Success = License to hate?

Now I don’t want to go off on a rant here, but I am truly starting to feel like the internet is just filled with people who wait for something to become successful, then pull out their claws and rip to shreds because they are “too cool” for anything that is so loved by the mainstream.  This isn’t really a new thing, of course.  I understand that there will always be people who try to prove how awesome they are by insulting things that become popular.  But lately I have been seeing it get real out of hand.

The obvious example is Blizzard and World of Warcraft.

 

 

Now, I could care less whether or not you like WoW or despite it.  Everyone is entitled to their own opinion and preferences as to what style of MMO they enjoy the most.  But you don’t even have to throw a stone to be caught up in the vile WoW hatred anymore.  All you have to do is log in to any MMO and wait for the word WoW to be mentioned.  It usually takes about 3.5 seconds in a new MMO, or perhaps a few minutes if the MMO is older.  But to read some of the comments, you would think that Blizzard committed some brutal series of murders to incur so much disgust from people.

Tune in next week when we hear about how WoW is directly linked to HIV and the primary cause of Global Warming.

But seriously, it really is funny to see people get so riled up over a game.  And each argument plays out in the same general way.  The first salvo is usually the WoW is for kiddies argument.  This mostly has to do with WoW having a more cartoony art style and maintaining a strong sense of humor throughout.  Also, WoW is popular as hell and holds more subscriber than any other MMO, and so many younger people do play it.  The community of WoW is not the greatest, I will be the first to say.  Some of the idiots who play it can be extremely annoying.  But I have also seen many adults who absolutely love WoW, and I’ve met many wonderful and mature guilds in my travels there.  So it’s not just kids that enjoy WoW.

But I won’t let facts ruin a good story here, so we’ll move on.

The second place where I see this kind of hatred is with the film Avatar.  Now again, it really does not matter to me whether you like it or hate it.  I’m talking about the people who don’t just hate it….they really hate it.  They hate it to the point that they started making up theories that it was un-American because it depicts American troops in a negative light.  Those people must have watched a different movie than I did, because the movie clearly states that this is a coporate security force.  They wear no flags on their uniforms.

So if anything it is a cautionary tale of corporate forces like Blackwater, but once again, I won’t let facts get in the way of a good story.

 

 

But the freshest example of this sort of behavior would be the massive amount of forum bitching that is popping up in lieu of Dragon Age 2.  Apparently, Bioware has reached the proper success threshold that it is now a cool thing to hate on them as well.  But to make myself clear once again, I am not talking about people who simply didn’t enjoy DA 2.  I am talking about people who have now taken their rage to the forums and are claiming that Bioware is dead, calling them traitors, they hate PC players, they have sold out, they hate RPGs, they assassinated JFK…you know, the whole works.

Seeing crap like this from the gaming populace really concerns me.

You might wonder why this is, given that people also react this way to other forms of creative expression.  Well, the primary reason is that gaming is still struggling mightily for respect and acceptance by the general public.  Though it has made some strides in recent years, gaming is still viewed by many as something for kids…a fanciful distraction that any reasonable adult should eventually “move on” from.  To compound this problem, I see so many of my fellow gamers behaving in an immature and petulant fashion, and so it makes me wonder whether people outside of the gaming community will ever be able to truly look at games as art.

And that is undoubtedly what games are slowly becoming…an art form just like books, music, or film.  But until the gaming community learns to grow up and regard their hobby with a sense of dignity, it may be difficult for games and those who make them to ever receive the worldwide respect they so richly deserve.

Dragon Age II: Early Thoughts

I’m going to keep spoiler free, as I have only put in about 10 hours into Dragon Age 2 so far.  But I did want to make a few comments on the experience as a whole and how it compares to the original.  To begin with the positive…the snazzy new DX 11 effects and speedy animations definitely make for some very fun and engaging combat.  It certainly has more of an action RPG feel than than the original, but I have still found it to be quite enjoyable and much more visceral.  Though the overall pace of the combat does make things feel a little less tactical than before.

 

 

But hey, I always thought I had to spend a little too much time pausing the action in DA 1 to down potions like some sort of hopeless addict, so no complaints on that front.  The function of the combat really isn’t that much different from DA 1 though, with the hotbar abilities and Tactics system for each character working just as they did before.  But everything happens much faster this time around, and you will either love that or hate it depending on what you want out of your RPGs.

The interface also does a better job of streamlining the information you need to know and presenting it to you in a clean fashion.

I really liked how they put the quick heal/mana options on the right side of the hotbar.  Very useful!  But then I found that other elements of DA 2 have been stripped down a little too much for my taste.  On the one hand, I love the Mass Effect-style dialogue wheel and am glad that they ported it over to the Dragon Age series.  But I don’t really like how they have now placed a small icon next to each of your responses.  This tells you exactly where the response will fall in terms of tone, with little hearts next to the romantic ones that take all the guess work and mystery out of discovering these things for yourself.

And while you can change equipment to your heart’s content, this only really applies to your character (Hawke).  Just about everything you find can only be used by him, cutting out much of the inventory and party management that so many RPG-lovers adore.  On that same note, I really don’t understand the great Bioware crusade against inventory systems.  They ripped the very same thing out of Mass Effect 2 and now Dragon Age 2 has also fallen under a similar knife.

It all feels like they are trying to get the game to appeal to a more non-RPG crowd, which just doesn’t make sense to me.

 

 

But to the game’s credit, many of the signature Bioware elements are still in place here.  The writing and voice acting are terrific so far, and it looks like we will have many of the same wonderful moral dilemmas that have become a staple of Bioware RPGs.  Choice is what makes these games stand out, and so far it looks like Dragon Age 2 will be featuring plenty of it.  I do have to mention that I haven’t really seen much of a main plot at this point…and some reviews I have read are confirming my fears that DA 2 doesn’t really possess a central, driving narrative like most RPGs.  It’s more like a series of interconnected quests that add up to something but you’re not always sure of what that might be.

This may take away some of the drive I have to play whenever I have free time, as right now I don’t feel as compelled to see where the overall story is going to go compared to DA 1.

The characters in DA 2 have also failed to make a strong first impression like the ones in Origins did.  Alistair, Morrigan, and Leilania were filled with all sorts of charisma and personality, making them an absolute joy to have around from the get-go.  So far I have met no characters in DA 2 that have pulled me in and inspired in quite the same way, but I still have much game to play as I keep saying.  If we can be sure of anything, it’s that Bioware games have solid writing.  So this may well be a facet of the experience that improves with time.  I should also be honest here and mention that Dragon Age: Origins is a tough act to follow.  Though to be equally as forthcoming, I thought Mass Effect 2 outdid Mass Effect 1 in terms of characterization.

So it is possible for a sequel to surpass its original in that regard. 

But keeping in mind that my opinion might change one way or the other once I play some more, my general consensus is as follows.  Dragon Age 2 can be viewed favorably when looking at the sum of its parts, even though a few of those parts are a bit lacking and the overall story does not sweep you off your feet in the way it should have.

Please leave a message

It should come as no surprise to any of you that MMOs will be taking a backseat in my gaming time these next few days.  So I will not be available.  Do not pass go, do not collect $200, and please leave a message after the beep.  Some things are just more important than MMOs…you know, like killing Darkspawn. 

 

http://dragonage.bioware.com/

 

For those we love…

I just wanted to take a moment today and briefly touch on something non-gaming related.  Many of you have experienced the hardship of losing someone you love.  It is never easy regardless of the circumstance.  I know this all too well, having lost several family members already in my short life.  But yesterday morning, the author of a great little blog called Dragonchasers, tragically lost his mother to illness.

There is not much to say in times like these, as words can never really do justice to the powerful emotions we feel.  But having lost my mother as well, along with experiencing a similar situation as my grandfather slowly passed away…I wanted to write this little post and send my thoughts and prayers out to Dragonchasers during this difficult time.  Enduring the pain of love lost is an experience that can change you forever.  But solace can always be found in the lessons you learn and the everlasting memory of the love you shared.

We cannot rejoice in the death of those who are so dear to us.  But we can rejoice in their life, what it meant, and how it shaped us so completely for the better.

 

Remember Me – By David Harkins

Do not shed tears when I have gone
but smile instead because I have lived.

Do not shut your eyes and pray to God that I’ll come back
but open your eyes and see all that I have left behind.

I know your heart will be empty because you cannot see me
but still I want you to be full of the love we shared.

You can turn your back on tomorrow and live only for yesterday
or you can be happy for tomorrow because of what happened
between us yesterday.

You can remember me and grieve that I have gone
or you can cherish my memory and let it live on.

You can cry and lose yourself become distraught
and turn your back on the world
or you can do what I want – smile, wipe away the tears,
learn to love again and go on.

A Second Chance to Carve your Skull

Now if only I could temporarily change my blog’s background to something like this…

 

 

Poor old Ingvar…doomed to countless amounts of farming by a bunch of bunny hopping, foaming at the mouth MMO addicts.  But getting back to the point here.  If I could just change my background to that picture then I could say to hell with the long-winded post about where I’ve been, what I’ve played, and why I have suddenly decided to return, as that image would tell you all you needed to know about my status.   But that just wouldn’t be my style, now would it?

So yes indeed, my interesting gaming compatriots…I’m back.    Would someone please que the bloody inspirational music?  It’s awful quiet in here.

 

 

Now that’s more like it, thanks Mr. Jablonsky.  So out of the depths of Middle Earth I am come, or at least the earth part is within the vicinity of accurate.  Nevertheless, I am going to make the naive assumption that kicking the tires around here will be just like riding a bike again.  And though I highly doubt I will reach the heady days of early 2010 as far as post count goes (my keyboard has already filed an injunction against me for the times when smoke was frequently spotted funneling out between the keys).  I do hope that I’ll at least be seen here at headquarters with a little more regularity.  But fear not in any case, dear readers.  My intentions are full of rainbows and win.

 

 

Now I know what most of you are probably thinking right now.  Nightwreath, you incessant windbag, why the hell should we care whether you’re back or not?  The answer to that question is simple and contains no misrepresentation or innuendo whatsoever.

You shouldn’t give a rat’s ass.

But just in case a few of you might be reading this and have allowed yourselves to become intoxicated enough to care…then why don’t we begin with a summation of my life over this past year.  It will be brief, I promise you.  The tale goes a little something like this…

 

 

Hello again.  Welcome back!    It’s a little scary out there, isn’t it?  We’re talking about places where angels fear to tread, that kind of thing.  So why don’t we just stay here for a while instead?  The weather is much more forgiving in these parts anyway, and I have it on good authority that we’ll have access to cookies if we keep our voices down.  But now we’ve got the boring crap out of the way, right?  That alone tells me that it’s time to move on to more substantial things.  So let’s talk MMOs.

Yes, those dastardly time-sinks continue to be a part of my life whether I like it or not.  Usually that counts as a positive, but if I get any grayer in the hairline as an MMO-Vet I fear that I might completely loose the ability to enjoy them at all.  That’s a scary prospect in and of itself, but in some ways I think I’ve just played too many MMOs to be truly awestruck by them anymore.  I still enjoy them immensely, please don’t misunderstand me.  But I do find that the overall experience has become somewhat diluted for me as the flow of time has pushed the genre forward.

That’s not to say that I’m one of those cranky old cooks who thinks that MMOs should be just like they were in the old days.  But I do recognize that something is missing within the core of these games right now, but placing your finger on the point and then trying to talk about it with people is much like trying to hold a civil, intelligent discussion on the topic of politics.  About three minutes into the conversation something like this always happens…

 

 

So what am I playing right now, anyway?  The answer to that query would be somewhat surprising, given my history.  But I currently do not hold any MMO subscriptions at all.  I’ve gone cold turkey.  Over the past year I have seen much happen over the MMO landscape.  I watched Warhammer Online slowly devolve with a heavy sense of regret, I had some good fun with the Cataclysm expansion, and popped my head in a few other places here and there.  But all of that has brought me to the point where I am now, just an MMO gamer with no place to hang is hat.

As for WAR, it’s a game that I will always love and hold dear to my heart, but I have finally reached a point where I can no longer convince myself that it’s worth my subscription in its current form.  I’m not going to get into the what, where, when, and why…as I think there are plenty of great WAR bloggers out there who can give you a sense of why the game is stuck in a rut.  Perhaps that will change someday, but for now WAR and I have reluctantly parted ways.  I wish Mythic all the best in their future endeavors, and I hope they know that I’ll always be cheering for them no matter what course they take.  *cough – DAOC 2 – cough*

As for WoW, I greatly enjoyed hopping back on my Warlock for Cataclysm and also found the new 1-60 questing to be quite fantastic in many ways.  But once I hit 85 and with the prospect of a raid schedule looming, I decided to take a step back before I got overly committed.  I have plenty of responsibilities in RL as it is, and I just wasn’t sure that a raiding schedule was going to make any of that easier on me.  What I really wanted was just a place to level, explore, and hopefully find a little PvP while I was at it.

So where does that leave me now?  Funny you should ask, but given that if you’re reading this blog then you’re probably an MMO player…and if you’re an MMO player and you look at the current date, then you’ll most likely know what’s drifting out there just on the edge of the horizon.  Though I see many different positives and negatives regarding it, the beta has been far too polished and smooth for me to say no at this point.  My gaming instincts quickly took hold of me and I pre-ordered the Digital Collector’s Edition before you could say the word spineless.

 

 

Yes my fellow gamers, I am here to declare that I will be playing Rift beginning on February 24th (headstart).  For the lone person here who has no idea what I’m talking about, allow me to explain.  Rift is a new MMO due to release on March 1st, with those of us who pre-ordered getting the opportunity to play it slightly ahead of that date.  (Feb 24th)  As to Rift’s core identity as an MMO, I’ll let the folks at Trion Worlds (the developers of the game) fill you in.

 

 

Much like before, I will be here to report and comment on my various adventures both within Telara and elsewhere.  So I hope that some of you will pop in from time to time and enjoy reading about them.  I won’t be blogging nearly as much as I did back in the day, but I’ll do my best to carve out some time when I can.  It’s good to be back, though, that I can say without hesitation. 

So until next time…

 

The Art of Gaming

As most of you have probably noticed, the volume of posts has gone down here quite substantially when compared to the torrid pace I was keeping last month.  This is mostly due to my RL workload increasing and I find myself with much less free time on my hands.  I really should be in bed since I have to get up for work in six hours, but I am a night owl by nature so what the hell…this is what I do. 

So I was traversing the interwebs this evening and I came across a post that I think you should all have a look at.  In it, Josh Drescher of EA Mythic, discusses some comments made recently by film critic Roger Ebert on the subject of gaming and whether or not it constitutes art.  You can find Josh’s post here.  I also have to admit that I have always enjoyed Roger Ebert’s work.  He used to be the only film critic I would read, not because I always agreed with his opinion, but because his reviews consistently possessed a certain level of detail and insight that I always appreciated.

I got to learn his preferences rather well, and could usually gauge how much I would enjoy a film based upon what he had to say about it.  So I also found myself a bit stricken when I read Mr. Ebert’s comments that spoke of games with such little knowledge or understanding of what it means to create them.  I was certainly disappointed to see Roger Ebert speaking as he usually does, but lacking the typical level of intelligence that he often brings to his pieces.

In a broader sense, I find myself more and more puzzled by the general public’s idea that gaming is a hobby that belongs to the days of our youth and nothing more.  Yes, I fondly remember a time when I feverishly played Legend of Zelda on the NES until the images were burned into my mind.  I can still hear my mother complaining that she was being haunted by the Zelda theme song in her sleep.

I also recall when the Super Nintendo finally came along and cemented my love for this hobby, as I found myself staring with wide-eyed fascination at a controller that had more than just two buttons.  Wow!    Gaming was in its infancy in those days and my gaming history goes back even further if you can believe it…to a time when I slipped the little floppy disk into the computer and played that side-scrolling karate game whose name I can never remember.

But now we come to the present day, and dear heavens, how the industry has changed.  Games are produced with million-dollar budgets nowadays.  They have teams of people working on them that include writers, artists, animators, sound designers, level designers, musicians, and sometimes they even star well-known actors to provide the voices just like an animated film from Pixar.  I imagine that Mr. Ebert would consider Pixar’s work art, and yet I have played some Bioware games that featured stories just as compelling as any film.  While I played these games I was not simply a spectator, for I chose how the story would end.  People would live or die because of my choices.

It beats the crap out of just sitting and watching a movie I always say, and it invests me on an even deeper emotional level because of my participation.  So how is this not art?  I’m still trying to figure out how Mr. Ebert could come to that conclusion, but his lack of knowledge on this particular subject tells me all that I need to know.  In a way he sort of represents the public on this issue, as so many people cannot get past the stereotype of games being for children…or the media-driven concept that a gamer is only a person with no social life and no money, who lives in a hole somewhere and never sees the light of day.

I keep waiting for a Hollywood horror film where legions of socially inept gamers take over the world and force people to sit in basements so they can waste their lives away.  Until recently, I have permitted myself to get all riled up over these common misconceptions.  But anymore I just smile and take it in stride.  Anyone who knows the history of art knows that it has often been associated with revolution.  The art of a society speaks nearly as much about its values as anything else.

Gaming is a young and still has a long way to go.  It is an art form searching for a wider audience and seeking acceptance in a world that doesn’t fully understand it yet.   But we should give the world time.  These things happen slowly with careful, hesitant footsteps…unless we all end up making enough noise to cause a thunder of revolution, that is.  Until such time, those of us who know better can remind ourselves that many pieces of art have lived through a period when they were thought to be nothing more than rubbish, a fool’s fancy.

The aim of every artist is to arrest motion, which is life, by artificial means and hold it fixed so that a hundred years later, when a stranger looks at it, it moves again since it is life.
William Faulkner

Many years from now I will look back at some of the wonderful games I have played and find that they will move for me once again.  These games will still breathe and inspire, they will excite and thrill, for they are art come from motion and motion is life. 

Goodbye Mellon

On a non-gaming note…with the closing of the Pittsburgh Penguins season last night, the oldest sports building in the National Hockey League (Mellon Arena) will be torn down this summer to pave way for the new home of the Pens right across the street at the Consol Energy Center.  Mellon Arena was constructed in 1961 and originally held the name of Civic Arena.  It was also the first sports facility in the entire world to feature a retractable roof.  The huge, silver dome gave rise to the name “The Igloo”…which seemed fitting considering it was home to a team called the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Mellon Arena has given me more incredible memories than I could count.  I watched the franchise languish in mediocrity until a young Canadian by the name of Mario Lemieux was drafted in 1984, changing both the team and the city of Pittsburgh forever.  He ushered in a new era and lead us to back-to-back Stanley Cups despite numerous health problems and even a bout with cancer.

Mario so adored the city of Pittsburgh that he made his home here, holding dual-citizenship in both the US and Canada.  Upon Mario’s retirement, Jaromir Jagr carried the team for quite a few years and several trips to the playoffs.  But upon his departure the Pittsburgh Penguins would enter their dark years, when they were no longer a good hockey team and on the verge of leaving the city forever.

But the loyal fanbase rallied to keep them here, and with the help of Lemieux (who became the owner of the team) the Penguins crafted a deal to stay in Pittsburgh with a new arena built right across the street from Mellon.  And so it was that in 2005, with the drafting of another young Canadian named Sidney Crosby, the Penguins would soar back to the stars once again.  Far from his native home in Nova Scotia, Crosby would actually move in with Mario Lemieux and his family just outside of Pittsburgh.  Crosby and Co. brought home another Stanley Cup in 2009 and look to keep the Pens competitive for many years to come.

There is a wonderful history within the halls of Mellon Arena.  She will be dearly missed by both myself and thousands of others here in Pittsburgh.  No matter how lovely this new building turns out to be, there will never be any doubt that Old Lady Mellon was our Igloo…and our home. 

The Daydream: This is for you, Old Lady Mellon

I am going to jump off topic for a moment if no one minds.

Wait, some of you do mind?  Well then you best stop reading right now. 

When I was about seven years old I remember watching my first hockey game.  I was in love, there were no two ways about it.  There was just something about hockey that made it stand out to me…the grace of the players as they glided across the ice…the breathtaking speed of the action…the way they made it look all too easy.   I would later learn that while I had the hands for hockey, my skating talents left far too much to be desired.

And so I was forced to become a spectator of a sport I idolized for so many years.  I often thought that I must have been born in the wrong country when I saw how passionate Canada was about hockey when compared to the United States.  But regardless of all that, cheering for the Pittsburgh Penguins has brought me more fond memories than I care to count.

I went to my first game at Mellon Arena (then called Civic Arena) with my mother and father when was I only eight.  I can still remember when a fight broke out and my mother covered my ears while some guy behind me yelled to the players, “Tell him you don’t like his mother!!”

Sports have such an odd way of bringing people together.  I have watched total strangers embrace as if they were blood and observed folks who looked like total opposites as they clasped hands over their common desire to cheer for the team.  To those not familiar with how sports can unite us, I am sure it must all look very strange and even a little pointless as well.  But the way I see it, so few things allow us to come together these days…we might as well hold on to our love affair with athletics while we can.

Mellon Arena was erected in 1961 and it stands as the oldest facility in the National Hockey League.  At the end of this season it will be torn down and demolished, paving way for the Console Energy Center as the new home for the Pittsburgh Penguins beginning next season.  Mellon Arena has given me so much over these past few decades.  I have cherished time with family there, time with strangers who would become brothers and sisters for brief moments of agony and ecstasy.

I witnessed unforgettable triumphs with Lemieux and Jagr…now with Crosby and Malkin.  Mellon Arena is a sacred place to me in so many ways.

Tonight the Penguins begin their final post-season at Mellon Arena…their final chance to push for the Stanley Cup within its hallowed walls.   No matter whether they achieve this goal or not, I have no doubt that it will be magical.  So here’s to you, Old Lady Mellon…thank you for the memories.  I found these two wonderful videos on You Tube and thought I would share them with all of you. 

First, we have the tribute to Mellon Arena.

And second, we have an awesome tribute video to last year’s Stanley Cup victory.

Gaming can make a better world

Pure genius!!!  How do we make the world better?  Play more online games of course!!! 

It really does make sense when you think about it.  Virtual worlds are the future.  They will never be more important than the wonders of the actual world we live in…but they can teach us so much about society, culture, and human behavior.  Think about it for a moment.  How is sitting down for a few hours playing an online game any better or worse than plopping down in front of the TV at night?  The former involves doing something with other human beings, the latter involves staring at a television set.

MMOs can bring people together as much as they can tear people apart.  We have all heard it, right?  The stories of marriages being ruined by EQ or WoW.  These are sad tales of people ignoring everything in their lives just so they can just lose themselves in the virtual world of an MMO.  But the stories you don’t hear, and are just as prevalent, are the ones where MMOs actually bring people together.

-  Friends who live a great distance from each other can have an activity that they can engage in together…

-  Couples who are apart suddenly have a way to interact and share experiences…

-  Families who have no other way to keep in touch can use MMOs as a way to sit down and spend some time together regardless of where they are in relation to one another…

These are the things that you don’t hear.  These are the tales that the media would never tell you because God forbid we talk about things that portray the world in a positive light.  But those of us who play MMOs know all about these stories because we live them.  We are the story.  We are the exception to the socially established view that gamers are losers who have no lives.

We have an opportunity, every single one of us, to spread the word and educate people who only associate the idea of gaming with negativity.  We have the voices…all we have to do is learn how to use them. 

What are you waiting for…

So here is one more quick post before I take a break to allow my keyboard to cool off, lest it catch fire.  Allow me to say that if you haven’t gotten your hands on Mass Effect 2 yet then what in the world are you waiting for??!!!  It’s my Game of the Year without question.  If you played through Mass Effect 1 then there are over 700 plot hooks that lead into the story of Mass Effect 2.

http://pc.ign.com/articles/107/1077468p1.html

Talk about impressive…