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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 4 of 6)
Stephen Dec 23rd 2009 9:52AM
I called in sick from classes and work for both expansion launches for the first two days. Also had a bad habit of setting my laptop up in the back of all my classes to play. Annoyed the bejeebus out of the folks around me when i still managed to do fairly well in the classes too.
Miri Dec 23rd 2009 10:03AM
We have a listserv alias at work for WoW players. When BC and Wrath launched, you didn't send to the alias, because you got something like 30-40 out of office notifications back. Almost everyone took a week or 2 off to level their mains to max and begin raiding.
Miri Dec 23rd 2009 10:02AM
I used to travel to another company site a couple times a year to interact with my fellow coworkers (most of us are remote).
My last trip down there was a total fiasco. Aside from an awful trip down, my catching some REALLY nasty cold while I was down there, my coworker's basement flooding due to the 8" of rain we got while we were gone, AND the hotel's internet going out, it was like the worst week ever.
I was so desperate for a WoW fix I went to one of the restaurants nearby (still sick), got carry out, and went to my office. I used our "guest access" tool to give my personal laptop access to the company network, and set up in a conference room and played until I was too tired to keep my eyes open.
That really was the only highlight of my week...
Work also go smart and disabled the Ventrilo port...turns out a lot of us were using it to talk to guildies while working...but at least I don't play on my lunch break like some other people i work with!
Frank Dec 23rd 2009 10:05AM
well, he DID just give them a lot of free publicity. maybe more people will go to panera now just because of this guy. not me, but still.
Ben Dec 23rd 2009 10:13AM
Cruising on I-95 in the back seat with a laptop and an AT&T cellphone using a Bluetooth PAN. Lag can be a problem. But, my son and I ran heroics for 250 miles last week while our friend drove us all back from a day trip to Orlando.
wes Dec 23rd 2009 10:41AM
He is doing it because he is poor or layed of - Blizzard should lower there prices.
Alchemistmerlin Dec 23rd 2009 10:37AM
My laptop can run WoW well, has a wireless card, and I have a mouse in my bag...
Does that count as crazy?
Mark Dec 23rd 2009 10:52AM
One time, a friend and I went to a coffee shop to play but our guilds raid called us in while we were there. Raid ended up lasting longer than it should have and we missed the last bus to keep raiding. Cost me a 30 dollar cab. xD
winterhawk Dec 23rd 2009 10:53AM
A couple of years ago, my old guild had scheduled a meeting for a day in early January. The purpose of the meeting, among other things, was to hand control over the guild to me (there was some drama with the previous guildleader, so we thought it might smooth things over a bit). Anyway, about an hour before the meeting, a big storm blowing through knocked out our power. Ugh!
Thinking quickly, I packed up my laptop (which was about two patches out of date) and hauled it off to the sports bar at the rink where I played hockey, which happened to have free WiFi. I found an out of the way corner, plugged in, downloaded the patches (damned if the place didn't have a faster connection than I did at home!) and was able to get on in time to make the meeting. Spent about three hours there that night.
Fatamorgana Dec 23rd 2009 11:00AM
Well, there was this ONE raid that I could not attend. Turns out, the hunter weapon I wanted dropped and the only other hunter in the guild automatically won it.
So, I went to college and studied. Amassed a small fortune and created a research and development corporation. After finding the right investors, I built a time machine. I went back in time and paid my ISP and simultaneously cut the hard line to the other hunter's house.
Logged in, ran through the instance and lost the roll to a DK pug that took the other hunter's place.
...maybe I should have just gotten lottery numbers instead.
Kar On E Dec 23rd 2009 11:06AM
In a word, awesome!
In more than one word...yeah, I've done quite similar things. Let's just say that if you have your laptop open and on in the passenger seat while driving around, it isn't too hard to find an open wireless connection near most grocery stores.
ArtDecoAutomaton Dec 24th 2009 11:04AM
If WoW had blacked out the person sitting in front of the iMac and had a selection of, say, 10 people to chose the person guilty of this, I swear I'd never pick this old guy.
Phelps Dec 23rd 2009 11:25AM
I play at the airport waiting for a plane all the time.
Sella Dec 23rd 2009 11:29AM
I lugged my 15" laptop from Los Angeles to my parents' home in Vermont last Christmas (while I was 1 1/2 months pregnant no less and suffering from morning sickness!)--all so I could log on for the Winter Veil achievements.
cuacurie Dec 23rd 2009 11:32AM
My mother is going through chemotherapy and radiation treatments. I have been bringing my laptop along and playing WoW using the hospital WiFi. Chemotherapy is 7 hours of sitting in a chair, so its a good use of time.
Aaron Dec 23rd 2009 11:34AM
I recently hacked my Palm Pre to data tether so I could play WoW while there was a cable outage in my area. It worked alright. I couldn't play my healer thats for sure. But DPS wasn't a problem.
Nina Dec 23rd 2009 11:47AM
I'm just going to go with the short version of this story:
Two desktop computers in a bathroom is how my fiance and I played wow for almost a year.......sooooooo glad to be moving now >_
Spicyness Dec 23rd 2009 11:53AM
I use to bring my laptop to my night classes. I had tuesday/thursday classes and Tuesday was our Onyxia night. (This is back in vanilla.) I sat in the back and would run Onyxia during class.
Gttam Dec 23rd 2009 11:57AM
I've traveled to St Louis on business many times. The hotel I stay at has an Irish pub on the 1st floor. I usually go down there every evening that I'm in town wearing my sweat pants and tee shirt with my laptop, mouse & headset and play while sipping their fantastic Irish coffee.
news330 Dec 23rd 2009 12:02PM
American Airlines flight to Seattle using the onboard WiFi. Full of win until the guy in front of me reclined his seatback into my lap forcing me to go all Chinese circus acrobat to keep playing. Still have the Carpal Tunnel to prove it.