Another 20 Days (Day 3)

Saga at Spellbound has come up with her very own 20 Days of WoW Blogging challenge - this is Day 3.

Your first day playing WoW

I remember the crunching sound the snow made under my toon's feet, and it even left little footprints in the snow. I remember climbing up the hill to reach Ironforge, the great statue of Anvilmar greeting you as you enter the gates.  It was stunning. And then, when you actually enter The Great Forge and see the lava flowing, it was amazing. I fell in love with Ironforge on my first day playing WoW. I remember flying to Ironforge on my very first flight, which was also my very first screenshot.

(which I still have in my folder of screenshots)

And then I looked around and realized that all of the people flipping and prancing and sparkling around me were real people all around the world playing this game with me. It was love at first sight. I didn't wait for my trial to end before I started paying to play. I think it was two days later and I couldn't wait any longer to be able to chat and send mail and join a guild, all that fun stuff.

The other thing I remember from my first days, was realizing that Paladins in WoW don't play the same as Paladins in other games. Although it may be the same premise, Paladins were too different from what I had grown accustomed to in other games. So after leveling Orenda into her 20s, I deleted her in favor of a Warlock, mostly because the friend who introduced me to WoW said they were easy to level.

The Warlock ended up not being the best choice for me either, but that's a story for another day.

Who Wears Short Shorts?

Apparently Audrid wears short shorts...

I never thought I'd say this, but...

I'm anxious to get to Outlands so my gear will look better.

You heard that right... Even the crazy green pants with the purple zigzag look better than this hot mess. They'd even totally match the green booties I'm wearing now. (>_<)

I really can't say any more. I'll let you judge for yourself.

I'm a Paladin?

Blog-drama

Well, here we go again. Its been a long time since I've piped up on the drama-of-the-week, but I just couldn't resist getting in the ring on this one.

Kiss My Alas wrote a very well written post about her take on Big Bloggers effecting Small Bloggers. And, despite his recent departure from the world of blogging, Tamarind has taken it upon himself to respond at The Pink Pigtail Inn.

While it is not always comfortable to receive criticism, whether constructive or not, its something we all have to deal with. The internet is a public space, and as has been said before, even if you may be the most neutral of parties, eventually someone is going to disagree with you or dislike your blog.

Mama always told me that if you don't have anything nice to say then it is best to say nothing at all. However, nice is one of those arbitrary words that is entirely dependent upon perspective to have any meaning at all.

Discussion and argument are part of what makes blogging such an interesting passtime. The irony is that I have quite a neutral opinion myself. I think Tam makes very valid points. I think Alas makes very valid points as well. I don't think either of them is wholly "right." Disagreeing with someone is not necessarily being a dick. How you do it could be perceived as dickish behavior, but the simple act of disagreeing is not that. But as Tam has said, dickish behavior is highly subjective.

What troubles me about this whole argument is fear of linking and/or commenting. I like that sometimes Larisa and Tam and other big bloggers link to and comment at some more obscure but interesting blogs. It may be unfortunate that not every person that reads these bigger blogs is a "nice" person, but to blame any negative feedback that occurred after you were linked from a larger blog is to ignore the purpose of linking, which is to share readership and to promote discussion.

I think we all need to step up and take responsibility for our own spaces. Regardless of size, eventually a troll or someone who very vocally disagrees with you will happen upon your blog. If you don't like what is being said then you have a right as a blogger to moderate comments. No, you can't control what is said at other people's blogs about you/your blog, but you can choose to respond to it or ignore it.

I respect what Zel and Alas have said about different sensitivity levels. I agree that greater diversity makes for a better community. However a blog is not a private space (unless we make it so), and we all know that when we create our blogs. There are options to limit who can read what you write. It is a known risk we all take when we make our words open for the whole world to read. If you are not ready for that, then maybe it is time to reconsider your permission settings.

Basically, what I'm saying is that I don't want to live in fear of giving someone some link love, whether they have a large readership or not. And I for one don't want any of the larger blogs to not link to me if I happen to say something they want to talk about (regardless of whether they agree or disagree with me).

What kind of blogging community would it be if we couldn't have something as benign as Tuesdays with Tarinae at A Healadin's Tear? Oh wait, we can't have that anymore because she's gone too. /cry But I think you get my point.

That Warlock Itch

I've been reading more and more Warlock blogs lately...

Oddly, I miss Ashwynn.

Since I have deleted my toons I haven't really missed them much, except Ashwynn. She was the last one I expected to miss, afterall, she sat for years as nothing more than my bank alt.

I don't make a good Warlock player. I know this, but I really love having demonic minions. Muahahaha!

Errm... yeah.

So my random six may be expanding to seven, before I've even gotten all of their stories up here. In fact, there are 2 that I haven't even gotten to level 10 yet. Do they make a d7? I don't think so. /sigh

Pardon me while I run off and create Warlock after Warlock deleting them until I find the perfect imp name.

Another 20 Days (Day 2)

Saga at Spellbound has come up with her very own 20 Days of WoW Blogging challenge - this is Day 2.

Day 2: Why you decided to start a blog

I have always had a desire to write. As long as I can remember I have loved reading and writing. As a teenager, full of angst and emotion, I wrote what in retrospect is really bad poetry. I wrote every day, whether it be in my journal or working on poems. At some point I just stopped. Maybe I realized just how horrible my poetry was. Maybe I was no longer feeling so angsty or emotional. Maybe I had dulled my senses with marijuana. Whatever the case may be, I had stopped writing altogether.

Years later I discovered LiveJournal. Many of my good friends used it as a place to write and to share little bits of themselves with the world. So, I made a LiveJournal too. I rarely posted on it. I mostly used it as a way to keep track of my friends. When they all made the exodus to Facebook I removed my LiveJournal and followed them there.

Facebook, however, was nothing like a writing site, nothing at all like LiveJournal. It didn't take long before I was inundated by friend requests, bumping into people I didn't want to, and in general getting overwhelmed. I deleted my Facebook account. I don't regret that choice. I am shy and introverted to an extreme. Facebook was far too social for my liking.

Around this time, I started poking around different WoW sites, and I discovered the blog written by Aurdon and Rhii, I Sheep Things (Rhii has since moved on to her own blog Oh My, Kurenai). It was love at first click, and through their blogroll I discovered a whole world of WoW blogs. This was a whole community of people who were doing the same things I was doing and writing about it. I couldn't resist creating my own little space.

It was on March 23rd, 2010 that I began blogging at Love and War in Azeroth. I saw it as a way to practice my writing, a way to vent about WoW stuff, and a potential way to be part of a community.

While the blog has changed and my game playstyle has changed, the reason for the blog has not. I am happy with my little space on the web, even if especially because I have limited readership and am unlikely to be linked at WoW Insider. I'm not sure I'd be well equipped to handle the staggering amount of readers and comments that places like The Pink Pigtail Inn get, nor do I think my writing skill warrants such attention.

At the end of the day, the reason for the blog is just because I love reading and writing (about WoW).