Guild Wars 2

As a woman who has been gaming and online for years now, I just want to add that the notion that women don’t obviously ‘out’ themselves and that online, men assume they’re dealing with other men, has a lot of truth.

The reasons for this have been stated in previous posts, discrimination, abuse, assumptions of incompetence etc. I know not every guy online has behaved like this, but enough have for women like myself to behave ‘gender neutrally’ online.

My first MMO, LOTRO (EU server), surprised me with its mature community. As I got into raiding it was awesome to connect with other strong female gamers, and it was also a great feeling to have my male teammates trust me implicitly in the role of ‘main tank’. Sadly, this trust did not extend to the role of healer, but tbh, after tanking for so long, it was hard hanging at the back just playing my loot. My healing was not on par with my tanking XD.

Having been in GW2 now since headstart, I must say that 99% of the community is every bit as mature and helpful as those of LOTRO. I’ve heard the WoW stories, I’ve experienced blatant sexism myself online in chat and forums, but GW2 has been a great space to game in so far.

All my toons are females of different races, sometimes folks assume I’m a mate, bro or dude. Sometimes they don’t. But most often it doesn’t even come up, and that’s the most important part for me. Actual gender doesn’t matter, but gaming skill, courtesy and a general sense of respect for others does.

Svarty.8019:

I just want to say thanks to all the nice Aurora people who didn’t kill me tonight while I stood waiting for half of the key to reset. /wave @

(Sorry if the siege I get is used to kill you later).

Aha, that was you! ./waves back. We were wondering what was up, but since me and my guildies kinda wish the JP was a combat free zone, we figured you were friendly and were happy to leave in you peace.

See you on the battlefield, use that siege well ;D

Account.9832:

Am I the only one who always pictures John Lithgow when he talks? Especially in the Ascent to Madness instance.

YES! I so picture him too, especially when he sings the line ~listen to the music in your head, DANCE!~

feeling compelled to invest time and effort into something we’ve already invested time and effort into…isn’t this the sunk cost fallacy?

We spend time trying to finish the JP. We fail. We fail some more. We fail to the point of it being a pain in the behind. We continue to try because if we say to ourselves “ok, I’m not having fun anymore, I’m just gonna leave it and do something else” we feel as though all our previous effort was a waste, so we continue to invest because we hate that sense of loss when we admit to ourselves we’ve wasted our time and effort.

People are funny that way.

And a big salute right back Shonex! You and the iSpy folks have been great to run with

The change in population and lack of dedicated WvW guilds on AG has been noticeable these past two weeks. Many have ‘jumped ship’ to join larger, more successful servers and our WvW crew has been left wanting. I like it no more than anyone else, but…

…the server will settle, those who remain will forge bonds with others on the field, those with more WvW experience will pass on the tactics to the less experienced, and we will be matched with servers of similar peak hours and similar populations.

Yes, it’s nice to run with the horde and obliterate all that stands in your path, it’s certainly easy. But the adrenaline also surges when a few trusty friends capture camps way behind enemy lines, hunt down dolyak slaying thief packs or provide that flank from behind.

Take heart! Good battles can be had with any server, with the right attitude, a general willingness to pay for upgrades and siege plans, and team communication. We may not end up on the top of the list, but we CAN learn to adapt our strategy to match our opponents strength, and we CAN excel against servers that match us in pop and timezone.

Let’s stay the course and show them what we’re made of!

~Hymne