How Online Games Help Me Cope

Posted on May 16, 2012 by matojo

Most that know me through World of Warcraft are aware that I have Depression — even one or two of my non-WoW readers are aware, as they have heard me talk about it. Most know that I am not afraid to make mention of this illness since I feel very strongly that we should talk about these things. If we remain silent, our illnesses will continue to be considered taboo topics and people will keep thinking stuff that isn’t actually true about them.

Depression is a mental illness that is characterized by long-term feelings of worthlessness and hopelessness, a loss of interest in hobbies, excessive sleeping (or trouble getting any sleep), issues concentrating, and other related problems. It can be treated with medication and/or therapy, and recovery time varies depending upon the individual. PubMed Heath has an article about depression for those that would like to do some light reading (yes, I use adf.ly — I don’t have a lot of money coming in, so clicks help).

This has everything to do with the post.

I started into online gaming with Diablo 2, though I never formed any long-term friendships there (even though I joined a clan or two, I was too shy to really reach out), and before that, I was in online text-based roleplay. None of the people I knew during my IRC days are still in contact with me, so I can’t say that’s really had a huge impact on the me of today — it taught me how not to roleplay, and it taught me that people are really bizarre, but that’s about it. It wasn’t until Runescape that I met my first set of long-term online friends, and they set the stage for what would happen in World of Warcraft.

When I started playing World of Warcraft, I was in my second year of a college program that I wasn’t very impressed with, and I mainly started playing because a friend got me into the game. I thought I would have the opportunity to play with him, but that did not actually happen. I rolled my first official toon, a Troll rogue, and struggled with leveling her until I started reading up on and understanding the class. I found a guild or two, but nobody really grabbed my attention.

An unfortunate instance of Eredar’s forums trolling Thorium Brotherhood’s forums led me to roll on the server. I started with a Troll priest named Mamalana, and I jumped into the roleplay scene as best I could. I was welcomed with open arms. That was the time when I met the people that would have the biggest impact on me and who hooked me up with the guild I’ve been in for the past six years: The Harbingers of War.

I fell in love with the server and the people. There were lots of other women playing there, the roleplay was fun (and I desperately needed fun at a time in my life when I was terribly unsatisfied with what I was doing), and it sparked creativity in me that I thought was lost. When server transfers opened up, I moved Talasha — my rogue — from Eredar to Thorium Brotherhood and she eventually became the first of my characters to join the Harbies.

No matter what anyone has said about me, no matter what I’ve said or done, no matter what has happened, these people have helped me to feel especially loved. On top of that, upon entering the blogosphere and joining Twitter, I found another legion of amazing people that were all connected by their love of WoW and MMOs in general. As someone that has a hard time making friends in a face-to-face capacity, the online world has been a boon.

Online gaming has saved my hide by giving me honest, genuine friendships that have survived my various internal issues (such as my temper and depressive episodes), and have proven to me that awesome people are out there, I just have to look. If not for the people I have met through WoW, Twitter, and Livejournal as a result of my gaming habit, I would be in far worse shape than I am today — I thank you all for everything that you’ve done, even if you don’t think you have done anything. You have. You listen, you pick me up when I’m down, and you help me understand myself and just plain feel better about everything.

Every single one of you is awesome. Thank you.

P.S. My family helps me feel loved every day, but that extra that comes from my friends, fellow bloggers, Twitterati, guildies, etc., is just as strong and just as helpful. I do not, ever, at any point, feel unloved by the people in my life — this little group of people that I have not met (well, for the most part: I met Kim in Toronto a couple years ago ) picks me up when others simply can’t, or don’t understand what I’m down about.

World of Warcraft Roleplay Guide: Trolls!

Posted on May 16, 2012 by matojo

I’ve been roleplaying as a Troll in World of Warcraft for years, and in that time, things have changed a fair bit, both in terms of characterization and the politics surrounding Troll tribes. This guide is made up of a combination of personal experience and information from sites like WoWpedia. Not everybody likes the way I play my Trolls, so you’re more than welcome to ignore everything I say here if you choose — this is simply a resource and a way for me to help folks that may be clueless, but want to try playing a Troll anyway. It’s a very basic jumping-off point.

If you have suggestions on sections to include, information to add, that sort of thing, please comment and let me know.

To navigate this guide and get to the section you want, hit CTRL + F (Command + F on a Mac) and type the name of the section you want to get to — or read the whole thing!

Troll Bouquet Guide to Troll Roleplay

1. Troll Types and Tribes
2. Troll Character Classes
3. Trolls and the Other Races
4. Trolls in the Horde
5. Trolls and their Loa
6. Conclusion

Troll Types and Tribes

In World of Warcraft, there are a variety of Troll types that inhabit every conceivable location of Azeroth. There are jungle trolls, forest trolls, sand trolls, dark trolls, and ice trolls; of these, two jungle troll tribes and one forest troll tribes are part of or allied to the Horde — Darkspear and Shatterspear for jungle trolls, Revantusk for forest trolls.

Jungle troll tribes are the Darkspear, Bloodscalp, Skullsplitter, Gurubashi, and Shatterspear. Forest troll tribes are Amani, Revantusk, Vilebranch, Mossflayer, Witherbark, and Smolderthorn. Ice troll tribes are the Drakkari, Frostmane, and Winterax. The Sandfury are the only sand troll tribe, while the ShadowTooth are the only mentioned dark troll tribe.

The Hakkari and Atal’ai are priest sects of worshippers of Hakkar, not separate tribes of Jungle troll.

Troll Character Classes

As of World of Warcraft: Cataclysm, trolls can play any class except for Paladin. Blizzard is worried that the awesomeness of Troll paladins would cause the game to implode, so they have not been implemented (yet)*.

As warriors, they are protectors and berserkers; vicious, plate-clad defenders of their tribes and/or the Horde, or even their families or whatever other cause they may champion. As warlocks, they are feared hexxers, demonologists, destructive casters that sow fear and confusion in their foes. As mages, they are masters of frost, fire, and the arcane — tricksters with their illusions and dangerous with their grasp of devastating magics. Their shamans bargain with the elements and demonstrate their connections to the spirits of Azeroth with impressive displays of combat prowess: from lightning-throwing Elementalists to chain-clad melee warriors whose fists crackle with electricity, to the smirking, totem-tossing healer whose spells mend wounds with a splash of cool water. Their priests, too, are masters of the hex and of healing; their rituals are unknown to orcs, tauren, the forsaken, and the elves, and even if they knew, they’d never be allowed to witness, for these are rituals that are ancient and sacred to the trolls. The druids, fairly new among the trolls of the Horde, but not in practice, lash out with tooth and claw, or with the burning light of the sun and moon; they are friends of the natural world, though their presence in the Cenarion Circle is somewhat contested. Then, you have troll rogues: sneaky, stabbity, doing the work that nobody else really wants to do. Trolls have some of the most cunning rogues of the Horde. Lastly, but certainly not least in my eyes, the Death Knights of troll-kind are looked upon with revulsion by troll and non-troll alike — a combination of hatred of the unnatural nature of the undead, and the lingering fear that even those in the arms of Samedi are not safe from the terror of being wrenched from the grave.

In short: Trolls have a lot to choose from with regard to their character classes, and a lot of options for concepts based upon those classes.

Trolls and the Other Races

Troll relationships with the other races of Azeroth are fairly complex. The Trolls’ ability to hate is pretty much legendary, and any wrongs are remembered for generations.

The Darkspear have no love for the other Jungle Troll tribes and can be considered hostile to all other Tribes that are not Horde-loyal, so it can be expected that any non-Darkspear that try to join the Horde will not be treated well by their Darkspear cousins. Any enemy of their allies is an enemy to themselves, so the vast majority of Trolls will not be fond of any members of the Alliance, and some may still hold the intense hatred from their ancestors’ dealings with the Kaldorei (the Night Elves’ defeat of the Trolls’ Twin Empires caused the splintering of said Empires into the various tribes known today). Hatred of the other Alliance races can depend upon the individual Troll and his or her run-ins with the enemy.

When it comes to the Darkspear and their interaction with the races of the Horde, things get a bit simpler. They do not trust the undead, which are abominations in the eyes of their Loa Bwonsamdi (Samedi), and are extremely manipulative; the trolls believe that the undead will cause a hell of a lot of trouble. They have a fair bit of respect for the Tauren and some may still have respect for the Orcs, but that respect is or has waned due to the treatment of Trolls by Garrosh and his ilk (if you haven’t noticed, the Darkspear are relegated to “slums” and the Echo Isles/Sen’jin). Their opinions of the Blood Elves are not entirely certain — some like them, some hate them, all for varying reasons that range from their abuse of fel to their general attitudes toward everything (Blood Elves are jerks). Goblins, too, aren’t entirely clear — but since they’re helping to pollute Orgrimmar and have upped the number of explosions that rock the city on a daily basis, I cannot imagine the Darkspear liking those little buggers very much.

Trolls in the Horde

The only tribes that are officially members of the Horde are the Darkspear, Shatterspear, and Revantusk. The Shatterspear have been nearly wiped out in their fight against the Night Elves, while the Revantusk hold their Hinterlands home against the Wildhammer and other Forest Trolls of the area. The Darkspear are in a rather unpleasant place right now among the Horde, since Garrosh is not fond of them or their leader — but they’ve never been stronger. They have their Echo Isles back, and they’re training their whelps in all forms of combat in preparation for their becoming part of the Horde war machine.

The average non-Troll generally is not able to tell the difference between the Darkspear/Shatterspear and other Jungle Trolls, or the Revantusk and other Forest Trolls. Sand Trolls, Zandalari, Ice Trolls and Dark Trolls stand out for varying reasons including size, skin colour, and differing temperament from the rest of their kind (Ice Trolls are generally more vicious, especially the Drakkari, which is why they live so far from other tribes to begin with).

I know that the question you really want answered is, “Can a non-Darkspear, non-Shatterspear, or non-Revantusk join the Horde?”

The answer that most people will give you is “No”. Instead, I tend to say, “It depends”.

A non-Usual-Horde-Troll could get away with it if they pretended to be one of their Horde Troll cousins, or if they were in Horde lands as part of a neutral organization. A Drakkari Troll advertising what he is to the general populace is going to (or should) get killed. An Amani Troll stating that no, no, he’s definitely Revantusk (even though the idea makes him physically ill) is less likely to be killed on sight (unless some Sin’dorei or another Revantusk calls his bluff).

Goblin cartels use other races as servants, cheap labour, slaves, and for whatever other jobs they don’t want to do themselves. For a non-Horde Troll to be involved with a Goblin organization or other neutral party is not impossible, especially if they have skills that would be useful to that party and if their beliefs are in line with the beliefs of that group. When creating a non-Darkspear, non-Shatterspear, or non-Revantusk Troll to be played within the Horde, consider whether or not that particular tribe would stand out from the rest of the Trolls (Zandalari are now considered hostile, Sandfury are hostile, Dark Trolls are considered hostile but have never been seen in WoW, and Ice/Frost Trolls are also hostile — all are relatively obvious in comparison to the others as not Horde). A Bloodscalp or Skullsplitter is more likely to pass for Darkspear than a Sandfury.

Trolls and Their Loa

Most Trolls practice voodoo and follow the Loa, powerful spirits — not Gods — that are based upon the Loa/Lwa of Haitian Vodoun. They are not easy to please and demand offerings, sacrifice, and ritual in exchange for their favours. They often work in rather mysterious ways and occasionally not the way that’s expected.

Known Loa are detailed here on WoWpedia. The Loa are thought to be jealous, preferring their followers to only stick to one Loa at a time, though this is not always the case and each Troll’s situation may be different. The closeness of a Troll to their Loa is also something to be dealt with on a case-by-case basis, as not all Trolls will be particularly attached, while some will be viciously so. This is an area that is flexible: perhaps your Troll feels the Loa are ignoring him because of things that have happened in his life, or perhaps she feels exceptionally blessed and wants to share that with everyone.

Conclusion

Trolls in World of Warcraft are a very detailed, very interesting race, without need of adding extra sparkle to make them “special”. There are enough ways of roleplaying them that are supported by existing lore that anyone that really wants to play a Troll (and have an interesting character) can do so without having to resort to making them half-Tauren, or without giving them colour-changing eyes and other ridiculous frills.

For more information, check out the entire history of the Trolls on WoWpedia — we are dealing with a race that is tens of thousands of years old, and has had plenty of time to grow and develop.

A Big YAY! to Blizzard — QQ, Neckbeards

Posted on April 13, 2012 by matojo

Not too long ago, Apple Cider Mage reported a slimy and disturbing bit of dialogue by Ji Firepaw – a major Lore figure for Pandaren – toward female Pandaren. It was gross, it was creepy, it brought back memories of pretty much any time some neckbeard found out I was a woman online.

As of yesterday, she reports that it has been changed to something far less creeptastic (yes I am slow on the uptake).

Mythrai expresses the joy that a lot of us are feeling, too.

I say, “Good on you, Blizzard!” It’s these small changes that make us all feel like Blizzard actually listens to us. That’s important, that’s something that all game companies should be doing — listening. Is a segment of your audience feeling really uncomfortable with something (a segment that is not the majority because, chances are, they’re not going to see the issue)? Listen. Make changes.

Naturally, the neckbeards are not happy and are whining about the change and how it makes them feel, I don’t know, like Ji doesn’t represent them anymore, because I guess they were really proud to have a slimy horrible snippet of dialogue and they’re all sexist douchebags, too? Who knows. Anyway, they’re doing exactly what they said we were — you know, complaining about “nothing”.

Hey dudebros: You aren’t the only ones that play this game.

Anyway, that’s that. Now, maybe they’ll eventually make Boss Mida the Trade QUEEN and not screw that character up… or maybe the Warchief.

A gal can hope, yeah?

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Hybrids in World of Warcraft: A Roleplay Guide to Half-Somethings

Posted on April 9, 2012 by matojo

[TW: Veiled reference to sexual assault.]

This article is a slightly edited version of a previous guide that was located on the old Troll Bouquet server. The general idea is the same, the language may have changed.

Roleplayers in any medium like to be unique. Some take it upon themselves to create a character that is a hybrid of two races in their particular game – a half-elf, for example – and, although this isn’t a bad thing, it is often done so terribly that many roleplayers won’t even give such a character the time of day, let alone screen time. World of Warcraft provides several opportunities to play such a character without actually breaking the game’s lore, while providing interesting story possibilities and without making too much of a “special snowflake”.

I’m going to get one thing out of the way first: Unless the race is mentioned in this article, it either a) cannot happen or b) the two races have not been exposed to each other long enough to produce offspring that would currently be adults. I do not encourage people to play children in WoW (this is another post), and I also think most people would prefer not to play an infant. I mean, to each their own, but that would be really boring.

There may be exceptions that appear unlikely on the surface, but these should not be attempted by somebody that’s new to the game and unfamiliar with the lore.

What Hybrids are Available in World of Warcraft?

General Racial Information: This post on the Wyrmrest Accord forums has some great information on the (Horde) races of Azeroth. Bookmark it, read it, love it.

Half-Orc Half-Draenei

A half-orc born on Draenor could be the product of a union between an orc and draenei. The likelihood of this being a wanted union would be somewhere between slim and none, so it would be worthwhile to keep this in mind when pondering the character’s backstory. These characters would look more like their Orcish parent, since Orc genetics seem to take over everything, though they would not age nearly as quickly and they could be larger than other Orcs – perhaps not quite as thick.

What to research: The Draenei settlement of Draenor and orcish/draenei relations of the time.

Example: Garona Halforcen is half-Draenei, half-Orc. Raku, my Orc hunter on Thorium Brotherhood, was also half-Draenei. The potential half-Orc half-Draenei could have been born on Draenor as a result of Gul’dan’s projects, artificially aged and brought through the portal – or the result of an Orcish attack on a Draenei settlement. There are several options.

Half-Orc Half-Human

A half-orc born on Azeroth could be the result of relations between an orc and a human. Again, this would be a less-than-ideal partnership as humans and orcs have never not been at war. Your half-orc, in this case, could be from the Hillsbrad camps – before the Forsaken wiped out Hillsbrad’s human population, there would have been around 450 half-orcs living there – or from as far back as the First War, when the Orcs came through the Dark Portal.

What to research: Half-orcs, the First War, the Second War, the internment camps.

Example: Drann from the WoW RPG. There are not a lot of other examples in the WoW universe, unfortunately.

Half-Elf Half-Human

Half-elves are offspring of humans and elves, usually Quel’dorei (High Elves), and live longer than their human parent but not as long as the elven side of the family. Their appearance varies only slightly: they will either appear as humans of slight build or High Elves of thicker build than their fellows. If a half-elf joined Kael’thas and stayed with the elves in Silvermoon after things went to hell there, that half-elf would have green eyes and be Sin’dorei. The vast majority of half-elves are Alliance-aligned, however, so the chance of this is very small and they would have to do their best to hide the fact that they have human blood.

What to research: Half-elves, humans, high elves, blood elves. You really need to understand the difference between a high elf and a blood elf (it’s political, cultural and related to their magical addictions).

Example: Alodi, from the comics, and Arator the Redeemer in Hellfire Peninsula.

Half-Ogre Half Human

Since Ogres crossed over into Azeroth via the Dark Portal over twenty years ago, half-human ogres may actually exist. They would have rounder ears than humans, pinker skin, and their tusks would not be as large as their ogre parent. Their eyes would also be larger than their human parent’s.

A half-ogre would most likely result from the ogres’ attacks on human settlements, as no human would willingly choose to bed one, and the resulting offspring would have to be 24-28 years of age or younger.

What to research: Half-human half-ogre, ogres, humans.

Examples: There are no half-ogre half-human characters in World of Warcraft or the RPG.

Half-Ogre Half-Orc

Ogres and orcs are natives of Draenor – and don’t like each other one bit. As a result, there are many half-ogre half-orcs roaming about, as evidenced by the Mok’Nathal in Outland.

At one time, the orcs purposely bred half-ogres in order to combine the power of an ogre with the intelligence of an orc, unfortunately, half-ogres are far more stubborn than either of their parent races . The half-ogre population dwindled as many orcs lacked any interest in breeding with the ogres, and who could really blame them?

Half-ogres possess features that are a fair mix of their orc and ogre parents; they’re approximately as big as tauren, if not bigger, and are broad-shouldered individuals with thick skulls, big lower jaws (with large tusks), and small black eyes. Half-ogres are often mistaken for smaller ogres.

What to research: Half-ogre half-orcs, ogres, orcs.

Examples: Rexxar, Leoroxx.

Playing a Hybrid: General Information

When playing a hybrid, one has to remember that many hybrid races did not come about because of happy sexy funtimes – they exist because terrible things happened. They’re often made up of races that, with the exception of humans and elves, absolutely hate each other. The only hybrid that has any possible respect? The mok’nathal, or half-ogre half-orc.

Most hybrids will not brag about their background, especially as a half-elf among the Horde or a half-orc half-draenei among … anywhere. They may try to outperform members of their parent races, they may have a stubborn streak a mile wide and they will definitely exhibit aspects of both parent races in personality and in appearance. Some may even make an effort to hide what they are with the clothing that they wear.

Before deciding to create a hybrid, do some research on the parent races and read the articles I’ve linked here. I’ve given a general idea of timelines in many cases, so try to stick to those as best you can and be open to the fact that not everybody will like your character – if your character is open about what they are, expect and embrace the drama that’s bound to develop.

If you have questions, feel free to post them, I’ll answer to the best of my ability!
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A Short Update on M-312

Posted on April 4, 2012 by matojo

The blogosphere has been alight with activity surrounding Motion 312, and I’m happy to say that the petition against it has managed to break the 6k signatures mark. The fight isn’t over yet, and it won’t be over for quite a while, so keep circulating the petition and don’t give up.

Check out other blog posts on the issue at DAMMIT JANET!, along with a list of Pro-Choice and Undecided MPs’ e-mail addresses (provided by Laura) in the comments. Fire some e-mails off if you haven’t already and encourage those undecided MPs to vote NO to Motion 312!

I suggest watching DAMMIT JANET and the blogs on their list for further updates, as they will have a better idea of what’s going on than I will.

While you’re at it, give Irrational Humans by PZ Myers at Free Thought Blogs a read. It’s a great article.

I will be going back to posting on stuff relating to WoW and Roleplay soon enough, though don’t be surprised if social justice issues like this show up more often.

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Feminism is Important

Posted on April 2, 2012 by matojo

[Trigger Warning for mentions of sexual assault, anti-feminist anything.]

Now, more than ever, Feminism is important.

In the WoW blogosphere, a lot of people have had some pretty terrible opinions about women in gaming and the Feminist movement. I will not be linking to those terrible opinions here because I do not feel that they deserve the extra bandwidth, and I am quite happy to report that one of those dangerous (yes, dangerous) voices apparently decided to stop blogging because of the backlash that she received.

In the past one-hundred or so years, women in North America have gained the right to vote, own property, and not be treated as chattel by the men in their lives. We are not out of the woods yet, and we may not be for some time.

I have been told before that I should stay silent, that there is nothing that I can do and that obviously means that I shouldn’t speak up or attempt to do anything at all. The problem with this viewpoint is that if we remain silent, if we don’t say, “this is not appropriate” and “this is not true”, nothing will happen at all. A little bit of progress is better than none, and the angrier we are about it, the more likely our voices will be heard.

Before the internet, before WoW and the WoW blogosphere and a certain livejournal community, I thought “Feminism” was a four-letter word. I wasn’t a feminist! I thought men and women were equal! I knew that women were not treated equally to men, deep down, and didn’t start to understand that until high school.

You see, there were debates in one of my high school English classes and one of the subjects that was brought up was, “Are women better off now than in the past?” I stood for the “No, not outside North America” camp where I wound up with two males defending that viewpoint – the other side was all women – and I did much of the research on the subject. I learned about the situation women in the Middle East were in, the plight of women in Africa that are dying from AIDs because they can’t get access to condoms that would save their lives (it’s not their place), and on, and on.

I did most of the debating for my side. I think the males were hoping for an easy mark, but I didn’t care because I had this knowledge and I wanted everyone in class to understand.

I didn’t really start to “get it” until after starting into WoW and discovering WoW communities on Livejournal, which then lead to me finding various social justice communities and bloggers that made me understand that the opinions I had were shitty and dismissive of other people. In the past three years, I have changed a lot – for the better. I have a lot more growing to do, a lot of myself to learn to understand and accept. I still have a ton of baggage from growing up in a society that says that women must fit in this one box and they are not allowed in other boxes, that women are at fault for their own assault if they don’t follow a certain set of rules, and many other troubling things that eat away at you and cause you to lash out at other women because that is what society has trained you to do.

In some ways, I guess I understood that this idea of women only doing certain things was Wrong. I wanted to be a Paleontologist (until I learned they only made $35,000 per year, and at that time I was made to believe that I had to make $100,000 per year to be able to survive — bullshit), I played with “boy toys” (I was derided constantly as a kid for wanting to play in the sandbox and play with toy cars, Transformers and Ninja Turtles “like a boy”) and constantly tried to tell other kids that there was no such thing. I only wanted children ’til I was 14 because I didn’t understand what was involved and I thought that was what I was supposed to do. Once I went through sex education (thank goodness) I realized it was not something I actually wanted, no way, no how, and developed a very strong “DO NOT WANT” feeling in regard to child-rearing, pregnancy and childbirth. I also understood, vaguely, that sexual assault isn’t the victim’s fault – but it still took me over twenty years to realize that I had been assaulted, myself, regardless of the age of the person that touched me.

Perhaps the groundwork for those changes in view had been laid long ago, subconsciously, and I just didn’t realize it.

The Feminist movement isn’t perfect. In its current form, its erasure of women of colour is extremely troubling, extremely problematic, extremely wrong; its treatment of trans* individuals as not one of us is extremely wrong. White women talk over black women when we should be stepping back and letting them talk, because they go through shit we can’t possibly understand because we are white and our capacity for understanding the plight of women of colour is not… quite there, so we have to learn to listen, too.

Even with its imperfections, it is important.

By the way? A trans*woman is a woman. There are no exceptions. If you identify as a woman, you are a woman, that’s it, case closed.

Apple Cider posted a very important article on the subject of Feminism in light of discussions this week (I use the term “discussion” loosely) that I implore everyone to read. Do it. Read it.

Decoding Dragons has a post on Sexism & WoW that’s collected interesting, pro-feminist articles in one spot for easy reading. Check that out, too, and add Decoding Dragons to your blog roll.

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[TW: Anti-Choice Jerkery] IMPORTANT AND SLIGHTLY OT: Anti-Choice Motion Invading Canada

Posted on March 31, 2012 by matojo

In a grim reflection of what’s going on south of the border, the Canadian government will be considering a personhood motion in parliament at the end of April and will be voting on it in late spring or early fall. Motion 312, coined by Conservative MP and anti-choice activist Stephen Woodworth of Kitchener Centre, is a motion to make fetuses be considered as people under the law in an attempt to re-criminalize abortion.

This is bloody ridiculous.

Canadian law already states that a fetus does not become a person until it leaves the womb – perfectly reasonable, absolutely nothing wrong with that. This preserves the rights of pregnant people (most anti-choice people think that only women become pregnant, completely ignorant of the fact that trans men exist), something that’s important and actually recalls that someone becoming pregnant doesn’t suddenly stop being a person.

If Motion 312 is passed, this will change, and the anti-choice (“pro-life”) groups will win one stage of their war against bodily autonomy.

Say NO to Motion 312; sign the petition, send a letter to your MP, keep this circulating. Let Canada know that this exists and that it is an issue. Read and share the reasons against Motion 312 and let our voices be heard: the government does not belong in your uterus, or in mine, and it needs to leave the laws alone, as they are. A fetus is not a person. Until a fetus is born and can exist outside the womb, it cannot be a person.

If you are for Motion 312, you are against me. You are against everyone in Canada that could ever become pregnant. You are telling us that we are not capable of deciding what’s right for ourselves and our bodies and you are the enemy.

When a person becomes pregnant, they do not suddenly cease to be their own person – they do not suddenly need to give up everything for what’s growing inside them. They do not need to face prosecution for, say, a miscarriage, something going wrong with their health, anything that threatens the fetus – no, the fetus should not come first. There is something wrong with us as a society when we start trying to protect a fetus instead of the person carrying it.

Stand for choice. Vote NO on Motion 312 and let that anti-choice jerk know exactly what you think of his attempts to invade your uterus.

This seriously makes me want to get my tubes tied now as opposed to when I become sexually active. Seriously.

Troll Bouquet eBooks and Questions to the Audience

Posted on March 27, 2012 by matojo

A lot of blogs produce eBooks to help bring in some extra money while sharing their knowledge in a highly portable, easily accessible format.

The idea of eBooks is one I find really interesting – I own a Kobo eReader, which I enjoy even though it isn’t fancy, and being able to save space in my tiny house is always a plus. EBooks allow me to have a nice collection of knowledge and entertainment on a budget (or for free, since there are free eBooks about, and I’m definitely not against anything that saves me money in the long run).

I’ve been slowly working on a Roleplay 101 eBook between classes and school projects, which draws upon the things I’ve learned over twelve years of online roleplay (alas, no real chance to do any LARP or tabletop), personal opinion, and stories I’ve been told. The guide started as a WoW-based thing, got extremely long (just with the headings!), and then I thought, “why not do a ‘basics’ one, and then a more advanced WoW-based guide?” That’s the idea I’m going with. I have no idea if there will be much interest in that sort of thing but I am generally hopeful.

eBooks: All this knowledge in one tiny pdf file.

I do plan on writing other eBooks as time goes on. I’m a bit wary of putting my original fiction out into the world, but I may eventually do that (Pikestaff has and you should check it out) in the hopes that I can actually deal with the criticism when it inevitably comes about, but for the time being I will stick to instructional stuff. I’ll most likely leave gold guides to more capable individuals like the Gold Queen (if you aren’t following her, you should be), though it may not hurt too much to stick a foot in the ocean, so to speak.

If Engineers keep whining that they can’t make money from their profession, anyway (HAVE YOU SEEN PET PRICES!?).

Do you have eBooks available on your site? Let me know – I’d be happy to link to your pages from here and spread the love, especially if you have some roleplay guides going. The WoW blogosphere is blessed with a great variety of roleplayers with varying writing styles and approaches, and I’m all for spreading the love.

So, yes, that’s what I’m working on behind the scenes here, when I’m not drowning in coursework or being mauled by the cat.

My questions to my readers are:

What are things that you would want a new roleplayer to know? General things.
What are things you’d want a new WoW roleplayer to know?
What are your favourite resources for writers?

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Why Roleplayers Never Forget

Posted on March 20, 2012 by matojo

Roleplayers have a very long memory for drama.

We aren’t the only ones; I’m fairly certain everyone remembers events that stand out in their minds, good and bad, and that more people have a memory for drama than would care to admit. My dramatic memory extends to the beginning of my time on Thorium Brotherhood – I may not be able to remember how our characters met, but I can remember all the ridiculous crap that has happened to me before and since.

Why is this the case? Why do we so vividly remember this crap that made our blood boil back in the day? Why is it that we can recall some of the most heinous crimes other roleplayers perpetuated against us, but other events are so damned hard to recall?

It’s because we’re storytellers.

Just like reporters on the local news, we’ve discovered that stories that showcase the worst of roleplay are far more interesting than those that make things out to be completely reasonable and wonderful. We are, at our core, lovers of the train wreck and for each and every one we stand there in awe of the carnage that’s going on before us.

I know it’s hard to admit. It’s hard to admit that you feel a slight thrill whenever you see something going on (in someone else’s roleplay or out of character life, that is) that’s so utterly ridiculous that it is almost a dark comedy. It’s hard to admit that you secretly enjoy the call-outs of the people that think you’re the worst person to ever walk the server because you know they’re wrong and that the problem is them, not you. It’s hard to admit that you love seeing those posts on dear_gnome that call out bad roleplay, or that talk about the silly things other people have done (raiding drama stories, anyone?) in-game.

We don’t forget these things because they remind us of why we’re careful, or why we don’t do certain plots anymore, or why we don’t roleplay with certain people. They remind us why certain behaviours are troublesome, and they provide us with tales to regale the younger roleplayers with, or they serve as explainations for those roleplayers who just cannot understand why you’re cringing at the way that other person is behaving toward them. You can say, come here, dear, and let me tell you of that one time when someone acted the exact same way and what it lead to.

Maybe, just maybe, your drama can save someone else from drama.

The above is why I collect, share, and remember tales of my own drama. I figure that if I can help prevent just one person from going through the same sorts of drama that I’ve dealt with, then maybe the crap I’ve gone through wasn’t so bad after all. This isn’t to say that my personal issues are because of internet drama – some of them are, but I know that my stories are far, far more tame than what some have gone through, and other peoples’ stories started like some of mine. The difference between my tame stories and those of people who wound up with a hell of a lot more baggage? There isn’t much. Given an extra few days, I may have wound up in the same boat (or ship).

It isn’t that we’re jerks or that we like to look for reasons to suffer, it’s that we’re storytellers and we collect these tales as little reminders, or as entertainment. In most cases, those events that were so horribly annoying at the time they played out aren’t quite so bad when we look back.

Events as the Night Elf getting angry at Matojo for declaring his love to her Troll lover over Booty Bay, all in jest, because it took attention away from her for fifteen minutes (that same Troll whose player has caused me many, many late nights because I just don’t want to sign off Skype, not yet, okay), or the stories I’ve already told here. Those stories, which were so bloody irritating when they took place, now sit in my personal history as “oh man do you remember when” moments that I can share with the friends who aren’t completely sick of hearing about them. Of course, that example was most likely more troublesome for the Troll’s player – I honestly don’t know. If he told me, I forgot, but asking him again just gives me an excuse to make him talk about something. >_>

What about you? Do you have stories, roleplay-related or otherwise, that you fall back on and frequently share because of reasons like the above? Why are they so memorable for you?

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WtmN: Mama Bear and the Kid That Would Not Let Go

Posted on March 10, 2012 by matojo

Once upon a time, there were two young women who were friends in WoW. One of the women had a regular roleplay partner who was a younger male and who lived in a town near both of them, which freaked out the other woman a bit, but doesn’t actually factor into this story. The young man desperately tried to script every roleplay encounter between himself and our heroine, which she refused, and when it became clear that the young man was creepily obsessed with the friend, the heroine was called upon to step in. She banished the young man to lands unknown and never heard from him again.

This is closer to the reality than every other story.

I met another Canadian roleplayer ages ago, who played a female Troll and who was an absolute sweetheart and a talented artist. I enjoyed our roleplay, I enjoyed the little plots that were being attempted, and I got absorbed into the goings-on between her character and her mate, who was a massive Troll with a bit of an unusual story and description.

There were several roleplay plots that he wanted to do that she expressed concern over, like one where he wanted to be a Fel Troll, and that I wound up talking him out of. He got it into his head that he wanted his character to be the son of my main character, Matojo, and that is when things really started to get odd.

He had a very solid idea of how things would go and what would happen, and if things didn’t go that way he was very upset about it. I had to really stretch things to even fit him into Matojo’s background (the character was twenty-nine years old, so Matojo would have been thirteen, which is fine for trolls but the whole thing was really bizarre), and then he wanted a very specific meeting, a very specific set of interactions – and I just couldn’t do that.

“I can’t script how Matojo’s going to react,” I told him. ”He has his own views, his own ideas, and he might not react the way you want him to because that’s how he is.”

This … didn’t sit well with the other fellow, and resulted in him getting angry that I wasn’t willing to do things his way, that I was impossible to roleplay with.

In between these interactions, he also expressed an infatuation with my friend that made me go to her and say, “What gives?” She was married, which he knew, and this pissed him off but he still seemed to think he had a chance with her – and she wasn’t sure how to deal with him. I knew something had to be said when, when asking for clarification on whether he realized his character had the relationship with my friend and not him, he waffled on the answer.

I put on my stompy boots and said, “If you can’t understand the difference between what goes on in-character and what goes on out-of-character, and if you continue to insist that roleplay should be done YOUR way and no other, I really want nothing to do with you. Leave me alone.”

I had permission to tell him off on behalf of my friend, too, which I did.

I never heard from him again until I rolled on Wyrmrest Accord, when he saw me in Sen’jin village and flipped the hell out. How dare I roll on “his” server (when I had no idea he was there)! He was still dealing with the “ghosts” of his past on Thorium Brotherhood, why did I have to come back, too!?

He was in touch with my friend at this time and blamed her for me showing up, which shocked her after the “heartfelt” apologies he had given her when they ran into each other again on that server, and she locked him out of her life again.

The only time an in-character relationship may reflect an out-of-character situation is when a couple or some friends have characters that are involved with each other. Some couples may choose to have their characters in relationships with each other because they aren’t comfortable roleplaying intimate relationships without their spouse, and that’s fine.

Assuming that your roleplay partner is totally into you because they roleplay your character’s spouse/partner is… not cool, though. Seriously.

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