The wonderful World of Warcraft

With over 12 million users, World of Warcraft is the most popular online, mutliplayer game. What is its huge attraction? Recently I was introduced to a group of friend who proceeded to educate me on topic. When you enter this world you are confronted by an overwhelming number of terms that unless you come to grips with you would find it hard to understand a conversation between the game's players.

The sterotype of this game ranges from 12 year old boys who are always in front of their computer's to middle aged men sitting in their mother's basement eating pizza. The sterotypes, as most often is the case, are mostly false as the group I met defy them. They are all fun, social, 20/21 year olds who actually go out, have girlfriends and have lives. Their company is absolutely fantastic especially when I finally got to grips with some of the strange terms.

There are 'Guild's' which are teams in which 'raiding' is mostly down (although sometimes you can be invited to raid or 'do a dungeon'). Each player can have multiple characters but will have one main character to which they focus on. These character range in gender, career capabilities, different uses in battle and even species. Most players work to have a powerful level 80 character with a decent DPS (the amount of damage they can do).

At one point I was allowed to create and play a bit with my own character; Arrf is Worgon and I must say the few tasks I completed were a lot of fun especially as I had an experienced player pointing out the many mistake I made in my inexperience. Something which I find quite awesome, also thanks to my inexperience, is if you die; you don't need to start over but are 'resurrected' close to where you were killed by say the giant troll.

A raid is made even more entertaining by the players having headphones with microphones, egging each other on or telling the player that got most of the team frozen while facing Sindragosa (a dragon that freezes you with her breath, you then need to be broken out by a another player); that he is an idiot. This is usually done using the characters name since the Guild's, although having some connection like friend of a friend, don't necessarily know each other. Where this group broke from the sterotype is, Guildmembers not only play online together but also meet up to socialise.

Call me a nerd if you want but this world is quite intriguing to me and the players even more so. The game doesn't make the player, the the player makes the game. Enjoy the raid guys!

Life as a Communist

The title of this post is misleading, it does not have anything to do with any political affiliation. For the duration of my three years as an undergrad; I lived in a house occupied by 19-21 other students other wise known as a commune. Nothing ever worked and most of the appliances tripped the power however, it was the people that made the place.

The residents varied over my three years there, they were however always highly entertaining. A mixture of age, gender and study field provided a fantastic space for eccentricity to flourish. From random sleepovers in the living room to pranks by the mysterious Jack to insanely fanatstic parties (a feat that was managed but once a year). Our commune mascot, as was decided in my first year was a Pringle tin with a blown up surgical glove with black nails pulling the middle finger.

The landlady deserves a special mention, she was horrific! Affectionatly known as 'Crabhands' she created hell for her residents on a regular basis; especially when (in my third year) she decided to move the office to two of the rooms and have her employees take up the already too small parking area. The 'help' was unbelievablely...lazy! Spending the day on her cell phone in flirtations with various men and attempting to acquire condoms from the residents.

This crazy 'put together' family was constantly changing, always supportive and always up for a good time. Although, due to the invasion and expansion of the office into the house, I beleive the golden years of this particularly awesome commune to be over; it will not soon be forgotten to all the former residents, partygoers and random over students that perved over the girls on the porch while cycling to class. Thank you for an amazing and crazy three years!

In Homage to the Entertaining People

We all have them, those people who make us smile and laugh ourselves silly. I am lucky enough to have several groups of friends that provide me with endless entertainment. As a recent graduate from a degree in the Dramatic Arts these groups include those I studied with, old school friends and other random groups I have come across in my social endeavours.

To the all the old school friends who went through the hell of a borderline military school with me; it is with you that I share many memmories. Memmories the first almost everything from dances, boyfriends and horrific algebra exams. Always managing to see the bright and usually quite crazy side. Who else would think of having a Kiddies party after our last matric exam.

Then came all those eccentric people who chose the Dramatic Arts as the degree. A small department, everyone knew everyone which was both a blessing and a curse. We sang and "moved" our way through three years. No, posing as living statues next to the road at varsity just for the fun of it, isn't normal nor is singing ABBA as loud as possible down a public but its us. Spending 8:30am till 2am on campus with just each other does tend to make for a crazy and an entertaining experience for both the audience and the actors.

The various random social groups I have found myself in over the past few years have also been a source of countless entertainment. In many cases I have found myself the lone drama student amongst BComs, law and even engineering students. This last one is especially one to note, the numerous evenings in a friends flat have provided numerous 'sugar induced hyperness' spells. The 'mutual friend' has been able to introduce me to many people who I now hold very dear. Although we are so different, almost complete opposites, we have found comman ground which we both enjoy lving on.

So to all my, friends, the entertaining people in my life; those I hold so dear. Thank you and let the craziness continue because normal is overated!

Welcome to the information age!

John: We need to talk
Jenny: Really? Right now? I think we should rather talk in person
John: No, I don't want to see you. Its over.
Jenny: Can we please talk about this face to face?
John: No, whats more. I'm deleting you!
John is offline

Welcome to an age where disputes in friendships and relationships are decided over things like Facebook, MSN and Mxit (for those of you outside South Africa; its like MSN for your phone). Some of the most personal issues are broadcast for the world to see and without the face to face contact that in previous years have characterised such disputes.

Of course the extent of this 'public personalisation' is dependent on the people involved; the problem comes when it is rather onesided. Couples breaking up over Mxit, the change in the relationship status and even angry yet poetic notes on Facebook talking about the other person using rather colourful language; have made a persons vunerability public domain.

These means of communication have enriched our lives as we can keep in contact with loved ones on the other end of the globe however, as is the case with most things, some people are using these means for issues that should probarbly be addressed personally. A limit needs to be set to show basic human respect, so...

If you want to confront a friend or a boyfriend/girlfriend in a more hostile manner; kindly just use the means to set a time and place where this can occur. Kindly have the courage to talk to me face to face. After all, we are humans not robots just receiving and sending out transmissions.