I’m at a crux-point in my EQ2 gaming. I’ve never been more frustrated with the game than I am at the moment. Call it jealousy if you like, as I don’t have a character high enough level to be working the Kunark content. Call it burnout, as we’ve now been playing the game for well over a year. Call it MMOADD, because I’m sure there’s some of that too.

Whatever you want to call it, it sucks. My reaction to the prospect of dealing with Maj’dul is one of horror, and to Everfrost – profound disappointment. This is worse than dragging myself through Stranglethorn Vale for the fourth or fifth time; I feel as though I’ve gotten to a dead zone of content. My only hope is the Lesser Faydark, a zone I’m entirely hopeful I don’t burn out on as well.  Let’s run down the horror, my issues, and possible solutions. While I’m at it, I’ll weigh in on a recent tempest in a teapot that I think is relevant to this issue.
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I’d just like to point out that there are some wanna-bes, some second rate acts, calling themselves Rock Bands out there.

There is only one band made up of MMO-playin’ fools that I respect, and that name is emblazoned on the inside of my eyeballs:

Cookies Cake & Pie

\m/ >_< \m/

Stuffed with turkey, stuffing, and other stuff and nursing a headache (I ran into a wall, don’t ask).

My thanks to you, dear reader, for making sure that I have someone to talk to on this fine, cold, Wisconsin Thankgiving eve.

My thanks, also, to

• The ’sphere
• SOE, Arena.net, Turbine, NCsoft, Blizzard, Cryptic, Mythic, and the rest.
• My GDC/AGDC posse, for keeping it nerdy.
• Massively, for giving me another place to hang my hat.
• Ziff, for the chance to make a splash.

I hope, whether you’re triptophantastic tonight or not, that you’re having a good day.

I’ve cleverly integrated myself into the podosphere as a guest commentator. All the fun of podcasting with almost none of the work. Shhh … don’t tell anyone. :)

I sat in on the Gamers With Jobs Conference Call again (they asked me back!) this past weekend, to act as an ‘expert’ in the Mass Effects.

Again, thank you to Kmart for the hookup.

This week Michael Zenke joins us with full, spoiler-free impressions of Mass Effect. Dousing the hype a bit, Michael fills us in on what’s not so hot, what’s good and what’s great about Bioware’s latest. He also offers hot tips for new players! We even have a special visit from Karla to talk about Assassin’s Creed and Mario Galaxy coop. Let us friend you up.

As happens, this post started out as a comment. In this case, it was over on Sanya’s blog, in response to her post about the Jade Raymond … thing.

What drove me over the edge into commenting was this:

Game “journalists” made this mess. I expect the real journalists to clean it up. If I have to be a credit to my gender against my will and principles, surely some of you nice boys out there can take one for the team. Stop painting her as a victim, because that marginalizes her even more than the original “articles” did. Also, through all the drama, anyone who actually listened to HER noticed she was not even remotely a “poor me” kind of lady. She’s tough and funny in the few interviews I’ve seen. So let’s call a do over. Let’s see some interviews with this producer that never once mention her femininity in any respect save the usage of the feminine pronoun, let’s police the comment threads a little more stringently, and let’s vow to do better this time.

My response is below. It’s behind a cut because it is full of swearing. If you have sensitive eyes, don’t continue on. If you’ve met me in person, and I went off on a full-blown rant, this will sound somewhat familiar. You’ve been warned.

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You know him, you love him … SOE made him into a TCG card, for cryeye!

Brent’s been running the VirginWorld collective on shoe-strings and applesauce for quite some time now, and he’s finally taken the step to ask for a little bit in return.

He’s now put up a Support VirginWorlds subsite, and it does a great job of explaining what the deuce is going on:

VirginWorlds aims to continue supporting the MMO gaming community by providing an excellent source of news and entertainment both on VirginWorlds.com and on the podcast. Like any growing web presence, the need to monetize eventually appears. The question is how is this best done? … Membership Programs. Non-profits use membership programs as key fundraising tools. The Humane Society, the Red Cross, PETA, the Democrats and Republicans, Green Peace and many more.

A membership program is a donation with a couple of differences:
1. It provides consistent funding.
2. It provides the members with added value.

For as little as four dollars a month you too can feed a starving man in a VirginWorld. Both Sally Struthers and I really want you to consider doing this – for Brent’s beer, if nothing else. Think of the beer.

Actually, scratch that. Think of NPR. I am a ‘member’ of Wisconsin Public Radio, and have been proudly for almost 7 years now. VirginWorlds as a service is exactly like NPR: awesome content for free, with the option of paying to make sure it keeps going. It’s a brilliant idea, and I’m off to go get my sponsorship in while the sponsoring’s good.