in real life
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IRL: Nikon D90, myCharge Portable Power Bank 6000 and Phosphor's World Time Sport
Welcome to IRL, an ongoing feature where we talk about the gadgets, apps and toys we're using in real life and take a second look at products that already got the formal review treatment. Desperate times call for desperate measures -- namely, new gadgets. Disappointed with his Droid Charge's ever-depleting battery capacity, Tim took a $100 portable charger for a spin to see if he could eke out a little extra runtime before racing for an outlet. Meanwhile, Dan agreed to wear his first E-Ink watch after his analog Fossil timepiece outlived all compatible wristbands. Rounding things out, we have a more traditional account of gadget nostalgia from Don Melanson, who explains why he won't be replacing his aging D90 anytime soon.
Player documents the two-headed monster of his own WoW addiction
The slow, viscous slide into a life consumed by gaming has become a media tale standard, usually including a bleary-eyed shot of the player blinking in the thin light of the computer monitor. Penned by journalists unfamiliar with the enveloping nature of MMOs, these stories skitter across the surface of a passion turned fixation. Without an understanding of the many positive forces of games like World of Warcraft, writers are unable to do more than entwine readers within a Lovecraftian tangle of gaming's most mind-numbing temptations, pushing them back into the light at the end with a complete, triumphant rebuke of the game in question. The tale of Sevrin's descent into and return from Azeroth takes a different turn. A third-year film production student from the United Kingdom, Sevrin hasn't blocked World of Warcraft from his every thought -- instead, he spent months poring over his experiences to create a documentary of his experience. IRL: In Real Life, a short film featured last week on WoW Moviewatch (watch it again after the break), takes a frank look at how incessant gaming nearly pulled a young man's life off track -- and then provided the fuel for the creative project that's helping him move on. If anyone could understand this kind of rise and fall, this dance with the glamors that wetly suck players into the virtual vortex, only to spit them out coughing and gasping with a renewed appreciation for life, it's fellow WoW Insider reader Keelhaul, aka The Mogfather, the player who racked up an incredible 1 million gold only to turn around and give it all away. "Brilliant," he commented simply on last week's Moviewatch showing of Sevrin's video. "Change a bit of the storyline and that's me as well." We suspect it's many of us, to some degree. Let's look inside at Sevrin's take.
WoW Moviewatch: IRL - In Real Life
IRL - In Real Life is about one player's struggle with WoW addiction. While I normally get a little apprehensive when this subject gets brought up, I think the creator did a good job of talking about how he fell down a tunnel, got somewhat obsessed, and then pulled himself out of the hole. The video is incredibly smooth, well produced, and excellently narrated. I think the little in-jokes, clever, informative graphics, and carefully balanced approach is what makes the movie so effective. It'd be easy to go on a rant about how the game's never done -- you can't ever say you're "done" -- and so on. Instead, the narrator looked inside himself and found his own answers. This video won't be for everyone, but it's definitely worth watching. Interested in the wide world of machinima? We have new movies every weekday here on WoW Moviewatch! Have suggestions for machinima we ought to feature? Toss us an email at moviewatch@wowinsider.com.
The Daily Grind: Have MMOs given you skills you can use in real life?
We all know computer games aren't just about killing things, racing cars or 'improving your hand-eye coordination' (which was the one I used as a kid and, to be fair, mine is really bad). However MMOs are not just any computer game, they can also teach you a specific set of interesting skills and no, I don't mean transforming your boss/parent/teacher/sibling into an elite boss on an enrage timer who has to be downed within five minutes or all hell breaks loose.For example, since entering Azeroth, I've learnt tactical battle plans to the point where I can command a raid of multilingual, bickering humans to win Wintergrasp or down a giant monster, I've learnt to co-exist better with (albeit virtual representations of) people, I've learnt AH skills which allow me to make money from nothing and, possibly the most important thing, I've learnt to be patient (thanks in part to fishing). This doesn't matter if it's relating to grinding for a new DVD boxset or a holiday, patience is vital. Many of these skills can easily be transferred to real life. So, readers, what skills has your favourite MMO taught you that you use in real life?
Study finds teens still like to hang out behind the Gas N' Sip
According to a recently released report by the Pew Internet and American Life Project, a telephone study of US youths aged 12-17 found that -- get this -- kids actually put value on "non-online" meetings, such as "talking on the phone" or "hanging out." If you believe these so-called findings, 40-percent of teens say they use that archaic and confusing system of wired telephones, while 31-percent claim to spend time "in person" with friends every day, as though they're not frittering away their time on PCs, DS Lites, and cellphones -- interacting virtually, like the rest of us. Our take? Obvious youth-driven cover-up. Hear us out here. If the 'rents found out kids were growing up so socially disenfranchised, they might just take all those beautiful gadgets away. On the other hand (or OTOH, as the youngsters say on their picture calculators), we don't exactly take a telephone poll of 935 teens as empirical knowledge, so maybe it's possible that kids are pretty much the same as they've always been -- if slightly more distracted. One thing's for sure -- they'll never experience the pain of not knowing the lyrics to Rock Me Amadeus like we did.
The Daily Grind: IRL
I really like Sanya Thomas (although she's Sanya Weathers now, isn't she?)-- I read her stuff every day when she was writing ye olde Camelot Herald as a Dark Age of Camelot CM, and and while her blog, Eating Bees (as in a job you signed up to do) runs a little blue sometimes, it's definitely an interesting read for anyone interested in the behind-the-scenes of MMOs.And in this recent entry, she lashes out at folks who use the term "in real life" to describe something that occurs out of game. She says that saying "IRL" makes the time spent in an virtual world somehow seems less real, when really, you're actually sitting at an actual computer, and having actual interactions with other people online.Now, her argument is a little more academic than practical-- of course there's a difference between virtual worlds and "real life," and most of the people who use "IRL" don't do it to devalue their ingame activities; they use it to describe something that happens in a place that (we assume-- whoops, this just got deeper) is real.So what do you think? Does "IRL" imply that what you do in a virtual world is somehow worth less respect? Are the friendships you have with the people you know ingame not "real" friendships, or the achievements you're earning not "real" achievements? Or is it just a phrase you use for lack of a better one? And if so, is there a better one? "Nongame"? "Out-of-game"?
