It was a few weeks after the launch of World of Warcraft Classic, and I was navigating my Gnome Mage through the tepid Wetlands. With a click of my keyboard, my character deftly weaved his hands and hurled a magical bolt, dealing the killing blow to a nearby spider. The fuzzy-legged creature fell and writhed in agony.…
Back in late February, my partner and I took a trip to Austin, Texas. For me, the trip served to reconcile my fond childhood memories of the city with reality — and Austin didn’t disappoint. We were met with sunny days, fantastic food, and friendly service. People lined the streets and shopping centres buzzed with…
Grinding, or repeatedly participating in a mundane in-game activity in anticipation of an in-game reward, is nothing new. Both single-player and multiplayer games have featured elements of grinding, whether intentional or as a byproduct of bad design. While I don’t have a problem with optional grinding in standard games, the inclusion of grinds in subscription-based…
After wrapping up The Last of Us and pondering what to play next, I found it strange that World of Warcraft came to mind. Where The Last of Us forces you to navigate tense and dynamic combat scenarios, World of Warcraft’s gameplay is dull and formulaic. For the most part, you’ll be performing the same sequence of…
WARNING: This post contains heavy spoilers for Naughty Dog’s 2013 video game, The Last of Us.
Empty store shelves. Businesses shuttering their doors. A surge in firearm and ammunition sales. The last few weeks have held many inauspicious hallmarks of a coming apocalypse. And while I don’t believe that COVID-19 is the harbinger of doom, it’s certainly tested our world’s collective ability to grapple with uncertainty — including my own. When…
I missed the opportunity to write about this on the day-of, but Ozzy, my Maine-coon/Norwegian forest cat turned 1-year old! I don’t know his exact birthday, but given that we brought him home on April 18th, 2019, at around eight weeks of age, my partner and I estimate that he was born in late February…
One of my goals for 2020 was to learn how to drive — something I believe is well overdue for me, a 25-year-old. So, over the last few months, I’ve been studying for ICBC’s Knowledge Test, which is a preliminary multiple-choice test that all licensed drivers are required to pass. The Knowledge Test covers nearly…
I have a love-hate relationship with gaming these days. As I’ve gotten older and my free time has been eroded by the demands of adulthood and my own bull-headed ambitions, I’ve become more picky about the titles I play. Nowadays, I shy away from the expansive digital game worlds that implore you to explore them…
If time is money, why invest it blindly? That was my philosophy behind tracking every minute of my life in 2019. As mortal beings, time is one of our most precious resources, and I wanted to know where mine was going, down to the second. So, when the clocks struck January 1st, 2019, at midnight,…
