I - er, that is, me, the batgrl - have been playing Warcraft for so long that I can no longer remember when it all started. It was sometime in 2006, or maybe 2005 - not sure. Husband got me into this game in the first place, in the most sneaky and charming of ways - he gave me the Collector's Edition. After getting me just as addicted to the game as he was, we both got way too into our own style of play - he was more into endgame raiding, and I was more into soloing and trying out all the classes. Eventually he decided that what he really wanted was a guild where we could both play together - where I'd feel comfortable to raid, where no one had to do anything (spec a certain way, play a certain character), and where we all would be polite, mature, and yet as silly as a bunch of adults could be. And thus we have this guild that was once just a goofy name where we kept our alts.
How/Why Did You Start Blogging?
The background is here. Just another person inspired by Mania, who manages the Petopia website.
Wait, you're how old? Er, aren't you out of the demographic range?
Nope, plenty of other 40ish year olds are into gaming. And yep, I'm probably old enough to be everyone's mom. (Well, maybe not everyone. And note: NOT grandmother, I'm not THAT old. Yet.) Growing older is weird, you're just as much a gadget/sci fi/horror movie/pseudo goth/MST3K loving nerd as ever - but suddenly you realize, "wow, I've somehow gotten deeply into adulthood here, how'd that happen?" Then you realize - "a good number of the game developers are my age, that's why I'm getting so many of these pop cultural references!" And you see them at Blizzcon and think "hey, they're still playing video games, it's no big deal that I'm spending such a huge amount of time doing this myself!" Not to mention the fact that I could look around the place and also see plenty of people my age. Which was strangely satisfying.
Plus the real time warp is that my parents think my husband and I are insane for spending so much time in this game. So in that way it's like being 15 all over again and having your parents (good naturedly) disapprove of your hobby.
(Mom, on phone: "You do go outside from time to time, right?"
Me, sighing: "Yes, Mom...")
Alliance or Horde?
I am adamantly against anyone who wants to pigeonhole me into the Alliance vs. Horde brouhaha. Sorry, I'm all for the silliness, but I refuse to like either side "best." The only reason I have more Alliance characters on Windrunner, my main server, is because my husband likes Alliance better. (I kept trying to get him to see how fun it is to cannibalize a humanoid, but zombies just weren't his thing.) There are really too many good quests on both sides of this faction thing to just choose one side - there's a huge amount of game content you'll miss if you do that. Thus I have an orc, belf, tauren and undead on this server, and there's a whole posse of trolls and undead on various other servers that I play.
What's the deal with gnomes?
I will confess to having formerly hated gnomes. Since the husband then delighted in rolling gnomes to pester me (I am apparently great fun to tease) I've learned over time to give up, have a few gnome characters myself, and laugh at them. This doesn't mean that I still wouldn't enjoy kicking a gnome off the edge of Thunderbluff and watching it sail through the sky. In fact when I play a gnome in pvp I often go running into certain death, knowing that someone is probably going to enjoying killing me.
So are you an expert on all the classes?
No! Just because I've played a character of most classes in no way means I've figured them all out. Far from it - but that's why I keep playing, because the various classes I play still made the game new and interesting to me. I think it's made me a (slightly) better player to group with in many ways, because I understand/respect the limitations and requirements of classes and I know how to tailor my own actions. Or I try to, anyway. But on the whole I'm still learning, making silly decisions, learning too late that they were silly, but then recovering and playing on...hoping no one noticed - that kind of thing. (Typical mental conversation with self: "No one noticed me fall off that ledge when I was trying to charge, right? Damn, yes they did, everyone is loling...") But that leads me to the point - this constant learning curve I'm on is why I don't ever link to the Armory for my characters.
What are your characters' names?
You can find out the names of who I play here and here. Should you be pondering dropping by to say hello and want to whisper me out of the blue - please say that you've found me via hooha.org. I have enough weird whispers asking me for gold, selling leveling services, etc. that I sadly need a heads up that you're just a friendly Warcraft fan.
Do you only play Warcraft?
I play a lot of other computer games besides Warcraft - it's just that Warcraft has the easiest way of documenting things that happen in game. I do post entries about other games, just not as many as Warcraft. The reason Warcraft has really taken over the majority of my gaming time has to do with the art, the humor, and the many possibilities for gamers to play with the items given to us. Also the fact that the game is continually updating its content via patches - even while waiting for the expansions Blizzard makes sure we have content so that we don't get bored. While this isn't an official fan site I admit that I'm always impressed with Blizzard's games.
Wait, where'd the name batgrl come from?
It's a nickname from my college days, many many years ago. Due to a love of bats and the Batman comic. I lost the letter "i" in the nickname when putting together an email address.
Why not use one of your characters' names for a nickname in here?
I have too many characters I play in Warcraft to take on any one of their names as a favorite.
What IS hooha and why do you keep using that word?
Someday I'll get around to explaining where the hooha the word hooha came from. And why I had to use it frequently. I'll eventually do that in the Hooha FAQ. Maybe.
Gamer background:
* Has played tabletop D&D, only a couple of times back in the 80s, but it counts!
* Was very into Doom when it finally came out with a Mac version - cheated way too often with God mode, but it was great after a hard day to mow through everything with a chainsaw (I now game with a PC, only because of the game selection offered).
* Was very into the Sims as long as I could cheat and give them limitless cash and build ridiculous houses for them - then had to give it up when their lives became too stressful with work and family requirements, ugh - stress is easy enough to find in real life without having it in a game
* Still thinks Titan Quest Immortal Throne is one of the best games (yes, I know it's a Diablo clone, it's still excellent), not lauded nearly enough - as a Greek mythology junky I'll probably keep playing this without finding a reason to stop
* Still plays Oblivion and hasn't seen most of what that world has to offer (though I purchased a house full of ghosts I really need to go back and farm for ectoplasm; I have the Shivering Isles expansion and haven't explored most of it.)
* Has played Rollercoaster Tycoon solely to be able to make mazes to trap the tourists in and to remove portions of the coasters in order to make them crash dramatically (and discovered many other people play this way too, and was relieved not to be some kind of virtual sociopath)
* Finds Bejeweled way too addictive and attempts to stay away (I fail from time to time and get sucked back in)
* Owns Peggle because husband was evil and bought it for me, knowing I'd have to play it (Confession, I am a Peggle Master, and embarrassed)
Pop Culture Nerd cred:
* Longtime Doctor Who fan, Tom Baker will always be my favorite but last two Doctors have been nicely cast (SO thankful for the SciFi Channel and BBC America airing the show)
* Massive MST3K fan, have my membership card around here somewhere and a box of vhs tapes I should toss, as I have many of the dvds now
* Prefers horror flicks from the 70s Hammer Film Productions, and anything with giant monsters attacking cities (Pre Broderick Godzilla only please.)
* Batman comic book fan thanks to Frank Miller - have a collection of a bunch of the comics from the 70s and 80s, forced myself to stop collecting in the 80s as it was too easy to spend lots of money
* Have seen most of the Star Trek, Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, Matrix films at the theater - back when it used to mean you'd end up waiting a year or two to watch the videotape/dvd of a film (except the Jar Jar flick, that was one Star Wars that I avoided until the video came out, and it seemed like a good choice)
* Owns all the Harry Potter books, has seen most of the films
* Still thinks the following would make a fun afternoon cheese movie fest, at our house anyhow: Big Trouble In Little China, Buckaroo Banzi, Flash Gorden, Xanadu, and Sargent Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band. In that order. Of course, it could also make your head explode.
Random Real Life info:
I'm honest and truly a female gamer. Middle aged adult. Majored in English and have a Master's of Fine Arts in Radio/Television. And among other jobs I "did time" as a customer service representative a while back (which is why you'll always see me cut Blizzards CS folks a lot of slack). Husband and I game together in the same room - four computers and one large screen television. (I often contemplate decorating the place to look like the Batcave.)
And now you all know far, far too much. I'm afraid I'm going to have to use the neuralizer on you, so just hold still...
