A couple events led up to my writing this. the first is that i met someone through a mutual friend that claimed to be a 'gamer.' being a gamer myself, i asked the obvious question: "what are you playing?"
the response: "Farmville."
...
No.
::shakes head vigorously::
No, no, no... no.
Now, before all you Farmville people get all riled up, allow me to explain.
My friends and i have been referring to ourselves as 'gamers' long before the Internet became publicly available. We gathered, often at the scorn of others, in basements, barns, and other less-than-social venues to perpetuate our chosen hobby (or obsession, depending on the perspective). These were often male-dominated (if not exclusive) rites of passage, of which there are very few left in this modern era. It not only required research (books and books of it, in fact), but also proper equipment and a spirit which balanced competition and teamwork.
Now gaming has evolved into something much more advanced, which (naturally) requires more advanced equipment. This is still a male-dominated hobby, but females have become more prevalent in recent years (which, of course, rocks). While girl gamer groups and websites aren't hard to find these days, there is still something inherently male about PC gaming, and a recent article published in Men's Health magazine by Pulitzer Prize winner & car enthusiast Dan Neil helps to shed light on this phenomenon (his article is about cars, of course, but many parallels exist between cars and computers). According to Neil, a recent University of Minnesota study indicates 2 reasons why men crave "wheel time," (or, in the case of a virtual universe, "screen time"): the assertion of masculinity through technology and the appeal of being in control of our own destiny. The latter may even be more appropriate to online gaming in that the options available in MMORPGs for a person to customize and "create" their own avatar according to their personal play style is far greater than a person's ability to maneuver through traffic or choose their destination. Machines also do not require emotional intelligence, instead being finite and orderly systems of electronics and steel. Machines (as well as game characters) are also perfectible, allowing us to "impose order, completeness, perfection" in an imperfect world. I know i've certainly spent some time perfecting PCs in the past (my current configuration, if you're interested, can be viewed at the bottom of this page). In other words, we can manipulate something with our hands, our efforts, our time, which not only offers challenge and exhibits originality, but also offers a sort of harmony between ourselves and the world in which we live (deep, huh?).
"does this have anything to do with gaming?"
it does, and thanks for your patience. you see, i've spent almost as many hours researching, practicing, and upgrading/building my PC as i have actually playing games. that's commitment. this person i met, this self-titled "gamer" who plays Farmville? do you think they've spent hundreds of hours configuring their PC? modifying various components, applications, and network connectivity for maximum performance? or did they just log onto the 'net and open their web browser?
there's more. anyone who's played any amount of time in an MMO has probably experienced hours upon hours of just in-game preparation for some other, greater event. gathering materials to level crafting abilities to make better weapons, armor, potions, etc. researching PvP tactics versus specific archetypes. generating character builds to determine which skills and stats produce a more effective result. waiting for that last member of your pick-up group to finally show up so you can begin the quest you wanted to start an hour ago, only to have another member of your group have to leave unexpectedly halfway through (almost always the healer or the tank), forcing you to start all over again or call it quits, only to repeat the process again on another day. can you honestly tell me someone playing Farmville has tried to organize a PUG? lead a raid? do they even have DPS in Farmville?! of course not.
so, i decided to do a search for the term 'gamer.' i was shocked to discover my result. certainly, browser games, even those found on Facebook, are technically video games, and thus those who play them are technically gamers (by a very loose definition of the term). but what did i find when i typed "gamer" into the ol' search bar? i got this.
"There are many categories of games, including simple games such as Tetris, role-playing games (RPGs) such as Dungeons and Dragons, and hugely popular games such as Quake?" are you freakin' kidding me? this definition hasn't been updated since 2002?! this is shameful, especially considering the incredible growth of the video game industry over the last decade. i expected something which gamers could be proud of, not something as dated as Quake!
Wikipedia does a slightly better job of defining this term; at least they specify that there are genres of gaming like hardcores, casuals, and newbs, but even this doesn't really communicate the varied intricacies of the gaming world. by many gamers' definition, i am considered a 'casual' because, quite frankly, i consider my family to be a higher priority than my gaming (i know, ghastly, isn't it?). i only play 20 or so hours a week, depending on what else is going on at the time and how much sleep i feel prepared to sacrifice. now, ask a Farmville player how much time they put in. i imagine that someone who plays Farmville for 20 hours a week would not be considered 'casual' by his Farmville-playing peers. i'm not trying to justify those people who pour their entire waking life into a video game (i've seen some log over 70 hours a week, here's one for example). but you gotta admit, that's commitment.
i guess that's why i took offense to someone who plays an embedded browser game while checking their Facebook friends' status calling himself a gamer. there's no risk, no real effort there. when i begin a new MMO, for instance, i'll research various aspects of the game for hours before i even log in. Farmville takes what? a few minutes to learn?
gaming is a hobby, but it's one that we gamers tend to take pretty seriously, even we 'casuals' who prefer to be good fathers and supportive husbands over having every character slot at the level cap in uber gear. it's more than just a decision to kill a few minutes while i'm goofing off at work or waiting for the microwave to ding. for some of us, it even opens up viable real world skills which can be implemented in a new career. one guy even turned a $26,500 virtual investment (yes, real-world currency) into a six-figure income! how about that, Farmville? have you inspired anyone to take on a new direction in their lives, become farmers, and achieve lucrative results? i doubt it. in fact, i'll bet people have spent more money on Farm Coins than i spend a month on a game that's actually well-detailed and complex ($15/month is the going rate for commercial MMOs, while many are free-to-play).
do i sound proud? heh, probably. but compare Farmville to a game like World of Warcraft or the incredibly complex world of EVE (which probably has the steepest learning curve of any video game to date, as illustrated by this graphic), and you'll understand why we might consider ourselves a different crowd from those who play browser games.
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Thursday, March 11, 2010
humility
today i went in for (yet) another job interview. i also happen to be suffering from (yet) another cold. this was a recipe for disaster.
i have never felt like such an imbecile in my life. i could blame it on the DayQuil, or the lack of preparation, or lack of sleep, or any number of things... but making excuses is not my forté. bottom line, it sucked like a starving lamprey.
yeah, maybe it shouldn't bother me so much. but for a brief moment, i was a moron. and, for me, that's one brief moment too much.
i have never felt like such an imbecile in my life. i could blame it on the DayQuil, or the lack of preparation, or lack of sleep, or any number of things... but making excuses is not my forté. bottom line, it sucked like a starving lamprey.
yeah, maybe it shouldn't bother me so much. but for a brief moment, i was a moron. and, for me, that's one brief moment too much.
Sunday, February 14, 2010
things to do while you're sick
i'll avoid detailing the obvious activities which accompany being physically impaired by some kind of evil retrovirus, like hacking, groaning, and trying your best to sleep it off while you're 3-year-old bounces on your chest demanding Spiderman gummy vitamins and your 3-month-old incessantly (albeit happily) squawks having only recently discovered her voluntary control over her vocal cords.
...not to mention my poor wife who had to deal with these two mostly on her own while i attempted to recuperate in some semblance of peace. it's something of a miracle i wasn't gutted while i slept, but again this probably had a bit to do with the chest-bouncing 3-year-old (he's old enough now to be a viable witness).
now that i'm beginning to feel a little better, i'm looking back at the past few days in amazement that i actually accomplished as much as i have. besides sleeping as much as is humanly possible given the above conditions, i've actually gotten some things done. and i'm not talking about your run-of-the-mill stuff you normally do while you're feeling a bit under the weather.
i'm talking about things most people despise doing even when they're feeling at their best, much less when they're choking back death as i felt i've been doing for the past 72 hours.
#1) taxes - that's right, the joy that is income tax preparation is one that no human being really looks upon with wanton anticipation, even if they are expecting a healthy refund from good ol' Uncle Sam. i prepared our federal and state forms in one setting, requiring only 2 cups of coffee, 2 extra-strength Tylenol, and 2 Benadryl to do so.
#2) website renewal - for those of you who have never attempted to set up your own website, or have only renewed one by clicking the "sure, bill me again for more money than it's really worth" button and hitting "Submit," this surely sounds like no major feat. i am not of that category, mind you. my original domain host is great for customer service and server reliability, but they recently upped my monthly fee from $5 (which i thought was a bit high to begin with) to $8 (which is half the cost of an MMO subscription, read = outrageous). so, after deciding last month that i didn't really need a website anyway, i realized i missed it. not "$8/month missed it," but i missed it nonetheless. so, while i was purging my system in ways i would only do my readers a horrible disservice by describing in detail, i decided i would try to find a more affordable solution to my website hosting needs. upon finally discovering a site (a free site without ads, by the way) which seemed to manage both reliability and functionality, i had to figure out how to get my original service transferred to the new site. my original service, however, still owns my domain name for the next year... which is quite affordable. it's their web hosting that's gotten overpriced... ::sigh:: i digress. needless to say, this was a process with which i'm unfamiliar, as a simple domain transfer would have been much easier. but, as mentioned before, i'm cheap when it comes to these things, and since i've already paid for another year of my domain name, i'm not going to purchase it again until absolutely necessary (exactly 346 days from today). after having cleared this hurdle, it was time to upload my webpages to the new site, which for some reason didn't like my .css file. that was probably another hour of troubleshooting. lo and behold! the task has since been accomplished, and my original website will be up again as soon as the stupid host domain servers reset my nameserver preference to the new web host company.
#3) enjoy a few moments of creativity between shouts from your son from his upstairs bedroom, "can i get up NOW?!" - yep, i not only get to bask in my accomplishments, but i get to record them here for all to see (read = pretty much just me). and now it's time to unleash the beautiful disaster that is my son from the somewhat stable confines of his bedroom so that he may continue to bounce on my chest and otherwise prove that he is, in every detail, his father's boy.
edit: previously, i had stated that Klingons and Vulcans wouldn't "do it," in reference to Star Trek Online. this was a considerably poor conclusion jump on my part, i must admit. i had read quite a bit about the upcoming release of this Cryptic MMO, and thought i knew what i was talking about. i was fortunate enough to get into the open beta test for this game, however, and was pleasantly set straight by the kind folks at Cryptic Development. this game was a blast, much more fun than i thought it would be. will it be the MMO that turns my opinion of all MMOs around for good? of course not; my previous admissions regarding my opinions of MMOs were based upon my realizations of my own personality and my evolution as a human being, a family man, and a gamer. many MMOs still rely (and, thanks to the ridiculously successful model those guys at Blizzard have created, will continue to rely) upon a very similar structure, one which will never be repeated as well as the original, nor should it be. just because a 4-door sedan is the most popular style of automobile in the US, it doesn't mean i don't enjoy riding my bike. STO does a few things very differently, and while it's not the perfect game, it has all the characteristics of a wonderful distraction, although admittedly it will likely be a temporary one. thanks again, Cryptic, and sorry i almost blew your game off before trying it. i won't make that mistake again.
...not to mention my poor wife who had to deal with these two mostly on her own while i attempted to recuperate in some semblance of peace. it's something of a miracle i wasn't gutted while i slept, but again this probably had a bit to do with the chest-bouncing 3-year-old (he's old enough now to be a viable witness).
now that i'm beginning to feel a little better, i'm looking back at the past few days in amazement that i actually accomplished as much as i have. besides sleeping as much as is humanly possible given the above conditions, i've actually gotten some things done. and i'm not talking about your run-of-the-mill stuff you normally do while you're feeling a bit under the weather.
i'm talking about things most people despise doing even when they're feeling at their best, much less when they're choking back death as i felt i've been doing for the past 72 hours.
#1) taxes - that's right, the joy that is income tax preparation is one that no human being really looks upon with wanton anticipation, even if they are expecting a healthy refund from good ol' Uncle Sam. i prepared our federal and state forms in one setting, requiring only 2 cups of coffee, 2 extra-strength Tylenol, and 2 Benadryl to do so.
#2) website renewal - for those of you who have never attempted to set up your own website, or have only renewed one by clicking the "sure, bill me again for more money than it's really worth" button and hitting "Submit," this surely sounds like no major feat. i am not of that category, mind you. my original domain host is great for customer service and server reliability, but they recently upped my monthly fee from $5 (which i thought was a bit high to begin with) to $8 (which is half the cost of an MMO subscription, read = outrageous). so, after deciding last month that i didn't really need a website anyway, i realized i missed it. not "$8/month missed it," but i missed it nonetheless. so, while i was purging my system in ways i would only do my readers a horrible disservice by describing in detail, i decided i would try to find a more affordable solution to my website hosting needs. upon finally discovering a site (a free site without ads, by the way) which seemed to manage both reliability and functionality, i had to figure out how to get my original service transferred to the new site. my original service, however, still owns my domain name for the next year... which is quite affordable. it's their web hosting that's gotten overpriced... ::sigh:: i digress. needless to say, this was a process with which i'm unfamiliar, as a simple domain transfer would have been much easier. but, as mentioned before, i'm cheap when it comes to these things, and since i've already paid for another year of my domain name, i'm not going to purchase it again until absolutely necessary (exactly 346 days from today). after having cleared this hurdle, it was time to upload my webpages to the new site, which for some reason didn't like my .css file. that was probably another hour of troubleshooting. lo and behold! the task has since been accomplished, and my original website will be up again as soon as the stupid host domain servers reset my nameserver preference to the new web host company.
#3) enjoy a few moments of creativity between shouts from your son from his upstairs bedroom, "can i get up NOW?!" - yep, i not only get to bask in my accomplishments, but i get to record them here for all to see (read = pretty much just me). and now it's time to unleash the beautiful disaster that is my son from the somewhat stable confines of his bedroom so that he may continue to bounce on my chest and otherwise prove that he is, in every detail, his father's boy.
edit: previously, i had stated that Klingons and Vulcans wouldn't "do it," in reference to Star Trek Online. this was a considerably poor conclusion jump on my part, i must admit. i had read quite a bit about the upcoming release of this Cryptic MMO, and thought i knew what i was talking about. i was fortunate enough to get into the open beta test for this game, however, and was pleasantly set straight by the kind folks at Cryptic Development. this game was a blast, much more fun than i thought it would be. will it be the MMO that turns my opinion of all MMOs around for good? of course not; my previous admissions regarding my opinions of MMOs were based upon my realizations of my own personality and my evolution as a human being, a family man, and a gamer. many MMOs still rely (and, thanks to the ridiculously successful model those guys at Blizzard have created, will continue to rely) upon a very similar structure, one which will never be repeated as well as the original, nor should it be. just because a 4-door sedan is the most popular style of automobile in the US, it doesn't mean i don't enjoy riding my bike. STO does a few things very differently, and while it's not the perfect game, it has all the characteristics of a wonderful distraction, although admittedly it will likely be a temporary one. thanks again, Cryptic, and sorry i almost blew your game off before trying it. i won't make that mistake again.
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
introspection
my life is pretty busy these days. a beautiful wife, 2 kids, a full-time job, and trying to find a new job which corresponds with my IT degree take a lot of time. and when i'm not spending my time husbanding, parenting, working, and sending out resumes, i game (which can take a lot of time by itself, but fortunately i need very little sleep). so some might say i game a lot.
::shrug::
it takes my mind off of the rejection letters i keep getting.
i currently have 3 games i've been going between, all of which are single-player RPGs, so we're talking a lot of content in each. i'll probably complete most, if not all, of the content in all of them eventually, but i've come to the realization that my personality houses a bit of a paradox. i like to complete things, but i get bored when i do the same thing repeatedly.
this is exactly why i've grown stale on MMOs. it's impossible to complete an MMO, and you inevitably end up doing the exact same thing ad infinitum. it never starts that way, mind you. you get a shiny new universe with a shiny new avatar and a shiny new set of powers, with (more importantly) a shiny new set of abilities and/or gear to work towards. that last one is the hook, what the game developers hope will keep you coming back (and paying next month's subscription fee). so you begin happily enough, and they throw enough new stuff at you early on so that you've got new things to do and new spells/powers/skills to use while doing those new things to keep you very pleasantly occupied. after a while, though, the acquisition of your character's new upgrades decreases, and you become more aware of the repetition of the tasks you're doing in-game. the more MMOs you play, the quicker you hit this particular speed bump. i can't begin to count how many times i've killed x number of y to acquire z number of whatever to turn into some NPC.
seriously... no idea. hundreds? probably. i bet i've slaughtered generations of virtual rats, skeletons, zombies, and numerous other woodland creatures and denizens of evil. we're talking millions. that's a lot of virtual blood on my hands.
fortunately, i've got lots of virtual soap. and no virtual conscience whatsoever.
but what's it all for? some people are quite satisfied by the boundless extermination of mobs in search for some piece of leet gear or the xp required for that next level. but repetition like that only produces one result in yours truly:
boredom.
so, in the past, i'd burn out on a game and then find myself thinking, "hey! time for a new game."
that works a few times well enough, but i've played a lot of MMOs by now, and it's always the same.
"yay! new game! yay! new level! yay! new power!... yay... next level... yay... new gear... yay... next level... yawn..."
i find i really enjoy the feeling of accomplishment. intrinsic to this sense of accomplishment is the idea that i'm closer to my goal than i was before i began. my goal, of course, is to finish. to get to that point when you know you've done everything there is to be done and say, "aha! i've done it all!" MMOs, however, are not to be completed. even if you take every possible character class in the game to the level cap and stock them with all the best possible gear and work up every possible skill and craft and hobby and whatever else is available, there's an imminent update, adding more classes, skills, etc. somewhere along the journey of attempting such a feat, you may notice that you're physically spending your time doing this:
1, 2, 4, 5, 3, 6, 1, 2, 4, 3, 5, oh! low health! 7! 7!... 1, 2, 4, 5, 3, 6...
yeah... monotony for the lose.
there will never be an online game created that actually offers players the opportunity to achieve a point of absolute completion. it would directly oppose the idea that a game should continue to make money. i understand this, but for a long time i deluded myself into thinking this wasn't the case. i thought, "maybe this game is the one i've been looking for, the one which will provide my kind of fun." my kind of fun, it turns out, isn't MMO-friendly.
some aspects of MMOs i really miss, though. the social possibilities, however limited they might seem to an outsider, is one of those aspects. sure, most of the people you meet in-game might not be that great, but occasionally you'll run across someone who's actually pretty cool (see? just like real life). but paying $15 a month to maybe meet someone cool in a universe where you're strumming out the same numerical string on your keyboard over and over (and over and over and...) is pretty silly.
i still like games. i probably always will. i'm also willing to admit that they're almost completely a waste of time. sure, you gain a bit of spacial recognition, and shave a few seconds off your reflex time, and the endorphin rush has been found to help prevent Alzheimer's. but if i had spent half the time i've gamed on something less ethereal, like playing guitar or sculpting? yeah, i'd probably be a world famous artist or musician or something by now. and i like real world hobbies as well, but that doesn't detract from my appreciation of a good game. late at night, when the kids are asleep and the wife's watching TV on the couch next to you, it's not a good idea to try practicing the flute; logging onto a game, however, is a lot less likely to get you punched by your beloved.
i'll still try to get into beta testing for some of the upcoming MMOs which look like they might not suck after the first hour of play. what's better than free server time on a game that isn't yet available to the general public for a specifically allotted time? nothing, i tell you. NOTHING is better than that!
but i can't kid myself any longer. there simply isn't any reason for me to purchase and invest my time in an MMO any more. as fun as they are for a short while, i'm just not the kind of person who will commit for the long haul, and it's the long haul where the "fun" is in an MMO.
just not my kind of fun, i guess.
::shrug::
it takes my mind off of the rejection letters i keep getting.
i currently have 3 games i've been going between, all of which are single-player RPGs, so we're talking a lot of content in each. i'll probably complete most, if not all, of the content in all of them eventually, but i've come to the realization that my personality houses a bit of a paradox. i like to complete things, but i get bored when i do the same thing repeatedly.
this is exactly why i've grown stale on MMOs. it's impossible to complete an MMO, and you inevitably end up doing the exact same thing ad infinitum. it never starts that way, mind you. you get a shiny new universe with a shiny new avatar and a shiny new set of powers, with (more importantly) a shiny new set of abilities and/or gear to work towards. that last one is the hook, what the game developers hope will keep you coming back (and paying next month's subscription fee). so you begin happily enough, and they throw enough new stuff at you early on so that you've got new things to do and new spells/powers/skills to use while doing those new things to keep you very pleasantly occupied. after a while, though, the acquisition of your character's new upgrades decreases, and you become more aware of the repetition of the tasks you're doing in-game. the more MMOs you play, the quicker you hit this particular speed bump. i can't begin to count how many times i've killed x number of y to acquire z number of whatever to turn into some NPC.
seriously... no idea. hundreds? probably. i bet i've slaughtered generations of virtual rats, skeletons, zombies, and numerous other woodland creatures and denizens of evil. we're talking millions. that's a lot of virtual blood on my hands.
fortunately, i've got lots of virtual soap. and no virtual conscience whatsoever.
but what's it all for? some people are quite satisfied by the boundless extermination of mobs in search for some piece of leet gear or the xp required for that next level. but repetition like that only produces one result in yours truly:
boredom.
so, in the past, i'd burn out on a game and then find myself thinking, "hey! time for a new game."
that works a few times well enough, but i've played a lot of MMOs by now, and it's always the same.
"yay! new game! yay! new level! yay! new power!... yay... next level... yay... new gear... yay... next level... yawn..."
i find i really enjoy the feeling of accomplishment. intrinsic to this sense of accomplishment is the idea that i'm closer to my goal than i was before i began. my goal, of course, is to finish. to get to that point when you know you've done everything there is to be done and say, "aha! i've done it all!" MMOs, however, are not to be completed. even if you take every possible character class in the game to the level cap and stock them with all the best possible gear and work up every possible skill and craft and hobby and whatever else is available, there's an imminent update, adding more classes, skills, etc. somewhere along the journey of attempting such a feat, you may notice that you're physically spending your time doing this:
1, 2, 4, 5, 3, 6, 1, 2, 4, 3, 5, oh! low health! 7! 7!... 1, 2, 4, 5, 3, 6...
yeah... monotony for the lose.
there will never be an online game created that actually offers players the opportunity to achieve a point of absolute completion. it would directly oppose the idea that a game should continue to make money. i understand this, but for a long time i deluded myself into thinking this wasn't the case. i thought, "maybe this game is the one i've been looking for, the one which will provide my kind of fun." my kind of fun, it turns out, isn't MMO-friendly.
some aspects of MMOs i really miss, though. the social possibilities, however limited they might seem to an outsider, is one of those aspects. sure, most of the people you meet in-game might not be that great, but occasionally you'll run across someone who's actually pretty cool (see? just like real life). but paying $15 a month to maybe meet someone cool in a universe where you're strumming out the same numerical string on your keyboard over and over (and over and over and...) is pretty silly.
i still like games. i probably always will. i'm also willing to admit that they're almost completely a waste of time. sure, you gain a bit of spacial recognition, and shave a few seconds off your reflex time, and the endorphin rush has been found to help prevent Alzheimer's. but if i had spent half the time i've gamed on something less ethereal, like playing guitar or sculpting? yeah, i'd probably be a world famous artist or musician or something by now. and i like real world hobbies as well, but that doesn't detract from my appreciation of a good game. late at night, when the kids are asleep and the wife's watching TV on the couch next to you, it's not a good idea to try practicing the flute; logging onto a game, however, is a lot less likely to get you punched by your beloved.
i'll still try to get into beta testing for some of the upcoming MMOs which look like they might not suck after the first hour of play. what's better than free server time on a game that isn't yet available to the general public for a specifically allotted time? nothing, i tell you. NOTHING is better than that!
but i can't kid myself any longer. there simply isn't any reason for me to purchase and invest my time in an MMO any more. as fun as they are for a short while, i'm just not the kind of person who will commit for the long haul, and it's the long haul where the "fun" is in an MMO.
just not my kind of fun, i guess.
Monday, January 11, 2010
How To Play Your Job
i just finished reading [GM]Dave's posts regarding how a person should properly play an MMO. basically, it boils down to a few key points with which anyone would be hard pressed to disagree:
1) Research your job
2) Listen to the advice of others (apply any which actually makes it through your personal filter of stupidity)
3) Don't complain
sounds simple, right?
it is... which is precisely why it's so frustrating that so many players don't do it.
let's take it step by step.
i don't know about you, but researching a game is one of my favorite things to do.
seriously.
i know, i'm a geek.
i really enjoy reading through forum posts, websites, fan pages, whatever i can get my hands on that actually divulges decent information about different aspects of the game. likewise, i really dislike going into any situation completely blind. i would never want to be the guy who gets into a group and doesn't understand exactly what could be expected from me given the class i'm playing and how to deliver appropriate results to live up to those expectations. in other words, i don't want to be the retard in the group. to avoid this unfortunate incident from taking place, i'm willing to put the time required into actually learning about the game mechanics, the differences between the classes, and thus how to play the class i've chosen given the group in which i've placed myself.
unless you're playing a healer class, the expectations can be quite varied from group to group. sometimes, for instance, i've played a tank class which was expected to provide dps. or a CC class that was expected to play off-healer. it happens. it's good to be flexible in your expectations of a group so that when you're playing a dps class and someone calls upon you to play an off-tank you don't pop a gasket and start crying.
yeah, i've seen it happen. it's not pretty.
anyway, back to the subject at hand, let's say for the sake of argument that you've taken the time to learn how to play your class and what the specific situation calls for from everyone. for instance, showing up to fight the giant Turtle in LotRO without your poison resistance gear will get you ostracized. know this before you show up. if you don't know, for the love of mud, ASK! a person who doesn't know but asks will never be looked upon as a complete dolt... a person who shows up without knowing or asking always will.
so, you've done your research, and you've asked the right questions. this is all you can do (i'll assume you're not ignorant enough to complain about the group... that "Leave Group" button is there for a reason).
now, you have no choice but to leave it up to the leadership of the group to do their job and actually provide leadership.
leading a group of any kind is no easy task. due to my casual status as a gamer, i've opted out of leading many more runs than i have opted to take responsibility for the welfare and progress of the group's accomplishments at hand. i've noticed, however, that many people do not feel the way i do about providing proper leadership. i've been in more groups than i can count where the person who's nominated himself to run the show had absolutely no clue what they were doing.
::sigh:: many, many times...
...and then a few more.
as already stated, i don't play any game enough to know everything. many games i've played i didn't know much at all beyond how to hold aggro or nuke the right mob at the right time. but i know how to follow orders.
my question is this: if you take the time to get a group together, why in the world don't you take the time to figure out what, exactly, you need from the members of this group?
okay, the main tank just left the group before the boss, and now you need someone who isn't playing a tanking class to step up and try to hold the boss aggro. the healer bailed halfway through and now we're counting on the CCer with the minor heal and a whole lot of pots. i fully understand that these things happen in a game. what i don't understand is how someone can walk into a situation with everything they need to succeed except the actual knowledge of what needs to be done by those people.
i've mentioned before that my involvement in MMOs has dwindled to nonexistent recently. most of the time, i find i either play alone or experience utter defeat in the face of someone who tries to run the show but hasn't got a clue what they're doing. quite frankly, there are three kinds of gamers: 1) the uber-1337 hardcores without a real life or any social skills beyond the keyboard, 2) the kids who have no concept of group mechanics nor the basics of teamwork, and 3) me.
sure, i've been the weak link in the group before (read = the only one who doesn't put in 40+ hours a week and hasn't run the instance 20 times previously). if given the proper leadership (read = tell me what you need), i'll do my best and everything will go smoothly. i know, it sounds unlikely, but i've seen it happen more than a few times. more than that, however, it'll be some jerk who can't believe i would rather spend time with my wife and children than running a particular raid for some coveted piece of gear or some kid who doesn't have a clue how to run the instance in the first place and expects everyone else in the group to carry him through.
[GM]Dave has fought through this frustration and continues to play (feeding people who piss him off to a large purple dragon probably helps in alleviating this frustration). i, on the other hand, have opted to go back to Oblivion for the time being and hope a new game comes out which might offer a chance to meet better people within the population. the idea of transferring characters to a new server which may or may not be different just doesn't appeal to me.
1) Research your job
2) Listen to the advice of others (apply any which actually makes it through your personal filter of stupidity)
3) Don't complain
sounds simple, right?
it is... which is precisely why it's so frustrating that so many players don't do it.
let's take it step by step.
i don't know about you, but researching a game is one of my favorite things to do.
seriously.
i know, i'm a geek.
i really enjoy reading through forum posts, websites, fan pages, whatever i can get my hands on that actually divulges decent information about different aspects of the game. likewise, i really dislike going into any situation completely blind. i would never want to be the guy who gets into a group and doesn't understand exactly what could be expected from me given the class i'm playing and how to deliver appropriate results to live up to those expectations. in other words, i don't want to be the retard in the group. to avoid this unfortunate incident from taking place, i'm willing to put the time required into actually learning about the game mechanics, the differences between the classes, and thus how to play the class i've chosen given the group in which i've placed myself.
unless you're playing a healer class, the expectations can be quite varied from group to group. sometimes, for instance, i've played a tank class which was expected to provide dps. or a CC class that was expected to play off-healer. it happens. it's good to be flexible in your expectations of a group so that when you're playing a dps class and someone calls upon you to play an off-tank you don't pop a gasket and start crying.
yeah, i've seen it happen. it's not pretty.
anyway, back to the subject at hand, let's say for the sake of argument that you've taken the time to learn how to play your class and what the specific situation calls for from everyone. for instance, showing up to fight the giant Turtle in LotRO without your poison resistance gear will get you ostracized. know this before you show up. if you don't know, for the love of mud, ASK! a person who doesn't know but asks will never be looked upon as a complete dolt... a person who shows up without knowing or asking always will.
so, you've done your research, and you've asked the right questions. this is all you can do (i'll assume you're not ignorant enough to complain about the group... that "Leave Group" button is there for a reason).
now, you have no choice but to leave it up to the leadership of the group to do their job and actually provide leadership.
leading a group of any kind is no easy task. due to my casual status as a gamer, i've opted out of leading many more runs than i have opted to take responsibility for the welfare and progress of the group's accomplishments at hand. i've noticed, however, that many people do not feel the way i do about providing proper leadership. i've been in more groups than i can count where the person who's nominated himself to run the show had absolutely no clue what they were doing.
::sigh:: many, many times...
...and then a few more.
as already stated, i don't play any game enough to know everything. many games i've played i didn't know much at all beyond how to hold aggro or nuke the right mob at the right time. but i know how to follow orders.
my question is this: if you take the time to get a group together, why in the world don't you take the time to figure out what, exactly, you need from the members of this group?
okay, the main tank just left the group before the boss, and now you need someone who isn't playing a tanking class to step up and try to hold the boss aggro. the healer bailed halfway through and now we're counting on the CCer with the minor heal and a whole lot of pots. i fully understand that these things happen in a game. what i don't understand is how someone can walk into a situation with everything they need to succeed except the actual knowledge of what needs to be done by those people.
i've mentioned before that my involvement in MMOs has dwindled to nonexistent recently. most of the time, i find i either play alone or experience utter defeat in the face of someone who tries to run the show but hasn't got a clue what they're doing. quite frankly, there are three kinds of gamers: 1) the uber-1337 hardcores without a real life or any social skills beyond the keyboard, 2) the kids who have no concept of group mechanics nor the basics of teamwork, and 3) me.
sure, i've been the weak link in the group before (read = the only one who doesn't put in 40+ hours a week and hasn't run the instance 20 times previously). if given the proper leadership (read = tell me what you need), i'll do my best and everything will go smoothly. i know, it sounds unlikely, but i've seen it happen more than a few times. more than that, however, it'll be some jerk who can't believe i would rather spend time with my wife and children than running a particular raid for some coveted piece of gear or some kid who doesn't have a clue how to run the instance in the first place and expects everyone else in the group to carry him through.
[GM]Dave has fought through this frustration and continues to play (feeding people who piss him off to a large purple dragon probably helps in alleviating this frustration). i, on the other hand, have opted to go back to Oblivion for the time being and hope a new game comes out which might offer a chance to meet better people within the population. the idea of transferring characters to a new server which may or may not be different just doesn't appeal to me.
Thursday, December 17, 2009
The Secret World
Klingons and Vulcans won't do it. Jedi and Sith (probably) won't do it (although i'd be lying if i said i wasn't somewhat interested... it's Star Wars after all). But a Lovecraft-inspired universe of terrifying creatures & magic hidden outside the perception of an unsuspecting public which shuns the level/class structure, instead relying upon skill-based gameplay which focuses on single-player PvE content?
Yeah, that might just bring me back to MMOs.
Now, the bad news. First, you have to join a faction which you cannot change once it's been chosen. Not like the WoW factions which are basically just different starting cities & skins, but factions in which player attitude is (supposed to be) a driving factor. These factions boil down to three personality types: the self-righteous, the power-hungry, and the middle-of-the-road-balance-must-be-restored faction, which according to the population so far on the forums is by far the most popular choice. I always tend to play a personality type similar to my own in real life, so obviously i chose the last option (although it could be fun roleplaying either of the other two, maybe even more so... but who rp's in games anymore?).
Oh, and the second bit of bad news? It's Funcom.
Yeah, that's really bad. I know, i beta tested Age of Conan.
So why is this game grabbing my attention? The skill-based games that have been released so far have been utter disasters for yours truly (yeah, i beta tested Darkfall too). That, on top of the fact that's it a Funcom game, should have me running for the hills. So why do i care?
Well, first of all, they've admitted the Lovecraft angle. I'm a sucker for Lovecraft... his horror is some of the most amazing stuff i've ever read in the genre. If you're unfamiliar, check out the Lovecraft creature database and tell me that isn't prime material for an MMO. Second, the main developer stated there will be a huge chunk of content which will be solo-friendly for those of us who may or may not want to deal with the rest of the community (depending, of course, on how that turns out). Honestly, I can't imagine everyone will be running for this game given that there are other skill-based games out there already which (probably) left a very sour taste in the mouths of gamers and given Funcom's general reputation with MMOs after Age of Conan. This means the core population (read = those who continue to play the game after the first month's subscription runs out) could be a very interesting set of people... assuming the game's worth playing after the first month. There are just too many factors which can make or break an MMO, and i know enough to know that basing an opinion on a game of this magnitude in the first few weeks is somewhat unfair, but nonetheless i, like many others, don't have the patience to wait for a company to figure out what they should have figured out before beta while taking my hard-earned money to basically make me test their game ideas for them. I already have rather jaded views of most games that exist these days; they either copy the one formula which has proven to be the most financially successful, thereby offering yet another similar game to one which has already existed for 5 years, or they come up with something new and different yet don't support it properly (be it in advertising, hardware/technical issues, content maintenance, or in-game personnel). For me to be really interested in a game, it's going to have to offer something significantly different, yet be something that a person can log in a couple times a week and still enjoy, not feel like they have to grind a bunch of tasks just to get to the "fun" part.
Will The Secret World be it? Heh, probably not... but something compels me to want to play MMOs, and this sounds more promising than just about everything else that's been around this past year.
Yeah, that might just bring me back to MMOs.
Now, the bad news. First, you have to join a faction which you cannot change once it's been chosen. Not like the WoW factions which are basically just different starting cities & skins, but factions in which player attitude is (supposed to be) a driving factor. These factions boil down to three personality types: the self-righteous, the power-hungry, and the middle-of-the-road-balance-must-be-restored faction, which according to the population so far on the forums is by far the most popular choice. I always tend to play a personality type similar to my own in real life, so obviously i chose the last option (although it could be fun roleplaying either of the other two, maybe even more so... but who rp's in games anymore?).
Oh, and the second bit of bad news? It's Funcom.
Yeah, that's really bad. I know, i beta tested Age of Conan.
So why is this game grabbing my attention? The skill-based games that have been released so far have been utter disasters for yours truly (yeah, i beta tested Darkfall too). That, on top of the fact that's it a Funcom game, should have me running for the hills. So why do i care?
Well, first of all, they've admitted the Lovecraft angle. I'm a sucker for Lovecraft... his horror is some of the most amazing stuff i've ever read in the genre. If you're unfamiliar, check out the Lovecraft creature database and tell me that isn't prime material for an MMO. Second, the main developer stated there will be a huge chunk of content which will be solo-friendly for those of us who may or may not want to deal with the rest of the community (depending, of course, on how that turns out). Honestly, I can't imagine everyone will be running for this game given that there are other skill-based games out there already which (probably) left a very sour taste in the mouths of gamers and given Funcom's general reputation with MMOs after Age of Conan. This means the core population (read = those who continue to play the game after the first month's subscription runs out) could be a very interesting set of people... assuming the game's worth playing after the first month. There are just too many factors which can make or break an MMO, and i know enough to know that basing an opinion on a game of this magnitude in the first few weeks is somewhat unfair, but nonetheless i, like many others, don't have the patience to wait for a company to figure out what they should have figured out before beta while taking my hard-earned money to basically make me test their game ideas for them. I already have rather jaded views of most games that exist these days; they either copy the one formula which has proven to be the most financially successful, thereby offering yet another similar game to one which has already existed for 5 years, or they come up with something new and different yet don't support it properly (be it in advertising, hardware/technical issues, content maintenance, or in-game personnel). For me to be really interested in a game, it's going to have to offer something significantly different, yet be something that a person can log in a couple times a week and still enjoy, not feel like they have to grind a bunch of tasks just to get to the "fun" part.
Will The Secret World be it? Heh, probably not... but something compels me to want to play MMOs, and this sounds more promising than just about everything else that's been around this past year.
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Fin
I've logged thousands of hours playing video games.
At least.
I started tracking my gaming hours in June of 2006 using XFire (only PC games, console games not included) and I'm currently at 3,312 hours of total time spent playing video games. To some, this indicates a tremendous waste of my time (if you're of this belief, may i suggest lightening up a bit?). To others, this is only a month or two of casual gaming (seriously! check out this guy's profile). Like all things, amount of time spent gaming is a relative entity. My point is that i've gamed quite a bit in my life. In the past few years, most of that has been spent playing various MMOs.
I'll never forget the first time i logged into an MMO and began playing with other people... it was magnificent. People whom i'd never met before were somewhere else in the world unknown to me, but at that moment we all had that instant in common, united together under a common ruleset within a common server environment using super powers and earning xp towards our next level. My adrenaline and dopamine levels were at an all-time high, and i was hooked*. Looking back, there is still something incredible and indescribable about the feeling of joining a team of adventurers to tackle a feat greater than our individual abilities could accomplish alone. Quite simply, it was marvelous fun.
That feeling is still one i would like to enjoy again, but things have changed over the years. Sure, i've got more things in my life now which are a higher priority than gaming, but the crucial differences are not mine. The arena of MMOs has changed quite a bit, and it's my opinion that these changes make it more difficult for people like me (read = more to live for than the game) to enjoy gaming.
For one, the games have changed. There used to be a handful of MMOs to play, which meant that if you played an MMO, you only had a few options to choose from, and those games were all very similar in content and execution. GameOgre currently lists 47 pay-to-play and 61 free-to-play MMORPGs that are active as of the date of this publication. These games vary in content, targeted audience, style of environment, style of play, and just about every other possible facet of video games that you can conceive. According to a recent study, there are now over 47 million MMO subscriptions active in the world (10 million of whom are claimed by World of Warcraft, but of course there has been some debate regarding the accuracy of that number). When i began playing online, there were more like 5 possible MMOs and maybe 7 million total players (of course, i'm only guessing the number of players in 2005; if you can link more accurate numbers, i'd appreciate it). So not only has the industry been flooded with innumberable gaming choices, but the number of players has drastically increased. Most of these players are younger... and by "younger," i mean adolescents. Most of these games are targeted at these younger players... and by "games," i mean trite abominations. The mature player who wants to enjoy a challenging environment with other like-minded mature players in a casual manner is on the brink of extinction, if not completely annihilated already.
This is not a "boo-hoo-things-used-to-be-great-before-these-meddling-kids-ruined-it" post. Not in the slightest. Technologically speaking, the world today is a much better place than it was 5 years ago. Besides, things change; it's the nature of the universe, and i'm well aware of that (in fact, i'm quite the fan of evolution). Nonetheless, in the context of MMOs, the games just aren't being developed for players like me anymore. Casual 30-somethings aren't where the money is, i guess. It's understandable. The music industry hasn't targeted my demographic since long before i was born, so it makes sense that the gaming industry would take a similar turn. That's just the way it is.
"Well, Grey, if you're not griping, then what's the point?"
::ahem::
My point is simply that one of my favorite pasttimes is no longer. Something i used to love doing for 15-30 hours a week has become something i no longer enjoy even for an hour or two. It doesn't matter which game i'm playing, or which server i'm logged into, or what time of day i'm playing, or which guild/kinship/clan/supergroup/et al i'm a member of. The crucial elements, in fact the very foundation, of MMOs has evolved into something which just isn't fun anymore... it's become something more akin to a competitive series of chores. Whether you agree with me or not, one thing remains the same:
Greyfang is no longer a gamer.
Most of you won't even notice my absence, much less miss me. That's fine. But i miss the way it used to be, and i guess that makes me an old fogey. I'm rarely a nostalgic person, but MMOs used to be a magical opportunity for people to join together, having never met each other before, and have the time of their lives. I know of no other genre in which that is a possibility, much less a regular occurrence. To those gamers who know what i'm referring to, i say thanks for all the fun. Maybe i'll see you around somewhere. I'll be the one with the LFG tag.
*please understand that i use this term quite informally. i was never a video game addict, nor do i intend to make light of addiction in any of its varied forms.
At least.
I started tracking my gaming hours in June of 2006 using XFire (only PC games, console games not included) and I'm currently at 3,312 hours of total time spent playing video games. To some, this indicates a tremendous waste of my time (if you're of this belief, may i suggest lightening up a bit?). To others, this is only a month or two of casual gaming (seriously! check out this guy's profile). Like all things, amount of time spent gaming is a relative entity. My point is that i've gamed quite a bit in my life. In the past few years, most of that has been spent playing various MMOs.
I'll never forget the first time i logged into an MMO and began playing with other people... it was magnificent. People whom i'd never met before were somewhere else in the world unknown to me, but at that moment we all had that instant in common, united together under a common ruleset within a common server environment using super powers and earning xp towards our next level. My adrenaline and dopamine levels were at an all-time high, and i was hooked*. Looking back, there is still something incredible and indescribable about the feeling of joining a team of adventurers to tackle a feat greater than our individual abilities could accomplish alone. Quite simply, it was marvelous fun.
That feeling is still one i would like to enjoy again, but things have changed over the years. Sure, i've got more things in my life now which are a higher priority than gaming, but the crucial differences are not mine. The arena of MMOs has changed quite a bit, and it's my opinion that these changes make it more difficult for people like me (read = more to live for than the game) to enjoy gaming.
For one, the games have changed. There used to be a handful of MMOs to play, which meant that if you played an MMO, you only had a few options to choose from, and those games were all very similar in content and execution. GameOgre currently lists 47 pay-to-play and 61 free-to-play MMORPGs that are active as of the date of this publication. These games vary in content, targeted audience, style of environment, style of play, and just about every other possible facet of video games that you can conceive. According to a recent study, there are now over 47 million MMO subscriptions active in the world (10 million of whom are claimed by World of Warcraft, but of course there has been some debate regarding the accuracy of that number). When i began playing online, there were more like 5 possible MMOs and maybe 7 million total players (of course, i'm only guessing the number of players in 2005; if you can link more accurate numbers, i'd appreciate it). So not only has the industry been flooded with innumberable gaming choices, but the number of players has drastically increased. Most of these players are younger... and by "younger," i mean adolescents. Most of these games are targeted at these younger players... and by "games," i mean trite abominations. The mature player who wants to enjoy a challenging environment with other like-minded mature players in a casual manner is on the brink of extinction, if not completely annihilated already.
This is not a "boo-hoo-things-used-to-be-great-before-these-meddling-kids-ruined-it" post. Not in the slightest. Technologically speaking, the world today is a much better place than it was 5 years ago. Besides, things change; it's the nature of the universe, and i'm well aware of that (in fact, i'm quite the fan of evolution). Nonetheless, in the context of MMOs, the games just aren't being developed for players like me anymore. Casual 30-somethings aren't where the money is, i guess. It's understandable. The music industry hasn't targeted my demographic since long before i was born, so it makes sense that the gaming industry would take a similar turn. That's just the way it is.
"Well, Grey, if you're not griping, then what's the point?"
::ahem::
My point is simply that one of my favorite pasttimes is no longer. Something i used to love doing for 15-30 hours a week has become something i no longer enjoy even for an hour or two. It doesn't matter which game i'm playing, or which server i'm logged into, or what time of day i'm playing, or which guild/kinship/clan/supergroup/et al i'm a member of. The crucial elements, in fact the very foundation, of MMOs has evolved into something which just isn't fun anymore... it's become something more akin to a competitive series of chores. Whether you agree with me or not, one thing remains the same:
Greyfang is no longer a gamer.
Most of you won't even notice my absence, much less miss me. That's fine. But i miss the way it used to be, and i guess that makes me an old fogey. I'm rarely a nostalgic person, but MMOs used to be a magical opportunity for people to join together, having never met each other before, and have the time of their lives. I know of no other genre in which that is a possibility, much less a regular occurrence. To those gamers who know what i'm referring to, i say thanks for all the fun. Maybe i'll see you around somewhere. I'll be the one with the LFG tag.
*please understand that i use this term quite informally. i was never a video game addict, nor do i intend to make light of addiction in any of its varied forms.
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