Tobold's Blog: Out of the closet

Monday, September 15, 2008

Out of the closet

Imagine you and me meet in a virtual world and have some sort of dispute, like the typical guild drama. And I go and blog about that dispute, ranting, telling only my side of the story, and naming you with character name, guild name, and server. My blog has a Google page rank of 5, if you have a half-way original name my rant about you would probably top any Google searches on it. And even if you replied in the comment section, I would have the power to delete that post. This sort of one-sided publication power tends to make people nervous, so since some guild drama a few years ago I have a strict "no names" policy on this blog. My European WoW / WAR guild knows who I am, but I'm not using Tobold as character name except for bank alts, and I'm not mentioning the name of my characters, or other player's characters, nor guild names, nor server names on my blog. In the virtual world I'm a closet blogger.

For the US version of Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning I'm making an exception to that rule. I am playing a Bright Wizard named Tobold on the Averheim server, and I'm a member of the Casualties of War guild. The reason I'm out of the closet there is that half of the bloggers in the MMO blogosphere are also members of that guild. In the event of a guild drama, everyone will be able to post his version of events on his blog, which will probably lead to the MMO blogosphere exploding. :) But with everyone else blogging about his participation in CoW, there was no reason for me to hide it.

Not that I expect to be involved in some guild drama, I probably won't even see much of the guys there during the week, because of the time zone difference. Weekends might be different. Yesterday I actually leveled Bright Wizard Tobold more than my Shaman on the European servers. I had some hickups with my router before I reset it, and Destruction being more crowded than Order, the wait time to get back into the game were much shorter for the Bright Wizard than for the Shaman, who waited in queue for half an hour after every disconnect. So most of the night I had two copies of WAR running in windowed mode, each connected to a different continent. And the game ran just fine! I'd say WAR is having a good launch.
- posted by Tobold @ 6:21 AM Permanent Link

Comments:

Hmm...Guild Drama in Casualties of War. You all seem like sensible folk so I am sure it isn't going to happen but the massive blogging flame war that just might erupt would surely make for entertaining reading.

I have to (guiltily)admit that your posts relating to the ORC guild drama are among my all time Tobold posts.

# posted by

mbp : 15/9/08 10:04

Not all CoW members have blogs.. some of just like to read. Now I feel very vulnerable.

# posted by

Tim : 15/9/08 13:29

Better not elope with the contents of the guild vault in that case. :)

# posted by

Tobold : 15/9/08 13:39

I am a little disappointed, no Day 1 CoW Drama :(

# posted by

Anonymous : 15/9/08 14:15

You all seem like sensible folk
lol

:)

Someone said when if guild drama erupts it will be the biggest explosion of drama on the net ever! (maybe not with naked pics though we are all too old and fat and hairy for that .. well the others are, not me, yeah that's the ticket)

# posted by

plutosdad : 15/9/08 15:31

No drama? Hello, tax rate of 20%!!!

Damn theives guild is what it is, bunch of #$%(*#$. And Heartless_ stole a blue from another member, saying he would gkick them otherwise. True story, a 'friend' told me.

Kinda funny, I read the first half of your post, when you said you don't play as Tobold, and I was like, well who the hell was that Bright Wizard in the PQ then. Then I continued reading...

# posted by

Anonymous : 15/9/08 15:38

Well, at first a CoW-initiated flame war sounds very promising. The MMO blogging community is certainly filled with some very opinionated people.

Sadly, everyone also seems very smart, very friendly, and very willing to discuss their ideas using things like logic and complete sentences. Go figure.

I expect I'll quit soon and find a guild more into l33t speak and invocations of Godwin's law.

(Actually, can't wait for tomorrow's pre-order head start to add another Bright Wizard to the roster!)

# posted by

Unknown : 15/9/08 16:13

I must be in an evil state of mind today Tobold but I had a nasty thought. Given your policy of not using your own pseudonym (oxymoron?) on the European servers what is to stop some muppet creating a Tobold character to wreak havoc?

# posted by

mbp : 15/9/08 17:24

CoW is the biggest love "Moo" fest ever...
I expect no drama for a while.

But, I know a few people who think they are so smart in that guild...so, they could exert their "Ubahness" eventually...

Can't wait!

/popcorn

# posted by

Elementalistly : 15/9/08 18:12

I would say that COW has the potential to become one of the greatest guilds in MMO history. An intelligent guild with players over the age of 18 and a wide variety of MMO/class knowledge certainly makes for an awesome foundation imo.

Your theory on the probability of guild drama erupting within COW is interesting. Kinda reminds me of my uncles theory on gun control: give everyone a gun and criminals are less likely to commit a crime. Only in our case, we would be using words instead of bullets. ;)

# posted by

Jack Barrier : 15/9/08 18:20

I saw the attendance list on my invite to the guild...I didn't buy WAR but was tempted just by the members. I just can't afford to buy a game with a 5 hr/week playtime I get now on a real computer.

# posted by

Anonymous : 15/9/08 20:25

I couldn't agree more Tim. Kind of makes me want to start a blog just so I can defend myself if the blogger flame war should arise lol.

# posted by

Anonymous : 15/9/08 21:25

Lol explosion in the mmo blogosphere. Its a pity (or rather amusing) that explosions in the blogosphere tend to MEAN very little, have very little significance, and are merely a fact of life in a user generated content world. At lot of us (myself included) are addicted to mmo blogs & reading blogs... but my god, the level of content is really really low.

You must feel that too, being such a committed blogger, and having one of the better quality gaming blogs around.

# posted by

Anonymous : 15/9/08 22:51

you double dipper you ;)

# posted by

Thallian : 15/9/08 23:56

Averheim, eh? Say hi to the Candymancers for me, they're the Order half of our guild. Should have an alt IB rolling out with them in a month or two.

# posted by

Anonymous : 15/9/08 23:57

I'm 1/5 in charge of CoW, so there is absolutely no chance of failure...

j/k

Glad to have Tobold along with us.

/em elaborately abuses guild founder tools against Tobold.

# posted by

heartlessgamer : 16/9/08 01:33

Yaay, Tobold!

Due to the potential for awesome internet drama I've always maintained our motto should be "KABOOM!"

# posted by

boatorious : 16/9/08 02:34

Nothing was funnier that day than Audric saying, "I'm in a Scenario with the famous Tobold!"

Then, "Make that, I'm LOSING a scenario with the famous Tobold!"

Good times, and glad you're joining us T. :)

# posted by

Anonymous : 16/9/08 14:54

Yay! I'm on the order side on that server.

I look forward to.. um... "meeting you"

:-D

# posted by

Brent : 16/9/08 17:12

Is this the Brent from VirginWorlds, and is him playing on the other side than all the bloggers symptomatic of something? :)

# posted by

Tobold : 16/9/08 22:08