Podcast Recap

I understand it might be hard for people to listen to podcasts. Life is busy or you're just not interested in listening to them. There are other factors I wouldn't go over, but I do understand it's not for everybody. For those who can't listen to podcasts I'd like to recap my last podcast for you because I feel it is a very important podcast, at least it was for me.

1. I had my great friend, The River, join me for the podcast. Unfortunately, he passed away last week and he was unable to listen to it. At the beginning of the podcast I talked a little about River. I know people hear it all the time when someone died, but River was truly a good man. He wasn't perfect and earlier in his life he did go to prison for robbery,  but he changed later in life. He became a giver instead of a taker. Reading his personal blog you can see he gave his heart and soul to his friends and family. He made it a point to help them and cheer them up even if it meant sacrificing a bit of himself. He was a great man.

If you only read his gaming blog you would've thought he was a womanizing dick, but that was just a fun facade he put on for his readers. As I said in the podcast, he loved to shock people to help them think outside of the box. Make them realize the stick is so far up their ass you can't even see the end nub. A misunderstood genius I thought of him. Through the years of knowing him I've tried to mimic his style to be as popular as him. I would read his comments and envy how much people loved reading his posts. How he could engage his audience and bring out the best or worst in them depending on what he wanted from them. I was jealous of him.

Now that he's gone I don't know what to do. Him and I used to banter back and forth to get a rise out of people. At times he was the only one to comment on my post because he knew what I was doing when others didn't. I'm not sure how to proceed from here.

2. River talked about his grandmother and grandfather he loved so much. He told me how they got him into gaming through poker and Monopoly. I'm sure that might have been the source of his gambling problem when he was younger... GRANDMAAAAA!

He talked about his love of DAoC and his guild. Some of those members he still played with in WoW up until he passed away. River was very passionate about his guild members. He might have been talking about how much fun he had in RvR, but in truth the fun was with his guild mates. That's why we play MMOs to socialize with people we enjoy talking to.

Sometimes we might play a game just for the people and not the game itself. Our desire to be surrounded by people we know and care about, can turn a meh game into the best game in the world. I could tell talking to River he really enjoyed the people in the games he played more than anything else. I feel the same way too. I've bought games just to be able to talk with people and share experiences with people I talk to daily on social networks. Like right now, Wildstar isn't the best game and it's not perfect, but at this point I'm playing with people I enjoy talking to. I enjoy Zeli, Abb, Belghast, Rae, Tam, Oak, Pete, Chris, Stargrace, ect, ect. That is just a few of the people and not even close to all of the people I wish I could play with, but right now Wildstar is the new hotness and I can enjoy their company while it lasts. Discussing MMOs with River, I knew he loved these games for this exact reason too.

3. Listening to the podcast and River talking about his most memorable moment in WoW when Ragnaros pops out of the lava and says, "With fire be purged!" I get chills up my spine. Not only do I remember the moment I first saw that, the way River says it with passion, erupts emotions in me. Those are the moments we play games for. Moments that flare up emotions like a nasty bug bite begging to be scratched until it bleeds.  When people talk about gaming memories they will always remember them just like real life moments that spark emotions.

4. At the end of the podcast River was waiting to tell me a story. Again, this story was about the people he played with and not really the game. He told me about drama in his guild with a guy he later became good friends with. Years later when he really met the guy in real life, River was more excited about that meeting than the game. He told me how he lost boots in WoW accidentally to this guy even though he had the most DKP; I'm guessing it was a screw up on the raid leader. River told me how the guy and several other guild mates met in real life and how the guy disenchanted the boots right at that moment. River laughed his ass off about that and later drew a penis on the guys back when he passed out drunk. A moment outside of gaming that was only made possible through gaming.

The podcast made me realize why I love gaming so much. It's a time I get to relax and talk with potential real life friends, even if I never meet them in real life. Not coming face to face doesn't lessen the friendship. I always think what I would say to you all if we really met. It would be awkward at first, but after flashing my naked ass at you, we would all chuckle and have fun... OK not really, but it would be funny and you wouldn't forget my hot ass!

I wish I got to meet River, but I'm not sad about it because I had the chance to get to know him through the years. There might be miles separating us all, but we can still be just as good of friends as if we lived next to each other. Even better friends, because I don't have to see you and put up with your shit daily. When I tell you all I appreciate you I mean it. You all make my day better even when you refuse to play a specific game with me.

Thank you all for reading and I hope you have a wonderful day.