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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsBreakfast Topic: Oh, the lengths that we go
by Zach Yonzon 
Dec 23rd 2009 at 8:00AM
I'd probably be surprised if I wasn't guilty of having done similar things using a less conspicuous machine. By less conspicuous, I mean a Macbook Pro mounted on a laptop cooling pad and flanked by a Belkin N52te, a Razer hard mat and mouse, while wearing a headset. That wouldn't stand out too much in Starbucks, would it? I do order an iced venti 1-pump classic nonfat 8-scoop matcha green tea latte and a maple oat scone to camouflage my set-up somewhat.
Let's face it. Many of us love this game so much we sometimes go to great lengths just to play it. Logging in from a friend's house, an Internet café, or even bringing around our entire computer set-up around in a van, Vork-style, just looking for a place to log on. I've got an HSPDA USB modem in my laptop bag, you know, just in case.
What were the extremes you've gone through in order to play the game? When you needed to log on just at the exact time, maybe to catch that expiring auction you've been watching, or to finish those Achievements just before the holiday goes away. Because of the Gizmodo story, my imagination right now is limited to nabbing free Wi-Fi, although I'm sure some of you have more outrageous stories to tell... cutting meetings short, excusing yourself in the middle of lunch, or even *cough* calling in sick. What lengths have you gone to just to play WoW?
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Breakfast Topics, Humor
Reader Comments (Page 2 of 6)
Dt Dec 23rd 2009 10:29AM
Why did I not think of this sooner!
gaylon Dec 23rd 2009 10:56AM
I wonder if this would work with the Iphone as well?
I would think you would need the 32 gig at least.
jasonchute Dec 23rd 2009 12:10PM
I started copying my WoW installation onto my iPod as a way of backing up everything up so I would not have to completely redo all my addons every time i reinstalled Window etc. Since I realized I could just plug the iPod in and play directly from it at any time my iPod has never left my side.
WoW on the go 24/7/365
Ikarus Dec 23rd 2009 2:49PM
So, help me out here...I'm a bit slow. If I did this I could play at work, without having to install WoW, so my boss would never know?
Mugutu Dec 23rd 2009 4:08PM
I've done this for about 2 years now. Best idea I've ever had - I was able to play on American servers while I was in China (with a decent chunk of latency, but whatever). It's nice to be able to bring WoW wherever you go.
Viper007Bond Dec 23rd 2009 4:28PM
You can't use an iPhone to do this as Apple doesn't allow you to use it as a thumb drive (that's what Pallic is doing with his classic iPod).
You don't need an iPod to do this BTW. Just pick up a 16GB (cutting it close) or a 32GB thumb drive and you're set.
OldGod Dec 29th 2009 1:55PM
I have done this with an iPod and usb drive using mojopac. Not necessary to play WoW but a cool program none the less. If you want to check it out it can be found here: http://www.mojopac.com/
Sparcrypt Dec 23rd 2009 7:28PM
@Ikarus
Be careful - I'm a systems admin and I can tell you right away that you wouldn't be able to do that on my networks.. and if you did manage you'd get caught really quick :).
Your admins can easily block all wow traffic, or just have it alert them if you try and use it (as well as any kind of tunneling you might want to try to get around it).
So the questions to ask yourself are
1) How good are the admins in your company?
2) Is it worth getting caught?
2 is the big one.... if you're likely to get fired for it, don't do it. If you'd get a warning.... meh, why not? ;)
Riph Dec 23rd 2009 8:16AM
Gonna say I pulled the same play while waiting for my girlfriend to get out of work from Panera. Brought my laptop, external hard drive, mouse, etc. I made sure to keep my HDD in my backpack next to me. I'm not sure if it made me more or less conspicuous due to all of the wires hanging out of the bag and running into the wall. Meh...at least I got a free lunch.
For anyone on the NE coast, try taking Boltbus next time you have to travel, they've got free wifi on it along with electrical sockets. If you can manage to get two seats next to each other, have fun playing WoW on a 4 hour bus ride.
Netherscourge Dec 23rd 2009 8:18AM
I'm surprised people don't just sit out in the parking lot with a laptop and leech the WI-FI connection without even having to buy a drink or food.
Tuscansalami Dec 23rd 2009 9:02AM
Yeah, though good luck with that if you live in Australia/New Zealand - you have to sign up for paid wifi access at motels/starbucks etc etc - no such thing as free wifi over here, unless you have a neighbour with an unsecured connection!
Darky Dec 24th 2009 8:10AM
try maccas or melbourne city
Roy Dec 23rd 2009 8:27AM
I play on the train every day to and from work. I use a verizon wireless connection and recently invested in a Clear 4g modem just is maximize my ability to run random heroics on the go.
I also run heroics from the verizon card - but never as my healer or my tank. That would be "failsauce". My item-level-245-decked-out warlock (which is of course already outdate gear) can more than make up for the lag spikes in his DPS though for heroics ;-).
The difference is, I don't think of this as extreme... but by the standards of this article, it is - and so I am commenting with it.
Oh Oh Oh!!! I almost forgot what I USED to do!
Ok, this is a much better story. So. I have this windows smartphone - long line of succession of smartphones. Anyhow. I would run logmein on my desktop at home - and use my smartphone to connect to it from work (or in a line, or wherever I may be). It was so terrible though that I could only use it to do my auctions. It would take me 5 mins or more to go from the auction house to the mailbox because I had to use the click to move feature and wait for the screen to refresh.
I would also use a perl program to port-proxy for remote desktop (rdp). We had a NTLM authentication based firewall at a previous employer, and so I would run a program which would perform a pass-through with my credentials as needed. Port 443 was open (lord knows why) and so at home I port-proxied port 443 for rdp. I then ran a port proxy on one of the unix machines on the rdp port which would tunnel through this firewall pass-through program and out to port 443 at home. I could then access my desktop. On my desktop, I would run windows in a virtual machine and then I could run run WoW inside.
Yeah, I suppose those are much better stories of extremes than what I do today....
Sagretti Dec 23rd 2009 8:31AM
I've hauled my desktop with me a few times when I've had to house sit, but that was more out of necessity not to be bored out of my mind.
In a similar vein, I purchased my Macbook Pro before a month long business both because I needed a new laptop, and I wanted to be able to log in for Brewfest this year. So while my co-workers were getting excessively drunk most evenings, I was relaxing in my hotel room getting my virtual self plastered. The best part about virtual drinking, you can laugh at everybody else's hangovers.
captxunderpants Dec 23rd 2009 8:38AM
When we moved from California to Texas a couple years ago, everything we owned was packed in a container and shipped... except the PCs, which were in the back seat of the car. We got to the new house, made sure power and internet connection were set up that same day. Even with no beds, no tables, or chairs set up, we had the PC's on the ground and were playing WoW within a few hours of arriving in our new home. Playing a computer on the floor sucks, let me tell you.
xrowan Dec 23rd 2009 10:17AM
This totally sounds like something my husband and I would do.
Tristan Dec 23rd 2009 6:51PM
My wife & I did that when we moved to Oregon. We got here a lot faster than our stuff did minus the computers & clothes. :-/
Sleutel Dec 23rd 2009 8:34AM
For a while, when I was sans internet at home, I'd bring my laptop to my university's library. That worked out much better once I realized that while wireless connections were throttled, hardwired ones weren't. (There was one especially hilarious chunk of lag during an SM run, fortunately with guildies, where a particularly bad spike hit just as I was Charging a pack of mobs, meaning that I established no aggro, the mobs ate the party's face off, and then my client caught up just in time for me to watch myself die.) Unfortunately, my laptop bit it a while later, and I was WoW-less until I moved into my current apartment.
Sleutel Dec 23rd 2009 8:35AM
I'll also use Google-cached versions of pages to look up WoW-related things while I'm at work, to get around the filters. :D
pandoranparadox Dec 23rd 2009 8:56AM
I used to be able to use cached pages to surf blocked content like gaming sites until my employer got smart to what everyone was doing, lol. Of coarse my employer being the USAF, they catch on to things pretty fast.