”Hi sexy”
It came out of nowhere, in pink letters, which indicated it was a whisper. Clearly this was intended for me.
For a moment I was confused. How came that someone called me sexy? My gnome appearance is no doubt cute, but I don’t think anyone ever heard the epithet “sexy”.
Then I realized that this version of Larisa, actually wasn’t a pink pigtailed gnome, but a blood elf chick. And yeah, I suppose they look kind of sexy, at least that’s what they’re designed to be.
The new blogosphere guild
I think I could be excused for my rather slow pace in grasping the situation. After all it took place only a few seconds after I had spawned at Argent Dawn (EU). In this very moment I had only one single thought in my head: to execute my plan to look up Tam’s alt, joining the brand new blogosphere guild Single Abstract Noun.
I was still a bit upset and annoyed after finding out at the creation screen that Larisa with a normal “i, as well as Larísa, with an the emergency accent, were occupied, just as Larissa. I guess it’s the effect of having a highly populated server. Lots of players need lots of names.
Finally I had come up with the bizarre spelling Larïsa, which I knew would be annoying for anyone wanting to put me on their friends list. But I didn’t see any alternative but to insert those stupid dots. I couldn’t possibly let go of my online alter ego in a guild that was so connected to my life as a blogger.
There was other stuff going on contributing to my confusion. A yellow question mark was calling for my attention right in front of me. And Blizzard’s crash course, introducing the interface to new players messed up with some addons that randomly had spawned all over the screen.
So maybe it wasn’t so strange that it took me a while to find myself and localize the the guy who had approached me, a rather handsome looking blood elf.
How to react?
Suddenly I recalled where I was. Squee! Argent Dawn is an RP realm. Finally, after all this hesitating and the mumblings about wanna-try-one-day from the closet, I had taken the scary step. This was the real thing. Maybe this was the normal state of things here? Maybe there’s a lot more interaction going on between players here than there is on my normal PvE home realm? At least I liked to think there was. And I asked myself if there was some sort of social conventions that I was supposed to follow.
I fell into deep contemplation. How should your character react when someone calls you sexy? Maybe I should blush a little, or even flirt a bit? Or… probably not. After all I didn’t know this guy at all. Certainly a rude gesture and a slap on the chin would be more natural?
But before I had come anywhere near taking a decision, the caller had vanished, and I found myself smiling into the air.
Cosy and chatty
I shrugged, did a /who Single and found what I was looking for. Shortly after I was let into the cosiest little guild I’ve ever encountered. Bloggers are a special kind. They may appear shy, preferring thinking and writing to socializing. But put them in the right company and they’ll suddenly turn out chatty. They just can’t shut up.
When I saw a character in the guild list – currently offline, but nevertheless - named “Tobold” in the guild, I all but fainted. Tobold – a guildie of mine? Wow. Is this for real? Is this THE Tobold? “We think so”, came the answer.
Since Wednesdays basically are gaming free nights for me, I only stayed online five minutes. Still it was some damned good minutes, filled with giggles, happy greetings and a general cosiness that is hard to describe. It was a homecoming, an in-game version of The Pink Pigtail Inn is the best description I can give. (As a matter of fact the guild tabard is designed to make you associate to a virtual pub.)
Like for everyone else, this is just a side project. My home and the bulk of my gaming time will remain at Stormrage. But there also are times in the game, outside of the scheduled raids, when I find myself pretty lonely. I guess I’m just not very good at making friends. I can always pug away a few instances with an alt, but it leaves me with an empty feeling. And when this happens, I hope that I might find some likeminded people from the blogosphere to hang out with at Argent Dawn.
And who knows, next time I’m online as Larisa the Bloodelf or maybe Larisa the Tauren or Larisa the Troll – I haven’t yet made up my mind about what class and race to play (please feel free to come with suggestions) – I even might dare to put on my role playing glasses. I’m not ready to force the story-of-my-life upon any stranger I meet – I’m not ready to be in character at all. But maybe I can start out by just listening a little to conversations I may stumble upon, getting an idea of what it’s all about.
Or maybe I’ve got too high expectations on what an RP realm is like?
The future will tell. All I know now is that I’m kind of happy that things messed up for Tamarind so he came around to take this initiative. The worst things that happen to us often turn out to be blessings, leading us to try new paths we never would have thought of else.
Anyway: I've had my first encounter withe Argent Dawn and I'm looking forward to grab the next opportunity to drop by and spend some time with my fellow bloggers and readers.
It came out of nowhere, in pink letters, which indicated it was a whisper. Clearly this was intended for me.
For a moment I was confused. How came that someone called me sexy? My gnome appearance is no doubt cute, but I don’t think anyone ever heard the epithet “sexy”.
Then I realized that this version of Larisa, actually wasn’t a pink pigtailed gnome, but a blood elf chick. And yeah, I suppose they look kind of sexy, at least that’s what they’re designed to be.
The new blogosphere guild
I think I could be excused for my rather slow pace in grasping the situation. After all it took place only a few seconds after I had spawned at Argent Dawn (EU). In this very moment I had only one single thought in my head: to execute my plan to look up Tam’s alt, joining the brand new blogosphere guild Single Abstract Noun.
I was still a bit upset and annoyed after finding out at the creation screen that Larisa with a normal “i, as well as Larísa, with an the emergency accent, were occupied, just as Larissa. I guess it’s the effect of having a highly populated server. Lots of players need lots of names.
Finally I had come up with the bizarre spelling Larïsa, which I knew would be annoying for anyone wanting to put me on their friends list. But I didn’t see any alternative but to insert those stupid dots. I couldn’t possibly let go of my online alter ego in a guild that was so connected to my life as a blogger.
There was other stuff going on contributing to my confusion. A yellow question mark was calling for my attention right in front of me. And Blizzard’s crash course, introducing the interface to new players messed up with some addons that randomly had spawned all over the screen.
So maybe it wasn’t so strange that it took me a while to find myself and localize the the guy who had approached me, a rather handsome looking blood elf.
How to react?
Suddenly I recalled where I was. Squee! Argent Dawn is an RP realm. Finally, after all this hesitating and the mumblings about wanna-try-one-day from the closet, I had taken the scary step. This was the real thing. Maybe this was the normal state of things here? Maybe there’s a lot more interaction going on between players here than there is on my normal PvE home realm? At least I liked to think there was. And I asked myself if there was some sort of social conventions that I was supposed to follow.
I fell into deep contemplation. How should your character react when someone calls you sexy? Maybe I should blush a little, or even flirt a bit? Or… probably not. After all I didn’t know this guy at all. Certainly a rude gesture and a slap on the chin would be more natural?
But before I had come anywhere near taking a decision, the caller had vanished, and I found myself smiling into the air.
Cosy and chatty
I shrugged, did a /who Single and found what I was looking for. Shortly after I was let into the cosiest little guild I’ve ever encountered. Bloggers are a special kind. They may appear shy, preferring thinking and writing to socializing. But put them in the right company and they’ll suddenly turn out chatty. They just can’t shut up.
When I saw a character in the guild list – currently offline, but nevertheless - named “Tobold” in the guild, I all but fainted. Tobold – a guildie of mine? Wow. Is this for real? Is this THE Tobold? “We think so”, came the answer.
Since Wednesdays basically are gaming free nights for me, I only stayed online five minutes. Still it was some damned good minutes, filled with giggles, happy greetings and a general cosiness that is hard to describe. It was a homecoming, an in-game version of The Pink Pigtail Inn is the best description I can give. (As a matter of fact the guild tabard is designed to make you associate to a virtual pub.)
Like for everyone else, this is just a side project. My home and the bulk of my gaming time will remain at Stormrage. But there also are times in the game, outside of the scheduled raids, when I find myself pretty lonely. I guess I’m just not very good at making friends. I can always pug away a few instances with an alt, but it leaves me with an empty feeling. And when this happens, I hope that I might find some likeminded people from the blogosphere to hang out with at Argent Dawn.
And who knows, next time I’m online as Larisa the Bloodelf or maybe Larisa the Tauren or Larisa the Troll – I haven’t yet made up my mind about what class and race to play (please feel free to come with suggestions) – I even might dare to put on my role playing glasses. I’m not ready to force the story-of-my-life upon any stranger I meet – I’m not ready to be in character at all. But maybe I can start out by just listening a little to conversations I may stumble upon, getting an idea of what it’s all about.
Or maybe I’ve got too high expectations on what an RP realm is like?
The future will tell. All I know now is that I’m kind of happy that things messed up for Tamarind so he came around to take this initiative. The worst things that happen to us often turn out to be blessings, leading us to try new paths we never would have thought of else.
Anyway: I've had my first encounter withe Argent Dawn and I'm looking forward to grab the next opportunity to drop by and spend some time with my fellow bloggers and readers.
28 comments:
Welcome to AD :) I think it's a really cool server.
He has inevitably picked the one server/faction where I absolutely cannot just up and join some blogger guild; it would mean leaving my friends in my current guild. And joining with an alt just is lining you up to decide 'OK, which group of people do I want to talk to today?' before you log in.
I will try to remember to say Hi if I see you around, although it's going to be tricky because I don't know how to duplicate those characters.
And welcome to Argent Dawn. It's a cozy old server that is bound for a few hiccups here and there but usually very good.
Since it is the oldest RP realm out there, the lack of RP is actually understandable. It's localized in small spaces but it is there. I would love to join myself but my raid requires me to stay in guild.
I need to think of a gift for all of you.
I've joined AD in the US, and so far all good. It will be my home away from home, where I can play without any requirements to raid or be anything than just a lone hunter trying to rediscover the beauty of Azeroth.
So, we in the US/Oceanic regions are with you guys in spirit...
Tonight, someone donated quite a bit of gold in the interest of the American/Oceanic SAN, so I ventured out to buy some bags to stock up the GB, since we had so many low levels.
I bought 25 bags from a seller on the AH named Larysa - because I just had to. Could it be more perfect? It's almost like the EUers are there with us!
Can't wait till I get some days of work to come and try this out. My fear is that the guild -by then- will have died out.
Like you said, most see this as an side-project where they pop in when they don't have anything to do with their main group, or just want some change.
I know from myself how many times that happens where I have an evening to do nothing at all, but still want to game.
Hello there,
I joined the guild yesterday and it was really great to be in a social guild again, with no obligations other than having fun :) Great hideout.
As for the new character rolling, don't roll a Shaman :D I came to AD, thinking what to roll... It was after long time I actually had self-mocking conversation between me and myself.
- Well you are blogging Shaman, so go roll a Shaman
- But I don't want to raid on two restoration Shamans
- Raid? Dude. You will be lucky to push it over 20. And you wanted to level one as enhancement anyways.
- But that was supposed to be Dwarf!
- Shut up and go Shaman!
- Can I go Troll then?
- Troll named Rahana on Roleplay server? Dumbass. Try again.
- Female Troll?
- You can't play female Troll, they is ugly!
- Okay. Does Tauren male named Rahana seem okay?
- Well if that is the best you can do...
And that is how Rahana Cloudhorn, the Tauren male Shaman came into being on Argent Dawn. I did the same /who Single and asked for invite, got one and was overwhelmed by the guild playerbase. And the number of Shamans. It's like Shamans with guildtag went on to conquer Azerothian lowbie zones. Amazing. Anyways, like 50% of the guild are Shamans right now :) So either roll another one or come provide some balance :)
@Spinks & Shalana Please feel free to /join sanchat so you can say Hi - it's not as busy as g/chat but we are encouraging everyone to join :)
That was a really lovely post Larisa :) I have enjoyed hanging out in the guild so much, the atmostphere is terrific - indeed inn-like :)
oops I think the /join sanchat should have been /join sanchan
epic fail sorry
Created a shiny belf mage briefly last night to say 'Hi!' - was cool chatting, babbling even, to a bunch of people 'just chilling'.
Tuf and I logged off and transferred our level 40 hordies that had been levelling up on Kilrogg so we'll probably see a few of you tonight :)
Also, I wanted to add, that from a writers perspective, this was just a wonderful post to read.
The hook and the setup was terrific. I am in awe ^^
@Spinks and Shalana: what Issy said below! We can say hi in the channel open to non-guilded! Would be awesome to see you in game at some point!
: yeah, I feel the good vibrations through the nether! Brothers in arms, even if there's an ocean - or two - between.
@Miss Medicina: haha, that's wonderful! And I also suspect we'll be able to keep the both guilds in touch pretty well thanks to our bloggings.
@Dwism: the risk is that it won't live for ever. I've seen those bloggers-only-projects a couple of times before and my impression is that it never got that long lived. But I enjoy it as long as it lasts, just being able to see people I like and care about ONCE in game is quite an experience. I promise to hang around quite a while longer, so at least you and I will meet. And finally: thank you for the kind words about the post! I was sort of hooked too, some posts just write themselves while you're kind of watching.
: yeah I noticed the abundance of shamans and also mages, so I decided to do the unthinkable: to roll a tauren. If I'll ever level her high enough to do some instances, I bet a tank or a healer will always come handy. I've had huge prejudices against tauren, but somehow that switched once I rolled one. Now I'm in love. Just watching her jumping makes me smile - she looks like a happy frog.
@Ulv: woaa, level 40:s! You'll be like... grown-ups! I hope I'll be able to level my toon so we might do something together at some point. Right now it seems I spend more time just chatting and fooling around than being productive, haha. Which of course also was sort of the whole idea.
Haha, that is kind of adorable. I ended up rolling a shaman orc, as I want to a) document levelling a shaman again and b) I love femae orcs.
The server is likely to have more RP than the really under-populated RP servers, but be prepared to take the rough with the smooth, in terms of quality
I play on the US side of AD (well, I used to) and ended up there not because it was an RP realm, but because I had RL friends there. I found that for the most part, RP realms are more friendly and inviting, but as always there are exceptions.
Some seem to believe that because it is an RP realm, it's ok for them to be rude and sexually intrusive and don't seem to understand that just because you're role-paying doesn't give you the right to cross all social interaction lines.
Just keep in mind that there is some RP that might involve interaction like this but it's more of a 'cyber' interaction. Not all RP'ers are like that.
Man I'm stuck in the US too.. would have love to give this a whirl with you guys...
Guess I'll grab popcorn then.
I'm a mom that's just getting started in WoW. I am also an avid blog reader. :) I saw the "hi sexy" comment and had to share that I experienced that and instantly gave a totally different response (which is very out of character for me).
I said "you've got to be kidding",
He said "wait...how old r u"
Me: "WAY OLD"
Him: "20?"
Me: "lol no"
Him: "16?"?
Me: "times two..."
Him: "32?"
Me: "plus 6"
He never whispered back. LOL! I thought it was funny. Is that a normal thing? To hear "hey sexy" as you run around questing? I mean, since you really don't know who is behind that toon...
Larisa,
Love the blog and even though I'm on a US server (The Scryers), I might just throw a toon on A.D. just gor /giggles. Between you, Daraxxus, Gnomeaggedon and Tam it's a wonder I get any work done at all. Thanks.
If the game ever opens up a subscriptionless option, I'll jump in. Or maybe I'll come by when I do the Ixo/Spinks Warrior experiment...
Oh, and f'r what it's worth, if I wasn't doing the Undead Warrior experiment, I'd totally play a Tauren Druid. Nothing like an anthropomorphized cow that can be a cowbear, cowcat, cowcheetah, cowseal, cowowlbear or cowbird. The RP opportunities abound...
I'm so glad you enjoyed your experiences ... and that we have converted you to the wonderful world of cows! It was/is fantastic to see you.
Oh! so many familiar names... I'm certainly joining. Was about to last night, but I thought 5am server time would be a bad hour to find anyone online. I do have strange time schedules!
It's time to stop stalking Larísa at distance (I'm in the same Battlegroup and whenever the LFD groups me with someone from Stormrage I try to send an hello, or see if they know you, closest I've gotten is "I saw her a few times in Dalaran".) Now I can say "Hi sexy!" face to face. Hope I don't scare you from showing up again. I'm joking, not a real stalker, but a dedicated reader. :D
My biggest problem: Should I roll a priest? And what race? Is "Weatherlight" a good name on a RP realm (Help me Spinks)?
SAN is great! I was disappointed when I found out I couldn't play with you and Tam.
When I created my character and joined the guild I was greeted by some of my personal heroes in the blogging community. Squee!! On the US/Oceanic side there's a growing number of us and the /g chat's been fun. I hope the same for you and yours! <3
Joined SAN on the US realm tonight, as I'm in oz.
A little sad that we can't all be in one guild, geez bliz, it's just a database merge...what could possibly go wrong? The cross-guild forum was a good idea.
Got me a leet lvl 5 dwarf melee hunter. Whee!
P.S. What is the inspiration for the guild name please? I know an abstract noun is like, 'peace', or 'warmth'...but not sure what prompted the name. Just interested.
Never mind, I just read Tobold's blog/comments and found the answer to the guild name question. Clever!
I joined SAN on Friday night and already have two alts (Kaiphas/Grzimek). Good fun!
I am absolutely amazed at how friendly Argent Dawn is. I was leveling a Tauren hunter in Mulgore on Sunday. A Level 80 advertised for free mammoth taxi rides in Mulgore! He picked me up in Bloodhoof Village and brought me all the way up to Thunderbluff. He kept advertising his services for at least an hour or so.
@Pewter: I'm honestly so new and innocent when it comes to RP that anything I see makes my eyes go wide in bewilderment. I'm very easily amused.
: I've already heard about ERP... Tbh I think it's more likely that blood elfs will be approached in those matters. And now I've changed my mind and made a tauren druid instead, more about that tomorrow. But you never know... maybe there are some kinky cow fetishists out there waiting to throw themselves over me. I'll let you know if that happens! Will be quite an experience imo.
: there's an US version of the guild at your Argent Dawen, ally side. What I've heard the atmosphere is just the same there. A lovely bunch of people to hang around with. So grab your popcorn, but don't hesitate to join the fun!
@Mel: haha, yeah, there's a certain entertainment value in shocking 16 year old boys revealing your age. It has amused me to do so a couple of times. But actually most of them find themselves and are pretty cool about it once they realize that I'm just another gamer like themselves.
: thanks! Do join the AD on the US side! At least Daraxxus and Gnome are on US/ocean servers, although I don't know if they've joined SAN yet.
@Tesh: Ixo/Spinks experiment? Now I don't quite follow. There's something I've missed. I obviously haven't been reading blogs carefully enough. Shame on me. And yeah, I've fallen in love with tauren as well. More about that in the post tomorrow.
@Tam: The pleasure is on my side!
: Wow, you've really asked about me? And someone actually recognized my name? Fantastic. I'm glad youre joining. Hope to see you soon!
@Elynn: there's an ocean between us, but it seems that the spirit of it is worldwide.
@Chev: well, there's nothing that prevents us from cross-ocean rl-meeting one day... (Just dreaming)
@Grizmek: I wonder if it was the same guy that gave me a sightseeing around all of Mulgore. Such a nice guy!
Hm a SAN 'conference' in some exotic rl location? Count me in!
One vent server to rule them all would be feasible? Imagine all the accents..
It was a bit quiet last night (AEST/Aust. time) on the US realm, hoping we get more members joining from our time zone to chat and do some low level dungeons with, or some more crazy insomniac Americans.
I'm really enjoying levelling my little dwarf hunter there, have a bank alt and working the AH. So if guildies on the US realm need a loan of a few gold to get started, just send me a tell. Repayment optional.
Sorry, it's been a while. I had a contest to give away a hardbound copy of the Arthas novel, and Ixo won by suggesting an Undead Prot Warrior, and I agreed to try it out if I ever fired up the game again. Spinks also plays an Undead Prot Warrior, so she echoed the experiment. (I'm a Druid/Hunter sort of guy, so a Warrior is a change of pace for me.)
Since then, I've purchased a boxed version of WoW, so I have a month to play (that I'll tack on the end of a trial ten-day for added value)... I just haven't fired it up yet. Maybe it's about time.
...but I'm still hoping they finally offer a subscriptionless version of the game. I'd pay fair box value, say, $30 or so, to be able to play vanilla WoW forever like Guild Wars' business model.
Ah, the good, old RP realm...
I don't play RP too much because I somehow thought there weren't as many raiding guilds as on PvE servers.
How will you react next time you are adressed like this, Larisa?
That reminds me of this funny server situation on a RP realm where Paladins and Warlocks refused to play together for obvious reasons. No true servant of the light will ever tolerate the vile magic of a vicious warlock :P
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