Category Archives: General

Bah. Humbug.

One of my guildies recently posed a question that boiled down to “Is it weird for a 42 year old guy to play DnD with 20 year olds?”  He wanted to get back in to gaming, didn’t have a group, signed up for the friendly local Comic Book Store’s open gaming.  Group was young, his coworkers are hassling him, he’s confused. 

This annoys me.  It’s reflective of the nature of this site, sure, but come on.  If he’d gone to a gym and gotten in to a pick up game of basketball with a group of 20 year olds, it’s not a thing, as long as he can keep up.  If he’d gone to a bar to watch a sporting event of note, and there were 20 year olds there celebrating, and they started high fiving, it’s not a thing.  If he’d joined a community theater group and been Claudius to a 20 year’s Hamlet, and they hung out, it’s not odd.  But if he games, it’s weird?

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Be still, the iPaddering of my heart

So trying to get started back in the routine of posting again maybe isn’t such a good idea on the verge of a product rollout…

As some of you know, Apple released a new toy this week. You might have seen a thing or two on the news about it. I had made up my mind to refrain from picking up an iPad initially, but I could only avoid succumbing to temptation for a couple of days before I was in line at my local Apple store picking one up.

I’m not tech savvy enough to comment much on the pros and cons of the hardware. I’m a hardcore iPhone user, so the software piece I was already used to. I think the thing I’m finding most interesting about it is the way some developers have used it to rethink the way we consumer media. I think once I find an RSS reader I like for this thing, my time spent with the printed word is going to shoot through the roof again. The Marvel Comics app alone is mind-blowing for how it’s made me look at a medium I thought I knew in a whole new light.

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Comics are dumb

I know, we’re geeks, we like comics.

But man, reading about them just makes me feel bad.  I ended up on Wikipedia today, looking for Mr. Mxyzptlk information, and ended up reading the summary.  And it’s awful.  So much bizarreness.  My favorite lines follow:

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Ada Lovelace day

Today is Ada Lovelace day.  Presumably it’s her birthday, which is why it’s her day.  I’m too lazy to google it.

Ada Lovelace was, arguably, the first programmer.  She wrote the algorithms that Babbage’s difference engine ran on.

The day is being used to promote/celebrate women in technology and such.  Which is good.  But it sort of served to remind me that I’m *way* out of that sphere.

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Gadget Lust

Okay, I finally get it.

Until now, I’ve never really had gadget lust. I’ve liked some stuff, but there’s never been anything I’ve wanted to hug and pet.

I like my 360 and my laptop, but that’s really because I play games on them.

Now I have a Droid. Perhaps iPhone users feel this way, but it’s because they don’t have a Droid.

The phone just works for me. I’m interested in Twitter, because my phone makes it easy. I’m using my personal calendar, because it’s easy. I feel happy times when I get it out.

Don’t tell Michelle.

MMockery 3: The last easy post

And here’s part 3, which is the last of the parts.  It’s even more specifically related to MxO.  And also the last of my gimmie posts.  If I’m gonna hit my “3 posts a week” metric, I’m gonna have to start being original now.  Bugger.

This one was written 2 months after the others.  In that two month window, they changed about 80% of the game (to their credit, it was much better in a lot of ways, unlike, say, Star Wars Galaxies).  Prior to that, the game had gotten really buggy.  I was unable to play without it eating my PC alive, so I gave up….

But I still want a pudding faucet (you’ll understand if you read – that’s what we in “the business” call a hook.  Or a teaser.  Or …. I dunno.  Look, just read it).
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Stealing ideas (aka MMockery, a play on MMO and Mockery)

So, I’m attempting to make this more exciting as a blog.

To that end, I’m going to try to, you know, blog more. 

First up, I’m stealing an idea from Shamus Young (http://www.shamusyoung.com/twentysidedtale/) who is sort of a geeky superstarish.  And also from myself, about 3 years ago.  Technically, I did it before I saw Shamus do it, but he did it much better.  I’m doing a sort of in-characterish send up of an MMO, or another game, or what have you.  It’s not strictly in character – it’s more me editorializing about it, and imagining things about the character in game.

I’m being inspired by Shamus’ MO of “go for old games, not the newest and greatest.”  But I’m doing him one better – this is for a game that ISN’T EVEN IN EXISTENCE ANY MORE.  Matrix Online.  It’s unlikely anyone reading this has ever even played the game.  So bonus points there.  And even if someone wanted to compare it to the game itself, or got inspired to play, they’re screwed.  So, yeah.

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I think we may all be dead

Cause we sure as hell aren’t posting. ;)

I have a follow up building to paying for games, based around the fact that there are a fair chunk of good, free MMOs out there. But yeah….

You know what I hate?

When you have plans to post something, and you’re pretty sure it’s interesting, and then in the process of trying to do so you realize you forgot your username, and then in the process of figuring it all out you finally log in, and then have no idea what you’d originally planned to post about.

I hate that.

I love it when articles about 1st Amendment U.S.S.C cases…

Reference Crush Videos in the throw away paragraph.

When Congress passed the law and then-President Bill Clinton signed it in 1999, lawmakers were especially interested in limiting Internet sales of so-called crush videos, which appeal to a certain sexual fetish by showing women crushing to death small animals with their bare feet or high-heeled shoes.

The case is about the 1st Amendment rights of a guy who wants to sell dvd of dog fights.