Archive for November, 2007
A few minutes after I arrived home from work on Tuesday, a knock on the door announced the arrival of a UPS delivery. Even though the box clearly indicated that it came from Santa, I couldn’t bring myself to wait till 25 December. I tore right into it. In fact, I’d been expecting it. My mysterious Santa has been hinting to me (through posts on this blog and in my BGG mailbox) that something was on the way, a nice touch which really added to the fun.
Check out the wonderful contents. My Boardgamegeek Secret Santa gave me two wonderful games—both Modern Art and YINSH!
I’ve wanted to give Modern Art a try since I first heard of it, in part because it gets such overwhelmingly positive press and in part because its mechanic is completely different from anything else I’ve ever played. Boardgame geek I may be, but I’ve never played an auction game. I’m eager to see what it will be like. I also suspect that, in contrast to the more “genre” games I often favor, this one will be easier to break out with less geeky friends, so it may get more play that some of the games that are gathering dust in my closet.
I got DVONN (a GIPF project game) a few years ago (in expectation of an extended vacation with family who are otherwise sort of unfun). I loved it, and I’ve shared it with several friends who enjoyed it quite a bit too. Unsurprisingly, the friends who like it tend to be chess and go players, delighting in the abstract strategic and mathematical elements of the game
In addition to enjoying DVONN’s gameplay, I took great pleasure in the pieces themselves. They’re elegantly simple, but the aesthetics—color, texture, weight, and shape—delight the senses. (In fact, my daughter loves playing what she calls “the Circle Game.” She’s two, so this mostly means stacking, sorting, and placing the discs, and telling me exactly where I should put mine.)
I expected nothing less from YINSH, and I’m not disappointed. The game only arrived yesterday, and it’s a sort that doesn’t interest my wife much. (Although my daughter and I “played” it once, using a ruleset similar to the Circle Game.) But I did get to read the rules and fiddle with the pieces. I love that the rules are so simple and straightforward that, when I find a willing opponent, we’ll be playing within a minute or two. I love that the game is so complex that we’ll be playing for hours. Combining go, othello (reversi), and connect four, YINSH should be tremendously satisfying.
I have yet to get my gift package out to my BoardGameGeek target, so I’ll have more to say about the whole process soon. So far, though, it’s been fantastic. So . . .
Oh great Secret Santa, thank you!
November 29th, 2007
When I have an evening free of Scarlet Pimpernel rehearsals, Thanksgiving guests, and home renovations, I still quite often choose to spend it in virtual Middle Earth. I haven’t talked about it much lately in part because I’ve been re-exploring content as I (for no sane reason) pursue the “Undying” title bestowed on those who can survive to level 20 without defeat.
That said, I’ve had a bit more time to play in the last few days, and during that time I’ve tried to bring three players over from WoW. They’re partway through 10-day free trials, and it’s interesting to hear their reactions.
My wife, whose tastes strongly resemble my own, believes she’ll switch in the near future. She likes, as I do, the greater realism, the immersion, and some of the minor gameplay tweaks (everyone can loot a mob for a “gather ten pelts” sort of quest; the fact that there don’t seem to be targeted, timed buffs).
Another friend has had a grand time. She basically only plays ranged fighters (she has four different hunter alts in WoW), and she’s already experimented with two hunters in LotRO. Her comments have been positive overall, but I don’t know if she’ll be willing to give up WoW.
Her husband is pretty sure he doesn’t like LotRO. His criticisms: the font, the color of dialog boxes, steering with the arrow keys (he refuses to use the mouse), and not already knowing as much about it as he does about WoW. (Can you tell that I’m a bit dismissive of his complaints?)
All of this reminds me of how different the needs of different gamers are, and incidentally why I’ve had a falling out with WoW. WoW caters to a the broadest possible audience in part by catering to a low common denominator.
My recruitment efforts outside the game may meet with only limited success, but I hope my plan to get recruited into a kinship within the game will go well. I was delighted to discover that a kinship recruitment event will take place in the Shire (under the grand Party Tree) tonight on the Landroval server (one of the unofficial RP servers) at 7.30 EST.
Ever since my all-time favorite guild (formed in Dark Age of Camelot) disbanded as its members sought other games, I’ve been looking for something like it. I joined two WoW guilds, both of which turned out awful in different ways. Perhaps tonight I’ll make a connection with a roleplaying guild that actually enjoys playing the game in character (instead of not playing the game but emoting at one another or playing the game and not really roleplaying after all).
November 28th, 2007
Instead of trying to offer a considered and thoughtful analysis that ultimately treads on the same path others have already expertly walked (Broken Toys, GameGirlAdvance, No Cookies for Me, Shrub.com, FeministGamers, and many others), I figured I would instead offer a personal reaction to the Jade Raymond fiasco.
Put simply, I’m angry, ashamed, and depressed. Why is it that the same male gamers who long to have more women join the ranks of gamers feel entitled to gawk and grab? It seems that some core of what we define as “gamers” has built an exclusive, unwelcoming community where the simple social norms of courtesy don’t apply. They use “rape” to mean “beat in a game” and consider “gay” and “girl” acceptable insults. They act like rutting goats when someone reveals herself to be a real-life woman in a game, then hoot in derision when she leaves. They insist that no female gamer can possibly be physically attractive, insist that attractiveness is the most important characteristic a woman (gamer or not) can have, then deride female gamers (skilled or unskilled) for lack of ability.
Does it sound like I’m “male bashing”? I’m not. I’m bashing assholes. When I was a kid, we watched Free to Be You and Me (which I now watch with my daughter). I honestly believed the world was changing and would continue to change. I thought everyone wanted a world with fewer assholes.
Now I see the “boys will be boys” attitude broadly accepted.
I don’t blame men for this. I don’t blame women. I blame our culture itself (as practiced by both men and women). Look, I know feminism is hard. Even people who aren’t afraid of the word “feminism” struggle to realize their ideals. I know too many people of my generation who have given up the dream of self-actualization and equality. And look at how gender is treated TV today.
So it’s not just gamers. This rot is everywhere.
But it’s pretty bad in “gaming culture.” The anonymity of online gaming, the historically male base, the weird connection between machismo and competition (a fundamental aspect of games)—these have given birth to a core in which sexism and hostility aren’t just endemic, they’re sometimes lauded and often defended!
I’ve heard some people call for thicker skins or appeal to the right to free speech. Well, I’m actually a big fan of humor. I believe anything—yes anything—can legitimately be the subject of humor. I believe, too, that anyone has a right to express any idea in just about any form.
What bugs me here is our culture (our modern culture, the heavily American Internet culture, the gaming culture). If you want to be an asshole, you have every right to do so. But those of us bothered by this sort of thing have a duty, despite the fact that the prevailing culture doesn’t seem to agree, to express our dissent.
November 28th, 2007
Just a quick note to say that I received my “Secret Santa Target” from BoardGameGeek.com. Since my target happens to have a domestic shipping address, I’ve opted to have the gifts I’ll give him shipped to me. That way, I’ll be able to ensure nice packaging and preserve anonymity. (Oh, I’ll reveal myself eventually . . . but not till after the holidays are over.)
My wife has participated in similar Internet-moderated swaps, but this will be a first for me. I’m pleased to say that I’ve already benefited. Perusing my target’s wish list has inspired me to add a few games I’d never heard about to my own list.
November 27th, 2007
The One Ring. Luke Skywalker’s inherited lightsaber. The Aegis. Indiana Jones’s bull whip. The skin of the Nemean Lion.
Of such stuff are legends made. The so-called legendary objects that litter the lairs of MMO monsters and the vaults of MMO PCs, on the other hand, are for the most part nothing more than incremental improvements over lower-tiered weapons, armor, and other equipment we can cram into our character’s slots. There’s very little magic about these magical items.
The way almost all MMOs (and most CRPGs) work, there’s really very little choice. Equipment is a big (and ideally fun) part of roleplaying games. But, as realized in design built around timesinks, graduated progression, and balance, most equipment is, plain and simple, completely uninteresting.
To me, fantasy magic items and exciting science-fiction gizmos should let my character do things she’s never been able to do. Oh, I know we’ll never get away from good old-fashioned +1 longswords (which may be better simply by virtue of superior craftsmanship), but shouldn’t the really exciting, storied items give us completely new powers? Where are the rocket boots that let me fly and the gemstone that, when I clutch it in my hand, lets me dissolve into a shadow and slip under a door?
On occasion, when playing MMOs, I’ve been sucked into the pursuit of equipment that improves a certain statistic my character might have. For many, pursuing improved bonuses to a certain set of statistics represents a significant portion of the game.
How insanely boring! But it reveals what is, to me, the great truth and great failure of MMOs. They are not about stories, not about character, not even about the worlds they portray. They are about (very) gradually increasing your character’s power for the sake of increasing your character’s power.
Though that may be what draws some players to tabletop RPGs as well, such games manage to avoid the tedium of mind-numbingly dull equipment, largely thanks to the fact that a given game has fewer players, a world that can be permitted to change, and at least a pretense of narrative.
This shortcoming in MMOs helps explain why I’ve never bothered to have an item enchanted in WoW. While I value equipment statistics insofar as they let me know if a new sword is better than the one I have, I take no pleasure in squeezing out another small bonus to some statistic that is used to calculate yet another statistic that will help me end fights in 97.5% of the time I’d otherwise be able to finish them.
The real downside for me is that, once I’ve taken a character to the maximum level and played with all the abilities that come with a given class, I have very little reason to continue playing that character. There’s no carrot dangling in front of me. I can’t be bothered to invest dozens or hundreds of hours in the pursuit of improved shoulder armor, however cool it may look.
What can be done? As far as I can tell, almost nothing outside of radically different game design would help. Oh, I know there are a few exceptions. The Scepter of the Shifting Sands, for instance, is damn cool even though it doesn’t give a character any game advantages. But such things are so very few and far between (of necessity) that most players will never experience them.
To truly address the problem, a completely new approach to MMOs is necessary. In coming posts, I’ll not only gripe about things I don’t like but also propose things that I would like to see and also happen to believe are practical (hence the post’s subtitle). I welcome any thoughts, shared experience, or complete disagreement.
November 19th, 2007
I know, I know. I’m a bit late to take up the gauntlet in Syncaine’s challenge regarding EVE Online having a solution to every problem anyone has with MMOs, being the best MMO. Syncaine is not specifically asking for critiques of EVE Online. Rather, he challenges: “Bring up an issue you have had with an MMO, and I’ll relate it to EVE and explain how EVE solves that issue.”
Rather than complain about EVE (which wouldn’t be fair, as I have limited exposure to it), I’ll list the top things I’d like to see in an MMO (all of which I happen to think EVE doesn’t deliver on):
- A real sense of narrative
- A real sense of immersion (although I admit I appreciate the semi-accurate simulation of what it’s like to be a tiny ship in vast space)
- A sense of community
- A sense of participation in the game world on the part of the player characters
No MMOs offer these to my satisfaction, and part of the problem may be the fact that the fourth at least seems to be somewhat ad odds with the first two. MMOs that offer narrative elements tend to offer the same narrative elements over and over to any group of players interested in exploring them. The cognitive disconnect, in WoW, of a single group of players repeatedly destroying an enemy until a certain item drops means that the cool background lore and narrative leading up to the kill are rendered meaningless from the perspective of world participation. You’ve defeated the biggest, baddest enemy of the universe, but you’ll go back and do it again tomorrow ’cause you want his breastplate, and for some reason it didn’t drop.
Immersion, the sense of living in the imagined world of the MMO, is both add odds with and compatible with narrative and player participation. On the one hand, nothing draws me into a world like a good, compelling story. But clicking through someone else’s story (always a danger in video games, MMO and otherwise) can certainly leave me feeling like an observer instead of a participant.
I’m not the first to long for an MMO in which emergent narrative, mostly created by interaction among the players and with the game world, would be the focus. No one’s come close to delivering something like this. Heavy roleplaying guilds have sometimes fascinating narratives, but usually the best parts of their interaction might just as well take place in text chat rooms.
Syncaine may argue that a game like EVE Online offers the perfect place for emergent narrative, true player participation, and a feeling of being in the world takes place. It almost seems like it should. It shares with Ultima Online some of the elements that could have allowed for terrific, epic worlds.
But then we have Syncaine’s follow-up post. When he discusses the “lack of short-term ‘fun,’” he reveals that some of the most exciting things ever to happen in MMOs took place in EVE, and I’ll be he’s right. It would be spectacular to participate in a PVP battle with hundreds of players on each side. Syncaine writes: “What draws me to EVE is that potential, that possibility of launching that Titan.”
Unfortunately, I don’t actually think that’s different than what keeps people playing WoW. Oh, the big events in EVE may indeed be bigger than killing Illidan, but only a small percentage of the playerbase got to experience that for a tiny percent of their game time.
So, richer though EVE’s narrative rewards may be, they come at a dearer price, and to a smaller percentage of players.
Oh, and that point about a sense of community? Well, any game with a loyal fanbase has it. I just didn’t find it in EVE because the game obviously doesn’t address my personal MMO needs. I therefore don’t have much in common with those who (legitimately) find it satisfying. I’ll find a community when I find people who enjoy being immersed in their worlds, their characters. The long lists of statistics and lack of avatar don’t support my kind of immersion.
In the end, I actually think EVE is a great game for the right audience. But I also know, thanks to this little exercise, that I ain’t that audience!
November 14th, 2007
Alas, despite my passion for them, games continue to be a leisure-time-only activity for me. When my job keeps me tied to a desk for every hour of sunlight, the holidays approach, I contract food poisoning, and we decide to refinish a room in the week and a half before guests arrive, I find I have little time to play anything.
Coordinating leisure time with other people, a prerequisite for most games, can become downright impossible. I suppose that’s one reason why MMORPGs proudly advertise the ease of soloing. More importantly, it’s one reason why I, who ultimately prefer the creative fervor of collaborative storytelling with rules (that is, tabletop roleplaying games) spend so much more time playing computer games.
When I find myself so crunched for time that I can barely squeeze out a blog post a week, I nonetheless manage to fit in a bit of game-related activities. Here are my top four:
- Reading gaming blogs (much easier than writing posts) and other game-related media
- Poring over my ever-growing list of games I’d like to try
- IMing with friends about their game time (vicarious leisure > no leisure at all)
- Writing up quick descriptions of campaign settings I’d like to run
So what do gamers do when we don’t have time for real gaming? What para-gaming activities to do you enjoy?
Tobold once observed (and recently reiterated) that the true economic unit of MMORPGs is time. It seems it’s almost inherent to computer games (solo games, too) today that their worth is somewhat measured in how long they take to play. This doesn’t seem to be a characteristic of offline games (although replayability is a big issue).
Why is that?
November 14th, 2007
Over the next five months, I’ll don the mantle of Ozzy, an aristocratic Englishman who’s good friends with Percy, the Scarlet Pimpernel. No, it’s not the part I dreamed of, but it’ll be downright fun!
Over the last year or so, my wife and I have participated in a WoW get-together with some real-life friends. Unfortunately, my rehearsals will conflict with this occasional commitment, so I’ve given up my spot to another friend. It will be very interesting to hear from my wife how the group dynamic changes with a new player (playing a different class).
To me, though, it’s something of a relief. I’ve been having less and less fun in WoW. (I know I’m not alone in this.) I’ll enjoy the hiatus. I’m keeping my account open so I can play with her, more informally, as she gets her paladin to the level cap, but I won’t be logging in for any other reason.
I’ll also let my LotRO subscription lapse. LotRO is a game I’ve been enjoying much more than WoW, mostly because even though it’s somewhat inferior from a gamey perspective, it’s more satisfyingly immersive than any game I’ve played in a while. But some of the elements of WoW that I didn’t like but that provided building blocks for LotRO are starting to show, breaking my willing suspension of disbelief. Worst of all, I’m finding it lonely. I’ve been grouping in it a lot more than I ever did in WoW, but since my real-life friends are either non-gamers or are back in Azeroth, I don’t have anyone to chat with about LotRO.
So what will I do with my spare time? Well, besides the hours dedicated to the Scarlet Pimpernel (which will increase geometrically over the next few months), I expect to indulge in some standalone games (Neverwinter Nights 2 and Portal look mighty tempting), catch up a bit on my reading, and if I’m lucky find some way to get people to play card and board games with me!
November 8th, 2007
I haven’t had the opportunity to post nearly as much as I’d like, lately, because I’ve been preparing to audition for a musical. It’s been two decades since I last trod the boards, but with a community theater a ten-minute walk from my house, a good friend who’s an avid participant, and the fact that they’re putting on The Scarlet Pimpernel, inspired by the entertaining novel that basically kick-started the masked super-hero genre . . . well, I really couldn’t resist.
Over the past two weeks, my friend and I repeatedly rehearsed our audition song (”Our Children” from Ragtime, another great musical based on a novel), which cut somewhat severely into my gaming time. Sunday afternoon and last night, though, we finally had our auditions.
I think I did well, and I suspect I’ll be cast. (I’ll know by next Sunday at the latest.) I don’t think I’ll get my dream part (the villain Chauvlin) because some absolutely terrific contenders, active in theater more recently than 1988, tried out for the leads, but I do hope for a fun part with a real chance to act, sing, and dance.
To tie this all to gaming, I will state that I think I’m a much better actor than I was in high school, despite not having performed since then, and I attribute the improvement entirely to tabletop roleplaying games. Having taken on the roles of antagonists, love interests, monsters, and other colorful characters over the years, I’ve gained both confidence and competence in assuming roles whose personality is wildly different from my own (although I admit to having a sort of internal cast, now; I should write about that sometime).
It will be interesting to once again perform from a script instead of winging it. Here’s hoping I can bring whatever character they give me to more vivid life than I do the various inhabitants of my made-up tabletop worlds . . . but I’ll sure miss the excitement of an unfolding storyline with an ending unknown to any participants!
November 6th, 2007
odanu put up a great post at the Feminist Gamers blog analyzing in detail (and from a feminist perspective, of course) the characters of Donna and William, in World of Warcraft. The obnoxious William has been playing “keep away” with the perpetual victim Donna’s dolly since beta. The post articulated much that’s percolated in the back of mind ever since I first saw those two. Great insights.
The “boys will be boys” flavor that colors William’s behavior disturbs me deeply. When I see parents of young boys treat their male children’s misbehavior this way (and I’ve started to see it a lot, now that my daughter is two and interacts more and more with other children), I feel a bit of creeping despair. “Free to Be You and Me
came out thirty-seven years ago!” I think. “Why do we still have Tender Sweet Young Things? And the very different William on that hopeful (if cheesy) album wanted a doll to nurture and love. Stormwind’s William is a petty sadist who wants a doll only to hurt Donna.”
I’m equally disturbed to see the parents of victimized girls intervene immediately and aggressively while expecting boys to suck it up and deal with their own problems. While the boys are learning impunity for their misbehavior, the girls are taught helplessness in the face of adversity.
I expect gender politics and social challenges at playgroup. But in Stormwind, where I’m pleased to see confident guards of both sexes patrol the streets, you’d think these kids work out their differences constructively . . . even if it might mean a trip to the graveyard for one of them!
November 1st, 2007
A few minutes after I arrived home from work on Tuesday, a knock on the door announced the arrival of a UPS delivery. Even though the box clearly indicated that it came from Santa, I couldn’t bring myself to wait till 25 December. I tore right into it. In fact, I’d been expecting it. My mysterious Santa has been hinting to me (through posts on this blog and in my BGG mailbox) that something was on the way, a nice touch which really added to the fun.