Real life multiplayer

Screenshot from Neverwinter Online

Everyone can probably guess that playing MMOs is not something that goes well with having a newborn in the house. Especially if said newborn is being breastfed exclusively.

However yesterday I thought I would try my luck anyway with the newly released Neverwinter Online. And in my naive optimism I thought, "hey maybe I can even do a dungeon and try that out". I mean I had just spent a couple of hours interacting with my daugther. Her diaper was new and clean plus she had fed for 35 minutes and were soundly a sleep in her moses basket.

Yay a bit of time for myself! And what better way to spend quality alone time than to group up with a bunch of strangers in an MMORPG?

Anyways lets not discuss my weird habbit of self inflicted punishment and instead return to my story.

I had probably played for about 10 minutes. Just long enough to sit in the queue for the instance, get the invite and kill the first 3 packs of monsters, when my daughter started crying.

My partner, who is awesome, got up checked her diaper, tried calming her down and to his credit did his very best to buy me enough time to finish the instance.

My daughter however wouldn't have any of it. Apparently my daughter like a platypus is capable of consuming her own weight in food on a daily basis and like her mother she gets very cranky when she's hungry. So she wants to eat often, but preferably when I have:
A. Just poured warm food onto a plate (wont be warm when I get to eat it HAH!).
B. Just laid down on the bed in hopes of a bit of sleep.
C. As was the case yesterday, just for once loaded a game that requires more than 1 hand.

Now I am not a bad player, in fact I like to think myself above average, I mean I raided in the 2. best guild on my server in TBC *flex virtual nerd muscles*, but even my level of skill can not handle feeding a squirming, displeased baby while doing a dungeon run. And this is where my partners pure awesomeness really shines.

"You handle the mouse I will deal with the number keys and awsd based on your commands" he said. So for the next 15 minutes I shouted "3" "e" "r" "double tab s" etc. while feeding my baby and stearing the point of view with my mouse.

Did I top the damage meter? No. Would it have worked in a hardcore raid instance? No.

But I got to finish my instance and half an hour of as good as uniterrupted gaming.
No loot dropped for my class though damned RNG!





The moral of my story? Well I guess if there has to be one it is that my real life has gone from being a single player experience with a lot of interesting side characters to full multiplayer mode with forced grouping. And frankly that is quite awesome even if somehow slightly frustrating. :)

When a gamer turns mom (From the perspective of the computer)

It is not only me and my partner who have to get used to changes now that my daughter has arrived. Life has changed for my computer as well and the view is slightly different.

From owning the noobs...

..to feeding with boobs.

I love my computer! It has followed me all the way from Ireland to Denmark and is now sitting with me here in Malta.

It has been here for some of the most significant times in my life (albeit, parts have been added and replaced). It was here when I worked for Blizzard Entertainment, it was here when I got my first real promotion. It was part of my life when I met my awesome boyfriend and it has witnessed my growing belly and my beautiful little daugther.

After the birth of my daughter my relationship with my computer has suffered though. It is hard to play games with only one hand and your focus on the little new wonder in your life. Believe me I did try. ;)

My computer has been acting up trying to reclaim my attention. Lately it has been bluescreening on me and generally acting offended, but I know it is just because it miss me and when I do have time for it again our relationship will bloom once more.

My mission in the weeks and monhts to come is to find a way to squeeze a bit of gaming in between feeding, diaper change and power napping on command when my daughter falls a sleep.
She likes sleeping in my arms so feel free to ad game recommendations in the comments below for games that can be played with one arm and does not require reflexes or precision.


Pictures © at Sigrid Zeuthen. Do not use without permission.

Discount Baby Bed

Many moms-to-be complain that their partner is not really involved in the preparation for the baby's arrival. I am in luck here and my boyfriend is very active when it comes to getting our apartment ready for the little new inhabitant.

He has even secured the first piece of baby equipment. Check out the baby bed that my boyfriend has picked out and proudly presented to me.


The more perceptive of my readers might notice that this is in fact a cardboard box and might be wondering where the bed that came in it went or if you are missing something. Nope I did not upload the wrong photo. This is what my boyfriend in all seriousness suggests as a bed for our precious little newborn.

Not only that, he stared at me in despair as I continously screamed "my baby is not going to sleep in a cardboard box" and then he demanded that I provided good arguments against this attrocity of an idea.

"It is not safe" I said. "How is it not safe?" he countered. "The baby will move and kick and gradually destabilize the sides of the box" I answered. "Are we going to have a super strong, mutant, alien baby?" he asked in disbelief.

Well... he has only felt the kicks through my stomach, so I forgive him for doubting the power of our child, but he will see!!

"It is not built of baby safe materials" I also tried to ague. "There will be glue and chemical residue used to keep the box together"

"It is not hygenic, it will be dusty and it is also bad to have the baby sleep so close to the floor" I tried. "Well we can just place it on the coffee table" he said.

At this point I gave up trying to reason and just stared chanting "my baby is not sleeping in a cardboard box" over and over again while rocking back and forth like a mad woman.

Next time I bet he will suggest that we case mod an old PC tower into a baby tub.

What crazy ideas does your partner come up with when it comes to your little one(s)?