wow-drama-guide
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Drama Mamas: To come out or not to come out
Drama Mamas Lisa Poisso and Robin Torres are experienced gamers and real-life mamas -- and just as we don't want our precious babies to be the ones kicking and wailing on the floor of the checkout lane next to the candy, neither do we want you to become known as That Guy on your realm. Be excellent to each other. Hello, I'm in an extra interesting position presently. Let's start with the gameplay perspectives: I play a Protection Warrior currently, and I'm looking to partake in tanking for my guild. In most cases, this is fine, even with the use of Vent and all that. My significant other is a healer in the same guild, and we're working our way in and being friendly. And it's a great guild, one we both enjoy very much. But the kicker is that both my partner and I are Transgender, Male to Female, and hoping to start transitioning this year. We RP a couple of female Pandaren with the same guild, and after discussing it with eachother, we've decided we want to do what we can to simply stealth it. It's far easier to just be what we feel we should be online than it is to try and explain it all over again.
How to live happily ever after with a nongaming partner
So your beloved spouse doesn't play WoW. It happens. Sometimes you can tempt them into trying; an enjoyable duo is great for a relationship, after all. And if your spouse does decide to give the game a whirl, we can show you how to get off on the right foot. But sometimes, getting your partner to join you in WoW just isn't in the cards. And that's okay. You don't have to quit your hobby simply because your other half doesn't share your enthusiasm. You can play, and your partner can not play, and you can both be as happy together as two bugs in a rug. We'll show you how to keep grouping in Azeroth from ungrouping you in life.
Drama Mamas: Progression vs. friends
Drama Mamas Lisa Poisso and Robin Torres are experienced gamers and real-life mamas -- and just as we don't want our precious babies to be the ones kicking and wailing on the floor of the checkout lane next to the candy, neither do we want you to become known as That Guy on your realm. I was going to embed this earworm because of this week's signature, but I just couldn't stomach it. I'm not a fan. So I've replaced it with a different earworm. Everybody clap and point now. Dear Drama Mamas: I am an officer and tank in a raiding guild with people I've known since mid Cataclysm. I took a break at the start of Mists due to getting a new job, and came back a couple of months ago to find the guild struggling on Horridon in 10N Throne of Thunder. I wasn't planning on returning to the game full-time and spent most of my time leveling and gearing an alt that I was using to fill a spare DPS slot when the guild needed me. I was eventually asked to come back as a full-time tank to help with progression, and since then we've slowly managed to clear normal T15, culminating in downing Lei Shen the first time a couple of weeks ago.
How to help a friend or family member join you in WoW
You love this game with a passion. We get that -- so do we. All too often, however, our best friends and significant others don't share that passion. They might not have a scrap of interest in playing any video game at all. But you want them to experience the World of Warcraft with you. We get that, too. Close relationships benefit from shared experiences and fun. You want your other half to at least bite off a taste of Azeroth and savor this feast that's captured you body and soul. How can you convince your partner, buddy, or significant other to give WoW a try? Warning: This question represents merely the tip of the iceberg. Brace for impact with the true issue: How can you help a non-playing friend or family member get into WoW in way that's enjoyable for both of you?
Drama Mamas: The case of the auto-recruiting guild
Drama Mamas Lisa Poisso and Robin Torres are experienced gamers and real-life mamas -- and just as we don't want our precious babies to be the ones kicking and wailing on the floor of the checkout lane next to the candy, neither do we want you to become known as That Guy on your realm. Note: The above video has a little NSFW language. When the only criteria for becoming part of your guild is to press the Accept button, your guild is bound to have some issues. Dear Drama Mamas, I'm trying to grow our guild but nothing seems to work; I'm wondering if its me or its time to close up shop. Our guild (The Laundromat @ Shu'Halo) started 18 months ago and I tried to follow best practices for a new guild. I set up a website (laundromat.enjin.com), clearly written expectations, rank structure, a well stocked bank, set up 5-6 events a week in some cases, scavenger hunts, made trivia contests, created a welcome machinima, wrote 15 episodes of lore and more. In spite of all this, I can't seem to find people available or interested in participating. My question is -- what else can/should I do? Sit at the feet of a successful guild to observe, ask for criticism, rebrand and refocus, change servers or close down the guild and take up turnip farming? Respectfully, One Glum Goblin
Bottom-line expectations for raiders in World of Warcraft
While the shape of raiding has changed drastically since World of Warcraft debuted in 2004, you'll still find that raiders in any raid group -- even other players in a Looking For Raid group -- expect a certain level of preparation, game knowledge, and social savoir faire from everyone participating. Players who trip blithely and cluelessly into the LFR or, worse, a raiding guild have no one but themselves to blame if the experience explodes in a messy, contentious drama bomb. But isn't there a place for new raiders? Isn't the LFR supposed to be a casual, drop-in experience? Absolutely -– but that doesn't mean you can expect to stroll in with zero preparation or forethought. A game that's been running for this many years develops a higher bar for entry-level expectations. It's OK to head into a raid with no raiding experience, but you may find yourself dropped or mocked if you blunder in completely unprepared. Comport yourself with aplomb with these bottom-line expectations for anyone who wants to raid in World of Warcraft.
Drama Mamas: The pre-patch blues
Drama Mamas Lisa Poisso and Robin Torres are experienced gamers and real-life mamas -- and just as we don't want our precious babies to be the ones kicking and wailing on the floor of the checkout lane next to the candy, neither do we want you to become known as That Guy on your realm. Sing it, Black Dog. Hey hey mamas got questions for you, gonna ask your advice 'bout my guild's mood. I'm co-leader with my stable GF of a small casual guild. We've got a small community of members, with most able to log in a couple times a week and a few who play daily. We have firm guild rules about verbal abuse and slurs, and quite honestly have never had drama of any sort. All of this sounds peachy-keen, except we seem to have, for lack of a better word, stagnated. Over the last fall, winter, and spring, our biggest challenges were getting members at all. We recruited a real-life friend who went through some real growth as a person and was made an officer a few months later. He helped us spur the guild's growth and now we've promoted another officer to handle our surging population, and we were making noises about a second raid group...at least, that was the situation a couple months ago.
Drama Mamas: Protect the personal space in your marriage and your game
Ever get the feeling your in-game relationships are just a little too close for comfort? Hey ladies, This is one column I never thought I'd be writing in to, but I sense trouble brewing on the horizon and I'm not sure how to deal with it. I recently got married and love that my new husband also plays -- it was one of the draws when we first started dating. I rolled a toon on his server, and joined the guild that belongs to him, his brothers, and one of his male coworkers. I even moved over two of my max level toons, much to the devastation of my siblings, who play on my original server. The trouble has started with their little used Alliance guild. My hubby wants his Double Agent achievement, and I agreed to make a little alt to play with him even though I have mine already. The boys had their guild, though they all played Horde, and we joined it for the leveling boost. Where the Horde guild is GMed by one of my new brothers-in-law, the Alliance on is GMed by his coworker that I am not overly fond of, and right away there was trouble. The first problem came when we logged on and I discovered that my rank was Porn Star. This isn't appropriate, period, but my new husband is also a recovering porn addict (something this coworker knows) and it added a whole new level of uncomfortable to the situation. The coworker thought it was hilarious, and wouldn't change it for me until I got my hubby to step in.
Drama Mamas: Friends like these
Drama Mamas Lisa Poisso and Robin Torres are experienced gamers and real-life mamas -- and just as we don't want our precious babies to be the ones kicking and wailing on the floor of the checkout lane next to the candy, neither do we want you to become known as That Guy on your realm. When a couple makes a friend pick a side in an argument, it's not conducive to a good friendship. First of all, pardon my english and grammar, because it was never my first language. I need a help regarding my mistake. I always interested on WOW but i always quit playing when i reach the level cap but crawling back for the new expansion. But it was all changed when i met this couple that changed my gaming life entirely. They become my best friends, way better than my real life best friends. They care about me, every time i log in they always greed me, and we even share our secrets. But during the last patch of cataclysm, these couple got engage. Im so happy for them, but they started to argue with each other and asking me to take a side, which is very uncomfortable for me because i love them both.
The Drama Mamas guide to finding gaming buddies
A gaming buddy isn't quite the same thing as a guildmate. A gaming buddy is quite often also a guildie, but your guildmates aren't necessarily your gaming buddies. Your gaming buddies are people who play with you more often than not. They're your partners in crime, the homies you hang out with in Azeroth whether they're covering your back through your first LFR or filling your chat box during a night of pre-alchemy herbalizing. But just as when you were trying to break into the social scene during your school days, you might feel a bit of an outsider when it comes to connecting with simpatico players in WoW. For many players, there's only so long you can happily play on your own; Azeroth is a large, lonely land when you wish you had someone to share it with. While joining a friendly guild can often be a great way to meet people, simply coexisting in an online space with a common chat channel somewhere on your screen won't build the kind of friendships you're hungry for. Let the Drama Mamas show you a few tricks of the trade for finding players you might click with on a more personal basis.
Drama Mamas: Too young to be taken seriously
Drama Mamas Lisa Poisso and Robin Torres are experienced gamers and real-life mamas -- and just as we don't want our precious babies to be the ones kicking and wailing on the floor of the checkout lane next to the candy, neither do we want you to become known as That Guy on your realm. If Maru were in a class, he'd be the class clown -- just like this week's letter writer. Hello, Drama Mommas. I'm currently sixteen and I've been raiding hardcore since patch 3.3, so about four years now, and I didn't typo there. I've been raiding since I was twelve. Normally I wouldn't include this information, but its important to the subject. Well, about a year and a half ago I joined a brand new top ten on realm raiding guild, and loved it. I've had so much fun and I've been included into the guild 'family' Unfortunately, my spot in that family is of the Little Brother, and its not awesome.
The Drama Mamas guide to getting your groove back
Losing your confidence stinks. Still, in a game like WoW where your character must work cooperatively with so many others, there are times the issue is to be expected. Most players feel a bit apprehensive when getting back into content they haven't played with in a while. You feel rusty, and you're anxious about making an obvious gaffe and letting down the group, embarrassing yourself, or provoking some jerk into whining about your performance in chat. The advent of proving grounds makes simple business of knocking the rust off. Just head into your own private scenario and experiment, fiddle, and wipe to your heart's content. Nobody has to see how many times you've flopped but you. But what if the problem's not you? What if you've simply been shaken by too many encounters with trollish players who tear others down in order to build themselves up? What if you find yourself trapped in the ugly atmosphere that makes grouping a hellish prospect for anyone who's been dragged through the dirt one too many times?
Drama Mamas: Games vs. relationship
Drama Mamas Lisa Poisso and Robin Torres are experienced gamers and real-life mamas -- and just as we don't want our precious babies to be the ones kicking and wailing on the floor of the checkout lane next to the candy, neither do we want you to become known as That Guy on your realm. When leisure activities take priority over responsibilities and relationships, bad things happen. In this week's case, the leisure activities in question are MMOs. Hello, I've read your article about Love, marriage and WoW. Unfortunately, I am in a situation that looks alike. My fiancé and I have been together for 5 years and we've gone through a lot, but we still have issues because of his gaming habits. We both are gamers and it is our main activity, but we don't really play together, which is alright at some point. I mostly play console games and he's into pc games such as Mmos or online games on Steam. I tried to play with him at some point, but it never lasts.
The Drama Mamas guide to basic WoW etiquette
Joke as we might about rude, trollish behavior in game, that sort of thing doesn't really represent WoW's gaming culture. Our community of MMO players is kinder and gentler than the seething horror of console FPS titles. The truth is that when WoW players are rude, it's most often completely inadvertent and based on their newness to WoW and the MMO subculture. Especially if this is their first MMO, they might only be dimly aware of the concerns of the other players around them and of how and when it's appropriate (or inappropriate) to open the channels of interpersonal communication. Ever have that uncomfortable feeling your groupmates consider your matter-of-fact approach too abrupt? Or perhaps you've wondered if other players view your friendly chatter as nammering instead. What are all these people expecting from you, anyway? Your mother was right -– manners are grease in the wheels of the social machine. Let's get this thing off to a smooth start, shall we?
Drama Mamas: Guild to guild harassment
Drama Mamas Lisa Poisso and Robin Torres are experienced gamers and real-life mamas -- and just as we don't want our precious babies to be the ones kicking and wailing on the floor of the checkout lane next to the candy, neither do we want you to become known as That Guy on your realm. We've seen a lot of drama pass through these pages, but funsuckers can always surprise me with new methods of drama-mongering. Dear Drama Mamas, I come to you with a problem that at first seemed simple enough to fix but has proved to be a royal pain that not even Blizzard will address for me. Recently I was told by several people in my guild that they were being whispered in game by a people all from one set guild asking them if they were happy with their guild. Now normally this isn't a problem, I know people often do this to find new people but it quickly became a problem when after the said people continued to whisper the people in my guild over and over, even changing to a different toon to repeat the process.
The Drama Mamas guide to communicating with others
The heart of a rich, long-lasting MMO isn't actually the gameplay itself. No, the heart of an MMO is its community. World of Warcraft wouldn't be World of Warcraft without the crazy quilt of personalities –- guildmates, real-life friends, family members, acquaintances met in game, passing strangers in public chat channels -– that keep Azeroth breathing and bright. Successful participation in this community depends upon one single thing: communication. What's the expected behavior in a public chat channel? Is that different in guild chat? Are you so curt with other players you seem unwilling to cooperate during group events? Can you efficiently and effectively coordinate a group or raid encounter? Much of MMO socializing comes down to simple good manners, but new players can find themselves stumped by gaming lingo or stymied by unspoken social expectations and commonly understood conventions of group behavior. Need a refresher course? Let's talk.
Drama Mamas: Being deaf and raiding
Drama Mamas Lisa Poisso and Robin Torres are experienced gamers and real-life mamas -- and just as we don't want our precious babies to be the ones kicking and wailing on the floor of the checkout lane next to the candy, neither do we want you to become known as That Guy on your realm. I had to edit this week's letter for length, but it's still a long one so that you can get the whole story. Howdy Drama Mamas, [...] To begin with, I'm a male deaf gamer. I've been very blessed with great support systems in all areas of my life and have made friends both on and offline who have been extremely supportive of everything that I do. But I'll also be the first to tell you that I'm not perfect but I do try to avoid drama where I can.
The Drama Mamas guide to coping with trolling and profanity
It's the last straw: After a long day toiling in the salt mines, you come home to settle in for some stress-relieving World of Warcraft, only to find yourself transported back to The Barrens –- not only the latest patch's Battlefield Barrens, but the trollish Barrens-style general chat you've come to loathe. Your chat box is scrolling ceaselessly with "Douchebag this!" and "$%^& that!" and you can see that any hope of a restful evening is slipping inexorably beyond your reach. What's a poor profanity-pelted player to do?
Drama Mamas: Raiding remedies
Drama Mamas Lisa Poisso and Robin Torres are experienced gamers and real-life mamas -- and just as we don't want our precious babies to be the ones kicking and wailing on the floor of the checkout lane next to the candy, neither do we want you to become known as That Guy on your realm. The above video has nothing to do with this week's topic. I just like it. Anyway, this week we have two letters again, both about raid teams. Lisa and I disagree on the second letter, which is always fun. Dear Drama Mamas, I have a problem with my guild that I was hoping I could get some insight on. [...] My guild is a casual guild with one core 10-man raid group. They have been having issues with attendance with one of their dps and one frustrated afternoon asked me to step in. At first I was asked to be a substitute but as time went on it became apparent that their dps was not going to return. When I started I was poorly geared but with a little hard work, some enchants and gems, and reforging I was able to greatly improve not only my gear but my dps. I was thrilled and can honestly say very happy with the way things were going.
Drama Mamas: Playing on multiple levels with different groups and partners
Sometimes having so many appealing playstyles to choose from makes deciding how to settle in to play WoW more difficult, not less. That's certainly the case when you're trying to enjoy the game with multiple sets of groups and partners -- for example, guild raiding twice a week, leveling and exploring with a significant other, and battling the enemy in battlegrounds now and again with a crew of longstanding gaming friends. Is it even possible to connect all those threads into an enjoyable gaming week without blowing every last minute of free time (and then some)? Fortunately, you can learn to combine different playstyles and groups. The trick is learning how to adjust your expectations and approach from group to group and partner to partner. Never assume that everyone "needs" or wants to cover the same content or achieve the same type of goals in the game. With a little time management and a lot of clarity among gaming partners, you can enjoyably indulge in WoW on multiple levels without the time crunch and without any drama.
