procrastination
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Breakfast Topic: What's the longest you've put off completing something in game?
In a recent Queue, loyal reader Revynn observed, "So, I finished Tuskarmaggedon ... Yesterday. I still haven't finished Frenzyheart rep even though I played this character all through Wrath. What's the longest you've procrastinated on something in-game?" Anne Stickney, that day's Queuelumnist (yes, that's a word), admitted to having reached exalted reputation with Ogri'la only as Cataclysm wound to an end. "Did I mention how much I hate that rep grind?" she grumped. "I hate that rep grind." I don't hate the thing that I've put off; it just keeps getting pushed back. Every time I get motivated enough to give Loremaster a run, the next expansion pushes into sight and I decide to wait. At this point, I'm aiming to cap the whole thing off with the Lorewalker achievement, but even though I could whip that part out in an hour or less, there's too much piled up ahead of it. I really do intend to take a level 90 back to the start and clear up every last storyline in every last zone, sequentially -- but it's going to have to wait on all this other Mists content first ... What's the longest you've ever put off completing something in game that you have every intention of finishing? What motivates you to keep it on your bucket list, anyway?
Guild Wars 2 sells out of digital editions
With Guild Wars 2's beta weekend event poised to start today, many procrastinating players may be rushing to the official site to prepurchase their copy of the game and secure a spot in the beta. Those who do so, however, will be in for a rude awakening, as both the standard and deluxe digital versions of Guild Wars 2 are listed as "sold out" on the site for North America. While it may seem head-scratching that a company can sell out of a digital product, ArenaNet says that this was done to ensure enough server capacity for the event. The good news is that GameStop and Best Buy are still accepting prepurchase orders, and it looks as though ArenaNet will resume taking orders through the website once the beta weekend is underway: We limit sales to ensure we have enough capacity for our customers. We're likely to have capacity available after the initial crunch at the start of the weekend. Players who purchase when we're able to resume digital sales at buy.guildwars2.com will still be able to play for the remainder of the weekend. The team has also announced that world transfers will be free and unrestricted during this beta event. [Thanks to FlyinBuddha for the tip!]
Alarms helps out with 'productive procrastination'
I started playing with a new app called Alarms yesterday, and it's already become indispensable to me. It's rare that something fits so perfectly into my workflow that I don't think twice about the space it takes up in my (already frighteningly crowded) menubar. What is it, you ask? It's an unobtrusive means of scheduling tasks on a timeline, seeing your upcoming tasks and taking care of things one at a time. Alarms isn't a replacement for a full-fledged task management system, but it's perfect for remembering to reply to emails that you aren't ready to tackle at the moment, honey-do items, turning the fish filter back on 10 minutes after feeding ... anything that just needs a gentle reminder at a specific time. Read on for more details.
Wii Warm Up: Procrastinators, unite!
With this being Christmas Eve and all, it's the last shopping day before Santa comes shuffling down that chimney. So, do you have to pick up any last-minute gifts? If not, did you pick up any gaming gifts this year? Wii stuff? If the particular individual reads us and knows your account name, then, uh, lie.
The DS Life: April 15
The DS Life is a weekly feature in which we scour the known world for narrative images of Nintendo's handheld and handheld gamers. If you have a photo and a story to match it with, send both to thedslife at dsfanboy dot com.For you jobless bums kids out there, April 15 is just another distant date, a day of little significance beyond Okami and Rondo of Swords' release. To us employed, dispirited grownups, however, it's a date that haunts the early months of every year, swaying and creeping towards us like an incoming swarm of Space Invaders. Sure, we've had since January to fill out our tax returns, but we're procrastinative people and we haven't even seen our W-2s in months. Oh man, just thinking about it is giving us stomach upsets ...
Scientist: Minesweeper probably cost economy billions
A Canadian study found that American procrastination is on the rise. The research was supposed to take five years to complete, but after 10 years the scientists are releasing the results -- who's procrastinating now? The study found that in 1978 about 5 percent of Americans thought of themselves as chronic procrastinators and now it's 26 percent.The tools for procrastination surround us -- "TVs in every room, online video, Web-surfing, cell phones, video games, iPods and BlackBerries." Is it procrastination or just cultural attention deficit disorder? Of course, even in this study, video games are pointed out as the culprits for the fall of western civilization. The scientist who is publishing the study, University of Calgary Professor Piers Steel, says, "That stupid game Minesweeper -- that probably has cost billions of dollars for the whole society."
