Anyone remember how Age of Conan was supposed to be a WoW-killer? Ooh ooh ooh, and remember how last year I was totally playing Elder Scrolls: Online?

(…)

Okay, me neither. But at any rate, the year is 2018 and my two favorite time-wasters are World of Warcraft and Minecraft. With the former I’ll call myself an old-bie but the latter has me firmly in a camp of newbish-ness. But treasure those first few hours in a game before you figure out the rules–There is no cure for the state of knowing. I have tried to look up as few things as possible and as a result I have died from starvation, fallen off hills in pursuit of prey, and dug myself into holes I could see no escape from. To my credit, my three-year-old helped me with the last one. He’s still pre-reading so he hasn’t internalized the first rule of Minecraft.

World of Warcraft: Battle for Azeroth launched for me birthday and I have been having a blast. I’ll admit there’s little -flash- in this expansion, but I like a little work in my play so no complaints here. Zandalar is beautiful and I am digging the dinos. My enduring complaint about this game, however, has nothing to do with this particular expansion. I really struggle to see how this game could make sense to someone who is completely new to the genre. The starting from level 1 experience is completely borked. Many MMO players of my vintage came to the game from RTS or RL-RPG experience. I didn’t have either for what it’s worth; my gaming origins lie with the 90s console wars. Which reminds me of my other new purchase, the …

SUPER NES CLASSIC EDITION

selling on Amazon for about $100, this baby is worth every single damn penny. The selection of games included is excellent. I’m stuck on the second world of Donkey Kong Country, that damn level with the mine cart jumping. Yes, only the second world. This does not predict future success. As my husband said, SNES games are made for twitchy eight-year-olds. The game that’s seen the most play by far is Super Mario Kart.

Super Mario Kart is a deceptively simple game with tons of replay value and entertain-your-three-year-old value. My son loves cars and understands the concept of the race: he claps for me when I finish, though the darling doesn’t yet know the difference between first and eighth place. I’ll savor these moments. He picks up the second controller and pretends to play beside me: it’s my humble opinion that the system should be required reading for all toddler parents.

The other game system I got for my birthday was Hungry Hungry Hippos but that one has to wait for a rainy day.

signed Camilla d’Euler, the Nightblade who doesn’t want to go resto