June 2022

Getting Back to Twitch Streaming

stargrace June 28, 2022 0Comment

After a three year hiatus, I am finally tentatively getting back to streaming on Twitch! This has been a long time coming. I couldn’t stream at my previous post because our internet was too poor, and before that, I was a new mother trying to find time between two active littles who were up all hours of the night. Now we’ve moved, the littles have an actual ‘bedtime’ and while life is still just as active and busy as always, I’ve managed to carve out a little bit of time. That’s what I keep telling myself, at least.

I’ve done one stream so far – and gained 17 new followers! I was tickled. I ran RFK in World of Warcraft and talked about gold making. It wasn’t the most exciting stream, there were some technical difficulties along the way – but I had a good time, and hopefully people learned a thing or two. I’m hoping to keep this up and even get a schedule going when I get a bit more comfortable. My free time is usually in the evening (EDT) around 9 or slightly after. I know that’s pretty early for those on the West, and pretty late for those in EU, but honestly, I’ve got to stream when it makes sense for me. In the past I would have completely remodeled my schedule around streaming to optimize the viewers, but I just don’t have that in me any more.

I’m beginning with World of Warcraft gold making streams, but I will occasionally stream other games (like RimWorld, one of my favourites) and I’m hoping to also stream some of my favourite crafts, like spinning yarn, using my drum carder, using the sock knitting machine, and that sort of thing. I do have to spend a little more time on set-up for those things, so there is no ETA at this time. I’m thinking that three streams a week (mon/wed/fri) might be a good start, with extra streams tossed in when I feel like it. I haven’t mustered up the courage to turn on my camera as I stream yet, but I do have a mic and I’m pretty talkative. Things are laid back and casual, I also won’t take any shit from people, so if you’re hoping to come to my stream to cause problems you’ll be looking at a ban hammer. Remember I used to be a moderator for NCSoft, so this isn’t my first rodeo.

As always, happy gaming – no matter where you find yourself. If you want to catch my streams, head on over to Twitch and give me a follow. https://www.twitch.tv/stargrace

Gaming

The Tenants (Steam)

stargrace June 27, 2022 0Comment

I’ve owned the game ‘The Tenants’ on steam for a little while now, but since our internet was pretty poor I never got around to installing it – yesterday I decided to play for a short while, and it really is a cute fun little game. I love building simulators, so it wasn’t exactly a surprise that I enjoyed myself.

You play the landlord / owner of some property, and you have to fix it up and then get tenants to stay in it. You’ll have good tenants, bad ones, and you’ll have to do some unusual tasks along the way to earn cash to continue renovating. Like babysitting. What landlord is doing that for tenants out there?!

The game play is similar to games like house flipper, but in a top down view, and the art is what really appealed to me. It’s not the most complex games as far as having options to place down, but there are more than enough to keep me interested. Unfortunately after some time I found myself caring very little where I placed household items so long as they could be accessed and meet the criteria each tenant was looking for – which is what usually happens when I’m playing these games. Still, it was a fun little afternoon waster, and it was nice to feel an urge to play something that I could actually download while I still wanted to play, lol!

Happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself!

Gaming

It’s Time for a Wedding

stargrace June 26, 2022 0Comment

Two friends I’ve “known” for years online decided to partake in a bonding ceremony in FFXIV – and I was invited! It was my first time ever participating, and I took so many screenshots. I really needed this moment to remind me why I love these games and why I play. It’s the stories they create, the friendships – I love everything about it.

Congratulations Jaedia & Rini! You two are wonderful.

For a while now I’ve been going through the motions of gaming without actually enjoying games the way *I* like to enjoy them. I enjoy roleplay! I enjoy stories. I’m not much of a hack and slash person – and it’s so easy to get swept up and to forget about WHY you play. In the brief stint that I was on Phoenix (EU server) I saw so many people playing out the stories of their characters, openly, where ever they were. It was INSPIRING.

I wish I had better words to convey the satisfaction of this event from a purely ‘soul healing’ level. If you get a chance to participate and help some friends out this way – I highly recommend it.

Gaming Real Life

Happy 16th Anniversary

stargrace June 25, 2022 1Comment

I haven’t always been the most consistent blogger, but today marks the 16th year that I’ve had it up and running! I’m incredibly proud of this, and I love going back and reading about what my gaming was like way back then. In days before kids, marriage, and so many other life changes that have taken place. I also branched out from just writing about MMOs (you might remember that the blog used to be called MmoQuests) to writing about fiber related goodies, real life, and whatever else I was interested in at the time.

Here’s to 16 more! Maybe with a little bit more consistency than I’ve had over the past three years.

Real Life

Settling In

stargrace June 20, 2022 1Comment

Just over a month since I’ve written here, and absolutely everything in life has changed once again (finally). After 2.5 years we moved from our frozen home in the far North of Canada to a more moderate location in Nova Scotia (East Coast). This came after 6+ months of fighting and advocating for our family, and it was pretty draining. No one should have to fight so hard for quality of life changes against a government entity, but here we are.

We’re still moving in, furniture arrived two days ago, and there are boxes in the majority of rooms. The kids rooms are done as well as the rec room (ie: computers, TV, and other ‘essentials’) and most of the kitchen is unpacked. That leaves the bathrooms, the master bedroom, and my yarn room to assemble. All of us are pretty sick, my husband and son have been sick for almost a month straight now. We tested for covid just before we left, so it might be some sort of long drawn out recovery from that. It sucks.

That being said, already some things are so much better. We have a lot more room. A LOT more privacy. We have two day shipping instead of 2 week. Mail comes to the box at the end of our lane instead of to a PO Box. The internet is 500mbps+ instead of 5. Upload is 15mbps+ instead of 0.05. Some things are still daunting, the town has a very involved and confusing garbage collection that is once every two weeks and you have to sort absolutely everything. We’re not quite sure how to human with others any more after so long apart. The husband also has a lot to get used to at his new post, and since it’s larger and more spread out everyone sort of does their own thing and it’s not as close as our previous post. Overall, the changes are great for our family, but it will take some time.

I was able to update and patch all of my games that have been neglected since we moved, and let me tell you, I had a lot. It was amazing to see how fast everything updated. I plan on picking up with streams around June 25th – I’ll be streaming world of warcraft gold making, I know not everyone is comfortable with that game these days, but I believe in the people who continue to work on it, and it’s one of my comfort games, so I hope to have a bit of fun. I’ll also be streaming some Black Desert Online in the future, and I do plan on trying to stream a lot of fiber related stuff. Spinning yarn, preparing yarn, knitting, we’ll see what else. All in all I hope to be able to get back to a few hobbies that I’m very passionate about, and have more time and less stress in the long run. For now, we’re taking it slow and making this house a home.

Happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself!

Getting Back to Twitch Streaming

The Tenants (Steam)

It’s Time for a Wedding

Happy 16th Anniversary

Settling In

You Missed

Personal EVE Economic Update (October)

Expensive Month (preparing for fun)

Locked Out (again)

What’s Going on?