*cough*she'spretty,andiloveher,butshedoesn'tplaywellenoughtobetankorhealer,sohastobedps*cough*

Your subtext is showing... You obviously care a great deal about this game.

Half right. Her one max-level character is a mage (Forsaken), and the next highest is a hunter (Troll). I play all the tank/healing toons to keep her safe -- as any good husband should.

My wife and I both play, and have for years. My tendency is to play too much, get all the gear, and achievements, get frustrated by something stupid and quit for a while -- only to come back a few months later. My wife plays casually, *loves* the graphics, and all the little frills (pets, mounts, etc.), and actually *reads* quest text and follows the story. I tend to think she's doing it right, and I'm (usually) doing it wrong. We'll be getting MoP and likely enjoying it enough to pay the fees.

Given that being creative and holding down a job are not mutually exclusive, no. I'm sure there are a few artists who have been able to work for pay and still create art. Of course, nobody *has* to get a job (especially in America) but paychecks are sure handy for the troublesome parts of an artist's life like food, shelter, and clothing.

Of course society should value artists. Society always has, and always will -- but we must concede that throughout history, most great art and artists went unappreciated in their time. This idea of 1. Make something artistic, 2. Show it to people, 3. ???, 4. PROFIT! is silly. And I know enough struggling artists to know that's how a lot of them think. They are generally miserable and live in fear of needing dentists and doctors because they're poor. So, yes, generally I say to artists: get a day job.

All these arguments are predicated on the false assumption that because someone calls themselves and artist, that they should then be able to make a solid livelihood from it. And even further, if someone gets some level of fame, that they are somehow entitled to maintain that. The world doesn't work that way. I play guitar in a band, and I have a lot of fun. Sometimes I get paid a little cash. Most of my income comes from an unrelated career that I also built for myself.

The musicians who are very talented and easy to work with became popular and were paid more, and the musicians who weren't quite as talented would just play music in their spare time, with friends at pubs and family gatherings in exchange for dinner and drinks -- and work in other trades to make a livelihood. There is no law on the books that states "Anyone who decides they're an 'artist' should therefore be able to make a living at it."

Long, long ago, before there was equipment to record sound, musicians made money by playing live music for people.

Soon: "I have my whole life in this briefcase, and I have to have it in front of me at all times for fear of losing it. As you might expect, it makes going out in public embarassing, and my girlfriend left me because I tried to lay it on her back during sex." I've named my briefcase "Sally" is this a good name for a briefcase with my life in it? Protip: don't put your whole life in a briefcase.

I had the same experience in the KDE 3 -> 4 era. I tried lots of different window managers before finally deciding to try out Gnome for a while. I found I really didn't need all the configuration hassles that KDE provided me.

I'm sitting in a conference listening to a presentation, and I read your comment and it caused me to actually LOL. Everyone looked at me...

I'm a Web developer, not an "actual" programmer, but I love BASH, ssh, and vim. I find GUI tools get in my way. Like using boxing gloves to play cards.

You can have my cola when you pry it from my weak, atrophied hand!

Oh Hi! I'm a database admin/weirdo/geek and I have "big issues" (TM) with any and all database technology, and related discussion that does not fit with my myopic view of the world! This Drizzle does not make me happy. You kids! GET OFF MY LAWN!