Long ago when this blog first started up and I agreed to be a contributor, Mike suggested I put up a post about poker. Those of you who know me know that it’s much more than a hobby for me now, it’s bordering on a full time obsession. I’d struggled with the idea of doing so because I had a hard time visualizing the hook connecting it back to geekdom. It wasn’t until I’d let my contributions here lapse into dormancy that I realized the hook was there all along, I’d just not realized it. And that now as I get ready to try and take my game to another level that I find I might be part of a growing tradition where gambling and geekery overlap.
Category Archives: Video Games
The first hit is free
As a kid, video arcades were my babysitter much of the time. Mom and pop wanted to go see a movie my brothers and I weren’t interested in, we usually wound up at Putt Putt Golf & Games for a couple hours while they caught the flick. I don’t remember any games that became obsessive for me, other than maybe throwing down against my brothers in Street Fighter II or Cyberball.
Since I’ve gotten older, however, there have been numerous games that sink their hooks into me and won’t let me go. Everyone knows I’m a Rock Band fanatic. Also pretty hardcore into Left 4 Dead. I didn’t really think I got the Mass Effect phenomenon until I realized I’d started up a new career with a different character almost immediately after I finished the game with my first one. And don’t get me started on the Bioshock titles (please, Hollywood, if you’re going to turn every game into a movie, at least get this one right and put it in David Fincher’s hands if he’s interested).
But what is it that pulls me in? Story plays a big part in Bioshock, to a lesser degree in Mass Effect. But that certainly doesn’t explain Rock Band or my latest obsession Plants vs Zombies (if you’re not familiar with it, don’t laugh until you give it a shot. If you’re not sucked in after the first hour, you’re a better person than I).
Gameplay is obviously the key, but what is it about the game play that makes such a difference? I figured this is the best audience to pose the question to: what gets the jonesing started that you say “Just one more screen/mission/level…” and next thing you know you’ve lost a couple of hours and find yourself late to wherever you need to be?
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.Â
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?
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).
Continue reading
Mmockery: MxO: The coloning
As threatened, part 2. Reading Part 1 is recommended but not required. This one was written a week later. It’s far more directly related to MxO.
When last we left Firbolg, he was standing over a body, rummaging its pockets for stuff.
Things haven’t changed a lot in a week. More bodies, more rummaging, and more interesting stuff, to be sure. But you know, that’s what it’s all about, in the end.
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.Â
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.
Game Jumpers
Some of my friends are game jumpers.
I’ve followed them from game to game; I’ve played Everquest, World of Warcraft, Everquest 2, Dungeons & Dragons Online, Tabula Rasa, City of Heroes/City of Villains, Guild Wars, Hellgate: London, Lord of the Rings Online, Age of Conan, Aion, Champions Online, Eve Online and others I probably just can’t recall off the top of my head.
I resisted Warhammer Online and their disastrous foray into tabletop Warhammer, which they enjoyed but dropped after a few weeks (and some of them spent hundreds on the game). Ouch.
This time around, I’m playing with my wife, and that’s been solid. We’ve gone back to the only game she enjoyed in the past: World of Warcraft. It’s a strange thing- there are definitely times when I don’t like Blizzard (the gay gamer issue, the bnet lawsuit, the strategy guide lawsuit), but they also do a few good things with their fans and have generally made a fun game. Several of my friends have joined again as well, but I’m not sweating their leaving this time around, if (and when) they do. (I’m certain that Star Trek and Star Wars will be too tempting…) We’ve got a solid guild (for librarians and library-interested people!) and we’re having a good time. ^_^
This week in video games for CJ: Super Heroes
I’ve been a bit too busy to hang out much on the video game front, but I’ve recently picked up a couple of games with a common theme: super heroes.
First, I’ve played the new MMO Champions Online more than any other game recently. I’ve had a great deal of fun with the game so far- interesting stories, characters, and power sets. (Love the haunted Old West town.) I greatly appreciate the customization of character (as does my wife, since character creation is her favorite part) and the quick access to travel powers, as well as going after the baddies in strange and interesting ways. For instance, with one character I can trap enemies in ice cages, or with my main character I can summon zombies, a golem, and an angel to help me take them out. Plus, a game with Bob and Doug McKenzie as mission contacts cant be all that bad, right?
Well, it depends whom you ask. The group of friends I game with regularly have a tendency to be game jumpers, and unfortunately most of them are ready to move on already. Their one complaint that I have to agree with is that there aren’t enough missions. You pretty much must do every mission to get to the highest levels. The dearth of missions makes the replayability of the game an issue for them- it hasn’t bothered me yet, but I completely understand where they are coming from. There’s new content coming out next month with the Blood Moon update, but by then it will be too late. They’ll be gone. I plan to stick around, however, so drop me a line if you decide to give it a shot.
I also picked up Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 for the Xbox 360. Now, I wasn’t particularly thrilled with the Civil War storyline, where the heroes went to war over the registration act. For one, I’m probably one of the few that *liked* Speedball from his early days, and his character changed in ways that I don’t find compelling at all. More importantly, though, I had absolutely no sympathy whatsoever for the pro-registration side (led by Iron Man). The pro-registration side seemed motivated by fear and did what they felt necessary to achieve security, and of course there are obvious intentional analogies to real-world events that make the reaction in what is usually an escapist story a bit less than compelling. The game makes you pick a side, and I’m curious to see what happens when the other side wins… so as soon as I have a chance, MUA 2 will be up.
The next MMO my group is trying is Aion. As a former Tabula Rasa player, I have a free first month, so I’ll give it a shot.
Paying for games
So it’s not a new thought – I’ve had it before, and posted it before (hell, maybe here – I’m too lazy (no, no, too inspired) to check), but I’m thinking about the costs of games again. So here comes a rambling discourse on stuff.
There are a lot of different ways to pay for your games nowadays. Apparently there are people out there that pay a sum of money, and receive some sort of physical device they keep for ever. It’s odd – I’m going to test this idea out in a month or two when I do that sort of transaction for Borderlands, Dragon Age (CE) and Alpha Protocol. So, say you pay $60 for an RPG type game or a shooter, and get 120 hours of enjoyment out of it. Then you play it again later for 30 hours or so. You’re looking at $.40 per hour of entertainment. If the game is something shorter, you start to get less, but even if it’s a 12 hour game, that’s $5/hr, which is movie price.
Then there’s the ever popular renting of console games. I’m pretty fond of that one. Pretty much I buy RPGs and Rhythm games, and that’s about it. Everything else is a rental. From a cost/hour perspective, that’s probably your best bet (assuming you actually play it once you get it – I’m horrible about renting them and turning them in a week later unplayed). If you get a good game, you’re looking at anywhere from 8 hours to 40 hours for a rental price, which is $5 to $10. So you’re anywhere from $1.25 to $.15 per hour in cost. Pretty good return.
Then you get an MMO. Initial investment is the same as a game, or less. First month, you’re probably playing 2-3 hours a night on average, assuming you enjoy it. Now you’re at $1/hr, which isn’t bad, but isn’t great compared to the other types. But then next month, you’re still enjoying it. Now you’re getting 60 hours for $15 – $.25 per hour. The difference is that if you play less, you can’t make it up – you bought a game, if you play 5 hours now and then 50 hours later, it’s 55 hours. In an mmo, it’s by month. So you lose value if you don’t play it. Shamus (shamusyoung.com and escapistmagazine.com (no relation)) has a bit on this that says it well, and is what prompted me to do this.
And then there’s free to play. More and more, I’m coming to be a fan of free to play (which is really microtransactions). You can play as much as you want, and if you want to spend some money, you can. But you can get by just fine without doing it (in a good f2p at least). DDO is doing it perfectly, imho – f2p with purchases, or just subs – best of both worlds.
But people complain that you can’t really play unless you pay. I call bs on that. If you’re lazy, or you need the shiniest and best, then you can’t (ironic, coming from me). Take my current f2p obsession, Wolf Team. It’s a shooter. You earn gold for doing things, and can buy gold or AP. Gold is used for weapons, and a couple other things, AP are used for stuff that makes you better – stronger wolf, can’t blow yourself up with grenades, etc. If you’re lazy, or not very good, you might need better weapons – having the basic stuff may mean you can’t play. And items have a duration. But really, they give you a sniper rifle. They give you a machine gun. They give you an uzi. The sniper rifle you get takes three shots, or a headshot. The sniper rifle you can buy is basically one hit. So if you pay, it’s easier. If you’re skilled, you’re fine. I’m playing with the basics only on purpose, to get better.
DDO is the same – people whine like crazy, but you don’t have to buy a damn thing. You get a lot of stuff for free, or you can spend $5 or $7 every month or two. And you’re doing a hell of a lot better than an MMO still.
Course, there’s a multiplier effect of some sort – $.50/hour for a game that’s okay is probably worse than $1/hr for a game that kicks ass, but I think there’s a limit – there’s mediocre, and there’s good, and there’s awesome. But paying $1/hr for good and paying $2/hr for awesome come out the same in a lot of people’s minds, I think. It’s hard to argue that an MMO is superior to a single player game in most cases. But a single player game isn’t significantly better. Unless it’s KoTOR, you’re getting enough fun for a good price. And that seems to be the key.
Utter…complete…geekgasm
After June 16th, I may never leave the house until it’s time to go to Vegas.