Sam's employment history has closely mirrored his twin brother's. To be fair, he did work at Momentum Laser for a year without Pat, and that company didn't tank, it merely managed to tread water. So maybe the true kiss of death for a company is hiring Pat, and poor Sam is an innocent bystander.

Time will tell.

Sam and EverQuest

Currently Sam is addicted to EverQuest, which means it's been very hard to get him to hang out in the real world. He plays at Nancy's quite a bit these days, now that he's moved out (and my computer is in such rotten shape).

To the outsider, it's not obvious what the appeal of EverQuest is... I mean, you just walk around killing things.

OK, I admit, walking around killing things is cool. But in most games when you kill stuff, you have to press some buttons or click the mouse. In this game, you can just stand there as your character hacks away. You can drink a beer, read a book, chat with your friends... you just have to pay attention at the end of the fight (either your opponent just died, or you're about to).

Well, you do meet some nice people... and the not-so-nice people are pretty easy to /ignore. And there's the roleplaying aspect. For example, when you're a Troll Shaman, you get to say, "AHRHARHARHAR!! Wez gonna barsh dem froggie skullz in REEL GUD!" a lot.

But after playing for a bit myself, I think I've figured out the real appeal. Reaching waaay back to Psych 101, I remembered that the best way to train someone to do something is by giving them random awards. Gambling works for that very reason. As does EverQuest. You're waiting for that rare item to drop... that rare MoB to spawn... and it could happen this minute. Or next week. It's brilliant, really.

The unfortunate side effect of playing EQ is that now I buy Sam's bullshit excuses when he wants to avoid real world social gatherings. "But... but... I finally got on a Hate raid that's going to the 2nd floor!" A normal person would say, "Cry me a river. And get your coat." But I say, "Yeah, ok, I understand. Go get 'em." Sigh. I can't mount an effective counterargument at all. Where's Shauna when I need her?