A Business Casual Horde

Horde Alliance Split Allegiances
For The– err, Azeroth!

This week’s Shared Topic over at Blog Azeroth was suggested by Akabeko of Red Cow Rise and is about showing our Nerd Pride. The shared topic runs from Jan 22-28, so come join the fun! 😀

How do you express your geekery? Do you own obvious paraphernalia like a Horde-symbol bumper sticker, in-joke t-shirts like the dps/ups pun, or less obviously related items like a gift from a guildie? Rather than physical indicators, do you mix nerd lingo into your everyday speech or talk/post about geekdom in non-nerd spaces? How do you advertise your nerd tendencies? Does it help you to attract new nerd friends?

You wouldn’t guess I’m a Warcraft player if you saw me in real life—unless you happened to see the screenshots in my screensaver at work.

I don’t own any WoW t-shirts or stickers or mugs or figurines or themed computer peripherals. In fact the only thing I own that’s branded is the authenticator and since that never leaves my treadmill I’m pretty sure that doesn’t count. *pets Corehound puppy*

Painting Stage 4.5
Painting Stage 4.5

If you met me online, you’d probably figure it out pretty quickly. I have a link to my Warcraft sub-blog in my National Novel Wiriting Month signature, I post about the Troll Druid-themed model horse over on Model Horse Blab, and it’s pretty obvious from looking at my main blog that I’m fond of the game.

I’ll talk about WoW when conversation wanders that way, but I’m no more likely to use WoW-slang than I am any other meme. If you bring it up, I’ll be happy to talk your ear off… but it’s not my default conversation starter.

I’m not sure why I don’t own more WoW stuff, or heck, more Thinkgeek swag in general. I suppose it’s because it’s just not in my normal budget radar. I just don’t buy a lot of ‘toys’—although I now have the itch to design business casual wow-themed clothing. *ponders*

Elsewhere on the Internets…

So how do the other Blog Azeroth folks show their pride? Let’s find out!

Akabeko of Red Cow Rise has her authenticator on her phone and a tree necklace and ring that reflect the awesome that is Resto Druids. Not as big or as flashy as some of the other WoW-swag, but something that’s sure to catch another gamer’s eye! [Post]

Navimie of The Daily Frostwolf – Druid Edition has Horde-wear and is equipping her children with Heirlooms (good choice!). She even gets to play WoW at work, so there’s a wealth of opportunity to meld online and offline lives. [Post]

Logtar of WoW Stuck would like to point out that Alliance have pride too, but has more visual proof at home than at work. He does, however, mix wow-lingo with work-lingo– much to the confusion of his non-nerdy coworkers. [Post]

Karegina from The Reluctant Raider is the most obvious commuter, with a giant horde decal in her back window. (Covet!) She’s also got a resto-themed ring, hats, shirts, and a circle of friends who are fluent in WoW-speak. [Post]

Kamalia of Kamalia Et Alia is a giant Harry Potter fangirl (yay!) and has advertised that fact far and wide… but is more reserved about WoW-geekery. Unless she’s among other gamers, WoW is downplayed significantly and online her real name and WoW life have a nice solid ‘do not cross’ line drawn down the middle. I can certainly empathize, but I’m a little depressed that the game still has such a stigma. *sighs* [Post]

Matty from Sugar & Blood keeps their work and WoW life separate, much like Kamalia. I suppose my own internet obviousness might get in the way if I have to job hunt again, but I’m willing to risk it for now. … I’m really hoping I’m not forced to revise my opinion five years down the road. [Post]

Dangfool from Kallixta’s Notes has lots of geekery (wow and non-wow) at home as well as a WoW calendar and some Star Wars minifigs at work. They’ve got a much more relaxed workplace than I do, but the same sort of confused but uninterested coworkers. *sighs* [Post]

Frazzld of Among the Elements is slowly growing into their own outside-the-home geekiness and is building up their WoW-wear arsenal. They give a nod to Big Bang Theory and Chuck for helping mitigate the stigma of being the lone geek and standing out in a crowd. [Post]

Edenvale of The Gamer’s Fridge has done an awesome picspam of all their geeky swag and I must say I’m coveting those Atlases– after Cata they’re a great trip down memory lane! Add to that a cookie jar made of AWESOME and you’ve got one giant house of shiny! ^_^ [Post]

Syrco from Syrco Owl has lots of Azerothian pride, but hasn’t had a change to gear up at Jinx just yet. I had no idea anyone had WoW tattoos, but Syrco has a link to Lufitoom’s tat and it looks awesome (my inherent Druid-bias notwithstanding). [Post]

Saz of World of Saz rightly points out that not all geekery is WoW related and can play an amazing range of musical instruments… and could probably play The Hero of Canton if you snuck it into the conversation. (The world can never have too many Browncoats *solemn nod*) [Post]

Sil from Girls gone WoW has a wide fandom base for her geekery and isn’t shy about sharing it. The chibi Vader is the cutest thing I have ever seen– and now I’m wondering if I could sneak a windrider plushie in under the work radar. *ponders* [Post]

Tzufit from Tree Heals Go Whoosh has a beautifully in-depth look at what it means to be a geek and a gamer and why she is only comfortable adopting one of those labels. It’s something I need to sit down and really think about before I reply, but she’s made some very good points and I think it’s a conversation worth expanding on! [Post]

Effraeti of Effraeti’s RP doesn’t have a lot of gear, but like me she’s got a lot of geek in her life anyways. She’s even put together a Gamer Glossary so her friends and family can keep up! [Post]



12 responses to “A Business Casual Horde”

  1. logtar (@logtar) Avatar

    Thanks for the link 🙂

    I am thinking that I should wear some business casual wear. I think in the near future there might be more talk about WoW+Work mashup.

    Its nice to find another (old timer) from a domain since the 90s… my wife started her blog around 98 as well, I am more of a 2000s blogger but I had a college hosted webpage, geocities, etc! ah… the days of blinking text, lol.

    Looking forward to reading more of your stuff.

    1. Martha Bechtel Avatar

      Not a problem! 😀 I try to make sure there’s lots of LinkLove on all the BA shared topics posts… I just don’t get to do many of them since I don’t do much end-game content. ^_~;; *sheepish grin*

      And the more I’m thinking about it, the more I think that it would be possible to meld the WoW art styles with some ‘I can wear this to work’ clothing. Things normal people would dismiss as an interesting pattern and the other gamers would get a chuckle out of. *ponders*

      And huzzah for old fen! 😀 I had much love for Geocities back in the day, heck I was there shortly after it first started up and I hung on to that early adopter numbered web address with pride. *wistful sigh*

      It’s very very odd to think of how much the net has changed since I first got on. The alt. newsgroups are ghost towns, the BBS’s I lived on are extinct, Yahoo Groups came and went (more or less), heck I even remember the Days Before Google™ when everyone maintained their own link pages.

      Heck, the fact that I got my first name as a website address (should have got the .com too! Darnit) is pretty much a testament for how long I’ve been wasting time online. *grin*

  2. Kamalia Avatar

    Ah, Model Horse Blab! I read/posted there for two or three years — under a completely different alias, of course. I haven’t been there regularly for quite a few years, though… basically about since playing WoW started taking up the free time and discretionary budget that I used to spend on shopping for and painting Breyers 😉
    Sadly, the year that my parents gave me a Dremel for Christmas was the year that my intense model horse hobby phase was winding down, and I haven’t ever actually used the thing.
    I did a lot of painting, though, but I wasn’t exactly a “pro” about it — I never bothered with sanding and gessoing and whatnot, just painted right over the OF with crafter’s acrylics. I did once paint a black chestnut with a facial marking inspired by the Silvermoon phoenix symbol, and I’m still thinking about making a Paladin costume for one of my horses, but that’s as far as I’ve gone with crossing over WoW and model horses.

    1. Martha Bechtel Avatar

      I was pretty active on Blab back when I was running my old customizing business and I’ve been gearing up to really get into the hobby again. So much has changed since I was gone! O_O;;

      And the poor Druid horse is finally coming onto the workbench again, so I’m hoping to have him finished by the end of Feb. *crosses fingers* After that I think I’m going to do a Night Elf druid on the G3 Mustang and then a Tauren on one of the drafters. Not sure which mold fits a Worgen yet… *pokes body box*

      What’s amusing is that I’m also planning on doing NaNoWriM horses this year to raise the donation money for NaNo, so all three of my major hobbies are due for a collision! *grin* Now I just need to write a WoW horse-fanfic for NaNo and I’d be set… ;D

      1. Zaralynda Avatar
        Zaralynda

        Wow. I thumbed through Model Horse Blab and that was wild. I used to collect/customize/etc back in the 90s. Still have a box of them… somewhere… in the basement.

        1. Martha Bechtel Avatar

          I am of the solemn opinion that the hobby merely goes into hibernation… then you find the box of horses and it starts all over again. ^_~ *grin*

          Some of the Live Show customs out there are drop dead stunning. It’s going to be stiff climb to get my own skill levels back up—if I can even reach LSQ this time around.

          On a good note, there are a lot of new Stablemate and Micro Mini horses for me to customize, so it’s like finding a whole new questing area hidden off behind a waterfall. ^_^

  3. Navimie Avatar

    Ooh thanks for the link love! Oh and the Sugar & Blood one is actually Matty (Mataoka), I just posted for her because I think she was a bit shy. Love that model horse, and that was a really good read 🙂

    1. Matty Avatar

      Thanks for the correction, Navimie! And again, thanks for this link. The blogging community is really great!

    2. Martha Bechtel Avatar

      Ack! I’ll get that fixed in just a moment, sorry I didn’t catch the mistake. >.<;; And thanks! 😀

  4. redcow Avatar

    I’m like you, in that I don’t really have a “nerd swag” budget, but after a recent trip to some delightfully nerdy friends’ places, I realized that a little expenditure here and there would make my house feel more homey if it, say, had a public transportation map of Middle Earth.

    Thank you so much for not only the link roundup, but the wonderful summaries!

    1. Martha Bechtel Avatar

      There are a few things scattered around my house that I’m very fond of and this topic really got me thinking about how I’d like to decorate my house. Dad got me an animation still from The Fox and the Hound and now I’m itching to get a picture from Up of the house floating over the valley, or to sit down and create a feral druid bas relief—just something to add to the walls instead of just the shelves. *ponders*

      …I’m also tempted to grab some larger paint brushes and just do a full wall mural in the computer room of all four druid cat forms. ^_~ heh

  5. Effraeti Avatar

    Martha,

    Thanks for the link! And great post! 🙂

    What a cool idea to do a wall mural of all the Druid cats! In high school, I turned one wall of my room into a dragon. I was super sad when my mom painted over it after I moved out. Perhaps another one is overdue. heh

    ~ Effy

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