Metaplanar Babel

I haven’t written in a while, but I think I finally have something to talk about. The shootings at Virginia Tech hit me harder than I expected. I haven’t been back in over 5 years, and I don’t think I know anyone who’s there any more. Still, I found myself on the verge of tears several times yesterday while following the story. It’s strange how a place that you spend some time in can become a part of you like that. I’ve been working at James Madison University for longer than I attended classes at Tech, but Tech will always be a special place to me. It deeply saddens me that so much death could have occurred in the halls that I used to walk.

I wonder, what could have driven a student to kill so many? I try to imagine what could have been going through his mind, but all I can think of is the fear that his victims must have felt, the fear that probably touched every member of that campus yesterday. It’s terrifying that one person, a single student, could have so profound an effect on such a large community. In fact, he’s reached out and touched the world, in a way, reminded us all that no matter how safe we try to make ourselves, no matter how comfortable we feel, there can always be that one person out there who is carrying the bullet for us.

I’m not much for prayers, but my heart and my thoughts are with you, Virginia Tech.

Cruinh wrote a post the other day about a recent article by the well-known game designer Raph Koster. Surprisingly, Mr. Koster actually left a comment. Isn’t blogging fun?

Sometimes I find myself thinking about strange things. Today, I was reading an old article from ALA that used the word snarky in the first paragraph and inspired this post.

For reasons I don’t entirely comprehend, I love the word snarky. I love the brand of humor it inspires, I love characters who could be described by it, I love the way it sounds. Weird, ne? So, I find myself curious. Does anyone else have a favorite word? If so, what do you like about it?

Scott over at Broken Toys wrote an interesting article about the age-old conflict between so-called casual gamers and hardcore gamers. Basically, he talks about how casual players often are disappointed when they reach 60 in WoW and discover that the WoW end-game is as raid heavy as any other MMO. I think he may have hit the nail on the head towards the end of the article, when he talks about what the casual players are looking for:

Podz recently mentioned an article about game replayability that I found interesting. It seems everyone has such different ideas of the kinds of games that can be played over and over again, though there were certainly some titles that kept showing up in the comments. Anyway, I felt like a bit of a stroll down memory lane, so here is a list, in no particular order, of games that I can play over and over again.

Suikoden I & II (definitively not III)

I love these games. I’m a little sad that the series went in the directions it did with III and what I’ve heard of IV, but the first two are definitive keepers. Even though I’ve maxxed out characters/castles in both games, I can still go back and play through over and over again for the story and characters.

Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time

Who doesn’t love the Zelda series? Seriously. OoT just happens to be the best of those currently available (though I await Twilight Princess with much much anticipation). Link is so lovable, especially as a little boy. This game has it all: great story and characters, puzzles that are fun and challenging, and the ability to ride a horse!

Soul Calibur 3

You would not believe the time I spent playing this game. Easily my favorite of the fighter games, though Tekken has its merits for unarmed combat. The new character creation system has certainly added a bit of replayability for me, but I always come back to some of the base characters anyway.

Jade Empire

This one is purely speculative, but I think it’s going to be a winner for me. I had a whole lot of fun playing through the first time, and while I’m not quite up for a replay just yet, I feel certain that I will be at some point. Great story, great setting.. if only it had been a little longer (only about 11 hours of playtime, which is low for an RPG).

Planescape: Torment

The computer RPG. So many options for character class, alignment, etc, that you could probably play this one over 10 times and never quite play the same game. Just found my discs the other day while looking for something else, so this may be my next non-WoW timesink.

It’s really hard to find games these days that are worth replaying. I do usually play through Final Fantasy games a couple times, but after that I often can’t bring myself to play again. That’s often the case with others as well. Once upon a time, I could play through Quest For Glory (I, II, III, or IV) over and over again, but I can’t seem to locate my disks for those any more (much to my dismay). Honestly, though, these days I’m just happy to have a game that’s worth playing through once, much less multiple times.

I found a very interesting article approaching the idea of artificial intelligence from a few different perspectives. It’s written as a dialogue between three students: a physics student, a biology student, and a philosophy student. Very interesting to see the different reasonings for why AI can or can’t exist. Quite long, but a worthwhile read nonetheless. [via]

Just for fun, how geeky are you? I’m 45.75937% - Super Geek. d(^_^)

Hell, I should get extra points for that Database post I just wrote yesterday. Database design, programming, AND roleplaying systems, all in one. *flex*

Found another interesting article that might be worth reading. This one’s via del.icio.us’s popular links. Basically, it’s an essay about why people blog and why people should blog. Definitely a “do your own thing” kind of philosophy, which I really like.

Bryan Veloso, who has a neat blog, wrote a post recently that sort of underscored my growing ill-content with people in general. Apparently, someone left Bryan a comment demanding that he “make” them like his blog again. This kind of self-centered, self-important bullshit is at the heart of half our problems these days. This “I deserve whatever I want” mentality. This “The world should work how I think it does” mindset. It’s blind, it’s foolish, and it’s so far beyond arrogant that I’m appalled to think I might have fallen into that mindset on occassion. I originally started to comment on Bryan’s post, but after my comment got longer and longer, I decided I’d do better to just write here.

I’ve never understood why people get like that. I see it happen in every MMO that I play - there are always players who take every change personally and proceed to flame away on the forums because the server maintenance cut 2 hours off their playing time. Or because their class changed and wasn’t wtfuber any more. It’s like some people just expect their every whim to be answered, and if they come across anything that doesn’t fit into their narrow view of what it should be, then they cry up a storm. Oh you suck now, WoW, make me like you again!

It’s especially frustrating to see that on a personal site, though. What exactly does this reader give Bryan that justifies his courting their approval? (Besides an interesting subject to write about, anyway.) The MMO example at least has money changing hands - Blizzard benefits from its fans liking its games, since they continue to pay for the privilege of playing. But on a blog? Who are they to demand that the blogger deviate from his own mindset to suit theirs? A blog needs its readership, surely, but that doesn’t make the blogger subject to every whim of its readers. You’d never get anything written if you tried to cater to everyone. Bah, it just makes me angry, and I don’t even have to deal with it.

Why is it that so many people cannot accept anything that flies in the face of their own personal wants? I want my character to be badass, and these changes bring me back down to the same level as everyone else, so I’m going to bitch and moan about it until they fix it. Does this sound familiar to anyone? It sounds an awful lot like my nephew-in-law, who’s 4 years old, when he can’t play with the toy he wants. I want the whole world to be just like me, so I’m going to go bully anyone who’s different into being just like me! Who cares if they don’t think the way I do, I’m making them better, cause *I* know best! Is the world so plastic-coated and instantly-gratifying that we don’t have to grow up anymore? Maybe that’s what’s really happening in America. It’s not that we’re really dumbing down, it’s that we’re not growing up.

Things have been really busy at work lately, so I haven’t had much time to write. We’ve hit the year-end holiday rush, which has once again driven home why I hate the month of December. There’s just something about the end of the year that makes so many people think they have to finish everything, even if they haven’t thought about it in months. Add to that the joys (:eyeroll:) of the ever-more-commercial Christmas holiday season, cold weather, and traveling in said cold/snowy/icy weather, and we have all the makings of a month that is anything but joyful.

I’m a Scrooge, I’ll admit it. Fortunately, Jon is too, so we can commiserate together and roll our eyes every time we hear another bad rendition of a Christmas song. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy getting to see the family and spend time catching up with them, but I really dislike that obligation that our friendly marketers have fostered to buy awesome gifts for everyone that I love. Or like. Or just, y’know, sort of know, or work with, or met at a diner three years ago. I know these gifts are supposed to be “gifts of the heart”, and we’re supposed to give them because we genuinely want to brighten our loved one/friend/acquaintance’s day (and for many of my loved ones, I do want to give them something), but after the gift-giving message gets rammed down my throat every damn time I turn on the radio, or walk into a store, or go out to eat, I’m finding myself feeling just a wee bit contrary.

And that’s ignoring the fact that the local stores are one and all swarmed with friendly holiday shoppers, fighting over the last Super-trendy-gotta-have-to-be-cool Toy or clothing item, or whatever (where’s my friendly Protoss Zeaot when I need him, anyway). The parking lots are filled with massive SUVs, freely guzzling their gas and nearly running over the crowds of suckers gift-givers; the scene is overlaid with the sweet music of screeching tires, screaming children, and cell-phones tinging out a midi rendition of Deck the Halls. Hallelujah!

And the fun becomes even more joyful when we add in that other mainstay of December, cold, snowy (or better yet, icy) weather! Then we have even more crazy drivers, sliding about on slushy roads, backing up traffic even farther and blocking intersections in their zeal to get that one perfect gift.

Honestly though, December just makes me tired. The thought of competing with all those people, filled with the joy of Christmas, makes me think longingly of my (semi) isolated townhouse, where I can barricade the door, ban all Christmas music, and huddle in a blanket, free from the yearning masses. The cold weather saps the energy from my limbs, until I just numbly drive home after work, trudge up the stairs (narrowly avoiding a slip on the ice), and collapse in my computer chair, wanting nothing more than to go to sleep until spring. My creativity is shot, my mental faculties are verging on nonexistent, and my already deficient motivation for anything has fallen through the floor.

I think I just need to hibernate; someone wake me up when it’s spring again, okay? I’ll be in a den somewhere, tucked away out of the cold. Just be careful, I might be a little cranky.