I’ve pared down the stream schedule for this week. I have a fairly busy week ahead of me at work, and I also need to carve out a bit of time to start getting ahead on some adult content creation.

So instead of two streams this week like I had initially planned, I’m only going to do one. And there’s no Sims stream on the schedule this week either.

While I would love to chill and continue my Flower Legacy Challenge, I have weekend plans to stay in and chill with Manthing.

This week I plan to just stream some chill Animal Crossing on Thursday. As I mentioned last week (when I planned to stream ACNH), I just unlocked K.K. and am about to start building for the first time ever!

Crimbus Streams?

I am not someone who celebrates Christmas. Even before moving towards witchcraft (when I was still Roman Catholic), I had a tough time with Christmas.

And not just because of the crappy things that had seemed to happen around the holiday, though those never seemed to help matters.

It’s difficult to explain. It’s partly overwhelm, but also this…miasma over the holiday. I’m not sure why. It’s not something we’ve delved much into in therapy either, except to validate my feelings.

All that to say that I’m thinking of putting together a stream schedule for Thursday, Friday, and Saturday evening during the week of December 20-26.

That way others who don’t celebrate for whatever reason, or those that do but don’t have anywhere to go, at least have somewhere to stop by for a while.

Until then, however, I hope you join me on Twitch for Animal Crossing this week! And don’t forget to follow my Twitter to up-to-date information on my stream schedule.

How is it December already? I don’t understand. But here we are. And with a new stream schedule for the week.

I really hated missing stream on Saturday, but my depression and lack of spoons got the best of me… followed by a migraine that evening.

So I’m going to try to stream two days this week instead to make up for missing Saturday’s stream.

Since I finally unlocked K.K. in Animal Crossing, I can officially build on my island! So that’ll be the focus of Thursday’s stream… though I have no idea where to begin or what to do. But I’ll figure it out as I go.

On Saturday, I’m going to continue my Flower Legacy Challenge in The Sims 4. I surprisingly missed playing Sims on Saturday more than I thought I would. So I’m looking forward to getting back into it this weekend!

VPN Thoughts

I’m also finally looking into obtaining a VPN. I want to play some DBD on stream, and of course this is the thing to make me finally decide to invest in a personal VPN.

Y’know. Because of the whole doxxing thing that’s happening to DBD streamers?

I really want to play some cozy DBD on stream, so I figured with all the deals on Nord VPN right now, I’d pick it up.

Doing some research it seems to be one of the best out there right now, and seeing a bunch of streamers using Nord is a bonus.

Don’t forget to follow me on Twitch, and keep an eye on my Twitter for any last minute stream schedule updates!

I put Animal Crossing: New Horizons down a while ago. But after playing some the past few months with my best friend twice a month, I’ve really gotten back into it.

At first, I would just update the game a few minutes before logging into video chat with my bestie, and then leave it alone after the fact until our next game date night.

All we really do is visit each others islands as we chat about anything and everything. Check out what’s for sale at the Able Sisters and the Nook brothers, give each other items (though my bestie has become my ACNH Fairy Godmother), and just run around and visit villagers.

What really got me back into it, though, I think, is the most recent update. I got to see Brewster’s place in person, and that made me really want to unlock K.K. and get on with the fun “end-game” stuff.

Though, to be honest, the super epic Hello Kitty stuff my bestie has on her ACNH island may also have tipped the scales a bit in favor of picking it back up as well.

Unlocked K.K.

And I did it! I finally unlocked K.K.! It has taken me forever to finally do this. I’m not sure why I never really felt a drive to get into it before now. But it is what it is.

I did some time traveling for the first time to do it as well. Which was scary to do, but I think it’s something I can see myself doing every so often in the future.

Surprisingly, despite seeing the K.K. Slider concert for “beating” ACNH on others’ streams, it gave me all the good cozy feels, and made me even more motivated to carve out some time to play.

I wonder if it’s because I got to see all my villagers participate in the concert? I don’t particularly have an attachment or love of any of them (except maybe Merengue), but it was still heartwarming to see them all there!

And the Nook Miles didn’t hurt, either.

Villager Shenanigans

I’ve also encountered some… interesting conversations with Villagers. Both my own and my best friend’s. Like Tia, wanting to learn Kung Fu. Is she Neo, now? But for real, Tia. I feel the same way about chores.

And Judy is just… scary. She’s never really been a dreamie of mine, and this conversation really solidified it.

This mail from Merengue is making her grow into one of my ACNH Dreamies, honestly. Who doesn’t love the awkwardness of this message? Plus I honestly feel like numbers lining up (and those I see repeated often) have to mean something.

Turkey Day Event

I also finally participated in my first ever ACNH Event on time… Turkey Day! It was a bit of a pain to come home Thursday evening after spending the day at my polycule’s house and trying to grind it out, but it was simultaneously a lot of fun.

It required much more fishing than I was expecting, but I was okay with that. Fishing in games is one of my favorite things.

And I had to do a lot of fishing since I haven’t actually grown anything on my island, yet. Since the recipes are a bit on the random side, Chef Franklin of course never asked for the things I actually had on hand.

But I persevered! I fished for my villagers and was able to trade for the things I needed, and some things I didn’t need, as well. Plus I was able to get all the updated Turkey Day food, and conquer my first ACNH holiday in full! I’m actually looking forward to whatever they have for a winter holiday.

IntPiPoMo Counter: 33/50

A new week means a new stream schedule.

I’m really enjoying streaming. I’ve missed it, but I also remember it being much more difficult and draining than it has been. Though it may be less draining due to the fact that I’ve been on antidepressants just about two years, now.

I’m going to be playing some Animal Crossing: New Horizons on stream for the first time ever this week. It’s a weird week for me at work due to the fact that American Thanksgiving is on Thursday, but I should be able to make some chill ACNH happen.

Not only will it be my first time playing ACNH on stream, it will also be my first time ever using the capture card I picked up for myself two years ago. I’m crossing my fingers everything I set up tonight works okay tomorrow!

On Saturday I’ll be going back to the Flower Legacy Challenge I started. I’m having a lot of fun with it, though I feel like it’s dragging a bit because I’m on the first generation, still, and there’s no kids to cause chaos.

YouTube Thoughts

The Flower Legacy has also rekindled my interest in YouTube content. I used to create a bunch of YouTube content around WildStar (and it’s all still available on my YouTube channel for those interested), and I miss creating that kind of content.

What I think I’m going to do for now is not just export my Twitch VODs onto YouTube to archive them, but also create shorter-form videos from my Twitch streams.

One of the pieces of advice I’ve seen for content creators is to repurpose your content in other forms for other media avenues, since everyone has a preference for their content consumption. And honestly, it makes sense as a consumer of content, but it is not something I’d thought of as a creator of content.

So, if you ever miss me, or my stream schedule doesn’t line up with when you can hang out live, you’ll always be able to find it in shorter form on my YouTube channel!

That said however, make sure to follow me on Twitch, and keep an eye on either the blog or Twitter for stream schedule updates!

I’ve been an on-and-off participant (since 2016) of the Community Game-Along that Anne of Chic Pixel has hosted. While, admittedly, I haven’t picked up any games outside of ESO in a while (and honestly, even ESO has just been login rewards for over a month, though I’m hoping that will change soon), I was sad to not be able to find it on her blog this year when I looked in February.

Of course, like a newb, I didn’t even look at her old posts to check if she may have mentioned what was happening with it (spoiler alert: she did). So it wasn’t until a few days ago, thanks to Krikket, that I realized it is actually going on… it was just taken over by CapsuleJay and Nitro.

I’m super excited, actually. CapsuleJay is a pretty rad guy, and I know Nitro has been a participant for a while. So I’m sure once I get back into it, and actually look for related content, I’ll see more activity around it.

For those interested in participating, you can find the master list of topics, and more information on their new website!

Community Game-Along Plans

I’m sad I missed DatingSiMonth. Though, honestly, my life is spent in DatingSiMonth, what with the five million dating sims I own and need to play through (what can I say… I like the genre). I’m looking forward to trying out JRPGJuly. I’ve honestly never really played any big-name JRPGs (yes, I know it’s a sin), so I’m looking to try and dip my toes into that pond. I’m super excited about October (YAY HORROR GAMES!), and VNNovember. I mean, obviously VNNovember, with over 3/4 of my steam library being either dating sims or visual novels. The majority of my console games are also visual novels (all hail the Vita and PS4). And I’m not even including Detroit Become Human as a visual novel, though I very much want to (because it’s really just an Americanized take on the genre, really). I’m going to have to go through my games and start coming up with ideas of games I’m interested in tackling for each month.

This month, however, is CapcoMonth, where we play Capcom games! To be honest, I don’t own a lot of Capcom games. Many of them I have absolutely no interest in. Though I didn’t realize that Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney was a Capcom game until I started googling what game I might want to try out. So, I am finally going to try to complete Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, years after I initially purchased the game! And of course I still have my original first edition Nintendo DS (with a Sailor Moon skin) to play it on. I’m looking forward to it. Leave it to me to pick a Visual Novel to play on a month that’s not Visual Novel month.

This is post 4/31 for Blapril. You can find out more and sign up at Belghast’s original post. You can view those participating on Twitter via the Twitter list I put together. Nogamara of Battlestance has put together an RSS feed of all Blapril participants.

The other day I decided to turn a post from 2017 into some prompts for folks. Part two’s prompts can be found here. It comes to an end with this post, part three of three!

(Unrelated: I know I’m “behind” on posts, and while depression may have gotten the best of me for the past few days, I’m going to try to post an extra post or two every so often to try and catch up on the 31 posts. I may not hit 31, but I very much want to try.)

Favorite Protagonist

Just like with the antagonist question in part 2, I’m not particularly sure how to answer this one. There’s lots of characters I like, but there’s no real single protagonist I can pull out and say, “Yes! This is my favorite!”. I attribute this to playing mostly MMOs. I think I’d have a better answer to this if I had played more RPGs when I first started gaming, or if I played more now.

Game You Think Had the Best Graphics/Art Style

WildStar. I know it’s still not everybody’s cup of tea with the art style, but how can you go wrong? I loved it so much. It made me so happy with how unique it was.

Favorite Classic Game

What defines something as a “classic” game? To be fair, I really only played a few handheld games until we got an N64 in the house, but I never really had any other consoles until I purchased a PS2 in college. So I never really played a lot of “classic” games (if I’m thinking of what might actually classify as “classics”).

A Game You Plan on Playing

As I mentioned last week, Them’s Fightin’ Herds is on my most recent to play list!

Best Voice Acting

I unashamedly adore the voice acting in Secret World. It helps that I love that Jeff Combs and Armin Shimerman do various voices throughout the game. But overall, the voice acting and character development are what make me keep going back even if the combat makes me twitch.

Most Epic Scene Ever

What defines a “scene”? A cutscene? I think one of the ones that has stuck with me the most is the reveal of Drusera’s connection to the Entity we saw in Blighthaven in WildStar.

Favorite Game Developer

I’m going to leave details for Developer Appreciation Week, but I really dig Aksys Games. I’m sure it helps that they’ve pushed to localize a lot of otome. By extension, I suppose Idea Factory (and their Otomate brand) is probably one I adore, since those are the games getting localized. Though favorite… I don’t know if I could claim a favorite. I loved Carbine for WildStar. I love Funcom for Secret World… This would be like picking your favorite child.

A Game You Thought You Wouldn’t Like, but Ended Up Loving

To be brutally honest? WildStar. “What, Chestnut? YOU? Not like WILDSTAR?!” I know, I know. But when I played in the beta, while I was intrigued, it didn’t quite grab me. And I thought come launch that I just… wouldn’t like it. But I’d play it because that’s what my Ex and his friend wanted to play. In the end, I loved the game more than they did, and it still makes me sad that it’s gone (even if I wasn’t playing much at the end).

Your Favorite Game of All Time

This isn’t a fair question. This is, once again, like asking to pick a favorite child. Of all time? This could change the moment I play another game, and something gets replaced. Does it require that it is something I could pick up and play again at a moment’s notice and have fun with it? Is it something I can leave as one-and-done? Could I count an MMO for this? I honestly just don’t know. There are so many games that I could list for this as an answer (WildStar, Secret World, EVE, Hatoful Boyfriend, Skyrim, Code Realize), but none of them feel completely “right” as the most favored.

Gaming goals used to be something I posted monthly, but fell off at the end of 2018 with them due to, well, life. I figured I’d try to get back into them in some way or another, and Blaugust is a good opportunity to tackle that, especially as day job calms down a little bit with some reorg that’s happened recently, leaving me with some time for gaming that I haven’t truly had in quite a while.

I used to do goals as more of a running list of, “here’s things I want to accomplish, just maybe not necessarily this month!”. I kind of want to change that outlook, and make my lists a little more focused and truly month-based. So I plan to give it a try this month and see how it works out. Can I be more realistic about my goals? We shall see!

The Goals

In no particular order…

• Complete Vvardenfell Master Angler (ESO)
• Ding level 42 on Warden (ESO)
• Hit Revered with The Unshackled (WoW)
• Hit Revered with Rustbolt Resistance (WoW)
• Ding level 30 on Conjurer (FFXIV)
• Start re-watching MSQ cutscenes (FFXIV)
• Finish a play through of Detroit: Become Human (PS4)

Ubisoft

• Watch Dogs: Legion: Initial reaction – Oh yay, another bunch of dudes in a resistance cell in a dystopian future. Secondary reaction – GRANNY HACKER FOR THE WIN. Okay, I’m intrigued. This looks fun, and is story-driven the way I like. Also enjoyed the music. Never gotten into the IP, but this might be the tipping point for me to pick up the others to give them a whirl if I really enjoy this one. Really love the concept of how EVERY character has a story, so the replay value goes up a BUNCH. Especially if they all have unique missions to recruit them. Also speaks to my penchant for collection.
• Mythic Quest: Raven’s Banquet: Meh. Okay, so long as it’s not anything like Always Sunny, I might watch it on a friend’s AppleTV?
• Rainbow Six Siege: I don’t play just plain shooters. And meh, Tom Clancy.
• Brawlhalla Adventure Time Crossover: Never seen Adventure Time, and I don’t do fighting games, typically. I mean, I’ve played Smash Bros, but not a big fan of it.
• Ghost Recon Breakpoint: Nah thanks. (PUPPER! OMG Bam bam is adorable. So well behaved.)
• Elite Sqaud: Nope.
• Just Dance 2020: I’ve never played a Just Dance game before. I assume it’d be something up my alley since I loved DDR, but at the same time, not so sure.
• For Honor: Shadows of the Hitokiri: Nah.
• Rainbow Six Quarantine: Nope.
• Division 2: Yeah, not a shooter fan.
• UPlay+: Not interested.
• Roller Champions: The trailer was cute, but not interested in it.
• Gods & Monsters: I like the concept, but don’t know if it’s something I’d play.

Square Enix

• FFXIV Remake: I’m sure I’ll play it eventually. But it doesn’t have the same symbolic importance to me that it does for others who played the original when they were younger.
• Life is Strange 2: That reminds me i need to finish the others so I can get this. Because I’m looking forward to it. I love games that focus on storytelling.
• FF Crystal Chronicles: No particular interest. I’m not a die hard FF fan like so many other gamers.
• Octopath Traveler: Hasn’t it been out on Switch for a while? Oh, it’s on Steam now? Is that what the announcement was?
• The Last Remnant Remastered: I don’t have a Switch. And I’m not particularly pumped by the trailer.
• Dragon Quest Builders 2: No interest.
• Dragon Quest XI Definitive Edition: No interest.
• Circuit Superstars: No interest, but looks cute.
• Batallion 1944: Shooters aren’t my thing.
• FF Soundtracks: I’ll listen to them, they’re gorgeous music. Nice to have it on Spotify.
• KH3 Re-Mind DLC: I’ve never really gotten into the KH games, and I don’t know why, considering how much I like Disney things.
• FFXIV Shadowbringers: I’m glad so many people are so excited, but like, I still haven’t gotten past the base game.
• Dying Light 2: See Microsoft/XBox.
• Saga Games: No particular interest.
• FFBE War of the Visions: Not interested.
• Outriders: Don’t do shooters.
• Oninaki: Not interested.
• FFVIII Remastered: Like I said with VII, I don’t hold the same attachment to FF games that most other gamers do. So I don’t particularly have an interest until I decide to get into the IP outside of XIV/XV.
• Marvel Avengers: Meh. As much as I’ve enjoyed the movie as a very long and involved story, and as much as I’ll continue to watch the movies, I really don’t particularly care for most superheroes.

Nintendo

• General Thoughts: The gag with Bowser at the start was actually really cute and made me happy.
• Smash Bros x Dragon Quest: I don’t play brawlers.
• Dragon Quest XI Definitive Edition: See Squenix.
• Luigi’s Mansion 3: I thought I saw a trailer for this not too long ago? Regardless, I’m not interested.
• Dark Crystal Age of Resistance Tactics: Not particularly my type of game, but would pick it up on sale to play eventually because it’s Dark Crystal.
• Legend of Zelda Link’s Awakening: Like FF, Zelda isn’t an IP I got into when it came out. So I’m not particularly interested in the game. Though I’m excited for friends who are.
• Trials of Mana: It looks cute, but don’t know if I’ll play it.
• Collection of Mana: RPGs like that really haven’t been my thing outside of Pokemon and Golden Sun.
• Witcher 3: I still haven’t played any of the others, and honestly, I’d rather play them on PC than Switch.
• Fire Emblem Three Houses: I still need to play all the other Fire Emblem games. Which I think are up my alley because of the romancing options and the story.
• Resident Evil: It’s not an IP I’ve really gotten into, per se, but I do enjoy watching others play it.
• No More Heroes 3: Not interested.
• Contra Rogue Corps: Not interested.
• Daemon x Machina: Not interested. I mean, I don’t mind mecha stuff, but the game doesn’t look like my cup of tea.
• Panzer Dragoon: Not interested.
• Pokemon Sword/Shield: I kind of want a Switch for these, amongst a few other games currently out.
• Astral Chain: Not particularly interested in playing, though the trailer/story is intriguing. Maybe something I’ll watch folks stream.
• Empire of Sin: Mobster stuff isn’t something I’m interested in.
• Ultimate Alliance 3: Not interested.
• Cadence of Hyrule: Okay that looks cute, and Crypt of the Necrodancer is neat, so I could see myself playing this.
• Mario & Sonic Olympic Games: I could see myself playing this with the polycule.
• Animal Crossing New Horizons: It looks cute, but I’ve never gotten into Animal Crossing in general. I do like that Nintendo is willing to take time for games, though, even if a vocal minority is pissed.
• Quick Reel: The Sinking City looks positively cosmic horror, and cosmic horror is one of my favorite genres thanks to Secret World. (I mean, I don’t mind Lovecraft, but folks have done it better since him.)
• Smash Bros x Banjo-Kazooie: See Smash Bros x Dragon Quest.

EA

• General Thoughts: The announcer for Star Wars was SUPER annoying.
• Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order: An ARPG between episode 3 and 4 sounds interesting. But at the same time, I’m not interested enough to want to pay full price. Though I do want to know more about Saw Gerrera and how he ties into everything.
• Apex Legends: It’s apparently a game that’s already out? Looks like a battle royale thing, which is not a genre I’m interested in.
• Battlefield V: I don’t particularly care about the franchise, but from what I’ve read on it, the story looks interesting enough to think of picking it up on sale.
• FIFA 20: I’m not a sports person. But I’m happy people are excited.
• MADDEN NFL 20: See FIFA 20.
• Sims 4: I can’t believe the Sims has been around for 20 years already. Island Living looks like a lot of fun. I mean, I’m behind because the packs cost so much, but… MERMAIDS. MERMAIDSMERMAIDSMERMAIDS. I guess I need to hope things go and stay on sale through my next paycheck so I can catch up and get back to playing some Sims 4! Also interested in the new magic pack. I know folks are upset that there’s no University, yet, but it’s never been one of my favorite packs in any of the Sims so far.

Microsoft/XBox

• The Outer Worlds: Looks pretty cool! Reminds me a bit of Fallout, but somehow looks far more interesting. I’m all for other companies trying to take on open world RPGs.
• Bleeding Edge: Competitive multiplayer. Nope. Next.
• Ori and the Will of the Wisps: Wasn’t this already announced? Regardless, I’m not a platformer fan, so I won’t be getting it. I will probably get the soundtrack, though.
• Minecraft Dungeons: Meh. I never got into Minecraft to begin with, so it’s not for me.
• Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order: See EA.
• Blair Witch: I’ve gotten into horror, more, as of late, and while I”m intrigued, I don’t know if I can handle a lot of first person camera jiggling and running. I’d have to watch some streams to see if it’s up my alley. I’ve also never watched the movie, so I don’t know how much it follows the plot of that, either.
• Cyberpunk 2077: I’m so torn on this. I mean, yay, Keanu Reeves, but the trailer leaves me lacking based on other cyberpunk portrayals, especially the testosterone heavy aspect of it. I’m vaguely interested, but I won’t be picking it up until I can play something other than a straight white dude as the main character. And I’m not sure if I want to pick it up at full price, yet, or not. I’m just not… SOLD on it.
• Spiritfarer: Looks really cute, but not sure if I’m interested.
• Battletoads: Not for me.
• The Legend of Wright: Maybe? What kind of game is this even? If I actually knew more about it I might be more inclined to look into it and get it? But for now, it’s a nah.
• Microsoft Flight Simulator: I know a few friends who are probably interested in this, but I am not one of those people. Flying as a passenger is rough on my motion sickness, and I have no desire to do as a simulator as a pilot.
• Age of Empires II Definitive: Again, not a game I’ll ever be interested in. RTS isn’t really my genre—it stresses me out way too much.
• Wasteland 3: Post-apocalyptic blowy-uppy RPG? Eh, I’ll pass.
• Psychonauts 2: Is this… a platformer? I mean, I know nothing about Psychonauts, but this doesn’t look like something I’d be interested in.
• LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga: LEGO STAR WARS!! While I know I said I don’t enjoy platformers, there’s just something about the LEGO games that make me happy… even if I hvaen’t played much of them before except with some friends. But yes, I do want this one.
• DBZ Kakarot: So, while I watched DBZ back when it was on TV in the 90s, it was never my favorite. It was more a convenience and the fact that I was engrossed with anime as a whole because it was so new to me. I won’t get this, I’m excited for friends that are excited, but this REALLY makes me yearn for a new Sailor Moon game. I mean, we’ve had a Crystal reboot, so why not a Crystal game? Even on Gameboy or something? I’d play the shit out of it REGARDLESS of genre.
• 12 Minutes: I like the idea (time loop stories appeal to me for some reason), but don’t like the top-down way it’s presented, particularly.
• Way to the Woods: Looks kinda cute, but don’t know if it’s something I’d enjoy.
• Gears 5: Okay, so, the franchise has never appealed to me before: dudes go blow stuff up in a shooter. But with the introduction of a female protagonist, I’d be likely to give it a try, or at least watch streams to see if it’d be up my alley. Though Escape mode does look pretty cool, actually.
• Dying Light 2: A parkour zombie game…. nah. Zombies are just overdone, and I could care less about survival horror stuff. I’d rather some RPG story and substance at every turn. Action games in general are not particularly my thing unless it has a great draw from story.
• Forza Horizon 4 LEGO Expac: Forza games are not my thing, but I’m happy there’s so many folks excited about it. Wait… LEGO? LEGO expansion. That makes me happy, even if I won’t play it.
• Gears Pop Mobile Game: I don’t even know what kind of mobile game it is, but I have enough trouble keeping up with the few mobile games I do have. So no.
• State of Decay 2 Heartland: Again, zombies, though the story premises are intriguing.
• Phantasy Star Online 2: Intrigued! But that’s all I really have to say about it. Is it an XBox One exclusive? I’ll have to do more research.
• Crossfire X: What is it, a shooter? Regardless, no interest.
• Tales of Arise: Isn’t this part of the “Tales” series? I haven’t played any of them, but a lot of folks have recommended them. Might look into it!
• Borderlands 3: Yes.
• Elden Ring: I need to know more about it, but I could care less about GoT, so the George RR Martin draw for a lot of folks isn’t there for me.
• Project Scarlett: Next console? Are you freaking kidding me? I don’t even have a XBOX One. I still only have a 360.
• Halo Infinite: Has never been of interest to me. Ever. Still isn’t. Though I’d watch a movie of it if it looked like this trailer.

Bethesda

• General Thoughts: This is the only one I actually watched live because I wanted the ESO goodies. Also, that YEAH guy can go DIAF.
• Elder Scrolls Blades: I don’t care to play it, but glad some folks are excited for it. Neat that it’s on Switch, too!
• Fallout 76 Wastelanders/Nuclear Winter: Don’t play it. Don’t care to play it. I mean, it’s cool of them to say, “yeah we screwed up”, but at the same time, it’s not of interest to me, regardless of updates. Especially with the battle royale.
• Ghostwire Tokyo: YES! (My reaction//Manthing reaction)
• ESO: The trailer was so cool, and now I want to roll up a Necro. Though not yet. Eventually. I don’t know a lot about the Elder Scrolls universe, but having started ESO makes me want to know more outside of what I’ve picked up from Skyrim and ESO. Especially with the reactions with the trailer. I feel like I’m missing out on some lore based on character reactions.
• Commander Keen:  Theme song thoughts. I’m not big on mobile games but I’m intrigued.
• Elder Scrolls Legends: Card games in general aren’t my thing. So not particularly interested in playing.
• Rage 2: Not my thing.
• Wolfenstein Youngbloods: I have only two reasons I want to play. I’ve never played any of the Wolfenstein games, but if I enjoy this one, I’d go back and pick up the others to try.
• Deathloop: It looks super cool! I definitely want to check it out.
• DOOM: I tuned out. But I’d watch it on stream if some of my fave streamers played it.

Aywren, one of the Blaugust participants, posed an impromptu writing prompt on her blog asking:

Do you have a game you feel changed your life? Blaugust about it!

Contrary to how I view gaming now, gaming was not a big part of my life growing up–I classified myself more as a geek and nerd than anything (and I still do, don’t get me wrong). But it’s not like I didn’t game, either.

As I’ve mentioned before, it’s not like gaming wasn’t a part of my life growing up. I played Berenstain Bears on 8-inch floppy while in pre-school. I was one of the first kids with a computer in school. But while gaming was something I did, it wasn’t as big a defining part of my life.

I loved to game–I played Pokemon on my gameboy; I played Mario Kart on our N64; I purchased a PS2 to try out various games… but they weren’t the only thing I did.

What girl growing up being born in the 80s didn’t want to marry Jareth?

As a kid, I mostly read. And if I wasn’t reading, I was watching a fantasy or sci-fi movie (that wasn’t too scary). And when I wasn’t watching a movie, I was out in our back yard, pretending to be in the fantasy world–whether it be near the trees or in the pool. I mostly saved video games for when I was out with my parents and bored, or when we had friends over. Sometimes my brother and I were allowed to play the N64 together, but it wasn’t very often. Looking back on it, my parents were pretty strict with monitoring our play time as kids (not that it bothered us much as we had other outlets).

As a teen, while I played more games on the PS2, and kept playing on the N64/Gameboy video gaming was not a defining factor of my life. Again, I was a big reader. I was also very involved in my high school–I was in musicals, and plays, and band, and choir. I even wrote for the school newspaper for two years. I was in lots of clubs, and was involved in community theatre during the summer, as well as working various summer jobs.

My favorite Sailor Moon villain.

While I spent a lot of time online, it was mainly writing fan fiction (primarily song-fics), or working on a Sailor Moon Villains website (I was kind of obsessed–and I still am!), or creating dolls (you remember those–they were pixel models without hair or clothes or sometimes eyes, and you had to digitally add everything), or designing websites for fun, or lots and lots of chatroom RP.

It wasn’t until I hit college in 2005 that I really started to get into gaming. I joined some clubs and started using my PS2 more. I started playing more games with my (now) best friend, and we would have girl-nights where we’d play games, watch movies or anime, and binge on pizza. Despite this, no one game caught my interest as something that would keep me gaming consistently. When we gamed, it was mainly multi-player games, and if they weren’t multi-player, we’d take turns when one of us died. While I remember having fun with all of them, none of them quite left an impression on me.

When I transferred to a different college in 2007, I discovered World of Warcraft. And that is a story of it’s own. So look for Part 2 later!