Archive for Tag: Gamer Girlfriend

  • Gamer Girlfriend: The Mass Effect Series (According to Mike)

    Columns Columns by Vangie Ridgaway on Comments2

    Those of you who have had the pleasure of meeting my husband Mike, either in person or via one of GameCola's famous podcasts, have probably figured out by now that he is a bit of a talker. These days,

  • Gamer Girlfriend: Candy Corn Games

    Columns Columns by Vangie Ridgaway on Comments3

    Try to recall the last time you found yourself playing a new game that—for whatever reason—just wasn't all that great. It shouldn't take you too long to think of one. It's happened to all of us. P

  • Gamer Girlfriend: Love, Jealousy, and Farming

    Columns Columns by Vangie Ridgaway on Comments3

    As husbands go, Mike isn't the overly possessive type. I'm proud to say that we built our relationship on a foundation of mutual trust, and neither of us is particularly controlling about the other's

  • Gamer Girlfriend: A-Puzzling We Will Go

    Columns Columns by Vangie Ridgaway on

    It's a well-known truism in gaming (in other words, it is a broad-scale generalization that I totally just made up) that no two gamers will have the exact same taste in videogames. This is the reason

  • Gamer Girlfriend: Friends Don’t Let Friends Play (Crappy) Facebook Games

    Columns Columns by Vangie Ridgaway on Comments5

    It all started when I got a message from GameCola's own Kate Jay. "Hey Vangie," she said, "I know you don't usually play Facebook games, but you might want to give this one a try. It's really a lot of

  • Gamer Girlfriend: Clash of the Titans

    Columns Columns by Vangie Ridgaway on Comments4

    It sucks to be a low-level character in D&D. Sad, but true. Your hit points are crap, you have no money or magic items, and your most impressive spells do exactly 1d3 points of damage per casting. I mean, OK, it’s not like the challenge ratings of the monsters you’re fighting are very high either, but still. Best-case scenario, your character is kind of a weakling but still gets a decent hit or two in per encounter. Worst case scenario, he’s completely useless (seriously, try playing a Level 1 Monk sometime and see how much you like being the only person in the party who can’t hold a weapon properly).

  • Gamer Girlfriend: The Curse of the Hidden Object Games

    Columns Columns by Vangie Ridgaway on Comments1

    I recently came to the end of what turned out to be an extremely counterproductive, fairly expensive, and slightly embarrassing pastime. It all started shortly after I quit my job in December to becom

  • Gamer Girlfriend: A Guide to D&D, Part II

    Columns Columns by Vangie Ridgaway on Comments4

    As with any other game, the first—and often most frustrating—step of playing Dungeons & Dragons is learning all the rules. This is most definitely not an easy task, since D&D rules are a bit more complicated than most other games. Remember in my last article, when I mentioned that the D&D rulebook was a “tome”? This was not, in fact, entirely accurate. The truth is that the D&D rulebook is actually several tomes. Apparently, the official creators of D&D like to revamp the rules every so often, and regularly put out new editions with formal changes and updates. Meanwhile, other people, whose identities I cannot comment upon except to say that they are most definitely not the official creators of D&D, are also putting out their own volumes. For example, the last several campaigns I have played in were based on a book called Pathfinder, which is an unofficial “streamlined” version of the Dungeons and Dragons 3.5 Edition Rulebook. But hey, it’s not so bad, right? At least you just have to deal with one book that serves as the bible for your campaign!

  • Gamer Girlfriend: A Guide to D&D, Part I

    Columns Columns by Vangie Ridgaway on Comments12

    Not all gaming has to be electronic. Over the last year or so, I’ve been making my first forays into table-top gaming, which is another way of saying that, yes, I now know how to play Dungeons and Dragons. Well, kinda. It’s a steep learning curve. When I think of “game rules”, I think of the stapled 4-6 page pamphlets that come with most board games. The D&D rulebook, on the other hand, is a hardbound, 200+ page tome. And that’s only the latest edition.

  • Gamer Girlfriend: An Offer He Couldn’t Refuse

    Columns Columns by Vangie Ridgaway on Comments4

    Who would have known that there was such a fine line between "gamer" and "part of the videogame mafia"?