OK. Anybody who reads this via RSS, speak up: Would you rather see 140 character posts a few times a day, or some kind of daily digest. I know I dislike daily digests, but I also dislike the 140 character limit, since I tend toward about 260ish. But I’m willing to adapt for you, dear readers!
If you read this via Facebook already, uh… Hi! I just realized this may still double spam you. Oh well! Bathtime for baby!
Incoming: Two tests of the Facebook Sucks broadcast system: Test #1.
I have spent too long today trying to figure out a way to link up my Facebook status updates and my blog, I guess so my Facebook updates appear on my blog. And failing and failing. I can do it no longer! Maybe it will be easier in a week or a month or something.
Now Robin is ripping something open. I wonder what?
So, last night I tried out my first new MMORPG in years (other than PotBS)– since before I quit Microsoft, I think. It’s practically my first new game in the same time frame– I’ve played a few DS games and Animal Crossing but I’m not sure Final Fantasy IV counts as a ‘new game’, you know? The last big wave of MMO releases kind of passed me by, although Kevin and Raymond dabbled at them. My computer wouldn’t run them, and I just wasn’t interested in Tabula Rasa/Warhammer/Conan, y’know?
But Aion has wings, and at least a token effort to explain the meta-game mechanics (for example, why you don’t die permanently in these things). And it has the typical NCsoft art team, especially for character artists. And while I’m not (by default) a fan of ‘grimdark-PvP-there is only WAR’ I am (by default) a fan of wings.
Yes, it’s shallow and petty. I don’t even care. It’s not like I’m picking a charity to donate my life savings to.
Anyhow, I tried out the open beta last night, and I discovered things have changed in the MMO world, or maybe just in me.
Back a lifetime ago, it seemed like common knowledge that you couldn’t really play two MMOs. Even before I tried out Aion, I knew that was untrue, because WoW makes it easy to play multiple games, especially if you’ve made it to the casual raiding scene. Raids pay for themselves these days, and dailies are quick and easy if you need to make up the shortfall. Thank you, Blizzard, for letting me enjoy group story content with my small collection of friends for only a few hours a week!
But what I discovered running around Aion was that most of the game mechanics weren’t new either. They sometimes looked a bit different, but it felt like they’d picked up a whole bunch of ideas that worked from other games and stitched them together with their own vision. Quest markers. A hotlinked character/monster glossary. Character stores bound to the avatar. Socketed gear. There were a few things that seemed new to me (like power shards increasing combat ability) but they may have come from a game I haven’t played.
And this felt like the right thing to have done. It feels like MMOs have iterated through enough generations that they’re no longer trying to be new and clever just to be new and clever. They’re content using what’s been shown to work well, and there have been enough iterations of ‘new and clever’ to produce a solid set of ‘works well’. Which is good, because MMORPG audiences aren’t just elitist jerks and goons and hobbyist game designers anymore. They’re people like me, who say, “Ooh! Wings!”, and enjoy the comfort of being able to navigate any Safeway, anywhere.
There. That’s my ‘too long for a Facebook status’ thought after a late night poking at Aion. I’m sure I’ll have more on the game itself other than the NCsoft-obvious-facts (gorgeous, can’t swim, click-to-attack) in a day or a week or a month (the open beta ends in a couple of days; it launches in a couple of weeks).
ETA: One thing new to me that I think I like is that ‘race’ is totally a cosmetic choice. The character creation options include sliders that allow you to make elves or goblins or halflings or Cloud Strife. Whatever suits your taste.
It’s Robin’s birthday. I’ve lost my bet with Kevin. The Kindle is surrendered, at least until I finish the novel.
On the other hand, getting up at 7:15 every morning and writing at the same time as some other people scattered around the globe means I get at least a thousand words a day written (which is a lot better than my thousand words a week before). Which means I can calculate out that I should be finished by October 1st or possibly earlier.
I’m trying not to dwell on how late in the year October 1st seems. But I would like to finish a novel in less than a year from start to finish someday. This one, I started when Robin was about six months old…
Anyhow, I’m happy with how well I’m doing, even if I need to start going to bed even earlier, probably at the exact same time Robin does. Hopefully the writing doesn’t suck.
Perhaps there’ll be a post about the 2 year old later. But there’s a youtube video while you wait, if you haven’t seen it on Facebook already. It has a bit of sound, but it’s pretty quiet. Cathy took it on her camera.
So many coloring books are licensed IPs, none of which Robin is familiar with, and none of which I’m enthusiastic about introducing him to.
If I were to design something for Robin, it would feature lots of stars and flowers. So now I’m imagining a sort of magical setting in the night sky, with characters who take care of stars and have gardens and horses and dogs and cats and giant trucks. Sort of Rainbow Brite/Pixie Hollow/Monster Truck.
I suppose Care Bears comes close, except for too plushie, no horses or giant trucks, and apparently nearly dead as a franchise except for at Hot Topic.
You know how when you take that first step on a long road to self-improvement, that one that you’ve been procrastinating and procrastinating on, you feel good because you’ve finally done something and it’s going to lead somewhere great and just that single step has made your life a better thing?
Yeah. I wish that sort of thing made me feel good. Instead I feel… overwhelmed. Like there’s no possible way I can succeed.
I assembled the recycling box I purchased from Greendisk, and I threw my old mouse into it. And I thought ‘this is a raindrop in the sea of clutter and junk filling this house’.
Then again, I’ve been extra-tired and crummy-feeling the last few days, so maybe I’ll be in a more positive mood later this week?
I’ve been a pedometer fan for years. Currently, I have an excellent model from Omron, which is battery-powered, tracks ‘aerobic’ steps as well as normal steps, and maintains a week’s accessible history and a 40-day internal history that can be uploaded to my computer.
It’s a crutch, in a way; I have much less motivation to walk-as-exercise if I can’t track how much I’m walking. But this summer, I’ve been walking more than ever. It’s still not 10,000 steps a day, not everyday. But I’m getting closer.
This is what I’ve observed.
OK, so there’s this quiz that I picked up from the talented yhlee. I don’t do quizzes much but I hoped this one would be motivating.
It rates you across 4 scales and then assigns some authors you’re similar and dissimilar to (based on worldview as presented in writings).
The 4 scales: High-Brow, Violent, Experimental, Cynical.
I got -19,-1,-9, 19 (aka: very low-brow, slightly peaceful, traditional, quite cynical)
Kevin also took it, and it’s his numbers compared to mine that make me really amused:
17, 9, 9, 3.
The authors it compared me to: Robert Jordan. And also: “You are also a lot like J K Rowling. If you want some action, try David Eddings. If you’d like a challenge, try your exact opposite, Gene Wolfe.”
Kevin is watching a recorded lecture for an introduction to Japanese class. And it’s bewildering how stressful it is. The lecturer approaches the end of the session with instructions how to sign up for the mailing list and how important it is and I’m feeling residual panic.
And I finally figure out what it is. Gotta pay attention gotta stay focused. Despite the fact that I’m actually trying to do something else entirely.
And suddenly I understand a whole lot more about my stress, and what happened in college.
I think I probably only do well with lectures of 20 minutes or so. Longer lectures provoke madness via boredom, or, if I really care about a subject, a panicked, miserable attempt to stay focused.
I can’t go an hour with somebody talking at me without zoning out. If I have nothing else to do, like in the studio art 3-hour group critique sessions, it is a form of torture. That’s not really an exaggeration– one or two of those sessions and I abandoned plans for an art major. And I still think that if I hadn’t had that professor with his craziness, I would have really enjoyed and appreciated an art major.
I don’t learn well from lectures. I have trouble internalizing what I’m told. I prefer to read instructions, or have an interactive personal conversation, or try something out and learn from my mistakes. That’s my favorite method, really– I often don’t really understand what I’ve read without talking about it, writing about it or otherwise trying it out (unless it’s in the form of a narrative. I follow narratives exceedingly well.)
Augh lectures. Are you reading this, aunts, Dad? That’s what happened to college, all those classes I did poorly at and why I lost all motivation for staying at college once my social life disappeared. I have to limit myself to 2 hours of Wikipedia reading a day. I am really interested in what this guy on Kevin’s tv is saying about how Japanese works. And yet– I have to go upstairs now to avoid panic. Because it’s a lecture, and I just can’t keep up.
