confessions
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Behind the scenes as a [REDACTED] Game Master
Once upon a time, I worked as a game master for a very popular MMORPG. My duties were relatively simple: help players out of sticky situations and enforce the rules of the game when it came to cheating, harassment, and general player behavior. A game master's role is to protect the player from any and all potential game dangers, up to and including the player himself. In my work as a GM, I saw many amazing things. I saw guild members contact support staff because they were worried about another player's real-life wellbeing. I saw incredibly complex scams across multiple players and accounts that, while infuriating and exceptionally against the rules, were astonishing in their genius. And of course, I saw lots and lots of cybering.
The Daily Grind: What's your MMO guilty pleasure?
I am a man forged from several guilty pleasures -- you know, activities and entertainment that are considered uncool by the masses and yet are fun anyway. I adore the Attack of the Killer Tomatoes movie series (yes, there are four of them). I, a 34-year-old man, will dance and sing with my kids to Disney musical numbers. I have no compunction against asking for Star Wars LEGO sets for my birthday. We all have our guilty pleasures that we may or may not try to hide from our friends and colleagues, and I'm willing to bet this happens just as much in MMOs as anywhere else. Maybe you're the hardcore raider who secretly enjoys decorating his in-game house with a Martha Stewart touch. Maybe you're the PvPer who considers herself mature yet isn't above stooping to some smacktalk in the thick of things. Maybe you like an MMO that is either too fringe or too mainstream for the rest of your friends. So what do you enjoy in your online gaming career that could be called a guilty pleasure? Confess! This is a judgment-free zone, people, except for commenter #35 in this thread. That dude is going to judge the jeebers out of the rest of you. Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
Forum post of the day: Mage confessions
Apparently Warlocks are not the only evil class in World of Warcraft. Today on the official forums, Mages aired their dirty laundry. Gompers of Archimonde began a thread that quickly filled to capacity with some of the tricks, cheats, and jokes Mages employ for amusement and profit. Some of the highlights include*: Shlippmack of Earthen Ring, "I pyro the lvl 1 critters to boost damage." Tiinsi of Bloodhoof, "On wipes I ice block and let everyone else who's fleeing pull the mobs further away so I have time to invis." Amarius of Alleria, "I sheep horde who are fighting warlocks or hunters just to give them a heal and hopefully the help they need to kill said warlock or hunter." Reoko of Sargeras, "I confess most of my deaths are caused by me hitting the windows button** when I'm trying to press alt 2 for ice block. /facepalm" Haruka of Shadow Council, "I once carried around multiple stacks of Scrolls of Intellect rank 1 that I would use on people in the raid who complained about not getting an int buff." Walugiee of Zul'jin, "I sometimes break my own sheeps and blame hunter multi-shots just so the raid leader yells at them." The thread has some real gems in it. If I ever level my Mage, I may steal some of their ideas. Do you have anything you'd like to share with the group? * Quotes are copied directly, I take no ownership of spelling and grammatical mistakes.** This is why there are holes where the Windows keys were on my keyboard. They were pried off about my second day of playing WoW.
