Guides and goodies for girlgamers! Everything the techno-domestic goddess needs to know and more. Tweeks, gadgets, girls and gunz - Lets play girlz!

• 28Jul 11

  When Fantasy Overlaps Reality

  I was reading the forum game boards the other day when I came across a posting from a husband who was distraught that his wife had quit the game they played together. Supposedly she left because some players in the general chat channel were making fun of her and they would do this quite often when she logged on. I call it harassment, but others may disagree claiming that she should just put the said players on ignore and go about her business. I do think she could have dealt with it a little differently; perhaps requested a name change, restarted a character, transferred to a new server, etc. but I can understand where she might be coming from as well. As a mother of three whose husband is gone quite a bit and whose career revolves around virtual online gaming and fantasy role-playing, I have found my best of friends are those I have met in games. Therefore, things someone says to me in game or online CAN and MAY affect many parts of my emotional and intellectual thinking. For instance, when my husband deployed to Iraq and I was left at home with a 2, 3, and 4 yr old in an area I had just moved to, had no family or friends nearby, and could not get out much due to having three kids and no job, I put a lot of faith in the friends I met in World of Warcraft. I would log into the game, connect to Ventrilo, and hang out and talk with them as much as possible. No matter what time during the day or night, I always had someone there to exchange that adult conversation with that I lacked in my own home. When I was feeling alone and depressed, anxious or afraid, happy or excited, and my husband was not there for me to share those things with, I had my in-game friends.

  Games are not only entertainment, but they can be life savers as well. In fact, I had a guild mate one time who was going through depression. His parents just divorced, he had to move with his mother, change schools, and leave friends behind in his Senior year of school Although I am not a certified psychiatrist, I could understand his situation to an extent because I was a military child and I, too, had to move in my junior year of school and felt that I had nobody who understood. He depended on my friendship and sometimes all one needs is a friend to talk to in order to make yourself feel better (and that advice is free!).

  However, as adults who game, we must also understand that the younger generations may have socialization issues. They are pretty much raised in a technologically advanced world where online dating and text messaging are more common to them than actually getting together and playing cards or AD&D, so it's okay to put someone on ignore or blow them off as a "forum troll". We need to learn to grow harder skin and politely remove ourselves from the situation. I call it "Leading by example".

  Though we may never meet them in person, the people we meet in games tend to hold a special place in our hearts and sometimes what is written in chat can be hurtful to the soul. This is why we blog, this is why we Facebook, this is why I can understand the poster's wife's point of view. This is also why I find it difficult to be a Game Community Leader because we can't get away from it. We can't put half the community on ignore and we can't stop playing the game or change our names. We must address issues, we must acknowledge them, and we must grow tougher skin. So be lucky you're just a player ...

  ++ Katbrat ++
  Editor@EPICgeekgirl.com
  www.EPICgeekgirl.com
  
  "Heaven is a woman, Hell is a woman kicking your @ss in PVP"

  

  • Posted Jul 28, 2011 4:20 pm GMT
  • Category: People
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• 13Jul 11

  Fable III (PC) is like a cheap blind date

  

  For my 19th wedding anniversary, my husband was generous enough to get me Fable III (PC). I'd been wanting it for a while now and as usual, he delivered! Now, mind you, I am NOT a fan of Microsoft LIVE Games for Windows! In fact, I shiver when I see Microsoft games meant for console that are "adjusted" for the PC, but I enjoyed the Fable series and I'd much rather play my PC than a console, so I bent over backwards and gave Microsoft a chance. However, in return, Microsoft screwed me over and gave me a bad headache instead. (I should have known better than to trust Microsoft and prepared myself with lube earlier on).

  My first and foremost complaint with Fable III (PC) is the motion blur movement and camera auto-centering! I basically cannot play this game because I get SERIOUS motion sickness! The fact that the characters move in a blur and the camera tries to re-center itself every time I move it, was enough for me to vomit on the case while cursing Microsoft the whole time. While I did open the VideoOptionsConfig.xml file and changed MotionBlurEffectsMinimumDetail to 6 (anything above 5 disables Motion Blur in PC), it still did not fix it completely, although it did minimize the blurriness. However, there is absolutely no fix for the camera auto-centering. The keyboard and mouse game controls are pretty lame and standard too, with very little customization is enough to drive a PC gamer INSANE! They seemed to keep a majority of the game focused on the console aspect! Having to click 1-2-3 for choices gets pretty annoying and movement controls are awful!

  I am also disappointed in the quests and environment variety. I think I did the same "delivery" quests for random citizens, walked the same mountainous path, while killing the same wild wolves and mercenaries about 100 times! I got sick and tired of running around the same scenes with very little action.

  Another negative is the character customization. Seriously Microsoft? The Princess looks as if you copied the Prince's face and slapped a ponytail wig on her **** head! The faces are butt-ugly, the clothes are horrible, and character expressions are extremely weak.

  I find the PC version of Fable III a rather cheap and lazy way for Microsoft to make more money with little brain-power involved. If Bioware can make games for both the XBox 360 and the PC (Mass Effect, Dragon Age, etc.) and keep the controls, graphics, RPG selections, voice-overs, and quest perfectly adjusted to suit both types players, then you would think Microsoft could do the same! All in all, Fable III (PC) is like a cheap blind date you met online: it sounds intriguing and seems like it has a lot to offer, but it's idea of entertainment is a trip to McDonald's via taxi cab and you have to pay for it all!

  

  www.EPICgeekgirl.com

  • Posted Jul 13, 2011 11:32 am GMT
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• 2Jul 10

  Mass Effect 2 Demo by Katbrat

  I cannot believe how realistic and addicting this game is. I have only been playing through today and I am already hooked! As a girl gamer, I love the fact that I can select to play a female character and customize her appearance tailored to my personal preferences. The game play level can be adjusted to work with casual, normal, or difficult depending on your comfort zone. The learning curve takes a little time but is easy to grasp once you have walked through the tutorial. The graphics are phenomenal and the way you control the outcome of certain situations with your selected responses is great! I totally recommend Mass Effect 2 to every gaming fanatic!

  [View my demo trailer] from YouTube.

  • Posted Jul 2, 2010 4:25 pm GMT
  • Category: Games
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