Geeky Gaming to the Rescue!

There have been 3 times in my life when I have turned to something potentially addictive, but therapeutic in reasonable doses to fill the void and escape occasionally from the real world - geeky gaming!

Though I have recently indulged in several different games, my favorite remain Second Life, which really isn't a "game" so much as a virtual world inhabited by people from around the world, and, as much as I hate to admit it, World of Warcraft--the graphics just can't be beat and they clearly know how to appeal to 12 year old boys, men with addictive personalities, and apparently yours truly.

My very first Second Life avatar, Carlyn Bingyi, has been around since a friend first told me about Second Life and I signed up for a free account while living in Switzerland back in 2007. Funny - that was the same year I joined Facebook back when I thoroughly enjoyed it, when it still felt safe, and before the platform interfered in my relationships in a way that was so personally devastating, I permanently deleted my account 2 years ago. But over the years, though I have spent months away from it, I always find my way back into Second Life, nearly a decade later. At any rate, Carlyn is the digital likeness of me and I only explore areas of Second Life that would interest me in Real Life.

Carlyn Bingyi, discovering a re-creation of NZP's O-line at the Oasis Zoo

Actual O-line at NZP

Carlyn Bingyi in StoryBrooke Gardens

After Carlyn Bingyi, I created an ancient dragon avatar and fairy man while living in Indonesia--for long periods of time during my post-doc I found myself stuck in a little village with little to do when not working on papers, but with an occasionally working wireless connection. As these avatars I got to know several people anonymously, mostly living in SE Asia, Australia and New Zealand, since we were awake at the same time.

Since returning to the states, while living in the Philadelphia area I created my forth avatar - a human male named Nathaniel Beringei (yep, his last name is the genus name of mountain gorillas...). Nathaniel is a bit like my male alter ego (note the tree house in the background).

I created my fifth and final Second Life avatar most recently here in DC, though I still most often navigate the virtual world as either Carlyn or Nathaniel. This avatar is much more social with other avatars when she comes across them than I would likely do with most humans in Real Life. She looks nothing like me so I feel much more comfortable having her get involved in strange conversations...though sometimes that gets her into trouble and she has to teleport quickly to another destination!

And then there is World of Warcraft...Still trying to figure out which character to level up when I upgrade. For now I am playing 3 different characters, spanning my three favorite races (night elf, orc and troll), two favorite classes (hunter and druid), and both factions (my favorite part of Azeroth is inhabited by the night elves of the Alliance, but my favorite faction is...THE HORDE!).

Merydydd, a night elf hunter for the Alliance in Argent Dawn

Merrydeath, an orc hunter for the Horde in Drak'Tharon

Drpongo, a troll druid for the Horde in Drak'Tharon 

**update: Merrydeath hasn't changed much recently, but Merydydd and Drpongo have both changed quite a bit since moving up through the levels with a little help from expansion boots (so hard to explain to someone who hasn't found themselves drawn into online fantasy gaming); I also created my first female alt, a Draenei monk named Nerdycatlady, who has moved up to level 21 by questing. So far I have managed to enjoy the World of Warcraft largely on my own, though Nerdycatlady has joined what seems so far to be a very casual guild in which all members seem to benefit, but there aren't any of the unrealistic requirements that I used to think all guilds had, which wouldn't be at all conducive to my extremely casual gaming and workaholic life.