Description of item on eBay: BEST QUALITY VIDEO OF GERMAN PLUM MEN HAVING “RELAX TIME” 100% SHOWS ALL
Price: $1.00
Actual item I received in the mail: A box of plums which had gone bad, one of which had a piece of paper taped to it which simply read “wie gehts?”
Description of item on eBay: Fresh plums, 5 kilos
Price: $40.99
Actual item I received in the mail: Expired plums, 45 kilos
Description of item on eBay: Rare Japanese plum-colored Deathsaurus variant 1990!
Price: $254.87
Actual item I received in the mail: Immaculately packed and sealed plums in cooled packaging shipped next day with a small booklet explaining that they had been grown in Japan through revolutionary techniques. They were perfect and delicious. Even now I cry as I think of them when I see a plum in the grocery store.
Description of item on eBay: One Thousand Absurd Dadaist Topics For You To Use (book, 1958)
Price: 37 shillings
Actual item I received in the mail: A box of dried plums which, when I eat them, get me stupid high and help me come up with What Are You Playing topics. At least I hope they’re plums.
Description of item on eBay: Your childhood blanket, assuming that your name is Eliot Lefebvre and you grew up at [CHILDHOOD ADDRESS] and have an A+ blood type (don’t ask me about how I know about the blood type)
Price: $45.00
Actual item I received in the mail: A box of plums which had a piece of paper taped to one of them, reading simply “I never loved you, love, Dad.” Thanks Dad.
Description of item on eBay: North Dakota
Price: $12
Actual item I received in the mail: Three plums in a shoebox. I’m not even mad? Like, I knew it was a long shot, but if it was real I’d have bought a state for twelve bucks. You gotta jump on that.
Bonus question: What’s the biggest purchase you’ve ever made to play a very specific video game?
Andy McAdams: I’ve got some more meatspace stuff this weekend. What gaming time I have will go to following Wuk Lamat around the world for kicks.
Bonus Question: Entirely too much? We purchased a PS5 explicitly to play the five version of Final Fantasy VII.
Brianna Royce (@nbrianna, blog): I’m still hoping to get into the Ultima Online New Legacy beta, but if not, I’m going to dip into the New World Aeternum beta on PS5, though we won’t be able to talk about it, which is annoying.
Probably the big chunk of change I spent getting characters swooshed around on my original Star Wars Galaxies accounts, so my mains were actually on the same account and server finally. It probably saved me sub money in the long run since I played so much and had four accounts before that, but it was a couple hundred dollars upfront, oof.
Chris Neal (@wolfyseyes, blog): I’ve started to dip a bit more into The First Descendant and have had a pretty good time in doing so, so that’s likely going to continue this weekend. There’s also the usual Final Fantasy XIV to play around in, perhaps a bit of Palworld with my best friend, that new powerset in City of Heroes Homecoming to dink around with, and I think I’m actually going to try the solo raid stuff in Lost Ark. For real this time.
I think the largest splash I ever did for a video game was buy the lifetime subscription for The Secret World. It was a pretty damn good value at the time and I was capable of throwing that much at the title, but it’s also pretty impossible not to feel some buyer’s remorse now.
Eliot Lefebvre (@Eliot_Lefebvre, blog): Mostly FFXIV along with some of a couple new games for review (I’ve let myself take a little break from that just while I’ve been riding high on the expansion), that should get me over the finish line. Gotta admit that while I recognize the marketing hype Star Trek Online threw at me for its latest bundle was pure sales, it sure does make my purchase finger itchy.
Speaking of STO, I actually bought my first Naga mouse specifically for that game so I could more easily control my ship during space combat. I now feel like a good 12-button mouse is pretty vital for my lifestyle and wouldn’t trade it for the world. Such do we change.
Sam Kash (@thesamkash): I just barely finished the Harry Potter Magic Awakened seasonal story before the developers dropped the next big story chapter. It’s been so long since we had a proper update I was really surprised. I hadn’t been paying close enough attention. As far as I can tell this is chapter 4 and it goes back to the main character storyline. Needless to say I’ll be playing through a bit of that!
Bonus: I got the special edition of Absolver. I usually don’t fall for those special edition goodies but I was so excited about it that I couldn’t help myself.
Tyler Edwards (blog): I’m kind of in a lull while I wait for Stormgate early access to start. I don’t have high hopes for it, but I want to give it an honest shot at least. Right now I’m finishing up Saints Row, but I’ll probably be done that by the time you’re reading this. Heroes of the Storm, maybe?
Bonus question: Probably that time I bought a year of World of Warcraft sub upfront because they were giving Diablo III for free. I was planning to play for most of that time anyway. That or my lifetime TSW sub, which unlike Chris I have zero regrets over.
Every Saturday, join the Massively OP community and staff for What Are You Playing, our roundup of what MMORPGs and other games we’re hoping to play this weekend (with a bonus question or two for our amusement). Tell us what you’re up to! Go off-topic! And don’t forget to have fun!
