It has been a crazy week emotionally, physically, and with work tasks. I had wanted to get this post out Monday, but it is now Friday, and I am just sitting down to write it. But that is life. I am at least writing, so there is that. I want to try to keep up with blogging much more than I have after every other blogging event. Especially since I’ve a lot of ideas right now, with posts planned out mostly through July at this point. Right now, I aim to try and put out five posts a week. Here’s my current plan.

• Sunday: Seriously Geeky Sundays (prompts by Just Geeking By)
• Monday: Weekend review
• Tuesday/Wednesday: Days off
• Thursday/Friday/Saturday: Whatever I feel like writing

The “whatever” writing could be more evergreen prompts that I’ve (currently) already planned out, or it could be something spawned by a blog post I’ve read. In that case, the evergreen stuff will just get pushed out farther. Hence why it’s evergreen. We’ll see how this works out for me continuing through this summer. It’s nice to have ideas and even a little bit of energy to want to follow through on them for a change. Using a content calendar is helping quite a bit.

Crafting Time

I spent a few hours relaxing with some Pocket Camp and Cook, Serve, Delicious this past weekend. I know, “relaxing” and “Cook, Serve, Delicious” don’t necessarily belong in the same sentence. But honestly, it’s just the right amount of anxious energy without being overwhelming. And if a stage gets overwhelming, I close it out, or I re-start it in Zen mode. For what it’s worth, I’ve been doing both resource and time management in my day-to-day life for as long as I can remember (thanks mental health!), so it’s not something that’s completely anxiety-inducing when I’ve been using it to help relieve my anxiety.

I'm sorry you can't… Have you tried Pocket Camp? It's mobile so not even close to the real thing but maybe it'll scratch that itch? I hope you get to buy a Switch soon!

— Ghoulish GamerGirlK! (@KtheGamergirl) May 10, 2020

I also played some Pocket Camp before bed. I’ve been complaining on Twitter about there not being any Switch consoles available for sale. I know, I’m that weird kid that doesn’t have a Switch. I didn’t have the disposable income to pick one up on release, or even earlier this year. Of course I got a bonus check and started making more in adult work just before stay-at-home hit, so now that I have the income, there aren’t any to buy. So to try and scratch the ACNH itch, I picked up Pocket Camp. It’s cute. I enjoy it. But I’m not a big mobile game player to begin with, so I don’t know how much I play or keep up with it. I can barely keep up with Pokemon GO, and I haven’t touched Notice Me, Senpai (which I absolutely ADORE) in months.

Retail Therapy

I had a bit of a tough weekend this past weekend, and ended up tackling my anxiety with some online retail therapy. The last time I did this was in September 2016, and before that it had been years. It’s not a common occurrence, thankfully, but I still feel guilty about doing it whenever it happens. I ended up picking up a collar to go with my LARP costume, a new day collar (and a matching leash), some nail supplies (polish, oil, glass files), some pre-recorded Burlesque classes for the month of May, and a tarot reading from a fellow adult worker I very much look up to as a role model and inspiration.

Just did a beautiful Tarot Reading for @Chestnut_Foxx and we were both crying. OMG!

— DESTINY DIAZ Thicker Treat OnlyDestiny.com (@DDestiny_Diaz) May 12, 2020

Her reading really hit me in the gut at the start of the week and it’s been percolating at the back of my mind. I’m hoping to have some time this weekend to truly process it the way I want to, and give her more detailed thoughts and feedback about it other than the both of us crying over it because it was so powerful.

At the end of April, MagiWasTaken of Indiecator tagged me in the Quantic Foundry Gamer Motivation Profile. A lot of folks in the blogosphere have tackled it much faster than I have, so I figured it was about time to hop to it! The premise is to complete the Gamer Motivation Profile over on Quantic Foundry, and then answer some questions about your results. Without further ado, here’s mine.

The Questions

What are your results? Share your link, headline, and the graphs you received.

My gamer motivation profile is “Calm, Spontaneous, Completionist, Independent, Deeply Immersed, and Creative”. Well that’s a mouthful. As Magi called out, Naithan posted a more in-depth document from Quantic Foundry that helped to explain the wording they chose. Of course, I couldn’t find it on the Quantic Foundry site easily, so I’ve linked to Naithan’s comment on Frostilyte’s post. As someone who loves this kind of psych stuff, it was an interesting read. According to that document, my headline (paraphrased from their bullet points and tables throughout) could be deciphered as

• Calm: Enjoys turn-based combat, games that can be paused, games that are relaxed and predictable, and low visual stimulation. (e.g.: Sid Meyer’s Civ, Myst)
• Spontaneous: Enjoys reactive gameplay with low cognitive loads and short time horizons. (e.g.: The Sims)
• Completionist: Wants to get all collectibles, complete all missions.
• Independent: Enjoys single-player games and soloable quests. Likes to be in full control. (e.g.: Lego Harry Potter, Hatoful Boyfriend)
• Deeply Immersed: Enjoys being someone else, somewhere else. Enjoys elaborate plots, and interesting characters.
• Creative: Enjoys expression and customization. Wants to explore, tinker, and experiment.

I included some of what I thought were applicable games from when I could pull examples from a chart, and I feel like they’re mostly accurate, but I think I’m supposed to discuss that on a different question.

How do you feel about your survey results?

I feel like they’re mostly accurate, but I am unsure how I scored so low on Social? I get that I’m not a Competitive person, but I also don’t understand why I only scored 48% on Community. Community in gaming is really the main thing that keeps me playing MMOs. And if there isn’t a thriving community, or many friends I can flock to that play it, then I am generally disinterested in it. I mean, for goodness sake, I ran a yearly festival in WildStar when it was around. If that isn’t high community I don’t know what is!

Which categories are the most and least accurate?

It seems I may have answered this a bit in the prior question. Least accurate definitely has to be Social for me. Most accurate is Immersion/Completion for sure.

Are there any major exceptions to your typical gaming motivations?

If I am interpreting this question correctly, it is asking what differs from my profile in the exceptions. With that, I’d have to say… some of the games they list for “calm”. You would think I’d like the Civ games. I honestly wish I did. But to me, they feel much more RTS-based/paced than I would like. And RTS and my anxiety do not get along. I mean, I haven’t tried playing the Civ games since I started my meds for anxiety/depression, though, so maybe with some time they’ll be more up my alley?

Do any of these motivations carry over to your non-gaming life? If so, how?

Oh, immersion for sure. I participate in LARPs. I love TTRPGs when I can get in on them. And I adore reading fantasy and sci-fi of all sorts. I like involved characters. I like unique stories. GIVE ME NARRATIVE.

Which games (in your experience) best satisfy your gaming motivations?

Narration-heavy games, especially dating sims/visual novels are typically my go-to. High-narrative games like Life is Strange also fall into my list. I think if I could find the time to dedicate to story-rich RPGs I’d play a bit more of them, but then they also fall into the highly-active games which don’t always suit me (which is accurate to my gaming profile).

How do the games above compare to the “suggested games” list from the questionnaire’s follow-up page?

According to the niche list, it’s mostly visual novel type games, or Animal Crossing. I don’t have a Switch so I’ve yet to actually play Animal Crossing (and it was never a game I got invested in as a kid because we had limited video game time, even on our handhelds), but I have been rabidly refreshing stock on Switches so I can play Animal Crossing. So I’d say it’s fairly accurate. It threw in some phone games on my list, which are not typically my cup of tea. I don’t care to do much on my phone, to be honest. It also included games like Sims 4 (which I do play, but have to be in the mood), and story-rich RPGs (Dragon Age) which I’ve mentioned I’ve wanted to get into, but I think I need to be in the right mindset to do so.

This is post 28/31 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.

Blaugust Has Begun!

Today marks the first day of Blaugust. This week, the theme is “Prep Week”. As explained by Bel, “This is a time for those of us in the community who have sorta figured this blogging thing out to help get you started with some tips and tricks style posts.”

I’m not always great at working within themes, but today inspiration came to me as I tried to work my way through another depressive episode to make this first post. (I’m fairly open about the fact that I have depression and anxiety. It’s something you may see mentioned here often.)

Chronic Illness Is a Thing

It’s a thing that many people deal with day-to-day, whether it be an invisible illness (mental illness, chronic pains, etc.) or a visible illness, it is something that can be especially draining. And some days, you just don’t have enough spoons to get done what needs to get done… so how does one even begin to tackle the “want to do”s, like blogging?

Well, that’s something you need to decide for yourself, but here’s some tips and tricks I use that may prove helpful for others.

Rabbit From a Hat

Sometimes it can feel like you’re doing magic tricks to tackle the “want to do”s. But there’s ways I’ve found to help me  manage that. I’m hoping they prove of some use to others.

• Sometimes, accept that it just can’t be tackled and change your goal. I know the vast majority of us have lofty goals to try and complete all 31 days with no issue. But sometimes, goals need to be adjusted so that you don’t run yourself ragged. While I very much wanted to try to get this post out today (and I succeeded) I also had to accept that maybe it wasn’t a good day to try.
• Find other avenues if it’s too much. For me, this sometimes means writing it down in my bullet journal until I get to a place where I have the energy to sit at the computer to re-write, tweak, and find images to go with it. On really bad days, it could mean that I use a voice recorder on my phone and just speak my ideas until I get to a place where I can transpose them. Maybe for you that means you just post an audio log and add an edit to a post later transposing it. Or maybe you just leave the audio as-is on your blog. Don’t hold yourself to just writing walls of text.
• Don’t hold yourself to writing walls of text. Yes, I know I just said this, but don’t feel obligated to hold yourself to writing more than one or two paragraphs. A great example is Aeyvi‘s blog/website Screenographic. Her posts essentially consist of a batch of photos in a gallery format. While not a traditional “blog”, per se, it’s still an amazing resource, and one I love to indulge in. If you’re not feeling walls of text, don’t do it. Post a bunch of screenshots you took and give a sentence or two. Or even just one paragraph is enough. Microblogging is a valid form of blogging.
• Get ahead on the good days. If you’re lucky enough to have a few days where your spoon management has paid off, you might have some extra energy/time. Use these to your advantage and start putting together draft posts. Then when you have a bad day, pull out these (hopefully at least mostly finished) posts, add a tweak or two, and post it. These will probably have to be something a little more evergreen in topic, but you can always adjust something later (assuming it isn’t about current events).
• Most importantly, don’t beat yourself up. This is a trap that everyone falls into, and I can attest it can be difficult to practice what you preach. But it goes back to the first point: accept that you just might not be able to tackle it. Sometimes, we just can’t do everything. Chronic illness is tough. And, at least for me, I get in a mindset of, “how can I not even handle this? I must be terrible!”. Luckily I have a wonderful Manthing who reminds me that no, I’m just doing the best I can.

And I want to tell all of you, if you run into this… YOU. ARE. DOING. THE. BEST. YOU. CAN. It won’t necessarily look like someone else’s best-they-can, and that’s okay. You’re on your own journey. Use it to your advantage. Work with it. Find new ways to tackle things. Y’all got this.

GAMERGIRLCONFESSIONS.COM

As a thank you to Beej, I’m pimping his stuff. Because he’s a great content creator, too!!

When I first started up my Patreon back in January 2017, one of the big goals I wanted to hit was to move over to WordPress and get a domain name. I’d yet to hit that goal, but it just so happened that Beej saw that goal on my Patreon and offered me space over on WordPress.

So the blog will be moving very soon (I’m hoping by April 17 at the latest)! I’m in the process of re-designing the pages at the moment, as well as trying to settle on a theme, and whether I need plug-ins. And before I move over, I’ll export all my blog posts, then make a final post here redirecting folks… It’s a bit daunting, but I appreciate all of the help that folks have offered as I’ve had questions or issues. I’m looking forward to learning my way through WordPress.

Patreon

I’ve had a Patreon for a while. But I always feel weird mentioning it, even though I know I really need to promote it more. So I’m just going to leave this here, and ask that if you’d like to make a monthly donation, please do! I also have a link on Patreon to my Ko-fi account if you’d rather do a one-time donation. There are both SFW and NSFW tiers available for those that are interested, and anything of $2+ gets access to Discord! So check it out. Get a thank you on my blog. Get to vote on what I game. Get other fun things if you’re so inclined. It’s a win-win for everybody!

But I do want to try to cover the other two topics (timeliness… I know. I’m hoping Blaugust will help with that!), because they’re pretty awesome, so here goes!

What Made Me a Gamer

Jaedia posed this topic for the third week of the Talkback Challenge.

I remember playing the Berenstain Bears when I was about five on the computer (back when the 8-inch floppy was a thing). I remember being one of the only kids in school having a computer, because my Dad needed one for work. I played the crap out of that game. Any time my parents would let me on the computer.

We didn’t have a gaming system, though. At least not until my grandmother (to the annoyance of my parents) bought my brother and I an N64 (which my brother has claimed…damn!)  for Christmas one year. I had, before then, played on a friend’s PlayStation (some Monster Rancher and Rhapsody, mainly), and watched my cousins play various Disney-related games on some sort of system. I don’t remember which one at this point in time (all I remember is that I always kicked their asses).

Soon after that, my parents accepted the fact that it was something my brother and I enjoyed doing–playing video games. So they started letting us purchase a game here or there from the store for the N64. I also remember my father purchasing my younger brother Lego Island to play on the computer. I think I totally played it more than him, though. He just really liked the cars and race track. I remember “rage-quitting” the game because I couldn’t ever chase down the Brickster. I just kind of cried and sulked and didn’t play it again.

I also remember the hours I spent watching my father play Myst. I couldn’t ever really solve the puzzles myself, but I thought the scenery was the most amazing thing ever.

From there, I kind of jumped into gaming and geekery head-long. My brother and I got Game Boy colors for Christmas from our parents one year, and played them for the longest time, until we sold them to get the Game Boy Advance (which I’m sad at myself for doing). And then I sold my Game Boy Advance to get the original DS (which I still have).

My parents have always been geeks/nerds–we were raised on Star Trek, Star Wars, and Lord of the Rings. I feel like gaming was just a natural extension to this because of the stories some games told (I’m still miffed I got rid of my Golden Sun games!).

I also remember being grumpy about the fact that as a girl into gaming, there weren’t many games for me. I mean, there was the Tamagotchi game for GBA I played the crap out of, but I was considered “weird” because I bought things like, well, Golden Sun, or Donkey Kong. But that’s a completely different topic.

Seven Gaming Sins

Joseph Skyrim posed this interesting topic for the fourth week of the Talkback Challenge.

Lust – Do you enjoy games more if they have scantily clad and “interestingly proportioned” avatars? Do you like playing as one of these avatars? Why or why not?
I think there’s a difference between “sexist” and “sexy” characters. As a curvier woman, I want my lady avatars to have curves! But I want them to be semi-realistic. Not K-size breasts, a stick waist, and a butt worthy of Apple Bottoms. Sure, keep the K-breasts, and Apple Bottoms, but add a little more proportion to the middle. Same goes for the outfits. Unless it’s going to be equal opportunity booty shorts (let’s go, WildStar! I want my male booty shorts! I will roll a Granok Male just for this!).

Gluttony – Do you have a game backlog of unfinished games but still buy new games regardless? Why or why not?

On a completely separate note, expect updates and more of Saga’s “20 Days of WoW” challenge very soon!

While I’ve been following my favorites, I haven’t had much time outside of life and raid to even comment. Which makes me quite sad, considering there have been some awesome topics out there since my mini-hiatus.

Expect a post from me this week on the new BA topic! Really happy to be back.

Also, I’ve gotten back into playing Sims again, and have started a Legacy challenge I’m fairly certain will not become either (1) corrupted or (2) destroyed by a computer crash.

Anyway, happy gaming!

This is just a quick little update and heads up for any followers that I may be MIA for a few weeks. (Man! And I’m already behind on BA entries and Saga’s challenge too!) The Elephant and I are in the process of moving while finishing our school semesters and working. I would honestly really like to take a break every so often from the hectic activity that is packing your life up and blog, but I cannot guarantee such an action. Hence the little notice. I will officially be back mid- to late-April, with another “official” notice. But, if I blog before then, I will be one happy camper.

I shall also continue to keep up with the feed reader every few days at the very least. Have to keep updated with the community SOMEHOW. <3

I started blogged way back in 2001 with DeadJournal with my best friend, and then migrated soon after over to LiveJournal as soon as a friend from school got me a code to join. I was always on there–lurking in the communities, joining a few here and there, and updating like mad, thinking that people cared all about my life. It was sort of the precurser to MySpace, come to think of it. Though, it was a great outlet for a difficult time in my life, and a very good way to keep in contact with some of my closest friends (before Facebook ever existed).

But, eventually, I tired of the community, and stopped writing in my journal. I kept a few paper journals here and there for various reasons–usually just to keep my creativity fresh, sometimes to organize my thoughts.

And then I got into the Google Feedreader to keep track of some blogs I was reading, such as B3, R4L and Ramble Rori, among others. Nowadays, my feedreader is so full that I check it every day just in case. Following B3 and R4L inspired me to start my own blog… eventually.

The end of 2009 inspired me to start my cooking/weight loss blog. I’d been having a lot of trouble with medications and health complications on my former 40 pound weight loss, and gained it all back. I thought that keeping myself accountable via the internet was a good idea. I don’t update my cooking/weight loss blog as often as I would like to, and have really been trying to get on top of that.

Since I enjoyed blogging so much about the recipes I was cooking, I decided to try joining the WoW blogging community, since they seemed so robust and pretty cool, based on what I’d seen on B3 and more. And the community IS as awesome as I thought! I love getting comments from others in the community, and being able to share my thoughts that coincide with their own–much like this.

So, the long-and-short? I love blogging, and I like the community, and I’m glad I started way back when with DJ and LJ.