Going through the Reader

One of the worst problems with "forced vacations" is that you don't get the opportunity to keep up on your reading. My routine was to sit down after breakfast and see if anyone has some new posts up before either working on something of my own or logging into Wow for a quick round of dailys. So for the first time in FAR to long I opened up my google reader to see what everyone had been talking about for the past month.

Of course Cataclysm is still the main topic of conversation. No huge surprise there, as we still have no concrete release date, speculation is still rampant but Blizzard is holding firm to a 2010 release date which is encouraging. Some are already getting rather sick of all the speculation and info release as with any Beta things change on a daily basis so any work done now will most likely only have to be redone by actual release. Some are getting more anxious with each new tidbit and becoming more bored with the current content as they wait.

A great many of us are leveling alts or stockpiling in anticipation. So over all the blogging world has entered that Pre release rut. Quiet and boring as to be expected. A few little updates here and there stated "yes I am still alive, no I haven't left the game, please don't give up on me yet, excitement is to follow, soon we will all be writing the exact same gear lists, leveling guides and drooling Blizz Con.

Except for one little corner of controversy.  I can always count on Adam of the Noisy Rogue to keep things hot. As he says, "He the one Rogue who can't shut up."  While every one else is wandering off, playing Starcraft or taking vacations, Adam is as usual setting off fire crackers and watching the usual suspects go off like roman candles.(Since he lives in Italy maybe there is a connection?)

Let me give you a little back ground here. When I first start blogging Adam was one of the first who encouraged me to keep at it. Adam is a Anti-Theist where I am a Jesus Freak. (I would most likely have to toss a bucket to him as close association with me would cause him to hurl greatly.) Adam uses his blog to express his views, no matter HOW controversial they may be because he LOVES to invite conversation. Considering he runs a Pub in real life I would think that would be a helpful skill to have. My blog is pretty focused on just In game topics. I was a Social Worker with Institutionalized Delinquent Adolescents for a decade before I became a stay at home mom. So the tendency to keep my private life separate from public life kind flows naturally from that.

What I found interesting was the response Adam received for his most recent controversial rantings (it isn't like this is something new, he does this type of thing all the time, it is rather what he is famous for). First there was the rather graphic nasty name calling that was directed not only at Adam but some stretched so far as to the entire ROGUE CLASS, going further into genders and then down hill from there. Now believe me, just looking at our dissimilar back grounds you should be able to guess that I seldom hold the same views as Adam on things but the whole thing struck me like a Salem Witch hunt down to the shunning and Mob mentality.

How often do we see that in our MMO communities when we start to bring the real into our fantasy? Recently I did a Shared topic in which I included a Short Story and I got an e-mail asking me about my PERSONAL views about alcohol consumption, it kinda took me aback. (Don't worry Hawkeye I will answer the question in a later post.) Now that isn't to say that I haven't had my own share of venting about how Blizzard has handled some of their female leaders. (Don't get me started on Jaina Sobmore...) Adam would LOVE to just keep it all at bay. While I can understand his feelings, as more and more people invade our fantasy, it is harder to keep the "real world" from slipping through the cracks.

One thing I keep in mind is that some people seem to actually ENJOY being offended (they would NEVER admit this in a HUNDRED YEARS) but they NEED to be enraged about something. Being a "victim" gives them a sense of power and entitlement. I know I know that seems a counterdiction but it is true. By being the "victim" they no long are "at fault" for anything that has happened. Someone ELSE is to blame for all of their troubles. It gives them all sorts of power and freedoms as well as energy in their "anger" over their "victimization". I personally can not live that way but I know many people who do.  Ask yourself this, "Are my Pug groups ALWAYS bad? Then what is the common denominator?" Because I have to be honest with you, I don't have that many BAD pugs. Attitude really DOES matter.

Some people write blogs looking for followers, to make money, for a variety of reasons that to me seem silly. Adam and I both write because we ENJOY it. This past month seems to have been a rough one for him during a time when everyone else has been "vacationing" in the pre Blizz Con slump. Hopefully the next few weeks will be filled with some more genuinely exciting information so fellow bloggers will behave with more rational and less like rabid wolves. If nothing else Adam succeed in giving them something to talk about. I know I am personally looking forward to getting back into my routine, my fingers have been so twitchy and my brain is a jumble of ideas.