The Officially Unofficial Weekly Discussion #59: What is a CoH session like for you IRL?

[DougGraves]

You sit down to play CoH...

 

Where are you sitting?  At a desk, in a reclining chair, in a hammock?

 

Are you alone, ignoring your family, with a pet?

 

Headphones, speaker, no sound?

 

Do you have the tv on, music, silence?

 

Do you play for 30 minutes, 6 hours, one arc?

[High_Beam]

I am sitting at my desk in my office, in a semi-comfortable office desk chair.  I am generally alone or my spouse is watching TV in the same office (its a community kind of place )except when spouse is watching crap TV then its a house of horror).  The sound is generally off unless its a mission with a freaking glowie hunt.  Then, again depending on the spouses presence or absence the speakers are on or the headphones are plugged in.

 

TV is on in the background but often I will have the Bose noise cancelling headphones plugged into the laptop right next to me where I keep my in-game spreadsheets and tracking tools as well as HC Wiki up but am watching something on my PLEX server or TABLO TV.  Often its shows tat I can miss some details on while distracted by the game and vice versa.

 

Time spent playing depends on the day and the number of TASK GRENADES lobbed at me.  Sometimes I can get in a good hour but its just me generally dicking around solo mission work.  If I have a guaranteed uninterrupted block of an hour or so I will commit to a TF/SF time sink.  Some days however I will clock 3-5 hours after 6 PM EST I will hammer out as much action as I can.  Some Saturdays, when I am not being dragged to Lowe's to look at <insert unnecessary home improvement project> I can get a lot in.  Sundays used to be free but now we do dinner out on the town which often coincides with the SG Meeting/event . . . but unlike my SG I get food and sex from my spouse so that takes priority.

 

I love CoH but I LOVE my spouse.

[Go0gleplex]

Just at my desk with the speakers on moderately high so I can hear the glowies over my tinnitus. I'll play for an hour or three depending on my back and attention span. Not in a hurry when I play, so I play tactically...so tend to not use a lot of inspirations outside of really tough (orange or red) fights...or more than six mobs.  Due to altitis, highest level toon so far is 38 with most being in the 20's.  Getting old sucks though I am looking forward to official retirement in a couple years. 😉

[Snarky]

[Water]

Haha, Snarky - I see you have the in game 'floor tile' for your um desk tiling...

 

[Snarky]

10 minutes ago, Water said:

Haha, Snarky - I see you have the in game 'floor tile' for your um desk tiling...

 

I like to create my own furniture.  It is not high art but sturdy and very functional.  When I saw this glass Tabletop (with GAMING GRID!) at IKEA I was like.... BINGO!  It came with two crappy sawhorses as a base.  I bought a second, built two shelve platforms and ran 1 x 3s as supports for the long L  

 

as I do a little (very little) music practice I bought a mini keyboard (3 octave) and have a floating retractable keyboard tray underneath the right side, that has a music keyboard, not a comp keyboard.

Edited December 21, 2023 by Snarky

[DougGraves]

59 minutes ago, High_Beam said:

Often its shows tat I can miss some details on while distracted by the game and vice versa.

 

I tend to have an old sitcom on in the background since those don't require seeing what is going on.

 

I tried watching ST:TNG but the visuals of it matter too much.

[jprewitt73]

22 minutes ago, Snarky said:

That is much brighter and happier looking that I had anticipated coming from you. 

 

[Snarky]

12 minutes ago, jprewitt73 said:

That is much brighter and happier looking that I had anticipated coming from you. 

 

I've got a skull on the desk, a momento mori decorative plate, red roses for the dead, and barely visible under sm monitor is a little marketing device that says SNARK.  What, you want livers stapled to the walls?

 

Although now that you mention it I kind of want to run black material over the two facing walls.....   Hmmmm.   research time.

Edited December 21, 2023 by Snarky

[cranebump]

Outside, on the 3-season porch, usually smoking a cigar (which is why I'm outside). Chair is an antique, beat up office thing, with a bit of extra padding put down, because, er...age.:-)

[Spaghetti Betty]

Whenever I'm ready to play CoH, I simply take my private helicopter to my underground cave base located deep in the Siberian wilds. My gaming setup there comprises of a 1-storey high, 10 feet wide LED monitor with blue light protection (and zero input delay), light-up titanium mechanical keyboard, and an integrated device that uses my brainwaves to simulate a mouse. There's enough heat and food there to last me months, but my sessions will usually range from 1-8 hours depending on how I'm feeling. Oh and there's a little bed for my kitty cats!

[Lockpick]

3 hours ago, Snarky said:

I've got a skull on the desk, a momento mori decorative plate, red roses for the dead, and barely visible under sm monitor is a little marketing device that says SNARK.  What, you want livers stapled to the walls?

 

Although now that you mention it I kind of want to run black material over the two facing walls.....   Hmmmm.   research time.

 

Livers stapled to the wall might be overkill, but what do I know?

[High_Beam]

A whole lot of Battletech could be played on that desk @Snarky.

[SeraphimKensai]

When I get a chance to play, it's after my toddler's bedtime, or during a nap on the weekends. I use my laptop often while sitting on the couch, with my dog pinning my legs down. The TV is on often playing a movie or a football/hockey game on TV.

 

That said I haven't had much game time as of late with preparing for Christmas this year.

 

That said Merry Christmas everyone.

[DougGraves]

56 minutes ago, SeraphimKensai said:

That said Merry Christmas everyone.

 

 Merry Christmas Seraphim (and cherubim and all of the other angels)

[Greycat]

At: A desk in the living room

Music: Typically only if (A) I'm DJing for friends or (B) it's the Cape's thursday night show w/One Hit Wonder (which I've also been covering for friends when she's sick. Thursday night is sort of our group chill.)

Game sounds: Speakers.

With others: Live alone, wife's been dead a few years so if someone else were physically here it'd be weird for me to just start playing.

Time: Varies. Sometimes just hop in for a bit, sometimes it'll be a few hours.

 

As for where? ... (in COH, yes, shifts between red and blue, the RAM has red, ,blue and gold... sorta visible.)

[lemming]

I live in a tiny house.  Last year, my laptop finally died and I decided I wanted a desktop system again and at the same time we were getting a fifth cat, so needed to redo the desk/couch arrangement to put another litter box in.  (We really should have one more litter box than cats, but ours are incredibly good so fewer needed, and it's got a fan to vent it outside)

 

So after the rebuild with mostly scavenged lumber from other projects of mine and a friend, new couch and desk, and a spot to put the desktop that I totally miscalculated, so it's on top of the desk.  (I think the size of medium cases are what used to be large..., but it all works well)   I have a couple arms for the two monitors so they can swing out of the way when needed.   And the system is great for editing photos.

 

Pure Linux again which is nice.  (Unix user since the early 80s...)

 

My wife is often crafting upstairs in the loft and watching documentaries.  One of my cats, Chloe is almost always on my lap, but sometimes CathyCat will take over a different portion.   Sometimes, I'll be logged in and working on updating some cat statistics for the shelter, or scheduling some vet stuff.  Or answering some medical question, so my concentration on the game is sometimes lacking.

[arcane]

Sitting in a recliner chair with my laptop and my bong. At night I usually have discord mates coming through my laptop speakers; during the day it’s music through bluetooth speakers. No headset. No mouse.

 

EDIT: there’s a kitty too

Edited December 22, 2023 by arcane

[Force Redux]

On my home office at my gaming desk my wife bought me for my birthday.

 

I play alone. No pets. Usually only when my family is not around. 15 minutes to several hours, just depends.

 

Headphones. In game sounds  or Cape  Radio/music.

[High_Beam]

42 minutes ago, lemming said:

I live in a tiny house.  Last year, my laptop finally died and I decided I wanted a desktop system again and at the same time we were getting a fifth cat, so needed to redo the desk/couch arrangement to put another litter box in.  (We really should have one more litter box than cats, but ours are incredibly good so fewer needed, and it's got a fan to vent it outside)

 

So after the rebuild with mostly scavenged lumber from other projects of mine and a friend, new couch and desk, and a spot to put the desktop that I totally miscalculated, so it's on top of the desk.  (I think the size of medium cases are what used to be large..., but it all works well)   I have a couple arms for the two monitors so they can swing out of the way when needed.   And the system is great for editing photos.

 

Pure Linux again which is nice.  (Unix user since the early 80s...)

 

My wife is often crafting upstairs in the loft and watching documentaries.  One of my cats, Chloe is almost always on my lap, but sometimes CathyCat will take over a different portion.   Sometimes, I'll be logged in and working on updating some cat statistics for the shelter, or scheduling some vet stuff.  Or answering some medical question, so my concentration on the game is sometimes lacking.

Litter Robot is phenomenal.  Not an advertisement, we own one and at peak cat we had had 3 who all used it, and saves us so much time, effort, space and litter.

[lemming]

9 hours ago, High_Beam said:

Litter Robot is phenomenal.  Not an advertisement, we own one and at peak cat we had had 3 who all used it, and saves us so much time, effort, space and litter.

I have a couple friends that love them.  Not a great choice for our setup and our system has been doing well for six years now.

[Ael]

Where am I sitting? My desk.

Am I alone? Usually. Sort of. I'm in my room, and the cat is free to sit on me if she likes, and she usually does. My partner is in his room and is gaming with me, nine times out of ten.

 

I typically wear headphones and listen to either music or podcasts. I don't think I've had the sound enabled for the game since live.

 

How long I play for depends on exactly what is going on. It could be a single radio mission or a six-hour stretch with the barest of breaks.

[Clave Dark 5]

Clave Dark 5, in the living room, with a wrench!

 

At my desk, possibly a cat in my lap, perhaps some music playing.  Sometimes headphones, but I prefer not to if I can avoid it.  Because of time constraints, I'm usually only playing for an hour, two tops; partly this is because I'm playing overnight hours and the population is starting to really thin out.

[Healix]

I sit in a really comfy padded puter chair. I have a nice Lenovo desktop, and Logitech keyboard/mouse/surround speakers and a curved 24" Samsung monitor. I usually have the tv on while I play, and the game sounds loud enough that I can hear glowies. Sometimes I play for an hour, sometimes I play all night into the wee hours. I live alone so have no one but myself to answer to. 🙂 My grown sons accuse me of being a vampire because of the hours I keep LOL

 

[UltraAlt]

On 12/21/2023 at 10:51 AM, DougGraves said:

Where are you sitting?  At a desk, in a reclining chair, in a hammock?

 

On the floor.

 

On 12/21/2023 at 10:51 AM, DougGraves said:

Headphones, speaker, no sound?

 

Game sound through my TV.

I only use headphones if I'm on Discord.

 

On 12/21/2023 at 10:51 AM, DougGraves said:

Do you have the tv on, music, silence?

 

Sometimes I have news or music playing in the background, but not if I'm on Discord.

 

On 12/21/2023 at 10:51 AM, DougGraves said:

Do you play for 30 minutes, 6 hours, one arc?

 

Usually for about 3 hours at a session. Some days two or three sessions ... rrrr ... maybe more some days ...

 

And, yeah, I alt-jump, so sometimes a play session isn't just one character.