Before any contest for initial possession of the football begins, a visibly tired Taylor Swift walks onto the field wearing sweatpants, a loose blouse covered by a jean jacket, and her hair up in a makeshift bun. She walks over to the football, picks it up, and beckons for the camera crews to follow her. One of the coaches approaches her. She curses at him and suggests that he perform anatomically unlikely acts upon himself. No one else follows aside from the camera crews.
Sighing heavily, she points to one camera operator to get into her car, which appears to be a recent-model BMW, and then says, “Get to your vans” to everyone else. The camera operator is told to get in the backseat. From there, she proceeds to drive in complete silence save for her GPS navigation onto the highway toward California. After approximately forty-five minutes, the operator starts to speak, at which point Swift says, “Just be quiet, please.” Neither of them speak again until they are approximately fifteen minutes from their destination, at which point she requests that Spotify play Carbon Leaf’s “One Prairie Outpost” on repeat.
Her car pulls up into gravel along a small inlet toward the Pacific ocean. She wades into the water up to her ankles, carrying the football with her, then flings the ball gracelessly into the water with all of her might. Her arms wrap around her upper body, and she quietly whispers something indecipherable. When the camera operator asks her to repeat herself, she is visibly crying and tells the operator to go. The operator briefly protests, then Taylor screams to get a damn ride and leave her alone.
Bonus: What’s the most irritating habit your current pet or a former pet has had?
​Andrew Ross (@dengarsw): I got some Pokemon Go to play, but I’ve been getting more into Orna since discovering just how overpowered the summoners are. It used to take me weeks to level, sometimes months recently, but I can level in days now!
My last dog could eventually figure out when he was being taught a new trick and would immediately leave the room to hide somewhere. I just wanted him to put his own slobber-covered plushies into a box on his own!
Andy McAdams: Similar to last weekend, I’ll be in Palworld and City of Heroes, but I also caved and bought Enshrouded after peer pressure from a friend so I’ll probably putz around in that a bit too. City of Heroes continues to exacerbate my altitis as I go “oh something shiny!” to another powerset combo.
Bonus Question: Well, I can’t get on board with all the cat hate here, so I’ll go with one of my dogs. He passed almost two years ago now, but whenever we’d go on car rides, he would shriek – yes shriek – the entire car ride in excitement. He almost never barked, but that shrieking will stay with me for me life. We said he was “singing the songs of his people.” For reference, he was an 80lb pointer-chihuahua mix
Brianna Royce (@nbrianna, blog): Hoping to be back in City of Heroes this weekend. One of my kids’ being sick for a week kept me off my PC and stuck on my lappy, so I haven’t gotten to game much this week, and I miss my toons.
Bonus: My old cat was a long-haired maine coon mutt, and we always had to watch her post-poo activities carefully because if she made a lil mess in there, she would scoot around and drag her butt all over our floor to clean herself up. Cat poop, happy Saturday!
Chris Neal (@wolfyseyes, blog): My best friend picked up Palworld and has already sunk multiple hours into it and earned about 25 levels, so I’m gonna be joining her for some co-op good times. It does mean I’m effectively starting over, but that’s not too much of a bother since now I’m coming at the game with some more knowledge. I was also gifted Enshrouded so I’ll probably be dinking around a bit in that, and also I am going to try to learn the Final Fantasy XIV Sage for, like, the hundredth time.
Bonus: The last time I owned a cat, she kept on napping on my lap and therefore was making me fall asleep. Which sounds comfy and cozy – and it was! – but I also wanted to watch the football games and she just kept making me nap instead. Or maybe it was the football games. Or perhaps both.
Eliot Lefebvre (@Eliot_Lefebvre, blog): Some FFXIV and some CoH primarily, along with some review work. Mocking my intensely stupid cats. They’re so stupid. I love them.
My ancient but sweet tortoiseshell has a tendency these days to stand somewhere and scream her little head off even when she knows right where I am (my apartment is not that large, and sometimes she is literally next to me). If I actually approach her, she scurries off in a random direction until I stop following her. Then she resumes screaming.
Justin Olivetti (@Sypster, blog): I’ve been away from MMORPGs for a full week due to vacation, so I’m easing back into the virtual lifestyle with some Corsairs of Umbar questing in Lord of the Rings Online and ARR questing in FFXIV. I also think I’m going to put some time into Palia and see how it’s shaped up since early access launch.
Sam Kash (@thesamkash): I’m going to be light on the gaming this weekend. We’ve got a lot of events going on so it’ll be a challenge just sneaking a couple sessions in. The Harry Potter Magic Awakened seasonal event has ended and they’ve already begun the next. I’m going to keep up with the dailies but that’ll be most of it.
Bonus: I guess cats are the worst. Because mine is definitely cat poop too! We have a very sweet kitty but she refuses to poop in the box. She pees like normal but the poop is randomly somewhere in the room. Everyday I have to make a pass through and pick it up. So annoying.
Tyler Edwards (blog): I’ll probably be continuing to chain-run dungeons in New World now that the dungeon finder is out.
Bonus question: Some years back I had to spend an extended period of time looking after my father’s cats, both of whom had health and behavioural problems. The less said about the experience the better, but I think it’s put me off cats for life.
Pierre, patron: I was hyped by the launch of Persona 3 Reload and that’s what I’m playing those days. Just like Persona 4 and Persona 5, Persona 3 is a great JRPG and I enjoy my gaming sessions a lot. I discovered the Persona series playing Persona 5, and where I thought I would find a childish story and some very common gameplay features, I found a very well narrated adult story, exceptional boss fights, and I laughed so often that I now pledge for people who never played any of these games to try and play Persona 5.
On the MMO front, I have reached my ultimate boredom threshold in EVE Online, as it was to be expected after a few weeks playing, and I stopped, unfortunately.
Bonus question: Easy answer, I can’t have pets, I’m strongly allergic to both cats and dogs and I would die of asphyxiation by asthma crisis if I had one at home. It’s too bad, as I really like cats and they generally really appreciate my company. My parents used to have cats when I was young, but I was never bothered by any of their habits; they are animals, they behave like animals, and quite often their behavioral patterns are justified, you just have to learn how they see the world around them and why they react as they do. And you MOP readers, WRUP this weekend? By the way isn’t it a Superbowl final weekend in the US? I’m not sure…
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!
