On Community

It's been a long while since I posted anything in here - mostly after I decided not to stream publicly (this streaming equipment is helping me to plan and coordinate one hell of a friends and family D&D game though!), combined with just getting really busy in summer, as happens around here! There are only 169 days left until Christmas, as an instance. That sounds like a lot until you look at my crochet and crafting load - then it's already crunch time, and no kidding.

As I do all of my crafting, I tend to have Twitch on anyhow - like "Gamer Radio".  Because my main love is World of Warcraft (WoW) I tend to follow WoW streamers, mostly. Through their variety gaming, when they do that, I've found lots of other interesting games that I look at, sometimes try, and then go back to WoW. But anyhow, they're what I watch and listen to as my hands are wrapped up in yarn or covered in Mod Podge (I hate it when they end streams as I'm mid decoupage), and I've been enjoying that - when I can't game, they do it for me ;) LOL!

Now some folks are going on about "parasocial relationships". I have made actual friends online, to be sure. In fact I consider a streamer to be a very wonderful friend of the family now, and he's always invited here anytime. He feels the same about us and we have likewise been invited to visit - but he's not the norm. Not in a lot of ways. He's an above average young man who will be doing far more than streaming in this life - he will be doing some much bigger things in the future. He's also just a wonderful human being, and has a massive heart.  We all adore him in this house and always want the best for him. He is indeed a friend.

For the most part though I do not see these streamers as personal friends any more than I would, say, my local radio hosts. Just to be clear, I like my local radio hosts, but I do not imagine that they're my friends. I see Twitch streamers as pretty much the same, but needing my funding, kind of like if they were anchoring game news and gameplay on a local PBS station, and they're always on pledge drives. I think their content is great or I wouldn't be watching them and subscribing. But no, they're not about to come around and have a cocoa with me, they don't care if something happens here - we are not personal friends. I just enjoy them and their content.

That's why the word "community" being tossed around may seem strange at first to people. I saw Bellular laughing about it. I am thinking he doesn't spend a lot of time in various Discords? I am unsure - but if he does, he'd see actual friendships being made all of the time. A lot of people make friends not with the streamer usually, but with each other - that's what I see. All of these mostly young people reaching out, communicating, making friends, having meet-ups, gaming together - that's what's happening and that's what makes community. These streamers are not streaming to empty air. They're streaming to humans, and providing various Discords as online meeting places for a bunch of people to meet and talk.

It's not a new thing. People have met in WoW, married, and been together for YEARS now. They've met in various chat rooms - I know of three couples from IRC #politics alone that are still together after 20 years. I know people who formed guilds in various other games years ago and are still friends to this day. I think everyone knows a couple by now who met online and are together. I think a LOT of people have friends now that they first met online. It's not really a revelation. So why pretend that a WoW community doesn't also exist? I can assure you, it does, and it's millions of people in a subculture, some never knowing each other, but all with a love of WoW (and lots of other games). The same thing happened with the culture around Metallica. The message boards and concerts created TIGHT bands of friends.  It happens online and off, and why people are still debating this or surprised by it 30 years into the public internet is a shock to me. I am shocked that they're shocked, I guess is how I see it.

The streamers though - they are a part of it. They ARE a part of our community. That's important for everyone to remember. They're humans also. How did they become WoW (and then variety) streamers? They love the game. They loved and love it so much that they make videos about it, stream playing it, spend TONS of time involving themselves in the lore and the game and everything about it. They have their own groups that they interact with and have made close friends in. The difference is that they chose to fire up OBS, have a camera and a mic, sometimes spend inordinate amounts of time editing, and had a BIG personality to carry them through to becoming streamers and YouTubers. They are as much an integral part of the community as everyone else. They create content that loads of people truly enjoy.

The dueling tournament with Asmongold, Esfand, and Rich was a big part of that. Did they invite their own friends? Yes, absolutely - we all would. We all  know who their friends are because we also watch their friends and enjoy their content. And the charming "hominess" of the tournament - the hurried scribbling of a bracket onto an Amazon box, as an instance - it showed us that even though it was a dueling tournament of streamers - they're just as much compete nerds as we all are (if that wasn't already apparent - it was their massive nerdiness and passion that led them to stream and create videos in the first place ). It was a bunch of 12 year olds in grown-up bodies all having a contest in a game with all of their friends, and we all got to participate by talking among OUR friend groups about the game also, and being our own 12 year old selves. THAT is the definition of  a community. In fact I think if they'd done the tournament "professionally" we wouldn't have loved it so much - it would have felt too distant.

But these are a group of nerds who have made friends among themselves, and that's wonderful. I cannot fathom why people demonize them and treat them like shit (some of the things I see typed in Twitch chat make me embarrassed for the person typing them). These streamers are fellow nerds. Are they part of our inner friend circles? No. But should they be treated like garbage, as I see being done? Absolutely not. I wouldn't put them on a pedestal, and I wouldn't treat them badly, like I see people treating them. There is a middle ground - and that's being kind to another human being who enjoys the same hobbies that you do. Be kind to the D&D group in your local gaming store, be kind to steamers, be kind to other people in your Discords and chats, just be kind. We all get enough crap for being nerds - do we need to give each other this much crap too?  I don't think so. Community also means we all understand that we're all just flailing through life, trying to get by, and that snacks and gaming make it much more bearable. We are a community of spazzes - be proud ;)


 

Media, All Social :)

 Ohh... there are days I can feel REALLY old. Today is one of those days :)

I have people I enjoy watching and soforth who have Instagram and Twitter and... oh God. So much of it relies on my phone. I HATE MY PHONE. I'll pick it up, look at my WhatsApp, respond, and set it down again all day.

Now for some of the younger folks on Twitch who don't seem to realize that a generation came in between the Baby Boomers and the Millennials, we're here :) In fact a lot of us make the technology you're currently on or using. Let's take a quick look at Generation X.

We were born in the years between 1965 and 1980. Compared to the generations we're wedged between, we're TINY and usually ignored (which we're thankful for). We did make a huge impact though. Gen X started Google, Amazon (Bezos is borderline X), Twitter, YouTube, just a multitude of companies. We're entrepreneurial and tend to take risks. We're not bad at technology, we're still designing what you use (hardware and software). This makes us the worst evil villains in the world, or if you're making money off of one of those platforms or using them, well. You decide. 

But we were also the last kids not to be hooked up to what I now think of as a damned leash. If you've watched Stranger Things, that was our childhood (minus the monsters and the Upside-Down and soforth). Or "It" (the theater version)... that was us also (minus Pennywise). We're NOT technology averse or unused to it. especially those of us raised in the Bay Area, like me and lots of others - technology doesn't excite me because it's always been around growing and changing. I've adapted, I know the platforms, and what it comes down to is that I'm just not interested anymore - not in these older platforms and not in the breathless "OMG!!!" of anything new. It's one reason I moved out of the Bay Area in the first place.

Like we've always been, and like I still am, Gen X is a little bit jaded. Stuff comes, it goes.. and with a huge study of history under my belt also, it's always been that way. One generation passes to the next and the next and for a while the previous generation is THE most "uncool" thing on the planet. Then about 50 years go by and the newest generation wants to wear the same clothes as their great-grandparents and are fascinated by it all, etc. Life is a cycle. Always has been. I grin when kids say "BOOMER STUFF!!!" as some sort of epithet because time flies, and in a few years Gen Z (and younger)  is going to look at these people who are closing in on 30 and think, "Oh my GOD they're so OUT OF TOUCH" I already see it happening. And then those kids, well, if they're lucky? They live long enough to be uncool and out of touch and everything. They'll be going "What the hell happened? We were so cool!". No. None of us EVER were. We were just young.

So knowing that, I am happy as I am and where I am, and I'm happy not jumping on every new or old thing,. I pick and choose what I like to use, wear, read, decorate with, be around, etc. - and the era it's from doesn't faze me. If I need a faster system I'll build one (always have). If I ever choose to look at my phone more I'll get a better phone and plan, but the reason I moved away from being right next to everyone is so that I could socialize when I want, and NOT socialize when I want. Part of that is just not giving one damn about my phone. I have my own stuff to do that makes me happy, and I'm not going to jump every time something chimes at me. When I'm on, I'm on. When I want to NOT deal with people and instead indulge in some quiet and creativity? I'm off. And up here in this beautiful forest haven? I can do that :)

Remember though, Gen X doesn't exist ;) We REALLY are happy to keep it that way ;)  




   

Killing 40 Raiders Happy Fun Time!

I was watching Asmongold answer some questions about TBC, and at one point he remembered someone wiping a raid. I laughed, because there's sometimes someone asleep at the wheel and won't move. Blizzard thinks fun mechanics are making you play Twister while you fight a boss. It's all good, and yeah sometimes people won't listen, or move, or their pizza fell on their lap, or something. . 
In my case though, when I wiped our entire guild, it's because I was an idiot, straight up. Baron Geddon. I will NEVER forget my shame that day.

The usual strat that we used on Geddon was the "line". Somewhat. It's all a bit vague now but we'd have the MT (main tank) and the OT (off tank). Baron Geddon has a mechanic where he will turn someone in the raid into a "bomb", who can kill LOTS of people around them if they blow up near them. The idea is to get as far away from everyone else if you're the bomb so you don't hurt them. Anyhow, we had an OT always ready in case the MT was turned into the bomb (it happened occasionally), or Geddon's fire blasts killed the MT. 

The "line" wasn't working as well, I think because people weren't spacing themselves far enough apart. So the new strat, which the guild came up with on Vent (WHILE I WAS AFK AND EVERYONE WAS TOLD I WAS AFK) was to have the healers "clump" and for people to run towards the priests to get shielded if they were the bomb, then run away a bit (yes, it's a convoluted strat anyhow).

I came back to the very end of the conversation and tried to get clarification, as I noticed the OT was in the middle of the room, but the GL was saying VERY CLEARLY in Vent that if you were the bomb you had to run to the center of the room. It made no Goddamn sense to me (it should make no sense to anyone) and I kept trying to ask "What?", but the chatter was high, and then pull was on. I figured that they'd sorted some new strat that involved a bomb running to the OT, because behind him on the wall was a priest hanging out.  Ok. I guess?

Well, I became the bomb, I ran STRAIGHT to the OT, as I thought the strat was, blew him all to hell and killed him, I died also because the ceiling was silly high there, the priest was completely flabbergasted and screaming in Vent, the guild lost their composure entirely, and we died.   

The day I killed 40 people. Yeah. Great memories ;) Thank GOD they were forgiving, but to this day I still remember that mistake. After that, I would always ALWAYS make sure everyone - every single person in guild - knew the strat before a pull.

 Good times, good times.

Meanwhile, here's a photo of another strat we used on a boss in Zul'Gurub when it was new. :) I imagine that people have come up with FAR BETTER ways of doing this now. I hope.  I'll check it out on YouTube - see what people on private servers are doing. We were successful using this so my husband wrote it down for a friend who was in an Alliance guild who was having trouble (remember, this place was absolutely brand new to us all at the time). Her guild had cleared BWL, but these mechanics for this new-fangled 20-man were still new to all of us at the time. That's something else that will be missing when Classic retuns. Anyhow, this is how we shared tactics in the olden days ;)

Ah, raiding. And why I will likely not bother this time around ;) That's not a definite thing, but yeah, I think I will give it a miss ;)

Nerds In The Front Row

I was watching some of the excitement over this movie, which yes, I am looking forward to seeing when it's out on DVD. But now, like then, I am on the periphery, and have found my joy in that.

Back during the time when the events of this movie happened, my brothers were GOING to these shows. They were heavily involved. One of my brothers went on to be in his own (second wave - later 80's) thrash bands from the Bay, and now tours with large bands as a drum tech and/or sound engineer and/or stage manager :) And that was his journey, and he's in his element and home :)

It never felt much like my home though. My home and journey has always veered directly into more strange and wonderful places, to me. As my brother's joy would be watching this movie, mine is waiting for and then playing Classic WoW, slowly learning how to get around in Elder Scrolls Online, setting up a new D&D campaign for friends and family, and ripping apart and putting together frankensystems :) It's looking forward to seeing how The Wheel of Time series is filmed (and hoping that it's at GoT standards for televised high fantasy series :) ) It's hearing Palpatine in the new Star Wars trailer and nearly flipping out. It's re-watching the Stargate series and being happy in my yearly re-watch :) I have found so many geeky and nerdy and crafty delights that music is always a soundtrack, but not my life.  

That's why a few channels on Twitch feel a bit like "home". :) Like Cheers, as Loctite said. You go into a channel and lots of people know your name :) You go into Discord and have actual fun and conversations with people, all of them sharing so many of the same nerd interests. Unlike when I was 12-16 (the era this movie covers), I don't have to feel any shame anymore in being the nerd I have ALWAYS been. Back them I hid it as much as possible. I didn't have to hide it from my brothers, but for most people, it was NOT a good thing back then to be a nerd. So I'd put on the denim jacket with the various buttons I had, and wear the 501s and various T-Shirts, and try to stifle myself. For a few years I did that, until at 17 I just said "Nah. I am who I am."  My 18th birthday party was a weekend long camping trip and D&D game up in the redwoods :)

Now of course EVERYONE is a geek or a nerd. And that makes me happy also :) It's like everyone finally said "No, this is ok, to have intense interest in these things!"

And I finally came around in my thinking... every single one of the people in this movie, as cool and whatnot as they are? They're nerds too :) They're music nerds. Some of them are also Star Wars nerds, and this sort of nerd, or that (my brothers love reading Drizzt and playing D&D with me). Nerdism is PASSION. This is a movie of passion. So though it's not my crowd, and not my lifestyle (I think if I asked Alex Skolnick what his main was in WoW he'd look at me funny - I could be wrong, but probably), I can appreciate the passion. :)

So that was the movie trailer, and now, I'll put up my little world of music that makes ME happy and feel like home, and we'll all just consider ourselves neighbors in geekdom :)

   

And ON streaming...

I have had streamers tell me over and over that "scripted content" doesn't do as well on Twitch. That anything "too professional" is offputting.

Err...

And those numbers are AFTER the 63k + people that were there right before the show ended.

"BUT THAT'S A NORMIE CHANNEL!" shrieks a little jerkface in the distance.

Yes, little one. D&D is for "normies". Of course. *smacks forehead*

This channel is bigger than ANY regular streamer on Twitch. Combined WITH Geek & Sundry, also professionally produced content, the numbers absolutely blast away every other channel on Twitch.

I think I'll be fine interlacing live with pre-recorded segments for my tiny stream, thanks! :) 

Streamers

One of my favorite streamers called me an "old lady", and to a lot of folks that might be considered an insult :) LOL! Not to me - look at my name. What it DID do was to remind me that yes, hey, I'm older now! Which means that when I do start streaming (technical difficulties - switched to Windows so I could get Streamlabs OBS instead of straight up OBS, have to get patio ready, have to pre-film some stuff), I don't have to give a rat's ass what these kids are thinking or saying. I can go sub only and sub my family and friends, and there we go :)

I mean if someone who is genuine comes in, absolutely, let's enjoy a fun relaxing chill stream - and I have met some really good-hearted people on Twitch of all ages :) But the wannabe edgy sperglords? Uh, no. There is no reason I have to put up with that. So I won't. It's just that simple. I'm at an age where I don't need to be popular, or worry so much about stupid interpersonal crap, or drama, or anything.

One aside though - with the exception of some streamers I truly enjoy - I do not CARE how "big" you are in the gaming industry or the streaming industry. I have met (and worked for) people who are "big" in MUCH bigger industries - who are household names - who are more humble, more caring, and more genuine than some of the "big" streamers I've come across.

Now that "I'm so big" swagger might play well to the younger crowd, and that's most of Twitch, but it doesn't play well to me.  What it tells me is that life hasn't fucked you - yet. Because life WILL humble you. It humbles EVERYONE. No matter how many POGs and donations and whatnot a streamer gets - once the words "Thank You" do not come out of your mouth to your audience? I lose interest. And talking to some people in various Discords, I am not alone, so this is not just an "old people" thing. It's a human thing. If people appreciate your stream and tip and sub? You say "thank you". You make the TIME to say thank you - whether it's end of stream as Esfand has to do sometimes because he IRL streams a lot, or Nixxiom constantly because he's awesome as ever, or a guy named Loctite I came across.

Esfand is a huge streamer, Nixxiom is up there and Partner, Loctite is just starting out. All three of them have one thing in common - manners and decency and innate HUMANITY.  Now if some musicians that you would know if I said their names to you are humble...... and I'm saying that big streamers need to learn that humility? It might be a good idea to learn from people who are so famous they require bodyguards to move around, and yet will absolutely take the time to call a fan (now friend) with cancer and talk with them, or give and give and give back to their fans, as one band in particular I could mention. Learn from them. NOBODY is so big on this planet that they can dispose of manners and take people for granted.

That's pretty much it :)  

Vanilla WoW

I'm watching all of these kids (I can say that because they're around my kids ages!) on Twitch getting very excited for Classic WoW. That's fun to watch - their excitement - because it's pretty much the same excitement we felt when they released Burning Crusade - it's at THAT level.

What I'm also watching though, with some dismay, is a lot of people's desires to rush to 60, raid, clear the Core and Ony in the first month, and then what? Maybe High Warlord? Then what? I guess go grind Timbermaw? LOL! Seriously, then what? Wait for the next patch, and just raid with lulls in between I guess. Desultory PvP. They've forgotten the journey.

"Well because we have modern WoW and all of this knowledge, and because we're practicing on private servers, we're just going to clear content."

It's a little sad. They're still not going to experience Classic then. Back then yeah, we were all fumbling around a little at the beginning because the game was brand new (and very buggy, I might add). The players fumbling, Blizzard fumbling, and that was part of the journey. Now it's a race to the finish line. I wasn't particularly interested in that when Vanilla was LIVE.

Sure I raided, I PvP'd, but I never felt like I had to be the BEST at all of it and on top and make it into a job. I had to be competent, I had to not wipe my guild, I had to be fairly good to progress in PvP, and I did all of those things. But the best times I had in WoW were being on Vent and talking with friends as we'd go kill Ras to make flasks, or do runs of various dungeons for fun, or do pre-mades - and that's how we managed to play for years. It was about the journey. We took our time, we developed friendships, we shared our lives over Vent and in meet-ups, it was all for the fun of it.

In game, I'll never forget the sense of wonder as I entered each new zone, or found something new the devs had just added, or all of it. I enjoyed just listening to music and farming for things for my guild. Wonderful memories. And I will enjoy playing it again.

I have a plan though. I'm going to wait for these people to eat the content whole, then get bored. I give them two months, max. They're not interested in the quests, they're not interested in the lore (because we KNOW the lore now), they're certainly not interesting in grinding for long hours (and I'm willing to bet that some Blizzard execs are going to make some gold deposits to some accounts of some of these high-visibility players to make sure the players get their mounts, etc. in return for promoting the game), so they're going to play for money. Seriously. They'll play for the "fun" of being "FIRST!", then they'll play for subscriptions and the money they get from those. At first their Twitch broadcasts and YouTube channels will be filled with wonder, excitement, and fun. Later though, they'd better be good actors. Endgame Vanilla is very... not there. It wasn't then, it isn't now. I spent most of my endgame farming bugs. It was NOT fun. The Naxx invasion was. Again though, my favorite times at endgame were attuning new players and helping them to raid, and level, and stuff. Making new friends was what it was all about.

So I'm going to wait, as I said. I'm going to wait a month or two for them all to settle down a bit, and display themselves in Org or IF while sitting around, and then my family and I will go in and ENJOY ourselves. Maybe quest an hour or two a night. I'll fish and farm and play the AH a little. But yes, I think we're going to be filthy casuals (we don't have time or inclination to make WoW our jobs), and we're going to enjoy every second of it! I'll glance at the people who cleared content quickly as they sit around the cities displaying themselves, but I've seen it before (and worn it) so not interested. I'm interested in having fun with people I love.

If anyone questions that I've been there and played Classic when it was out, I'll invite them to look at my orc statue, or to head to retail where I can pull out my Baby Blizzard Bear or some damn thing from Classic - I can hand them ammo I've had in the bank for YEARS. I have a few screenies. I've been there, really. It was about the journey and friendships for me then, and it'll be the same now. :)