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Breakfast Topic: Are real-life friendships more "real" than in-game friendships?
This Breakfast Topic has been brought to you by Seed, the Aol guest writer program that brings your words to WoW Insider's pages. It was a Saturday night. I had spent the whole week working, and I wanted to do something fun. A buddy of mine called me to go out that night, but I just didn't feel like it. I wanted a fun night, but I didn't feel like going out and doing anything. Another one of my friends called me: "Dude, meet me at ICC in 20 minutes." Then he hung up. I thought to myself, "Should I do something with my real-life friend, or should I play WoW with some people I've never really met?" Well, my WoW friends won, and I spent the rest of the night on an alt beating up ICC for about three hours. I've noticed as of late I tend to lean toward my WoW friends rather than my real-life friends. Why is that, you ask? I really have no idea. A few of my real-life friends play WoW. One of them is actually the one who got me started in the first place. I quit two years later and then came back because I started dating a girl who played WoW. Needless to say, my troll hunter became a night elf hunter, and I have come to call the people I play WoW with true friends of mine. Other people may say I am wrong in this mindset. I tell them that I spend more time with the online friends (even though it's not in a physical sense), and I have a lot of fun doing it. Sure, there are arguments and rage-logging occasionally, but doesn't that happen in real life as well? Instead of a door slamming and car burning out in the driveway, you get the nice ding of someone disconnecting from Ventrilo and their name coming up as "Bob has gone offline." Do you consider your WoW friends real friends? And if you do, what lengths are you willing to go to for them? Are you willing to stay up until 2 in the morning trying to two-man Molten Core, just like you would stay up until 2 in the morning back in high school watching some crappy horror movies with your real-life friends? Have you met up with your WoW friends in real life, and if so, do you now consider them real-life friends?
Drama Mamas: When friends feign death
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 can totally understand feigning death to escape from a horrific family life, organized crime or a group of extremists with an irrational vendetta. But fake your own demise in order to get out of playing a video game? Really? Hello Drama Mamas, I'm not sure if anyone else who plays WoW has this same problem, but I unfortunately do. I've had two WoW friends "die" then come back after a few months with the stories of: "My cousin stole my computer and told people I died," and "My parents took away my internet and told my friends I died." Now I have another WoW friend who died this past summer. I believed this death with the details his brother was giving, until I started to get outside friend requests from my friend's name. Is there a point where we should just stop believing the stories of friends dying in WoW without outside proof? Should I mourn and then be happy when they suddenly reappear? Thank you for any advice you give. Doubtful Mourner
Breakfast Topic: Why won't they play?
This Breakfast Topic has been brought to you by Seed, the Aol guest writer program that brings your words to WoW.com. Gaming is a social activity ... Well, it always has been for me. I've always played games (from TCG to pen-and-paper RPGs, from the arcade to home consoles) with other people. Any game I enjoyed, I shared with my friends. So when I finally joined my boyfriend in World of Warcraft, I tried getting a few other friends into the game. It was a good way for all of us to stay connected while we were at different schools, as well as replace our D&D and Mutants and Mastermind campaigns until the summer. A few of my friends joined my boyfriend and me in Azeroth. Some stayed, some didn't -- but the majority didn't even want to give WoW a first or (for some) second chance on a trial account. When I asked them why, I was given these reasons: "I don't need four nights of raiding a week." "I don't need to play a game that's gonna act as a second job." "I don't like paying more than once to play a game." "It's too addictive." Though I think some of these are invalid excuses, I will let my friends be until the next game I get into. Do you have friends that just won't try even the trial account? What excuses do they give you?
Drama Mamas: Friends fight and the guild suffers
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. Friends are going to fight or at least disagree every once in a while. This really should be a private issue and not one that should spill over into a shared guild ... in a perfect world. What actually happens is drama -- awkward drama that affects the innocent bystanders and fellow guildies. At least that's what happened in this week's email. Dear Drama Mamas, I'd been playing in a guild with a couple of RL friends of mine and their friends/relatives. It was a nice, relaxed, casual environment to do some dungeons and 10-mans, and I very much enjoyed it. However, there had always been some sort of drama happening -- the worst of which was last month when, just before a raid, I whispered one of those RL friends of mine with some advice for the fights we were about to do. He was playing a new 80 and he hadn't done a raid in that role before. He immediately logs off, then logs back on a second later and says in raid chat, "DOES ANYONE HAVE A PROBLEM WITH ME!!! OTHER THAN [my name]!!!" We managed to get it sorted out, with appropriate apologies made from both sides, and continued with the raid.
The Daily Grind: Are you a game evangelist?
There is a gospel to be preached, and all good players are well aware of it. After all, whether you're playing World of Warcraft, EVE Online, Guild Wars, Fantasy Earth Zero, or some other game altogether -- you know that your game of choice is the game to play. That's why you're playing it, right? But not all of your friends necessarily play the same game, and some of them might not be as sure about how excellent your game of choice really is. So when you sit down and chat with your friends, do you evangelize? Do you preach the gospel of your favorite game to everyone you know, hoping that they'll convert and log on alongside you? Or do you let your game of choice remain on the side, not annoying your friends with constant discussions of your favorite game until they throw you out of a moving car? Are your favorite MMOs things you try and share, or keep to yourself?
Drama Mamas: Friends behaving badly
Dodge the drama and become that player everyone wants in their group with the Drama Mamas. Lisa Poisso and Robin Torres are real-life mamas and experienced WoW players -- and just as we don't want our precious babies to be the ones kicking and wailing on the floor of checkout lane next to the candy, neither do we want you to become known as That Guy on your server. We're taking your questions at dramamamas@wow.com. We often explain bad behavior in game (and on the internet in general) with anonymity (NSFW link). This just does not apply to the letters we answer this week. The friends behaving badly know the letter writers in "real life," and it is that phrase that seems to be the problem. If WoW were just a game and not real people interacting in real situations, it wouldn't cause real drama for us to tackle each week. This disconnect between proper behavior in the physical world and Azeroth just doesn't make sense when you know your guildies in both places. But sense or not, it happens -- and these letters are just two examples of a common problem.
Apple 'Friend Bar' will coddle and nourish your inner fanboy (video)
Do you find there aren't enough hours in the day to sing Apple's praises to the fullest? Does your list of deities begin with Steve and end with Mr. Jobs? If so, you'll want to make your way to your nearest Apple Store nice and quickly. That most reliable source of news before they happen, The Onion, reports Apple is about to open up a Friend Bar, where folks with AppleCare warranties and an unhealthy devotion to The Fruit can spout off about anything to employees trained to handle their inanity. Genius Bar productivity is said to have skyrocketed since the introduction of the new Friend staff, but don't take our word for it, skip past the break to see the 100 percent genuine news report in full.
Wings Over Atreia: The ties that bind
Flaws. Bugs. Annoyances -- like a level 45 slaughtering you while your little level 18 self is quietly going about gathering Lumesia. Moments that just make you want to find a dev and toss him off the nearest high rise; all games have them, no one denies this -- not even Aion players (although they usually don't feel the need to discuss them with those who don't play). So why is it we stay in games that, at times, make us want to rip our hair out by the fistfuls? With such a plethora of games catering to a wide variety of play styles, how do we stay faithful to a particular one over the long haul, even when we know it isn't perfect? No, it isn't because we are all secretly masochistic. Or because we detest our barber/hairdresser. Looking around me in games both past and present, watching those who could be considered die-hards stay in (and enjoy) games long after the masses have fled, I found themes that mirrored some of my own reasons -- because, alternately, there are the moments that make it worth it. Not the art, the features, or the wittiness of the quest dialog. Rather, the ties that bind us: Friendships, epic memories, and just plain stubbornness. Charge across the bridge and we'll delve into my top reasons for sticking with a title, even in the face of the raging malcontents.
Drama Mamas: Rowing in opposite directions
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 checkout lane next to the candy, neither do we want you to become known as That Guy on your server. Sometimes there are good reasons that people don't make the same choices as you do. What you might consider to be a perfectly reasonable rationale for jumping ship and moving to a new guild sometimes holds no water for someone who's rowing a different direction in another dinghy. This week, the Drama Mamas take slightly different tacks with a reader who thinks her friend is lost at sea. Dear Drama Mamas, Back in January, I left a guild that I'd been an officer of for years. I left because due to internal personal issues, many of the guild members had grown apart and all that was left was myself, the GL, and one other person. In addition, the GL joined with a raid that one of her friends ran which effectively destroyed our own guild's raids. However, since then I've kept in close contact with the guild members who had left before me even though they don't speak with each other. I'm not concerned with trying to reunite the old gang because some of their issues are just too large for a game to erase. My issue is this: the old guild leader and I are great friends which has carried over to RL. She still keeps her guild even though it's effectively dead and only has one active member. The people she surrounds herself with in-game are not good for her, however. She raid that she runs with creates a huge amount of stress for her, especially the raid leader that is simply a giant jerk. She's slowly losing her love for the game due to these people that she's begun running with.
Breakfast Topic: Strange habits
As I write this, I am dreading the week to come. After many months of going back and forth on the matter, I have decided to leave my guild for greener pastures. I'm reluctant to leave, though, since I do like my current guild; the people are nice, the raids are fun and we have a raiding philosophy of "work with what you've got" that I have always enjoyed. Still, for everything that I love, there are shortcomings and I am willing to risk losing what I have to see if my perfect guild exists somewhere out there. So off I go to a new guild and server where I know no one. I'm scared -- scared I won't be good enough, scared they won't like me even if I am and scared I might be making a huge mistake in leaving my friends. You just have to swallow those kinds of thoughts, though. As a raider, I'm no stranger to moving around, and I've come up with many ways to deal with it. One thing I do to cope is heading up to the spot you see in the picture before I transfer. This is my favorite hiding spot in the game, only accessible by players meticulous enough to complete the Higher Learning achievement. Up here, I will sit and eat some cake, then after I've had my fill, set out my little green rag doll on the bed and /sleep. The reason for this is so that when I log back in after my transfer has gone through, I know exactly where I'll be and I can pretend I'm waking up from a dream (or nightmare) to a new, promising day. I'm not sure why I do this; maybe the familiarity? It's really all quite silly, but I've been doing it for well over a year now and it seems natural. Do you have any strange habits or rituals you do in game?
Real ID security concerns
Ever since the Real ID friend system was announced, players have voiced concerns about hackers and phishers exploiting this system. They're worried that hackers will move through a group of Real ID friends like a wildfire during a drought. While it is always good to have concerns about account security, sometimes paranoia is a bit too much. Yes, you do need your friend's email address to add them as a Real ID friend. However, that is the last time you'll ever see that email address in your game client -- once you hit the "Send Request" button, that's it. There is no way to look up that person's email address from the interface again. The only personal information in the client after that is your friend's name. Just remember that this system is meant for your real-life friends and family and not for some guy who was a good healer in your ICC PUG last week. If you don't know where to go to knock on the person's door if something happens to your account, then don't share your email address.
The Daily Grind: How well do you know your game buddies?
While it's increasingly possible to play an MMO without being forced to interact with others, it's a bit like renting a tuxedo for a trip to McDonald's. Connections get formed (however mercenary they may be at the start) and you find yourself with a circle of friends you play with. Of course, while it's helpful to know who these people are, it's not absolutely necessary to know much aside from their character names and their roles in a group. Some people are content to leave their knowledge of cohorts there; others prefer to go the extra mile and find out the players and personalities behind the avatars. And it can help the play experience to know that Swizzle the Thief is actually a CPA in Gary, Indiana who's thinking about marrying his girlfriend. It's not going to help the group in the strictest sense, though, and getting too attached can lead to some major drama. What about you? Do you tend to know a lot about the people you game with, or would you generally prefer not to know?
Drama Mamas: See ya around, buddy
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 checkout lane next to the candy, neither do we want you to become known as That Guy on your server. No one wants to see a good friend move on. Gaming friends seem to come in two varieties: the kind who end up at your side in game after game, across the years ... and those who drift away as soon as your immediate goals diverge. Some of them end up on your Facebook page chatting about the kids, but most fade into obscurity so quickly you find yourself struggling to remember their names. Still, you can't force a good thing, as one Sad Panda discovers this week. Hi Lisa & Robin, For the last few years I've been playing with a very close-knit group of friends, our play time with each other comes and goes as we go about our ever changing lives, (work, school, non-wow relationships), but we always keep in touch with email, and chat outside of the game. About a year or so ago we had the pleasure of including another person to our group. He's an all around great friend to have, and I think I can safely say for everyone that we've all enjoyed knowing and playing with him. Now as you know we're in the pre-expansion dead zone right now. Either you're raiding to get to, or finish end game raids, farming for rep / skills / heroics / so on, or you shelve your main(s) and bust out a new toon to level up. I've chosen the latter, I have toons on both sides of the border and have been playing on the Alliance side for some time now and really felt like dusting off my Horde toons. So both my hubbie and I are stomping around with new toons, (and old), on the horde side and a few of our other friends have joined us.
Red Dead Redemption to get Rockstar Social Club exclusive challenges and more
Rockstar Games has unveiled how it will be using the Rockstar Social Club service for Red Dead Redemption, and cowboys (and girls) looking for a little extra horsin' around won't be disappointed. The Social Club is offering achievements and challenges on top of the game, so, for example, one early mission that has you horsedragging an outlaw around will have a target time, and Social Club members who beat that time will get access to a special "Guns Blazing" cheat that gives your shots the chance to light enemies on fire. There will also be game-wide challenges, including one later this month that will require everyone playing the game to hit a certain amount of money raised, with an Xbox Live or PlayStation Home avatar T-shirt as a prize. There will also be community news, multiplayer events, special leaderboards and lots of stats tracked on the Social Club website. 100% completion is even "exclusively" in the Social Club, so presumably the only way you'll be able to know that you've done everything the West has to offer is to log on with a Rockstar Games account and find out. Kind of peculiar that information isn't in the game itself, no? At least signing up for the Social Club is free, so if you're planning to ride the plains next week, might as well do it now.
Battle.net will integrate with Facebook
Blizzard has just announced that you will be able to pull your Facebook friends into your Battle.net friends list. They will be testing this functionality soon in the StarCraft II beta. Since we know that the Battle.net functionality will come to WoW before Cataclysm, that means we'll be able to import our Facebook friends into our WoW friends list at that time. This is just another example of the worlds of Facebook and MMOs colliding. Vaneras -- Battle.net Facebook Integration The action taking place on the battlefield is just one part of the StarCraft II experience -- we're also working to make sure that you can easily connect, communicate, and play with your friends. To help accomplish that, the new version of Battle.net will offer integration with Facebook. This new functionality will start off by allowing you to quickly import Facebook friends into your Battle.net friends list, and additional features will be added over time. source Of course, the integration will be voluntary. This announcement does not mean that all those friends you have in Facebook just to increase your mafia will automatically know you are playing WoW. You will choose if you want to integrate and which friends to import. The full PR announcement after the break.
Drama Mamas: How to befriend when antisocial
Dodge the drama and become that player everyone wants in their group with the Drama Mamas. Lisa Poisso and Robin Torres are real-life mamas and experienced WoW players -- and just as we don't want our precious babies to be the ones kicking and wailing on the floor of checkout lane next to the candy, neither do we want you to become known as That Guy on your server. We're taking your questions at DramaMamas (at) WoW (dot) com. We'll get to the drama in a minute, but first I must talk about the awesome avatars that the awesome Kelly Aarons of Byron and World of Warcraft, Eh? fame has awesomely drawn and painted for us. Awesome. See them after the break. Yeah, yeah. You want drama. We've got your drama right here. The thing about WoW (and MMOs in general) is that while you may be able to solo through it, the most benefits are reaped by at least a minimum of social interaction. We are answering a letter this week from someone who isn't very friendly but still wants to make and keep friends in Azeroth. Try not to get too distracted by the awesome avatars. Awesome.
Behind the Mask: I lost my best friend to Gigabolt
Powers in Champions Online vary widely in the eyes of the playerbase. Some powers, like Mind Lock and Arcane Vitality, remain mostly unknown, while other powers, like Regeneration and Haymaker, take center stage. Sometimes this reputation is due to a present or former imbalance like Collective Will, and sometimes it's due to an unknown combination of factors, like Roomsweeper (probably because Might is the most played powerset in the game). And sometimes, like in the case of Gigabolt, it might just be something else. Powers are balanced in CO according to a variety of mathematical factors, such as activation time, range, energy cost, and damage dealt. But the devs also try to have their powers balanced around another factor: Fun. On a 1-10 scale, most powers in Champions hover around a 3-4 on the fun scale, with the standout powers pushing up to a 5-6 and possibly as high as 7 or even 8 for good synergies between several powers. When a power gets too fun, like the Incisive Wit advantage for Kinetic Darts, the devs make sure to issue a patch to fix the imbalance. Except for Gigabolt.
WoW Rookie: 10 ways to meet other new players
New around here? WoW Rookie points WoW's newest players to the basics of a good start in the World of Warcraft. See all our collected tips, tricks and how-to's at WoW.com's WoW Rookie Guide. Come out, come out, wherever you are ... We know you're out there leveling! The dungeon finder feature isn't the only way to meet new and leveling players – in fact, it's one of the worst, since you'll only occasionally be paired off with another player from your home realm. Today's WoW makes it possible to scuttle from the auction house to the dungeon finder without forming any lasting relationships to speak of at all. Here at WoW Rookie, we're all about enjoying the journey, rather than racing for the finish line. Let's go over the best ways, then, to join up with folks you can adventure with along the way. In ascending order: 10. Hit the dungeon finder. We know, we just said the dungeon finder is not a great way to make friends. It's not. That said, we've heard more than one tale of players who transferred realms to play with friends they met through the dungeon finder. You're more likely to find a compatible group for the length of a single evening than a permanent partnership that persists over the levels -- but hey, it could happen.
First look: Rally Up, a social network for real friends
I have to admit it: I like location-based social networking apps. Probably my favorite to date has been FourSquare, which I love because I'm the "Mayor" of a couple dozen locations. But this type of app isn't for everyone. My wife, for example, says that she thinks they're a bit too much like stalking (to which I replied, "there's an app for that"), so she won't use them. Rally Up is a new location-based social network (that's so awkward to say) that has several features that may sway my wife. The free app for iPhone, and soon for iPad, lets you set granular friend preferences. What does that marketing speak mean? Easy -- you set your real friends to "real" on a slider, which means that they get full notifications (i.e., "Steve is at the Blue Bonnet Café) and their check-ins show up in your feed. The next slider setting is "feed," which is for those folks who you want to know about, but you don't want to receive push notifications from. Next on the slider? "Lurker." Here, you can see what's happening with a friend, but you don't let them see what you're up to. And finally, there's "mute." What do you use mute for? It's for all of those people who you started following because of social pressure, but who you really don't want to follow.
Apple updates MobileMe Gallery app
MobileMe has some great features, but Apple needs to stay on top of it to keep it competitive with other services. It's a bit pricey and hasn't changed all that much over the last couple of years, so new features are always worthy of notice. Fortunately, Apple made one small step for mankind by releasing an update to the MobileMe Gallery app for the iPhone and iPod touch today. Now it is easy to add your friends' MobileMe Galleries with just a couple of clicks on your touch screen. When you select "Add a Friend," the app will search your contact list and indicate which of your friends have MobileMe Galleries. Click on add from there, and it's done. Slick. It's not a big deal, but it's a nice touch, especially for a service on which updates are sparse. The update takes the app to version 1.1 and is as close as a tap on your iPhone's App Store icon, or you can head over to iTunes and grab it from there.
