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Another Dip Test

Sometimes people make pretty quick judgments.  A dip test.  That’s why the starting areas, quests, music, etc. of an MMO have to be polished to near-blinding.  What about a dip test for the game in the middle?  Many times gamers lie awake at night – not “tired” –  thinking about games.  There is some amount of activation energy required to roll out of bed, log on, and play in a way where it was meaningful to roll out of bed in the first place.  A midnight dip test.

I was also not “tired” the other night, and I wanted some quick MMO play to calm my furied mind.  Wizard 101 was the easy choice.  I could log on, warp close to a play area of choice and run there in under a minute, and log off within a 15 minute time span.  I opted, actually, to play the mini-games to refill my potions and see how high a level I could get.  Games like Wizard 101, Puzzle Pirates, and Guild Wars rule at this quick guilt-free amount of play where activities that occur are meaningful. Continue reading Another Dip Test

The Dangers of Self-Insertion

Quite a few writers and artists have abused the fourth wall by putting themselves in their works. By sheer mass, the majority must be fanfic writers. Some use veiled substitutes for themselves or idealized versions (see Atlas Shrugged and Twilight), but others go right ahead and dive in. The wisest have done so in works under their exclusive control.

There is no way that Statesman “is” Jack Emmert in this sense. That was his handle and a role he played occasionally, and it can be unfortunate to put something you think of as your character under someone else’s control, but few people think they are killing Jack Emmert by proxy in the Lord Recluse Strike Force. Are Guards Black and Moor closer to the (now) 38 Studios employees? I really don’t know that they have any background, just a reference someone mentioned to me.

I mention this because Chris Sims, your friend and mine, points out the odd case of Grant Morrison. He wrote himself into an Animal Man comic, which means that he is an official, in-continuity DC character. (One can argue about whether DC can claim copyright on his person or likeness, make action figures, etc. This is not my point today.) Another writer took advantage of this and used Grant Morrison as a villain in his comic, killing him off quickly.

: Zubon

As of now, Kill Ten Rats is the only place on record in the entire universe (well, Google) as using the phrase “see Atlas Shrugged or Twilight.” It takes a rare sagacity to put those words together.

Nod of Camaraderie

I saw from afar a fellow student battling the undead, re-risen, or newly awakened crocodile warriors in the tombs beneath the Krokosphinx.  I was not quite sure what they were.  The genus of the creature was lost on me during lectures.  All I knew was that they turned to sand when I threw lighting at their faces.  A newt-looking Mander had asked me to defeat a few more of the Kroks, and my classmate was trying to defeat the same Kroks.  I scampered up to his battle circle, re-tooling my spell deck on the fly.  He turned  his head toward me with a grim nod.  More of the enemy would soon be joining us.

After the protracted battle involving the summoning of all manner of magical creatures, the Kroks dissolved to sand, filling the rocky cracks in the floor.  There were a few small pieces of fulgurite from all the lightning strikes I inflicted, but I pretended not to notice for the life wizard’s sake.  That was it.  The briefest of glances, the quickest of handshakes, and a tactical retreat in to the shadows of sidewalks ended our grouping.  I may meet up with him again for another painless transaction.  I can only hope the other world’s I walk will soon have means for the transient gathering requiring merely the nod of camaraderie.

–Ravious
in the end it became a triumphal march

Zombie Is the New Vampire

I have been saying it since Generation Dead came out, but I am convinced after a tour through the coming books. Generation Dead‘s sequel is already out, and the zombie cheerleaders are starting to line up. Zombie movies and games started moving that way a while ago, with 28 Days Later and Left 4 Dead featuring fast-moving zombies like angry rabies victims, with the former even having them convert victims with a single bite. Vampires started going sparkly sometime in the Anne Rice years, and I am surprised how quickly the zombies have followed. We are probably on the verge of a unified undead-dom, or maybe the next author will decide that they are all variant forms of revenants, and we will see epic fantasy adventure wherein revenant dragon-slayers work with undead witches to save the kingdom. I see movies, lousy console game tie-ins, and a cartoon version that mimics anime stylings.

: Zubon

Interview with Guild Wars Guru’s Inde

For many MMO fans, a large part of the hobby comes from communication outside of the actual game. Fansites and their forums are one of the best places to get the latest news, interact with devs, and discuss the game down to its base mechanics. Inde is the site administrator of Guild Wars Guru, which has one of the most active Guild Wars forums. She, along with a cadre of other moderators, keeps the site and community in good condition. Inde agreed to let me ask her a few questions on running an MMO fansite with an active community.

Continue reading Interview with Guild Wars Guru’s Inde

Orion on Emergent Gameplay

While many are still splashing the ripples from the Twixt or Myers or whoever’s attempt to explain sociological emergence in a one-sided, four-colored narrative, Orion – one of the developers for Lord of the Rings Online – put up an excellent post discussing emergent gameplay on his blog.  He discusses how all exploits start with emergent gameplay and uses the Mines of Moria instance, the Grand Stair as an example. It’s well worth a read.

–Ravious
first principles, clarice. simplicity

EDIT: Linked to Orion’s post as originally intended, not my comment.

I couldn’t kick him

My kinship wanted to do the turtle raid. We didn’t have enough people to do it without inviting people from outside the kin. One of the people we picked up was a guardian. The first thing we noticed about this guardian was his health pool. My squishy little runekeeper had the same amount of health as he did. An inspection of his traits revealed that he had terrible equipment. Many of the things he was wearing were quest rewards in dire need of replacement. His virtues had such gems as “Charity 9” and “Wisdom 4”. He also didn’t have his traits set up to hold agro.

My kin-mates were complaining about the guy on our teamspeak server before we started, but we went with him anyway. During the battle he had the attention of the turtle for about half the time. He just couldn’t hold agro. When the turtle was down to about 50k health, we wiped. I’ve seen turtle raids before, and if you wipe when it has 50k left, you’re in trouble.

Continue reading I couldn’t kick him