In the last week I've been doing some leveling with my druid and because I simply hate to quest with the 6th character through the lowlevel stuff I simply used the dungeon tool to have some fun. Well, at least I hoped it would be funny. After all it's not endlevel pugging, so what could ever happen?
A lot.
People often ask me if I know a guy that is nice during pugs. I tell them: "yes, me". And I really want to be it. Honestly.
But sometimes I beg for an earthquake or a lightning bringing those servers down so I can escape the group. Not because the group itself is unskilled or simply unable to achieve anything - this doesn't matter to me, after all it's not the highlevel dungeon. But there are people out there who make me feel nervous.
For example: I am healer. As long as people are happy or at least quiet I am focused and cool enough to stand every situation, no matter how stressful it gets. It's pure fun to heal people when they rely on our abilities and hope the end of the world they are suffering ends soon. Ok, so far, so good.
But sometimes there are guys in group who disturb my repose, my inner silence, balance,... Chi. Whatever. When a tank says "NOOB" to a dps or "stop being idiot" to another. Those things disturb me very much, they unbalance me, really much as I not only be worried about getting to read the same stuff about me...
... but also because it makes me angry.
What happened to the social aspect MMOs ever had? In Everquest, for example, realms were small and people had to play together. You saw them at least twice or even more often so nobody wanted to be the bad guy. There was something like respect for each other and when I came to talk about these nice days I often got to read that this was only because humans were forced to do so, not because they are nice beings.
I never believed this.
But now I'm starting to thing that a lot of people, at least the ones I met, are exactly those unfriendly guys, not able to be nice because they don't need to. After all it's a pug, right? You never see each other, especially after putting each other on ignore list.
This anonymity seems to tease out the worst side of some people. This results in one simple rule: If you want to know how some people really are if they could, just pug them. Not nice what you see.
Yes, former times weren't that perfect and being nice all the time was exhausting. Also it was not honest as there was a lot of backbiting going around. I don't want those times back. But I want at least the same respect for each other like people have for guys of their guild or at least: their realm. Is it that difficult?
I don't know. But I believe in Karma. Everything starts from you. If you are not nice, other people probably won't be nice, too. On the other hand: If you are nice, then it does not mean other turn to be nice, too. It's the most difficult way, but it may be that it is a signal for others. Something saying "the world is not that bad, stop biting around".
This is, at the end, why I do not leave those groups. I remain till end and do my job. If the tank or the dps gets rude I say what I have to say and if they have problems they can still kick me. Not my problem - it's theirs.
That's why I often hear music during fights and especially during discussions in group chat.
Nothing is more deescalating like a debate while you hear the theme song of The Smurfs.
Sunday, 13 November 2011
Thursday, 10 November 2011
World of Warcraft lost 800k subscribers - incoming: the end
After the announcement about losing 800 000 subscribers (after the 300k and the 600k before) forums are full of "apocalyptic messages" around the incoming end of World of Warcraft. It seems as if World of Warcraft is really dying and all the skeptics are leaving their holes to tell that they have been always telling that. Good, let's clarify some points.
First: World of Warcraft is old. Not as old as Everquest 1, for sure, but old. Seven years are a long time - not only regarding gfx stuff, but gameplay, too.
Ever played chess for about seven years for at least two hours per day? If you would take a break this would be more than understandable.
But: What would happen if you would tell that your break is symptomatic for the problems chess has?
Honestly, it would be difficult to not laugh. But why?
Because it would be clear that you left because you got bored, not because chess is like chess has ever been. No one would change the rules to make it more appealing to you. And there will always be people playing chess. Good.
But what would happen if you mention other games? Like "Halma got a release soon, this will smash chess, believe me!". Again people would laugh. But why again?
Because diversification is a blessing, not a bane. The more different games exist, the more people are able to choose. Regarding MMOs this is much better as they can learn from each other which would be not possible if there would only exist one big game, World of Warcraft.
So learn to accept the truth that over 10 mio. subscribers are still playing a game, the same game, and that there is a reason for it: Either there is no other choice for them or because they are quite happy with the game, beside the bad aspects every MMO has. Pretty normal.
It has never been and will never be good for markets if only one company rules - we honestly need competition, we really need new ideas, new stuff.
So I've always have to laugh when someone writes that WoW has serious problems, often written by guys who already quit a long time ago. They seem to justify their decision, where nothing has to be justified: Play what you want, World of Warcraft is not made for everyone. And if you find something else, feel "congratulated" and be happy that you found something. Perhaps some of the remaining 10 million gamers still haven't. But also accept that a bunch of guys are happy, too, and that they could quit if they want. After all other MMORPGs have far less active subscribers - and I consider only Pay2Play as "Free2P(l)ay"-subscriber-numbers are a joke (create 10 accounts, costs nothing and you have a bunch of toons to play with).
These high amount of active subs means that even if WoW keeps losing players at that speed it might last some years till it would be really considered dead. Let's say the game would have reached a lifetime of ten years. Ten years... some games even exist for one year. And then? Will Blizzard shut down everything?
Probably not. It might get F2P and, before, there will be some server merging (which will take a while considering the high amount of servers out there). And even then Blizzard probably won't shut down WoW - they even patched Diablo 2 some time ago and this game is really old.
In other words: Do not panic. This game will last for a while and even if it might end one day, ok, acceptable. After all it's only a game. We play because it's fun, because of the people we've met. We play for the moment - not for family planning or house building purposes. We simply want to have fun. If someone plays only because he hopes the game will exist for a while he will never be happy - those times are over. The risk of server shutdowns is not abstract anymore, happening all the time. Some will say "yeah, the games deserved that", but never forget that there were players who had the same hopes like the guys now judging and laughing.
We're all in the same boat. We want the same following different paths but still marching in the same direction. Accept the truth of others and hug differences - they might help you, your game and helps you to quickly find new paths if you lose yourself during your walk.
First: World of Warcraft is old. Not as old as Everquest 1, for sure, but old. Seven years are a long time - not only regarding gfx stuff, but gameplay, too.
Ever played chess for about seven years for at least two hours per day? If you would take a break this would be more than understandable.
But: What would happen if you would tell that your break is symptomatic for the problems chess has?
Honestly, it would be difficult to not laugh. But why?
Because it would be clear that you left because you got bored, not because chess is like chess has ever been. No one would change the rules to make it more appealing to you. And there will always be people playing chess. Good.
But what would happen if you mention other games? Like "Halma got a release soon, this will smash chess, believe me!". Again people would laugh. But why again?
Because diversification is a blessing, not a bane. The more different games exist, the more people are able to choose. Regarding MMOs this is much better as they can learn from each other which would be not possible if there would only exist one big game, World of Warcraft.
So learn to accept the truth that over 10 mio. subscribers are still playing a game, the same game, and that there is a reason for it: Either there is no other choice for them or because they are quite happy with the game, beside the bad aspects every MMO has. Pretty normal.
It has never been and will never be good for markets if only one company rules - we honestly need competition, we really need new ideas, new stuff.
So I've always have to laugh when someone writes that WoW has serious problems, often written by guys who already quit a long time ago. They seem to justify their decision, where nothing has to be justified: Play what you want, World of Warcraft is not made for everyone. And if you find something else, feel "congratulated" and be happy that you found something. Perhaps some of the remaining 10 million gamers still haven't. But also accept that a bunch of guys are happy, too, and that they could quit if they want. After all other MMORPGs have far less active subscribers - and I consider only Pay2Play as "Free2P(l)ay"-subscriber-numbers are a joke (create 10 accounts, costs nothing and you have a bunch of toons to play with).
These high amount of active subs means that even if WoW keeps losing players at that speed it might last some years till it would be really considered dead. Let's say the game would have reached a lifetime of ten years. Ten years... some games even exist for one year. And then? Will Blizzard shut down everything?
Probably not. It might get F2P and, before, there will be some server merging (which will take a while considering the high amount of servers out there). And even then Blizzard probably won't shut down WoW - they even patched Diablo 2 some time ago and this game is really old.
In other words: Do not panic. This game will last for a while and even if it might end one day, ok, acceptable. After all it's only a game. We play because it's fun, because of the people we've met. We play for the moment - not for family planning or house building purposes. We simply want to have fun. If someone plays only because he hopes the game will exist for a while he will never be happy - those times are over. The risk of server shutdowns is not abstract anymore, happening all the time. Some will say "yeah, the games deserved that", but never forget that there were players who had the same hopes like the guys now judging and laughing.
We're all in the same boat. We want the same following different paths but still marching in the same direction. Accept the truth of others and hug differences - they might help you, your game and helps you to quickly find new paths if you lose yourself during your walk.
New World of Warcraft races for everyone
People often ask my what my opinion is regarding the newest expansion of WoW, Mists of Pandaria. Before I can even answer they start telling me why it will fail (which often seems as if those guys want to tell my why it _should_, it has to fail).
Well, after a while of listening I answer. Saying:
I accepted E.T. crashing with his ship into my BC garden. I suffered from palas on Horde side,... so why not Pandas. They fit far more into the wow lore than Dranei. Those guys caused a lot of headaches. But hey, why not invent far more new races? Why not...
... unicorns...
Well, after a while of listening I answer. Saying:
I accepted E.T. crashing with his ship into my BC garden. I suffered from palas on Horde side,... so why not Pandas. They fit far more into the wow lore than Dranei. Those guys caused a lot of headaches. But hey, why not invent far more new races? Why not...
... unicorns...
- Call them "UniCron", a time warped horse creature.
- Or Whalen - the marine life who decided to overjump some generation and got some legs, working for Mr. Burns - a self-igniting dragon.
- Bankdaren - the auctioneers and bankers get molten with their collected gold to a new race with the racial skill to get invisible during financial crisis.
- Antologists - the ant life form who realized that they are far more than all other players together. A race of bookkeepers, empowered by idle times.
- Kangoorox - the stone life. Has no arms, no legs, why should they - they are hills and mountains. But they can jump on others and have pets which do all the jobs the Kangoorox would need arms to.
- Forensicks - a strange life form, mainly present in the virtual realities engis found during their experiments which include the combination of an enema syringe, arcane dust and a mage. Their racial is "Tears from Heaven", a omnipresent killer wave of QQ runs through the whole zone destroying everything. Only counterspell is provided by the next race...
- Mosesmerize - a race that can divide seas, mainly called "GM class" but now a playable class, too. Often present in forums but because of the engi experiments also present in Warcaft (expansion: "Mists of Proctologia")
You see, it isn't that difficult to implement a new race. And it's very easy to make fun of ideas by just exaggerating. But what is really fun is the claim of reality in a game where you can transform yourself into a dragon, dance the moonwalk as nightelf and beat bosses being made of fire.
Guys, honestly: This is like travelling to Mars and wondering why there is no Fast Food restaurant there.
But who knows, perhaps there is one? We all know the famous class/race "Hamburglar". Sneaky class that travels from planet to planet to build up restaurants before any other species can claim the planet...
Sunday, 6 November 2011
Total burnout
Yesterday I had the opportunity to chat with someone about the topic "burnout". To make it clear: this is no modern word for not being motivated enough, and it's no way an excuse for simply being exhausted. This is very important as it means a lot regarding the whole life.
This wasn't the first time I talked about suffering a "burnout". Some years ago - I was playing Everquest 1 - our best rogue who not only played a lot and well, too, suddenly finished playing from one day to the other. No announcement, nothing. Later I met him, asking him what happened as we all were worried what happened (in Everquest 1 the guild was far more than a family only as it was crucial to have a group, a good group). The answer was: He was at hospital, because of a burnout.
He said that there were some symptoms before he simply ignored: The light feeling of being exhausted (which he could negate very well by simply ignoring it), the lack of motivation regarding everything else, the feeling of having to do something - against all inner odds. And the little voice asking him why he should go on doing what he's doing - and where the heck was the sense behind everything. He continued to play, driven by a obsessive behavior. The end was: Someday he had problems to leave his house, going to work, even to play.
This is the point where you already overstepped the frontier from being able to stop it. This is a very deep issue, nothing which can simply be stopped by saying "Oh, good, let me change game" or "hey, take a break" or "take it easy". It won't work, as those mechanism would have been better used much time before. Now it's too late, the lack of motivation has won and this is really evil. Because from now on it has _nothing_ to do anymore with a special thing - which led to the burnout - alone. Everything is now "senseless".
The line between why we should do what we do and why not is very thin. In short: If you're not able to find a proper solution nobody can give you a plausible answer. Yes, family needs one; yes, friends need one - but this is again what I call the "should-problem" - the imperative that led to the burnout itself.
So the answer is not a "should", but a "could" or "would": What often helps is to be more egoistic. Think about yourself, take your time. If you stop by a flower because you'd like to watch it for twenty minutes: do it. If you want to paint: paint - no matter if you're talented or not (abstract art is what you want it to be).
One of the most interesting persons I ever met was a guy telling me that he lost a lot of stress because during dialogues he simply stopped talking and begun to listen what the other had to say (instead of waiting for the opportunity to talk again). Honestly: It works. Everyone has to tell his own story, so the more you listen the more friends you'll get.
Or the other way around: If you have the feeling to talk, talk. If you've got the opportunity to find someone who listens carefully he might show you new paths or simply help you to clear your path by not talking and just listening. This could be a friend, this could be your dog or just your shadow. Or the shadow of someone else.
I do not have any solutions for burnouts, honestly. But the answer is hidden behind small steps. And those little steps are the one who will help as they helped the mate I talked about. As far as I know he never played Everquest again - I miss him, for sure. But it makes me happy to know that he is out there, smiling again and having the life he wants to. Because a burnout is the best chance for a "life reboot" - be thankful.
This wasn't the first time I talked about suffering a "burnout". Some years ago - I was playing Everquest 1 - our best rogue who not only played a lot and well, too, suddenly finished playing from one day to the other. No announcement, nothing. Later I met him, asking him what happened as we all were worried what happened (in Everquest 1 the guild was far more than a family only as it was crucial to have a group, a good group). The answer was: He was at hospital, because of a burnout.
He said that there were some symptoms before he simply ignored: The light feeling of being exhausted (which he could negate very well by simply ignoring it), the lack of motivation regarding everything else, the feeling of having to do something - against all inner odds. And the little voice asking him why he should go on doing what he's doing - and where the heck was the sense behind everything. He continued to play, driven by a obsessive behavior. The end was: Someday he had problems to leave his house, going to work, even to play.
This is the point where you already overstepped the frontier from being able to stop it. This is a very deep issue, nothing which can simply be stopped by saying "Oh, good, let me change game" or "hey, take a break" or "take it easy". It won't work, as those mechanism would have been better used much time before. Now it's too late, the lack of motivation has won and this is really evil. Because from now on it has _nothing_ to do anymore with a special thing - which led to the burnout - alone. Everything is now "senseless".
The line between why we should do what we do and why not is very thin. In short: If you're not able to find a proper solution nobody can give you a plausible answer. Yes, family needs one; yes, friends need one - but this is again what I call the "should-problem" - the imperative that led to the burnout itself.
So the answer is not a "should", but a "could" or "would": What often helps is to be more egoistic. Think about yourself, take your time. If you stop by a flower because you'd like to watch it for twenty minutes: do it. If you want to paint: paint - no matter if you're talented or not (abstract art is what you want it to be).
One of the most interesting persons I ever met was a guy telling me that he lost a lot of stress because during dialogues he simply stopped talking and begun to listen what the other had to say (instead of waiting for the opportunity to talk again). Honestly: It works. Everyone has to tell his own story, so the more you listen the more friends you'll get.
Or the other way around: If you have the feeling to talk, talk. If you've got the opportunity to find someone who listens carefully he might show you new paths or simply help you to clear your path by not talking and just listening. This could be a friend, this could be your dog or just your shadow. Or the shadow of someone else.
I do not have any solutions for burnouts, honestly. But the answer is hidden behind small steps. And those little steps are the one who will help as they helped the mate I talked about. As far as I know he never played Everquest again - I miss him, for sure. But it makes me happy to know that he is out there, smiling again and having the life he wants to. Because a burnout is the best chance for a "life reboot" - be thankful.
Wednesday, 26 October 2011
The four types of gamers
I like and dislike the matter of fact that pugs are pugs. Those random groups are a bane, more than once, and can be a blessing for others who only want to do a quick heroic in a fast and clean way.
The bane, by the way, consists of the fact that those players are very honest - they do not feel the need of diplomatic answers, they do not think what other people may think and they do not care about the effect a kick can have on a player. Well, not everyone thinks that way, but a lot do.
This is a good occasion to study different types of gamers without having the need to sort out all the behavior people show when dealing with players they know. But it does not mean that there aren't players out there who do not hesitate to show their true side even when doing guild runs. Pugs are simply the best way as nobody there feels "being observed". It's not the zoo, it's the jungle. Welcome.
By studying those players I found out that there are four different major types of people. Not everyone fits well into one particular category, but it's fantastic how easy the world gets. Let's start with the first one:
The friendly incapable one
He does not know anything or has at least some weak points regarding his self-assurance. As he's smart enough to be away about this he tries to mask it with friendliness which works for a lot of other people. The friendly incapable one (called TFI) could be a good fella for drinking a beer with or having some nice party times, someone you suffer a hangout with or you can call at 4 o' clock in the morning asking for help regarding a riddle out of a newspaper you're trying to solve.
TFIs do a lot of errors and they do often do not hesitate in admitting their errors. They have a internal "firmware" in their brains explaining recording the fact that they are no "progamers". This makes it difficult for them to blame others for their errors as they are aware of the fact that they do errors, too. This is why they want to be accepted - they attack with friendliness and win other gamers' hearts - motto: "If you cannot bet 'em on playing skill, beat 'em on social skill".
Strength: Social skills
Weakness: Gameplay related stuff, responsiveness, situational awareness (move-out-of-the-bad-stuff...- now)
The unfriendly capable one
Those gamers spend a lot of time on focusing on their class and class mechanics in general. He knows everything and if he does not know everything then only because it's being evaluated in his brain.
The unfriendly capable (TUC) does not do errors, but if they happen they know that they happened because someone else did not do his job well. If it will ever happen that a TUC did a clear error on his own then he's fast enough to blame others before they can blame him. The motto is "Yes, we blame" - the more often the better it is as everything else, from light glitches to severe wipes can now be reduced on other people's errors. TUCs never admit errors, but if they will ever have no other choice they can still leave the group without any word.
But not everyone is that evil, at least not in a superficial way. Some of them simply know everything better and they do not hesitate to correct everyone else, especially leaders of groups or raids.
And sometimes they want to hide their weakness in social skills by using smileys, which has the same result as if a soldier opens up a can by shooting at it. It ends in a mess and often has the opposite effect: people get even more offended.
TUC rarely share all their knowledge with others and provide only 90 % of what they know.
Strength: Game related stuff, very fast gamer who has no problems to adapt to specific situations
Weakness: Social skills.
The unfriendly incapable one
Those gamers, called "TUI", are a widespread species. They do a lot of errors and they do a lot of wipes. They know it, but have problems to admit it plus they're not good enough in accepting that which means they blame everyone else for their errors rather than admitting that he or she has contributed a good amount of "WTF" to the wipes that happened.
He often does not want to learn anything and if it happens, which are rare moments, then on his own, hidden from the view of others and possibly in random groups where nobody can see and point at him.
If you want to have fun, try to get two TUIs into the group. You will get a lot of whispers from both sides, that's for sure.
Strength: Good in deceiving himself.
Weakness: Social and gaming skills
The friendly capable one
TFCs are a myth, like Nessie, the Yeti and honest politicians. If you ever find one then nobody will believe you. And often a lot of them simply turn into TUCs as soon as the group wipes. Never try to befriend them, they are like gremlins: As soon as they get fed with love after a specific time they get evil and have no problems to kick you, their friend or their mum out of the group.
There are gamers that seem to have found a TFC, but this is kinda unbelievable and it still lacks proofs.
Strength: Social and gaming skills
Weakness: Practically non-existent.
The bane, by the way, consists of the fact that those players are very honest - they do not feel the need of diplomatic answers, they do not think what other people may think and they do not care about the effect a kick can have on a player. Well, not everyone thinks that way, but a lot do.
This is a good occasion to study different types of gamers without having the need to sort out all the behavior people show when dealing with players they know. But it does not mean that there aren't players out there who do not hesitate to show their true side even when doing guild runs. Pugs are simply the best way as nobody there feels "being observed". It's not the zoo, it's the jungle. Welcome.
By studying those players I found out that there are four different major types of people. Not everyone fits well into one particular category, but it's fantastic how easy the world gets. Let's start with the first one:
The friendly incapable one
He does not know anything or has at least some weak points regarding his self-assurance. As he's smart enough to be away about this he tries to mask it with friendliness which works for a lot of other people. The friendly incapable one (called TFI) could be a good fella for drinking a beer with or having some nice party times, someone you suffer a hangout with or you can call at 4 o' clock in the morning asking for help regarding a riddle out of a newspaper you're trying to solve.
TFIs do a lot of errors and they do often do not hesitate in admitting their errors. They have a internal "firmware" in their brains explaining recording the fact that they are no "progamers". This makes it difficult for them to blame others for their errors as they are aware of the fact that they do errors, too. This is why they want to be accepted - they attack with friendliness and win other gamers' hearts - motto: "If you cannot bet 'em on playing skill, beat 'em on social skill".
Strength: Social skills
Weakness: Gameplay related stuff, responsiveness, situational awareness (move-out-of-the-bad-stuff...- now)
The unfriendly capable one
Those gamers spend a lot of time on focusing on their class and class mechanics in general. He knows everything and if he does not know everything then only because it's being evaluated in his brain.
The unfriendly capable (TUC) does not do errors, but if they happen they know that they happened because someone else did not do his job well. If it will ever happen that a TUC did a clear error on his own then he's fast enough to blame others before they can blame him. The motto is "Yes, we blame" - the more often the better it is as everything else, from light glitches to severe wipes can now be reduced on other people's errors. TUCs never admit errors, but if they will ever have no other choice they can still leave the group without any word.
But not everyone is that evil, at least not in a superficial way. Some of them simply know everything better and they do not hesitate to correct everyone else, especially leaders of groups or raids.
And sometimes they want to hide their weakness in social skills by using smileys, which has the same result as if a soldier opens up a can by shooting at it. It ends in a mess and often has the opposite effect: people get even more offended.
TUC rarely share all their knowledge with others and provide only 90 % of what they know.
Strength: Game related stuff, very fast gamer who has no problems to adapt to specific situations
Weakness: Social skills.
The unfriendly incapable one
Those gamers, called "TUI", are a widespread species. They do a lot of errors and they do a lot of wipes. They know it, but have problems to admit it plus they're not good enough in accepting that which means they blame everyone else for their errors rather than admitting that he or she has contributed a good amount of "WTF" to the wipes that happened.
He often does not want to learn anything and if it happens, which are rare moments, then on his own, hidden from the view of others and possibly in random groups where nobody can see and point at him.
If you want to have fun, try to get two TUIs into the group. You will get a lot of whispers from both sides, that's for sure.
Strength: Good in deceiving himself.
Weakness: Social and gaming skills
The friendly capable one
TFCs are a myth, like Nessie, the Yeti and honest politicians. If you ever find one then nobody will believe you. And often a lot of them simply turn into TUCs as soon as the group wipes. Never try to befriend them, they are like gremlins: As soon as they get fed with love after a specific time they get evil and have no problems to kick you, their friend or their mum out of the group.
There are gamers that seem to have found a TFC, but this is kinda unbelievable and it still lacks proofs.
Strength: Social and gaming skills
Weakness: Practically non-existent.
Sunday, 23 October 2011
Pandemonium
It happened to me to read some postings regarding the newest expansion Blizzard announced ("Mists of Pandaria"). So the thread derailed a little bit and they came up to talk about pandas and that pandas should have died long time ago for their way of living and because we are spending too much money on saving them.
This was thought-provoking. And it underlines they two main ways people think nowadays. But step by step.
First: To make it clear: There are two types of pandas - big and little ones. Let's discuss about the big ones. The cute ones, not the cat like ones (which are also cute, ok... ).
It is _not_ true that they only eat bamboo, while it's true that it's their main source. There are more than 20 bamboo species, so there is enough to eat for them (what they have to do, that's true).
The WWF used ice bears for publicity purposes and demonstrating how one particular species is endangered, which turned out to be not that true ;) Despite that Pandas are endangered, but not because of their low birthrate :) but also from the habitat loss they are suffering and some diseases they get by that loss, too (contact with new viruses from cats and dogs near the frontiers of their habitat).
A lot of money is invested to rescue Pandas, that's true. This makes some people angry.
We could say that the money would have been spent better for other things. And it's true that every day more than 30 (to more than 100) species exctinct every day. We could say "Well, why start with Pandas then?". Good question, I cannot give an answer to that. But that the protection of the environment would be difficult and expensive is well known. It's easy to kill life, it's expensive to save it - simple as that.
"Expensive" is, by the way, always a matter of perspective. For the scientists the LHC is important, for others too expensive. For some guys the space program is also too expensive. Or that it would be too expensive to help those guys where the uranium mining happens (they're mostly contaminated and when the mining finishes they leave the contaminated machines back for the people living there - '"take it, it's for free").
It might turn out that the extinction of life could be far more expensive than we can calculate now. Let's not forget that economists just have problems to really predict really well what will happen in the following year.
In the end we can decide: Start to re-invest money on earth or continue the earth fisting we call "progression". It's a free country, do what you want, but face the truth: Do not walk into the trap of the cognitive dissonance in which we try to base our decision of arguments we think could work (like "I had to by this phone because.. eh... it might be useful someday!"). Say like it is: I want to keep my luxury and have enough problems with my own life. But then life with the consequences.
If someone asks me what I think about all that I simply answer:
This was thought-provoking. And it underlines they two main ways people think nowadays. But step by step.
First: To make it clear: There are two types of pandas - big and little ones. Let's discuss about the big ones. The cute ones, not the cat like ones (which are also cute, ok... ).
It is _not_ true that they only eat bamboo, while it's true that it's their main source. There are more than 20 bamboo species, so there is enough to eat for them (what they have to do, that's true).
The WWF used ice bears for publicity purposes and demonstrating how one particular species is endangered, which turned out to be not that true ;) Despite that Pandas are endangered, but not because of their low birthrate :) but also from the habitat loss they are suffering and some diseases they get by that loss, too (contact with new viruses from cats and dogs near the frontiers of their habitat).
A lot of money is invested to rescue Pandas, that's true. This makes some people angry.
We could say that the money would have been spent better for other things. And it's true that every day more than 30 (to more than 100) species exctinct every day. We could say "Well, why start with Pandas then?". Good question, I cannot give an answer to that. But that the protection of the environment would be difficult and expensive is well known. It's easy to kill life, it's expensive to save it - simple as that.
"Expensive" is, by the way, always a matter of perspective. For the scientists the LHC is important, for others too expensive. For some guys the space program is also too expensive. Or that it would be too expensive to help those guys where the uranium mining happens (they're mostly contaminated and when the mining finishes they leave the contaminated machines back for the people living there - '"take it, it's for free").
It might turn out that the extinction of life could be far more expensive than we can calculate now. Let's not forget that economists just have problems to really predict really well what will happen in the following year.
In the end we can decide: Start to re-invest money on earth or continue the earth fisting we call "progression". It's a free country, do what you want, but face the truth: Do not walk into the trap of the cognitive dissonance in which we try to base our decision of arguments we think could work (like "I had to by this phone because.. eh... it might be useful someday!"). Say like it is: I want to keep my luxury and have enough problems with my own life. But then life with the consequences.
If someone asks me what I think about all that I simply answer:
"Sadly human lives for too long so he can destroy the world and he lives too short for suffering the consequences. "
Thursday, 29 September 2011
So I tried Rift...
Some days ago (I think even yesterday) Rift was on Steam for some little Euros.
Well, to make it short: I bought it. Just to check why people like it. At least I know what _I_ don't like...
For example: I don't like it if you buy a game and have, after activation, to buy playtime. But, my fault, I should have known the fact that there are two x two versions of the game. And two of them are without playtime. This decreases Steam's "big deal" to the magnitude of a coconut, seen from Alpha Centauri by a blind extraterrestrian mole far under the earth, by night.
Ok, no problem for me: I paid and, BAM, started the installer and... "UPDATES NEEDED - SHALL I?". What a question: If I press "No" I could only play "Rift - the Launcher Adventures", but that's not so funny and so I said "Ok guys, let's play Patchamon - gotta patch 'em all, hu?". So it did.... and did..... and did.....
PICACHUUUUUUU, finished.
And go. Right into the game - almost no loading time. Yes, ok, the RIFT-logo took some time, but I think the devs made it that way to remind oblivious gamers and pott heads (and probably: both) of what they loaded. We all know those situations when you start a game and look at tv and after some moments you think "Oh man, what did I start? Why is my screen black" and "Damn, I should have gone to toilet a couple of minutes ago... oh, too late". Problems that nto only raid player know.
Well, ok, I landed directly on the character screen. I saw some little buttons on the bottom and a nice building. Great. As I managed to forget for one second what game I started I thought I was watching on the screen of "World of Architecture Craft" or "Building of Conan" or "Lord of the Stones", which would also be a great music themed game. But in the end I realized I had to create a character.
I'm not one of those guys that are not uninformed when they play I game so I knew that I had only 4 archetypes of classes at the beginning. No problem: I created a mage, no, wait, a warr... no, rogue and... AHHHHH, forget it. Mage. Good. Now some detailed char settings. As I'm a professional I perfectly know what I want.
I wanted the random button and, tadaa, my char looked like the vegetarian vampires of the filmed female orgasmus called "Twilight". Good one, along with a white robe I'm as cool as a pinguin in a refrigerator at the north pole. Party on, ... wait, I needed a name. No problem, I've got a random generator. Ah, cool, pressed and...
What's that?! Is this a name or a disease? What is the purpose of having such a name? Does the random generator consist of facerolling the keyboard? When I put my keyboard on the ground and jump on it, I get better names. Even if my cat walks onto it. So I toke something with less than 95% consonants: Nocturnis. Good. Ok, right into the game. Ah, the movie begins...
In the following minutes I saw the story. As I was watching and zapping TV, too, the pictures merged and so I build up my very oft Rift story.
In short: "Osama Bin Regulos decided to start a final strike against.. whatever. I think against some blue guys jumping from tree to tree and plugging their wand into birds or something like that. Ok, no problem: The Not So United States of KickmyAssistan have no clue how to manage the financial crisis the God caued and so they're looking for answers.
Sadly their Gods - the guys who caused that damn crisis - turned very silent and now two factions think that THEY have the best solution. The one called "Bareback Obama" with his Democratwards and the other side, the Boston Defiant Party with their Failicans. While the Failicans say "No, wait, we need far more war as we need ressources to solve our problems, stupid!" the democratwards say "Aww, come on, finish your QQ and beat it: Nobody likes us as one bomb causes ten terrorist, idiot!". A big war started.
As it seems that I chose to be one of those democratwards I saw a body on the ground, rescued by some kind of Angel Dust drug promo figure like the Santa Clause of Coca Cola, I was taken to another place and a very strong voice told me that me - and the other 500 people that landed in the last two seconds - is / are the last hope of Whatsoeveria, the world I'm fighting for.
Good. Ok, understood so far. But then: 20 fps. 20?! I am playing Deus Ex on max resolution and settings and have far more than 60 fps. But I knew that I wouldn't be happy with my Intel Core Duo at > 3Ghz and my Ati 5870. So I activated the wonderful low renderer. This turned my Rift into a MineCraft with AntiAliasing. Well, better, but not that wonderful. I changed it back and took minimum details. Ah, 60 fps. Phew. And still better than the crap before.
Now I'm ready to play....
Let's take at the UI.
First I thought that I was playing an alt on World of Warcraft as I, closely following the story, forgot what I was playing. But I soon realized that I wasn't in WoW, but in Age of.. no, wait.. Aion.. no, wait... Rift, right. It seems that the UI concept is as established as round wheels and liquid water. Ok, no problem: Good things will survive. Like cancer or republicans.
To make it short: I had no problems to fit in into Rift. The only thing that disturbed and confused me was the fact that some things that are basically the same like WoW have other names. But this is also based on the fact that they _seem_ to be the same, but are a little bit different. For example: The soul concept: You get one build after the other, but every "tree" has roots and those roots get enabled for points you spent in the tree. The more points you spend on the tree, the more roots you get.
Linux user know: roots are important and nobody should have direct contact with roots. So like it's in Rift: You don't have all roots, you need to develop your character.
But: While World of Charcraft has different builds Rift has different "Classes". Every soul tree has its own class name. Regarding to a mage this would been that the fire mages could be a class on their own, like "The Magical Lighter" and the Frost mages "Refrigator of Death" and the Arcanes "1111111111112".
As I said, Rift is a little bit different and so you've got the possibility to pick two classes at the same time. Yes, in World of Buildcraft you can also spend points in different trees - but now (not l ike in the past) you need to spend a lot on one tree first before you can spread to another tree. In Rift you can spend points in all trees at the same time. Plus: You can have tree active builds, yes, but there are far more trees than only three. Having three activated is funny, but you can also change later (for an amount of gold) and try something different.
Ok, after these little differences - there are far more - I got my first quest, did my first quest and started to explore the world. The rifts are an interesting concept well knows from games like WAR. Situational quests that happen and everybody can join and take part. Nice graphics, that's for sure - but after some time it's a little bit boring, like always. I mean: Even Lotro got boring after a couple of minutes. But, like in Lotro, there are here and there nice new things that when you see them you stop and say "Wohoo!". Good, keeps game interesting.
After the short movie telling me what I've done - I dunno, I think I did something, closed a Rift or found a stone or took a breath - I landed under a bridge. Or near a bridge. Like in reality. You can save the world but later they forget you and you land under a bridge, alone.
But no, I wasn't alone, I had a quest giver and, BAM, party! Again.
The quests are mainly "kill x of these" and "collect y of those" and "click here!" and "save there...". But some quests are also like "Walk into the light". Good, as I'm catholic I've got problems to trust people saying to me "Walk into the light" but this time it was a good decision.
The zones are designed in a dynamic way. While I was selling some crap I got the message that I accepted a quest. Accepted a quest?! For what? Because I was selling items? Did I turn to the crap selling fairy Sellor Moon?
No, I was taking part at an invasion. As i'm living in Germany I decided to not take part at the war and to reap the fruit of other people labour. Perhaps I could go there after war and build up schools or fountains.
Without doing anything - I even had problems to figure out where the war was - I finished the quest. Great. I think that's how a real war feels like. Everyone cries, someone dies and you get the Silver Star.
Later in the night I finished playing. My first feelings were.. strange. On the other side a lot of aspects attract me. Other distract me. I mean: If I want to play WoW I could play WoW.
I will see if I will give it another go. I will update if so...
Well, to make it short: I bought it. Just to check why people like it. At least I know what _I_ don't like...
For example: I don't like it if you buy a game and have, after activation, to buy playtime. But, my fault, I should have known the fact that there are two x two versions of the game. And two of them are without playtime. This decreases Steam's "big deal" to the magnitude of a coconut, seen from Alpha Centauri by a blind extraterrestrian mole far under the earth, by night.
Ok, no problem for me: I paid and, BAM, started the installer and... "UPDATES NEEDED - SHALL I?". What a question: If I press "No" I could only play "Rift - the Launcher Adventures", but that's not so funny and so I said "Ok guys, let's play Patchamon - gotta patch 'em all, hu?". So it did.... and did..... and did.....
PICACHUUUUUUU, finished.
And go. Right into the game - almost no loading time. Yes, ok, the RIFT-logo took some time, but I think the devs made it that way to remind oblivious gamers and pott heads (and probably: both) of what they loaded. We all know those situations when you start a game and look at tv and after some moments you think "Oh man, what did I start? Why is my screen black" and "Damn, I should have gone to toilet a couple of minutes ago... oh, too late". Problems that nto only raid player know.
Well, ok, I landed directly on the character screen. I saw some little buttons on the bottom and a nice building. Great. As I managed to forget for one second what game I started I thought I was watching on the screen of "World of Architecture Craft" or "Building of Conan" or "Lord of the Stones", which would also be a great music themed game. But in the end I realized I had to create a character.
I'm not one of those guys that are not uninformed when they play I game so I knew that I had only 4 archetypes of classes at the beginning. No problem: I created a mage, no, wait, a warr... no, rogue and... AHHHHH, forget it. Mage. Good. Now some detailed char settings. As I'm a professional I perfectly know what I want.
I wanted the random button and, tadaa, my char looked like the vegetarian vampires of the filmed female orgasmus called "Twilight". Good one, along with a white robe I'm as cool as a pinguin in a refrigerator at the north pole. Party on, ... wait, I needed a name. No problem, I've got a random generator. Ah, cool, pressed and...
What's that?! Is this a name or a disease? What is the purpose of having such a name? Does the random generator consist of facerolling the keyboard? When I put my keyboard on the ground and jump on it, I get better names. Even if my cat walks onto it. So I toke something with less than 95% consonants: Nocturnis. Good. Ok, right into the game. Ah, the movie begins...
In the following minutes I saw the story. As I was watching and zapping TV, too, the pictures merged and so I build up my very oft Rift story.
In short: "Osama Bin Regulos decided to start a final strike against.. whatever. I think against some blue guys jumping from tree to tree and plugging their wand into birds or something like that. Ok, no problem: The Not So United States of KickmyAssistan have no clue how to manage the financial crisis the God caued and so they're looking for answers.
Sadly their Gods - the guys who caused that damn crisis - turned very silent and now two factions think that THEY have the best solution. The one called "Bareback Obama" with his Democratwards and the other side, the Boston Defiant Party with their Failicans. While the Failicans say "No, wait, we need far more war as we need ressources to solve our problems, stupid!" the democratwards say "Aww, come on, finish your QQ and beat it: Nobody likes us as one bomb causes ten terrorist, idiot!". A big war started.
As it seems that I chose to be one of those democratwards I saw a body on the ground, rescued by some kind of Angel Dust drug promo figure like the Santa Clause of Coca Cola, I was taken to another place and a very strong voice told me that me - and the other 500 people that landed in the last two seconds - is / are the last hope of Whatsoeveria, the world I'm fighting for.
Good. Ok, understood so far. But then: 20 fps. 20?! I am playing Deus Ex on max resolution and settings and have far more than 60 fps. But I knew that I wouldn't be happy with my Intel Core Duo at > 3Ghz and my Ati 5870. So I activated the wonderful low renderer. This turned my Rift into a MineCraft with AntiAliasing. Well, better, but not that wonderful. I changed it back and took minimum details. Ah, 60 fps. Phew. And still better than the crap before.
Now I'm ready to play....
Let's take at the UI.
First I thought that I was playing an alt on World of Warcraft as I, closely following the story, forgot what I was playing. But I soon realized that I wasn't in WoW, but in Age of.. no, wait.. Aion.. no, wait... Rift, right. It seems that the UI concept is as established as round wheels and liquid water. Ok, no problem: Good things will survive. Like cancer or republicans.
To make it short: I had no problems to fit in into Rift. The only thing that disturbed and confused me was the fact that some things that are basically the same like WoW have other names. But this is also based on the fact that they _seem_ to be the same, but are a little bit different. For example: The soul concept: You get one build after the other, but every "tree" has roots and those roots get enabled for points you spent in the tree. The more points you spend on the tree, the more roots you get.
Linux user know: roots are important and nobody should have direct contact with roots. So like it's in Rift: You don't have all roots, you need to develop your character.
But: While World of Charcraft has different builds Rift has different "Classes". Every soul tree has its own class name. Regarding to a mage this would been that the fire mages could be a class on their own, like "The Magical Lighter" and the Frost mages "Refrigator of Death" and the Arcanes "1111111111112".
As I said, Rift is a little bit different and so you've got the possibility to pick two classes at the same time. Yes, in World of Buildcraft you can also spend points in different trees - but now (not l ike in the past) you need to spend a lot on one tree first before you can spread to another tree. In Rift you can spend points in all trees at the same time. Plus: You can have tree active builds, yes, but there are far more trees than only three. Having three activated is funny, but you can also change later (for an amount of gold) and try something different.
Ok, after these little differences - there are far more - I got my first quest, did my first quest and started to explore the world. The rifts are an interesting concept well knows from games like WAR. Situational quests that happen and everybody can join and take part. Nice graphics, that's for sure - but after some time it's a little bit boring, like always. I mean: Even Lotro got boring after a couple of minutes. But, like in Lotro, there are here and there nice new things that when you see them you stop and say "Wohoo!". Good, keeps game interesting.
After the short movie telling me what I've done - I dunno, I think I did something, closed a Rift or found a stone or took a breath - I landed under a bridge. Or near a bridge. Like in reality. You can save the world but later they forget you and you land under a bridge, alone.
But no, I wasn't alone, I had a quest giver and, BAM, party! Again.
The quests are mainly "kill x of these" and "collect y of those" and "click here!" and "save there...". But some quests are also like "Walk into the light". Good, as I'm catholic I've got problems to trust people saying to me "Walk into the light" but this time it was a good decision.
The zones are designed in a dynamic way. While I was selling some crap I got the message that I accepted a quest. Accepted a quest?! For what? Because I was selling items? Did I turn to the crap selling fairy Sellor Moon?
No, I was taking part at an invasion. As i'm living in Germany I decided to not take part at the war and to reap the fruit of other people labour. Perhaps I could go there after war and build up schools or fountains.
Without doing anything - I even had problems to figure out where the war was - I finished the quest. Great. I think that's how a real war feels like. Everyone cries, someone dies and you get the Silver Star.
Later in the night I finished playing. My first feelings were.. strange. On the other side a lot of aspects attract me. Other distract me. I mean: If I want to play WoW I could play WoW.
I will see if I will give it another go. I will update if so...
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