Wait, what? An essay that is sensibly feminist, and by ‘feminist’, I mean ‘stands up for the rights of both men and women to take responsibility for their own damn selves, and the twin right to enjoy their life and the products of their work.’ How is this geeky? well, how’s this for you?

The cure, for the record, for being a football widow or Xbox widow or whatever is often not to bemoan the fact that your partner doesn’t spend all his free time entertaining you. It’s to cultivate interests outside of your husband, to be an individual unto yourself who also needs some time to pursue her hobbies. And if he really is withdrawing into his hobbies to the exclusion of ever interacting positively with you, to take advantage of the newfound feminist right not to be in a marriage with someone who doesn’t really love you.

Now excuse me, but I’m going to drag my childish ass over to play the Xbox. Wonder if Lopez knows that you don’t actually need a penis to work the controller.

I actually really enjoyed this article (written by Amanda Marcotte,) as it made several perfectly sensible points using actual sound logic. Common sense, people. She wrote this as a response to another article, and I’m going to go read that now- and I won’t get irritated because I’ll be secure in the knowledge that it’s already been very well addressed.

Then I’ll fire up the PS2 and play some video games. I’ve got several waiting for my attention- WoW has been taking up far too much attention lately.

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“Ding! Well, ding a while ago, it turns out. I somehow failed to notice.” said I from the sofa, my laptop being particularly useful for lazy sofa gaming. “Grats, hon! I should run you through Deadmines. Lots of cloth.” came the reply from the desk, where my S.O was playing something completely different.

Sundays are made for being kinda lazy, mostly cozy, and getting back to the family thing. In our case that meant a day long pajama-based game day. While I played WoW and he played something else (I forget what) (probably lots of things) we left the TV on as background noise. At one point he put in a fantastic compilation of giant robot anime opening themes, and we got to listen to 2 hours of background robot evolution from the 60’s onward. It’s honestly trippy to watch the Transformers opening and not hear ‘Transformers! More than meets the eye!’ Cool, but very trippy. Then some bad movie goodness from Deathstalker 2 (if you like B movies, really. Check it out. It’s got Queen Kong in it!) and later, when the games had lost their appeal for the day, Haruhi came in to round out our lazy geeky day off.

I have to say it was a fabulous day and I really rather enjoyed it. The fact that I got the final score of the Superbowl from the trade channel in Stormwind pretty much says it all, I think. How do you spend YOUR lazy days off?

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Another installment of Spwug 4 articles! This one is written by Marco Soto, and if you need a reason to avoid MMORPGs and are tired of having your standard reasons refuted by the hardcore gamers, he’s here to help.

Speaking as someone from “The Big City,” I’m rather used to panhandlers, beggars, and the homeless. Those individuals that always seem to be on the wrong side of town when their car runs out of gas, or who haven’t eaten in days (even though they had a burger in their hands just 15 minutes ago).

So, I wasn’t that taken aback to find the same situation going on in most MMORPGs. What DID strike me as odd, though, was the sheer laziness of the beggars that I found. People asking for 5 gold in Guild Wars just struck me dumbfounded. Especially when you could walk out the front gate and kill the first thing you saw and it would drop 5 gold or the equivalent. Requests for beginner swords would go up and you can get those weapons for free from certain NPCs.

Now, there are always the enterprising beggars that will be willing to entertain for their handout. The “Will dance naked for gold” women are always a laugh. Every once in a while you’ll get someone who gives an in game reason for needing money. “Seering Vet down on his luck. Dwayna bless you” has always been my favorite.

But, really, do we need the streets of Ascalon to be so lined with beggars that the sidewalks are soft? Does Ironforge need a dwarf on every corner with a cardboard sign?
Do the City of Villans and City of Heros need another emote of someone with a tin cup?

As with the RL version of the problem, the MMO version can be tracked back to those certain individuals who, just to shut people up, end up paying off the beggars and thus, perpetuate the problem. Come on, people, stop giving in. Help is one thing, but are you really helping someone by giving them something instead of letting them get it by *gasp* playing the game?!

Sure, when someone asks a question, by all means, help them out by providing an answer. After all, we were all noobs once. But when it comes to money and items, especially ones that could be picked up off of the ground not ten feet away, let those grubby little street urchins fend for themselves. Heck, you can even help them out by telling them where they can get what they’re looking for, on their own. Just so long as they go out and get it for themselves instead of just asking for it. Make them play the game, for crying out loud.

Or you could just play their character for them. Cut out the middle man and just tell them if they sign over their character to you, they can go to bed knowing that little Timmy will become a big and strong leader of men (orcs, elves, whatever) and they don’t have to worry about a thing. They don’t even have to play the game, and that’s what they’re really asking for, isn’t it?

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Of all the fake, artificial, overtly commercial holidays in Western existence, the day dedicated to Saint Valentine is, with little doubt, the absolute worst. For those uncoupled, it is a glaring reminder that you are alone with no one to share your most intimate insanities with. For those coupled, it is a horrifying obligation to buy some shitty token of affection because your actual love just isn’t enough for that one day. It’s sick and disgusting and should be abolished for all time.

Being single is not the end of the world that the V-Day would have you believe.  As a single person, you have virtually no ties holding you down.  You are free to make rash decision, jump head first without looking, loose your freaking mind without worrying what someone else will say or think.  You are responsible for yourself and only yourself.  There should be absolutely no shame in that kind of freedom.

If you are with a significant other, every single day is a wonderful gift.  Sure, you now have responsibilities that you didn’t have before.  But that’s not a bad thing.  You’re fortunate enough to be with someone who loves you which should make every day a sort of celebration.  You don’t need to prove your love with overpriced candy.  And you shouldn’t feel bad that you don’t buy something for your significant other every day.

For a day that purports to be about love and happiness, I’ve never seen a day that makes people more miserable.  It’s quite a bothersome annoyance.  This year, I highly recommend that we all just ignore Valentine’s Day.  If you’re with someone, cherish that person every day.  If you’re not, cherish your freedoms.  Don’t let a stupid superficial day hold anything over you.

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