View Full Forums : What else do we do?


B_Delacroix
04-28-2004, 08:21 AM
In a thread discussing the unhappiness of MMOG players, the topic turned to the stigma gamers have with non gamers of having no other life besides sitting in front of a computer all day.

So in the interest of education and even feeling good about one's self, feel free to list here some other things you do besides gaming. It can involve a computer (um, surfing **** probably isn't going to help your image, though).

So, I'll start.

I paint those little lead figures you may have seen D&D players use.

I build plastic models from time to time.

I march around the mountains near my home city.

I do have a set of field plate used for Renaissance fairs (um , this probably doesn't help my geek image). IE I sometimes go to Ren fairs.

I used to and hope to again fence.

I read books and watch good movies like anyone else.

I draw, on a computer mostly. 3D and 2D.

harvey the dog
04-28-2004, 08:46 AM
i do a lot of hiking in the hills around my new home as well. i take the diggidy with me and he LOVES it.

TONS of reading.

working on writing a novel.

drink beers.

work. the drink beers and work i did before when i was playing. the novel and the hiking is new stuff.

Seriena
04-28-2004, 09:32 AM
Hey, I used to fence too :) I quit because the people at the club I went to were really snobby to noobs, then I moved and just never found another club to go to.

Anyway, I don't play eq anymore, but while I was playing I still did everything I do now (I just do more of it now ;) ) ..hiking, kayaking (when it's warm..thanks for snow yesterday!), biking, movies, etc.

A friend of mine is laying on the guilt to to quit gaming all together and get out of the house nearly every day (he believes computer gaming is a waste of people's lives..which I agree to a point) even if it's just to hang out and do nothing....so even in bad weather he makes me help him fix his cars and things (wohoo, changed my own oil and brake pads yesterday!)

B_Delacroix
04-28-2004, 10:25 AM
Mm, love it when someone else tries to tell me how better to run my life. <sarcasm>

The fencing I did was SCA fencing rather than olympic. Olympic is so restrictive. SCA seems more "real".

I dream of getting a couple of tunics and masks and schloggers and take my wife to the arroyo and teach her to sword fight ala Richard and Khalan in "Faith of the Fallen". Yea, I know, some of you hate is work, others don't, this isn't a critique on Mr. Goodkind.

Panamah
04-28-2004, 10:26 AM
Ah ha! Total geekhood. But wear it with pride.

I paint those little lead figures you may have seen D&D players use.

I draw, on a computer mostly. 3D and 2D.

I have a friend, he's probably pushing 50 years old. He's paints figgies too. He's amazingly good at it. My hands aren't steady enough. :P

Lets see some art, Bap!

My hobbies are:

Work
Working on my house and garden
Reading
Sleeping
Cooking

Uuldiin
04-28-2004, 10:31 AM
watch my kids grow up


Ps: who the hell has a hobbie listed as sleeping? lol

Jinjre
04-28-2004, 10:36 AM
Since I've essentially quit playing EQ in November, I:

have cleaned out my garage

have weeded all the beds in my yard (which is most of my yard) and put down 2 units of barkdust

have read several books I've been wanting to read

have finished a very large piece of needlepoint for my mom and started the second in the set

have had 2 surgeries which were put off far too long and 1 which wasn't put off, but was needed. I have one more to go in August. Also have spent a large amount of time trying to get my left leg to work again after surgery, doing exercises and stretches.

I used to practice Judo 5 times a week, however a series of shoulder injuries followed by surgery on my shoulder and abdomen ended that.

We have friends over every Friday night for decompression night.

We have date night at least once a week.

I have conversations with my sister who lives in another state which last longer than "I can't talk right now, I'm the only healer for my group" (flip side, my phone bill has gone up significantly, gotta look into that.)

I play a play by email DnD campaign, and now my posts have reasonable content and I get them in on time.

I have leisurely dinners where I can unwind from the day (as opposed to wolfing something down as quickly as possible because I have to be online at x time)

This weekend I'll pressure wash my paved/bricked surfaces in my yard.

I reply to my emails in under 1 weeks' time, and have restarted communications with old friends who I'd lost touch with.

I occassionally watch movies (maybe 1 per month).

My bills get paid on time.

I found the top of my desk, and the cat no longer slides off the mounds of papers that had been there.

My house is cleaner and tidier.

I'm continuing the repainting/repairing of the walls in each room of the house (master bedroom, guest room, office, hall bath are completed. Hallway and great room still to be done).

I've washed all our windows, inside and out, and rinsed the screens off as well.

I cleaned my car by hand for the first time in eons instead of running it through a car wash.

I still log in once in a while, usually to say hi and chat in /gu or help someone out for an hour or two scrounging for quest items or tradeskill items. I haven't raided since sometime in November of last year. I think my total time played since November of last year is around 15 hours now.

I installed and started playing Uru which I'd been wanting to play since I first heard it was released.

I occassionally set my sims up using cheat codes to run fully autonomously, then leave them alone for hours on end just to see what kind of situation they're in when I get back. (think screen saver with attitude)

I occassionally chat with internet friends in chat rooms, but rarely for more than 30 minutes.

I do 2 crossword puzzles daily.

That's all I can think of off the top of my head. I'm sure there's more.

Arienne
04-28-2004, 10:46 AM
(he believes computer gaming is a waste of people's lives..which I agree to a point)Ever seen known an aunt or grandmother who does nothing but make those funky knitted afgans in wavy stripes and garish colors? Now, THERE is a waste of time, and it's always foisted on others! At least gamers don't force others into their misery! :D

But sometimes gaming can be a good thing. To be honest, it's taught me something pretty invaluable. What the inside of the "boys club" looks like (really, the male "thought process" :p ). I think it will benefit more of us females than males in the long run tho. :)

Other things I do besides play EQ? I live in the country so I do wierd things like helping neighbors with cows, mend barbed wire fences, hang gates, mow about three acres of "yard" and some gardening to an extent. That along with keeping up with the house and my puppydog. American Eskimos need daily brushing during shedding season :/

One day I'll take up oil painting or acryllics again. Texas bluebonnets and other wildflowers on pleasant spring day can be pretty inspirational :)

Stormhaven
04-28-2004, 10:57 AM
I didn't like the whole fencing thing - Kendo was a little more my speed. Never took lessons other than the informal version though. Dallas had a pretty good Kendo society, but I haven't found one too close in NY yet. Shinai's are more fun to bash people with compared to little twiggy rapiers ;)

Panamah
04-28-2004, 12:10 PM
Sleeping is a good hobby! I've been so much better rested ever since I quite playing EQ. And someday I will master the art of napping.

Ok, my list of acheivments include:

Organizing my office and building closet shelves in most of my rooms.

Entirely removing a year or so worth of weeds from my yard.

Building a raised vegetable planter box thing and planting veggies including: Tomatoes, beans, zucchinis, cilantro, basil, daikon radishes and gold bell peppers.

Planting more crap on my slope from hell.

Starting a new compost pile.

Expanded the irrigation system.

Working on a new path.

Thinking seriously of how to organize the garage.

Sawed down two apple trees.

Installed Linux and Oracle at home. Gotta start mucking with Oracle a lot more.
Kind of figured out my net worth again...

Cloudien
04-28-2004, 12:14 PM
Work
College
Boards & news sites
Tinker with Linux
Go out with RL friends and guzzle beer
ermmmm....?

Flintwick
04-28-2004, 12:29 PM
I:
work.
practice with Photoshop.
sharpen my HTML skills.
am learning XML. (damn you, customizable UI!)
practice my instruments.
compose music.
listen to music.
enjoy trips out of the city to see natural wonders and historical sites.
bowl.
go out on friday and saturday nights and hang out with friends. (and meet new ones! :whistle: )
play Roller Coaster Tycoon!
play EverQuest.
read various EverQuest boards.
research and plan the restaurant that I'm planning on opening... some day.
skillfully avoid any kind of yardwork or outdoor activities ;) (I'm an indoor person)
spend hours talking with my far-flung friends and my special sweetie.
plan vacations to all the places I want to experience.
nurture my Disney obsession ;)

WEDruidVZ
04-28-2004, 12:30 PM
Well, I started EQ back in September, but I:
Write computer code all day long (Software Engineer)
Drink Martini's and Beer at night
Have 1 class left for my Graduate degree, at night
Secretary of our Golf Association
Golf (with the wife) Friday nights, then dinner, drinks
Golf (without the wife) Saturday mornings
Eat lunch, drink beer Saturday afternoons with the wife (She golfs on Saturday mornings as well)
Did I say I drink martini's?
Watch TV with my three toy poodles
Surf the net for...?
And that's when I'm not playing EQ and I turn 50 in 2 years...WOOT!

Aerokella
04-28-2004, 12:53 PM
Mostly all I get done is working, and I don't think I can call that a hobby, lol. I think I have a new addiction tho, Pogo.com...... can't stay away hardly. When I'm not pogoing, I go fishing with my dad, spend time reading, and watching Court TV. I think the fishing one is my favorite, especially since it's finally getting warm outside =)

Panamah
04-28-2004, 01:16 PM
Fishing sounds great! I wish there were more, easily accessible, fishing spots in San Diego.

B_Delacroix
04-28-2004, 02:28 PM
Shinai's are more fun to bash people with compared to little twiggy rapiers

My weapon of preference is the schlogger. Its thicker than a rapier and the fights can be very ... animated. Its like Zorro. I like to use a buckler, too. Which is unlike Zorro.

I wish there were more, easily accessible, fishing spots in San Diego.
I'm not sure I'd want to eat a fish caught even in an accessible place in San Diego.

Lets see some art, Bap!
Keep in mind I never said I was good at it. I don't have the pictures of my lead figures, but they are actually quite nice. I've seen some "painted" figures that amount to base colors globbed onto the metal. Mine aren't like that. Even so, a picture doesn't do them justice. As with my programming, I like to try out new techniques with each one.

I no longer have any of my old 3D renderings. They were on my Amiga way back before I went to work for EA. I left the Amiga with my roommate. So all of those are gone. If I had my life different, I'd be an astronaut. As such, I do a lot of space things. I've been trying to render a convincing nebula. One method takes a LOOONG time but the results are good. Its better for close up nebulae. Another method is only for background nebulae.

I recenly aquired 3DsMax 6. Yea, the expensive variety. If you have to ask, you can't afford it variety. I used to use Imagine 4.0 on the Amiga. I also used to use bump maps and procedural textures to get what I wanted, but I've recently disovered the art of actually modelling all the doo dads and willy knickers and the results is a more realistic model.

Unfortunately, again, I have nothing really good to show. I have pieces of a model and one rendered image of a poor model (http://www.redstone-atlas.net/tmp/Queen_Ann.jpg). I was experimenting with a greebles plugin.

Here (http://www.redstone-atlas.net/tmp/Neck.jpg) and here (http://www.redstone-atlas.net/tmp/Greebles.jpg) are some replacement parts for the Queen Ann picture linked above.

Whip up (http://www.redstone-atlas.net/tmp/whipup.jpg) of the Queen Ann with the new nose and neck.

Pieces (http://www.redstone-atlas.net/tmp/AS Turret.jpg) and parts (http://www.redstone-atlas.net/tmp/MS Turret.jpg) of a more detailed model now that I know more.

View 1 (http://www.redstone-atlas.net/tmp/View1.jpg) and View 2 (http://www.redstone-atlas.net/tmp/View2.jpg) of said model.

I originally wanted to do something non military in space. Thus the Queen Ann. I am obviously not talented enough to get the image I have in my head out on the screen yet, but its getting there. I then started on the more detailed model to work on techniques.

I also work with Terragen to and World Machine to make some nice digital terrain images. I did a series of similar sig images for my guild members who asked for them. I also did some EQ paintings (embellished screenshots from EQ). I won't link it all here. You can visit www.redstone-atlas.net/saweb and click the images/gallery link to see two of them. You may notice its similar to another EQ artist from which I took inspiration. His has more light effects, mine seem more mundane.

The scenery in the sigs and the forums and main web page are generated with Terragen. To get it to look nice is a little like photography in getting the lighting and such as one likes. I used World machine to create the crater lake on the main page and the river on the forum page. The statue, however, is all Keith Parkinson. I just shrunk it to fit in the scene. If you look, his signiture is even still on it. I take no credit for that one.

Now I bet your sorry you asked :)

Edit: The "voyage of the queen ann" (the ugly grey one with the bright funky blue thing in it) is imagined to be a cruise liner. It is to have a pretty nebular cloud in it.

The yellow one with the nebular background is untextured as is the pieces and parts. It isn't going to stay flat yellow.

Araxx Darkroot
04-28-2004, 04:21 PM
I'm retired, but, when I played EQ, I used to go to the gym, play tennis, work too many hours a day, make my GF mad at me (my favorite passtime), read (I read three times as much now btw), and some other measley things.

Now, on the other hand, I do all that and write short stories (I'm gonna make it real soon - yeah right!), work longer hours, sleep less (I spend more time reading in bed), and I'm about to embark in some home improvement... yes, painting the walls with some too expensive textured paint that is NEVER gonna look as good as the picture on the front of the paint cans /sigh

Fakkin
04-28-2004, 04:35 PM
Well Im in Wa. State and when its not raining this is what I do.
Yard work
mowing
When its Salmon , Halbut, Crabbing, Tuna Season ( basically the end of summer) I am fishing
In the summer Eq drops quite a bit except when it rains. In the winter when its dark and raining 24/7 I play EQ all the time, well not when Im at work, then I just read the boards, like now.

Panamah
04-28-2004, 04:35 PM
Hmmm.... I thought "Queen Anne" might be one of those things you order from one of those adult magazines, batteries not included!

Just kidding! It's a nice looking space ship.

I figured you'd have some pictures of paladins!

LOL! I forgot about the turkey article. :)

vestix
04-28-2004, 06:37 PM
My EQ time has been steadily dwindling recently. In its place:

Exercise is up. Bloodpressure is down 20/15 pts.

I took a mini-vacation this past weekend and went shop-hopping. Didn't buy a thing - just watched other people buying lots of stuff. Had a great time.

Reading is up. I'm currently reading Relic by Preston and Child.

I play more games with my kids.

I have more conversations with my wife. Not sure yet if this raises or lowers the BP :)

Laundry is all clean, folded/hung, and put away.

I watch more movies. I love my DVD.

Life, in general, is better.

Vestix
62 druid of Tunare

Kuolon
04-28-2004, 07:35 PM
Lets see, I play baseball, lots and lots and lots and lots of baseball. I play for 10 months of the year and the other 2 months I spend conditioning hardcore.

I normally go crabbing in the summer down in Maryland on my uncle's boat (yay for getting up at 4 AM every day). I love going to the movies with my friends and girlfriend (yes, I do like -some- chick flicks).

While I'm not playing baseball I'm normally playing EQ, working out, golfing (I live right next to a golf course so I get to play for free! :P ), and anything else you would consider fun for an 18 year-old kid.

Panamah
05-01-2004, 01:13 PM
Yummmmm /drool crab!

Ndainye
05-01-2004, 02:12 PM
Ever seen known an aunt or grandmother who does nothing but make those funky knitted afgans in wavy stripes and garish colors?

I cherish my garishly colored wavy stripped knitted afgan!

I read
I read alot!
Do crafty stuff
Been working on updating and redesigning my website
Play with the kitties
Take the nephew and neice to the park or the pool or just hang out with them
Current goal is to seek out a different museum a month and go exploring

B_Delacroix
05-13-2004, 02:07 PM
I feel I should redeem myself from those less than quality images linked above.

In that spirit, I bring you, Shining Star.

http://www.redstone-atlas.net/Art/3D/Shining Star 1_thumb.jpg (http://www.redstone-atlas.net/Art/3D/Shining Star 1.jpg) http://www.redstone-atlas.net/Art/3D/Shining Star 2_thumb.jpg (http://www.redstone-atlas.net/Art/3D/Shining Star 2.jpg)

Art is subjective but I think this is an improvement over the work in progress stuff above.

Cloudien
05-14-2004, 12:26 PM
Very cool images :)

Do you sell high res versions for desktop wallpapers or anything? If not it would be a good idea, certainly the latter 2 would make very cool desktops.

Nerpella
05-14-2004, 12:43 PM
Let's see what I do when not playing EQ
I enjoy time with my children and grandchildren, visit friends, work in my garden, play the chanter, go to the gym, work on scrapbooks, spend quaility time with my hubby, church.

Grygonos Thunderwulf
05-14-2004, 01:22 PM
Play Guitar,
Tinker with various projects in Perl,
get my boob tube on (only 1 more episode of Angel.. GAH!)
movies,
out with friends (I don't think I've ever done a Friday raid.. and maybe 1 saturday in 4 years),
listen to music (currently the new prince album....good stuff)
write music for my imaginary rap group that a female co-worker of mine suggested we start ;)
work 40+ hours,
see my son when I can

Fairweather Pure
05-14-2004, 05:56 PM
I play guitar, chess, and paint Warhammer 40k models. My apartment is clean enough to eat off the floors and my GF is one of the happiest women I have ever met. She says it's because of me and I take that as a compliment of the highest level. I go to a lot of concerts and movies. I camp in the summer and make a point to take my significant other someplace special once every other month. Next month it will be Niagra Falls. I have more close friends than anyone else I know and spend as much time with them as possible, yet still make an effort to make more.

That is my life outside of EQ in a nutshell.

Life is good. I never make time for EQ, it's a time filler at best, just like my other hobbies.