Sith Reborn... Video from Lucas Arts on SWTOR...

Check out the latest video from Lucas Arts here: http://www.swtor.com/info/holonet/timeline/rebirth-sith-empire?sourceid=eag2916
Interesting story, although I am a bit confused as to when there were only 2 Sith vs an entire race of them.

Stop With The Sissie La-La Already...

In direct response to Tobold's latest ballistic attempt to tear down EvE for its PvP Game... I just have to say, "Breathe man, Let it go!" Yea, the PvP there is pretty rough man. That's why they don't have Eleven-Million subscribers dude.

One post on the subject was enough to give me a headache, but now we are on like the fourth or fifth one and I don't even want to read the comments anymore.

All of the elitists of the world unite! Who fricken cares? I sure don't. I can't remember where I saw it, probably Lum's site, but Raph Koster who was once one that had a vision of the perfect game, now turned Facebook application micro-transaction king, said something to the effect that we are all just a bunch of elitist snobs. Sticking to our little corners, only playing with those that see everything the same way we do. Ya know what, he was right... Most of the tripple A gamers are a bunch of snobs. Quite frankly, we should just play single player games and get over it. Eveyone that doesn't see what we see is obviously wrong. It's kind of sad really. Even though I was slightly offended by his comments, the guy was right about that.

As a blogger, I don't think it is our job to be objective, or even say that we like something at all. As a matter of fact if my whole gaming experience was all good, I wouldn't write at all. It's about making things right or making them better that interests me. I certianly like to post about things I have done that are fun, but I am also very passionate about things that make me angry.

Tobold's postings about how he got ganked do not bother me in the least. I get beat up all the time in World of Warcraft. The thing is "how do you overcome the odds, and are you willing to put the time in to do it"? There are certianly many times in WoW's "balanced" battleground skirmishes where the team I am on is outnumbered by the enemy. Many reasons include, the lack of communication, the fact that we don't all stay together, or just simply that people don't see the same goals during the battles. There are many times different objectives in a battle, and people decide which is important to them. So, to say EvE is unfair, but WoW is far would be completely false.

I don't play EvE, wait scratch that. I played EvE for about 4 hours once, and deleted it because I knew I didn't want to go through the process of finding out what the hell was going on. Too much confusion for me, and ya know what? I don't feel bad for leaving. If I had stayed, and I ever got ganked like Tobold did, I would spend every waking hour rebuilding and going back to kick those guys asses that did it to me. Oh yea... PvP is all about the revenge baby, and if you get me enough times, I will focus all of my energy on you and how to make you pay.

Tobold obviously doesn't have that gene built into his programming... PvP is for people who like to be competitive with others on a forceful playing field. If you can't hang with that, then my advice would be to walk away, find something else to do.

It's hard to take comments from someone who openly doesn't like PvP and apply them to "constructive critisism". It's painfully obvious that if someone doesn't like PvP, then there is nothing good that can be said about it. I don't particularly like PvE, but I still do it. I do it and try to imagine why someone would put themselves through such torture, but for someone that won't engage and learn about it constructively, it makes no sense. It's like talking about something you shouldn't even be engaged with. It's okay to say you don't like something, but to try and tear something down that obviously you don't want, but works for many other people is somewhat silly IMHO.

That's all I got...

I'm not the only one thinking about Farmville...

I have been meaning to write something about this for awhile. Farmville, and games like it really piss me off. His Lumness, put up an article about how the traditional MMO Developers and the Facebook Application industry peeps are at war.

I've noticed that many of the pioneer type MMO people have moved into the realm of making games for Facebook. Recently I recall Raph Koster, Anthony Castoro, and even Richard Garriott going down this path.

I'll tell you that I don't like some of those kind of games because they use some cheezy tactics to get you to play. I also don't like running out of moves or stuff to do for the day, or the next few hours or whatever. I like to just do what I want, when I want, period.

I have a friend that is one of those 20 million people that likes Farmville. Now, we do live in the country and all that, but besides not wanting to play a game about farming, I don't like games that force you to bug other people. I asked her why she played the game so much, and her response was that she would lose all of her hard work on her crops if she didn't harvest in 3 hours or something silly. I was completely beside myself with disgust! How could they do that to someone's stuff? Well, I am not going to play that game to find out, but I think that sort of tactic sucks. She didn't mention anything else about the game, like "because it's fun" or something, she was just afraid to lose all of her hard work. Clicking on 300 or more squares to plant veggies... What a waste!

I don't want to send out 100 direct email spam messages to people about my game, and try to get them to play. I don't want to play a game that makes you log in every few hours to make sure your virtual goods are still safe and not losing money. I am not saying all of those games do that, but many of them like Farmville do, and it thrives on people being scared of losing virtual stuff.

One could argue that WoW does the same thing with "Cool Downs". You have a cool down that you can use every day or three, but if you don't use it, then you could miss out on some money. Well, you could, but when you get back, you can still get that money, and nothing is really lost. You don't lose your crops, have to rebuild the empire, or lose your dog.

It is similar to the way some casinos in Colorado try to get people to come play by offering to match the amount you must spend, but only if you come play every week. If you miss a week, then you "lose" that money they are "giving" you. It's a trick works on a lot of people, but to me it seems that these types of tricks are not a good way to do business.

Most of the traditional MMO's allow you to just come and play whenever you want, everything is still the way you left it when you return, and typically, you don't need to feel like you've lost everything.

I think Lum's point in his article that Farmville and games like it are simply the next step in an evolution of games. The trick is for you Traditional MMO folks is that you need to make your games accessable in the same fashion as the Facebook guys.

World of Warcraft is already starting to do this with Facebook and they have a new Auctioneer app of some sort coming out. I think we will see more of an integration of the two rather then a replacement from one to the other. You can still have people buy your game and play as they see fit, and you can offer a lot of the content through things like Facebook and MySpace that will cover a huge number of the problems and concerns we see now.

I am looking forward to seeing how this topic unfolds, because I truly believe the most successful MMO will be the one that puts this marriage of Application, and Traditional together...

Oh, and make it accessable to Twitter, Bling, Yahoo Mail, and on the cell phone too. Mkay?

That's all I got.

Trip Like I Do…

I am somewhere in the level 43 range now. Finally, have a mount, and can move at just above turtle speed. I joined a PVE (leveling) guild, and these guys are just crazy. They know every single quest for every class, and can usually run you though anything in under one hour. It is insane watching these guys work. They go so fast, that sometimes I hardly have time to dot or sick the pet before it is all over.

They really make me laugh, because they will take me to a place I have never been, tell me to get all the quests, and them BAM we are flying all over the place doing all of the quests. Then, when it is all done, we all go back to town and chill for a couple of days sorting through eight million piles of stuff we acquired during the quests. I really enjoy that more then anything. I never had people so eager to go out and help in EQ. As a matter of fact, I think EQ restricted the levels or experience you could play with or something which ended up making me not able to play with my guild most of the time.

So, when I get done with my stuff I try to help others. I am making some decent cash now since I got over 225 in tailoring. I just wish I could ship bags to my horde characters. BUT NO!!

Warlocks are just the coolest! Anyway, see ya round…

Note to Lum, Tyrant, Evocare... I HATE YOU ALL!

Not really, I just thought it would be an attention getter...

Well, I will get to why I hate them in a minute. I have some time since all the Goddamn WOW servers are down for "extended" maint... GIMMIE MY CRACK!!! LOL just kidding.

I was reading Lum's interview with TTH, and I have to say that I am glad to see Lum getting up there and saying something negative/positive about specific games and not just generalizations about the genre. It was also nice to see him speak on PvP, which as you know, he was the defender of the PvE back in the day. Maybe not because he wanted to, but hardcore PvP people came here, he got the rest. hehe Please read the article, so you can see the context. I may not have a movie or a book, but I did my small part. *wink*

So, anyway... He just got me thinking about some things. Lum says:

"There are going to be a good group of people out there who are able to compete with the big name games on a much smaller budget. And they’re going to make an insane amount of money."

I agree and those people are out there, but all the really good people want to do their own thing. In every game publishing house there are those that have been around the block in MMO's and those veterans are really good at what they do. The downside is that once you become an MMO veteran, you want to do it "your way". I guess you could call it the "Frank Sinatra Syndrome".

I also believe there are, and will be those games created by veterans and new teams that can make a lot of money. Most of the big vets have their own companies now, and hopefully, they can make something just as good if not better. Everyone has friends. If you have enough friends that like what you are doing, you will see them in your games. Some of us players have friends too, and they know we will work hard to bring them more people. Spending the big money helps, but I don't think that determines "success" or "failure" in every instance.

Lum also said this about the game he is working on "in secret"... (I hate that when they don't tell us what is going on... Don't you? Even Adrick used to pull that crap on me...):

"Yes, it is going to be a fantasy MMO. But it’s going to be a fantasy MMO that is done by a lot of veterans that have a fairly good grasp on making these types of games."

I think if you could find a team of vets that don't have "Frank Sinatra Syndrome", and can put together something cool, then I applaud you. I would still want to get some cutting edge newbies in there for a little flavor. I mean, before EA and Mythic started hiring all of my friends, they were only veterans at "Playing" MMO's, not necessarily making them. Now look where they are. Lum, and Evocare are doing well in their respected areas. I can't even tell you how many people I know out there that used to just be playing the games and visiting sites like BV or LTM that are out there making a difference because of the platforms we created back in the day. I guess all of you vets will just have to "group" and hopefully not fight too much among yourselves.

You take WOW, and you just can't help but see so many things that we bitched and complained about in the past that have come to light! I probably notice it more then others because I was there back in the UO/EQ days, and I left MMO's for awhile. When I came back, it was like a magic wand had been waved over a game casting "less suck, more crack". Don't get me wrong, I already do have some issues with WOW, and I will get to those once the crack pipe gets a little worn, but OMG what a difference four years can make.

I don't think WOW wants to get away with anything. I just don't see that too many folks are pushing the right people. If you remember even in the days of UO, when you talked to the right group of folks, you got results. Hell, Lum could manipulate an emergency game fix or bulletin board wipe, in two seconds when he pushed the right buttons. Even I got those guys to make changes if I played real nice and didn't call them dirty Dread Lord posers. They just need the right push, and one day a new bunch of crazy people like us will come up and give it to them.

The point is, don't give up on your game. If you pay them each month it is your right to let them know how they are doing wrong. It is a "service" industry after all. If you aren't happy, they are gonna do something about it. Even though WOW makes more money then God, they are greedy bastards and will do things to keep each one of our crack lovin' booties playing their game.

I hate Evo and Lum for getting to live the dream. I hate Tyrant for always being so damn RIGHT!

See ya!

Happily grinding my way to victory!

Now, grinded to about 15.5 or so, we are at the point where I am starting to like others around to help out. It just goes faster… I am now starting to get some decent special items, and I even figured out how to get more bags so I don’t have to go to town as much. It’s just never enough though is it? How much storage should one need? I can’t really afford much, so we are going with the 8 bag slots for now. One of these days I need to rob the bank or something.

So, I was in Stormwind the other day and I saw this bizarre deal where a lady was guiding a bunch of children on a tour of the city. My first thought was “What the hell is this?” What were these guys thinking? I don’t know, but there is a lot of humor and snark built into this game, and I find it to be funny. My little pet Voidwalker frequently announces that he is “Void where prohibited”. My little Imp pet is always trying to break up with me. The Imp is more comical, but I want to know who did the voice for that character.

So, with all of the major headaches taken out, I think WOW was the perfect EQ killer. I can’t get over how much they put into taking some of our pain away and saying… “Hey, we love your money, come spend it here.” I just love it when they ask nicely for me to play the virtual slot machine.

DSL should be available here any time now. I have no clue about cable, but I would at least have a better connection on the wired DSL instead of the air card. For the most part, the aircard does okay, but there are a few times where things have gotten shaky.

Another interesting feature I liked last night. If your pet dies immediately after you make it, then you get your soulshard back. I found that to be quite the bonus.

Anyway, I am off to see the wizard, err the warlock…

Still Wow’d by WOW…

Anyway, I have been happily grinding my way to level 13. I am impressed with how much has changed since EQ. I am mostly self-sufficient at this level, I can heal myself, I have a pet, which makes me very happy. I always loved Dark Elves, but Warlocks seem to fit the bill just fine. It doesn’t take as long to learn in this game, which as a casual player makes me even more excited. Now, most everything I could want to know is tracked somewhere on the net.

There were some other things I liked. At least up to this point, I haven’t had to bother with where to put “points” and stuff. That always bothered me in EQ. I am more likely to just want to play the game and get my cookie, then worry about where to add points. In many ways they really dumbed things down. Although, I may not have liked that in the past, I find that it keeps me more interested in doing the busy work and not so much about screwing up my character.

Of course the second character is always better then the first. I had to go figure out what to do with the first one, then quickly built up another on of my own in half the time. I have been running a couple of characters because they seem to do maintenance on the servers in the early morning when I like to play. The system is so easy to do. If you stay close and do the quests, you will advance quickly. They will move you on when you are ready.

Maybe it’s just me, but I can help but want to find out what happens next. Four years of downtime did me some good.

On another note…

I was reading the Massively's ION notes over at Lum’s house. I was amazed that people are still arguing about players causing grief in games. Enough grief to make some folks leave the game. I don’t know that there will ever be sufficient tools to keep people in line in the game. But, when you have a game with over 10 Million subscribers, they still must be doing something right.

Some equally funny stuff...

This is older, but if you haven't read Amber in awhile, she is making a comeback!

She is talking about games targeted towards "Boomer Women" My favorite quote here is "“Wedding dash?” Sweet Jesus on a Maxi Pad, I think my ovaries just asploded." Oh, my sides are hurting! I think they are talking more about busty babes, but who knows...

Yep, still alive and kicking!

Just stopped in to give you something to read on another site...

GTA MMO? Wouldn't that be interesting?

There is always one smarta$$ in the crowd...

I found this cartoon to be quite funny... It is nice to see that even after years of being gone, my words can still be heard round the world. At least Lum, err Scott Jennings is not the only one with problems with identity on the Net.

The really sick part is that there are still people actually trying to load bv.com after it has been gone so long... You guys need therapy!

Speaking of therapy, I want to thank Kelly Kindred for keeping my web addresses in tact while I took a long break... Ahem, it wasn't easy to be away for so long. Even though BV is really Kelly's now, I felt some sort of spiritual responsibility to put the site up in some fashion for those of you sickos that still want to see something of the old school.

Kelly has offered to put my email back in tact, but I don't know if I want to do that. Fricken spam central email address it was. I know I am talking like Yoda, gimmie a break. I don't feel like being all proper today. ;)

Anyway, forums may be a possibility at some point, but I wouldn't go getting all excited just yet. That's up to Kelly too. She must love you guys. Poor girl.

Yea, Karaoke is still a thing for me. I went and got re-married... The life of BV, Internet, and Karaoke became my living hell. I am currently seperated from the wife, and things aren't looking all that great for me getting enough equipment back to do Karaoke for awhile. It just never gets anywhere positive in that relationship, and negotiations for reconsile and getting my stuff have been limited. Mostly, she doesn't want to give me my stuff back.

I need about $500.oo to $600.00 to get enough equipment to make up for what I didn't retrieve so far. That wont get me back where I was, but I would at least have enough to put one system back together. Believe it or not I am staying with my parents and have just started working a couple days a week to try and get some money to get my life back on track. It is not great money and I am totally over qualified, but they offered me a job and I took it. I pretty much lost everything I owned, yet I am still somewhat glad that I can come here and vent to all three of you. 2 vehicles, 1 condo, 2 Karaoke systems and all of my hard cd's all gone. Not to mention all of my personal stuff and the list just goes on and on.

Of course doing Karaoke shows will generate the money to pay that amount in a couple of weeks, but the job I have now may take me a couple of months to get the cash together. Any investors out there???

Anyway, enough of that for now. I hope all of you have a great Thanksgiving!

Please make it stop!!!

Well, I have returned to find myself getting back into the MMO Matrix. I found out last week that the original BV had been hacked and is apparently blackballed from being hosted.

I had some thoughts I wanted to share with myself, so here I am sharing.

Anyone know where the hell Raph put the taco sauce?