Where HAVE you been?!

I can hear you all clamoring for the answer to that question.

The answer is quite simple. I got burned out. Still am burned out. We were pushing Ulduar hard. It seemed like all there was before me was endless grinding and grinding and grinding to try to get badges so I can upgrade to the gear we'd need in Ulduar.

And then the patch hit that took away my pretty pretty Martyr. *mewl* I miss my Martyr. So suddenly I had to deal with DPS that was so much lower than it was - where before I was competing with the top DPS in my guild, suddenly I was struggling to stay ahead of the tank.

Ok ok ok. SLIGHT exaggeration there. Very slight. Like... this >< much exaggeration.

So I took a break and dove headfirst back into the thing that got me started down the road to meeting Boon, and some of the best and worst friends of my life. Text Based RPG. Yes. It's still out there.

The 'Golden Days' may be over... but the games are still out there. Some of them better than others. Some with people who are better RPers than others.

And with this odd little habit of people doing the internal monologue thing in their poses.

See, I 'grew up' in the field of - you pose what you are doing, what your facial expression is, your stance, your everything. You don't TELL someone what you're doing.

For (brief) example:

Kikidas looks over at Boon, her lips turned down at the corners. The skin between her eyes draws in and her fingers slowly clench into fists.

Now.. you read that and you see EXACTLY what I am doing. It is up to you to draw conclusions as to what I am thinking - the way you would if you were seeing that in real life.

Kikidas could be pissed at Boon for what he said. Or what he's going to do. Or upset for some other reason that Boon is bringing up, but not at Boon himself.

But you can only guess based on what you can see of the interaction between the two.

The bad example:

Kikidas looks over at Boon, frowning as he talks about her sordid love affair with Bargrave oh so many years ago. Her fingers curl into fists as she contemplates the horrible ending where Bargrave spurned her for Disrida, that succubus tramp. Her heart is still broken.

There is just way too much information in that pose that, if we were being true to the soul of text-based gaming, you just shouldn't know. Unless Kikidas or Boon say: "Hey, do you remember when Bargrave spurned you for Disrida and broke your heart? Isn't Disrida such a tramp?" how could you possibly infer that information from Kikidas frowning and clenching her fists?

Granted... there is a time and place for internal monologuing in poses. I use it RARELY myself for comedic relief.

For instance:

As Bodaz speaks of using mice to experiment synthesizing a new hormone that would allow Dekir's people to live offworld, Kvasira looks down at her fingers, flexing them against her clothing as she listens. Where's PETA when you need them?

There's no such thing as PETA in the Star Wars universe, so it isn't IC information being given. But it makes people laugh in out of character chat. :)

So that's where I've been -- that and on Champions. Erm, I don't know the full name. It's the new incarnation of City of Heroes.

I have, thus far, gotten a ton of compliments about the way my characters look. Granted, some from Boon, so that doesn't count, but some from other people, too.

And of course, my account is being shared by Vialora, who has a thing for vivid purple and green -- which kind of hurts the eyes. I think his power is to be so blindingly clashing that people can't see him out of self-preservation.

So, because I think my characters look cool...

Gaia, Sibuna, Nightdream and Blue Lace -- okay, that last one isn't cool as much as just... what can I say, I was having fun. :)

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So... that's where I've been. I'm back on WoW part time, leveling my disc priest, and probably going to be playing more of my resto shaman than my retardadin. And maybe my warlock.