ST:TOR

I have friends playing TOR, and I heard some really good build-up for it.

But... this article in Forbes, and similar ones on other pages and publications.  It leaves me feeling really icky that there's an option of a slave with a shock collar around her neck, that she can be tortured and belittled, that rape is an available act for the bad guys, et cetera.  I know that the bad side is actually evil.  But, it's one thing to watch it in a movie or read about it and root against it.  It's another to role-play it in an immersive atmosphere.  Knowing that the kind of people who want night elves in WoW to take off their clothes and dance for them are able to actually really get into some nasty stuff.

In WoW, I know that people get really into the RP.  They get genuinely upset if someone they just know online isn't able to spend time with them.  They get pissed off royally if someone from the opposite faction kills their character.  They take it personally if another character emotes a /spit or something worse at them.  Some people really have problems separating the game from reality at times.

And these people can now brag in their equivalent of Trade chat about how they torture and rape.  Did we need another venue for woman-hate in new games coming out?  There's enough misogyny elsewhere.

I was thinking of giving TOR a shot, but on second thought, I don't want to financially support this bullshit.  It's sexist enough in WoW and other games.  I don't need to pay to take that even further.

Home schooling

I'm sure there are good reasons for home-schooling in some situations.

But a big part of what going to school does is socialise the child.  Parents of home-schooled children must have to put a lot of extra effort into helping a kid meet and spend time with their peers.  Ideally.

Someone started chatting with me in WoW tonight.  For once, I was friendly and chatted back.  He started off with "Will you be my friend?" like kids do in grade school.  Turns out he recently turned 16, and wanted a girlfriend.  Asked my age (more than twice his age), and then asked if we could date.  I let him down nicely, and asked about what he liked in a girl, and what the ones in his class are like, or where he hangs out with friends.  If he told me the truth, he's home-schooled, and has no access to any girls at all.  Doesn't know what he likes in a girl.  Not sure where they hang out.  So he wanted the next best thing and wants me to help him find a girlfriend in-game.

I enjoy MMORPGs.  Would go so far as to say that you can learn a lot through them, and gain some valuable lessons.  But separating a young teen from other kids his age, and then leaving him to play as he wants, late into the night, seems irresponsible.  I'm baffled as to why any parents would let a child learn peer interactions from a game like this.  On the internet, the anonymity tends to make a lot of people nastier, and different from their usual selves.  Maybe that's why he's spending time in an area many levels too low for him, looking for people who he can help?

Yes, I'm making some assumptions.  But from what little I saw, I found it tragic.  He wants me to be his friend in-game.  I hope I'm not the only friend he makes who isn't a jerk to strangers for the heck of it.

And in more shallow news...

I'm finally getting around to trying to set up Power Auras to replace some of my other add-ons in World of Warcraft.  If it's done right, Power Auras should replace all timers, indicators, announce missing buffs, alert me to bad stuff, tell me when procs come up, and I know I haven't even gotten into any of the advanced functionality.  Until now, only very basic auras were set up.

I have been wondering whether WeakAuras might be worth checking out, but can't get enough of an idea of the differences from the page I looked at.  Anybody know?