Geek Week

The Heart of Hakkar
Originally uploaded by measi.

While a mild-mannered administrative assistant at work, I tend to fall into pure geekdom mode once I get home. Weekends generally have some sort of a Dungeons & Dragons-esque game going on- not always one I'm personally participating in, but as we have a house where there are no kids that need quiet time after a particular hour, nor time limits to wrap up due to parking restrictions in the neighborhood, plus a good amount of room (and an accessible grill for making food), it often takes place at our place anyway.

On top of that, there are nightly excursions in the World of Warcrackcraft, where Erich and I play - together - while sitting in our own offices. It's silly and odd, but we do have a good time running around together and causing general mayhem.

Last week, however, was a "beat the game patch" week, where we were constantly playing the same game within the game (Alterac Valley, for those in the know) so I could get some nifty items that would be lost with the patch, due to some major changes in how the game fuctions (it was a large patch-- about 450 megs worth). For a straight week, we got home, we turned on the computers, we'd play WoW for about four to five hours, and then go to bed.

If you've seen the recent World of Warcraft South Park episode? Yeah... it was kind of like that. (sheepish) What can I say? I can be a truly pathetic lifeless loser when I need want to be.

I have to admit- I didn't understand the addiction to these online games before I played WoW. I've known several people who were addicted to Everquest when it was at its peak popularity. I've lost friends (and my fiance) to hours of Halo Online. Even when I started playing WoW, I thought it was okay-- a bit cartoonish, a little cheesy. But the detail in the game was so cool. Plus I didn't have to rely on others to play-- if I wasn't in the mood to do XYZ, I could just go run around and explore for a while. Friends who had moved to other states also played, so we could still hang out and goof off together.

In late summer, Erich (alter ego Abudiabudie... because he wants to annoy everyone who tries to spell the damn thing) and I (alter ego Tennetty) joined a guild called Burrito Bandits on our server. They're a fun-loving, wide age range bunch who just like to have a good time. Conversation on the text channel and our audio channel tends to be quite silly. We work well together as a group on some of the more challenging high-level dungeons (which require 20 or 40 people on a team).

It's 21st century social networking at its finest. :)