A guild meeting must be an amazing experience. I’ve never been to a huge one myself, but I’ve met a few guildies on a couple of occasions during my WoW career, and even in the small format it was a blast.
It didn’t take many minutes for the initial nervousness to wear off and the friendship to take over. The bodies and faces didn’t exactly fit with the avatars I had grown accustomed to, but the voices were all familiar after all those late nights we had spent together online. I was among friends.
This week I experienced something that somehow resembled to this, even though it wasn’t a real life eye-to-eye meeting. This week I saw another blogger online. I chatted to him, I sent emote-hugs to him, I jumped around enthusiastically and was actually taken by surprise how happy I was, wagging my tail like a dog greeting his master.
A whisper in the night
It was just an ordinary night and I was poking around in Dalaran, pondering upon the issue if I should change my offspec to something less mana consuming to optimize it for General Vezax, when I suddenly got a whisper out from the blue. It came from a character called Ixobelle. Yes, THE Ixobelle - one of the icons of the mmo-blogging community, probably not as wellknown as BRK, Tobold or Phaelia, but just as brilliant. A blogger who combines creativity, passion, and excellent writing skills with deep knowledge about WoW and overall mmo-gaming. A blogger I and many with me look up to.
Since Ixobelle lives in Japan, soon moving back to the US, I had never imagined that I would communicate with him in any other way than through our slow exchange of thoughts in writing and commenting on each others blog posts. There is an ocean of physical distance and time difference between us, so I didn’t see it happening any more than I expect to ever see the green beard of Gnomeaggedon in any other manner than as a screenshot.
But little did I know. Suddenly Ixobelle was there – cheerful, chatty and full of energy and before I knew it he had thrown himself into a VoA pug, sending me humorous reports about his progress (or lack of progress, if you read his blog post about it).
It felt just as weird and fun as seeing guildies in real life. Even though bloggers evolve bonds of friendship over time, we’re generally spread over countless of realms all over the world. We’re like lighthouses blinking out messages to each other from a very far distance – over the Internet, but not in game. (Admittedly, I have two guildies who have blogs of their own, Kromus and Lerbic, but since I knew both of them as players before they became bloggers, it’s not the same thing).
Future adventures
I have no idea when I’ll see Ixobelle next. As a matter of fact I don’t expect it to happen too often, since the time certainly isn’t in our favour. When I’m raiding I’m usually coming online around 2.30 am his time, and when I’m not raiding, two or three hours later. It’s rather inconvenient, to say the least. Besides, he’s got characters to tend to on other servers as well.
But who knows, maybe we’ll be able join our forces in some pug during an offnight and then write about it? I think it could be quite interesting to see the same event described from different points of view, through the temperament and sunglasses of two different bloggers. And in one way we’ve already done it, haven’t we? This was the Larísa version of what happened during our first meeting and here's Ixobelle's take on it (including a screenshot which proves that it did happen.)
To be continued at some point!
It didn’t take many minutes for the initial nervousness to wear off and the friendship to take over. The bodies and faces didn’t exactly fit with the avatars I had grown accustomed to, but the voices were all familiar after all those late nights we had spent together online. I was among friends.
This week I experienced something that somehow resembled to this, even though it wasn’t a real life eye-to-eye meeting. This week I saw another blogger online. I chatted to him, I sent emote-hugs to him, I jumped around enthusiastically and was actually taken by surprise how happy I was, wagging my tail like a dog greeting his master.
A whisper in the night
It was just an ordinary night and I was poking around in Dalaran, pondering upon the issue if I should change my offspec to something less mana consuming to optimize it for General Vezax, when I suddenly got a whisper out from the blue. It came from a character called Ixobelle. Yes, THE Ixobelle - one of the icons of the mmo-blogging community, probably not as wellknown as BRK, Tobold or Phaelia, but just as brilliant. A blogger who combines creativity, passion, and excellent writing skills with deep knowledge about WoW and overall mmo-gaming. A blogger I and many with me look up to.
Since Ixobelle lives in Japan, soon moving back to the US, I had never imagined that I would communicate with him in any other way than through our slow exchange of thoughts in writing and commenting on each others blog posts. There is an ocean of physical distance and time difference between us, so I didn’t see it happening any more than I expect to ever see the green beard of Gnomeaggedon in any other manner than as a screenshot.
But little did I know. Suddenly Ixobelle was there – cheerful, chatty and full of energy and before I knew it he had thrown himself into a VoA pug, sending me humorous reports about his progress (or lack of progress, if you read his blog post about it).
It felt just as weird and fun as seeing guildies in real life. Even though bloggers evolve bonds of friendship over time, we’re generally spread over countless of realms all over the world. We’re like lighthouses blinking out messages to each other from a very far distance – over the Internet, but not in game. (Admittedly, I have two guildies who have blogs of their own, Kromus and Lerbic, but since I knew both of them as players before they became bloggers, it’s not the same thing).
Future adventures
I have no idea when I’ll see Ixobelle next. As a matter of fact I don’t expect it to happen too often, since the time certainly isn’t in our favour. When I’m raiding I’m usually coming online around 2.30 am his time, and when I’m not raiding, two or three hours later. It’s rather inconvenient, to say the least. Besides, he’s got characters to tend to on other servers as well.
But who knows, maybe we’ll be able join our forces in some pug during an offnight and then write about it? I think it could be quite interesting to see the same event described from different points of view, through the temperament and sunglasses of two different bloggers. And in one way we’ve already done it, haven’t we? This was the Larísa version of what happened during our first meeting and here's Ixobelle's take on it (including a screenshot which proves that it did happen.)
To be continued at some point!
14 comments:
That's the first in-game screen cap I've seen of you.
Somehow, I always imagined you were taller.
Some of my fondest memories are from when I lost my account and rerolled Alliance, joining a few posters from the paladin forums. The account loss was bad, but meeting them and playing with them, eventually starting our own guild, was great.
It's such a strange surprise to realize that the people we talk with about playing actually play the game and exist within the World of Warcraft.
Still, can this compare to when he sent you a few books?
@Elnia: You expected a gnome to be taller? Honestly though, I know what you mean. A few inches more perhaps.
Ah yes I remember you telling me this on Ventrillo, Larisa, about Ixo.
I actually remember one of the first posts i read on your blog you integrated a "thankyou" into your post about her sending books, correct?
But yes, i mean, you've seen the guild picture forum thread on our website, I look at the pictures, look at the name, then think to myself;
"Why did i expect a night elf?"
you look so cute in game! I love pink haired female gnomes, if it weren't for my bf being horde and BEs, I would so roll gnome.
Ohh Larisa, if only they allowed us to combine EU and US accounts for one night, I'd be sitting in your inn all night regaling you with tales of epic fail.
Maybe I should track down a 10 day trial EU account...
At least you would be online on my Friday night, unlike US players, who may be dragging themselves out of bed while I wipe.
@Elnia & Klepsacovic: "imagined I was taller", lol! What do you expect from a gnome? Funny enough I get a déjà-vu, I think I've had that comment before. Just because you dare to speak up and let out those thoughts that are messing around in your head reach a few more people, does it mean that you can't be smallish in your appearance...? Hm. It's interesting to think about actually. The psychological dimension of it. Btw I'm pretty small in real life as well. Not like a gnome, but 160 cm isn't exactly a night elfish height.
Klepsacovic & Kromus: Ah, the books, you remembered! Shows you actually read what I write, woot! Yeah, it's the very same Ixo, who also has given me a hand on making some springcleaning here. But yeah, interacting in game really was amazing, in another way than the book package, even though that too was cool.
Kromus: You're showing off! Teasing the others that you know how I look in real life :) (or at least seen a picture, which probably isn't exactly the same... )
@HP: They're the best. I don't understand why Azeroth isn't teaming with them. Or wait, did I hear someone mentioning recpies on BBQd gnomes?
@Gnomeaggedon: you're welcome to visit me any day if you can just figure out how to make it!
Actually it's very rare that I get whispers from readers or other bloggers. So when it happens I get so excited that I have to write a post about it!
Ixobelle's first post points out it's summer festival.
I think my account is still good for a month so I'll get out my cute gnome again one of these days :)
Fun, Larisa!
The closest I've gotten to interacting with another blogger in game was while I was making Gnomeaggedon's blogday gift, which has not yet been revealed. I'll admit though, that I did not actually SEE Gnomeaggedon while making it.
Well, that's not true, Aurdon has run me through a few instances on my little baby hordie alts. But like you said, I knew him from RL (he's married to my best friend) before I knew him as a blogger, so that doesn't count!
It was quite surreal to see a screenshot with both you in it! Wish a EU account was feasible for me so I could come annoy you two. :)
It would be cool if there were some sort of shared server that people from different servers could copy their characters on to, even if one account could only use it for limited amounts of time so everyone had a chance. How crazy would it be to do some goofy 40-man raid completely made up of WoW bloggers?
it sucks that even the PTRs are segregated. :(
I've been happily plugging away on my european rogue (le meutilate! le envenome!), but yeah, it sucks that the times don't mesh up as nicely as I thought they would. I'm exactly halfway between eurpoe and america, here in Japan, and that means when I get on america is just going to sleep, and europe is all still at work...
:(
at least I can pug with the slackers of EU that don't work, they make for better PUG chats than the crack smokers of america that don't sleep. I gotta write a post on the general vibe of the EU set, though... they seem pretty friendly :)
anyway, good times! hope to see you on there again sometime!
Larisa: I'm glad you laughed. My tongue was firmly in my cheek.
About a quarter of our guild I know in real life, I actually just recently met my GM's wife IRL for the first time a little while ago, she is one of the people I'm closest with in the game. I think meeting guildies IRL is semi intriguing, I'm sure it would be an interesting endeavor. . .
I've met loads of people IRL from Game and chat meets including my wife whom I've now known for 11 years and an extra 2 via computers. She was in Australia, I was in the UK. Ah, fun.
I wish I had the ability to continue to play on the EU servers but with the huge time difference now that I'm in Australia, I have to content myself with playing on the Oceanic Servers.
Still, the notion of a blogger-meet on a EU WoW server has me reaching for a quick 30 day resubscription...
@Carra: welcome back! I saw you around the other night... It remains to see if the festival can lure you into playing again.
@Rhii: being on a US server I think you've got more opportunities to interact than I have, if you want to. There aren't quite as many EU bloggers after all.
@Hatch. yeah, I wonder what it would be like. I'm not entirely sure it would be as awesome as we can imagine. Being a good writer isn't necessarily the same as being a good player...On the other hand it would be so interesting to read the different takes on it.
Some bloggers have played a bit together in the passed at the PTRs. But as far as I know, they're not cross-ocean either.
@Ixobelle: well, we'll see what happens after your moving and settling down in US. You never know if it can match a bit better then. Hope to see you again!
@Fish: I guess the biggest barrier is the geographical distance. At least for me playing in a all-European guild, it's quite unlikely that we'll ever meet.
@ Crucifer: and appart from the time issue, there's also quite a bit of lag if you cross the Atlantic... But it would be cool if some more dared to take the chance and say hi to a european blogger if the chance will come up.
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