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Robin Torres

Los Angeles - http://cosmic-geek.com

Robin Torres juggles multiple alts across multiple servers, a geekling, a loot-addicted husband and a yarn dependency.

Drama Mamas: When marital troubles are played out in guild

Drama Mamas Lisa Poisso and Robin Torres are experienced gamers and real-life mamas -- and just as we don't want our precious babies to be the ones kicking and wailing on the floor of the checkout lane next to the candy, neither do we want you to become known as That Guy on your realm.

The above video has nothing to do with this week's letter. Deal.
Hello Ladies,

I am a member of a fairly old casual raiding guild. Coming into Cataclysm, our GM/RL left for a hard core guild and leadership was transferred to other officers. There were some hard feelings and it was a very rough patch but we persevered for the most part. We were even able to recruit as our new raid lead, a returning raid team member who had quit playing WOW for personal reasons.

Unfortunately, those personal reasons involved his wife having multiple affairs, some via Wow. Worse, he told quite a few guildies about it when he left. Even more worse, she was a guild member also and as she has communicated, he "allowed" her to come back.

Read more →

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Drama Mamas

Drama Mamas: The case of the needy guildies

Female pandaren begging Image
Drama Mamas Lisa Poisso and Robin Torres are experienced gamers and real-life mamas -- and just as we don't want our precious babies to be the ones kicking and wailing on the floor of the checkout lane next to the candy, neither do we want you to become known as That Guy on your realm.

Welcome to this week's episode, in which Lisa compares me to baked goods. I think I'm more like a Disney villain, but benevolent. You be the judge.
Dear Drama Mamas

I'm the new gm of a social guild. As such we find that we get a lot of players who are new to the game entirely. We try and help the out but lately we have a number of new people who seem to be taking the "we are happy to help" and running it for all it's worth.

I'm a firm believer is looking for the solution yourself and then asking if you don't find anything. Particularly with resources like wowhead, noxxix, wow insider and blogs for every other thing you could ever hope for.

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Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Guilds, Drama Mamas

It came from the Blog: Running of the Orphans 2012 snapshots

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Last month, It came from the Blog hosted the Running of the Orphans. We met outside of the orphanage in The Drag of Orgrimmar and grabbed our orphans. We then proceeded to complete all of the quests together to get the pet and achievement.

First, we traveled to Thunder Bluff via the Love Zeppelin and paid our respects to Cairne. We then took our orphans on a joy ride, which wasn't so much joyful as it was irresponsibly dangerous. We then paid a visit to Laday Sylvanas and debated whether she threatened our orphans or not. Upon our return to Orgrimmar, we spoiled the orphans with sweets and toys and then returned them to the poor matron.

We've held this event before, but there was one disappointing change this year: No orphans were left behind when we got on a zeppelin. Perhaps it is a cruel thing to miss, but we did. After all, they order us around all day; a little revenge seemed appropriate.

We will be holding another event this month. Look for an announcement Soon™.



Please join us on Zangarmarsh (US-PVE-H) in It came from the Blog. All guild ranks can invite, so /whisper Roblinator or any online member. You are all welcome as long as you play by our simple rules -- basically, don't be a funsucker! Visit the guild FAQ for more details.

Filed under: Events, It Came from the Blog

Drama Mamas: When a guild splits in two

Drama Mamas Lisa Poisso and Robin Torres are experienced gamers and real-life mamas -- and just as we don't want our precious babies to be the ones kicking and wailing on the floor of the checkout lane next to the candy, neither do we want you to become known as That Guy on your realm.

Dig those groovy threads, man. Being caught in the middle of a feud between the raid leader and guild leader does not require you to wear baby blue bell bottoms, but it may help.
Dear Drama Mamas,

I find myself at a loss for words about recent events in the guild I belong to. Since I can not figure out if I am being unreasonable I've decided to seek outside help.

Recently a Raid Leader and our Guild Master had a fight. The Raid Leader and his Raid Team quit the guild we belong to and settled into a level 1 guild together. They were the only people raiding in our guild and the raid leader was instrumental in helping each of them gear and I understand why they followed them. They did not have an issue with the fight between the GM and RL, they just followed the person who had helped them the most and who would see them through their raids. Our guild has a lot of followers and very few leaders so I am not surprised. This was a loss for our guild, but since drama always seemed to follow that Raid Leader its probably for the best.

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Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Drama Mamas

Breakfast Topic: Do you use Real ID?

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I do use Real ID. Wait, that's not accurate. I do have Real ID enabled on my account and I do have a friends list, but I rarely use it. Because of It came from the Blog, my real name is known in game. So that kind of privacy is not as much of a problem for me as it is for most players. Still, my friends list is exclusive -- I don't friend everyone and his brother like I do on Facebook.

The Drama Mamas recently covered the problem that arises when you want to have some alone time, but your friends keep inviting you to do things with them. It's hard to say no without feeling like you're hurting their feelings. If Real ID had an invisible mode, this wouldn't be a problem. Captain Obvious has been tapping his foot about that one ever since this feature first came out.

So all of your friends can see your real name and they can chat at you whenever they want. In Diablo III, they can even hop into your game if you don't have that function disabled. But at the same time, you can play on an alt while waiting for your friends to get online to get a group together. They can contact you easily cross-server and cross-faction -- even cross-game. The online privacy issues are huge if you aren't careful, but the convenience of chatting with friends from all over the region is also huge.

Do you have Real ID enabled? If so, do you invite people you don't know in the physical world or do you restrict it to friends who already knew your email address and real name? If you don't use it, why not?

Filed under: Breakfast Topics

Drama Mamas: The consequences of lying about your gender

Drama Mamas Lisa Poisso and Robin Torres are experienced gamers and real-life mamas -- and just as we don't want our precious babies to be the ones kicking and wailing on the floor of the checkout lane next to the candy, neither do we want you to become known as That Guy on your realm.

Sometimes commenters will suggest that we have received a fake letter. I hope this week's is, although that's actually irrelevant. This kind of thing does happen, unfortunately.
Dear Drama Mamas,

I am writing to you today in need of your coveted wisdom and advice. First just let me inform you that I am a gay man of age 16 in real, and that this type of situation has happened before, but in different variations.

Here's my problem.. It all began with an innocent night outside the gates out Stormwind city. I was sat on the grass opposite a guy. He began talking to me very nicely, I replied, and we got on well. We were talking about random topics for around 10 minutes and became instantaneous friends. He was kind, polite and had top notch spelling and grammar (Which I loved). He went on to ask me personal questions. Such as age, place of residence etc. I had asked these questions first so I thought it would be fair to answer his.

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Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Drama Mamas

Breakfast Topic: Did you meet your Children's Week goals?

Tribute to Cairne Image
Many players going for What a Long, Strange Trip It's Been leave Children's Week until last -- often not by choice. It is a truth universally acknowledged that School of Hard Knocks is the worst achievement required for any holiday meta. Even if you like PvP, competing with your region-mates for the same objective is frustrating, to say the least. And then there are the funsuckers who do their best to obstruct everyone trying. Ugh.

I think that otherwise, Children's Week is rather fun. Being the minion of orphans who coax you into irresponsible actions is enjoyable, surprisingly. I love the scripted reactions of the NPCs, particularly Lady Sylvanas. (I'm so predictable.) I do miss taking Salandria to see M'uru, though. Having her rock out with the Elite Tauren Chieftains doesn't have the same impact.

The pets are fun to collect as well. Sleepy Willy is a long-time favorite of mine. I did not try to get all of the pets on alts in preparation for Mists of Pandaria, however. I do think it's a great idea because all companion pets will become account-wide in the expansion. I just didn't make the effort.

What did you enjoy most about Children's Week? Did you meet your goals? What pets did you get?

Did you meet your Children\'s Week goals?
Holiday, shmoliday.1592 (27.6%)
No, but I tried.669 (11.6%)
Yes. But they didn't include the meta.608 (10.5%)
Yes! And I am now a Matron or Patron! 747 (12.9%)
Yes! And I got a Violet Proto-drake!535 (9.3%)
Just show me the results.1627 (28.2%)

Filed under: Breakfast Topics

Breakfast Topic: Which WoW race do you resemble the most?

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I really enjoy how the races in WoW have such distinct characters. Yes, they look different, but that's not the same thing. And it isn't so much about the accents, either. Their lore, their attitude, the way they die -- it's all so much fun. It also makes it difficult to enjoy the distinctness of your character in other games, when your race doesn't change how you speak or even dance. (Spoiler: SWTOR.)

Now, as much as I love Lady Sylvanas and even though I am drawn (by our Kelly Aarons) as a blood elf, I think I most resemble a gnome. I'm average height, mind you. And I have a large collection of Horde clothing. But my voice, my laugh and my attitude are rather gnomish.

If I were restricted to only Horde races, I'd have to go with troll -- even though I had the tusks removed years ago. (HAHAHAHAHHA. Sorry.) They have fun hairstyles, they are pretty mellow unless roused, and they have a curvier body type than the evil blood elves.

Which race do you most resemble and why? Is it primarily a personality thing or a physical similarity? And no, the race you choose doesn't have to be a playable one -- so if you think you resemble a naga, tell us all about it!

Filed under: Breakfast Topics

Drama Mamas: How to spend time in WoW alone

Drama Mamas Lisa Poisso and Robin Torres are experienced gamers and real-life mamas -- and just as we don't want our precious babies to be the ones kicking and wailing on the floor of the checkout lane next to the candy, neither do we want you to become known as That Guy on your realm.

With Real ID and Battle Tags, solo time while playing any Blizzard game is more difficult than ever. But can playing alone still be accomplished?
I get that WoW is an MMO, and that many games are multiplayer or have multiplayer opportunities. Most of the time, I don't mind playing with other people. I like dungeons and raids and grouping for battlegrounds.

But sometimes, I want to play alone. I don't like to quest with other people because I have a certain way of doing things, and I don't like to be redirected or slowed down. Likewise, when I'm learning a new class/game/spell/mechanic, I want time to flounder on my own (or in random groups) to figure out how things are going to work for me before I jump into a group with my friends, where I feel the stakes of my failure are a little higher.

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Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Drama Mamas

Breakfast Topic: Which playable race is most evil?

M'uru enslaved Image
I love to argue about the most evil race in WoW. My devotion to the Dark Lady has nothing to do with it (mostly).

You see, I don't think the Forsaken are evil. They aren't responsible for what happened to them. They didn't choose to be undead. They were perfectly happy to remain living humans. Sylvanas didn't seek out her bansheeness. And all other races shun or just tolerate them. So the Forsaken culture is built around the condition forced upon them. Yes, Sylvanas has now taken to, uh, recruiting new members of her race, which most consider very Lich King-like. But how else is she going to expand her ever-decreasing population?

Because the Forsaken are no longer living in the way that all other races are, they cannot value life in the same way. I believe this makes them amoral instead of immoral. They do what they can to survive and even flourish in the hostile world of Azeroth. Of course there are individuals who do despicable things, but you can't judge an entire race on the activities of a few bad eggs.

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Filed under: Breakfast Topics

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