Five Things You Shoudn’t Care About
So this whole “five things you didn’t know about me” thing flew around various blogs a few weeks ago in which authors were supposed to reveal some sort of cosmic truths about themselves and then name five other people to follow suit. A couple people tagged me along the way, though I never quite got around to responding while the practice was trendy. As is typical of me, I am responding in what is the antithesis of a timely fashion.
So anyway, read on if you like, or ignore this post if you’re smart. The choice is yours.
1. I’m having fun… honest! Thanks perhaps to my traditional Midwestern upbringing, I tend to appear fairly reserved around people I don’t know. At social functions where I’m not among close friends, this can give the impression that I’m not having fun or that I want to be left alone. In truth this isn’t the case, and I love to talk to people and have a good time. So if I appear to be brooding in a corner (Gallenite called me the master of scowling), it’s not because I want to be left alone. People who know me well can attest that I have no problem cutting loose, so don’t be afraid to come up and say hello.
2. I don’t like shaking hands. Although I wouldn’t call myself a full-blown germaphobe, the thought of touching a stranger’s hand that could have any number of unpleasant and unhealthy organisms on it repulses me. This compulsion is reinforced whenever I shake someone’s hand and find it warm and moist… gross! Though I’d much rather take the Howie Mandel approach of bumping knuckles, I do actually shake hands. It’s just that I make a mental note afterward not to touch anything important or eat food with that hand until I’ve had a chance to wash it.
3. I think the intellectual study of game design has gone way too far. This may seem like an odd statement coming from someone who has spent a lot of years writing about video games, but I believe design gets way overanalyzed. With all due respect to the Terra Nova crowd and those who conduct lengthy academic studies on the behavior of gamers, the types of communities that build up around video games are ultimately no different from groups who like goth music, join bowling leagues, or form book clubs. Sure, the detached nature of the Internet adds some interesting twists, but at the end of the day it’s just about playing video games. I believe we shouldn’t fall into the trap of taking ourselves too seriously, and while I’m sometimes guilty of doing so myself, there are others worse than me.
4. I’m scared of writing a book. Though I’m a reasonably good writer and I’ve churned out a fair number of poems, short stories, critical papers, and essays, I’ve never taken a serious run at writing lengthier pieces. My typical style is to write something from start to finish in a single stretch, and I’m somewhat intimidated of the planning and discipline required for longer works. Hopefully some of Bob Salvatore’s talent will rub off on me and I’ll get past this hurdle so I can complete my ultimate self-help book: The Lonely Man’s Guide to Frozen Pizza.
5. More and more often lately I consider shutting down this site. While in my pre-industry days it was fun to build up the online persona of Moorgard, the novelty can wear thin. There are so many people talking about game design these days, from experienced professionals to single-minded amateurs, that I sometimes believe whatever usefulness my personal forum ever possessed is long gone. My preference would be to bury myself behind office walls so that I can shut up and make games. I’d much rather be known by a few people as someone who helped make stuff that is fun to play rather than being recognized by a global audience as a blabbermouth who talked about doing it. But then every so often I receive kind letters from someone who enjoys my writing and finds some use in it, which means quite a lot to me. And I also recognize that doing this helps draw a certain amount of attention to the projects I work on, so there is some value there. I guess as long as doing this doesn’t interfere with the work itself, I will likely keep at it.
There you have it: creepiness mixed with confession. Ain’t that what makes the world go ’round?
Since every other blogger in the universe has done this already, I’m not tagging anyone. Maybe I finally killed the trend!
As for #5, my reply is, “You’re Moorgard. Carry your burden well.” Heh. This is Babs, btw. And creepiness mixed with confession makes for fascinatin’ internet =)
Its very true though, about the scowl. I remember you and Owlchick in the corner at D&B and you were scowling. However since we had talked a lot during the Vegas FF I knew that you weren’t doing it on purpose; just funny how pegged Gallenite had, err has, you.
4. I’m scared of writing a book.
Read this blog if you got some spare time. It’s from the authors of the new Dune series. A very interesting read about their work process. They closed it down after the last book, but you can still read all the entries. It might give you some inspiration.
http://www.dunenovels.com/dune7blog/dune7blog.html
5. More and more often lately I consider shutting down this site.
Think of it as part of the job to entertaining us
Did you know you can break a frozen pizza in half and “cook” the second half later? Very helpful since all the decent frozen pizza is too big for one meal. Just split it roughly in half over the edge of the counter.
And “Garlic and Wine” seasoning from The Melting Pot is GREAT on frozen pizza. It’s a fondue place and a chain. No idea how widespread they are.
Just in case you need more fodder for your book.
You should write a book one chapter at a time. I think you should.
Moorgard,
I still read Mobhunter to this day, and I haven’t played EQ in years. You were the voice for a lot of us in the old days, and I still go back there because of the legacy that you helped to build. People and situations changed and now that you are a bigwig in the industry, blogging about gaming and design is something that you helped to create.
Maybe you don’t need a soapbox anymore, and your work at the office has much more impact on us now than your writing here ever will again, but this is where many of us got the [bad] idea to start writing about gaming. We owe you, and we would miss your presence in the blogosphere, were you ever to move on.
I read this and laughed. I also have one of those “scowls”. My girlfriend calls it the “death glare” and i often don’t realize i look like that. She usually points it out to me when i’m in a public setting. I’ve seen pics of myself with the death glare, and i now know why little cute kids with big smiles look at me, and then start crying. I give off the same “unapproachable” vibe.
While I can understand your feelings on shutting the site down, i think it is a defining part of yourself and something you like doing. It may fall by the wayside of a hundred other mediocre bloggers, but it’s something you enjoy doing, and there will always be people wanting a good leisurely read.
Especially your fellow scowlers.
“I remember you and Owlchick in the corner at D&B and you were scowling.”
Well, that’s not a fair situation, as I was no doubt being harped upon by Owlchick about some odd thing or other. Scowling only counts if I do it unprovoked.
I will do my best to fly the flag for the death-glarers of the world. I’ve found my people at last!
I hope you don’t shut down your blog:) I love reading your ramblings:) As for the shaking hands, I can totally understand that! You don’t know where their hands have been! If you were a woman I would tell you to keep hand sanitizer in your purse, but since you aren’t you only have two options. You can carry it in one of those man purses, or buy one of the keychain type:)
Writing a book is very intimidating. I have written all short stories as well, and have recently begun my book. Ok I began the book months ago but became very intimidated and slowed down. I am trying to at least write a few sentences a day, or schedule an hour or so out of each day to reread what I wrote and think about where I want the story to go. Maybe if you started out small in that way it wouldn’t be so intimidating:)
Write the book. I for one will buy it. The suggestion Owlchick gave, writing one chapter at a time is a very good one.
I am also here to attest to the fact that Moorgard can smile and I have actually seen him laugh!!
I admit I do not get here as often as I should, but I enjoy reading your blog. Here you can not point out my spelling errors and my horrible grammar!!!
*hugs*
You better not shut down your blog. I think you have lots of interesting things to say – far more interesting than I do anyway.