MMORPG.com - Holiday Shopping Guide

Shopping for gamers can be tough. If you know us, you love us and we're pretty easy to please. If you don't know us and simply say, "Oh they play video games..." well that makes things difficult. So what I thought to do was write out a Holiday Shopping Guide to end the last week before Christmas. If you are a gamer, like me, you have not done your shopping yet and don't care. However, if you are buying for a gamer, this list will help you tremendously.

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First, ask what games they play. Don't be shy, take an interest in our world and find out what is out there. Just because a person plays MMOs does not mean they play WoW. Look past the pink elephant for cooler gifts that would make any MMO fan happy. Here is my first idea:

Star Wars: The Old Republic Beta Key - Bwahahaha!!! I am sorry, but it is what every MMO player wants for the holidays this year, right? Okay, I know, ask C3-PO the odds of getting this any time soon, I am sure he'll have a number for you. Be cool and say, "Never tell me the odds!" and hope for the best. May your Holiday wish come true!

In all seriousness there are some great gifts out there for gamers. I will start with the game of the moment lately and that is Star Trek Online. The Star Trek Online Collector's Edition is pretty cool. If you have an MMO fan or Trekkie in the family this is a great gift to get them going on STO. Not only that, it offers some cool things in the box set which really make for fun Star Trek gifts. Heck you get a Deep Space Nine uniform and some other Trek goodies that would even bring a smile to a Klingon's face.

Going down the MMO trail we find that BlizzCon has passed us by. Well maybe you got your gifts after waiting on the massive line back in August, but no gamer thinks that far ahead, we improvise. It's more fun. As if Blizzard needs more money, they do actually have some cool collectibles out that will make a Blizzfan happy. The Panderan Brewmaster is fun and will sit proudly on some WoW player's shelf in his mom's basement. But let's face it, that is WoW light, kind of like Coors Light, it makes you look all hip and calorie conscious, but gallons of it won't get you drunk. So where do we go for the deeper, darker, bad ass WoW fan? Well SwagDog.com has some cool concepts. Customizing shirts for Guilds, players, and just about everything Warcraft is something much better to give a player.

Listen, the gamer t-shirts have been overdone. They have. Trust me, ever since Jesus Saves, they have jumped the shark. So what about non-game stuff that every gamer wants? Can we look at some cool tech items that may help us get through our drudge lives? There are now two schools of thought in the hand held market, iPhone and Droid. Now I am not going to even begin this debate with the way our forums can be. However, all I want to say is that both gifts offer a gamer some very cool updated technology with Apps. Ok if you really do live in a cave, Apps can come in the form of games! So now you have a phone, with media, and games, the perfect gift for a gamer on the go.

Everyone always talks about getting games for the gamer this season. The problem is we already have the games we want to play the day they come out. It's hopeless. My old D&D buddy explained that he has to wait two weeks for Assassin's Creed 2 because someone was so excited to get him a game for Christmas. Therefore, he must wait, and stew. As gamers we don't like stewing about, especially when it is time for the next awesome game. However, there is some hope here. Mass Effect 2 comes out in January, perhaps a pre-order is in order and can be set up so that the day the long awaited Mass Effect sequel comes out, your gamer will be ready to cash in that holiday gift.