Media in March

So, another month gone. And what have we learned? Never try predicting stuff. Also, playing games sometimes steals time away from books.

Games

The game that wants to be mentioned this month is Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden. This is a story driven (semi-abstract) stealth / turn based tactics game.I tried the demo on Steam, and then bought it as part of April’s Humble Monthly.

The story drives progress with fixed maps and encounters. The stealth bit is abstract as in all enemies watch 360° around them, including through walls. And when your characters are hidden… they are hidden. It exists only to pick off stragglers, making the “real combat” easier.

The turn based combat is good, though. Two actions, like in XCom. A (small but) diverse set of weapons, abilities and enemies coupled with varied and destructible environment makes me a happy gamer.

Sad to say I haven’t played it very much, only a couple of hours, but I have had fun and will continue to play it in small bits.

I also pulled out Papers, Please again. Played some more, until I got a game over I can call a minor victory (if I squeeze my eyes and pretend dying is not a loss). It is fascinating, but still scary. Something about the theme coupled with that soundtrack. Brrr…

Anthem DID NOT get a go, as my Anthem playing friend played to 30 and parked it, waiting for patches and content. Perhaps some other time. We did end up buying Tom Clancy’s The Division 2, and I’ve had a blast playing multiplayer co-op in potato mode. Also played a bit alone, but I cannot get through the bosses in story missions alone as a casual gamer playing sniper.

Some time was put into Dead Cells, it is a hard metroidvania (whatever that means), but the platforming is forgiving. I’ve had some fun, and though it is not my style of game– more fun will be had.

As an aside… well, it is gaming. I did join up with some friends, travel for hours and hours across the country to play pen and paper role playing games for an extended weekend. We ended up playing Elite Dangerous: the RPG, and as a warm-up I installed and played Elite Dangerous for the first time. Even though I helped kickstart it.

So much relaxing gameplay were had, that I’ve ended up buying the Horizon expansion (at half off). More relaxing fun to follow. Medium term goal is to get access to the Sol system and visit Earth.

I also got Factorio for the “fun and relaxing play” — yes I did turn off monsters. I kind of regret the purchase, not because I didn’t like it but, because I actually have enough games for that kind of frame of mind.

Other games worthy of mention is:

• Car Mechanic 2018, for more achievements
• Ironcast, it showed up on my list of games when I needed some quick fun
• Path of Exile, for the click for loot feel. Tried it out with a friend, not sure it worked as well for me there as Diablo 3 does in the same space.
• More Slay the Spire, but just a bit – and I keep losing early
• Diablo 1, because it was released on GOG.
• Also picked up AdVenture Capitalist again (clicker / idle game). Not sure why.

And the mobile suspects:

• more Marvel Puzzle Quest on Android
• more Tents and Trees on Android
• Golf Peaks, a golf themed puzzle game on Android. Fun :)
• Elder Scrolls: Blades (Early Access) on Android. Smooth and… I’m not sure on this one, yet.

Books

Books got less attention this month than last. I’m simultaneously reading several books, but haven’t finished any. Which kind of shakes up my progress towards 39 books this year.

Worth mentioning are Game Engine Black Book: Doom by Fabian Sanglard, which is a slow and technical book. Fun though, in a gamer / programmer / historical kind of way.

TV, film and series

We did see The Princess Bride, and it was still good. Inconceivable? Right, I know. :)

We’ve also seen a few music/band documentaries on Netflix. Particularly enjoyed Metallica: Some Kind of Monster, Now More Than Ever: The History of Chicago and We Are Twisted F***ing Sister! Recommended all around.

Formula 1 also started, and it’s been some roller coaster. Happy for Kevin Magnussen, especially with the Australian race and the qualifying in Bahrain. Too bad with the race there, though. Still lots of promise shown.

Listening to

Still the usual suspects. Nothing specific on the music front, more of the same on the podcasts. Didn’t find time for all of TWIG, though:

• Gamers With Jobs conference calls
• Diecast
• This Week in Google
• Designer Notes

Next month…

is next month. Waiting for what more is left in Humble Monthly April, and what shows up early for May.

More Formula 1 will happen, and Easter week will leave me a hole in my schedule that will at least partly be filled with some kind of media.

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Media in February

And here we are, at the end of February. And the idea of listing the highlights of media I’ve consumed for entertainment seems daunting, at least when I push the act of writing about it until now.

I kind of failed in my predictions, even though I wrote about what I (thought) I was about to do. More of that below.

Games

February has actually been more quiet for me on the games front. I had planned to play more Dragon Age: Origins, but I have felt burned out on that, with combat being a bit too much and the feeling that the writing tapered off after a while. I haven’t given up on it, I’ve just left it sitting for a month.

The main game played has been Car Mechanic Simulator 2018, and I really don’t know why. I’m not much of a car person so I recon it must be some kind of relaxing thing, Zen flow or something like that. I have passed the “Ok, now I’m happy and it isn’t as fun” point, but I still drop in to play a bit of story mission now and again.

This is a game where I have ideas as to what would give it longevity for me. It would involve more use for money and parts scavenged, but I won’t rant on about it here.

CMS2018 also got me to buy Plane Mechanic Simulator (early access), this looks nice, plays ok, and is as of now more of a story game. It also has a fiddly mini-game for repairs (which is a deal-breaker for me), and also seems a bit… I don’t know. It expect more accuracy (pixel hunt). I will keep trying this out as time passes I guess.

I’ve also played a bit more Slay the Spire, but without actually achieving anything – including wins. It is still fun, but I fear I will need to start “thinking about the game and deck” to progress.

As a last try I’ve also put some hours into Tharsis. This is an Dystopian Horror Survival Dice game about going to Mars. I’ve managed to beat the game on easy and normal, and get a couple of characters through. I haven’t completed the game, but I think I can call it beaten.

In a LAN session with co-workers I’ve died a bit in CS: GO, and had a blast with (up to 8 player) co-op Alien Swarm: Reactive Drop. Really recommend it, it’s free, friendly, friendly-fire, tactical and quick fun.

Also, when I think about it:

• more Marvel Puzzle Quest on Android
• more Tents and Trees on Android
• Sega Heroes on Android (quick match three, uninstalled)
• Card Thief on Android (some kind of car based stealth game)
• Roots on Android (puzzle game)

Books

I’m now a few books ahead of my goal, and it is helped by me counting children’s books. Still I have gotten through
“Don’t Panic: Douglas Adams & The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” by Neil Gaiman as I planned.

I’ve also gone through “Nice Dragons Finish Last” and
“One Good Dragon Deserves Another” by Rachel Aaron. This universe mixing future tech and really old school magic is strangely captivating. The books are an easy read; good young-adult type of literature.

TV, film and series

Of note we’ve watched “Robin Hood: Men in Tights” by Mel Brooks. Or re-watched. Again. For some of us. :) It really hit the spot.

I’ve also gone through Twitch content and YouTube videos, nothing specific or outstanding. Most noteworthy would be some videos by Curiosity Incorporated, and 1985 Fiero 2M4 Revival by Ronald Finger.

Listening to

The usual suspects. Nothing specific on the music front, more of the same on the podcasts:

• Gamers With Jobs conference calls
• Diecast
• This Week in Google
• Designer Notes

Next month…

…is March. I don’t think I should try and predict anything. I might end up trying Anthem with a friend, but probably just for the 10 hours I think would be included in Origin Basic.

I’ll probably read a bit more by Rachel Aaron, and I have a few more books lined up. The Princess Bride is on the plan for sharing with the young ones.

Also Formula 1 season starts March 17th, and will be seen.

Media in January

In order to help me remember at the end of the year what I’ve played, read,
watched and listened to… I thought I’d put it down in words. That should also help me get stuff written in here. Two for one! Also, I will write words. Writing words are a good thing to do. More wordsssss…

The plan this year is to consume, catch up and have fun. I can’t say I won’t buy stuff – because I will. My plan is to get through at least two “big” CRPGs, preferably some old ones I already own and never finished. I’m also committing to reading 39 books (75% book per month on average).

Games

First. I’ve started on Dragon Age: Origins. My first time in this game was back in January 2010, and I then only had the DVD / physical version. After looking for it and giving up, I bought the Ultimate Edition on Steam during a sale. This got me all the DLC… and I naturally found the disc the very next day. Oh, well. DLC will be nice. And installing and/or playing without a disc is nice.

At the end of January I’m through a mage prologue, the battle for
Ostagar, gone through Redcliffe Village and Castle, freed the mages in the circle tower, returned to Ostagar (DLC! YAY!) and helped Elves (freeing the werewolves in the process). I’m not the biggest fan of real time combat with pause, and as a mage the combats are either very easy or very hard.

I’ve also played Graveyard Keeper a bit, having upgraded the church once. Not sure how I feel about it, there’s a lot of busy work. On the other hand, things doesn’t decay if I forget to do stuff.

Pictopix is a good, solid Nonogram (also known as Picross or Griddlers) implementation. I’m at the 30×30 levels, and things are going slow. It is fun, though, and will keep me entertained time and again for hours and hours.

Slay the Spire is a good, fun game that I am absolutely rubbish at. Not absolutely, but close. I play to fast with not enough planning, but I have fun doing it. I’ve beaten the three first acts with all characters, and was sooo close in the (kinda “secret”) fourth act two times. Not sure if that act is part of “beating” the game, or if it is “completionist” level of play.

I’ve also played Diablo 3 (Season 15) a bit in casual multiplayer, same thing with Stellaris. Both are games that will stay with me for a long time.

Diablo 3 and a comment from Old Man Mordaith got me trying out Path of Exile again, and I found I hadn’t played as much of it as I thought. I guess I mixed it up with Grim Dawn in my mind. Just casually playing a Templar in Betrayal mode, just got to Act 2. This is rather fun, and until I get closer to end game and realize I’ve screwed up the build… I’ll keep having fun I guess.

Last thing at the end of January was Cultist Simulator. A sale and a coupon saw me plucking this from my wish-list, and I’m currently at two minor victories and two “game over”s. Not sure if I can do an actual win condition without sitting down and finding out how things work, until now it’s been all try and fail and try again.

Also, when I think of it:

• Marvel Puzzle Quest on Android (quick match-three gameplay – old)
• Tents and Trees on Android (logic puzzle, much fun – random find)
• Meteorfall on Android (Deckbuilder, good bit-sized fun – GWJ)
• Children of Mana on DS (action CRPG – gift from a friend de-cluttering)

Books

Last year I read 34 out of my 26 book goal. This year I’m raising the bar, and going for 39 books. This will include children’s books, easy to reads, fiction, facts and big, heavy stuff; both new and re-reads. I’m tracking it all on GoodReads.com, and I’m currently on schedule.

I’ve re-read “The Making of Prince of Persia” by Jordan Mechner, very much fun reading about how games were made back then. It is a publication of his diary, drastically different from other “making of” books available these days.

I’ve also read Richard Garriot’s “Explore/Create: My Life in Pursuit of New Frontiers, Hidden Worlds, and the Creative Spark”. This is not quite a biography, and not a making of. It is a series of stories from the life of Lord British himself. A nice book that gives a bit of insight into the life of someone that, though privileged, took chances, had a bit of luck — but most of all took the opportunities that came along.

On the “easy” side, I read “Minimum Wage Magic” by Rachel Aaron. This is a young adults (I think) book about magic and technology in the (not that far) future. It reads a bit like the Dresden files by Jim Butcher, only not as much hard luck (and not as much adult content). I am looking forward to the next books in this series. Once again I fail hard by not checking that all books are done in a series before starting on it…

TV, film and series

We’re done watching all the Monty Python’s Flying circus available on Netflix here in our country, and I think that is all of it. Just as before, this has been really fun.

We’ve also seen some episodes of “The toys that made us”, specifically Lego and Barbie (we saw Star Wars last year). We’ve also seen and enjoyed the documentaries on David Bowie, Foo Fighters and Keith Richards.

Apart from that it has been just a bit of random stuff on youtube and twitch. Apart from a whole lot of Awesome Games Done Quick. That is always fun and for a good cause.

Stuff I’ve been listening to

Music; mostly random stuff from my Spotify playlists and suggestions.

On the podcast side, it is Gamers With Jobs conference calls, Diecast (Shamus Young), This Week in Google (Leo Laporte) and Designer Notes (Soren Johnson). These are usually while I walk to and from work, and I usually manage to get through them with just a bit of extra listen time on odd times. Two on gaming, one on tech and one on game design. Fun times.

Next month…

…is February. This month will see more Dragon Age: Origins as the main RPG. I will also continue to spend a bit more time in each of these: Cultist Simulator, Path of Exile, Slay the Spire, Pictopix and the mobile games mentioned above.

If I manage to get through DA:O I might start… continue on with Pillars of Eternity… Just becaues PoE2 will get a turn-based combat option and I will want to play through the story of the first one all the way. I’m not sure on this, though.

Books I will definitely get through are “Nice Dragons Finish Last” also by Rachel Aaron, and “Don’t Panic: Douglas Adams & The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” by Neil Gaiman.

A Jagged Alliance

Jagged Alliance (JA) was one of the the first turn-based tactical games I ever played, I think. Bear with me; I’m getting old and it isn’t important anyway.

The story was, you were a leader of mercenaries. You got hired to retake an island with a revolutionary medicinal plant plantation on it, captured by a bad employee of the resident scientist.

Day by day you sent out your mercenaries, taking new areas, defending the few you already got. Your payment was based off of the few plants controlled and harvested. With the cash you needed to pay your mercenaries, hire guards and possibly more mercenaries. Some mercenaries’ effectiveness was ruled by traits triggered by chance, environment or other mercenaries.

In the next game, JA2, the mercenary organisation had grown, and this time you were to free an island state ruled by a dictatorial queen. It was her exiled, and presumed dead, husband who hired you. This game is like the first one, but with more of what made it good. More RPG goodness, more intricacies, more strategy layer business. It is the game that couldn’t be good, but managed to turn out as a gem.

After that, a lot of JA themed games followed, and they couldn’t succeed. Each player of JA and JA2 loved some part of the game, and tolerated what was left. Any change to that magic mix, and you took away something that someone loved. Or added more of what another really didn’t like. Or both. At the same time.

RAGE!?

Recently JA: Rage! was released, and the outcry where there again. “THIS IS NOT MY JAGGED ALLIANCE!” People screamed, and yet I think it is the best possible JA game that could have been at this point in time. Why? It isn’t a game like JA and JA2. True, it is a turn-based tactical game. But there is no character improvement or progression, no real strategy layer. You do not have a base, hold no land. The only thing that makes it a JA game is the theme and characters. It is again a small island, and it is a few of the mercenaries from 20 years ago.

In a way it is much of the same that was done with XCOM recently. The team sat down and removed all that was not needed for a tactical turn-based game, and then after that– added some JA touches.

The good

The turn-based part is really simple, and the characters are as well. There is no big, bad ball of stats that interact in obtuse ways.

You (usually) got 12 Action Points (AP). Walking or crawling takes 2 AP, while running one square takes 1 AP, but makes sound. Weapons and items takes different amounts of AP for different actions, and you can increase aim by a few AP extra.

You are visible when you stand up, you can hide behind hard stuff, or in high grass, which makes you harder to spot. Unless you’re the big guy. Then you are visible anyway. Or the camouflaged fellow, then you are invisible.

If you are silent, and hide bodies, you may get through an area without any trouble, making noise or being detected by other means will have the AI storm you with superior numbers, if they know where you are. A good diversion may make them run, or look, in the wrong direction. So diversion is good. Unless they are under pressure and start killing civilians.

What sets the mercenaries apart from each others, are traits and rage! abilities.

The traits are simple stuff like being better with hand to hand combat, or having extra inventory because you are big. And they usually come with negatives, like a negative modifier to hit with guns… or being so big you can’t hide at all unless you are prone.

Rage is increased with adrenaline; by taking damage or killing enemies. With some rage point the mercs get more AP and a bit of damage resistance. Rage points can be used on the abilities, which differ in effect and usefulness. Ivan, the big, bad merc can taunt enemies. He also doubles the damage resistance effect of rage, so it is perhaps worth it to save.

The rage! abilities are abilities for each merc that range from ok to incredible. They are the “see me, not my buddy” effect for Ivan. Others are a (essentially) teleportation, a free (as in AP) shot that ignore armor, free (AP) shot at several enemies in range, extra AP, a tiny bit of free healing and more. This and the traits and the different weapons and attachments create a span of choices for how to play out the maps.

It feels like a game that work in the right way, with lots of small touches.

The bad

There are a few complex systems that I feel isn’t very well described. Perhaps the systems were supposed to be more complex, perhaps I’m overrating the complexity. I think “Stability” on items are meant to be how long stuff last, or how well armor holds up when damaged. Weapons have different stats, including two sets of four fields that are sometimes filled with solid or shaded blocks.

What I think would be the best improvement would be some quality of life fixes.

When you are done with an area, you still need to move around in turns. If you got weapons to reload, you might have to skip a few turns. If there is any optional objectives, you might need to run around and search for that character to talk to. You can loot any box or body on the whole map, but you need to click each and move items between your mercenaries. Free movement and a loot all container would make this quite a bit better.

Also, there are only a few equipment slots, so that is quite nice. But there is one bit that is off, which is the head slot. This fits a helmet that helps protect, or you can put on vision related equipment that helps aiming. This sounds like a choice to be made, but looting and switching around equipment is currently free… so bonus for aiming, shoot stuff and then you can change back to helmet for the defensive bonus.

The Ugly

The bugs. Really. Bugs, and lots of them. This is probably a section you can skip, as I’m just going to list bugs.

Items disappearing. Entering a map, and then my sniper is missing the other (not equipped) head slot equipment piece.

Items disappearing. One merc is holding a two-slot weapon, and I drag that over to a row in the backpack with two combat knives. Expected behavior is the weapon is put in the backpack, and the knives in the hand equipment slots. Actual effect… all three items disappears.

Item cannot be picked up into some slot (not backpack, just hands) or not by one merc, but fine by some other merc.

Item with usage (first-aid) or thrown (knife) doesn’t disappear / reduce count when used/thrown.

Game hanging on AI turn, because enemy tries to do something illegal. Need to quit (Alt+F4) and reload, do something else and hope the AI chooses differently. Really irritating on that one map where AI fights AI when you are undiscovered / in stealth. Need to be discovered by at least one faction in order to affect AI choice.

Game hanging on player turn. When you do an action, you can confirm by clicking the “Do it” button on the screen, or by pressing space-bar. In some situations I’ve tried to throw a knife, press space and then the game hangs. Load the latest save and have the same hang on the same action sequence, but if I click the “Do it” button, it all works out fine.

I’ve also had an enemy fall out of the target-able list of enemies. He stood in the open, could shoot my mercs but could not be targeted. Took him out with a (free-aimed) thrown grenade, and didn’t check if a save-quit-load would fix it. I think he was down to one (or two) hit-point and bleeding, then bandaging himself.

The verdict

I’m really enjoying this trip back into history. If the bugs are fixed, I can deal with the bad. I’d love other mercs and stories as expansions. Maps are, according to the devs, handmade, and needs some love to have path finding and line of sight work correctly. At least in edge cases. Else, procedurally generated maps and stories would be a brilliant thing.

Less than 30 hours for me on normal, although reloading on bugs, painstakingly creeping through maps in stealth and some “game is running while I’m away” has to account for quite a bit of that. I’d guess that a no hang bugs would see this at 18-22 hours end to end (for someone as slow as me).

I’ll definitely be playing this more, perhaps not on hard but at least to try out other mercenaries.

I’d put it at 3/5 fun-stars, with at least one deducted for the bugs. Would suggest “Hold” for now, and wait for a patch or three. Then again, I’ve had loads of fun and do not regret buying it.

Magic in games

Magic. It is one of the things I most like to see in games stories. And I mean all games stories; computer games, board games, card games, pen and paper games, movies vocal stories, written stories, daydreams… our world?

One of the important parts of magic is the suspension of disbelief. I just read Andrew’s latest post over at Ascii Dreams – but that wasn’t what triggered this post. I have had something about magic in stories swirling about in my head for years.

Like Andrew says; you need to take magic into account. If you just patch in a few spells for a select group of people, well – that doesn’t fit in at all. The why, how, what of things pop up all the time. The fanciful stuff that fits nicely in stories, faerie magic wielded by another race of beings are the easiest to use. Faerie magic. Okay, that’s fair. That will be illusions, old magic of the lands. Getting someone to fall in love with you by dancing three circles around that big oak under a full moon. Preferably naked. That magic fits into stories without any explanation, but you cannot put that kind of magic too much to the front of the story. The protagonist cannot use it, because then you have to explain the limits, the rituals and the effects. It will fall apart.

Well, you can do it, sort of. Put magic; specific formulas – or spells – into the world. Say they are remnants of earlier ages. The theories are unknown, some select people with a Gift of magic can be taught from old documents and teachers who once were taught by their masters. You just put in fragments of history and it is set. You can even extend it later by having older works discovered, or scholars finding discrete pieces of magic that binds similar spells together.

My personal favorite magical system is the one from Ars Magica. Five Techniques and ten Forms (verbs and nouns). Each magical formula consist of at least one verb and one noun. A basic spell moving a human body vertically (levitation) is a Rego (Movement) and Corpus (Human body) formula. A basic spell moving a human body from A to B without passing the space in between is also a Rego Corpus formula. Separating these is an intention, and a power guideline. In addition you need to specify some meta information such as target (individual, part or a group), a range (self,touch or something you can see), and a duration (instantly, for two minutes, a day or as long as you concentrate). These affect the power requirements.

You have a whole theory of magic, with established guidelines and existing formulas. You have the possibility of specifying the actual effect by textual description (an intention). Casting spells tire the wizard, unless he is pretty good at what he does. This is a world where magic is a powerful force, bringing its own troubles. You need to have a world that is touched by this magic – a reason for it to work in the presence of powerful beings. In Ars Magica this is fixed by adding powerful mythical forces of good and evil (Heaven and Hell) and faeries into the picture. The wizards govern themselves in order to exist and grow without attracting (too much) negative attention from the other forces. And with only a few hundred wizards… the world is dangerous even if you are powerful.

Still, what misses from this picture (as I see it) – you cannot really enchant your tower to only be seen through the wrong end of a spyglass: the magic doesn’t know of objects as such.

Well, this is all well and good. But these systems rely on human interpretation. The system from Ars isn’t that easy to accomplish in the strict world of computer (or board) games. What does this best (imho) is the component based systems in games like Ultima Underworld and Arx Fatalis. The Elder Scrolls games (in Daggerfall, at least) have had a system where you could create spells yourself, but this proved to be a bit unbalanced. A simple, inexpensive spell could see you from novice to master in a school of magic in no time.

I’d like to see a well flavored magic system, one that looks believable within the limits of a system. But who will do this? I don’t know – but Will Wright is my best guess – perhaps he could do a (high) fantasy themed game when he is done with Spore?

The past, present and future of tags.

To illustrate how badly I digress while writing… this entry started off with the title “I hate social networks”. Go figure.

In some ways I am mildly obsessive-compulsive about organizing stuff. Which means that I’ve sorted things in boxes, categories, hierarchies, systems. It always breaks.

I buy paperback books because then I know they all fit in the same shelves (maybe also because they are cheaper), and I try to get all books in a series from the same printing (or at least the same publisher) so the cover art/bookends fit nicely. I can sort and pack stuff effectively – until I end up with all the small, irregular stuff that can’t be stacked, doesn’t have enough similar items to be packed together.

When moving I spend 90% of the time on the last 10% of stuff. Excluding cleaning… that too takes 90% of the time… procrastinating away from. Perhaps I spend so much time sorting and packing the last 10% of stuff so I can avoid the cleaning for a bit more?

Back to digital sorting and stacking.

I’ve tried partitioning hard disks, building hierarchies of folders, naming systems on documents, lists and whatnot. For blogs I’ve tried hierarchical categorizing (until multiple root folders contains like named leaves), no categorizing (teh horror) and lots of categories (tags without the actual usability).

Anyway, with the advancement of tags I feel I am getting closer to something usable. Broad categories where each item is part of one, and lots of tags attached to each item. Only three problems remain.

1. The categories are always wrong
2. There are always tags missing on the items
3. Tags ends up nearly duplicated, so that they doesn’t tie together like items

Now, the last gripe might be fixed by regularly maintaining the tags, and having a system for defining synonyms. (a bit of work, easier with the right “tool”).

Missing tags are fixed by regularly maintaining tags and items, and can easily evolve into a monster. It can be handled if older items grow towards a suitable set of tags over (a not too long) time. One action that have started to be included in solutions for the Internet, is the ability for the community to help you tag your items. This lets items (images, blog entries, links) mature in their descriptions faster if your community is involved. If you let them. I.e.Google lets you play a game and help them tag images.

The first problem listed above is fixed by the impossibly hard problem: Few and general (broad) categories. Yes, that easy – and still hard to do.

I really want to look into Topic Maps. But that seems like too much work to maintain. Although the possibilities are alluring.

Variations on a Theme: An order of side-quests.

Once again I dare to put words to the thoughts provoked by Corvus’ monthly round table. The red thread for April 2008 is Variations on a Theme, what is your favorite, or least favorite games, and what do they have in common that might be the reason for this?

Now, side-quests are usually disliked by gamers. They are also by me. I spent a long time getting to the feature that will make or break many games for me. It will be easier going away from it and look at what side-quests tick for me.

Why do I like side-quests? I guess it may be because they let me roam a bit more in the world I am occupying at the time. I like a game with more space to move in than needed for running from point A to point B in order to get the plot.

Why do I like side-quests? Well, they tell me more about the world and it’s inhabitants. I can get to know more of the world without reading up on it.

Why do I like side-quests? I can get more story out of the game, when I want. If I want.

I love reading books, mostly fantasy and science fiction. I love story, worlds that make sense. Well, makes sense according to it’s own rules. Hyperdrives and magic is fine. Games have a story world, and they use and portray them with varying degrees of success. Some games rely on the world being made popular and known to the player outside of the game, before the player sits down and starts up the game.

This is a good thing. I want to have a world that is detailed, fleshed out. For worlds other than our own our knowledge vary. Star Wars’ world is one I am fairly acquainted with, both through the movies and through books and games. The story world of Planescape was less known to me; it still is. But it was a world filled with optional side-quests, it told me of Sigil, of the planes and a little about the Nameless One.

Coming to think of it; in open worlds it is not so much the quest part that counts. The quest is usually there for the player to take notice and bother. For my part some of those quests that take you out and about could be left out. What encourages me is the ability to wander about and discover something unique. The random encounters in Fallout were like this. No quest tied them in, just persistence and luck. I enjoyed Oblivion for a while too – wandering about encountering dungeons, ruins and caves. Sadly, they weren’t that unique, and they didn’t tell a story.

Betrayal at Krondor was the first game I played that let me roam the world, doing what I wanted to before moving on. It is still one of my favorites. When I come think of it; the roaming an looking for stories and side-quests is what I like. Looking for something that is hidden, meant only for gamers who care. Those who explore. Who flee into the game world.

Side-quests usually offer a reward that increase your power in the game. Magical items or experience in RPGs, More troops or items in strategy games. Bonus levels, more points, money, fame. Stuff that makes the game easier. For someone like me who are bad at powergaming; I make wrong character builds, do thing because it fits with the role I’m playing. For someone like me, these optional quests are not that optional. I need better equipment and magic and stuff to get through the plot. I don’t like those optional side-quests at all.

When it comes down to it, what I like in games are freedom, choice, richness of story… I want a story world I can lose myself in, one that makes me feel joy, frustration, happiness, hate. Take your quests, I’ll look at them and discard them. If they intrigue me or offer me something I like, I’ll take them.

Perhaps I should have gone with the original title for this post? Free will, or the illusion thereof. Side-quests really are something that destroys a game for me.

Please visit the Round Table’s Main Hall for links to all entries.

Digressions and updates

It then comes to this; I’ve got two drafts waiting, and it is a long time since I wrote my last post. It all comes down to me not being able to focus on one topic at a time. I’m digressing (is that even a verb?) all over the place, and then end up writing something other than what I started writing.

Sometimes I wonder if I should blog with a mindmap or a wiki. I wrote myself a WordPress digression plugin at one time, but it doesn’t work with newer wordpresses. I don’t think I ever used it. The whole idea was having digressions hidden; allowing the reader to pop them up if they wanted. There are probably loads, and I know there is at least one good, plugins providing like functionality. Usually by name of asides or something like them. Now I’ve gone and done it again.

I want to write something for this month’s Round Table, hosted by Corvus at Man bytes blog. It is in production, though it tends to run overboard. I’ve changed the title thrice already, but I think I have settled on what I want to write about.

The major problem is that my spare time has been invaded by me playing Ultima Underworld. I found out it was long since I played it last time, and that I actually had forgot a few things. It also seems as if I’m trying to break a few things this time around. I’ve met and talked to the Humans and Mountain men, but not yet the Goblins. I also want to play a tiny bit in an all time favorite of mine; Betrayal at Krondor. I really should just sit down and write the post.

Gaming as a chore

There are those games you just never get to finish, but you still play them. You do not play them because they are fun, but because you have to. You have, after all, paid good money for the game, and maybe even played it for a bit. Playing for these reasons are, in fact, to throw good money after bad.

I have been moderately successful in keeping these sunk costs out of my equations; I have books I have never finished, games bought and paid for that never showed me their end of game credits, movies I never finished.

I recently told a friend I was thinking about how much work it is to play games sometimes. When you have to play even though it isn’t really fun.. —Why play if it isn’t fun? he asked me. At which I replied Why do you play World of Warcraft?. That is a game where I believe an enormous part of the player base is playing just because they have so much invested in it. Money; both up front and in monthly fees, Time; hundreds and thousands of hours spent working to get the best equipment possible. And emotions. My friend plays it mainly, if not solely, because he has made friends there. Friends he have little chance of meeting without crossing country borders. Friends that have little in common other than playing WoW. He has quit, stopped paying, deleted characters many times, but still he starts again.

I’m currently avoiding playing through Icewind Dale 2. Still. It is old and I kind of don’t like it. Then I read Slipping into Oblivion over at A Slime Appears. That article made me think a bit. And I am doing just exactly what I’ve been advocating against for a long long time. I’m playing because, I don’t know. he’s on third and I don’t give a darn!

Identity, trust and OpenID

I recently wrote about OpenID on my journal, and I left kind of an overwhelming positive attitude simmering around the post. I still think you should read it or something authoritative on what OpenID is if you don’t know what it is. No, I don’t think OpenID is a silver bullet that will cure all identity and trust evilness on the web. OpenID itself once was presented as being about identity, not trust on the grounds of trust requiring identity. I don’t think OpenID goes very far towards machine readable identity, but it does go towards human readable identity.

Identifying as an URL instead of with a nickname and a password isn’t that much of an improvement. It proves you have access to some kind of an account giving you an ability to deploy web pages, and a pipeline to an OpenID server that accept you as a user. Since you can host your own OpenID server and web space is cheap (as in free) – this isn’t very comforting. Any service allowing users to authenticate comments with nothing else than an OpenID will find themselves swarmed with spam in no time.

This is known, and will be handled by making use of conventional spam filtering, captcha’s, requirement of creating an account (by OpenID identification) instead of anonymous submission (with OpenID signatures) and other means.

In addition someone will try (or have, what do I know?) white- and/or blacklisting. This might or might not totally destroy what OpenID is all about. As I see it. Blacklisting will probably work, but doing it will be walking on the edge. Blacklisting each individual account will be wasted resources. Each account is just one URL, and spammers can generate one for each comment and never run dry, even if they change the actual account. Delegation would probably be used, so you would need to keep lists on the endpoints as well. Blacklisting domains could be done, but it would require a bit of finesse or human intervention. Spammers manage to get hold of legitimate accounts, or accounts on legitimate hosts… one wrong step and you’d blocked a legitimate, and possibly popular, provider.

White listing would be impossible to do without wrecking it all. One of the cornerstones of OpenID is that you can set up your own provider, but if it was blocked by all from the start… Ok, that wouldn’t do, would it.

Where OpenID will, and do, work is between humans. If I write something, say in a WordPress blog… Incidentally I do… and start signing (in and by) as the URL of this blog, then people will know that I wrote the [whatever] I signed, and they can look up where I keep my identity and see what I am about. And what I write. That I am (most likely) a human being. This will lead to trust.

Only thing missing is spammers making sure their comments seem genuine, and lead readers on a click-through chase to a spam/ad page by way of the OpenID URL… Oh, well. Hope they don’t get that idea from me.