I found this idea originally on Chasing the Four Winds, and it seemed like a fun evergreen prompt to keep in the backlog for when I needed a post on short notice. So, without further ado, let’s answer some questions about gaming!

Have You Ever…

Rage quit a game?

I don’t think I’ve ever rage quit a game? I remember walking away from games because they were getting annoying or aggravating, but I’ve never logged out of a match or dungeon, etc. in a rage.

Earned all achievements in a game?

Yep! The first I can think of off the top of my head in Hatoful Boyfriend. In fact, I think the majority of my all-achievement games are otome/dating sims.

Pulled an all-nighter gaming?

Not in a long while. Back on some WoW Expac releases back in college I did, but not since, particularly.

Livestreamed your gaming?

Of course! I’m looking to getting back into it as well. Hopefully sooner than later. Probably not until the end of the month, however, due to… life.

Pre-ordered a game?

It’s been a long while since I’ve pre-ordered a game. I think the last time I did that was back for a WoW expansion. (I sense a possible theme appearing.)

Bought a game and never played it?

Ummm… *looks at Steam library… looks at console games*

Been jump scared by a horror game?

Ugh, yes. The biggest one I can think of is probably The Park. Followed closely by Layers of Fear.

Had a set squad for a specific game?

Indeed. I used to play The Secret World, before it became Secret World Legends, with a set squad of folks. I really would like to finish it out at some point by my lonesome. I’ve never gotten past Transylvania. Maybe it’ll be something I add to my streaming rotation!

Bought a game on multiple platforms?

The only one I can think of for this is Skryim. I played a lot of it on XBox 360, mainly while mining in EVE back in the day. But I honestly haven’t played much of it on my PC. I can’t figure out why that is, though.

Got a console for the games specifically?

The only reason I got a PS Vita was to play a bunch of otome games. And that’s partially why I got a Switch. Don’t at me.

This is post 10/31 for Blaugust You can find out more and sign up over at Belghast’s post!

A few weeks ago now, I decided to try picking up FFXIV again. I’ve been looking for more games to play with Manthing and some specific friends, and figured FFXIV might be a good choice, even though none of them were playing at the time. I’ve also been watching Tua and Aeyvi stream FFXIV quite recently, and have thoroughly enjoyed watching them, so I figured I’d give it another try.

Deciding what server to roll up on, and what class to choose to start (I’ll level them all eventually!) was the hard part, though. Do I go back to Cactuar because that’s where my main is? I didn’t really remember much of the story to that point, or where I was in levels, or what I was doing, so that kind of turned me off to going back to Magnolia Chestnut. I also have some memories on that toon I don’t particularly care to rehash at this point in time (maybe in the future I’ll feel more strongly that I can work through them and go play her every so often to hang out with the Bel Effect crew), so that also swayed me on not picking her back up right now, though I would like to eventually pop over there every so often in the future.

I decided to just roll up a new toon on Famfrit to play with the folks I wanted to play with. I was originally contemplating starting with a healer of some sort, and trying Astrologian since I hadn’t tried it yet, but Ainyan rolls as a main heals, so I figured I’d let her continue doing that, and I’d DPS for a change (WHAT? CHESTNUT ISN’T A TANK?! Yep. Not right now!). So I rolled up an Archer because my favorite D&D character to play is a Bard.

Full Dive

Thus, Chestnut Firefly was born. I’ve been streaming my adventures in FFXIV, and it’s a lot of fun. I’m enjoying Archer way more than I thought I would. And even though Fishing has been calling my name (because Fishing is the best!), I’ve been trying to focus on just doing Archer right now. Why so?

Well, on one of my streams, I saw a Bard playing music. I thought that was pretty dang cool! And then lo and behold, Rakuno let me know that they added in that folks playing Bards could play multiple instruments and even play the instruments manually instead of just using pre-written melodies. SOLD! That’s currently my motivation for sticking with Archer/Bard as much as possible, though I do know that I’ll need to roll up the secondary class eventually for skills once I get my Bard job, but that’s another thing to figure out at another time. For now, I’m just enjoying standing in the back and smashing things.

Syl came up with a grand idea for Blaugust with a sort of AMA chain–you ask a question to the person above you, and they answer it!

Rowan Blaze of I Have Touched the Sky posed the following question to me:

This is something I’ve also wondered about, myself. And I can think of a couple various reasons, though, I’m no expert, so I may be completely off the mark.

1. I do think part of it is the social atmosphere associated with MMORPGs. I know that the reason I have so much to talk about, sometimes is from doing content with another person/people. And sometimes, it’s just that I had this super-awesome conversation with someone and it spurred my blogging juices and I had something to write about just from a conversation in TeamSpeak or tells. Granted, one can also have social interactions with single-player games, but I feel it is rarer and less immersive, or in-the-moment.
2. I feel that part of it is also the content types and updates you find in MMORPGs versus SPGs. Obviously, being and MMO means lots of people around to run various group content for goals, whereas in a SPG, you may be running similar content, but there’s no real goal or point to run it again and again. There are also constant updates to an MMORPG versus SPG. Patches and expansions provide expanded worlds and content to complete. In an SPG you may get DLC or updates, but they don’t seem to provide as much replayability as MMO content can.
3. And I do feel it’s the circles bloggers run in, a bit, too. Most of us who started blogging got our inspiration from someone, who got their inspiration from someone, etc. It’s a nice big circle. And most bloggers follow a core set of bloggers and have interactions with them, depending upon the game(s) one plays, or other interactions you may have had with a blogger in the past.

The caveat to all of this, however, is that as a person who prefers MMORPGs to SPGs I don’t go seek out blogs devoted to a single game, or SPGs as a genre. And I think that is a big reason, as well. I know they probably exist, just as, for instance, LARP blogs do, but as a person who only dabbles in SPGs, my favorite blogs are also folks who write about MMORPGs but dabble in other things as a whole.

I’d like to know your recipe for a great successful guild. By that, I mean what you think makes a guild good and what you’d look out for if you were looking for a new guild. I’m currently guildless inWorld of Warcraft and am on the lookout for a great new haunt myself after being disappointed by other guilds I’ve joined.

So, what does make a good guild?

I think the big thing is finding a guild that fits with your own personal playstyle, whether that be hardcore raiding every week, gankfest guilds, “casual” raiding (because, let’s face it, even if you’re a “casual” raider, you still get shit done in an efficient manner, so it’s not casual, just more geared toward folks that can’t dedicate days upon days, but that’s another post for another time), or just a community-focused guild. And sometimes, depending on the game, or even real life, what one is searching for in a guild will differ.

Overall, though, every guild needs a few things to make the magic happen.

The article mentions that a lively guild community is a necessity. And I would wholeheartedly agree. Whether large or small, a guild community that chats, hangs out in Teamspeak, and helps each other out with even the littlest of things is the best foundation for any guild. And granted, even though I’m not a gankfest-personality, those groups are very tightknit as well.

The second thing the article mentions is an active guild leader, and I would have to disagree slightly with that. I think that, instead, guild leadership in general is important–not just the guild leader (I mean, we have lives, they may not be able to make it on every night), but the officers and senior members as well. They are just as important, if not more so, than the guild leader.

One thing I would have to add is a guild or officers that are involved in the community at large, whether it be on the official forums, social media, or the in-game community at large. They don’t have to be the “latest and greatest name”, but having a name or two you can associate to a guild is usually a sign that there are members who deeply care about the guild.

And not only that–if you can identify a guild by name and have positive things said about it and interactions with their members, it’s usually a guild that holds themselves accountable for their actions–and that’s a pretty good guild to be in, I would say.

So, what about you guys? Do you agree with the article? Would you add anything to the list?

If you could choose 3 things from your favorite MMO to be in your real life, what would it be and why?

So, I hate writing in comments on sites because there’s always some sort of vitriol that gets thrown around. And while I commend Massively OP for kicking out the trolls, it’s still not something I like to subject myself to on a daily basis. On the internet in general. Honestly, the only place I read the comments is Imgur because they’re just funny.

Anyway, my three things I’d want IRL from MMOs in no particular order are…

1. Fast travel/hearthstone/portals (of some sort or another). This hearkens back to back when I was a kid and first started watching Star Trek. I really wanted to be able to beam around the world like they can in Star Trek.

Hop in your teleporter and then Poof! you’re where you want to be. And then the same thought came back when I watched Sabrina: The Teenage Witch (yeah yeah, laugh if you want… it’s a good show! Hmph.)–What if we could teleport like her? Or Samantha from Bewitched (which I watched in all its Saturday morning Syndication glory)? Or even a Floo Network like in Harry Potter! So yeah. This is something I’ve always wanted to do. It’d make it easier to see my dearest friends more often, and I wouldn’t be going on almost two years since seeing any of my family members.

2. Being able to choose an ideal body type, and keep it. Okay, all political-social and personal-emotional issues aside with body image, there’s a certain body shape I’d love to be. My ideal body type is not the “industry standard” by any means. And while I’m working hard at aiming to lose some weight for health, I don’t know what my body will look like when I hit my goal. In fact, I don’t even know what my goal will be because I don’t know what those weights will look like. I’ve never been thin, or skinny, or even a “healthy weight” in my life, so I have no idea what my body will look like. I don’t know if it’ll look like how I imagine or want it to. I’d love to keep certain aspects of my current looks, but there are definitely things I’d like to tone down, some, too. 

For instance, I like Female Dwarves. Like, a lot. It’s why I play a Female Roegadyn (aka Roegadame) in FFXIV and why my Aurin in WildStar has the largest body-type she can have. I like curves. But I don’t like some of the fat placement outside of those curves. I don’t want washboard abs, per se, but I would like to lose a bit of the fat in certain places. Again, this is not a discussion on personal or social issues with body image. More of a “I’d like to know wtf my body will look like, plzkthx. I’ll work hard for it.”

3. Fantasy aspects present in life–Magic, Dragons, etc. I know, there would be some serious ramifications to having such things in real life. 

And Dragons would need to be a specific type of Dragon. Think more along the lines of Song in the Silence than Lord of the Rings. I mean, this pretty much speaks for itself in description. Who wouldn’t want to have magic powers like Harry Potter et al or Gandalf or your FFXIV character?

So, what are your three?