's orbs get fired in a more rapid sequence than Ana's sniper rifle.

However, if you get a map with a few strategic corners and accessible hiding places, I found Ana actually a lot of fun to play. It took a few games to really get used to the idea of sniping your allies, and good players are always moving, trying to avoid the enemy, which makes it a little more difficult. I found myself often saying "hold still you little sh*t, I'm trying to help you" and then just end up throwing a biotic grenade instead.

Her biggest plus is the Nano Boost ultimate, especially on specific heroes (coughcoughGenjicoughcough). I find I hardly am able to use her sleep dart, as when I am close enough to an enemy to aim and fire, the piddly 200 health of Ana is quickly diminished. I use her biotic grenade and sniper heal thing more often than not.

So overall, pros of Ana are her ultimate, and the biotic grenade, and overall sniping/healing abilities in the right map. The cons of Ana are the aiming for the Sleep Dart, the inability to get to higher ground and aiming at better players who are always moving.

I would have to say, Mercy or Lucio will probably remain my "main" support healers.

If there are other healers on the team, and it is a quick play or against AI, I may play Ana again, but the map and the situation would have to call for it. So not quite the "made for DuchessCPK" as I had hoped it would be.

GGWP: Gaming Glossary

While playing games or hanging out with friends, does your boyfriend speak weird words you wish you understood? Does your Grandmother get on your case because she doesn't understand this "funny" language you let slip out during dinner? Are you new to gaming and wish to know what the heck everyone is talking about? Why is everyone spamming "GG" at the end of every game? And what is "spamming"? Then bookmark this post and it will save your life!

Ok, ok, ok, so I may be exaggerating a little bit. Please excuse me for adding a sales-pitch-like dramatic flair for my introduction to my post. 

When I first started dating Breaky, yeah, there were terms and acronyms I had no clue about. I'm not shy, and am confident in my vocabulary abilities to not be ashamed to admit naivety about what the heck they were talking about. So I just asked. Obviously, by consistent questioning didn't bother Breaky, because that was 4 years ago and we are still together. Married, even.

Now, if I were to have tried to write up my own definition of what these words mean, it may seem a little like:

So I asked a few people who are respectable in the gaming world and whom I have heard use these words before. AKA "experts". So if  you have additions, please feel free to comment below.



Aggro: When something or someone is focusing on you OR you or someone is focusing very hard on something

BM: Bad Mannered, a label given to someone who is considered mean and unfriendly.

Buff: When changes are made to someone or something to increase its effectiveness

FTW: For the win!

GG: Good Game

GGWP: Good game, well played

GLHF: Good luck, have fun

Grind: Doing a very tedious task to get some reward in the end

GTG: Got to go

Lag; When something is causing someone to be slower than usual, late reactions

Meta; What the current state of said topic is. Similar to "trends" but more gaming related

Nerf: When changes are made to someone or something to reduce its effectiveness

Noob: Term used to refer to someone being bad or just generally new to something

OP: Original poster OR Overpowered, meaning something is considered too strong or powerful

Salty: Being very upset about a person or act with little logic behind it

Spam/Spamming: Typing over and over again in a very rapid manner, often times the same thing repeated

Troll/Trolling: An extreme form of being sarcastic or mean, usually with the intention to upset someone else



Hopefully this will help someone understand what people are talking about. I could have used this when I first started dating Breaky, but if it can help one person, or even is entertaining to a few seasoned professionals, then I guess it was worth it. :)

Happy Anniversary

In 2015,  BreakyCPK married DuchessCPK and they lived *happily ever after.*

*Disclaimer: Happily ever after does include fighting, making up, laughing at each other, crying, missing each other, pain, joy and many other things that have or will probably end up in this blog. End of the day "happily ever after" means we loved each other and we still and will forever love each other.*

To celebrate our one-year anniversary, I am going to highlight the "geeky," "sporty" and unique things that we had at our wedding!

We had a Portal Cube ring box. Handmade by the best man!

All of the cupcake names came from Heroes of Newerth heroes. Shout out to the very talented and lovely Hollicakes!

Yes, that is the two of us in bobble-head form!

One of my bridesmaids worked at Journeys and hooked the girls up with some pretty sweet kicks. Mine is the blingy white one, if you couldn't tell.

These awesome people are from Overneath in Kalamazoo. They performed the the theme song from Halo as the wedding party headed down the aisle. They also DJed the reception and included Space Jam as Breaky and my entrance song. Huge shout out to this company!

To make it a little more fun and appealing to the single guys, we attached the garter to a football. Both the garter and the bouquet that were tossed had a gift card attached. More incentive to catch! AceJR, who was in the wedding, caught the "garter."

We also had a photo booth, full of a multitude of unique props, such as a Phantom of the Opera mask, Raptor hats (which resulted in replicated the iconic scene from the new Jurassic Park movie) and of course the standard big glasses, silly hats and boas.


Other things included references to Game of Thrones; I made reference in my vows and we had a chest with replica dragon eggs to hold the cards.

We also set out board games so people who either didn't want to dance or needed to take a break could still be entertained. I know I saw a picture of this, but heaven only knows where that ended up.(Edit-I found the picture! Just, you know, two years later.)

Happy anniversary to my love and a huge thank you again to all those who attended and made our special day even more special.

Overwatch and New Beginnings

"True self is without form"-Zarya (Overwatch)

I have had a very interesting roller-coaster ride of a month. I had to make some life-decisions that effected my career. Long story short, I received two job offers within a few weeks of each other, so I had to make a decision as to which one to take, on top of leaving a job I helped create and that I had been at for over 6 years. 

There was a weird in-between part where I had a job offer from one place and a up-in-the-air tentative offer from the other. It meant I couldn't turn the first one down confidently as it was not for sure I was going to get the second. Ethical dilemma. I didn't want to start somewhere and then leave a few weeks or days later. 

Needless to say, I lost some sleep and was a bit stressed. Around this time, however, Overwatch beta was open. I cannot describe what a lovely break from reality this game offered.

One of the great things about Overwatch that helped me through this were the strong female characters. Female characters that are some of the most powerful characters in the game, but are strongly feminine. I grew up with books and TV that touted if you are a "strong" girl, you must be a tomboy and if you were feminine and got your nails done and wore high heels you were flighty and a ditz. Of course, I wanted to be the tomboy and be good at sports, solve mysteries and play video games, so I never wore my hair in a style that wasn't a ponytail and didn't really embrace makeup until college. In Overwatch you have a professional body builder who carries a huge laser cannon but wears pink nail polish and cute makeup. You have a professional Starcraft player who drives a big pink tank with bunnies on it. You have a scientist in an oversized snowsuit with an ice gun and a hairpiece with snowflakes on it. That balance is something that I had struggled with pretty much since high school and even today.

Playing and getting fully immersed also helped me take my mind off of the reality that I was going to have to look out for me, even if that means turning down a job offer in a field that is pretty small in a town equally as tiny. I primarily play Mercy. I enjoy playing Mercy for many reasons, but primarily I have always been about helping others. I also truly enjoy that character.



Ultimately, as fate would have it, I got a call just in time about the second job offer, which turned out to be the one I truly wanted. I was able to accept that job offer and had to turn down the other well before I would have had to start.

The day I started my new job was the day Overwatch actually released.

Oh, and another weird kind of coincidence? The job I now have is in the medical field. Healers for the win! 

My Journey Into Azeroth Part 2

Part 1 here

I'm sure all of you are just itching to get my part two of World of Warcraft stories.

Just kidding, you all are either playing Overwatch, Hearthstone or Doom. Let's be honest.

So, on to the next part of our chapter.

We got to a part where basically the quests that we "needed" to do to get me acclimated to the game and to get me to a level that would make sense to get to the next level, which was doing a "dungeon raid" (make note to ask Breaky if that term is right. So many damn terms)

My role would be that of the healer. A big "duh" on that one. That whole problem with figuring out what to bind to you? Doubled in a dungeon. I am usually running behind everyone just healing. Since I have to stand still as I heal, I was always way behind everyone else, just spamming heals. Healing especially Breaky. He was the "Tank" so everyone was attacking him first anyway. So that resulted in me running behind everyone and trying like hell trying to figure out what I should try to bind to me, while strangers yelling at me for "winning" everything.

So much going on!!

Not a huge deal though. Some of the fun elements I enjoy is when I am not in the action and figuring out what I ended up with. A lot of the fun customization elements are pretty nifty. Plus it feels really good when our team is victorious in a dungeon/(cave)


Plus side? I got to level 20! WHOO HOO! Despite my reservations about catching on to how everything works, I did enjoy my experience enough to justify paying for WoW to continue to level up and play.

One of the reasons I am glad I did? I got a mount! A horse! WWEEEEE Another? Got up to Level 29 before adult responsibilities made us stop for the night (IE our dog had to use the restroom), which isn't too bad all things considered.

Things I Have Said While Playing Video Games With My Husband

So, I have kept record of the things I find myself saying while playing video games with my husband. Sometimes I wish I recorded a lot of them, because let's face it, I am a hilarious person.

- Me: I definitely just killed myself. Why is that even possible? They should me-proof this map.
Overwatch

- Me: Dude! That was my kill, I got this!
- Breaky: We are on the same team honey.
Borderlands I and II & Orcs Must Die II

- Me:  I'm stuck
- Breaky: How.... Just jump? Oh. Um.......Wow you are really stuck.
- Me: What do I do?
- Breaky: Um... let the enemy kill you? You literally cannot move.
Borderlands II


- Me: DID NOT MEAN TO DO THAT. I DID NOT MEAN TO DO THAT!! UNDO UNDO
Hearthstone

- Me: I f*cked up. And I'm dead.
Hearthstone & Overwatch & Borderlands & Borderlands II

- Me: Sorry, I got distracted
- Breaky: Well, I'm dead, so will you please rez me instead?
World of Warcraft


- Me: The screen name of that frickin OP Bastion is "Sarah Palin" F*ckin Sarah Palin!
- Me; Goddamm it SARAH PALIN
- Me; F*ck off Sarah Palin
- Me; (while my head is in my hands) I just got killed by Sarah Palin
- Breaky: Things you never thought you would say playing Overwatch
Overwatch

Breaky-STOP STOP STOP! YOU ARE KILLING ME
Me- STOP WHAT?
Breaky-NO PUT THE LASER BACK WHERE IT WAS, THE RAMP IS FALLING NOT RISING
Me- NOOOOOOO.... I missed.
(My sister comes home)
Sister-I thought my sister was killing you for real
Breaky-No, not yet
Portal 2

- Me: ..........what?
End of Bioshock

My Journey Into Azeroth Part 1

Whispers to husband: It's Azeroth, right? Do I have that right? That's not the name of the place we started though. Azeroth is the "big picture" place yes? 

So, that will give you an insight in to how my journey in to playing Blizzard's World of Warcraft. I will break it up in to different parts, so hold on to your hats, we are going on an adventure!

DISCLAIMER: I am no expert in World of Warcraft (WoW). This is written from a "noob" perspective. I will call things the wrong name. I will make assumptions that are wrong. It is meant to be a good read.

To give you a little insight, I am mostly a first-person shooter game kind of gal. I do thoroughly enjoy Hearthstone though, so many characters and items/objects I recognize.

So one night, after years and years of pestering, I finally got a trial version of World of Warcraft. Why you ask? Well Hearthstone was running a promotion that if you reach level 20 on a new character in World of Warcraft, you get a new hero in Hearthstone: Lady Liadrin, a paladin.

I have a mediocre Murloc Paladin deck. Not necessarily the level of my Dragon Priest deck, but it was reason enough to dip my toe in the waters of WoW.

So for weird reasons, I folded. Told my husband I wanted to try it out. 

Logging in, we had some connectivity issues, which we will find out why later. Once logged in, we decided to go with Night Elf for our ..... race (asks husband...it's race right?), yes race. I decided to be a Priest class. Meaning I do the healing and damage stuff from a distance. Plus, got to rep my priest and stay consistent across most Blizzard games as a healer (I play Mercy in Overwatch).

Now this does mean my husband is playing as Alliance instead of Horde, which, considering he wanted to burn an Alliance shirt I owned when we first started dating, is a big frickin deal.

So we started. Since there is no tutorial, but instead hints and help as you start, I relied pretty heavily on my husband to fill me in on how to play. First and foremost how the hell to make my character move. Clicking, right clicking, left clicking etc... on top of the usual up, down left, right key bindings. I found myself often getting stuck because I couldn't figure out how to adjust my view and making my character do what I need her to. 

First impression? A crap ton of things going on. Lots of things to read, if you want to follow any kind of story line or get history/lore. Since Breaky has done this already, it was kind of go-go-go. Often times I had to be like, "Hakuna your Ta-Tas dear". I want to read why we have to pick these flowers to get experience. Although, in that "quest" I did figure out that we can swim! Which, I must confess, I did for a good few minutes. It was just fun. I think on that quest I lost my husband having too much fun swimming. 

I found that my biggest challenge once conquering the whole getting my character to move the right way, was binding spells and items accordingly. There just seemed like there was soooo much to read and consider and little time to do it. How was I supposed to know I can't use leather and plate? If my husband wasn't around, I would be picking up everything and be completely lost. Where is it said that it was a leather object? Do I need stamina? What's the difference between stamina and intelligence? The learning curve is intense. Or we went through everything far too quickly, which is possible. Actually attaching things to me (I believe the word is "bind" it to me, but I could be wrong) took me a long time, because I'm the kind of gal that wanted to sit and read and figure out what would be best, strategically. Look below, those are so many things I don't know what they do. 

(NOT MY BAG! Picture from the internet)

Visually, the artwork and the characters, the landscape, the animals, etc... were all very well created and appealing. Lots of fun to take a look at all the different artwork representing the different mechanics. 

I finally got the basics and Breaky and I did a great job of working together. Eventually. In the beginning, I would get annoyed when I wanted to kill something and he jumped in and did it for me. Mind you, we were on the same "team" or what ever, but I wanted to learn dammit! Anyway, we did find, however, that because of the promotion (we believe), there were WAY too many other people where we were. Everyone trying to level a new character super quick to get the Hearthstone promotion (again, we speculate. It's not like we asked anyone). We would get to where we had to defeat someone and there would be like, 4 people waiting to do the same thing. Because this is the internet, it wasn't exactly like they were going to wait in line according to who got there first. So that was fun. Honestly, it had more to do with me still figuring out how to target people and missing than it did with the amount of traffic for that one quest. 

The next step was going to another location. We flew on hippogriffs -PS, why did auto-correct want to change it from hippogriffs to hippodromes? What is a hippodrome anyway?

I couldn't tell you where we flew to, but the view was stunning. Such detail to the landscape. We did a few more quests, which usually involved me being about 10 paces behind my husband, healing him and doing some damage from afar. Fine. With. Me. 

My takeaways: 1. The art and the landscape and the characters were all very well created and visually appealing. 2. The actual play took some getting used to and sometimes caused me some frustration. 3. thus-far was playable and fun when we weren't waiting for other people (who have obviously played a ton already) to do what we were trying to do. 4. I am no expert in what certain things are called and we should have written down some of my attempts to communicate with Breaky what I was trying to say. It was hilarious, I'm sure. 

Part 2 will be about my travels into "Dungeons" which, from my experience thus far are "caves" not dungeons. And yes, I'm being pedantic. Sue me. Well, don't *actually* sue me. I don't have money. 

Till next time! FOR THE ALLIANCE!

Email Boss Fight

Like those Law & Order episodes, this blog post is based on real events. Names have been changed to protect the innocent...or was it the guilty?  Anyway. Everyone is assumed innocent until proven guilty. Wait, wrong kind of story.


Anyway. Story time.

A large group of friends got together for dinner at a sushi place in town.  There were a good 10-12 of us in attendance. Everyone except for me and two other "geek wives" worked for a video game company in some capacity. Ironically, two of us "geek wives" work in higher education. Small world!

Of course, being of technical minds, many phones were out throughout the night. Our friend was showing my husband a picture of a house project he was working on. Breaky noticed that our friend had over 45,000 unread emails. No joke.




(not actual picture obviously)

Of course discussions about preferences ensued, with everyone believing they were right. For example, I HATE unread or "new" notifications of any kind on my phone, computer or tablet. I will wade through hundreds of emails to clear everything out to get rid of that pesky little orange or red number. Others, it doesn't matter.

Our friend mentioned how, when he tries to select all unread messages to change it to read or delete that gmail freezes and crashes the browser.

Lots of back and forth occurred, including creating formulas to select, group, delete, read etc... and all these creative solutions that were absolutely plausible.** End result was our friend not being super interested in making that kind of effort to fix it. This of course resulted in a small uproar from us "read email" purists.

Then, someone told our friend that he, who is a video game enthusiast, should treat this as a video game. Work on it to get the number lower.

Here is a small snippet of how that conversation, which ended up including the whole table, devolved:

"Dude,  you're a gamer, treat it as a game!"
"Wouldn't that meant I want that number to be higher? I should go for the high score!"
"No, no, a lower number! Like golf. Golf is a game!"
"Or like a boss fight!"
"Yeah, the health of the boss needs to go down"
"But how do you get XP though? If he really wanted to, he would go for the high score and get it to 100,000 unread emails. "
"Hey, don't encourage him!"


Yes. Someone's unread email got compared to golf, a boss fight, and XP.

I have to say, if anything our dinners are rarely boring.

** For those encountering the same problem with email, here's the link I have above regarding clearing out those unread emails: http://www.zdnet.com/article/how-to-mark-all-unread-emails-as-read-in-gmail-and-more/