It’s Where I’ll Be…

November 19th, 2010

The gang over at Kill Ten Rats has graciously accepted me into the fold.  I will write about MMOs and gaming over there from now on. 

This is just the step I needed to take to turn this blog back into more of a general topics outlet.  So, if you’re still interested in my non-gaming writing, then keep this blog in your RSS feeds, too.  It’s not to say gaming won’t ever come up on here, just not in great detail.

Thanks to Ethic and rest of the writers over at KTR for this opportunity!  My introductory post is What Exactly is a Makkaio Anyway?

Choices and Priorities…

September 22nd, 2010

“All work and no play, makes Jack a dull boy,” a crazy psycho once typed a hundred million times in a book created by Stephen King.

My dad called tonight.  My mom was having problems setting up her new router and Blue Ray player with Netflix.  So I told him I would be right over…

(Insert harsh record scratch here to emphasize something weird just happened.)

We all make choices, and those choices impact us positively and negatively all at once.  When the negatives start to outweigh the positives, then it is time for more choices.  Time for a new balance in the positive and negative continuum.

About a month ago, I began to realize that some of my choices during the previous year had tilted the scale way to the negative.  However, I kept hanging on to the positives.  So did the people around me.

It was a little over a year ago I started taking on side jobs in web solutions.  Mostly they’ve been PHP/MySQL projects in Word Press and content management systems.  Working with my friend Rob, I would take her designs and skin PHP backends for her.  The part-time work was pretty steady.  The one thing I hadn’t counted on was how timely people wanted their sites done.  Follow-up work also escaped my knowledge at the time.  I thought I would just set up the client’s site and be off to the next one.  Part-time started to turn into full-time.

During that year, the people around me supported my decision to take on this new venture.  They understood I couldn’t do things because I was working on a “project”.  Stuff at home wouldn’t get done because of the current “project”.  I couldn’t hang with family or friends because of the current “project”.  All along…the people closest to me supported and understood.

I thought about that tonight while I was working on my parents’ home network and Blue Ray with Netflix player.  If I had not started the process a month ago to make the choice to drop the part-time web projects…I would have once again told my parents I couldn’t help them.  They would have once again understood.  I wouldn’t be able to hang out with a friend tomorrow night after work to do something active.  They would have supported my decision.

I talked to my parents a little bit about my realization.  “Don’t look at it that way,” my dad said.  “You only have so much time.”  Ah…wise words from yet another crazy psycho that Stephen King could only wish to have created.  And yes, that’s a damn compliment.  I have a funny feeling he won’t mind the extra visits.

Rainy Wednesday

September 8th, 2010

I have a few minutes of free time between work and a night meeting.  So, I ‘ve decided to write down a few things I’ve been thinking about today.

I think I’m going to drop my account with SNAP Fitness and resign with the local YMCA.  The way I will be working out has changed.  I would now love to jump in the pool once in a while, sit in the sauna, play a little basket/racket/tennis ball.  I’m not really into weight and ARC training as my only method of exercising.  I need the variety that I’m missing from the Y.

And as much as I liked Yoga, I just can’t get into the class atmosphere again.  There is a reason I was a skater, BMX rider, and now play MMOs solo.  I don’t like organized stuff.  I like to do my own thing and have options.

And speaking of MMOs…Lord of the Rings Online has gone F2P and I’m back in with the crowd from Casualties of War.  I liked the game before…just couldn’t play enough to justify paying the montly sub.  We’ll see how it goes now that it is free.

Allods and Yoga

August 10th, 2010

I decided to take a step into a new-to-me MMO world and downloaded Allods Online last night.  It’s a free-to-play MMO, so if you feel like taking a look…I’m on Tensess as a Kanian ranger named Bandish.  I also rolled up an Orc brute on the Empire side.  The download went pretty quick and there were no login issues.  I leveled both characters to 5 in less than a few hours…learning the nuances of the game as I went.    I do have to say, the game is pretty.  I went into it thinking I would just pass some time playing through my favorite part of any game…the beginning.  But I was impressed enough, I think I’m going to give it more of a fair shake.

Tonight, Muzenews and I are signed up for my first official yoga class.  She’s being kind and holding my hand through the first session.  I really don’t know what to expect, but I hear the instructor is very good.  When I signed up for the class, I mentioned that I have neck and back injuries.  The instructor wants me to come 15 minutes early so we can discuss those injuries.  I thought that was a great sign.  So I’m excited to see if yoga will help.  With the pace of the past couple weeks…I really could use the peace it should bring.

Losing It

August 2nd, 2010

Today I start on a friendly competition with another guy who wants to lose 20 lbs.  We set the competition for one month, but weigh-ins every Sunday.  We’ll see who loses more weight.  I don’t know if I can lose all 20 lbs. in a month, but it’s good incentive to work at it through a bit of competition.  The official weigh-in was 250 lbs. yesterday.

Also, with all the input on the yoga question…I’m looking into classes.  There is a yoga basics class that should have a session starting up soon.  I’d really like to start at the very beginning.  But if not…I’ll try and get in on something more for beginners.

Guestroom Medicine Cabinet

July 31st, 2010

We have a guestroom in our house that we call the Chautauqua Room.  We have a sink in this guestroom.  People say it’s just like homes in the Chautauqua Institution.  So we kind of decided to stick with that theme.

A while ago, Muzenews‘ mom picked up a medicine cabinet at a yard sale or while she was scavenging.    It fits perfect with the room, so I finally put it up over the sink today.

The medicine chest and the tools of the trade.

Sink area of guestroom.

Sink area of the guestroom.

Installed Medicine Cabinet.

Installed cabinet.

A Life in Gaming…

July 31st, 2010

This post is inspired by Ysharros over at Stylish Corpse.  She committed to updating her blog every day for the month of July (minus weekends)…and she did it!  But her blog post today, The month in games – July 2010, got me thinking.  Ysh is a very “one game at a time” kind of person.  Where I, on the other hand, am well known to bounce – or roll – around like a Katamari Ball from one title to the next.    From the long list of bloggers and gamers I know, I have been the exception more than the rule.  Players seem to remain loyal to one or two games.

Ysh played three major titles this past month and all of them were “free” to come back and play.  But this is someone who, just a few short weeks ago, admittedly saw herself playing Everquest 2 for the rest of her life.

But similar playing habits are being seen in other players.  Those habits can especially be found in a lot of social gaming players.  In my friends list, there is a core group of about 30 to 40 people that I can list off the top of my head as being avid social game players.  They all play more than one game.  They are active.  And you can tell they have a favorite game or two, even if they play a number of them.  I can’t really say there is one of those players that plays only one game.

But when it comes to the big MMOs and the future of pricing…especially free-to-play…I think the same trend we see in social gaming will cross over to MMOs.  But what will that mean?  If players aren’t as committed to one title anymore, we could see a lot of changes.  And I think development needs to keep up with the trends.

Guilds, for one.  What’s the use anymore?  It’s been my experience to see a rapid decline in guild formation throughout MMOs.  I’m talking small guilds here.  The group of 2 to 6 friends who decide to build a guild and recruit to fill the ranks.  Those are becoming non-existent.  Large, established guilds are holding together better…raiding being a big reason for that.

Using myself as an example.  Including social games, I play about 10 to 12 multi-player games a month.  (Jesus…no wonder I don’t blog much.)  With as many games as I play and as much as I play, I don’t have near the number of player/guild contacts in any one MMO anymore.  However, I do have that gang of 40 social game players on Facebook.  Gone are the days of just logging on and getting six players in my MMO guild to quest or run dungeons.  The players I know are scattered among so many MMOs right now, it’s impossible to imagine them all back together under one title.  I know I’m becoming more the rule now, than the exception.

Ah…I ramble.  But I guess my point is…more players are playing more games.  Players are less committed to one title.  As a result, players are becoming less organized in MMOs…but the system in social games seems to keep people pretty organized.  Might we see some of that crossover to MMOs?  Would it make sense?  Other blog or article discussions on this?

Posing a Thought…

July 30th, 2010

Just thinking about taking up some people on their recommendations that I should try Yoga.  Conventional exercising just won’t work with the types of neck and back injuries I have.  So many have asked if I’ve thought about Yoga.  I have to admit that I’ve done some basic Yoga poses designed to strengthen and stretch my back and neck.  My chiropractor said he would feel better if I worked with an instructor.  So…I’m looking into it.

Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning – Review of the Hype

July 22nd, 2010

38Studios, EA, and Big Huge Games held a panel at San Diego Comic Con this afternoon to expand upon their initial announcement of Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning (formerly Project Mercury).  A recap of the live tweet can be found below.  There are a few bits of info in the live tweeting, but the medium still has a long way to go for adding hype to something like an info panel.  I still appreciated the updates.

So…between Tweet updates…I decided to check out the official Reckoning website, which had since been “dark”.  Bingo!  It was up and ready to go.  So while the crowd in San Diego was listening to the panel (believe me, I would have rather been there), I was checking out the somewhat wonky site.  Just some initial tech issues that will be worked out, I’m sure.  And what I saw, I liked.

Check out the KoAR Site
Check out the Live Tweet

For months…I and many others have been thinking about, chatting about, speculating about what could be so special about this secrect world we now know has been named Amalur.  My biggest pet peeve about any one game is that I don’t feel “special”.  That my story is boring.  It’s like hundreds of others.  But even real life isn’t all that special…we have many parallels with many other people.  That makes it worse for game devs, I suspect.  We don’t want the real world.  We want a unique experience in a game world.  And we want to be special.  We’re told, once again, that we will be special.  So, we’ll have to wait and see.

The interesting twist with Reckoning is the very premise of the game – What if you could chose or fight your fate after you die?  At least…this is the impression I have about the premise of the game.  I also have to believe, from earlier remarks by R.A. Salvatore, that it is a central theme of the pending MMO with the codename “Copernicus”.  Remember Salvatore’s earlier examples about how to explain why characters can come back to life after dying?  Just going with the theme here, but I’m intrigued already by the info on the site.  I’ll be kind and won’t spoil anything here.

Anyway…I have to keep this brief.  I will share that I’ve done my duty today and set my wallpaper to the one provided on the Reckoning site.  I’ve Tweeted a bunch.  I’ve poured over the official site.  I’ve watched the trailer more than 20 times.  I’ve been listening to the damn music on the site the whole time I’ve been writing this.  I’m afraid…I have given into the HYPE.

But you know what?  The hype is being handled very well by all involved with Reckoning.  Also, check out this picture of a Troll toy posted by 38Studios developer Steve “Moorgard” Danuser.

EA and 38 Studios Give Project Mercury “Real” Name…

July 20th, 2010

Here is the official press release from 38 Studios:

EA and 38 Studios introduce Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning

The cinematic debutes on Thursday the 22nd on the official site:

Reckoning the Game