I've moved!

I'm still moving over older entries. But, with my track record for unpacking... It'll be a while. So I've gone ahead and started rambling again...

www.randomramblings.com

Works out well doesn't it?

I have no acceptable excuse...

I maintain that the holidays have been hectic, however, still no excuse.

Things are a little slow right now so it's time for some catch up. Unfortunately I can't remember like 90% of what I wanted to mention... So I'll start rambling and hope I catch everything.

EQ2: Back to my pet subject with regards to this or any other game. Community. In this case guild dynamics.

Believe it or not, finding a good functional guild is a very important part of game longevity. Soloing my way through EQ2 would have had me packed up and leaving on a jet plane long ago. And I was on the verge just lately. I don't have a ton of time to play, and I'm a genius and made a cleric. Whilst, as an Inquisitor, I can solo quite effectively in most cases, it's still slow as ass.

And when one has a deadline to reach a certain level? Slow as ass soloing just doesn't cut it.

As much as I love my guild, it has it's faults. One of which is a propensity towards cliquishness. We have a lot of people who have more play time than others and spend a lot of time grouping and getting to the level cap before some of us with considerably less play time could hope to. Rather than help the rest of the guild, they go off together on their own and fill in their empty spots with folk from outside the guild.

I had some rather heated words for the GL about it... and unfortunately that's what it took for me to actually get invited on a guild group. * sigh * But things really didn't seem to matter to the GL until this person ran into the problem. Naturally a GL who can't get a guild group tends to get cranky.

The subsequent events led to my taking a week off from the game and doing other stuff. I couldn't really bring myself to log in I was so torqued off. Same GL who had just been complaining about cliquishness decided that they couldn't take two people of the same class to an instance cause that wasn't the optimal set up to win at the instance.

Which is completely counterproductive to building a cohesive guild. You can't have it both ways. I'm not exactly shy (shut up the lot of you) so I made my thoughts on the subject known. I'm still not really sure I feel like logging in at all... But I've got 15% to go until I get to level 75... So I'm sure I'll be in soloing a bit... Yeah it's back to that.

Book reviews: I can't remember what I've read lately... so once I've sifted through the stack of read vs need to read I'll fill this in.

Movie reviews: I went to a movie!!! In an actual movie theatre! How totally awesome is that! No, this doesn't really happen on a regular basis for several reasons, but mostly time... That and popcorn gets stuck between my teeth and I hate that... Blame my OCD.

I went to go see Sweeny Todd on Sunday. Now, I knew vaguely what the story was about, but I've never seen it before. It's just always been there on my to be seen list of Sondheim. So there I was with my soda and junior mints (after having driven home from the movie theatre 15 mins before the movie started because I thought I'd left my debit card at home and needed it to pick up my preordered tickets only to find that it was in fact in my purse the whole time).

I loved it. It was dark and kinda gothy. Helena Bonham Carter, who is not my favourite actress ever, was frankly amazing. She was lovely and voluptuous and goth and dark. Her comic timing was perfect and I was incredibly impressed. Johnny Depp, on whom I've had a crush since 21 Jump Street, was also just amazing. The fact that he'd never sung before just made his performance that much more impressive for me. I've read some reviews that say it fell flat... But I thought they did an incredible job with it.

It's so getting added to my dvd collection.

Christmas Dinner at my Mom's house: Didn't suck this year. Anyone who knows me well knows the sheer unadulterated suckitude of my family. My mom specifically. Like seriously, Margaret Cho's mom has NOTHING on my mom... My mom is a great gaping black-hole of suck. So naturally her house on any major holiday could literally destroy the world as we know it cause the gravitational pull of the suck would draw the sun into the earth and incinerate us all.

I hate my mom's house on any normal day... but holidays are worse.

There's a good 30 to 40 screaming Koreans. 90% of whom speak little to no English. So they're screaming at each other in Korean. Which is a major hairball language. And it sounds angry. Kinda like German. Both very angry sounding languages. Most of what is screamed in this loud angry hairball language is cracks at me for being fat and how I need to lose weight and what a disappointment I am to my poor mother. After mom gets done yelling at me though, most of the rest of the family is fairly nice.

So. There I am, all snug in my bed christmas morning, looking forward to a long day of doing nothing and playing EQ2... and my mom calls. Fortunately I didn't actually talk to her when she called cause I was still asleep. So I got a voicemail and I called back. Unfortunately, it was too early for me to have thought of a good reason that I couldn't go to her place later. DAMNIT.

I wasn't really looking forward to 10 screaming and poorly behaved monster children... So I did what any sane woman would do... I took guitar hero with me. I figured it would mesmerize the little brats and I'd be able to eat in peace and make a break for it at a reasonable hour.

I got to my mom's a little early (I have punctuality issues... blame the OCD). No screaming rug rats. No population of a small Korean village. I don't think there were more than 10 people there altogether.

SCORE!!!! I didn't even have to help cook this year... So I got to hang in the TV room and watch James Bond with my step-dad (who delivered a playful smack upon being told that I couldn't come up with a good excuse not to come by) and some other random family members.

Even better than no small screaming kids? My step-sister and two of my younger girl cousins were there. We played guitar hero. It was hysterical on every level. Ages: me=30, step sister=23, older girl cousin=20, younger girl cousin=17 (christmas baby! she was stuffed into a stocking at the hospital when they brought her out). Now, I've been playing gh pretty hard to try and not suck at it, so I'm pretty good. My step sister was just as bad as I was the first few times I played. My older cousin's boyfriend has the game so she didn't suck. My younger cousin smoked us all and had never picked up the damn game before.

There she was, kicked back on the couch and sleepy and she still kicked our asses. Her older sister was all kinds of into it and jumping around and screaming and doing the rock and roll finger thingie. I giggled.

Oh, but it gets better!! They're catholic, right? So their priest came by. HE tried to play. Little old Korean priest guy... hitting like every fourth or fifth note and making kung fu movie noises... He was awful and totally failed the songs he tried, but it was hilarious. My sister and I were both in tears and almost passed out cause we couldn't breathe we were laughing so hard.

So, cheers to the first ever holiday at my mom's that didn't suck. I'm fairly convinced that I have a terminal illness or that the end of the world is coming cause my mom was actually nice to me, too. For once instead of telling me how fat I was she told me I looked pretty... So maybe she's the one with the inoperable brain tumour... I've heard they change your personality...

New Year's Eve: Is actually gonna be spent out of the house this year. I know, right? I normally stay home and just chill out, but this year, the best friend and her boyfriend and I are all going out. No, we're not partying or anything. Just a really nice dinner. Which is good cause omg I looked at myself in the mirror after my shower last night and about puked. That has GOT to go. My happy butt is gonna be glued to the eliptical machine starting Jan 1st and isn't leaving til I can look at myself in the mirror without wanting to give myself home liposuction.

New Year's Resolutions: The aforementioned being able to look at myself nekkid in the mirror without having horror movie reactions. And I'm finally going to make the time to write a novel like I've always wanted to do. I can make excuses til judgement day, but the reality is... There is no excuse for me to not do this.

To one and all: Have a happy and safe New Year. May things be better for you in the coming year and may you accomplish at least half of what you set for yourself (since I know I usually don't make it to a full quarter of what I set ;) ).

woohoo!

So I finally got around to claiming my little badger dude for the RoK preorder.

Cutest thing EVER omg. He's adorable. He has a little flat kung fu hat. I just wanna give him chopsticks and a bowl of rice.

Best part? HE GIVES YOU SHINIES!!!! True, you don't get to harvest them... so there's a certain amount of gratification gone. BUT OMG HE GIVES YOU SHINIES.

I won't even cop to how much I spent on badger food. But it's been worth it. I've gotten shinies I needed and couldn't get. I've gotten rare shinies. Rarer shinies.

I'm in shinie freaking heaven. I may never leave my room again.

On a side note, my CS issue has been resolved. And whilst it turns out that nothing can be done about my problem, at some point during the back and forth they started acting like people and actually taking a minute to respond like a normal person to my statements and not automatons.

I hate that it took me being flat out rude to get there... but I'm happy that they did get there.

* tucks away her little hope for SOE's CS for safe keeping *

On a side note... I've applied for a job to get me out of the grind of number crunching (which actually isn't all that bad, I like my job just not the oppressive atmosphere). So let's all cross our fingers and toes and eyes and whatever else can be crossed without causing damage :)

'Tis the season...

To level like crazy.

Oh wait... sorry. The holiday season is always hectic and full of pressure.

Usually my escape is diving into EQ2 and trying to get away from all the crap the holidays bring. Buying presents, visiting family, blah blah blah.

Unfortunately, this year the level cap raised. So now I have... * counts * Five characters to get to level 80 in one form or another. That's three crafters and two healers. For some of them the trip is relatively short. For others... * shudder * We just don't talk about them.

It certainly isn't that I don't love the game and the excitement of leveling and getting new gear and new spells and all that. But there is pressure involved.

Because I'm in a raiding guild. Granted, we're not exactly uber or anything, but we want to do certain things. This requires leveling up to the cap in a rather short period of time. It also involves upgrading spells and gear etc. in that same period of time.

This is an expensive proposition on several levels. First, the time factor. Second, plat.

Time is an issue. I have two jobs. And believe it or not, even with being sick for a few weeks and slacking off ridiculously during that period, it still takes up a lot of time. I still need to find a way to work in time for other stuff too. * frantically tries to activate her mutant power of time control *

Finances are an issue too. I'm not rich. Either in real life or in game. Winning either lottery would be helpful here. Real life lottery solves my time issues and that in turn would solve the problem of not having money in game cause I'd have SO much more time to do stuff that makes money... * buys a ticket for the lottery and tries to activate her mutant power of whatever would make her win *

So there is no rest for the wicked here. I'm actually not really that upset about it or anything. I love the new expansion. I love that I've got 10 more levels to get and work through. I don't love that I have a time limit... but that was my choice and I'll live with it.

In the meantime I'm loving the new expansion for the most part. I'm fond of the quests, but I would love to be able to get experience effectively by grinding again... just a little bit. There are nights when I just don't want to think as hard as I have to in order to do quests. I just want to mentally phase out and heal through a two hour run of mob slaughter.

That small annoyance aside, I think they've done an excellent job thus far.

And I still love my little guild. So yay me.

I'm going to go back to trying to activate my mutant abilities now. I wonder if juggling a zillion things at once and trying to cram everything I need to do into a 19 hour day qualifies as a mutant power...

why i need to win the damn lottery...

Because work keeps getting in the way of this. Alright, it gets in the way of a lot of other stuff too, but it's seriously putting a cramp in the time that I have to blather at the four poor sods who read this junk.

Thus, I have decided that this weekend I'll be winning the lottery so that I don't have to work anymore and will have time to post every. single. day. Yeah, I know, you're all so thrilled that you've gone numb and that's why there's no applause. It's okay. I love you too.

After being out of touch for a bit as I was and then the mad crush of trying to figure out how to catch back up with junk, I got back into game for real and was kind of at a loss.

What to do and do I really want to keep playing?

It didn't really hurt me to not do much in game for a week or so. I read like four books, watched the entire first season of Heroes, and some other junk. I felt all productive (and yes I have to review books. I know. Shush). It was kind of nice.

Well, I was reminded why I keep playing. Besides, of course, for the fun factor.

The people. I can't ever stress enough how important the people and community are for the longevity of a game. I've been bored to tears a number of times and on the verge of taking an extended haiatus and managed to keep going because of the people.

I think I know some of the funniest people in game. Personal bias all the way, of course.

My guild is awesome too. We joke and laugh and everyone has a sense of humour. Or most everyone does. The people who don't usually don't last that long.

The other night, one of our templars decided she was going to move her alt into a lower level guild to play with some friends.

One of the officers went to boot her out of the guild cause it's fun and it would be amusing to have on the guild events. Except that she was either too quick on the draw or he was too slow... Because she ended up out and he ended up kicking a necro. A necro with a LOT of guild status. A necro who was in fact online at the time and in vent.

From what people said his comments in vent were priceless and I'm actually really sorry I wasn't there for it. As it was, I was crying so hard I could barely see the screen. It was seriously priceless.

We got him reguilded and all, and I THINK he's forgiven our officer for accidently kicking him. Maybe. We'll find out at the next raid.

We're social creatures, we humans. It's an incredibly effective tool for game companies to use to their advantage. You can have the most incredible game on the face of the planet and no community and it will fail. You can have a mediocre game and have a fantastic community of people and it will thrive.

Happily, EQ2 is both an amazing game and has a fantastic community.

I know that I wouldn't still be here if it weren't for the people I've met. SOE does a great job of trying to promote that feeling of family you develop in these kinds of games. Sure, there are people who complain and don't like it... but there are people like that everywhere. Nothing pleases them. They sure are fun to mess with though ;)

What does this have to do with the lottery? Well, DUH. I'd have more time to play. Sheesh. Try to follow along...

(insert witty title here)

Yeah... I got nothing.

Well for a title anyway.

Mostly just a lot of thoughts floating about in my head. So I'm just going to sift out the game related stuff, cause the rest of it is none of anyone's damned business.

Gods and Heroes

While I called the death of this game from the second I read the first interview with Steig (incidentally, Steig was reached after much debate over the correct spelling... We've all seen it both ways and can never decide which is correct. So if it is misspelt, send your hate mail to radarx@tentonhammer.com kkthx.), I'm still sorry to see it crash and burn.

There are a lot of factors that contributed to its demise that I'm sure I have no clue about one way or the other. The main one that I see from a player's standpoint, though, is that it tried too hard. They took Roman culture and mythology and made unnecessary changes to something that didn't need it. They also tried to incorporate what seems like all the most successful aspects of major games on the market. And in the end... It was just too much fantasy in a glutted market. When someone like me, who has eaten up mythology since 3rd grade, throws up their hands in disgust, you're doing something wrong. Period.

Gallenite, who's terribly smart and awfully cute too, posted about the development side of game making and all that's involved. Go read.

My guild

Are a bunch of loons. I love them dearly :) They're curing my burnout most handily.

Crafting

Must. Get. To. 70... * twitch *

Warhammer

Arugh. Just... Arguh. I wanna play this game. I give them massive props for having the brass to take down the beta servers and say "Hey, you gave us good feedback... we're fine tuning and reopening the beta later." That's awesome. DAoC should have been bigger than it was. It was a well made game. So hopefully they'll do good stuff with WAR.

Tabula Rasa

Not sure... still debating. I like the idea and the feel... but there's a learning curve that sorta turned me off at first. Hopefully they refine that a bit.

Winning the lottery

I need to. That is all.

* does the happy snoopy dance of I told you so *

I absolutely, without a doubt, love to be right.

It doesn't happen often. In fact, all too often I make really ridiculous mistakes.

But just this once, I bask in the glory of rightitude. Yes, it's a word.


** for the people who don't know what this is about :)

Gods and Heroes has been cancelled. I said a year ago that this game was never going to make release. * flex * Yes, my ESPN is strong!

Hello, I love you. Won't you tell me your name?

I often joke that I have a "Freaks and Creeps Apply Here" tattoo on my forehead. Whilst this is obviously not true, as my forehead isn't large enough for that, it is an on going sensation.

Being female in an MMO is... interesting, for lack of a better term.

One need not even really be female to experience this. Which is an entirely separate discussion.

Just being perceived as female often garners attention. You'll get random pressies just for being a chick and showing up in the newbie zone. Can you say, eww?

What's worse is when you're minding your own business and making some potions and poisons and such (what kind of an idiot messes with a woman who can make poison, btw???). Sitting there crafting away, carefully measuring out components for that oh so dangerous hemotoxin...

freaky_guy_01 tells you: nice underwear!
....
I beg your pardon?
freaky_guy_01 tells you: do you often craft in your underwear?
* twitch * The plate gets in the way * goes back to crafting, mildly amused *
freaky_guy_01 tells you: a bunch of stuff that can't be repeated, not even here.
* gags * You're creepy. Go away.
freaky_guy_01 tells you: even worse things that make me want to go bathe in acid..
/ignore freaky_guy_01!!11!one11eleventyzomg!

guh. guh guh guh and a big heaping side helping of GUH.

Now, I know that this is an extreme case. I know that this doesn't really happen to all that many women. But good gods it seems to happen to me a lot.

Obviously my own fault for having a Dark Elf (superior race, hottest chicks in game, etc etc).

But it kind of makes you wonder about people who just randomly strike up that sort of conversation, if that's what you wanna call it, with a pixilated version of a totally fictitious race and assuming that just because these pixels are female means that the consciousness behind them is also female.

If I'd been thinking clearly at the time I'd have busted out with: Dude, I'm a guy. That would likely have been the end of it. But I'm just not that quick and I was so thrown by the whole episode that my mind was reeling.

I get flirted with a lot online, it's just sorta what you deal with being a chick gamer. Random and kinda sad PM's on forums from people you don't know, tells, mail, whatever. Somehow they always find you because you're Eleanor. Two points for the reference.

I honestly don't think people know just how creepy this really can be. And then I think to myself, good GODS why do they do it in the first place?

When someone figures it all out, lemme know! I'll just be in the bathroom trying to scrub this invisible tattoo off my forehead.

Barbara had a point...

People... People who need people....

Okay, that's enough of that. I'll not be singing in the blog. Something for which I'm sure you're all profoundly grateful.

Life being what it is, last week was a ridiculously non productive week work or writing wise. (And while that entire sentence reads like poo, it makes sense in my head and we're going with it.) Thus, the all of one entry.

Today is a brand new week, though, so here we go.

I've long held the firm belief that there is one thing that makes or breaks an MMO. The people who play. A lot of people won't agree with me. They'll site gameplay, or fun factor, or whatever other hot buzz word is being bandied about that week.

Whilst all these things are an important factor in the success of a game, I still hold that the community devoted to the game is the most important variable.

Look at EQ2, my game of choice. I think it's the best game on the market and has been since it's launch. I will likely never be swayed from this opinion either. I can admit that the launch was a little rough and that the game needed some serious polish.

However, even as far from the yummy perfectiony goodness that it is today, nothing could have drawn me away from EQ2. The reason for that is simple. The community.

I got involved in the EQ2 community in April of 2004. The official forums hadn't been up for very long at that point and the community was in its infancy. Moorgard was still the only one running the show and we all spent a good deal of time chit chatting and speculating over every tiny tidbit SOE slipped us.

The months leading up to beta and then to launch gelled the forum community into a rather lovely and fun place to make friends and get game information. We figured out what did and didn't work, both in the game and on the forums.

I've made some very good friends from EQ2. But I didn't meet them in game. I met them there, on the forums where the community congregated during work hours when those of us not lucky enough to be able to play from work (yes, there are people who can do that... lucky bastards) would hang out and get our fixes.

Of the games I've played and the communities of which I've been a part, EQ2 has one of the tightest knit and mature bunch of game addicts I've come across. (By now I think I've used the word community a dozen times or so.... I suck.) This is what's kept me around, even through the burn out and the lure of other games.

Nothing else has had the feel that EQ2 holds and a large part of that is the people. For the most part, because to be honest every game has asshats, the people of EQ2 are warm and welcoming. They help newbies get started in the world and share amongst themselves.

I'm not saying that other games don't have solid communities. They do. No MMO out there can make it on gameplay alone. Man is a social animal and we congregate in groups. The trick is finding the group that fits all your kinks and quirks and makes you feel at home.

* brushes off her little "Home, Sweet Home" sign and hangs it up on her door in Neriak *

This is mine and you're all more than welcome to stop in anytime for the grand tour.

Will they never learn??

The lovely people over at Online Gaming Radio let me get on EQ2sday and yap for a couple of hours last night.

I've been on before, not EQ2sday but Friday night's Ravecast, and for some reason they keep inviting me back. I think they're gluttons for punishment or something. But, hey, I get to yammer about EQ2 and whatever else crosses my mind for a few hours, so I am happy!

Zanadi mentioned a pick up raid she'd gone on and that let me touch on a topic near and dear to my heart. I didn't get to say as much about it as I would have liked, which is probably good since it would have occupied way too much time and ended with me totally monopolizing things. So, now all four people who read this must suffer. Send your hate mail to OGR ;)

So. Raiding.

I love to raid. I have since EQ1. There's just something about the whole experience that opens up all new avenues for fun and excitement in the game for me. It isn't all I do by any means, but it's definitely a big part of things for me.

One of the problems I've always had with raiding, though, was that it seemed like a part of the game only the super uber elite folks could do. I've never held with that mentality and I have never agreed with the strangle hold the "uber guilds" have tried to keep on raid content.

I'm of the firm opinion that anyone who wants to do it should have the opportunity to and more importantly CAN raid. Here's the thing. Raiding isn't HARD. Yes, you do need to focus a little more than you do when you're soloing or grouping. There are more people to coordinate and get used to. But even with all that, once you get yourself in that mode and know what to do, it isn't hard.

More and more lately I'm seeing casual guilds run through raid content. Pick up raids are all over the place. Yeah, they're a little rough and not as smooth as say NPU or whatever other uber guilds are out there, but honestly? Who the hell cares? It isn't about who can do it the fastest or with the least amount of mistakes. It's about FUN.

You don't have to be a rigid militarily precisioned guild to do any of the content in this game. I mean you can't run around and half arse it or anything cause you won't get very far. The point is, that all of the content can be done even if you aren't "perfect" at the game.

I absolutely LOVE to see casual guilds, raiding alliances, pick up raids... whatever. I don't care who it is. I'm just happy to see people who want to do this stuff getting out there and doing it. It's an aspect of the game that is becoming more accessible to the player base and I can only see good in that.

There are elitests out there who are pissy about the hoi polloi out there getting the gear and such that they think should only be reserved for the "better" guilds. I think they know where they can shove that nonsense.

This isn't a contest. It's a game. It's there for people to have fun. That being said, yes, these folks need that competition and sense of accomplishment for their fun. Good for them, and I hope they're getting what they want. It's the attitude that the gaming companies need to cater to them that makes me grind my teeth.

It isn't about a fraction of the player base being appeased and elevated. It isn't about keeping the super uber elite so far above everyone else that no one can hope to attain those levels. It's about everyone having as much fun as they can. That can't happen if content is focused on just one type of player. It has to incorporate things for everyone.

The more people who raid? The more attention that can be given to raiding content.

**note: there's a lot more to say on this... but I have a day job, so it'll have to be a continuous thing.

The Blizzardification of the Gaming World

I was talking with a brilliant and rather delicious friend one day about making video games. A subject which I know nothing about, but about which he knows a TON. The very great advantage to having a few friends in the gaming industry is that when I can get them chatting about what they do, I learn a lot.

One thing that he mentioned that stood out in my mind and has been really making me think for several months now is how things have changed in the gaming industry since WoW hit it so big. Gaming talk has started to revolve around WoW and Blizzard and that model. No longer abstract and gamey, it's now all WoW this and WoW that.

The phenomenon that is WoW has taken over and seeped into every aspect of the gaming world.

This is a problem.

Not because WoW is a bad game or anything. For what it is, it's really great. It has its appeal and that's all good. It doesn't appeal to me, but that's just... ya know, me.

So why is it a problem? Because in their desperate race for power and glory, game designers have forgotten one thing. They forgot to hook up the doll. (2 points for getting the reference.) No really. The problem is that WoW has become the benchmark for so many people. It has become the standard by which success is measured.

Unfortunately this is an inaccurate and fallacious measurement. It's like the view that women who read a lot of romance novels develop about sex and relationships. It isn't normal. And it sets standards that are unattainable.

So what happens because of this? We end up with a lot of games that are clones of WoW. They're out there trying to make it WoW, but different in the hopes that they'll hit on that mystical combination of variables that gets them the nine million subscriptions.

Grimwell wrote a great bit about it in his blog with regards to venture capitalists and what they look for when investing in game ideas. I agree with him on a lot of points there. Since he was focusing on the business end of things though, he neglected to mention how this burning desire to hit the million sub mark is hurting the gaming industry in other ways.

That way is the players. We're being hurt by this WoW cloning machine. Games are getting a little cookie cutter and boring. All these new games coming out that should be good and fun to play because of the ideas behind them are losing. There isn't a lot of market for the same game over and over with a different paint job. Well, except for Madden... but that's another fluke.

Eventually there are going to be so many games out that are boring copy cats of WoW that people who play MMOs are going to lose interest entirely and look elsewhere.

SOE down!!

The sky is falling! The sky is falling!

Okay, it isn't really. Just some updates and such.

So check out the fluff Cal and I have posted for your viewing pleasure.

And don't expect an updated blog entry until later today. I'm having too much fun making up downtime haikus with Coyote.

Everyone has an off day...

But gods is it embarassing when it happens.

Calthine sent me a link to this thread and I have to admit that I giggled. Fortunately it hasn't happened to me yet, but I wouldn't be surprised if it did at some point. Like the poor person in the thread I, too, have a tendancy to get a little distracted. Forums, blogs, netflix queue (mine's at some 300 or so movies eep!), tv, books, shiny objects... You get the idea.

This made me giggle since I'd just been telling her about an article I'd written (we'll be tossing that up late tonight for tomorrow's downtime) about how I multitask when I heal.

The bad part comes in with the fact that I was actually writing that article during a labs raid.

Okay, so labs is easy right? We farm it weekly (and this week was a GOOD loot run omg), and as such, we usually run through it in about an hour and half or so. Two hours if people are going ld or we're just goofing around.

This last run was one of our really not good runs. There was much badness when we got to Vymenn. This is a little amusing to me just because normally we're so good about it. The very next day, we spanked the Lyceum the way we're supposed to.

So that got me to thinking. What exactly is it that makes a day run so wrong that your raid just totally screws the pooch? I'd love to say that it can all be chalked up to the distracted inquisitor, but I know I'm just not that integral. What is it then? Just too many people woolgathering? A split second off on the pull? It can't be a lack of skill, cause we do it all the time. Perhaps a general klutziness about the entire raid force?

I have no idea really, but it made for an interesting saturday afternoon. Maybe next week, I'll turn off the tv...

omg I won EQ2!!!

Again!

I finally got my little provisioner to level 70. I now have a level 70 inquisitor (okay, I cheated there and leveled her up to 68 as a templar, first, but it counts!) and a level 70 provisioner. I've finally reached the end of the... what? My defiler? My tailor and alchemist?

Hell.

So much for being done. Evidently there are still more things to accomplish and goodies to accumulate. So, why is that I'm willing to go through the whole thing all over again? Cause there's stuff I want.

That's a major reason these games suck us in and keep us playing. Goodies. Or if you wanna be fancy about it, incentive. We stick around for that next shinie, that next level, that next piece of class armour in our neverending quest for a matching set of armour, that uber spiffy weapon... whatever. Even the people that we play with.

It doesn't matter what it is, but it's there for everyone. A bit of carrot to keep us coming back and striving for something.

The problem of course comes from balance. If it's too easy to obtain, we won't want it (unless you're one of those lame arses who buys their crap for real world money because you're just too damned lazy or have too much disposable income for your own good). Conversely though, if it's too hard, we'll lose interest and go elsewhere.

From a player's perspective, I would think that this would be the biggest obstacle facing a game designer. How do I make the game challenging enough to keep people wanting to play without making it so hard they give up in frustration. How do I make it easy enough that the lazy, instant gratification tossers will stop their whining or go play WoW. How do I balance the classes just right so that no one feels too anally violated or too godlike (yeah that one is a real kick in the pants).

They walk a fine line, that's for certain. In the end, you're going to have some stuff that most people aren't going to want to bother with, like raiding, and you'll have a small percentage of the game population striving for that aspect. You'll have people who go the easiest routes possible. Then you'll have the majority of us who dabble in all aspects of the game (dear gods soloing with a defiler is an exercise is masochism).

Whatever that undefinable thing is that draws people into a game (alright, so it isn't really all that undefinable, but damnit it sounds better my way!) EQ2 holds it for me.

So I'm off to try and win EQ2, again, on my defiler and tailor. Too bad they aren't the same character * sob *