Caught this in Facebook:
That left me scratching my head. Was my concept of totem different than the regular one? According to Webster:
to·tem
noun \ˈtō-təm\
: something (such as an animal or plant) that is the symbol for a family, tribe, etc., especially among Native Americans
: a usually carved or painted figure that represents such a symbol
: a person or thing that represents an idea
And I can see that, specially in the fan of a brand/model/caliber sub-groups of gun owners. We also consider the possession of firearms as a symbol of freedom and independence., but again, a symbol.
So where the heck this totemic power thing comes from? Google being my alleged friend has the answer. From the World of Warcraft Wiki:
Totemic Power is the 6 part set bonus of The Earthshatterer tier 3 Shaman raid set. It gives the Shaman a ~10% chance to imbue the target with a buff when casting Healing Wave or Lesser Healing Wave.
Those of you into the gaming thing may understand what the hell is that about. I have no earthly (or lunar) idea. The only thing I can surmise is that the CSGV Intern is heavy into online life of that particular game.
And thanks to my advanced Google-Fu, I was able to find video of the CSGV intern:
Another Gun Control mystery solved!
Ladd was into online gaming IIRC.
Well I don’t play WoW, but almost everyone I know does, so here goes from memory.
Raids are endgame content, intended for characters of max level who are members of very large guilds. When WoW was released, a typical raid was “40-man,” meaning it was designed to be a reasonable challenge for 40 very powerful players acting in cooperation. Things have gotten more difficult since then.
Raid gear is the equipment that is statted out to be specifically helpful in raiding. It’s not generally as good for PvP(Player Versus Player) just because the human factor makes PvP an entirely different beast from PvE(“Player Versus Environment,” what you call it when you’re competing exclusively against the game itself), but then a set that’s awesome for PvP isn’t going to be as useful in a raid, because players do things differently from Raid bosses.(I could throw out words like “Aggro” and “DPS,” but they wouldn’t make any sense without the background.)
(actually, here’s a pretty good explanation of “Aggro,” from a really terrible game. The “Aggro” mechanic is the one thing that game did right. Seriously, don’t play it.)
Shaman are a player class in World of Warcraft. A class is like a job. It’s what you do. The Shaman is a support class, meaning he isn’t known for being particularly damaging or durable, but he can turn his friends from a group of ordinary guys into a literal brute squad. Support classes aren’t powerful on their own, but they’re an excellent force multiplier.
Raid gear comes in “sets.” That means that the different pieces of gear(helmet, chestplate, shoulderpads, belt, pants, boots) can be mixed and matched, but there are “sets” which are designed to go together. When you wear everything from a particular set, you typically get a bonus. In this case, a 10% chance to apply an unspecified(and probably randomly selected) buff when casting one of two Shaman spells. Specifically a pair of mass heals.(heal spells which heal several allies at a time.)
Sets come in “Tiers.” The higher the tier, the better the set. I believe Tier 3 is the best, so if you spot a Shaman walking around with the Totemic Power buff, he’s probably a good person to have on your team.
Well… in the game, at least…
And yes, I guess you could say that guns do have a totemic power. They keeps the bad guys away.(And if the bad guys don’t listen, I can shoot them and make an example to keep smarter bad guys away.)
[edit]BB code not work? Trying HTML.