Project Lore

Wow, is my Google Reader ever full after my little excursion to the east and west coast of St. Croix. Good thing I took that little ski trip a few weeks ago as a warm up to the withdrawal. Otherwise, I do not know if I could have made nine days without a PC to entertain me and record my thoughts. Like a good little rogue (Irish to boot), I did my best to stay in the shadows at all times.

Boy, oh boy, do I have a lot of catching up to do. It will likely take a whole week to be up to snuff on everything that has happened. The prolific writers over at WoWInsider have over 200 articles for me alone – not that I will read it all – then there are all the blues to filter through and likely a good amount of in-game mail to round out the schedule.

I am sure I am not the only person who managed to sneak away for the holiday season, so just in case you missed them, here are some of the stories that perked my interest.

Donations to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society = WoW Subscriptions – A Blizzard Employee will be offering those who donate a chance at one of three one-year subscriptions to WoW. One lucky winner will score themselves a LIFETIME SUBSCRIPTION  ($_$).  This is still running, so be sure to donate.

2008 MMO Trends Analyzed – Get this, GamerDNA and Massively find out that WoW is the most popular MMO! They also believe that the title's reign is coming closer to its end, due to additional subscribers plateauing in recent months.  Me likey graffs!

FCC Commissioner Resigns – Deborah Tate, the commissioner that WoW players love to hate (...) decided to step down after getting made fun of on the Internet. Okay, that wasn't the real reason, her previous actions – like taking corporation opinions into consideration – probably had more to do with it.

Ulduar Won't Be “Hard” In The Normal Sense – PvEers have proclaimed Wrath to be entirely too easy, but Blizzard demands that available raids are just the beginning. Vaneras promised that Ulduar will be more difficult, but only if your guild is brave enough to try a more challenging encounter than the norm.

Mage Solos Naxxaramas Military Quarter – Just watch the video, Ms. Mage did some creative stuff to pull this off.

These are the items that jumped off the page for me, but I am sure there is additional interesting stuff that has happened in the last week and a half. For instance, the nerf to required enchanting materials is one. Anything big that I should make sure I speed read?

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There are few things I hate more than underqualified people leading our nation. They tend to either make woefully uninformed statements and/or decisions, backing their actions with questionable “evidence.” Enter recently re-appointed FCC Commissioner, Deborah Taylor Tate. Mrs. Tate started a shit storm on the Internet because of a recent statement. Tate stated "one of the top reasons for college drop-outs in the U.S. is online gaming addiction - such as World of Warcraft".

I am not here to bash her though, that has already been done around the the blogosphere, most directly and deservedly so by Mike Schramm of WoWInsider. Her decisions, quotes, actions and qualifications have all come into question lately, by people who are more in the know than myself. Unfortunately, I cannot help but think that the latest statement has been blown out of proportion because of the mention of my favorite MMORPG by name.

Bear with me here. If she had simply left off that last hyphenated statement, do you believe so many people would be freaking out? She would still set off places like GamePolitics.com, but by neglecting to state a specific title, I think her point would have been more stomachable. Hell, I, an avid video gamer, even agree with her statement (for once).

From personal experience, many of my college friends and myself, played one game or another a little too much, neglecting sleep, work, a sexually deprived person, school or some incredibly complex combination of the group. If you step back and think about it, entertainment (games, movies, tv) is likely to be one facet of life that students go nuts on given their new found freedom. Is it more dangerous than other university-oriented activities? Hardly. Parents expect higher-learning facilities to do a little parenting, and part of that job is warning incoming students, and their families, of all the possible pitfalls. Like any United States entity, they are really just covering their own asses from possible litigation.

While Tate may have a point this time, her wording doomed her to the scorn of the Internet masses. If you want to burn her, then don't become a statistic, like Blizzard says “Remember to take all things in moderation (even World of Warcraft!).”

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