I can't help feeling a bit maternal about those on my buddy list.. I care about you! I also can't help but notice that some of you are playing Borderlands 2 - all the time, - probably too much. I wonder if you're practicing safe gaming.

It seems it's not uncommon for gamers to be hospitalized because of gaming marathons, or for people to actually die from gaming marathons... but there are reasons for gaming marathons - like Borderlands 2, or a double XP weekend, or Borderlands 2 DLC, or Dishonored,or Borderlands 2 (did I mention Borderlands 2?) - and gaming doesn't have to endanger your health with a few common sense tips.

1. The beer hat
Dehydration is a real thing. If you really can't take the time to drink a nice big glass of water while fast traveling in Borderlands, then get yourself a beer hat! You can drink and play at the same time. Drink water. Juice is full of sugar and will hype you up (and pack on the pounds) and colas, coffee and tea are diuretics that when consumed in large quantities will basically make you piss out much of the fluid you should be retaining. If you don't have the latest in beer hats, then make sure that you have a very large glass of water or a bike flask of water (which doesn't spill when you throw it on the couch next to you). Have a goal of finishing the entire amount within a 4 hour period.



2. Washroom breaks
One of the best things about drinking lots of water while you game is that it mostly forces you to get up and go to the bathroom at fairly regular periods. Unless you're seriously ill, don't do the Depends Adult Diaper thing - it's just really uncool, probably uncomfortable, and likely a bit smelly. On a washroom break, refocus your eyes, do a quick stretch - and park your Siren or Assassin near a safe place where you won't get killed by a Scrag!



3. Meal breaks
While eating Pizza pockets or drinking Ensure meal replacement milkshakes through your beer hat might seem like an attractive alternative to actually eating... don't do it! There are these things called "breakfast", "lunch" and "dinner" - if one of those mealtimes arrives, take 20 minutes to half an hour to actually leave the game and take a break. Make a meal, eat it... and don't look at your TV. Look out the window, read a book, check email on your phone - but do something where your eyes get a break by re-focusing at varying distances. Hell, watch your meal cook in the microwave if you have to, just make sure you look at something different for a short while and that you walk around a bit or stretch.



4. Sleep
Sleep deprivation has been used as a form of torture. While you may think that you are super-human and can play for three days straight with no sleep, the reality is that your skills have likely decreased to those of a 9 year old girl... well, actually, it's probably a nine year old girl who is now carrying your ass in Borderlands and constantly rescuing you from Badass Blackhole Threshers. Don't let your game (and reputation) suffer because you're too stubborn to grab a much needed period of rest. When your eyes droop and you find yourself wiping drool from your mouth that you didn't know was there until the icky wetness ran down your chin and dribbled on your chest - take the time to put the controller down, exit the game, close your eyes - and sleep!



5. Shower
When you're battling Spitter Scrags and Chubby Varkids and you suddenly wonder what that odd odor is that you keep smelling, well, it's likely you. Getting those badass points or to that next level is no excuse for bad hygiene!



6. Appropriate clothing
Please wear appropriate clothing when you're gaming for long periods of time. Don't wear constrictive clothes (and yes, ladies, that means taking off the underwire push-up bra and putting on a supportive yoga top or sports bra... or going bra-less!). Joggers, pajamas, or naked - doesn't matter what you choose, just make sure you don't have anything cutting off circulation and strangling body parts while you're engrossed in your marathon. Myself... I'm a pajama person. No, I'm not talking Victoria's Secret sexy pajamas - I'm saying that yes, if you've played online with me, I was probably wearing floppy flannel pj bottoms with an elastic waist and a yoga top (for the boob support), with a hoodie or sweatshirt because I'm always cold. Now that you have that horrifying visual in your brain, it's time to look at what's on your feet (after a quick look at some "appropriate clothing"!).


... apparently naked gaming is a thing!

7. leg condoms!!
As a last note (and the most important note) - compression socks!! Compression socks aren't just for little old ladies with varicose veins anymore! There is a current trend for Olympic athletes and long distance runners to wear compression socks either during the event, or immediately after the event. Various studies have shown no drawbacks to the use of compression socks, and the positive benefits include reduced muscle fatigue, improved circulation and possibly better lactate clearance. Compression socks essentially work by adding compression or tightness at the ankle, which helps to prevent blood pooling, clotting, and it helps to improve circulation. More importantly compression socks feel great!! My doctor recommended compression socks for me on one of my earlier surgeries because I tend to be fairly sedentary during recovery and I'll be the first to say that they feel awesome! You can pick them up for around $10.00 to $20.00 at most any pharmacy and they are well worth every penny! I use them regularly for gaming because I'm often sitting in one position for extended periods of time. Yes, these leg condoms may initially feel odd, but you do get used to them, and they can be useful in helping to prevent blood clots or other circulatory problems for gamers who don't get up regularly and stretch!



Oh yeah... and as an extra bonus note - a door lock!
So, if you're going to be gaming naked, while wearing a beer hat and compression socks - you will want a lock on your door. It's not for you... it's for the sanity and safety of anyone who may inadvertently scar their mind by seeing you during your gaming marathon!

Safe gaming - it's really just common sense and leg condoms. In your eagerness to enjoy the pleasures of gaming, I just don't want to see any accidents happen - something that you often have to live with for a long, long time. Dehydration, blood clots and other health issues can generally be averted with a little common sense, so enjoy your gaming marathon, but game safely! Most of us already know this information... but how many of us practice it? I know I'm sometimes guilty of gaming for 4 hours or more without drinking, eating, stretching or looking after myself, so this blog is as much a reminder for myself as it is for anyone else reading it. Game safely!

... Oh... and when you're done with your gaming marathon and have killed Handsome Jack, take a day or two off and get off your butt and go outside.

Mandatory Monty Python reference!

Hold on a minute... let me put down this cooking pot, untie my apron, put on some lipstick, ask my husband for permission to write this blog and vent a bit. Dammit! Why the hell didn't somebody tell me that I was being repressed? ! The gaming world is apparently filled with misogynistic male pigs who create female game characters to subjugate and objectify me, it's filled with male gamers who want to ogle my (50 year old) boobs and silence my voice. It's the epitome of the male patriarchal system glorifying male qualities of violence and strength. Why the hell did nobody inform me of this earlier? My own reality is that I never felt repressed in the gaming world until the gaming (and non-gaming) press and feminists came along to inform me that I was indeed being repressed, oppressed and suppressed.

I play online games and use a mic... a lot, well, probably too much. I see lots of other women in these games. Mostly I get conversation and team based dialog about what our team should be doing to win the game, but yes, occasionally I get a "what do your boobies look like" question or the classic "why aren't you in the kitchen making me a sandwich". My husband gets messages too... often to do with his apparently small penis (and I can personally testify that these people are incorrect!). I just assumed that a small percentage of gamers were dickheads, I had no idea that I was being harassed and abused specifically I'm a female, because I certainly see and hear a lot of harassment aimed at everything from someone's accent or their apparent choice in sexual partners (often their mother or sister), to their age, their actions in the game or even just their user-name. There is a culture of harassment in online gaming and it needs to change, but I didn't realize it was specifically a woman's issue. I'm so glad that somebody finally educated me. Wow... I feel rather silly now.



I write blogs and comments on a gaming website. Some have even been promoted to the front page (though none since the e-sports fiasco... though it should also be noted that during that fiasco there were people that called for me to be "fired" from Destructoid, there were comments on my stupidity and my lack of education on the topic... but there were few if any sexist, misogynistic or violent comments, even though it was fairly clear that I was a female). I see articles and blogs and game-related video series by other women on this and other websites, but yes, the female voices are a minority. I didn't realize this minority was because of a subversive plot by men to keep us out of their gaming kingdom of scantily clad big boobed babes, helpless maidens in distress, and unfettered glorious violence. I just thought that more men tended to play video games, just as more women tend to read Harlequin Romances. Did you know that romance novels were a $1.358 billion dollar business in 2010, making up 13.4% of the market - beating out the mystery and sci-fi/fantasy genres? Did you know that for many romance novels (particularly Harlequin Romances) you actually have to conform to various tropes? Each different series has specific themes, characterizations, and plot lines that have to be used. Part of the attraction to romance novels seems to be that they are comfortably predictable. The guideline for a standard Harlequin Romance reads " heroes are alpha but attainable – they're not all super rich international tycoons (although some might be!) but they're successful in their own right and should be a strong man our heroine would aspire to be with". I don't see anyone complaining about this, nor about the fact that most male romance writers tend to use a female pseudonym because of fears that women won't buy romance books written by a man. It's formulaic entertainment by one gender, for one gender - which comprises the majority of the market (rather like console video games.)

In the early days of gaming, yes, there was some resistance when I tried to gain access to these male web-based portals of gaming goodness. Mostly guys seemed to wonder if I was actually a gamer, or if I was there to pick up a male fanbase by posting revealing pics of myself in my white cross-your-heart double lined, full coverage support bra... or if I was gonna start screaming about how I was a "gurl gamer" and was gonna whip their asses because I was the superior female gender. When they realized I was just a regular gamer who wanted to talk about games - well, there just weren't any issues. For the most part I've always been accepted at most gaming sites and given the same lack of respect that men, fanboys, religious zealots and 12 year old kids are given. Again, the overall culture of gaming is pretty antagonistic, but I didn't realize this was specifically a women's issue. Thank goodness that there are now newspaper articles informing me that video game culture is misogynistic and that only women's voices are oppressed - otherwise I would never have known!

I thought part of the hate was when politics get mixed in with entertainment. Jack Thompson wants video games to be less violent - to possibly lessen the impact of violence on our youth. Bobby Kotick doesn't care about the consumer and wants his company to be profitable. EA is just... well EA killed Bioware and they are just plain evil! Anita Sarkeesian seems to want video games to portray female game characters in such a way as to be more politically correct regarding patriarchal gender roles and to forward a feminist viewpoint of the oppression of women through our media - currently focusing on video games. Their interest in games isn't from the simple perspective of a gamer who likes or dislikes something in a game they've played - their interest is from a larger perspective. There's nothing at all wrong with this - but a backlash is to be expected when anyone negatively critiques or wants to change a specific media as a whole or advocates for changes that might affect the primary consumers of the media. While the backlash might degenerate into sexist or violent comments - the initial backlash isn't caused by gender or age or race or any other "ism" - it's simply caused by fear that this person might actually influence the industry in a way that some consumers disagree with. If gaming truly was a misogynistic culture where females had no influence, then the entire issue with Ms. Sarkeesian would never have arisen. In a way, the hate she received is actually a validation that a woman might influence gaming and what the incident evoked was primarily fear - which expressed itself as misogyny because the intent was to hurt, deter and belittle. Once again, a social backlash against someone who wants to change gaming to forward a social, cultural or fiscal agenda that's not popular with some consumers - I didn't realize it was primarily a female issue and that even mentioning the Beat up Bobby or Jack games was co-opting the discussion away from it's proper place - women!

I would like to thank the press, the gaming press, and feminists (of both the male and female variety) for finally letting me see the light! Now that I'm educated and more aware of my own oppression I see it everywhere! When I get that "you fucking bitch" psn note, I know it's only because I'm a female and not because I called that person a dumbass moron for driving our team vehicle into a turret and getting us all killed. I went back to the game that made me fall in love with gaming... and when I type "woman", "female" or "feminist" into Zork... it doesn't even recognize those words!! In Skyrim, it was only the female characters that were not fully fleshed out as strong female characters - all the male characters were memorable and perfect! Bayonetta and Juliet Starling... all those women who are cosplaying as those characters are actually making a statement about how sexist men are, and that women should not be objectified. I shouldn't discuss poor game characters in general... because it's derailing the discussion that it's only female characters that need changing. There are no common tropes or outdated themes regarding male characters - duh! In fact, changing male characters to be "better" could never result in better female characters - like that black dude in The Walking Dead games... making him into a more complex character didn't at all result in some excellent and varied female characters. Nathan Drake was made more complex by his relationships with Zoe and Elena - but the main protagonist of the whole game was still a man! Oh... and shooter games!! I love shooter games and just saw them as being about working as a team and trying to achieve an objective... but of course now I see the meaning of the guns - they're giant phallic symbols and the true meaning of every shooter game is men running around with their giant dicks shooting their wads or hitting each other over the head with them to prove who has the most powerful cock! So sexist! How did I not see that... where are the vagina guns???



Now that I'm edumacated, I can warn other women not to play video games because they condition us to sexist patriarchal male values. I can warn women not to play online - unless they form a large clan of all women because this isn't at all intimidating to men and they'll be safe. I'll have to be very careful when I participate in gaming websites... I mean really "also cocks" - it's so obvious that this is a manly man's website and I'll be belittled and harassed. (I mean really... why aren't I being belittled and harassed... am I not womanly enough for you?? I kinda feel a bit offended now.) If we keep screaming in headlines how hard it is to be a female in the gaming world, then women won't game. They'll be scared to try online gaming, or go to a gaming conventions or join a general gaming website - but at least they'll be safe from the misogynistic gaming culture that men have created. If the headlines read that there are the occasional misogynistic incidents and that gaming culture was antagonistic (like politics) or that gaming culture tends to reflect the current majority consumer - then women might actually shift from being a majority in the casual gaming sphere and might start playing more console games. The horror! We'd end up with games like Twilight - The Video Game... or entire Rockband games devoted to Lady GaGa! There is sexism and misogyny in gaming culture... but the best way to combat it is to make sure more women don't game, because frankly it's just much easier to blame men for everything that's wrong with the world.


I used to believe this crap! It's a good thing everyone is letting me know I'm oppressed!

Thank God for feminists and the gaming press. I thought gaming was awesome... with a vast sea of gaming choices where I could always find a game I wanted to play, with wonderful people that I met at conventions, gaming sites and in online play. I always thought that I could make my own game if I truly wanted to. I thought that if I had artistic ability I could create my ideal female characters and get some developer interested. I thought gaming was freedom... to be a different age, gender, race or even sexuality in a virtual world if I wanted (recently I've had several lesbian experiences!). I thought I could do anything and that there was nothing holding me back from being who or what I wanted to be. How could I have been so wrong??


This blog has been mulling around in my head for several months now and I can't seem to move on to other writing until I get this out. I'm not sure if it's even saying what I want it to say, but basically there seems to be a lot of press every time a sexist incident occurs in the gaming world and I want it known that it's a small vocal minority of gaming culture that is misogynistic. There are women like myself that don't feel oppressed, suppressed or repressed in the gaming world and love many of the games that are being produced. I've always felt empowered by games and comfortable in all aspects of gaming culture - from online play to gaming websites to conventions. Yes, there are gender issues... but they are not specific to gaming culture which simply tends to reflect our more general culture.
Oh... and vagina guns... I have no idea what one would look like and I know it's totally sexist to say this... but I want one!

Yes, yes I did! I picked him up, carried him to the cliff edge... and tossed him off!! My husband and I had an argument about him wanting to buy a new car. He wants to buy a sports car that we don't need, because we already have an older SUV and a minivan that both work. He can't explain why he wants to buy an expensive car (that we don't need), and I guess it's a guy thing that I'll never understand. When we fight, I don't generally yell, I don't generally cry, instead I sulk and ignore - so I booted up my PS3 and pressed play.

Unfortunately I loaded up Dragon's Dogma and there he was ... my husband! Dragon's Dogma allows you to create a constant companion called a pawn that can be shared online. Other gamers can hire your companion as one of the 4 slots in their party. My initial companion was a female, but on my second playthrough I created a pretty good facsimile of my husband.



So there I was... with my husband invading my game! I picked him up... and yes, I tossed him off a cliff. It actually felt pretty good.. but it somehow wasn't enough. I went back to a riftstone and I re-spawned him - and then I got to play dress up! Most of the clothes in the game are fun to wear, but the dev who designed the clothes definitely favors women. Many of the outfits are female-only and most of the men's outfits (particularly for Mages) aren't very manly. I usually have my husband in a modified Matrix-look - a long coat, pants, boots, matching shirt... and no silly hat! It was fun to just let loose and try on different outfits and in the end I decided on the far right look! It was manly... in a Village People/superman kinda way! I felt it was a suitably humiliating fashion look on him for me to get some of my passive-aggressive anger out!



We fairly quickly did make up and our argument forgotten, I changed him back into his normal outfit, but the experience did make me think a little bit more about the experience of having an AI version of my husband in the game. Surprisingly, it does change the way I play. I can be battling a massive dragon and normally I just don't care if a pawn in my party dies - not when I'm so close to getting a kill! When I changed my companion pawn to represent my husband I found that I suddenly did care. I would hop down off the damn dragon and go heal my husband if he was dying. I started to make sure he had really good weapons and clothing- even offering him some gear that was better than my own.

Gaming is an odd hobby. I often do play games with my husband... with him in another room, on another PS3, but in the same game and on the same team. Sometimes we play couch co-op games. This experience of "creating" him as a character in essentially a single player game was an odd one. Trying to explain the experience to a non-gamer would be difficult... about as difficult as him trying to explain to me why he wants a specific type of car. All games aren't the same... and I guess all cars aren't the same either. He's always been supportive of my gaming hobby even before he took a more active interest in it and started gaming himself. He's bought me many different games and consoles over the years and rarely complained when I got lost in a game. I guess I don't really have to understand why he wants a new car, I just have to understand that he wants it.

... and just like real life, in the end... we do live happily ever after.

Me and my .... wife?

I love Dragon's Dogma! I've played most of the WRPG games out there and Dragon's Dogma blends the best of character customization, open world, quest driven tropes with some interesting and totally awesome battle mechanics. One thing that remains consistent for me though, is the terrible romance outcome. I have yet to encounter a satisfactory romance in a video game. I dumped the whiny Anomen, I've been dumped by Alistair, I killed the psychotic Anders, and Fenris just wanted to be "friends". In Fable and Skyrim I couldn't find a cute guy and eventually married some random guy. Dragon's Dogma totally surprised me though. I wasn't entirely aware of the "romance" options in the game until suddenly I'm in a cut scene where my older gray haired female ranger is making out with the very young, virginal, barely pre-pubescent Duchess. I did nothing to encourage her feelings for me (though I do make a strikingly gorgeous old broad) and after my first romantic scene with her I even started actively giving presents to an assortment of male characters to hopefully change any future romantic encounters. Alas, apparently the fair Aelinore and I were meant to be, for near the end of the game I got to do the dirty deed with this young girl and she has apparently moved into my home as my spouse. I'm not particularly happy about this. It's yet another bad romance to add to my growing list of WTF? video game romance moments for me, however what I do find interesting is that there seems no uproar on the internetz about the lack of choice and the apparent commonality of gay (and/or underaged) romances in the game. My little wife is at least an older teenager, because some people ended up romancing Symone - an actual child.


... at least I didn't end up with her!

Others who played as males seemed to end up in loving same-sex relationships with the local inkeepers or shopkeepers. In fact, unless you were aware of the romance options and really worked the game, it seems that many people ended up living in their little love shack with rather surprising significant others!

In recent Bioware games there have been gay romance options... but the key word is "options". There was still an uproar from some on the religious right who felt offended that the option was even there. They disliked that there was gay flirtation, even though they had every opportunity to ignore the flirtations and to simply try to bed a partner of their choosing. Any actual romance cut scenes were mostly chosen by the gamer, whereas Dragon's Dogma offered no such "do you wanna do me?" moment. Instead the very randomness of the romance outcomes seems to have evoked mostly amusement at the creepiness of the outcomes from most gamers. I'm not sure why there are no protests - possibly the fact that it's a Japanese developer has given the game a pass from gamers, and unlike Bioware games, the "romances" are quite secondary within the game. The "doing it" scene in Dragon's Dogma isn't very graphic and mostly consists of a heated embrace and some kissing, followed by laying down on the bed and a fade to black. Still, I think there were a lot of gamers that were surprised at the choice given near the end of the game... save your beloved or fight the dragon. I suspect there were a lot of gamers like me that simply walked away and said "kill them" - that's not my beloved... just some random dude/chick that I definitely don't want to be with - which rather negates the seriousness of the game moment. Still, sometimes a touch of comedy and surprise works in a game, and it was definitely a "memorable" moment when I found out who my "beloved" was! I suspect that the romances were tacked on to the game, possibly in response to the popularity of romances in the Dragon Age games. In some ways I'm glad that they didn't work too hard on the romances in Dragon's Dogma - the randomness kinda works in a quirky, silly way. The selling point for the game is the battle system and they were right to put the work into the various classes, the ability to change your class and the way it completely changes gameplay. In many WRPG games the class you choose makes almost no difference at all. In this game, it most definitely does and there are advantages to trying out various different classes (because you retain the core skills and have a larger selection of augments to use).

I started the game 19 days ago and currently have 180 hours into the game (yeah, that's just over 9 hours a day playing... though I'm still recovering from surgery and there were times when I was idle and snoozing). The game has been really addictive and time has flown by and any pain is entirely dulled by my immersion in this fascinating world. Finding out that I'm a lesbian pedophile didn't make the game any worst, it didn't want to make me want to start threads on various forums protesting that I was forced into a gay romance - instead it made me laugh and wonder if I can get a different result in New Game + (a second run through of the game but retaining stats, items, etc. from the initial run through). I still have lots left to do (including killing that Ur-Dragon), but I guess I'll just have to resign myself to bad video game romances! Luckily I have a pretty good real life romance, but please don't tell my husband that I'm shacked up with a young girl in my virtual world! :)


Me... in my younger, happier days before shacking up with the Duchess and trying to kill those DAMN STONE GOLUMS!! Dragons are wusses compared to stone golums when you're now a Magick Archer. I'm gonna have to go back to the Ranger class for them.

I've talked before about how gaming can help relieve post-operative pain and recovery from surgery (Gaming through the Pain ) and some evidence seems to additionally suggest that video games can not only help the patient, but can also help the surgeon.

The Oncology Game was developed to promote teamwork among the various specialties that can handle a single cancer case. Various patient scenarios were developed and the students worked in pairs from various disciplines to take the virtual patient through surgery, radiation and various oncology treatments in the best order. The results of the game were positive and the students additionally felt that the game improved their understanding of the principals of oncology and their appreciation of the various specialties that contribute to the patient's care.
There are other games that help medical professionals better spot drug abuse, there are games that help teach triage and disaster response, in fact there are so many games that help with training and learning in the medical field that it's almost impossible to list them all now. UMC even has a virtual skills lab where many different procedures are practiced in a virtual setting. Gaming as a teaching tool has long had proven results and the medical profession is no different, except that using games as a training tool allows for a safer environment than using real people... a key difference especially if you have an appointment with a newly graduated proctologist!



It's not just specific games being used, but gaming in general is increasingly being regarded as a tool for medical professionals that may help in developing specific skills. In a 2007 study with laparoscopic surgeons it was found that those who regularly played video games made 47 percent fewer errors and performed 39 percent faster. In a 2008 study done at the Banner Good Samaritan Hospital in Phoenix, it was found that surgical residents performed 48% better with tool control and performance during simulated surgery after playing on the Nintendo Wii console. Yet another study found that regular gamers had a sharper eye for finding target objects on a cluttered computer screen and it was suggested that radiologists searching X-rays for tumors might benefit from playing certain video games (specifically shooter games). The medical field is one area where fine motor skills, attention to detail, spatial skills and remote manipulation is increasingly part of the field... something that gamers tend to do as part of the hobby. Interestingly, the current record holder for Donkey Kong is Dr. Hank Chien, a plastic surgeon!

It's not just the games themselves, it's also the technology of gaming. Robotic surgery is growing quickly largely due to it's accuracy and the need for less invasive surgeries which usually lead to quicker recovery times and fewer complications. Robotic surgery done from remote locations is being tested and has future applications at disaster sites or where a qualified surgeon is simply not available. The patient could simply be wheeled into an robotics equipped portable surgery unit and qualified surgeons with various specialties from anywhere in the world could operate the unit. This is somewhat of interest for myself as there is only one local oncologist in my area, and frankly it would be nice to have a different surgeon. One of the current disadvantages to robotic surgery is that the surgeon has no force feedback or no sense of touch. Some enterprising engineering students have modified the Xbox Kinect unit to possibly send spatial information back to the surgeon, providing a reasonably priced solution to this issue. Other surgeons are actually using Kinect in operating rooms to allow doctors to quickly access computer information without leaving the sterile field. They are able to use hand motions to quickly access and view MRI's, CT scans and other medical information.


Personally I doubt my own Oncologist is a gamer. She has a poor bedside manner and I suspect that if she does game she's one of those people that's all about their KRD and not helping out the team.... and she probably teabags someone else's kill! Still, I don't have much choice as she's the only qualified specialist in my area and I suspect that she would be awesome at robotic surgery where she doesn't have to deal with the actual patient. Luckily my G.P. is a sweetheart and I'm betting she plays iPhone games! My surgery date got bumped around a bit, but is now set for tomorrow... so fingers crossed that it doesn't get changed again. I haven't been blogging a lot lately because I've been cleaning and cooking some meals for the freezer... and most importantly I've been prepping my game collection! One of the best/worst aspects to the surgery is the longer recovery time of limited mobility - but it gives me a great excuse to game - a lot. I'll also likely hang out on Dtoid a lot more after surgery and produce a lot more blogs (and comments) and I will apologize in advance if I piss anyone off with an inappropriate comment... being that I may well be on drugs.

Again, this surgery isn't a bad thing. It's been very effective at keeping my condition in check and preventing it's spread. I always get a bit nervous beforehand, and that's natural, even though I've had this surgery many, many times before. I just try to stay positive and think of this more as my gaming vacation rather than surgical recovery! I'll have my PS3, my Xbox, my iPad and my laptop. I've created my character in Dragon's Dogma and am looking forward to that game and additionally I started a second run through of Oblivion. Wow... Oblivion is a MUCH longer game than Skyrim! I have double the time into the game already and haven't even touched two of the major questlines. Also, has anyone else noticed that the character creator isn't all that accurate in Dragon's Dogma?? I created a slightly older lady with gray hair, a few wrinkles, average weight and slightly bigger boobs. In game I got a chunky old lady with boobs hanging down to her belly button! I yelled at my husband to come see what I'll look like in another few years - he was not impressed! LOL! I also finally caved and bought PSN Plus, so I now have Just Cause 2, Saint's Row 2 and a bunch of other games to play (and I just read that we'll be getting The Walking Dead episodes 1 and 2 for free as well!)

While 90% of what I do when recovering is gaming, I also do read a bit and managed to get all 3 of Dean Koontz's "Odd Interlude" series from the library for my iPad, and I have a couple of movies on Crackle that I'd like to watch. No, Striptease Samurai Squad didn't make the "must watch" list... but I had to laugh at the movie description of a "scantily clad, time-traveling female ninja who goes back 300 years to 18th century Japan". All I could think of is... "isn't this a video game??"! I might also jump in for my free trial month of Netflix. I don't generally watch a lot of TV and tend to game in the evenings instead - but one can only do so much gaming!

Try not to be jealous of my gaming vacation... and try to ignore me if I'm on the Dtoid too much or being obnoxious!.

... and maybe my next surgeon will be a gamer! They might be playing a game in New York while I'm on an operating table elsewhere... and their expertise might finally cure this form of cancer I have. Games may be just a fun pastime to most of us, but they do have amazing real-world applications that could some day save a life - yours or mine.

My favorite video game character represents everything I want in a female game character. She's usually older and wiser, with white or graying hair. She is brave, independent and incredibly moral; choosing the path of good, though occasionally straying from that path. She is hardworking, smart and wealthy... owning a multitude of homes and has even invested in several small businesses. She is aware of her sexuality and can sometimes be found roaming the lands of Tamriel in a cute little gold chainmail bikini that she acquired in the Shivering Isles, just because it feels good... at other times she is attired in more serious battle armour.

She's been around for 32 years now and started out standing in an open field west of a white house, and her adventures led her though many dark and scary caves where she might have been eaten by a grue. She survived and went on to explore the Forgotten Realms where she met many wonderful friends. She still has very fond memories of Minsc and Jaheira. She's had the ability to transform into a Dragon while in Rivellon, and she's been a bigamist in Albion.

Speaking of bigamy... she's not had much luck in the romance department. Her first boyfriend was Anomen, but she found him so needy and clingy that she dumped him before the romance got too serious. She married a rather ugly man in Albion just to have children... and then cheated on him by marrying a woman (yes, she's been a lesbian!). Neither romance was very satisfactory. While saving Ferelden she fell deeply in love with Alistair, who unfortunately dumped her once he became King (love... or wanting to be Queen... it's a fine line!) She was bitter, but soldiered on... she didn't really need a man. Later on she met Anders, who was now a psychotic, possessed Mage and he wanted her... but she really didn't need a high maintenance, needy boyfriend with a dissociative personality disorder, and yes, she was a bit cruel to him. Instead she kinda liked the skinny, cranky little Elf man, Fenris, but much as she tried, romance just wasn't in the cards and they ended up just being friends. While recently in the Province of Skyrim she got married again... to a local blacksmith who promptly quit his job and moved into her house. She was a little pissed off about him quitting his job because now she had to enter her house every time she wanted to buy or sell something. She went back in time a bit and unmarried the blacksmith... but felt a little guilty whenever she came across him after that quickie load-earlier-savegame divorce! Yeah, romance hasn't been so kind to my favorite game character, but that's ok... she has many more adventures to come and may yet find some romance!



She's held many menial jobs like cutting wood, mixing potions or blacksmithing. She doesn't mind a little hard work, but she admittedly gets bored and tends to prefer raiding dungeons for lost treasures to earn her money. She works well in larger corporations though and can quickly rise to the top where she can manage structures like the Mage's Guild, Fighter's Guild and Thieves Guilds... all at the same time (She's a multi-tasker!). She's very fiscally minded and usually has lots of money and the first thing she does on entering a new land is try to buy a house. Her favorite house is still a modest manor home in the seaside town of Anvil where the sunset view from the lighthouse is glorious. She rarely if ever gambles, even when the opportunity is present. She just doesn't like gambling very much and prefers simple hard work.


In some far-off wars she's had to pull a Joan of Arc. She's disguised herself as a man and valiantly picked up a gun and led her men into battle. There's no disguising her voice though, and people sometimes seem surprised... but the surprise quickly fades, and talk turns to tactics once again. She's seen the brutality of those wars and been teabagged many times, but she continues to fight on. For some reason, when she's disguised as a man, she's not very nice and god-forbid the soldier who steals her tank or her jeep for she will verbally castrate these barbie doll men who don't actually have any visible manly bits. She can be a bit bossy, but she just wants her soldiers to win their battle! She's often an Armchair General taking on a leadership role and telling her little group of soldiers what they should be doing, but every once in awhile she simply sits back and snipes... watching her squad dying bravely on the front lines, with nary a care. Occasionally she doesn't even need to disguise herself and can be a female soldier on the frontlines, getting that mega-kill while being Unreal!



She's a complex woman who has had many, many adventures over the years. She's brave, moral and hardworking, but every once in awhile she does something dickish... just to be contrary and stay human, because too much adoration can be boring. Sometimes she delights in wearing feminine, pretty clothes, while at other times she's deadly serious and will wear something ugly if it's practical. She's my favorite video game character because she's unique, yet always the same and because she has such a long history. Yes, it's egotistical to admit it, but my favorite video game character is me. She's not like the real me... but she's a different me...and that truly is one of the wondrous and magical things about video games.


... and before the greying hair!