BullCopra decided I was scrap-worthy! Huzzah!

“This award is bestowed upon a fellow blogger whose blog content or design is, in the giver’s opinion, brilliant.”

I’m pretty sure that Copra and I have very different definitions of the word brilliant, since I generally feel like I’m flailing around like a noob on these pages. But thanks, Copra!!

So here’re the memeRules:

1. When accepting this auspicious award, you must write a post bragging about it, including the name of the misguided soul who thinks you deserve such acclaim, and link back to the said person so everyone knows she/he is real.
2. Choose a minimum of seven (7) blogs that you find brilliant in content or design. Or improvise by including bloggers who have no idea who you are because you don’t have seven friends. Show the seven random victims’ names and links and leave a harassing comment informing them that they were prized with Honest Weblog. Well, there’s no prize, but they can keep the nifty icon.
3. List at least ten (10) honest things about yourself. Then pass it on!

Rule 1, check.

Rule 2:

Actually before I get to Rule 2, let me preface this list. I know for some people getting meme’d is like being sent a chain letter. But I love the spirit of this meme, and I’m picking 7 bloggers that really have affected me in positive ways. I hope no one feels a sense of obligation from being on this list. Forward the meme or don’t; it doesn’t matter to me. What does matter is I get a chance to call attention to some very cool people.

1. Stargrace at MMOQuests, because she’s always celebrating the fun that comes out of the games we play. I’ve gone on more vicarious adventures with her than with anyone else.
2. Tipa at West Karana. She’s done a lot for the blog-o-sphere, but I’m including her this time for the work she did on the XFire WordPress Plug-In that I’m running over on the right.
3. Angela at G33kG0dd3ss for having the hardest-to-type blog name of them all, and because she did the design for Dragonchasers. And she puts up with me every day. I have no idea how.
4. Wiqd at iMMOvation, because he makes me think a lot about the games we play, and tends to spin it all in a pretty positive light. Reading him tends to be very relaxing and thought-provoking at the same time, which is (IMO) quite a feat.
5. Tesh at Tish Tosh Tesh for constantly challenging me. We often don’t see eye-to-eye, but I always feel like I’ve improved myself a wee bit after we debate a topic.
6. Ysharros at Stylish Corpse. This one is a bit of a ‘cheat’ because Copra already tagged her, but she invites us in time after time for long, rambling discussions that she starts and then guide the conversation as the day passes. She just has a knack for picking topics that folks can build a conversation around.
7. DM Osbon from Construed, for his infectious enthusiasm from both games and (sometimes more importantly) other pop culture. It’s good to be reminded that there’s more to life than computer games: there’s comics and movies!

Rule #3

Finding 10 things about me that anyone would find remotely interesting will be a challenge.

1. I’ve been involved in online communities since the 1980’s. My first gig was as an assistant sysop for Scorpia (older gamers may remember her from the pages of Computer Gaming World) on GEnie. It wasn’t a paid gig, but she did send us a Holiday Bonus. She signed her checks “Scorpia.”
2. I was an Associate Editor of Strategy Plus Magazine for a few years. My beat was strategy and wargames.
3. I once spent a very pleasant day at Derek Smart’s house in Miami, looking at Battlecruiser and thinking it was awesome. And it was, when Smart was at the controls. He was a charming host and it was a really enjoyable time. (For those who don’t get the reference, Smart is infamous for taking part in online flame wars about his game.)
4. I took part in a focus group for the crafting aspects of LOTRO. If you hate how crafting works in that game, I have to take a very very very tiny bit of responsibility for it.
5. My first MMO (although it wasn’t call that at the time) was Megawars III on CompuServe. I spent $300/month on access fees (they cut you off at $300) and another $150 or so/month on phone charges.
6. Even though I’m a pasty-faced geek now, there was a time when I was a total beach bum. I grew up in The Hamptons and worked nights. Every day was spent lounging at the ocean, soaking up the sun and body surfing.
7. My first Virtual Reality experience was Dactyl Nightmare. I happened to be in an arcade when they were setting it up, and the tech just let me hang out in it for about 25 minutes, noodling around while he got everything in order. After taking off the head-mounted-display, I proclaimed it Electronic LSD and predicted it would take the world by storm. It didn’t.
8. I ghostwrote a chapter of a book called “Secrets of the Videogame Masters” by Clayton Walnum. My chapters was a walk-through of Bionic Commando for the NES. I was 28 at the time and had chicken pox as I was playing through the game. I think it was the only thing that kept me sane from that ITCHING!
9. The first computer I used was actually a paper-teletype machine with an acoustic coupler.  You had to call up the PDP-10 at Stony Brook University, listen for the *screeech* that told you the PDP was talking, then shove the headset of the phone into a couple of rubber cups on the back of the teletype. Programs were store on paper tape with holes punched out. Getting your program ‘roll’ squished often meant re-keying.
10. I dated a pretty serious activist in my youth. That led me to being at the big No Nukes Rally in Battery Park, Manhatten, in 1979, and I marched in Washington DC against registering for Selective Service  after the USSR invaded Afghanistan that same year. I was something of a hippy back then. I think maybe I still am.

Whew. I think my job here is done…