The success of an idea

Posted on March 1, 2011 by

I recently had someone from WoM link to a post of mine about Eff the Ineffable being officerless. While the discussion in that post went in other directions – how to prevent having officers who do nothing – I found myself caught by the poster saying that they didn’t agree with the idea of a guild without officers.

I wouldn’t expect that a guild like ours would be right for everyone or for every guild charter. In many cases, it would be exactly the wrong way to go. But I don’t think that means the idea as a whole can or should be discounted. I’ve heard of several guilds out there who don’t have officers and it works for them – Rades‘ being the primary one I can think of – and, you know, I think it’s working for us as well.

Measuring Success

Nevertheless, it got me thinking about success – the success of an idea – and how it is measured. I think the default opinion of whether or not something is a success is whether or not a lot of people get on board with it and say that they think it’s a good idea. Viewed in that light, we Effers are not a success because there have been plenty of detractors who have cautioned about potential pitfalls and who have strongly implied that we’re a little bit nuts for doing what we’re doing.

And that’s okay. I, for one, don’t take any of it too seriously. After all, when I look at Eff the Ineffable in the light of what I wanted it to be, we are wildly successful. And I feel that as we get to know each other even better – and stop apologizing so much for speaking our minds or giving each other constructive criticism – that we can only go up from here.

I would also offer an alternative viewpoint for whether or not we are successful as a guild, and that is from whether or not we are getting what we wanted out of the way things are organized. In the end, that’s the only viewpoint that matters.

A casual environment versus adults being adults

At our heart, we are a raiding guild comprised of adults with real life responsibilities that take precedence over the game. No one is going to abandon their school work or their families to raid and that’s something we can all understand and respect about each other. Because this limits the time we can have in game, we have to make the most of it.

In a more casual raiding environment, I found that the “Rules” were more often taken as “Suggestions.” You might want to show up on time. You might need to sign up if you want to have a spot. You might consider looking at some strats or videos or something – but if you don’t, someone will tell you what you need to know so no worries, mate.

Also, in a more casual setting, it was a seriously tricky business to try to suggest to someone that they might need some improvement. Almost without exception, suggestions were met with a defense about “we’re not hardcore so you can’t expect me to read up on my class” or “the reason I don’t perform well is because I need gear.”

There hasn’t been any of that in Eff the Ineffable. Everyone here knows what EJ is and will read it. Everyone here knows how to find strats for boss fights and will take the time out to watch a video. We’re all running heroics like mad people, trying to improve our gear and performance. Zel recently started a tradition of post-raid self evaluations, where we all head to the forums and talk about things we could do better and solicit ideas on how to accomplish some of those things.

And perhaps that doesn’t sound like a lot to people who are in progression raiding guilds. But I think the fact that people are doing this without having an officer standing behind them to check and make sure they are is pretty cool. We don’t need babysitters. And as GM, I don’t have to babysit anything.

People are responsive, too. I spoke a short while ago about how the guild bank was making me a little nuts (hell if I can find the post though, so you’ll just have to take my word for it). Shortly thereafter, I organized it all and then headed to the forums where I told everyone how I would like to see the bank used. No problems since, except that everyone is so determined to be independent that I had to beat people around the head and shoulders a bit to get them to actually use the flasks and potions and flowers put in there for raiding purposes.

Can you hear me now?

I think the key to most good relationships is communication. And with so many people active outside of the game in talking to each other – whether it’s through our forums, Twitter, FaceBook, blogging, Google chat, texting or sending emails – we certainly have that bit down.

So agree with the idea or not, it is working for us and going splendidly.

Posted in Eff the Ineffable, Leadership, Raiding | Tagged , , , , , | 6 Comments

A posse, I have one

Posted on February 25, 2011 by

With many thanks to Grimmtooth for the art and to the Effers pictured above for being generally awesome (which is not to say that those Effers who didn’t make it to the photoshoot are any less awesome).

There’s something about this picture that makes me really want to take ownership of that GM title. I feel, I dunno, something like a badass, seeing my character there ringed on every side with bristling menace. I love being able to look at this stylized representation of our characters and know at a glance who’s who.

We haven’t all been together very long, but the support and the camaraderie we have would make one think otherwise. I wasn’t ever sure I could feel at home in a guild that hadn’t been my place for the past several years, but I very much do. And I hope everyone else feels the same.

Guys, let’s go kill us some bosses tonight. We certainly look capable of mayhem and murder!

Posted in Eff the Ineffable, Leadership | Tagged , , , , | 12 Comments

Leveling a mage in Cataclysm

Posted on February 24, 2011 by

I have exactly one mage who has managed to hit the level cap, but over the years I have dabbled with little project mages here and there. I got one to 20 with SAN before I got RAF-dinged all the way to 51, was left without any decent gear and had no money to buy new gear. There’s my horde side mage who I got to 30 before the horror that was horde-side questing made me want to off myself… or her. I have also leveled to the mid-range and then deleted a number of other mages from my alty stables.

And now there is Alas 2.0, rolled on Azgalor to be in <Stands in Bad> as a sort of exchange program (we got Kotakh from Amber’s guild to raid with us as he can, although his main focus is still <Stands in Bad> as mine will of course be for my Effers).

This is my first time really exploring any class I’m familiar with in a post-Shattering world. And I am left scratching my horns and wondering just what on Azeroth Blizzard has done to my beloved mages.

Alas 2.0, now more horny

I am level 30 and leveling in fire on the theory that it’s a good way to get a bit more familiar with it after spending so much time in Arcane on Alas 1.0. And I think that for all of Blizzard’s attempts to get players to stick to one tree and learn how it works, they dropped a ball somewhere along the way with mages.

After all, even as a fire mage, I still got Arcane Missiles to proc from levels 1-29 before I could finally spec into Hot Streak. This felt strange to me coming from a level 85 fire mage who, when she procs, gets a free and instant Pyroblast! I never cast Arcane Missiles in my fire spec at level cap. Why did they force it on me for so long while I worked my way up? I can see not having a Pyroblast! right away, truly, but maybe a free/instant fireball?

Along the way, I’ve run several dungeons because pugs scare me less than that big old PVP world where I am flagged against my will. Earlier on I didn’t really notice any disparity between what I could bring to the table versus what other classes could. No one buffed anyone because no one had anything with which to buff. But my latest run had me getting paladin and priest buffs lavished on me, leaving me wondering whether I had missed training something somewhere along the way because if someone is giving me fortitude shouldn’t I be able to give them Intellect in return? Or food? And, hey, shouldn’t I be able to give myself a shield of some sort?

As soon as I got out of there, I headed to my mage trainer and picked up the ability to decurse. And then I got to looking at when I would get my other goodies.

I’ll get Molten Armor in four more levels at 34. This will be my first self-buff.

I will be able to make party food at level 38.

I will get my first AoE damage spell (Flamestrike) at level 44. (And you know everything from 1-80 is an AoE-fest)

Coming in rather later, I get Blizzard at level 52.

And it will be until level 58 that I will appear to be a useless git in dungeons (aside from vending machine duties) because I will not get Arcane Brilliance until then. Level. Fifty. Eight.

Oh, and that other thing people like mages for? The whole business of getting around quickly? I don’t get to portal anyone anywhere until level 42, but at least I will get all of the Kal/EK locations all at once.

Overall, I don’t think mages are broken or anything. But I do think they seem somewhat unbalanced and not terribly intuitive for a new player, and I thought that was supposed to be the whole point?

Posted in Leveling, Mage Related | Tagged , , , , | 19 Comments

Damn the torpedoes

Posted on February 22, 2011 by

Earlier this month, I was reading Grimmtooth’s excellent post: The Art of Disagreeing. I encourage anyone to go read it in full, but to make a brief summary, Grimmtooth talks about the value of debate and gives some suggestions on how to disagree in a mature and profitable manner.

In the comments of Grimm’s post, a now-private blogger named Xeppe made a longish comment that I am going to quote here:

(Coming briefly out of the shadows.)

Your view on conflict (and mine) are culturally bound. And not the same. The internetz is a big place, with folks from many different countries and socio-religious backgrounds both playing WoW and blogging. I don’t find peace boring at all.

The other dimension worth noting is the power disparity that exists when a ‘big’ blogger chooses to deprecate the work of a ‘little’ blogger. And of course I’m writing from my own pain-point here.

I wrote my blog for myself, and for family/friends/guildies. Yes, I could have issued them all passwords – but who wants to remember passwords for a gazillion blogs? I never registered with Blog Azeroth or any other blog listing, and I never pursued any of those strategies which are intended to increase readership. Miss Medicina and Tam had both linked me and I’d picked up a small number of regular readers from those links. I posted a total of 82 posts, and until ’10 things that Keppe wants to do before Cata’, I’d had a total of 2 troll comments, and happily averaged around 40 hits a post.

When a big blogger holds up the work of a smaller blogger to ridicule, my experience of what happens is that a whole lot of the readership of the big blog go across and leave comments on the smaller blog. Not necessarily friendly ‘thanks for making me think about it comments’, but comments of a stronger tenor than the original, already-deprecating post.

A whole lot of people who have no idea of the context of the post, who’ve never read anything else I posted (and didn’t read that one very carefully either).

No, I was not grateful for the traffic. I was totally surprised (as the blogger in question hadn’t let me know her post was coming), appalled at the aggression on display, and in tears. And definitely feeling unreasonably persecuted.

Some bloggers want to increase their readership and love any kind of publicity. It’s fine to want this – but not every blogger does. I just wanted a quiet corner to post cathartic stuff for me and informative stuff for people I play with. And that got taken away. No, I’m not going to ’toughen-up’ or suddenly change the way I feel about conflict. Is blogging only the right of those from one particular value-set?

So when you’re taking that 10 seconds, remember that my shoes might be very different to your shoes. And yours may not suit me at all.

(And now I’ll go back behind the password-protection on my guild website. Thank-you for your post, and the opportunity to rant a bit on this topic.)

I didn’t see any of the original post or comments in question and would not have had any idea who the bigger blogger was if she had not come by and unapologetically outed herself. Without getting into the middle of the particular set of events that triggered that comment from Xeppe, I want to take a look at the response from the bigger blogger, who is Larisa from Pink Pigtail Inn.

I’ve tried to stay away from this discussion, putting scotch over my mouth as to shut up but bah… I can’t.

So: I’m the big evil blogger who scared Xeppe into silence. Yep. Yours truly. And I still don’t see that I did anything wrong to be honest! Sure, in one way I regret linking to her, since there were a ton of similar posts out there; it could have been any of those and they probably wouldn’t have been upset like Xeppe since most bloggers write for a public and not just for their closest friends. How on earth should I know that? It was just random that I linked to that post. However: as I linked I followed my blogging ethics – which I believe are rather strict. So no apologies from my side to be honest. If this makes me a horrible blogger, so be it. I can live with that.

Sometimes we disagree on things – oncluding blogging ethics. And it’s not dangerous; it’s allowed to have different opinions.

It’s not the end of the world that another blog disagrees with yours – even if that blog has a bigger audience than your own.

I don’t think a comparatively big audience should be a hindrance for bloggers to express their views.

Mmkay. Well, here’s what I think about that.

Blogging ethics, Don’t Be A Dick and the Greater Internet Fuckwad Theory

Blogging ethics is an interesting idea and one that I think most bloggers would do well to spend some time purposefully mulling over if they haven’t already. I knew I had my own guidelines for how I behave online and in my blog, but honestly hadn’t ever put any of that into words. As I have been thinking about this, my blogging ethics boil down to what is popularly termed the Golden Rule:

Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

Honestly, it doesn’t get any easier than that. Do I like it when other people use their blogs that are ostensibly about WoW to cram their political views down my throat? Nope. So you won’t find my political opinions here. Have I enjoyed having commenters who only come by to complain about something that they clearly do not at all understand? No. I keep my feedback mostly positive and make sure I know the person who I give more negative feedback to pretty well before I give it.

In other words, I try really hard to not be a dick. I might not always succeed, but at least I am trying and not letting my anonymity here be an excuse to be an asshole.

Also, if I have inadvertently offended someone through something I’ve said and they tell me so, I will absolutely apologize for that despite whatever my intent was. I would want my feelings to be taken seriously in the same situation and apologies, to quote from Anexxia, are free. It doesn’t cost you anything, yet has so much value to the aggrieved person.

It’s how you disagree, not that you disagree

It is absolutely okay for bloggers to disagree on things without any regard for the relative sizes of your audiences. However, there are a lot of wrong ways to go about disagreeing. Mocking someone else is one of those ways. Ignoring what another person is even saying in order to push your own point is another. Bullying, I think we can agree, is never okay.

And guess what? If someone is bigger than you are, it’s really easy to feel threatened. To use a real life example, the skinny guy who wears glasses and weighs maybe 90 pounds isn’t going to get taken as a serious threat to anyone who isn’t, like, five years old or younger. The thirteen year old boy who already has a full beard, benches 150 and is built like a tank will be taken as a serious threat to pretty much any of his peers and possibly that 90 pound scrawny kid who might be several years older. All he has to do is raise his fists or his voice.

Size matters.

It absolutely matters in the blogging world, too. Look at Zel’s experience with a much larger blogger choosing the path of openly and fiercely attacking a post Zel made. There were plenty of other options for that blogger, including emailing Zel or leaving a civil comment with the reasons why they disagreed with Zel’s post.

Instead, it went catastrophically public. I’m sure everyone remembers. I didn’t really know Zel very well then, but I was sickened to read the comments people left on the bigger blogger’s site. They were vicious and they did not allow that someone else could make a mistake. Zel’s intent didn’t matter, nor did her acknowledgement that she made a mistake. Almost a year later, she is still getting crap.

There is no reasoning with a mob mentality and as much as I am sure they would like to deny it for their convenience, bigger bloggers do have a much greater chance of sparking, inspiring and turning loose that mentality on their smaller peers.

I did not ask for this!

Recently, I was talking about leadership principals with a few people on Twitter. In the course of that conversation, I admitted that one of my (undoubtedly many) failings as a leader is that I forget that other people will take me more seriously than I intend to be taken just because I have a title and a position of leadership.

As an example on this, I made a post just last week talking about raiding and how I was surprised at how much extraneous chatter went on over vent during the raid. I thought I was poking more fun at myself for being taken aback by that and reminding myself publicly that my own personal preferences for raiding are not exactly The Only Right Way To Do Things. And then I got approached by half of the raid team, each person wondering if I were upset at them for talking too much.

Another reminder that even though I see my GM title as being unimportant and just because I want to be able to be taken as ‘one of the team’ by everyone else doesn’t mean that everyone else will see things the same way. Like it or not – and I don’t – my words will have more weight to the rest of my guild and I have to keep that in mind. I can’t afford, in my position, to be careless.

I believe the same thing goes for bloggers with larger audiences. They might not have asked for the responsibilities of having to watch very carefully how they say whatever it is they have to say, but whether they like it or not, people out there will give them more weight. And it is easy, if you see someone you admire mocking this or praising that, to simply agree with them, fall into line and become part of the mob.

No, a blogger can’t really control how people will react to what they say, nor do I believe that in Zel’s experience Anna is personally responsible for every hateful or hurtful thing one of her readers flung at Zel. But she was careless and she did unchain that whole reaction with the way she chose to address things and plenty of people have pointed at her and at that post as being the tipping point in making a situation that didn’t need to be so ugly get so out of control.

If you don’t want the responsibility of having to watch how you say things then my advice to you is this (because I am on a roll with the stock phrases today): If you can’t take the heat, get out of the goddamn kitchen. Seriously. I don’t want to hear you bitch about it.

Kick them while they’re down, right?

I’ve been thinking for months about writing this post because I have seen a certain amount of bullying that goes on from less scrupulous bigger bloggers to the smaller fish in the pond. Every time I started composing it in my head, though, I admit that my own status as a smallish blogger tripped me up. How could I dare to take on the big dogs or make a call for them to pay attention to the power that they do have and that they know they have even though they are all fake smiles and rapid denials when called on it?

Then DinoTam blew up in my face and I have had a lot of very lovely people come by to tell me that I was very wrong, very bad to make mistakes I had already admitted to making. Well no shit, Sherlock! But is that any reason to rub my face into it? I also made the grievous error, I am now aware, of not reading anyone else’s mind. Shame on me.

You should have known, I’ve been told, that you were making people uncomfortable.

Even as I ended the DinoTam jokes and apologized to Tam for any distress I might have caused him, that just wasn’t enough for a lot of people. They had me in an indefensible position and so came round to kick me and spit on me a little bit. No one will ever see those hateful and hurtful comments because I am not interested in seeing my own corner and my own space being used as a platform for other people to shame me.

Not only that, but the people who said they were sorry to see DinoTam go were also attacked. Because that is how bullies disagree online. If I don’t like it then you are not allowed to like it either. Conform or else.

So yeah, kick away while someone is down. That is, if you want to remove all doubt from other people’s minds that you’re a petty bully.

Being attacked – and trying to escape being a victim forever

And when you are being attacked without warning, what can you do? I can tell you from my own experience, it seems like a pretty hopeless business. In my case, I at least had the forethought to turn on comment moderation because I was aware that some pretty wild assumptions had already been made.

Even with most of the nasty comments never seeing the light of day, I didn’t really know what to do with all the vitriol that came my way. If I didn’t publish the comments, that would make me a coward, right? And if I did publish the comments, anyone who came by would be able to observe someone else shaming me. If I tried to defend myself, someone else could easily point the finger at my post and remind me I had already admitted to making mistakes so what defense did I have?

Lose. Lose. Lose.

There is not a good way to deal with an attack because attacks are meant to be vicious and the people attacking want to see you squirm. Mob mentality. No matter which choice you make, someone will think it is wrong and I am quite sure they won’t be afraid to tell you so.

For me, in the end, I decided that the mob isn’t worth it. I don’t blog with the aim that my audience should be large and would rather see my subscriptions go down if it means that I have lost people who only wanted someone to troll. (And this is my formal invitation for all such persons, particularly those of you who left me hateful comments, to please shove off. I’d be delighted to see you leave.) So I moderated. I deleted. And I added a lot of various lines to my blacklist because I think ‘spam’ is a fitting heading under which to file blind anger and holier than thou righteous indignation.

I find it’s all a matter of perspective. This perspective was hard-won, true, but that’s all the more reason to cling to it. So if you treat me like shit, expect for me to consider your opinions in the same light: worth a flush so they don’t stink up the place.

This is my call

In closing, small bloggers, I encourage you to be true to yourselves and don’t let your smallness be an excuse to behave like a raging asshole. It’s not all about size, you know.

If you’re a big blogger and you’re lying to yourself and lying to others that you don’t hold more power, then stop it. Because you do. Quit pretending that it’s numbers and not your words that made someone else bleed. Stop throwing your weight around and acting like your number of subscribers gives you the right to be above basic human decency. State your opinions, but refrain from ridiculing someone else to do so.

There are any number of big bloggers who know how to comport themselves with dignity and who have shown genuine care in cultivating real relationships with the people that make up their communities. People you would never see ridicule someone else for a cheap laugh or to make themselves feel even bigger.

Big or small in subscriptions, isn’t that the sort of blogger person you would want to be?

PS

Am I going to moderate the hell out of this post? Oh, you bet. Play nice or don’t bother commenting. I’ve got one hand on the flusher already. And this is not meant to be an opportunity for anyone to debate who was “right” and who was “wrong” in any of the examples I’ve mentioned.

PPS

Many, many thanks to everyone who volunteered to pre-read this, who did read it and who gave me the valuable feedback that they did. This post is one meeelion times better with your assistance than it was as the insomnia-fueled post it started out as.

Posted in Leadership, Thoughts and Ideas | Tagged , , | 66 Comments

Lucas Pwnage Pwns!

Posted on February 18, 2011 by

Chapter 23

Elizabeth was logged into the game, fishing the Dalaran fountain and reflecting on what she had heard, and doubting whether she was authorised to mention it, when Sir William Lucas himself appeared in their vent, sent by Charlotte, to announce her intent to server transfer with Mr. Collins. With many compliments to them, and much self-gratulation on the prospect of a connection between the houses, he unfolded the matter—to an audience not merely wondering, but incredulous; for Mrs. Bennet, with more perseverance than politeness, protested he must be entirely mistaken; and Lydia, always unguarded and often uncivil, boisterously exclaimed:

“OMG! Sir William, how can you tell such a story? Do not you know that Mr. Collins wants Lizzy to xfer with him?”

Nothing less than the complaisance of a courtier could have borne without anger such treatment; but Sir William’s good breeding carried him through it all; and though he begged leave to be positive as to the truth of his information, he listened to all their impertinence with the most forbearing courtesy.

Elizabeth, feeling it incumbent on her to relieve him from so unpleasant a situation, now put herself forward to confirm his account, by mentioning her prior knowledge of it from Charlotte herself; and endeavoured to put a stop to the exclamations of the rest of her guild by the earnestness of her congratulations to Sir William, in which she was readily joined by Jane, and by making a variety of remarks on the happiness that might be expected from the match, the excellent character of Mr. Collins, and the convenient low cost of not having to also faction change.

Mrs. Bennet was in fact too much overpowered to say a great deal while Sir William remained; but no sooner had he left them than her feelings found a rapid vent. In the first place, she persisted in disbelieving the whole of the matter; secondly, she was very sure that Mr. Collins had been taken in; thirdly, she trusted that they would never be happy together; and fourthly, that the match might be broken off. Two inferences, however, were plainly deduced from the whole: one, that Elizabeth was the real cause of the mischief; and the other that she herself had been barbarously misused by them all; and on these two points she principally dwelt during the rest of the day. Nothing could console and nothing could appease her. Nor did that day wear out her resentment. A week elapsed before she could see Elizabeth without scolding her, a month passed away before she could speak to Sir William or Lady Lucas without being rude, and many months were gone before she could at all forgive Charlotte.

Mr. Bennet’s emotions were much more tranquil on the occasion, and such as he did experience he pronounced to be of a most agreeable sort; for it gratified him, he said, to discover that Charlotte, whom he had been used to think tolerably sensible, was as foolish as his wife, and more foolish than Elizabeth!

Jane confessed herself a little surprised at the match; but she said less of her astonishment than of her earnest desire for their happiness; nor could Elizabeth persuade her to consider it as improbable. Kitty and Lydia were far from envying Charlotte, for Mr. Collins was only a nub tank; and it affected them in no other way than as a piece of news to spread at the server forums.

Lady Lucas could not be insensible of triumph on being able to retort on Mrs. Bennet the comfort of having a guildie well transferred; and she called at <Longbourn> rather oftener than usual to say how happy she was, though Mrs. Bennet’s sour emotes and ill-natured remarks might have been enough to drive happiness away.

Between Elizabeth and Charlotte there was a restraint which kept them mutually silent on the subject; and Elizabeth felt persuaded that no real confidence could ever subsist between them again. Her disappointment in Charlotte made her turn with fonder regard to Jane, of whose rectitude and delicacy she was sure her opinion could never be shaken, and for whose happiness she grew daily more anxious, as Bingley had now been gone a week and nothing more was heard of his return.

Jane had sent Caroline an early answer to her letter, and was counting the hours till she might reasonably hope to hear again. The promised letter of thanks from Mr. Collins arrived on Tuesday, addressed to their father, and written with all the solemnity of gratitude which a twelvemonth’s abode in the guild might have prompted. After discharging his conscience on that head, he proceeded to inform them, with many rapturous expressions, of his happiness in having obtained the heals of their amiable friend, Charlotte, and then explained that it was merely with the view of enjoying her society that he had been so ready to close with their kind wish of seeing him again at <Longbourn>, whither he hoped to be able to return on Monday fortnight; for Lady Catherine, he added, so heartily approved his finding another healer, that she wished the transfer to take place as soon as possible, which he trusted would be an unanswerable argument with his amiable Charlotte to name an early day for making him the happiest of tanks.

Mr. Collins’s return into Hertfordshire was no longer a matter of pleasure to Mrs. Bennet. On the contrary, she was as much disposed to complain of it as her husband. It was very strange that he should come to <Longbourn> instead of to <Lucas Pwnage>; it was also very inconvenient and exceedingly troublesome. She hated having visitors in the guild while her GearScore was so indifferent, and healer/tank combos were of all people the most disagreeable. Such were the gentle murmurs of Mrs. Bennet, and they gave way only to the greater distress of Mr. Bingley’s continued absence.

Neither Jane nor Elizabeth were comfortable on this subject. Day after day passed away without bringing any other tidings of him than the report which shortly prevailed in the server of his coming no more to Azeroth the whole winter; a report which highly incensed Mrs. Bennet, and which she never failed to contradict as a most scandalous falsehood.

Even Elizabeth began to fear—not that Bingley was indifferent—but that his friends would be successful in keeping him away. Unwilling as she was to admit an idea so destructive of Jane’s happiness, and so dishonorable to the stability of her warrior tank, she could not prevent its frequently occurring. The united efforts of his two unfeeling dps friends and of his overpowering main tank, assisted by the attractions of another healer and the amusements of Real Life might be too much, she feared, for the strength of his attachment.

As for Jane, her anxiety under this suspense was, of course, more painful than Elizabeth’s, but whatever she felt she was desirous of concealing, and between herself and Elizabeth, therefore, the subject was never alluded to. But as no such delicacy restrained Mrs. Bennet, an hour seldom passed in which she did not talk of Bingley, express her impatience for his arrival, or even require Jane to confess that if he did not come back she would think herself very ill used. It needed all Jane’s steady mildness to bear these attacks with tolerable tranquillity.

Mr. Collins returned most punctually on Monday fortnight, but his reception at <Longbourn> was not quite so gracious as it had been on his first introduction. He was too happy, however, to need much attention; and luckily for the others, the business of preparing for a server transfer relieved them from a great deal of his company. The chief of every day was spent by him with those from <Lucas Pwnage>, and he sometimes returned to <Longbourn>’s vent only in time to make an apology for his absence before everyone logged off for the night.

Mrs. Bennet was really in a most pitiable state. The very mention of anything concerning the match threw her into an agony of ill-humour, and wherever she went she was sure of hearing it talked of. The sight of Charlotte was odious to her. As her successor in that guild, she regarded her with jealous abhorrence. Whenever Charlotte came to see them, she concluded her to be anticipating the hour of possession; and whenever party chat was silence, was convinced that they were talking in tells of the <Longbourn> guild bank, and resolving to /gkick herself and the rest of the members out of the guild, as soon as Mr. Bennet were retired from the game. She complained bitterly of all this to her husband.

“Indeed, Mr. Bennet,” said she, “it is very hard to think that Charlotte should ever be mistress of this guild, that I should be forced to make way for her, and live to see her take her place in it!”

“My dear, do not give way to such gloomy thoughts. Let us hope for better things. Let us flatter ourselves that I may be the one to keep playing.”

This was not very consoling to Mrs. Bennet, and therefore, instead of making any answer, she went on as before.

“I cannot bear to think that they should have all this guild. If it was not for the entail, I should not mind it.”

“What should not you mind?”

“I should not mind anything at all.”

“Let us be thankful that you are preserved from a state of such insensibility.”

“I never can be thankful, Mr. Bennet, for anything about the entail. How anyone could have the conscience to entail away a guild from one’s own guild members, I cannot understand; and all for the sake of Mr. Collins too! Why should he have it more than anybody else?”

“I leave it to yourself to determine,” said Mr. Bennet.

Posted in Pride and Prejudice, Writing | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

On gathering and ninjas, a rant

Posted on February 17, 2011 by

Dear WoW-playing community at large:

When I farm on my druid, I have to take a no-aggression stance with any mobs that might be nearby. After all, I am leveling her from 80-85 through farming and exploration XP, with only a few quests here and there. She’s pretty un-geared and there’s not a mob in Uldum who couldn’t tear her to shreds. So yeah, I’m usually doing a dance of landing far enough away from the mob to give it a quick moonfire and then root it in place away from whatever I am after so I can dodge around, get the herb or ore, shadowmeld and then be on my merry way.

That dance is not a fucking invitation for you to swoop in while I am otherwise occupied and snatch the goods right out from under my nose.

I don’t pull shit like that with you. If I see you fighting off a mob, your body protectively standing on top of that yellow dot on the minimap, I keep flying. Even if you have already sniped something from me and I feel you deserve to remember what that feels like, I keep flying.

Maybe I should try to scare you a bit. Give you all of the frustration of seeing someone come swooping in to take what you’ve just been fighting for and then not actually do it. I don’t know. I just don’t think that acting like a dick to a dick is going to make you change your dickish ways.

But you really should. Because no one likes you and you don’t even like people who evince the same poor qualities.

No fucking love and just a little bit of rage,

Alas

Posted in Leveling, rant | Tagged , , , , , | 14 Comments

Raiding with the Eff Team

Posted on February 15, 2011 by

So last weekend was, as mentioned before, our first week of raiding as a guild. It was an interesting experience. There was a bit of discussion previous to going about raid leading and who was willing to assist with it, but I think it was generally understood that either Lono or myself would be taking it on, or we would take it on jointly.

Unfortunately, we both got sick. So Gnoble stepped up but when it came to the raid itself, it ended up being a bit of a free-for-all. I don’t know if it was an effect of the assumed leaders being out of commission (voice-wise) or if it’s just that bloggers really like to talk, but we probably dithered about a little too much between attempts. And there was a fair bit of confusion about various things because of the number of times people were actually talking over other people in vent.

The dictator in me that worked so hard to get people to STFU in vent back in the old guild was cringing. I freely admit it.

But… but…. it couldn’t have been all so terrible. I mean, we did spank Half-ass, oh yes!

Overall, I would give the raiding experience good marks for actual progression, with bonus points for pretty much everyone knowing something about the fight and having ideas on how to address the difficulties we encountered. I just hope to get less overlap in vent and less recovery time between wipes.

Still Recruiting

Eff the Ineffable is still recruiting, so I thought I might put in another plug. You can read about us here, here, here and here.

What we do not need: Tanks. Seriously. We have 4 possible tanks and one 10-man raid team. You do the math.

What we would like: Another healer or two, preferably someone with a strong offspec for DPS. Also, more melee DPS because so far we have a part-time rogue and our tanks sometimes switch over.

What we would kill for: Replenishment. But with two mages already in the stables, probably not one of our frosty brethren.

Posted in Eff the Ineffable, Raiding | Tagged , , , | 10 Comments

What might have been my first WoW post

Posted on February 14, 2011 by

I blogged for several years before I ever started up KMA. Today, I was browsing through those old posts today for something else (a post about respect in marriage, because I think it’s silly to celebrate ‘love’ as it is popularly defined) and I ran across this old post. It still gives me a bit of a giggle, so here we go:

Alas: So I was watching Lord of the Rings the other day while grinding in Shadowmoon….
Friend: yeah?
Alas: And it was the first movie and they were in the Mines of Moria
Friend: yeah?
Alas: And I thought:
What a failsauce 10-man raid
They go in with only 9 people
Friend: they pulled the whole instance
they had a leeroy jenkins moment
Alas: Four of whom are complete n00bs
Friend: haha.
it was like level 50 content and the hobbits are like level 10
Alas: They have a mage tanking
Friend: yeah.
and the mage tank
omg1
that’s so funny! keep going
Alas: And their two warriors are more concerned with looking good than with wearing plate
So they’re in zarking leather
Friend: leather warriors!
hey, it’s rogue gear for dps
Alas: And somehow, the little guys pull all the aggro
Friend: cause they’re level 10
Alas: Right
And they have no healers
Friend: they just got their first talent point and feel all bad-ass
lol! bandages ftw
the mage can’t even aoe.
Alas: And only one ranged DPS since their mage is tanking
Friend: sure he’s level 70, but why no aoe?
Alas: Exactly!
Friend: he coulda killed those 40′s and 50′s
couple of arc expl’s and bam. instance done
but nooooooo
he never trained arcane
Alas: Apparently
Friend: and why the sword?
Alas: Too in love with fire, I think
Friend: staves have better stats
Alas: I know!
He didn’t even have an off-hand
Friend: he said screw arc and frost
all i need is fireball
rank 1
Alas: He didn’t even use Pyroblast
Friend: i know
lol
man, they needed a shammy for windfury
Alas: He just never spent his talent points or trained
And then their dwarf guy – where was he in that whole mess?
Friend: lol
he was all being short
Alas: Probably off looking for chests
“Guys, there’s treasure on my mini-map”
Friend:  hey! i see a chest on my map
better snag it before we have to /roll
notice how he was all grabby with the tomb stuff?
he was a ninja
Alas: And the only reason Frodo didn’t die was because a higher level guy (Bilbo) gave him some phat lewtz
Friend: he had purpz!
Alas: Exactly
Friend: they needed a priest for the mage tanking
lol
Alas: Failsauce
See?
Oh – and Gandalf was apparently out of light feathers when he got dragged down into the abyss
Friend: rofl!
yeah
that’s instant cast buddy
Alas: Or he forgot he had slow fall
Friend: just pop it
lol! i’ve done that
oh yeah, he didn’t train arcane
“why are these light feathers a white item?!?!”
lol
it was his first 70
after the fall his buddy decided to take over, he was all, gimme that keyboard
he had to spirit res
Posted in Acts of Lameness, Senseless Blah Blah | Tagged , , , , | 13 Comments

if you had eyes like golden crowns

Posted on February 10, 2011 by

I’ve been saying a lot of goodbyes lately, it seems. Many of them tinged with sadness, a few with relief and some without thought or concern at all. In the aftermath of still others, I find only anger.

I could do without the sad goodbyes and the angry ones. I could do without the ones that aren’t on my terms at all. I could do without the little niggle in the back of my mind that says I am somehow to blame for all these goodbyes.

The WoW community – both in and out of game – is such a strange hybrid of fragility and endurance. A friendship that spanned several years can be tossed aside as if it were nothing in less than 15 minutes. A blogger that was around before your time might give it all up long before you are ready to do so.

Fragile yet enduring. Like a disc priest in their bubble.

In both cases, the community as a whole is still there and will continue to be there. There are other friendships, equally important. There are other bloggers, equally as witty. The community as a whole might change day by day, with this addition and that loss. But it also remains very much the same.

It’s just that sometimes the hits come a little harder than we would like. And for me, reeling under a triple blow, I think it’s appropriate to stop, reflect, mourn and try to put into words the struggle it can sometimes be to accept the community for what it is: wonderful, ephemeral and golden.

Even when it sucks.

Posted in Real Life | Tagged , , , | 6 Comments

Mr. Collins finds acceptance

Posted on February 9, 2011 by

Chapter 22

The inmates of <Longbourn> were engaged to run arenas with the <Lucas Pwnage> and again during the chief of the day was Charlotte so kind as to team up with Mr. Collins. Elizabeth took an opportunity of thanking her. “It keeps him in good humour,” said she, “and I am more obliged to you than I can express.” Charlotte assured her friend of her satisfaction in being useful, and that it amply repaid her for the little sacrifice of her ranking. This was very amiable, but Charlotte’s kindness extended farther than Elizabeth had any conception of; its object was nothing else than to secure her from any return of Mr. Collins’s addresses, by engaging them towards herself. Such was Charlotte’s scheme; and appearances were so favourable, that when they parted at night, she would have felt almost secure of success if he had not been to leave the server so very soon. But here she did injustice to the fire and independence of his character, for it led him to /gquit out of <Longbourn> the next morning with admirable slyness, and hasten to <Lucas Pwnage> to throw himself at her feet. He was anxious to avoid the notice of the rest of the guild, from a conviction that if they saw him depart, they could not fail to conjecture his design, and he was not willing to have the attempt known till its success might be known likewise; for though feeling almost secure, and with reason, for Charlotte had been tolerably encouraging, he was comparatively diffident since the adventure of Wednesday. His reception, however, was of the most flattering kind. Charlotte perceived him in her friends list as being unguilded, and instantly sent him a tell to inquire after the event. But little had she dared to hope that so much love and eloquence awaited her there.

In as short a time as Mr. Collins’s long speeches and laborious typing would allow, everything was settled between them to the satisfaction of both; and as she invited him to the guild he earnestly entreated her to name the day that was to make him the happiest of men; and though such a solicitation must be waived for the present, the lady felt no inclination to trifle with his happiness. The stupidity with which he was favoured by nature must guard his courtship from any charm that could make a woman wish for its continuance; and Charlotte, who accepted him solely from the pure and disinterested desire of a better raiding establishment, cared not how soon that establishment were gained.

Sir William and Lady Lucas were speedily applied to for their consent; and it was bestowed with a most joyful alacrity. Mr. Collins’s present circumstances made it a most eligible match for Charlotte, to whom they could give few epics; and his prospects of future raiding achievements were exceedingly fair. Lady Lucas began directly to calculate, with more interest than the matter had ever excited before, how many years longer Mr. Bennet was likely to live; and Sir William gave it as his decided opinion, that whenever Mr. Collins should be in possession of <Longbourn>, it would be highly expedient that both he and Charlotte should make their appearance on the server forums for recruitment purposes. The whole guild, in short, were properly overjoyed on the occasion. The more casual players formed hopes of getting a confirmed raid spot a year or two sooner than they might otherwise have done; and the tanks were relieved from their apprehension of Charlotte’s attempting to heal for them. Charlotte herself was tolerably composed. She had gained her point, and had time to consider of it. Her reflections were in general satisfactory. Mr. Collins, to be sure, was neither sensible nor agreeable; his society was irksome, and his attachment to her must be imaginary. But still she would be his primary healer . Without thinking highly either of warriors or their abilities, healing in a progression guild had always been her object; it was the only provision for well-geared young women of small guilds, and however uncertain of giving happiness, must be their pleasantest preservative from want. This preservative she had now obtained; and at the level of 80, without having ever been successful in some of the harder heroics, she felt all the good luck of it. The least agreeable circumstance in the business was the surprise it must occasion to Elizabeth, whose friendship she valued beyond that of any other person. Elizabeth would wonder, and probably would blame her; and though her resolution was not to be shaken, her feelings must be hurt by such a disapprobation. She resolved to give her the information herself, and therefore charged Mr. Collins, when he spoke to anyone from <Longbourn>, to drop no hint of what had passed before any of the guild. A promise of secrecy was of course very dutifully given, but it could not be kept without difficulty; for the curiosity excited by his absence burst forth in such very direct questions on his being spotted online and required some ingenuity to evade, and he was at the same time exercising great self-denial, for he was longing to publish his prosperous love.

As he was to begin his transfer on the morrow, the ceremony of leave-taking was performed when the guild logged off for the night; and Mrs. Bennet, with great politeness and cordiality, said how happy they should be to see him at <Longbourn> again, whenever his engagements might allow him to visit them.

“My dear madam,” he replied, “this invitation is particularly gratifying, because it is what I have been hoping to receive; and you may be very certain that I shall avail myself of it as soon as possible.”

They were all astonished; and Mr. Bennet, who could by no means wish for so speedy a return, immediately said:

“But is there not danger of Lady Catherine’s disapprobation here, my good sir? You had better neglect us than run the risk of offending your patroness.”

“My dear sir,” replied Mr. Collins, “I am particularly obliged to you for this friendly caution, and you may depend upon my not taking so material a step without her ladyship’s concurrence.”

“You cannot be too much upon your guard. Risk anything rather than her displeasure; and if you find it likely to be raised by your coming to us again, which I should think exceedingly probable, stay quietly on your own server, and be satisfied that we shall take no offence.”

“Believe me, my dear sir, my gratitude is warmly excited by such affectionate attention; and depend upon it, you will speedily receive from me a letter of thanks for this, and for every other mark of your regard during my stay. As for the rest of the guild, though my absence may not be long enough to render it necessary, I shall now take the liberty of wishing them health and happiness, not excepting Elizabeth.”

With proper civilities the guild then logged off for the night; all of them equally surprised that he meditated a quick return. Mrs. Bennet wished to understand by it that he thought of paying his addresses to one of her other raiders, and Mary might have been prevailed on to accept him. She rated his abilities much higher than any of the others; there was a solidity in his reflections which often struck her, and though by no means so clever as herself, she thought that if encouraged to read and improve himself by such an example as hers, he might become a very agreeable companion. But on the following morning, every hope of this kind was done away. Charlotte joined their vent soon after dailies, and in a private conference with Elizabeth related the event of the day before.

The possibility of Mr. Collins’s fancying himself able to persuade her friend away from the sever had once occurred to Elizabeth within the last day or two; but that Charlotte could encourage him seemed almost as far from possibility as she could encourage him herself, and her astonishment was consequently so great as to overcome at first the bounds of decorum, and she could not help crying out:

“Going to heal for Mr. Collins! My dear Charlotte—UNPOSSIBLE!”

The steady countenance which Charlotte had commanded in telling her story, gave way to a momentary confusion here on receiving so direct a reproach; though, as it was no more than she expected, she soon regained her composure, and calmly replied:

“Why should you be surprised, my dear Eliza? Do you think it incredible that Mr. Collins should be able to procure any healer’s good opinion, because he was not so happy as to succeed with you?”

But Elizabeth had now recollected herself, and making a strong effort for it, was able to assure with tolerable firmness that the prospect of their relationship was highly grateful to her, and that she wished her all imaginable happiness.

“I see what you are feeling,” replied Charlotte. “You must be surprised, very much surprised—so lately as Mr. Collins was wishing to have you transfer to be with him. But when you have had time to think it over, I hope you will be satisfied with what I have done. I am not elite PvPer, you know; I never was. I ask only a comfortable guild; and considering Mr. Collins’s character, connection, and situation in life, I am convinced that my chance of happiness with him is as fair as most people can boast on changing guilds.”

Elizabeth quietly answered “No wai;” and after an awkward pause, they returned to the rest of the guild. Charlotte did not stay logged on much longer, and Elizabeth was then left to reflect on what she had heard. It was a long time before she became at all reconciled to the idea of so unsuitable a match. The strangeness of Mr. Collins’s making two offers within three days was nothing in comparison of his being now accepted. She had always felt that Charlotte’s opinion of raiding was not exactly like her own, but she had not supposed it to be possible that, when called into action, she would have sacrificed every better feeling to worldly advantage. Charlotte the guild mate of Mr. Collins was a most humiliating picture! And to the pang of a friend disgracing herself and sunk in her esteem, was added the distressing conviction that it was impossible for that friend to be tolerably happy in the lot she had chosen.

Posted in Acts of Lameness, Pride and Prejudice, Writing | Tagged , , , , | 6 Comments