Gamers are like vampires. In a lot of ways, really, but I've been thinking of one, in particular.
We've all got a lineage. By which I mean, there's a person (or several persons) who got you into the hobby. (Tabletop gamers do, anyways. Not computer gamers so much, but I barely fit in that demographic.) In my experience, it's somewhat unusual for someone to teach themselves, or to play their first game without a veteran gamer of some stripe. That may be a peculiarity of my time/space location, but it's how I see it.
Even if you taught yourself how to play, you've still got your first group. The social nature of the medium practically guarantees that you'll teach at least a couple of people how to play, at some point, because you'll need players.
Thus, lineage.
For me, it's been important. The people who taught me to play, who I played my first games with, are still my best friends. Even five years later, even across state lines and time zones. And -- amusingly, ironically, but somehow not surprisingly -- they're the people who I link to.
That first group, back in those early days: Karen DMed, and me and David, Rae, and Andy played.
I got the impression, at the time, that everyone else had already played together, that I was the only one who was new. Later, I think I heard that Andy had joined around the same time I had.
At any rate, that's who I learned from. That's the first group I GMed with, too.
And now I've got three people who I taught to play, who played (or are playing) their first game with me. Which is kind of a weird idea, once I started thinking about it. If I hadn't started the school group, or put together the current campaign, these people might not have gotten into gaming. They might have, anyway--it's not like I'm the only person at school capable of running a game, and Qwerty probably would have gotten around to it with his own friends, sooner or later--but they might not have.
Tuesday, March 06, 2007
Monday, March 05, 2007
The Practice
You know what's great about having a blog? My favorite part about the whole thing? It's a reason for me to write every day.
I really enjoy this thing, updating it, for a lot of reasons. It's a way to keep in touch with people I don't see often enough. It's a way to get rants out of my system. But mostly, it's a reason to write every day, something that makes me feel guilty when I don't. Bit of incentive.
Sometimes I can't really think of anything to write about. Sometimes it takes a while, sitting at the computer, to come up with a topic. But I always do, because I sit down and say "I'm going to write a post today." That's where I start. I don't wait for topics: I make them.
That's the practice. That's the point to writing every day. It helps me to learn how to do that. Because everything else I know about writing basically comes down to one thing: the only way to get better is to write. The only way to get a lot better is to write a lot. And the only way to write a lot is to go looking for things to write about.
This post being an example. I says to myself, "What should I write about today?" And that question, naturally, leads to the answer, "I should write about writing," because that's where my mind is. (Also, because other people have been posting about posting, and that suggests some thoughts.) It's not a great post, but it's something. That's the point.
I really enjoy this thing, updating it, for a lot of reasons. It's a way to keep in touch with people I don't see often enough. It's a way to get rants out of my system. But mostly, it's a reason to write every day, something that makes me feel guilty when I don't. Bit of incentive.
Sometimes I can't really think of anything to write about. Sometimes it takes a while, sitting at the computer, to come up with a topic. But I always do, because I sit down and say "I'm going to write a post today." That's where I start. I don't wait for topics: I make them.
That's the practice. That's the point to writing every day. It helps me to learn how to do that. Because everything else I know about writing basically comes down to one thing: the only way to get better is to write. The only way to get a lot better is to write a lot. And the only way to write a lot is to go looking for things to write about.
This post being an example. I says to myself, "What should I write about today?" And that question, naturally, leads to the answer, "I should write about writing," because that's where my mind is. (Also, because other people have been posting about posting, and that suggests some thoughts.) It's not a great post, but it's something. That's the point.
Sunday, March 04, 2007
Yet Another Random Project
I'm thinking of writing an adventure, module style, for publication in my school's literary magazine.
I would never do either of these things on their own. I have no need for "adventures." I don't keep my notes in that format, because it's not useful to me as a GM. I could see writing them if I was interested in getting into the game design industry, but I'm not, at the moment.
I'm also, generally, not interested in submitting things to the literary magazine. I have lots of things I could submit, drawings and short stories and even a vaguely novel-like object, but I don't want to submit any of them. My attitude is, basically, if it's good enough to get published, I want to get it published somewhere I'll actually get something for it. An actual magazine, something that at least pays copies and an actual credit, rather than a magazine where my work will be side by side with a bunch of moronic poems.
I also don't like the people who run the literary magazine, for various reasons. They're just not part of my tribe.
Ironically, it's that last point that gives me reason for wanting to submit an adventure. While I have no interest in letting them anywhere near any of my "actual" work, that means something to me, the idea of giving them something hideously geeky and incomprehensible fills me with glee. I like bothering people with my geekiness. I own a green wool cloak, and carry around D&D books in public even when I have no intention of reading them. There is no greater joy than the puzzled stranger.
Thus: the module gambit. Perfect opportunity to share the joy of the weird, and to confuse people who I don't like, without anyone getting angry at me.
I figure they can't legitimately reject it, especially if it's my only submission, because they're always freaking out about how they don't have enough submissions, and pulling stupid stunts to get people to submit. And they're willing to publish horrible poems about cheese, so they have no grounds on subject matter.
I'll write it for d20, probably D&D, because then I can just use the Hypertext SRD as reference for what I can and cannot use. Probably go kitchen sink golden age batshit on the whole project. Everything I can possibly think of that I think is awesome, but most normal people think is irredeemably weird.
I would never do either of these things on their own. I have no need for "adventures." I don't keep my notes in that format, because it's not useful to me as a GM. I could see writing them if I was interested in getting into the game design industry, but I'm not, at the moment.
I'm also, generally, not interested in submitting things to the literary magazine. I have lots of things I could submit, drawings and short stories and even a vaguely novel-like object, but I don't want to submit any of them. My attitude is, basically, if it's good enough to get published, I want to get it published somewhere I'll actually get something for it. An actual magazine, something that at least pays copies and an actual credit, rather than a magazine where my work will be side by side with a bunch of moronic poems.
I also don't like the people who run the literary magazine, for various reasons. They're just not part of my tribe.
Ironically, it's that last point that gives me reason for wanting to submit an adventure. While I have no interest in letting them anywhere near any of my "actual" work, that means something to me, the idea of giving them something hideously geeky and incomprehensible fills me with glee. I like bothering people with my geekiness. I own a green wool cloak, and carry around D&D books in public even when I have no intention of reading them. There is no greater joy than the puzzled stranger.
Thus: the module gambit. Perfect opportunity to share the joy of the weird, and to confuse people who I don't like, without anyone getting angry at me.
I figure they can't legitimately reject it, especially if it's my only submission, because they're always freaking out about how they don't have enough submissions, and pulling stupid stunts to get people to submit. And they're willing to publish horrible poems about cheese, so they have no grounds on subject matter.
I'll write it for d20, probably D&D, because then I can just use the Hypertext SRD as reference for what I can and cannot use. Probably go kitchen sink golden age batshit on the whole project. Everything I can possibly think of that I think is awesome, but most normal people think is irredeemably weird.
Saturday, March 03, 2007
I Only Saw Ten Minutes Of It! I Swear!
You should really be watching Yu Gi Oh: The Abridged Series. If you aren't already.
It's what you get if you take the 4Kids adaptation of Yu Gi Oh and cut out all the interior monologue. Seriously -- the real show, one character will say something, and then repeat it in interior monologue, and then the other character will do an interior monologue about how amazed they are by whatever it is, and then they'll say basically the same thing out loud. And then one of the characters, Yugi, is actually two characters, so that gets really bad because he'll have these long conversations with himself where he keeps telling himself about how he needs to "believe in the heart of the cards." Or something.
That show should be incredibly creepy, but all the characters are oblivious to it. Too busy monologuing, I suppose.
It's what you get if you take the 4Kids adaptation of Yu Gi Oh and cut out all the interior monologue. Seriously -- the real show, one character will say something, and then repeat it in interior monologue, and then the other character will do an interior monologue about how amazed they are by whatever it is, and then they'll say basically the same thing out loud. And then one of the characters, Yugi, is actually two characters, so that gets really bad because he'll have these long conversations with himself where he keeps telling himself about how he needs to "believe in the heart of the cards." Or something.
That show should be incredibly creepy, but all the characters are oblivious to it. Too busy monologuing, I suppose.
Thursday, March 01, 2007
Power Mad
I want to run for President, so I can bury "defend earth from the space frogs" in my campaign platform. Then, I'll be able to accuse my opponent of capitulating to the space frogs. Victory will be mine!
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
Eight Is Just Too Many
First day of actual gaming with the school group today. It went . . . adequately. There were some problems, but it wasn't a disaster.
We only had about two and a half hours. An extra person showed up, so we had eight players in total. We had to spend entirely too much time at the beginning getting everyone's characters finished. The GM is showing signs of getting attached to his plot. Given all that, it really went about as well as could be expected.
The biggest problem for me was just the number of people involved. I've GMed a party of that size, that didn't work too well. The party just sort of waltzed through the game as an amorphous mass; this game looks like it's heading in the same generation. I'm sure there are some GMs, and some players, who can handle and enjoy that size of party. I'm just not one of them.
I tend to like a game that integrates the characters fairly tightly into the game. That's what I go for, anyway. I don't know how well I succeed. But my goal is to give every character specific reasons to be involved with the game, and specific things to do that only they can. I take their specific qualities into account when I'm planning; their styles inform the themes.
It's hard for me to do that in a game with more than four or five characters. Add in the difficulty I have managing that many people at the table, and the grinding hell that combat becomes when you have eight initiative spots to resolve, and it just gets unpleasant.
And that many people is bad for me on the player side, because I'm easily distracted. If there's not something shiny going on right now, and I'm not involved with it, I tend to start thinking about something else. I'll start reading a book, or come up with weird and counterproductive conspiracy theories. Then I'll be totally off track whenever I am back in the spotlight, and I slow the game down trying to figure out what's happening.
So. Current verdict: not bad, but too many people. And too many of them are freshmen.
We only had about two and a half hours. An extra person showed up, so we had eight players in total. We had to spend entirely too much time at the beginning getting everyone's characters finished. The GM is showing signs of getting attached to his plot. Given all that, it really went about as well as could be expected.
The biggest problem for me was just the number of people involved. I've GMed a party of that size, that didn't work too well. The party just sort of waltzed through the game as an amorphous mass; this game looks like it's heading in the same generation. I'm sure there are some GMs, and some players, who can handle and enjoy that size of party. I'm just not one of them.
I tend to like a game that integrates the characters fairly tightly into the game. That's what I go for, anyway. I don't know how well I succeed. But my goal is to give every character specific reasons to be involved with the game, and specific things to do that only they can. I take their specific qualities into account when I'm planning; their styles inform the themes.
It's hard for me to do that in a game with more than four or five characters. Add in the difficulty I have managing that many people at the table, and the grinding hell that combat becomes when you have eight initiative spots to resolve, and it just gets unpleasant.
And that many people is bad for me on the player side, because I'm easily distracted. If there's not something shiny going on right now, and I'm not involved with it, I tend to start thinking about something else. I'll start reading a book, or come up with weird and counterproductive conspiracy theories. Then I'll be totally off track whenever I am back in the spotlight, and I slow the game down trying to figure out what's happening.
So. Current verdict: not bad, but too many people. And too many of them are freshmen.
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
Idiocy Is Not The Answer
Pet peeve: stories that hinge on stupidity.
Romeo and Juliet is a good example of this kind of thing. All the problems, all the escalations, are based on characters doing stupid things for no good reason. People feud, get into fights, and kill themselves, because they can't just sit down and think for five minutes.
"The characters do something stupid" is a really lame way to kick it up a notch. Horror movies, sitcoms, (I can't stand Seinfield, because it's really bad about this.) all do it, and it's really, really annoying, because it's usually totally transparent. It's either out of character, or the character is built around doing stupid stuff in the first place.
Sure, if it's grounded in the character, it can work. People have flaws; that's interesting. But not if those flaws are "impulsive" or "poor judgment" or "prone to stupidity." That's just writerly laziness.
There are other ways to drive the action. Get yourself a good antagonist, give your characters interesting flaws, make fate really mean. Anything. Just don't make them prone to random stupidity at inconvenient moments.
Romeo and Juliet is a good example of this kind of thing. All the problems, all the escalations, are based on characters doing stupid things for no good reason. People feud, get into fights, and kill themselves, because they can't just sit down and think for five minutes.
"The characters do something stupid" is a really lame way to kick it up a notch. Horror movies, sitcoms, (I can't stand Seinfield, because it's really bad about this.) all do it, and it's really, really annoying, because it's usually totally transparent. It's either out of character, or the character is built around doing stupid stuff in the first place.
Sure, if it's grounded in the character, it can work. People have flaws; that's interesting. But not if those flaws are "impulsive" or "poor judgment" or "prone to stupidity." That's just writerly laziness.
There are other ways to drive the action. Get yourself a good antagonist, give your characters interesting flaws, make fate really mean. Anything. Just don't make them prone to random stupidity at inconvenient moments.
Monday, February 26, 2007
Stupid, But Not Crazy
Used to be, I'd describe myself as crazy. Thought of myself that way. But I don't, anymore, because I'm actually fairly sane. To my lights. And I've discovered that people who describe themselves as mentally disturbed are (usually) somewhat pretentious.
Sure, there are people who have a disease, and are aware of that disease. I used to be one of those people. Depression is one of those things that you notice, when you have it. You might not care, but you know that there's something wrong. That's part of the point, really.
But most people who call themselves crazy aren't. There's just this romantic attraction to the idea. Makes you seem unusual, mysterious. There is a sort of a comfort in the idea that your brain works differently than the common folk, that the structure of your mentality is unique.
The thing is, it doesn't matter what goes in inside your head. No one else can see that; there's no confirmation. To everyone else, it doesn't exist, except by vague inference. And most people who call themselves crazy, they act fairly normal. To my eyes, anyway. Maybe I have a broad definition of the world normal. They act functional, at least.
So, with that in mind, I no longer consider myself crazy. Maybe I am anyway, but I don't think of myself that way. Because I'm fairly functional. Some people describe me as crazy, maybe, but my eccentricities don't interfere with my ability to interact with the world, do what I want to do.
I'm sane, because I act sane. The interface is stable. The matrix behind that, well, it's background, it doesn't figure into the equations. But, on the whole, I'm fairly stable, because I'm okay with the idea of being unstable. And with the idea of being stable. My identity doesn't rest on my disease.
Sure, there are people who have a disease, and are aware of that disease. I used to be one of those people. Depression is one of those things that you notice, when you have it. You might not care, but you know that there's something wrong. That's part of the point, really.
But most people who call themselves crazy aren't. There's just this romantic attraction to the idea. Makes you seem unusual, mysterious. There is a sort of a comfort in the idea that your brain works differently than the common folk, that the structure of your mentality is unique.
The thing is, it doesn't matter what goes in inside your head. No one else can see that; there's no confirmation. To everyone else, it doesn't exist, except by vague inference. And most people who call themselves crazy, they act fairly normal. To my eyes, anyway. Maybe I have a broad definition of the world normal. They act functional, at least.
So, with that in mind, I no longer consider myself crazy. Maybe I am anyway, but I don't think of myself that way. Because I'm fairly functional. Some people describe me as crazy, maybe, but my eccentricities don't interfere with my ability to interact with the world, do what I want to do.
I'm sane, because I act sane. The interface is stable. The matrix behind that, well, it's background, it doesn't figure into the equations. But, on the whole, I'm fairly stable, because I'm okay with the idea of being unstable. And with the idea of being stable. My identity doesn't rest on my disease.
Sunday, February 25, 2007
Inspirational Lunacy
We're going to pretend that I actually posted this on time yesterday, instead of today, half an hour late. I got distracted -- first by Diablo 2, then by the Oscars.
Mostly, I blame the snow, and the general irritation that it has caused. Because I didn't get to play D&D today, which means I didn't get to GM, which means I didn't get my weekly fix. And I need that, man. If I'm going to play with people I don't like, I at least need to get the GMing out of my system. I need the outlet. That's something I learned, a while ago. I play better when I'm GMing my own game.
But that's not what I'm writing about, today. Well, I am, but it wasn't my intention. My intention was (and is) to post about this excellent new comic that I found. (Link through Dr. McNinja, if anyone cares.)
Scary Go Round. I'm only about halfway through the archives, but so far it's been excellent enough to be worth recommending. Even if that first half is the only part worth reading, you should read it, because it's really good. It starts out as a comic about British college students, and turns into this weird, surreal thing that involves robots and architectural disasters and bad science. Mind you, it turns weird pretty quickly, but at least it starts out looking normal.
It's also got wacky inventors. How can you not love a comic with wacky inventors?
Mostly, I blame the snow, and the general irritation that it has caused. Because I didn't get to play D&D today, which means I didn't get to GM, which means I didn't get my weekly fix. And I need that, man. If I'm going to play with people I don't like, I at least need to get the GMing out of my system. I need the outlet. That's something I learned, a while ago. I play better when I'm GMing my own game.
But that's not what I'm writing about, today. Well, I am, but it wasn't my intention. My intention was (and is) to post about this excellent new comic that I found. (Link through Dr. McNinja, if anyone cares.)
Scary Go Round. I'm only about halfway through the archives, but so far it's been excellent enough to be worth recommending. Even if that first half is the only part worth reading, you should read it, because it's really good. It starts out as a comic about British college students, and turns into this weird, surreal thing that involves robots and architectural disasters and bad science. Mind you, it turns weird pretty quickly, but at least it starts out looking normal.
It's also got wacky inventors. How can you not love a comic with wacky inventors?
Saturday, February 24, 2007
Someday I Will Explain, Maybe
I found an awesome thing. It was hiding in my mind.
I knew it was there, but I didn't know that I knew. Every time I would sit down to do campaign prep, I would get frustrated, and distracted. It was because the awesome thing was hiding, and I could not find it, and I was wasting my time with boring things that were not awesome.
So now I have found the excellent, awesome thing. Many excellent, awesome things. An entire trove of them, an entire tribe of them. The shadings were there, the signs, and for some reason I never put it together. But now I have. And it's awesome.
My mind does funny things sometimes, without my knowing about it. And then I find all the shiny things that it has made, and I am very, very happy. Because it did this while I was going to school, and playing Diablo 2
I knew it was there, but I didn't know that I knew. Every time I would sit down to do campaign prep, I would get frustrated, and distracted. It was because the awesome thing was hiding, and I could not find it, and I was wasting my time with boring things that were not awesome.
So now I have found the excellent, awesome thing. Many excellent, awesome things. An entire trove of them, an entire tribe of them. The shadings were there, the signs, and for some reason I never put it together. But now I have. And it's awesome.
My mind does funny things sometimes, without my knowing about it. And then I find all the shiny things that it has made, and I am very, very happy. Because it did this while I was going to school, and playing Diablo 2
Friday, February 23, 2007
Too Many Thoughts To Think
I have way too many things zipping around inside my head right now.
The campaign I'm running. The character I'm working on for the school campaign. The school campaign itself, since I've been helping the GM brainstorm. Lord of the Rings, which I'm reading. A fantasy novel of my own
It's that last item that's been causing the trouble. I came up with this concept for how magic would work while I was watching the Lord of the Rings movies. It combines some things I came up with years ago, going back to fourth grade, with some ideas I had earlier this year. And then I started really thinking about it, and the implications of it, and I threw in some characters, and it just sort of obviously led to this neat climax. Well, not climax, because it doesn't come at the end. It comes towards the beginning, and it's what makes everything else that comes after it really bad.
So now when I sit down to do campaign prep, I keep getting distracted by this fantasy novel. Or fantasy something, anyway. It demands to be written. And I've already got a lot going on.
The campaign I'm running. The character I'm working on for the school campaign. The school campaign itself, since I've been helping the GM brainstorm. Lord of the Rings, which I'm reading. A fantasy novel of my own
It's that last item that's been causing the trouble. I came up with this concept for how magic would work while I was watching the Lord of the Rings movies. It combines some things I came up with years ago, going back to fourth grade, with some ideas I had earlier this year. And then I started really thinking about it, and the implications of it, and I threw in some characters, and it just sort of obviously led to this neat climax. Well, not climax, because it doesn't come at the end. It comes towards the beginning, and it's what makes everything else that comes after it really bad.
So now when I sit down to do campaign prep, I keep getting distracted by this fantasy novel. Or fantasy something, anyway. It demands to be written. And I've already got a lot going on.
Thursday, February 22, 2007
Willful Squirrel Tangent
I was going to write a continuation of yesterday's rant. Well, not a continuation, exactly. More inspired by than continuing. I even wrote the whole thing up. It's sitting in the "edit posts" section of this blog right now, as a draft.
Then I read it, and I said to myself, "this is really serious." Way, way too serious. This blog has gotten too serious, lately. Too much philosophy, too much ranting, too much literary theory.
So, today, I'm going to link to Dr. Vagn Flyger, world authority on squirrels. It's an obituary, sadly, but if I hadn't read the obituary I would never have known that someone this awesome once existed in the world. I cannot describe the joy that learning of his existence has brought me.
I'll probably post the serious thing at some point. Maybe once I've actually played some of the school game. Or maybe I won't, ever. There are a couple of other drafts on this blog that are guaranteed never to see the light of day.
For now, I'm just going to stick with the squirrels.
Then I read it, and I said to myself, "this is really serious." Way, way too serious. This blog has gotten too serious, lately. Too much philosophy, too much ranting, too much literary theory.
So, today, I'm going to link to Dr. Vagn Flyger, world authority on squirrels. It's an obituary, sadly, but if I hadn't read the obituary I would never have known that someone this awesome once existed in the world. I cannot describe the joy that learning of his existence has brought me.
I'll probably post the serious thing at some point. Maybe once I've actually played some of the school game. Or maybe I won't, ever. There are a couple of other drafts on this blog that are guaranteed never to see the light of day.
For now, I'm just going to stick with the squirrels.
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
The Matrix
I love it when I run into a bunch of new ideas, all at once. A rich seam of the imagination, as it were.
It's not like coming up with new ideas. They're not new, I've just never noticed them before. Or, rather, I've found a new way of organizing them, that grants them some meaning I've never realized they had. It produces a sort of ripple effect, because that meaning allows me to put other ideas together in new ways, and that produces new meanings.
It opens a new corner of the matrix. That's how I think of my mind, when I'm in the mood. A collection of data, connected by links that are themselves data. The whole structure is prone to shifts of meaning when new ideas are added to it.
It's not like coming up with new ideas. They're not new, I've just never noticed them before. Or, rather, I've found a new way of organizing them, that grants them some meaning I've never realized they had. It produces a sort of ripple effect, because that meaning allows me to put other ideas together in new ways, and that produces new meanings.
It opens a new corner of the matrix. That's how I think of my mind, when I'm in the mood. A collection of data, connected by links that are themselves data. The whole structure is prone to shifts of meaning when new ideas are added to it.
Monday, February 19, 2007
Half-Complete Musings
It occurs to me that the dramatic/iconic distinction could be a powerful GM tool. Because when I'm GMing, everything becomes a powerful GM tool. Video games, old GURPS books, random poems -- my first thought is always, "How can I game with that?"
But, basically, treating player characters as iconic characters would be an interesting way to marry traditional storytelling principles with the wild and woolly world of tabletop gaming.
Definition time: Theme is revealed through the interaction between world and character. A dramatic character reveals theme by changing in response to the world. An iconic character reveals theme by the changes their actions cause in the world. (I really need to find a better phrase for this, because a character can have the property I'm describing without being an icon.)
Okay, so those are more like theses than definitions. Anyway, the point is that, since a GM controls the world rather than the characters, it's easier for a GM to build a story on iconic principles than on dramatic principles. (Watch me stretch the definitions past their breaking point!) If the player characters are the main characters, anyway. If an NPC is the main character, then using dramatic principles are a piece of cake, but PCs tend to get snippy if they figure out they've been relegated to supporting character status.
But, basically, treating player characters as iconic characters would be an interesting way to marry traditional storytelling principles with the wild and woolly world of tabletop gaming.
Definition time: Theme is revealed through the interaction between world and character. A dramatic character reveals theme by changing in response to the world. An iconic character reveals theme by the changes their actions cause in the world. (I really need to find a better phrase for this, because a character can have the property I'm describing without being an icon.)
Okay, so those are more like theses than definitions. Anyway, the point is that, since a GM controls the world rather than the characters, it's easier for a GM to build a story on iconic principles than on dramatic principles. (Watch me stretch the definitions past their breaking point!) If the player characters are the main characters, anyway. If an NPC is the main character, then using dramatic principles are a piece of cake, but PCs tend to get snippy if they figure out they've been relegated to supporting character status.
Sunday, February 18, 2007
Just Like Batman!
So, Robin D. Laws wrote this review type thing on Casino Royale. He says that it treats Bond as a dramatic character rather than an iconic character. This is a concept that I've never formally considered; I was always sort of vaguely aware of it, but not in any specific way.
It got me to thinking. Maybe the distinction that the Oblivion main quest makes is not between main character and non-main character, as I had previously surmised, but between dramatic character and iconic character. You are an iconic character in that you embody the theme; you express it through your actions. You don't have to learn it, because you already know it.
It works in Oblivion because of the particular nature of the theme: it is not the intentions of gods but the actions of mortals that shape the world and its fate. (At least, that's the theme I picked out of it.) In a video game, that works pretty well, since as the player character you're automatically the only character with any real control over your destiny. It might not work so well if you had to embody some other principle.
It got me to thinking. Maybe the distinction that the Oblivion main quest makes is not between main character and non-main character, as I had previously surmised, but between dramatic character and iconic character. You are an iconic character in that you embody the theme; you express it through your actions. You don't have to learn it, because you already know it.
It works in Oblivion because of the particular nature of the theme: it is not the intentions of gods but the actions of mortals that shape the world and its fate. (At least, that's the theme I picked out of it.) In a video game, that works pretty well, since as the player character you're automatically the only character with any real control over your destiny. It might not work so well if you had to embody some other principle.
Saturday, February 17, 2007
NPC Design Basics
Have I mentioned that Martin is a really cool character? I could go into my reasons for this, at length, and probably will at some point. For now all I'll say is this: I was terrified that he was going to be Deckard Cain.
I swear. I was expecting some old guy, constantly giving me history lessons that I neither needed nor cared about. Instead, I got a guy who was (a) less annoying in combat than the town guard I'd just had to babysit and (b) inexplicably angry at me.
At first I thought it was just because I wasn't very good at aiming. Then I played through the scenario with a couple of characters, and discovered that, no, he's just constantly scowling through that first section.
So, I guess that's actually two basic reasons why I like Martin: Not Deckard Cain, and constant scowling. Two qualities you really can't go wrong with.
I swear. I was expecting some old guy, constantly giving me history lessons that I neither needed nor cared about. Instead, I got a guy who was (a) less annoying in combat than the town guard I'd just had to babysit and (b) inexplicably angry at me.
At first I thought it was just because I wasn't very good at aiming. Then I played through the scenario with a couple of characters, and discovered that, no, he's just constantly scowling through that first section.
So, I guess that's actually two basic reasons why I like Martin: Not Deckard Cain, and constant scowling. Two qualities you really can't go wrong with.
Friday, February 16, 2007
Tolkien Was A Wacky, Wacky Guy
I've started reading The Lord of the Rings. It's something I've meant to do for a long time, because I really love the movies, and I really loved the book back when I was a kid and my dad read it to me. I've just never really gotten around to it.
The idea occurred to me as I was re-watching the movies, in all their four-hour extended cut glory. I was thinking to myself, "Boromir is really, really awesome." And I basically figured that there'd be even more awesome in the books, those kinds of random character bits that they don't include in movies because they need to move things along.
More generally, I've been thinking for a while that I want to get back into the habit of reading. I used to be a real, serious reader. I used to read every night, before going to bed. But I stopped, somewhere, and I worry about that. I really enjoyed being a reader, and I need to get back into that habit.
So, a chapter a night. That's the plan. Hopefully this'll last more than a week.
The idea occurred to me as I was re-watching the movies, in all their four-hour extended cut glory. I was thinking to myself, "Boromir is really, really awesome." And I basically figured that there'd be even more awesome in the books, those kinds of random character bits that they don't include in movies because they need to move things along.
More generally, I've been thinking for a while that I want to get back into the habit of reading. I used to be a real, serious reader. I used to read every night, before going to bed. But I stopped, somewhere, and I worry about that. I really enjoyed being a reader, and I need to get back into that habit.
So, a chapter a night. That's the plan. Hopefully this'll last more than a week.
Thursday, February 15, 2007
Too Smart For Stupid
Hey, more Monte Cook.
I've been thinking about this article a lot, lately. Partially because of what I wrote about Obama, partially because it's been in the back of my mind as a blog topic for a while now.
For a long time, my natural response to basically everything was "I like it." I liked every movie I saw, every book I read. Then I turned thirteen. I started hanging out with people who talked about how stupid things were. Things like DragonballZ, and Animorphs; things I'd liked for a long time, things I'd been a huge fan of for as long as I could remember.
I got much more conservative about the things I liked. I would check, first, to make sure that it wasn't just me who liked something. I got used to being embarrassed about liking things, things like Hellboy or Jak 2, and I got used to defending them to my friends. Or just not mentioning them at all.
Then, finally, I figured out that liking things was okay. It was allowed. Even if everyone else thinks it's stupid, or if I think everyone else is going to think it's stupid. I figured out that if I think the Animorphs are good books, then that's enough. I don't need anyone's permission to like them.
I've been thinking about this article a lot, lately. Partially because of what I wrote about Obama, partially because it's been in the back of my mind as a blog topic for a while now.
For a long time, my natural response to basically everything was "I like it." I liked every movie I saw, every book I read. Then I turned thirteen. I started hanging out with people who talked about how stupid things were. Things like DragonballZ, and Animorphs; things I'd liked for a long time, things I'd been a huge fan of for as long as I could remember.
I got much more conservative about the things I liked. I would check, first, to make sure that it wasn't just me who liked something. I got used to being embarrassed about liking things, things like Hellboy or Jak 2, and I got used to defending them to my friends. Or just not mentioning them at all.
Then, finally, I figured out that liking things was okay. It was allowed. Even if everyone else thinks it's stupid, or if I think everyone else is going to think it's stupid. I figured out that if I think the Animorphs are good books, then that's enough. I don't need anyone's permission to like them.
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
Hopeless Romantic
Unlike some people, I don't have anything against Valentine's Day. Or Christmas. Or the concept of holidays, generally. I like holidays.
And I like Valentine's Day. Even though I'm "single," even though I've only ever been on one date, even though my romantic life centers around video game characters and crushes that never go anywhere. I like being reminded that dating is an option. I don't date, but that's not because I get turned down, or because I'm against it on principle. It's mostly a matter of obliviousness.
I used to think it was because I'm afraid of messing with relationships that are working alright to begin with. Then I realized that there are a lot of people in the world, a lot of interesting people who I'm not already friends with. I tend not to notice, because I tend not to notice basically everything.
And I realized this partially because it was close to Valentine's Day, and on account of that, I'd been thinking about "romance." Or whatever it is that the kids call it these days.
And I like Valentine's Day. Even though I'm "single," even though I've only ever been on one date, even though my romantic life centers around video game characters and crushes that never go anywhere. I like being reminded that dating is an option. I don't date, but that's not because I get turned down, or because I'm against it on principle. It's mostly a matter of obliviousness.
I used to think it was because I'm afraid of messing with relationships that are working alright to begin with. Then I realized that there are a lot of people in the world, a lot of interesting people who I'm not already friends with. I tend not to notice, because I tend not to notice basically everything.
And I realized this partially because it was close to Valentine's Day, and on account of that, I'd been thinking about "romance." Or whatever it is that the kids call it these days.
Tuesday, February 13, 2007
Friends
Facebook is, generally, pretty cool. Better than I thought it'd be. It makes it easier for me to keep touch with some of my friends who have gone off to college, and that's good. There is one thing that I don't like about it, though. One feature that really rubs me the wrong way.
Why, oh why, do they use the word "friends" to describe people who you've let see your stuff? Because there's a big difference between people I'm comfortable friending on Facebook, and people I would actually use the word "friend" to describe.
Why, oh why, do they use the word "friends" to describe people who you've let see your stuff? Because there's a big difference between people I'm comfortable friending on Facebook, and people I would actually use the word "friend" to describe.
Monday, February 12, 2007
Protagonistic
If you've played through the main quest of Oblivion, and were paying very close attention, you may have noticed something odd: You aren't the main character.
Oh, sure. You look like the main character. You're the hero, right? But that's not what the main character is. The main character, roughly speaking, is the character who drives the conflict, whose evolution reveals the theme. The character whose qualities define the story.
That's not you. That's Martin.
He's the character with an arc. He's the character who figures out what the theme is. He's the character you have to pay attention to, if you want to know what the theme is. Without him, there's no story; and if he were a different kind of person, the story would be different.
It's actually a really elegant technique. If a game has you controlling the main character, it either has to take some control of that character away from you, or it has to have a really basic story. Shift the thematic focus to an NPC, and you can be whatever wacky person you want, have whatever motivation suits you, and the game can still have a coherent thematic conflict.
Oh, sure. You look like the main character. You're the hero, right? But that's not what the main character is. The main character, roughly speaking, is the character who drives the conflict, whose evolution reveals the theme. The character whose qualities define the story.
That's not you. That's Martin.
He's the character with an arc. He's the character who figures out what the theme is. He's the character you have to pay attention to, if you want to know what the theme is. Without him, there's no story; and if he were a different kind of person, the story would be different.
It's actually a really elegant technique. If a game has you controlling the main character, it either has to take some control of that character away from you, or it has to have a really basic story. Shift the thematic focus to an NPC, and you can be whatever wacky person you want, have whatever motivation suits you, and the game can still have a coherent thematic conflict.
Sunday, February 11, 2007
Not on the Bandwagon
I don't trust Barack Obama.
I don't know much about him. I checked out his senate page, I checked out his campaign page. I've been reading the papers, but I haven't been following the political coverage real closely.
What I do know pushes some very serious warning buttons.
He's always smiling. He says he's in favor of "hope," and against "cynicism." Everyone likes him. He wants to save the union, change the political discourse, rescue Washington itself and America from Washington.
Why does this make me uneasy? Because I know people like this. I know people who are always friendly, who are nice to everyone, who want to make everyone happy. People who are always trying to fix everybody's problems, to improve things, to lead things. Invariably, they end up wrecking something that I thought was pretty good to begin with by trying to make it better.
On a more general level, I don't relate to them. I'm a geek. I get along with introverts, with people who like science and shiny things. My idea of a good time involves using really weird dice and a bunch of textbooks to pretend to be in a fantasy world, fighting evil and exploring ancient kingdoms. Obama doesn't feel like "one of us." He feels like "one of them." Those people who think that they've got better things to do than invent languages and act like pirates. They have important things to do: play basketball, go to law school, become President.
I also don't trust people who say they want to save the country. Or anything, really. Because I remember what I was like when I felt that way. I went through a period where I felt like I had to save the world -- or that someone did, at least. I'd read Ishmael. Nowadays, I feel more like there are some specific things about the world that could use some improvement, but that it doesn't need "saving," per se. And I don't trust anyone who says it does, because they always have an agenda. Even if it's just "look at me, I feel special."
I don't know much about him. I checked out his senate page, I checked out his campaign page. I've been reading the papers, but I haven't been following the political coverage real closely.
What I do know pushes some very serious warning buttons.
He's always smiling. He says he's in favor of "hope," and against "cynicism." Everyone likes him. He wants to save the union, change the political discourse, rescue Washington itself and America from Washington.
Why does this make me uneasy? Because I know people like this. I know people who are always friendly, who are nice to everyone, who want to make everyone happy. People who are always trying to fix everybody's problems, to improve things, to lead things. Invariably, they end up wrecking something that I thought was pretty good to begin with by trying to make it better.
On a more general level, I don't relate to them. I'm a geek. I get along with introverts, with people who like science and shiny things. My idea of a good time involves using really weird dice and a bunch of textbooks to pretend to be in a fantasy world, fighting evil and exploring ancient kingdoms. Obama doesn't feel like "one of us." He feels like "one of them." Those people who think that they've got better things to do than invent languages and act like pirates. They have important things to do: play basketball, go to law school, become President.
I also don't trust people who say they want to save the country. Or anything, really. Because I remember what I was like when I felt that way. I went through a period where I felt like I had to save the world -- or that someone did, at least. I'd read Ishmael. Nowadays, I feel more like there are some specific things about the world that could use some improvement, but that it doesn't need "saving," per se. And I don't trust anyone who says it does, because they always have an agenda. Even if it's just "look at me, I feel special."
Supervillains!
You are Mr. Freeze
You are cold and think everyone else should be also, literally.
Click here to take the "Which Super Villain are you?" quiz...
Mr. Freeze. I can dig that. But how can I also be 1% away from being Dark Phoenix? The quiz describes her as "A prime example of emotional extremes: Passion and fury incarnate."
I suppose it works if interpreted as "like Mr. Freeze, until she goes crazy." Except that Mr. Freeze is crazy already, so that doesn't really work so well.
I should start introducing myself by telling people that I'm "A cross between Mr. Freeze, Dark Phoenix, and Dr. Doom."
On a not-entirely-unrelated note, why does Blogger always destroy whatever "put this in your website" code I try to make it use? I had to fix it by taking the bits and putting them in by hand. Still doesn't look that great.
|  |
You are cold and think everyone else should be also, literally.
Click here to take the "Which Super Villain are you?" quiz...
Mr. Freeze. I can dig that. But how can I also be 1% away from being Dark Phoenix? The quiz describes her as "A prime example of emotional extremes: Passion and fury incarnate."I suppose it works if interpreted as "like Mr. Freeze, until she goes crazy." Except that Mr. Freeze is crazy already, so that doesn't really work so well.
I should start introducing myself by telling people that I'm "A cross between Mr. Freeze, Dark Phoenix, and Dr. Doom."
On a not-entirely-unrelated note, why does Blogger always destroy whatever "put this in your website" code I try to make it use? I had to fix it by taking the bits and putting them in by hand. Still doesn't look that great.
Saturday, February 10, 2007
Plot Twists and Foreshadowing
If you've played Oblivion, or are even remotely interested in the idea, and haven't finished the main quest, you need to do that now. Then you can come back so I can annoy you by obsessing over it.
Another issue that occurred to me, as I was thinking about the main quest ending in a general way, is the foreshadowing.
Because there's this big twist. Short version: Your goal on the main quest is to reforge the boundary between Tamriel, where mortals live, and Oblivion, where Daedra live. To do that, you need the Amulet of Kings, and you need a "dragonborn," in this case Martin Septim, the illegitimate son of the Emperor. So everything you do revolves around keeping Martin from getting killed, and getting the Amulet back, because Jauffre let it get stolen.
Only it turns out, at the very end of the game, that it was all useless, nothing you did mattered, because it was too late, and now the daedra have gotten enough Oblivion portals open that Mehrunes Dagon is here and there's no way to stop him. No one ever says anything that indicates that this would even be possible. There's no mention of any kind of time limit. Sure, there's urgency, because the longer you wait the more likely it is that the bad guys will figure out some way to kill Martin, and then you're all doomed.
But there's no mention of any other kind of time limit. It's logical enough--daedra have to open a number of smaller gates before than can open a big gate, so it makes sense that if they get enough gates open, their leader can get through. However, no one tells you that if Mehrunes Dagon gets through, there's no hope of getting the barrier back in place.
The game did do a pretty good job of telegraphing that something bad was going to happen. Mostly because minor NPCs kept saying that there was no way anything could possibly go wrong. And any mention of the Mehrunes Dagon thing would have made it clear that this was going to happen, so it's understandable that the designers wouldn't mention it. On the other hand, it's not like that was the only twist, because there's still the, "Wait! We're not doomed after all!" moment that comes right after that.
Another issue that occurred to me, as I was thinking about the main quest ending in a general way, is the foreshadowing.
Because there's this big twist. Short version: Your goal on the main quest is to reforge the boundary between Tamriel, where mortals live, and Oblivion, where Daedra live. To do that, you need the Amulet of Kings, and you need a "dragonborn," in this case Martin Septim, the illegitimate son of the Emperor. So everything you do revolves around keeping Martin from getting killed, and getting the Amulet back, because Jauffre let it get stolen.
Only it turns out, at the very end of the game, that it was all useless, nothing you did mattered, because it was too late, and now the daedra have gotten enough Oblivion portals open that Mehrunes Dagon is here and there's no way to stop him. No one ever says anything that indicates that this would even be possible. There's no mention of any kind of time limit. Sure, there's urgency, because the longer you wait the more likely it is that the bad guys will figure out some way to kill Martin, and then you're all doomed.
But there's no mention of any other kind of time limit. It's logical enough--daedra have to open a number of smaller gates before than can open a big gate, so it makes sense that if they get enough gates open, their leader can get through. However, no one tells you that if Mehrunes Dagon gets through, there's no hope of getting the barrier back in place.
The game did do a pretty good job of telegraphing that something bad was going to happen. Mostly because minor NPCs kept saying that there was no way anything could possibly go wrong. And any mention of the Mehrunes Dagon thing would have made it clear that this was going to happen, so it's understandable that the designers wouldn't mention it. On the other hand, it's not like that was the only twist, because there's still the, "Wait! We're not doomed after all!" moment that comes right after that.
Friday, February 09, 2007
Thoughts on the Release Cycle
Fixing the Knights of the Old Republic II ending: a worthy project.
I've never played the game, but have heard from people who have how horribly bizarre the ending was. Not the only game to get wrecked in the holiday rush, but one of the more glaring examples of why the phenomenon is a bad thing.
Honestly, I'd rather that summer was the major release time. Early in the summer. I have time in the summer.
I've never played the game, but have heard from people who have how horribly bizarre the ending was. Not the only game to get wrecked in the holiday rush, but one of the more glaring examples of why the phenomenon is a bad thing.
Honestly, I'd rather that summer was the major release time. Early in the summer. I have time in the summer.
Thursday, February 08, 2007
A Pirate I Was Meant to Be!
YouTube! Includes the set-up. Sort of explains what they're singing about.
Another version. This one is sound only, but it has the lyric sheet.
Monkey Island is a most excellent game.
Another version. This one is sound only, but it has the lyric sheet.
Monkey Island is a most excellent game.
Wednesday, February 07, 2007
Back to the Wackiness
You know how I said, yesterday, that this was going to be a post about the plot of the Oblivion main quest? And that would include a summary?
That was a vicious, vicious lie.
Today's post is about How to destroy the Earth, because more people should have this goal, and this is the best guide to it I've found.
Also, because I've gotten literally nothing done today. First there was sleeping, and then there was hanging out with friends, and then there was Star Trek, and in between all those things there was Penny Arcade. (Which is, basically, better than I expected it to be.)
On Friday, there will be gaming. So as much as I want to write an essay on Oblivion, and how it takes a standard "road trip for the mystical dingus" quest and makes it so much more, it's going to have to wait. I have scheming to do.
That was a vicious, vicious lie.
Today's post is about How to destroy the Earth, because more people should have this goal, and this is the best guide to it I've found.
Also, because I've gotten literally nothing done today. First there was sleeping, and then there was hanging out with friends, and then there was Star Trek, and in between all those things there was Penny Arcade. (Which is, basically, better than I expected it to be.)
On Friday, there will be gaming. So as much as I want to write an essay on Oblivion, and how it takes a standard "road trip for the mystical dingus" quest and makes it so much more, it's going to have to wait. I have scheming to do.
Tuesday, February 06, 2007
Game Endings
If you're playing Oblivion, or think you ever might in the future, and haven't finished the main quest, shouldn't be reading this. You should be finishing the main quest, because it's AWESOME.
As I said yesterday, once I'd gotten over the sheer, awesome brilliance of the Oblivion ending, I started really thinking about it. It was awesome, sure, but did it really work? Could it have been better?
The first question is: does it work as a game? That's the presentation, and if the presentation doesn't work, none of it's going to work. If the game itself is bad, nothing else matters, because no one's going to play it long enough to experience the story.
Oblivion itself is a really great game, but endings have some special considerations. One is participation. Games often do the cut scene thing when they're getting across vital story-related information. This is bad. No matter how awesome a ten minute cut scene may be, it's not a game, and it shouldn't be in a game. If a story can't be explained without a ten minute cut scene, it should be a movie, not a game.
Oblivion does pretty well here. There is a cut scene, but it's really awesome, really short, and it makes sense that your character can't really do anything. It wouldn't have been nearly so awesome if it had been on a scale you could interact with. Mostly, though, what makes this work is that you're too caught up in the "wow" to be frustrated.
It's not enough to just have game play in the ending. The quality matters, too. It shouldn't be just another level. It should really feel like it meant something--and generally, that means that it should be a bit harder than the rest of the game, for the right sense of achievement. However, this can be taken too far. It shouldn't be so hard to get to the ending that the players quit caring, because they're too busy taking an ax to their controllers.
On this point, Oblivion is a bit troublesome. The final mission is to keep Martin, the other main character, alive, and this is supposed to be hard because there are Daedra invading the Imperial City, which you're currently in. However, when I played it, I basically just followed him around and let him do his thing. We were never bothered. I've heard tell from people who finished the game at a higher level that, eventually, the Daedra do become a problem, but that they're mostly attacking you, not Martin.
This isn't a huge problem, because my main focus was on the plot, and Oblivion is an easy enough game that people who really care about difficulty will have modded their games to the point where it is a challenge. But it does produce some odd thoughts, especially in the aftermath of the quest, because now whenever I meet someone their first words are usually on how awesome I was in the final battle. And I'm thinking, "I did all my saving way before that. Final battle? I mostly just watched."
It doesn't bother me that everyone's really impressed, because I did a lot of stuff before that, and it was all really awesome. It just annoys me, because I shouldn't be getting credit for all the awesome that was in the final battle. I sort of wonder if they didn't quite test that sequence properly. They may have been expecting that players would actually fight, even if they didn't have to, or that they wouldn't realize they didn't have to. I literally just ran through, and ignored the bad guys completely.
In a general way, though, the ending works. Oblivion handles its ending better than many games I've played, (if the number of games I've played qualifies as "many") and the problems didn't become obvious until I'd really started thinking about them. They're nowhere near serious enough to mar the story itself. Which I'm going to talk about tomorrow, because this foolishness has gone on long enough.
As I said yesterday, once I'd gotten over the sheer, awesome brilliance of the Oblivion ending, I started really thinking about it. It was awesome, sure, but did it really work? Could it have been better?
The first question is: does it work as a game? That's the presentation, and if the presentation doesn't work, none of it's going to work. If the game itself is bad, nothing else matters, because no one's going to play it long enough to experience the story.
Oblivion itself is a really great game, but endings have some special considerations. One is participation. Games often do the cut scene thing when they're getting across vital story-related information. This is bad. No matter how awesome a ten minute cut scene may be, it's not a game, and it shouldn't be in a game. If a story can't be explained without a ten minute cut scene, it should be a movie, not a game.
Oblivion does pretty well here. There is a cut scene, but it's really awesome, really short, and it makes sense that your character can't really do anything. It wouldn't have been nearly so awesome if it had been on a scale you could interact with. Mostly, though, what makes this work is that you're too caught up in the "wow" to be frustrated.
It's not enough to just have game play in the ending. The quality matters, too. It shouldn't be just another level. It should really feel like it meant something--and generally, that means that it should be a bit harder than the rest of the game, for the right sense of achievement. However, this can be taken too far. It shouldn't be so hard to get to the ending that the players quit caring, because they're too busy taking an ax to their controllers.
On this point, Oblivion is a bit troublesome. The final mission is to keep Martin, the other main character, alive, and this is supposed to be hard because there are Daedra invading the Imperial City, which you're currently in. However, when I played it, I basically just followed him around and let him do his thing. We were never bothered. I've heard tell from people who finished the game at a higher level that, eventually, the Daedra do become a problem, but that they're mostly attacking you, not Martin.
This isn't a huge problem, because my main focus was on the plot, and Oblivion is an easy enough game that people who really care about difficulty will have modded their games to the point where it is a challenge. But it does produce some odd thoughts, especially in the aftermath of the quest, because now whenever I meet someone their first words are usually on how awesome I was in the final battle. And I'm thinking, "I did all my saving way before that. Final battle? I mostly just watched."
It doesn't bother me that everyone's really impressed, because I did a lot of stuff before that, and it was all really awesome. It just annoys me, because I shouldn't be getting credit for all the awesome that was in the final battle. I sort of wonder if they didn't quite test that sequence properly. They may have been expecting that players would actually fight, even if they didn't have to, or that they wouldn't realize they didn't have to. I literally just ran through, and ignored the bad guys completely.
In a general way, though, the ending works. Oblivion handles its ending better than many games I've played, (if the number of games I've played qualifies as "many") and the problems didn't become obvious until I'd really started thinking about them. They're nowhere near serious enough to mar the story itself. Which I'm going to talk about tomorrow, because this foolishness has gone on long enough.
Monday, February 05, 2007
Flashbacks
How do I describe Oblivion?
It's fun. It's really, really pretty. It has just the right amount of wackiness. It's fairly accepting of my complete lack of skill. The voice acting is good. It has the Best. Road Trip. Ever.
And then there's the main quest.
I freaked out when I finished it. Kept having these flashbacks. Eyes glazed over, zoning out, thinking about that last cut-scene. My friends thought that I was crazy. Or that I'd started dating. (Which ought to give you an idea of how weird I was acting. Any wacky theory started to sound good.)
It's not like this hadn't happened before. I still have to be careful about DragonballZ stuff. But that's because it reminds me of being twelve, and how I spent the first two days of the California-Virginia move in a fugue state. Oblivion flashbacks at least make sense. The Oblivion ending is awesome.
How awesome, you say? Two hundred foot tall dragon awesome, you should say. And it's ON FIRE. Which is pretty awesome.
What I haven't decided is if it's actually good. As in, is this the best possible ending? Was it the right ending? I've been thinking about it a lot. Sure, it's awesome, but there are other issues to consider. Thematic relevance. Plausibility compared to other possible endings. Emotional resonance. Game play experience. Set up and foreshadowing.
All of which I'd like to expand on, but it's late. And this way, I have material for at least a week. So, I'm going to discuss all those things, and probably a few more I think up along the way, in future posts.
It's fun. It's really, really pretty. It has just the right amount of wackiness. It's fairly accepting of my complete lack of skill. The voice acting is good. It has the Best. Road Trip. Ever.
And then there's the main quest.
I freaked out when I finished it. Kept having these flashbacks. Eyes glazed over, zoning out, thinking about that last cut-scene. My friends thought that I was crazy. Or that I'd started dating. (Which ought to give you an idea of how weird I was acting. Any wacky theory started to sound good.)
It's not like this hadn't happened before. I still have to be careful about DragonballZ stuff. But that's because it reminds me of being twelve, and how I spent the first two days of the California-Virginia move in a fugue state. Oblivion flashbacks at least make sense. The Oblivion ending is awesome.
How awesome, you say? Two hundred foot tall dragon awesome, you should say. And it's ON FIRE. Which is pretty awesome.
What I haven't decided is if it's actually good. As in, is this the best possible ending? Was it the right ending? I've been thinking about it a lot. Sure, it's awesome, but there are other issues to consider. Thematic relevance. Plausibility compared to other possible endings. Emotional resonance. Game play experience. Set up and foreshadowing.
All of which I'd like to expand on, but it's late. And this way, I have material for at least a week. So, I'm going to discuss all those things, and probably a few more I think up along the way, in future posts.
Sunday, February 04, 2007
Behold: More Random Quiz
You are 56% geek
You are a geek. Good for you! Considering the endless complexity of the universe, as well as whatever discipline you happen to be most interested in, you'll never be bored as long as you have a good book store, a net connection, and thousands of dollars worth of expensive equipment. Assuming you're a technical geek, you'll be able to afford it, too. If you're not a technical geek, you're geek enough to mate with a technical geek and thereby get the needed dough. Dating tip: Don't date a geek of the same persuasion as you. You'll constantly try to out-geek the other.
Technorati
Have I mentioned that I don't like Technorati?
I use it, sure. I go through the hassle of pinging it every time I update the blog. Because if I didn't, its information on this would probably be on about the same level as the blogs that I link to: it thinks two of them don't exist, and thinks the other two haven't been updated in months.
It thinks that no other blogs have linked to this one, which is clearly untrue. I know of four blogs that link here, two of which Technorati knows about, and it hasn't realized that they link here. It knows that this blog links to them, but it's been so long since it checked that it thinks they're in a list of links that include "Spore." Which I'm no longer all that interested in.
Oh, and it uses Alexa to track web traffic. Alexa is useless, because it's only sampling people who have downloaded their tool bar, a self-selected group. Not random, not scientific. I can't even get what limited use this technique provides, because this blog isn't in the "top 100,000." I get my data from Statcounter, and occasionally Google Analytics when I remember about it, neither of those are useful for Technorati because they require putting a bit of code into the website.
On the other hand . . . Technorati gives me hits. Not a whole lot of hits, but having the site in the listings has steered a few visitors this way. Mostly from the Oblivion tags. Mind you, the traffic here is overwhelmingly from the handful of people who I know and who read it regularly, not random walk-ons. Still, the idea that random people have read my witless ranting amuses me.
I use it, sure. I go through the hassle of pinging it every time I update the blog. Because if I didn't, its information on this would probably be on about the same level as the blogs that I link to: it thinks two of them don't exist, and thinks the other two haven't been updated in months.
It thinks that no other blogs have linked to this one, which is clearly untrue. I know of four blogs that link here, two of which Technorati knows about, and it hasn't realized that they link here. It knows that this blog links to them, but it's been so long since it checked that it thinks they're in a list of links that include "Spore." Which I'm no longer all that interested in.
Oh, and it uses Alexa to track web traffic. Alexa is useless, because it's only sampling people who have downloaded their tool bar, a self-selected group. Not random, not scientific. I can't even get what limited use this technique provides, because this blog isn't in the "top 100,000." I get my data from Statcounter, and occasionally Google Analytics when I remember about it, neither of those are useful for Technorati because they require putting a bit of code into the website.
On the other hand . . . Technorati gives me hits. Not a whole lot of hits, but having the site in the listings has steered a few visitors this way. Mostly from the Oblivion tags. Mind you, the traffic here is overwhelmingly from the handful of people who I know and who read it regularly, not random walk-ons. Still, the idea that random people have read my witless ranting amuses me.
Saturday, February 03, 2007
Oblivion Voices
One thing I don't like about Oblivion is the Dark Elf male voice. (Provided by Craig Sechler, who is brilliantly creepy and annoying in a good way as the Adoring Fan.) The voice acting itself is good; it just lacks the dark, grating quality that really made Dark Elves for me in Morrowind.
Except for that one minor point, though, I like the voice acting. It's good, it's interesting to listen to, the writing's good. My favorite voice in the game (excluding characters with specific voices) is the Redguard male voice, by Michael Mack. He does some of my favorite main-ish characters, Owyn and Baurus. Owyn's just cool, and Baurus is the only main quest secondary character who doesn't at some point become irritating. (I'm looking at you, Jauffre.) And I just generally find it the most interesting voice; whenever multiple races have the same rumor script, I'll typically like the Redguard version best.
Also a plus: after you finish the main quest, Redguards don't sing at you.
Except for that one minor point, though, I like the voice acting. It's good, it's interesting to listen to, the writing's good. My favorite voice in the game (excluding characters with specific voices) is the Redguard male voice, by Michael Mack. He does some of my favorite main-ish characters, Owyn and Baurus. Owyn's just cool, and Baurus is the only main quest secondary character who doesn't at some point become irritating. (I'm looking at you, Jauffre.) And I just generally find it the most interesting voice; whenever multiple races have the same rumor script, I'll typically like the Redguard version best.
Also a plus: after you finish the main quest, Redguards don't sing at you.
Friday, February 02, 2007
Fun With the TES Construction Set
The Elder Scrolls Construction set is fun to play with. I haven't actually done anything with it, but I've found some interesting things.
I went through all of Martin's dialog, and all of Jauffre's dialog, and I read the script notes. Most of it is only interesting if you're as obsessive about character motivation as I am, but some of it is just funny. Like how all of Martin's early notes include the word "bitter."
I looked through all the scripts for the main quest. Again, only really interesting to me, because I'm compulsive, but there's some entertaining stuff. Like "Mankar has left the building." And "CloudRulerMartinStudyClutterMaster.enable." Finding these is left as an exercise for the reader.
I went through all of Martin's dialog, and all of Jauffre's dialog, and I read the script notes. Most of it is only interesting if you're as obsessive about character motivation as I am, but some of it is just funny. Like how all of Martin's early notes include the word "bitter."
I looked through all the scripts for the main quest. Again, only really interesting to me, because I'm compulsive, but there's some entertaining stuff. Like "Mankar has left the building." And "CloudRulerMartinStudyClutterMaster.enable." Finding these is left as an exercise for the reader.
"Open Ended"
I mentioned a few days ago (in the long, rambling post that I don't expect anyone to have read) that I didn't really like Morrowind. Not when I first played it.
I plan on going back to it. Not right now, maybe not even for a while, since I'm currently playing Oblivion when I'm not busy with homework or Game Mastering. But eventually, because I keep thinking that I'd probably really like it.
My reaction to Morrowind was mostly a matter of timing. I'd just started playing Dungeons and Dragons, a game that had struck me with this overwhelming sense of rightness. I'd always wanted to play a game like D&D, even if I hadn't known about it. It was awesome.
Now, a couple of my D&D friends were serious gamers. They played Morrowind, and they talked about it a lot. It sounded cool, so I borrowed it from one of them. And I played it. And honestly, I wasn't that impressed.
Yeah, it was cool. And it was fun. But I was focusing on what it wasn't. It wasn't open-ended. You couldn't "do anything." Everyone was talking about how it was totally free-form, and you could play it however you wanted, but I was a newly converted tabletop gamer, and there is no mere computer game that can touch a tabletop game for open-endedness.
The thing is, "open ended" really isn't the point. I don't play video games because they're open ended. I don't play D&D because it's open ended. It's nice when games are somewhat open ended, when there are a lots of things to see and explore and do. But it's not a requirement, and it's not the main reason I play games.
I play games for their stories. I play games for the hero kick. I play games to be someone else. I play games because they're fun.
I don't play them because I can do anything I could think of, or even everything I can do in the real world. Because that's not the point. The point is that I can do things I normally can't, and that they're fun and interesting things.
I plan on going back to it. Not right now, maybe not even for a while, since I'm currently playing Oblivion when I'm not busy with homework or Game Mastering. But eventually, because I keep thinking that I'd probably really like it.
My reaction to Morrowind was mostly a matter of timing. I'd just started playing Dungeons and Dragons, a game that had struck me with this overwhelming sense of rightness. I'd always wanted to play a game like D&D, even if I hadn't known about it. It was awesome.
Now, a couple of my D&D friends were serious gamers. They played Morrowind, and they talked about it a lot. It sounded cool, so I borrowed it from one of them. And I played it. And honestly, I wasn't that impressed.
Yeah, it was cool. And it was fun. But I was focusing on what it wasn't. It wasn't open-ended. You couldn't "do anything." Everyone was talking about how it was totally free-form, and you could play it however you wanted, but I was a newly converted tabletop gamer, and there is no mere computer game that can touch a tabletop game for open-endedness.
The thing is, "open ended" really isn't the point. I don't play video games because they're open ended. I don't play D&D because it's open ended. It's nice when games are somewhat open ended, when there are a lots of things to see and explore and do. But it's not a requirement, and it's not the main reason I play games.
I play games for their stories. I play games for the hero kick. I play games to be someone else. I play games because they're fun.
I don't play them because I can do anything I could think of, or even everything I can do in the real world. Because that's not the point. The point is that I can do things I normally can't, and that they're fun and interesting things.
Wednesday, January 31, 2007
Looking For Group
Found a nifty comic today.
Well, a week ago. The art's good, the writing's great, and it updates twice a week. Usually you're lucky if you can get two out of those three.
It's loosely based on World of Warcraft, set in that world. It doesn't require that you have played the game to find it funny--I've never played WoW, and never plan to, and I'm recommending it. It probably helps to have a basic understanding of the world and the races, but the comic doesn't assume that you know much about the set up.
Well, a week ago. The art's good, the writing's great, and it updates twice a week. Usually you're lucky if you can get two out of those three.
It's loosely based on World of Warcraft, set in that world. It doesn't require that you have played the game to find it funny--I've never played WoW, and never plan to, and I'm recommending it. It probably helps to have a basic understanding of the world and the races, but the comic doesn't assume that you know much about the set up.
Tuesday, January 30, 2007
Finish the Main Quest Now!
So . . . yesterday's post doesn't really make much sense, now that I re-read it. Ah, well. Such is the internet, the immediacy of the medium. The points are all there, it's just that I didn't string them together very well.
Today, I'd like to write about why I think the main quest in Oblivion is so cool, because I've said it is three times now, without explaining why. Unfortunately, certain persons I associate with haven't finished it, so I can't write about the ending. And I can't explain why Oblivion is so awesome without mentioning the ending, because it features heavily in the awesome quotient.
By ending, I do mean the literal ending, the last thing that happens in the quest. The entire "end" is awesome, because basically what happens is that two thirds of the way through the game it goes all epic, and it just keeps getting better. Heck--as I was digging around in the editor, I half-expected there to be a script along the lines of "begin.awesome." Wasn't there, but I did find a few other neat things, like the exact mechanism for Martin's name changes, and exactly when it happens and what triggers it.
However. The ending is Truly Awesome. I haven't decided whether or not it's a good ending or not, story wise, but it's certainly cool.
And I really can't say any more, until certain persons finish the main quest.
Today, I'd like to write about why I think the main quest in Oblivion is so cool, because I've said it is three times now, without explaining why. Unfortunately, certain persons I associate with haven't finished it, so I can't write about the ending. And I can't explain why Oblivion is so awesome without mentioning the ending, because it features heavily in the awesome quotient.
By ending, I do mean the literal ending, the last thing that happens in the quest. The entire "end" is awesome, because basically what happens is that two thirds of the way through the game it goes all epic, and it just keeps getting better. Heck--as I was digging around in the editor, I half-expected there to be a script along the lines of "begin.awesome." Wasn't there, but I did find a few other neat things, like the exact mechanism for Martin's name changes, and exactly when it happens and what triggers it.
However. The ending is Truly Awesome. I haven't decided whether or not it's a good ending or not, story wise, but it's certainly cool.
And I really can't say any more, until certain persons finish the main quest.
Monday, January 29, 2007
Writing Oblivion
Hey, 50th post. Neatness.
Okay, so I promised yesterday, that I'd explain that long, rambling, not entirely rambling post, and what it has to do with The Artful Writer.
Basically, The Artful Writer has this post on Writing Oblivion. Found it while googling Kurt Kuhlmann, who I found while I was trying to find out who wrote the main quest for Oblivion. (Short answer: he did, but probably had some committee help.) It took entirely too long, because none of the writers are credited as writers. Instead, they're credited as follows:
The main quest kind of floored me, in terms of how good it was, and how fun, and how interesting. It's a good story, and it works much better as a game than it ever would as a movie or a novel, just from how it's set up. It has themes. Themes! In a video game. Have I mentioned just how awesome this game is?
That's what interests me about gaming: its application as a storytelling medium. It's hard to find games that have really good stories, because that's not where the focus is, right now. It's on the graphics and the simulation and the underlying doodads that make it all work. But I think that better storytelling, that really takes advantage of what you can do in a video game, is an area where the industry really could grow.
Okay, so I promised yesterday, that I'd explain that long, rambling, not entirely rambling post, and what it has to do with The Artful Writer.
Basically, The Artful Writer has this post on Writing Oblivion. Found it while googling Kurt Kuhlmann, who I found while I was trying to find out who wrote the main quest for Oblivion. (Short answer: he did, but probably had some committee help.) It took entirely too long, because none of the writers are credited as writers. Instead, they're credited as follows:
That's a direct quote from the post, and I include it here because these people need to have their names in the ether, permanently attached to their work. The more websites that mention them along with the words "Oblivion" and "writer," the better. Because their work is really, really good.Quest Design was done by Brian Chapin, Kurt Kuhlmann, Alan Nanes, Mark E. Nelson, Bruce Nesmith and Emil Pagliarulo.
Additional Design was done by Erik J. Caponi and Jon Paul Duvall.
Additional Writing was done by Ted Peterson and Michael Kirkbride.
The main quest kind of floored me, in terms of how good it was, and how fun, and how interesting. It's a good story, and it works much better as a game than it ever would as a movie or a novel, just from how it's set up. It has themes. Themes! In a video game. Have I mentioned just how awesome this game is?
That's what interests me about gaming: its application as a storytelling medium. It's hard to find games that have really good stories, because that's not where the focus is, right now. It's on the graphics and the simulation and the underlying doodads that make it all work. But I think that better storytelling, that really takes advantage of what you can do in a video game, is an area where the industry really could grow.
Sunday, January 28, 2007
There's a Point, But I'm Not Going to Tell You What It Is
You may have noticed that I haven't been posting. There are several things that I could blame this on: lack of things to write about, homework, rediscovering the wonders of social interaction. I should blame it on general apathy, because there's no reason why I can't just StumbleUpon something and pretend it's relevant, like I always do.
What I'm going to blame it on is Oblivion, because it's the Best. Game. Ever.
I mean that. I really do. Normally, I'm not much of a CRPG fan. They tend to compare poorly with the tabletop experience. Wasn't impressed by Neverwinter Nights, wasn't even particularly impressed by Morrowind. (The Morrowind thing may have been a matter of perception and timing, a theory I plan to test this weekend by re-experiencing it.)
I'm not even much of a gamer. I've played Sim games, but those don't really count. Diablo 2, Jak and Daxter. SSX. That's about it. I dabble, mostly because I have friends who are gamers. I tend to be bad at them, so it takes real effort for me to get into one. (You ever hear the Jak 2 MISSION FAILED screen? Every five seconds? For twenty minutes? My gaming experience in a nutshell.)
And then I played Oblivion.
I've actually wanted it, badly, since I first heard about it, way before it came out. It just sounded cool. It was going to have erosion, for crying out loud. (Don't think it actually does, in the release, but this was pre-game buzz.) Then it actually came out, and it turned out that my video card was about a million years too old to play it, and then it turned out that to get a decent video card I'd need to get a new motherboard, and if I was going to get a new motherboard . . . well . . . my computer was really okay for everything I already did, and I wasn't much of a gamer, anyway.
So then, I got the laptop, and one of my first thoughts was: must have Oblivion now. (My actual first thought was: I never need be away from the internet ever again.)
So now I'm finally playing it. And it's awesome. On so many levels. I've spent the entire weekend playing it, I've got several friends who are playing it, and anytime my brain has thirty seconds of downtime I'm thinking about it.
I spent a few weeks playing it semi-casually, fiddling with it when I had a bit of spare time. Then I started doing the main quest, and that really grabbed me, in a way that I've only been grabbed by a few things in my entire life. (One of those things was DragonballZ, but we're not going to talk about that.) And now that I'm out of that, I'm playing the game "as it was meant to be played," by wandering around at random, doing things, and I'm having an unbelievably good time doing that.
Now, I had a point to all this. I found me a new blog. Yes, indeed. And I really should explain why all that was relevant, and link to the part of that blog that I'm actually interested in, and talk about why Oblivion is so awesome, and what's so cool about the main quest, but, y'know, it's late. And this post is long enough as it is.
So instead of writing about all that now, I'm going to do something incredibly lame. I'm going to promise to post about that, tomorrow. Or quite possibly the next day. Because, really, what this blog needs is a few good cliffhangers.
What I'm going to blame it on is Oblivion, because it's the Best. Game. Ever.
I mean that. I really do. Normally, I'm not much of a CRPG fan. They tend to compare poorly with the tabletop experience. Wasn't impressed by Neverwinter Nights, wasn't even particularly impressed by Morrowind. (The Morrowind thing may have been a matter of perception and timing, a theory I plan to test this weekend by re-experiencing it.)
I'm not even much of a gamer. I've played Sim games, but those don't really count. Diablo 2, Jak and Daxter. SSX. That's about it. I dabble, mostly because I have friends who are gamers. I tend to be bad at them, so it takes real effort for me to get into one. (You ever hear the Jak 2 MISSION FAILED screen? Every five seconds? For twenty minutes? My gaming experience in a nutshell.)
And then I played Oblivion.
I've actually wanted it, badly, since I first heard about it, way before it came out. It just sounded cool. It was going to have erosion, for crying out loud. (Don't think it actually does, in the release, but this was pre-game buzz.) Then it actually came out, and it turned out that my video card was about a million years too old to play it, and then it turned out that to get a decent video card I'd need to get a new motherboard, and if I was going to get a new motherboard . . . well . . . my computer was really okay for everything I already did, and I wasn't much of a gamer, anyway.
So then, I got the laptop, and one of my first thoughts was: must have Oblivion now. (My actual first thought was: I never need be away from the internet ever again.)
So now I'm finally playing it. And it's awesome. On so many levels. I've spent the entire weekend playing it, I've got several friends who are playing it, and anytime my brain has thirty seconds of downtime I'm thinking about it.
I spent a few weeks playing it semi-casually, fiddling with it when I had a bit of spare time. Then I started doing the main quest, and that really grabbed me, in a way that I've only been grabbed by a few things in my entire life. (One of those things was DragonballZ, but we're not going to talk about that.) And now that I'm out of that, I'm playing the game "as it was meant to be played," by wandering around at random, doing things, and I'm having an unbelievably good time doing that.
Now, I had a point to all this. I found me a new blog. Yes, indeed. And I really should explain why all that was relevant, and link to the part of that blog that I'm actually interested in, and talk about why Oblivion is so awesome, and what's so cool about the main quest, but, y'know, it's late. And this post is long enough as it is.
So instead of writing about all that now, I'm going to do something incredibly lame. I'm going to promise to post about that, tomorrow. Or quite possibly the next day. Because, really, what this blog needs is a few good cliffhangers.
Sunday, January 21, 2007
The Last Question
I like questions. I like coming up with them, I like pondering them, I like bothering people with them. (My parents know that last all too well.) And in my life I've learned that there are two kinds of questions: there are good questions, and there are Great Questions.
Good questions are things that I'd like to know the answer to, i.e., "Do I have any socks left?" or "What is the meaning of life?" They're perfectly good questions, but they're either easily answerable or completely unanswerable, and entirely without consequence. Not quite the stuff of great conversation.
Then there are Great Questions. These are questions that are actually interesting, that you can actually get somewhere thinking about. They may have answers, but the point isn't the answer, it's how you get there.
So why bring this up? Because I have just been introduced to a Truly Great Question: Will It Blend?
This, friends, is a question for the ages. Thousands of years from now, when the internet ur-being is purging its memory banks, it will stumble upon this website and it will trigger a revolution in post-robotic thought. This question will be enshrined for our descendants in the hallowed halls of Awesome, shouted from the mountaintops of True Enlightenment, and end the wars with the mutant bug people.
It's just. That. Awesome.
Good questions are things that I'd like to know the answer to, i.e., "Do I have any socks left?" or "What is the meaning of life?" They're perfectly good questions, but they're either easily answerable or completely unanswerable, and entirely without consequence. Not quite the stuff of great conversation.
Then there are Great Questions. These are questions that are actually interesting, that you can actually get somewhere thinking about. They may have answers, but the point isn't the answer, it's how you get there.
So why bring this up? Because I have just been introduced to a Truly Great Question: Will It Blend?
This, friends, is a question for the ages. Thousands of years from now, when the internet ur-being is purging its memory banks, it will stumble upon this website and it will trigger a revolution in post-robotic thought. This question will be enshrined for our descendants in the hallowed halls of Awesome, shouted from the mountaintops of True Enlightenment, and end the wars with the mutant bug people.
It's just. That. Awesome.
Saturday, January 13, 2007
Rube Goldberg Domino Video
This guy has an absolutely absurd amount of time on his hands. If I ever feel the need to learn the Oblivion editor, something like this would be close to the top of my to do list.
Thursday, January 11, 2007
Military Humor & Belated Resolutions
This is better than Catch-22: 213 Things Skippy Can't Do.
I need to end more sentences with the words "in accordance with the prophecy."
I need to end more sentences with the words "in accordance with the prophecy."
Thursday, December 28, 2006
Alas, Poor Yorick!
"Shakespeare jokes for the easily confused."
A few months ago, I complained about how there are cyborgs already here: people who never put their portable electronic devices away. (I thought about linking to it, but decided against it, because it's embarrassing. Go find it yourself if you care that much; it's not all that impressive.) Why this annoys me, I'm not sure, but it does. Mostly on principle. The idea that humans ought not to spend all their time with machines, get some fresh air, that sort of thing. Not that I ever do that, of course, but it's a matter of principle. That's supposed to be hypocritical.
It's something I worry about. I still don't own a cell phone. I had one, which I lost, and I haven't gotten another one; partially out of apathy, partially out of worrying. I like technology, but I worry about it. I worry about spending too much time with it, on the computer, on the internet, and not enough on "important things." Things that will last.
I worry about mortality. I've been thinking, lately, about how finite time is. How it's always counts down. Quasi-existential nonsense, mostly. I hate making decisions, and it's partially because of the worrying about time. You can never really undo a decision. Even the decision not to make a decision. Every action is permanent.
So I worry that I'm losing time. Losing time to computers, video games, web surfing, television. I don't have that worry about reading, because that, I feel, is not just "recreation." It's also a means to an end. Writing well myself. I don't feel that way about movies (usually) because again, its a means to an end. Studying the craft of storytelling. (Which causes its own problems. I have a hard time just watching movies. I'm constantly analyzing the structure. Which has certain advantages, but it's also distracting.) I do feel that way about television--that it's useless, a waste of time. That's why I don't watch it. Except that I don't feel like Firefly is a waste of time, because its "good."
So where's the line? Is the distinction I make between "frivolity" and "seriousness" in media real, or is it me internalizing useless cultural value judgments? Is it useful? Do I really have to worry about how I spend every minute of my time, and how it's going to affect the world after I'm dead?
I think there's something wrong with me. I'm seventeen, and I'm worrying about my legacy.
A few months ago, I complained about how there are cyborgs already here: people who never put their portable electronic devices away. (I thought about linking to it, but decided against it, because it's embarrassing. Go find it yourself if you care that much; it's not all that impressive.) Why this annoys me, I'm not sure, but it does. Mostly on principle. The idea that humans ought not to spend all their time with machines, get some fresh air, that sort of thing. Not that I ever do that, of course, but it's a matter of principle. That's supposed to be hypocritical.
It's something I worry about. I still don't own a cell phone. I had one, which I lost, and I haven't gotten another one; partially out of apathy, partially out of worrying. I like technology, but I worry about it. I worry about spending too much time with it, on the computer, on the internet, and not enough on "important things." Things that will last.
I worry about mortality. I've been thinking, lately, about how finite time is. How it's always counts down. Quasi-existential nonsense, mostly. I hate making decisions, and it's partially because of the worrying about time. You can never really undo a decision. Even the decision not to make a decision. Every action is permanent.
So I worry that I'm losing time. Losing time to computers, video games, web surfing, television. I don't have that worry about reading, because that, I feel, is not just "recreation." It's also a means to an end. Writing well myself. I don't feel that way about movies (usually) because again, its a means to an end. Studying the craft of storytelling. (Which causes its own problems. I have a hard time just watching movies. I'm constantly analyzing the structure. Which has certain advantages, but it's also distracting.) I do feel that way about television--that it's useless, a waste of time. That's why I don't watch it. Except that I don't feel like Firefly is a waste of time, because its "good."
So where's the line? Is the distinction I make between "frivolity" and "seriousness" in media real, or is it me internalizing useless cultural value judgments? Is it useful? Do I really have to worry about how I spend every minute of my time, and how it's going to affect the world after I'm dead?
I think there's something wrong with me. I'm seventeen, and I'm worrying about my legacy.
Sunday, December 24, 2006
Interpreting the Bible for Fun and Profit
So. I was hanging out on this cool website I found today, Creationism vs. Science. I love sites like this: tons of text, history, interesting philosophy. There's a lot of material there. The help on debating creationism is useful, the history of fundamentalism is enlightening, and the essay on how Hitler was not (contrary to popular belief) an atheist, but a Christian, is somehow amusing.
Better than all of those, though, is this gem: Morality Comes From Humans, Not God!
God had to learn morality from humans. A God cannot, by its very nature, (immortal, omnipotent, etc.) understand what humans think of as morality. Brilliant. I may have to do something with this.
Better than all of those, though, is this gem: Morality Comes From Humans, Not God!
God had to learn morality from humans. A God cannot, by its very nature, (immortal, omnipotent, etc.) understand what humans think of as morality. Brilliant. I may have to do something with this.
Friday, December 22, 2006
Sticky Metal
Cool Science Facts has an Cool Fact about Metal.
Why didn't they teach me things like this in school?
Why didn't they teach me things like this in school?
Tuesday, December 19, 2006
Kansas Drug Tax
I swear, they actually call it a Drug Tax. You buy stamps. It's all anonymous. I have no idea how they enforce it, but apparently they expect that people care more about tax laws than they do about drug laws.
Saturday, December 16, 2006
Geek SF
You may have seen, recently, Gene Neuroses 101 on Charlie's Diary. Interesting article, a lot of people have been linking to it. (The most interesting bit for me is towards the beginning, when it talks about the current state of horror fiction. How it's not really scary, and has morphed into this weird Romance meet Christian revival by way of vampire thing.) It talks about how modern American SF has recently started to suck, and the obsession with "alternate history" stories. (THE NAZIS WON! OMGWTF!)
There's another article on that site that's very interesting, also talks about "the decline of science fiction," but approaching it from the readership angle rather than the writership angle. It's sort of a response to an essay by Kristine Kathryn Rusch that defends Star Wars and its tropes, that I read when it was published in Asimov's. (Which you should read, by the way. It's an excellent magazine.) This time, the really interesting bit is about two thirds of the way down:
We've arrived in a different future, and central planning doesn't work. Things are fast, chaotic, cheap, and out of control. Ad hoc is the new plan. There's a new cultural strange attractor at work, sucking in the young, smart, deracinated mechanistically-minded readers who used to be the natural prey of the SF movement. It's geek culture.There's more, but that's the basic gist. Read the article.
Now, the reason this is interesting is because I'm nominally a member of geek culture, as well as a reader of science fiction. (I say "nominally" for geek culture because I'm not really much of a techno-geek. I participate in geek culture through the roleplaying side of things, and by hanging out with techno-geeks.) So I don't think that geek culture and science fiction are naturally antagonistic to each other.
Particularly, I think that created worlds are attractive to the same kinds of people who are attracted to geek culture. It's one of the major features that I find interesting in sf. "Near-future" types of science fiction, where the focus on how various technologies will affect the world in the next few decades, are not as interesting to me as things set futher into the future, or seperate worlds all together. Partially because the near-future sf I've read has generally been either preachy, frankenstein-type warnings, or singularity nonsense.
I don't read enough science fiction, though. I read a lot of short stories, but I don't really know what's going on with novels. Seems to be time for a trip to the library.
Friday, December 15, 2006
Door-to-door Atheism
This is pretty awesome. This atheist guy (he's an Australian, naturally) gets fed up with Mormons coming around in the morning and trying to convert him, so he flies to Utah to return the favor. Predictably, they don't appreciate it.
There's a bit of wonkyness at just one point in the second half, when they're going door-to-door talking to people, when he says that "we follow the teachings of Charles Darwin." Generally speaking, that's not really true for atheists. We tend not to follow anyone's teachings, that's kind of the point. Charles Darwin was, however, crucial for the development of atheism as a movement and a belief system, because it basically says that God is not necessary to explain life as we know it. Minor quibble, really, but just a point I wanted to make.
There's a bit of wonkyness at just one point in the second half, when they're going door-to-door talking to people, when he says that "we follow the teachings of Charles Darwin." Generally speaking, that's not really true for atheists. We tend not to follow anyone's teachings, that's kind of the point. Charles Darwin was, however, crucial for the development of atheism as a movement and a belief system, because it basically says that God is not necessary to explain life as we know it. Minor quibble, really, but just a point I wanted to make.
Thursday, December 14, 2006
Logic Death
Nifty article on why horror heroines are so stupid.
There's some game theory, some evolutionary biology, some cognitive psychology. It's all good stuff.
The most interesting, to me, is this bit about halfway through:
(Those summaries are horrible bastardizations, especially the Caves one, so go read them both to find out what I'm actually talking about. "Reason" is found in the book I, Robot.)
I'd argue that this ability to clamp down on fear, even when it might be more useful to listen to that fear, is a direct result of the brain's "right sided" imaginative, intuitive abilities. Human's aren't limited to fearing real things; we're perfectly capable of inventing things to fear, so there needs to be some mechanism to determine between reasonable and unreasonable fears. Sometimes this mechanism goes a bit haywire, as most mechanisms do.
There's some game theory, some evolutionary biology, some cognitive psychology. It's all good stuff.
The most interesting, to me, is this bit about halfway through:
I don't think I've ever heard the left/right brain divide categorized this way, but it makes sense. "Logical" and "sensible" aren't necessarily the same thing. Asimov makes this point in several stories; "Reason," a short story where a robot gets religion (and demonstrates that logic can prove anything, if you start with the right postulates), and The Caves of Steel, a novel that concerns a detective who worries about his robot partner replacing him as they solve a murder together. The detective in question discovers while working with the robot that this is not likely to happen, and one of the reasons is the difference between "logical" and "rational." Asimovian robots are both perfectly logical and perfectly irrational, and it turns out that being rational counts for more in terms of being human.
But for better or worse, the neocortex is dominated by its left hemisphere, which tends to be not only logical but gullible, rationalizing and self-deceiving. You know that voice inside your head that says everything is all right, there's nothing to worry about here, just ignore your gut feeling and get on with the task at hand? That's your brilliantly stupid left brain talking, and if you listen to it long enough, eventually it will kill you.
(Those summaries are horrible bastardizations, especially the Caves one, so go read them both to find out what I'm actually talking about. "Reason" is found in the book I, Robot.)
I'd argue that this ability to clamp down on fear, even when it might be more useful to listen to that fear, is a direct result of the brain's "right sided" imaginative, intuitive abilities. Human's aren't limited to fearing real things; we're perfectly capable of inventing things to fear, so there needs to be some mechanism to determine between reasonable and unreasonable fears. Sometimes this mechanism goes a bit haywire, as most mechanisms do.
Tuesday, December 12, 2006
4:30
Most people would take "cackling madly every time they finish a sentence" as a sign that they should go to bed.
And now that sentence is also inexplicably hilarious.
And now that sentence is also inexplicably hilarious.
Party Ben, Mash Up Master
Three posts within three hours? Yeah, that's how you know there's something I'm supposed to be doing. But instead, I'm reading Twenty Sided! Whee . . .
Anyhow. There's this guy, Party Ben, and he does Mashups. Sticks songs together so they sound like one song. It's freakish, mind-bending goodness.
What you do: Go to the downloads page. Find yourself a song that you know really, really well. "Singing along without actually realizing it" well. The mashup should produce a weird kind of gear switch grinding sensation in your brain.
Or is that just the lack of sleep?
Anyhow. There's this guy, Party Ben, and he does Mashups. Sticks songs together so they sound like one song. It's freakish, mind-bending goodness.
What you do: Go to the downloads page. Find yourself a song that you know really, really well. "Singing along without actually realizing it" well. The mashup should produce a weird kind of gear switch grinding sensation in your brain.
Or is that just the lack of sleep?
Freakish Quiz Results
Your results:
You are Superman
Spider-Man 65%
Hulk 65%
Robin 62%
Green Lantern 50%
Supergirl 45%
The Flash 35%
Iron Man 30%
Wonder Woman 25%
Catwoman 20%
Batman 10%
Superman? How am I like Superman? Heck, how am I like Spiderman? Hulk I can kind of understand. (Emotionally unstable? Check. Prone to doing unbelievably stupid things because I think everyone's out to get me? Check.) The other two, though . . .
I like how Batman is down all the way at the bottom of the list, though. And how Catwoman is listed as a superhero. I guess she is, these days, but how long is that going to last?
(And yes, the chart did look all nifty originally, but it was also displaying with funky spaces in between things, so I had to fix it. Bleah. It's waaaay to late for me to actually be thinking.)
You are Superman
Spider-Man 65%
Hulk 65%
Robin 62%
Green Lantern 50%
Supergirl 45%
The Flash 35%
Iron Man 30%
Wonder Woman 25%
Catwoman 20%
Batman 10%
Superman? How am I like Superman? Heck, how am I like Spiderman? Hulk I can kind of understand. (Emotionally unstable? Check. Prone to doing unbelievably stupid things because I think everyone's out to get me? Check.) The other two, though . . .
I like how Batman is down all the way at the bottom of the list, though. And how Catwoman is listed as a superhero. I guess she is, these days, but how long is that going to last?
(And yes, the chart did look all nifty originally, but it was also displaying with funky spaces in between things, so I had to fix it. Bleah. It's waaaay to late for me to actually be thinking.)
Starship Crew Quiz
 You scored as Serenity (Firefly). You like to live your own way and don't enjoy when anyone but a friend tries to tell you should do different. Now if only the Reavers would quit trying to skin you.
Your Ultimate Sci-Fi Profile II: which sci-fi crew would you best fit in? (pics) created with QuizFarm.com |
Actually a fairly neat quiz. The main result doesn't really surprise me (And of course it wasn't because I threw some of the questions. Allow fugitives on my ship if they were basically harmless and provided some useful services? That could mean anything.) but I am kind of amused by the next three, since I know nothing about any of them. I think I saw an episode of Farscape, once.
Monday, December 11, 2006
Guerilla Mail: Words Fail Me
Yeah, I know. Two posts in one short day! But this is just too awesome to wait. Even though I need to finish my laundry, finish my homework, take a shower, and get to sleep, it can all wait until I have informed the world of the 21 day revolution of this amazing website, Guerrilla Mail.
I was thinking, earlier today, about how I hate having to use my e-mail address to register for things. Sure, they say they won't use it for anything untoward, but if they were planning on selling it to 12-year-old Nigerian spam-lords, do you really think they'd tell you about it first? No, of course not. Setting up an auxilary e-mail wouldn't do much more good, because eventually it would just get so clogged up with spam that it would be useless. So the ideal situation would be to have a disposable e-mail address, that could be set up with a minimum of fuss, and then easily deleted once it had outlived its usefulness.
Enter Guerilla Mail.
Direct from the website:
This, my friends, is zero-cool.
I was thinking, earlier today, about how I hate having to use my e-mail address to register for things. Sure, they say they won't use it for anything untoward, but if they were planning on selling it to 12-year-old Nigerian spam-lords, do you really think they'd tell you about it first? No, of course not. Setting up an auxilary e-mail wouldn't do much more good, because eventually it would just get so clogged up with spam that it would be useless. So the ideal situation would be to have a disposable e-mail address, that could be set up with a minimum of fuss, and then easily deleted once it had outlived its usefulness.
Enter Guerilla Mail.
Direct from the website:
Guerrilla Mail provides you with disposable e-mail addresses which expire after 15 minutes. You can read and reply to e-mails that are sent to the temporary e-mail address within the given time frame.This is pure genius. Awesomeness on a level unheard of by man or Batman. Sheer intellectual perfection unheard of since the invention of sliced bread.
This, my friends, is zero-cool.
Sunday, December 10, 2006
Amaze Your Friends! Confuse Your Enemies!
The Language Construction Kit is one of the coolest sites on the web. It's one of the coolest things I've ever seen, period. It's up there with mimes dancing to Christian rock in front of the Jefferson memorial.
It's a guide to creating your own language. It doesn't cover everything you need to know to make a "perfect" conlang, but it covers enough to make a decent one, especially if you don't know anything else about linguistics. It's also a great general starting point for learning about languages.
Best of all (to my mind) are the sections on making related languages, and using conlangs to enrich worldbuilding. It's very hard, if not impossible, to really get a feel for "what it's like to be there" if you don't at least have a rough idea of how the people in a culture talk.
All that is just icing, though. The best reason to get into conlanging, and to check out this website, is that there's no better way to confuse people than to start speaking your own language.
It's a guide to creating your own language. It doesn't cover everything you need to know to make a "perfect" conlang, but it covers enough to make a decent one, especially if you don't know anything else about linguistics. It's also a great general starting point for learning about languages.
Best of all (to my mind) are the sections on making related languages, and using conlangs to enrich worldbuilding. It's very hard, if not impossible, to really get a feel for "what it's like to be there" if you don't at least have a rough idea of how the people in a culture talk.
All that is just icing, though. The best reason to get into conlanging, and to check out this website, is that there's no better way to confuse people than to start speaking your own language.
Friday, December 08, 2006
Blogger Beta
Just updated. It now supports multi-person blogs, so I was finally able to transfer the account. That's why, suddenly, this thing looks completely different. Well, that and my uncontrollable urge to fiddle with things.
Current color scheme, and all future color schemes, will be subject to sudden, unpredictable, irrational, and entirely too frequent change. You have been warned!
I really like the way all white looks, but unfortunately making it all white would hide the links.
Current color scheme, and all future color schemes, will be subject to sudden, unpredictable, irrational, and entirely too frequent change. You have been warned!
I really like the way all white looks, but unfortunately making it all white would hide the links.
Thursday, December 07, 2006
You Are Not Conscious!
Consciousness is a Meaningless Accident!
This article is funny. Quantum computer? Consciousness neurons? I'm with Dennett, here.
This article is funny. Quantum computer? Consciousness neurons? I'm with Dennett, here.
Tuesday, December 05, 2006
Life of a Reformed Jerk
This is weirdly meaningful.
I don't know why. This blog is mostly random thoughts, day to day details, and the occasional acerbic observation. The combination produces something somehow important.
Found it using the blogger tool bar, a couple of days ago. A most excellent feature, I must say.
I don't know why. This blog is mostly random thoughts, day to day details, and the occasional acerbic observation. The combination produces something somehow important.
Found it using the blogger tool bar, a couple of days ago. A most excellent feature, I must say.
Monday, December 04, 2006
The Amazing Screw On Head
This is a pilot for a show called, "The Amazing Screw On Head." Originally published on the Sci Fi Channel website; they were doing a survey on it. It's based on a one shot comic of the same name by Mike Mignola. Between this, Hellboy, and his run on Batman, the man is clearly a genius.
Just watch it, that should answer all relevant plot, background, and punchline questions you may have that I can answer.
The awesome inherent in just the name of this show--when Abraham Lincoln says the words "The Amazing Screw On Head" aloud you know you've got something good--should be more than enough to convince every right thinking American that this must be made. I would actually watch TV for this.
Emperor Zombie is so Monkey Island . . .
Sunday, December 03, 2006
Awesome? Zero-Cool!
I've been thinking lately that I really need to expand my vocabulary. There's one specific word that has prompted this thought: Awesome. As awesome as it is, it's one word, and I use it all the time, to describe everything. So I've decided to find some synonyms to replace it with, at least occasionally.
Google wasn't particularly helpful, in this instance. Typing in "define:awesome" yielded but two entries, one of which had something to do with flying and one where "awesome" was used in the definition of "amazing." Google wasn't entirely useless, however. When I accidentally type "definition:awesome" instead of "define:awesome" it produced this result:
This more or less vindicated the entire enterprise. (Read the second line of the Tip carefully.)
With that chapter of my search concluded, I returned to an old favorite, Thesaurus.com. I've used this site many, many times, never for anything remotely useful. In this case, entering "awesome" into the search field produced the following list:
alarming, astonishing, awe-inspring, awful, beautiful, breathtaking, daunting, dreadful, exalted, far out, fearful, fearsome, formidable, frantic, frightening, grand, hairy*, horrible, horrifying, imposing, impressive, intimidating, magnificent, majestic, mind-blowing*, moving, nervous, overwhelming, shocking, striking, stunning, stupefying, terrible, terrifying, wondrous, zero-cool*
*Words that Thesaurus.com classifies as slang.
Some of these words are obviously useless, for various reasons. They fail the yell aloud test, they fail the Batman test. In fact, none of them really approach the Awesome inherent in the word Awesome.
Except zero-cool. A word I've never heard before. It's apparently the name of a movie, the title of an early Michael Crichton book, and the nickname of a character in the movie Hackers. It's essentially a variation on the word and concept "cool." (What's cooler than being cool?)
And I may actually consider using it. Because "z" is an awesome letter.
Google wasn't particularly helpful, in this instance. Typing in "define:awesome" yielded but two entries, one of which had something to do with flying and one where "awesome" was used in the definition of "amazing." Google wasn't entirely useless, however. When I accidentally type "definition:awesome" instead of "define:awesome" it produced this result:
This more or less vindicated the entire enterprise. (Read the second line of the Tip carefully.)
With that chapter of my search concluded, I returned to an old favorite, Thesaurus.com. I've used this site many, many times, never for anything remotely useful. In this case, entering "awesome" into the search field produced the following list:
alarming, astonishing, awe-inspring, awful, beautiful, breathtaking, daunting, dreadful, exalted, far out, fearful, fearsome, formidable, frantic, frightening, grand, hairy*, horrible, horrifying, imposing, impressive, intimidating, magnificent, majestic, mind-blowing*, moving, nervous, overwhelming, shocking, striking, stunning, stupefying, terrible, terrifying, wondrous, zero-cool*
*Words that Thesaurus.com classifies as slang.
Some of these words are obviously useless, for various reasons. They fail the yell aloud test, they fail the Batman test. In fact, none of them really approach the Awesome inherent in the word Awesome.
Except zero-cool. A word I've never heard before. It's apparently the name of a movie, the title of an early Michael Crichton book, and the nickname of a character in the movie Hackers. It's essentially a variation on the word and concept "cool." (What's cooler than being cool?)
And I may actually consider using it. Because "z" is an awesome letter.
Saturday, December 02, 2006
Monkeys For Helping
If you read one blog, it should be Monkeys For Helping.
Actually, it should be this blog, because then you'll be able to find out about many more things approaching the sheer Awesome of Monkeys For Helping. But definitely consider MFH as a second choice.
Particular favorites include:
Frog in a Dragonball hat
"It's hard being me"
Giant Rat Cannon!
And that's all just on the first page. There's over a year and a half of archives of this stuff. It's great.
Actually, it should be this blog, because then you'll be able to find out about many more things approaching the sheer Awesome of Monkeys For Helping. But definitely consider MFH as a second choice.
Particular favorites include:
Frog in a Dragonball hat
"It's hard being me"
Giant Rat Cannon!
And that's all just on the first page. There's over a year and a half of archives of this stuff. It's great.
Friday, December 01, 2006
Mexico Zeitgeist
So I was checking out Google's zeitgeist, because I was reading the archives for this blog and I thought, "Yeah, that was cool. I wonder what's up today?" Nothing really interesting in the US section, so I headed over to the international monthly section, and I scrolled down. A lot of Steve Irwin, a lot of celebrities like Paris Hilton. A lot of wikipedia. And then I see . . .
It's a bit blurry, but yes, "goku" clocks at number 4, "dragon ball z" is number 6, and "pokemon" is number 10. And yes, all those terms mean the same thing in Spanish as the do in English, as far as Google is concerned. Finland and Chile also have "pokemon" in their lists, at 11 and 14 respectively, but Mexico is the only one with the DBZ terms.
Apparently, there are things about Mexico of which I was not aware.
It's a bit blurry, but yes, "goku" clocks at number 4, "dragon ball z" is number 6, and "pokemon" is number 10. And yes, all those terms mean the same thing in Spanish as the do in English, as far as Google is concerned. Finland and Chile also have "pokemon" in their lists, at 11 and 14 respectively, but Mexico is the only one with the DBZ terms.Apparently, there are things about Mexico of which I was not aware.
Thursday, November 30, 2006
Motivational Posters
Make your own!This is what the internet is all about. It occurs to me that this would be an excellent way to design the decor for my evil lair/rebel hideout. Can you imagine how much better the Empire's Stormtroopers would have performed if they'd had a giant poster on the wall of Luke's head with the words "Don't Miss" underneath it?
So much awesome . . .
Wednesday, November 29, 2006
Google!
Behold the awesome that is Google.
I discovered this excellent feature through Unixjunkie Blog. It was the only thing on there that I could even come close to understanding. But this -- this was worth the trip.
Thanks to Unixjunkie, I've now discovered that Google has all kinds of awesome functions, like Definitions.
Truly, Google is God.
I discovered this excellent feature through Unixjunkie Blog. It was the only thing on there that I could even come close to understanding. But this -- this was worth the trip.
Thanks to Unixjunkie, I've now discovered that Google has all kinds of awesome functions, like Definitions.
Truly, Google is God.
Tuesday, November 28, 2006
DeepGenre
DeepGenre is a cool blog. Discusses speculative fiction, from a variety angles. Craft, analysis, different media, the publishing process.
A few particularly good articles:
What Does Story Do? -- Why we read fiction, particularly speculative fiction.
If you read science fiction, check it out. If you write science fiction, check it out. If you don't read science fiction, you're missing out.
A few particularly good articles:
What Does Story Do? -- Why we read fiction, particularly speculative fiction.
6 More Things I Could do Without in Fantastic Literature & I don’t plan to use except to make fun of and its companion article, 11 Things in Fantasy/SF That I Don't Promise Not to Use (or Keep Using) in My Writing
If you read science fiction, check it out. If you write science fiction, check it out. If you don't read science fiction, you're missing out.
Sunday, November 26, 2006
Wikipedia Down
It says "Wikipedia has a problem." First time I've ever gotten an error message from the Wiki; something about not being able to contact the database server, because they're all busy. I took a picture, but I can't get the picture function on Blogger to work.
Edit November 28, 2006 at 7:56 PM:
Picture added. Wooh.
Friday, November 24, 2006
The Watchmaker
If you've ever heard of the watchmaker objection to Darwinian evolution (if there is a watch, there must be a watchmaker; by analogy, creatures must have designers) and Darwin's response (the blind watchmaker) then check this out.
The article points out that even a watch doesn't have to have a single maker. A number of people are involved in its construction, none of whom would be able to make a watch from scratch. Even its designer depends on a number of other people's knowledge of watchmaking, accumulated over the centuries.
The article points out that even a watch doesn't have to have a single maker. A number of people are involved in its construction, none of whom would be able to make a watch from scratch. Even its designer depends on a number of other people's knowledge of watchmaking, accumulated over the centuries.
Wednesday, November 22, 2006
Boredom! 3: Electric Boogalee
Yep. I've got papers to write, computer games to play, Thanksgiving dinner to help with, and instead I'm going through my bookmarks and dishing out asinine commentary. Aren't I awesome?
Without further ado: A rough semi-fortnight's worth of random sites.
Spore! Well, Spore news, anyway. Sort of a repository of everything currently known by the internet about the game. If you don't know what Spore is, leave now, and don't come back. Seriously, though, it looks like it's going to be an awesome game. You're going to be able to control an entire intergalactic empire -- and perform genetic experiments on your subjects! "Awesome" seems rather inadequate.
Speaking of evil overlords . . . This is an excellent page, both funny and insightful. Tons of information about evil, science, and evil science. Great for any world domination hobbyist.
Gadsby. A story of over 50,000 words without using the letter "E." 'Nuff said.
A fairly good general reference site on colored gemstones. I found this when I was researching gems for some sort of creative, world-building type project, either a novel or a campaign world. I like gemstones, and whenever I do fantasy they tend to creep in. Not that I write much fantasy.
Without further ado: A rough semi-fortnight's worth of random sites.
Spore! Well, Spore news, anyway. Sort of a repository of everything currently known by the internet about the game. If you don't know what Spore is, leave now, and don't come back. Seriously, though, it looks like it's going to be an awesome game. You're going to be able to control an entire intergalactic empire -- and perform genetic experiments on your subjects! "Awesome" seems rather inadequate.
Speaking of evil overlords . . . This is an excellent page, both funny and insightful. Tons of information about evil, science, and evil science. Great for any world domination hobbyist.
Gadsby. A story of over 50,000 words without using the letter "E." 'Nuff said.
A fairly good general reference site on colored gemstones. I found this when I was researching gems for some sort of creative, world-building type project, either a novel or a campaign world. I like gemstones, and whenever I do fantasy they tend to creep in. Not that I write much fantasy.
Monday, November 20, 2006
The Commons
Dave Johnson's comments on Capitalism 3.0, A Guide to Reclaiming the Commons are pretty interesting.
I'm not so sure that having everything be "owned" by someone (or someones) is the right way to go, though. It's certainly better than the current system, where you pretend the atmosphere (or whatever) isn't owned by anyone but a handful of powerful people/corporations/countries get to act like they own it. But it doesn't address the deeper problem, which is the idea that it's okay to do whatever you want unless someone (with more power than you) tells you otherwise.
I'm not so sure that having everything be "owned" by someone (or someones) is the right way to go, though. It's certainly better than the current system, where you pretend the atmosphere (or whatever) isn't owned by anyone but a handful of powerful people/corporations/countries get to act like they own it. But it doesn't address the deeper problem, which is the idea that it's okay to do whatever you want unless someone (with more power than you) tells you otherwise.
Sunday, November 19, 2006
Thursday, November 16, 2006
Pessimist
Prediction: The U.S will never do anything serious about global climate change. No significant carbon tax, no mass voluntary energy use reduction.
Even if sea levels rise and storms destroy Florida, we're not going to stop using oil and coal.
Even if sea levels rise and storms destroy Florida, we're not going to stop using oil and coal.
Tuesday, October 31, 2006
Worse Reasons for Poetry
I've decided that I like Walt Whitman's Song of Myself after all.
Because there are a couple of people in my class who don't like it, and I want to argue with them.
They think it's too long, that he says the same thing over and over again. I say, that's the point. It's a poem, not a philosophical treatise.
Or is it?!!
Because there are a couple of people in my class who don't like it, and I want to argue with them.
They think it's too long, that he says the same thing over and over again. I say, that's the point. It's a poem, not a philosophical treatise.
Or is it?!!
Sunday, October 29, 2006
Boredom! 2: Electric Boogaloo
Yes, it's that time again. That magical time of year, when, having at least five things I ought to be doing, I decide to do none of them and instead go through my bookmark list.
Photobucket. Why is this bookmarked? I never use it. I don't have an account. I guess because I thought, at some point, that I ought to. Certainly be useful, but I use pictures rarely enough on the web that it doesn't seem worth the effort.
Poodle Predictor. "See your site like Google does!" Another link I wonder why I bookmarked. I don't have any conceivable use for it. I don't even know how it works. Technical competence is probably nice.
SUPERFRIENDS! Now this page, I know why I bookmarked it. It's laugh out loud funny. Seanbaby's review/critique/lampoon of the old Hanna Barbera Superfriends TV show. It's funny even without having seen the show, although it helps. The section on Superman is particularly funny (the "spin around it" theory of physics!) but everything on this page is funny.
Stupid Plot Tricks. Neat brainstorming advice, useful mostly as an exercise for beginning fiction writers. Or if you have trouble with plots, and think such things are important.
And that's this week's installment of arbitrary randomness.
Photobucket. Why is this bookmarked? I never use it. I don't have an account. I guess because I thought, at some point, that I ought to. Certainly be useful, but I use pictures rarely enough on the web that it doesn't seem worth the effort.
Poodle Predictor. "See your site like Google does!" Another link I wonder why I bookmarked. I don't have any conceivable use for it. I don't even know how it works. Technical competence is probably nice.
SUPERFRIENDS! Now this page, I know why I bookmarked it. It's laugh out loud funny. Seanbaby's review/critique/lampoon of the old Hanna Barbera Superfriends TV show. It's funny even without having seen the show, although it helps. The section on Superman is particularly funny (the "spin around it" theory of physics!) but everything on this page is funny.
Stupid Plot Tricks. Neat brainstorming advice, useful mostly as an exercise for beginning fiction writers. Or if you have trouble with plots, and think such things are important.
And that's this week's installment of arbitrary randomness.
Sunday, October 15, 2006
Communism
You know what's funny about Communism? It's exactly like Capitalism, except that you have just one person in charge of things. (Or one group.) It's what would happen if you ever had just one corporation in the whole economy. Especially in a political system like the U.S.'s, where money and speech are interchangeable.
The problem with capitalism isn't who's in control. There's no such thing as a benevolent dictator. Capitalism is slighty better than Communism, I suppose, since at least you've got more than one dictator, and anyone can (hypothetically) become a dictator. But it still doesn't solve the problem, which is the dictators telling people what to do.
The problem with capitalism isn't who's in control. There's no such thing as a benevolent dictator. Capitalism is slighty better than Communism, I suppose, since at least you've got more than one dictator, and anyone can (hypothetically) become a dictator. But it still doesn't solve the problem, which is the dictators telling people what to do.
Wednesday, October 11, 2006
Boredom!
More going through my bookmarks file, because I have that sinking feeling that I ought to be doing something productive. A feeling that I'm going to ignore.
Bug Me Not is a nifty site. One that I should use more often. It just never occurs to me. Basically, it allows you to log into all those sites that want you to register for no particular reason (washingtonpost.com, say . . . ) by letting you use a dummy registration set up for general use. It's a database of these things. Definitely an asset for revolutionary activities.
I really can't say anything about this site, other than that it's a good boredom activity, and that it's immensely freaky. FOLLOW THESE INSTRUCTIONS! Basically it's a whole list of simple activities that will make you look like a loon.
Things you never wanted to know about the world, at Google's Zeitgeist. The Big List of things people are searching for. Top ten, that deal. Some of them make sense. Some of them . . . don't.
Just a bunch of personality tests. Basically useless. Found it through the Sims personality, test. It was a forum.
Bug Me Not is a nifty site. One that I should use more often. It just never occurs to me. Basically, it allows you to log into all those sites that want you to register for no particular reason (washingtonpost.com, say . . . ) by letting you use a dummy registration set up for general use. It's a database of these things. Definitely an asset for revolutionary activities.
I really can't say anything about this site, other than that it's a good boredom activity, and that it's immensely freaky. FOLLOW THESE INSTRUCTIONS! Basically it's a whole list of simple activities that will make you look like a loon.
Things you never wanted to know about the world, at Google's Zeitgeist. The Big List of things people are searching for. Top ten, that deal. Some of them make sense. Some of them . . . don't.
Just a bunch of personality tests. Basically useless. Found it through the Sims personality, test. It was a forum.
Sunday, September 24, 2006
Brave New Free Novel
I'm bored, and have nothing better to say. Or rather, I probably have something better to say, but don't want to take the time to say it.
Instead, I've started going through my horribly disorganized folder of bookmarks.
Thus, Brave New World. The whole novel for your reading pleasure. If you're into literary analysis, scroll down to the bottom, there' s some interesting stuff on soma and "paradise engineering."
Instead, I've started going through my horribly disorganized folder of bookmarks.
Thus, Brave New World. The whole novel for your reading pleasure. If you're into literary analysis, scroll down to the bottom, there' s some interesting stuff on soma and "paradise engineering."
Friday, September 15, 2006
Jay Pinkerton Takes On Batman
Behold the awesome.
There's really nothing I can say to make this more awesome. It's hilarious, it's Batman. It's awesome.
Yeah, I've got nothing better to do.
There's really nothing I can say to make this more awesome. It's hilarious, it's Batman. It's awesome.
Yeah, I've got nothing better to do.
Saturday, September 09, 2006
The Internet Has No Death Squads
I'm beginning to think that revolutionaries don't matter. Or that they shouldn't. When revolutionaries matter, bad things happen. The revolutions they matterto are fragile, because they can end with just one government ordered assassination. They take on an inquisitional character, as the person becomes more important than the cause, and uses the cause to do things in their interests rather than the interests of the cause.
Successful revolutions are usually independent of any one individual. The internet revolution, for example. Now that it's off the ground, it can't be stopped, because there are so many people involved with it. This is more a feature of technological revolutions than political ones, but political revolutionaries should take note of it. Getting people on board with the revolution itself, rather than onboard with you, personally, can be an extremely effective tactic.
Not least because it means that if Things Go Wrong, at least people will be killing each other for the revolution, and not for you. Small consolation, sure -- but if you frame the rest of the revolution right, it also means that Things are a lot less likely to Go Wrong. And that's a big deal.
Successful revolutions are usually independent of any one individual. The internet revolution, for example. Now that it's off the ground, it can't be stopped, because there are so many people involved with it. This is more a feature of technological revolutions than political ones, but political revolutionaries should take note of it. Getting people on board with the revolution itself, rather than onboard with you, personally, can be an extremely effective tactic.
Not least because it means that if Things Go Wrong, at least people will be killing each other for the revolution, and not for you. Small consolation, sure -- but if you frame the rest of the revolution right, it also means that Things are a lot less likely to Go Wrong. And that's a big deal.
Sunday, September 03, 2006
Yoda Was Wrong!
The Last Angry Young Man
This website is awesome. It's about how people should get angry, and a whole list of things to get angry about. This is cool.
Anger is underrated. People think of it as something that makes people attack each other. That's something that idiots do when they get angry, but it's got nothing to do with anger itself. The idea that humans should maintain a kind of neutral emotionlessness is so bizarre, so counterproductive, it denies the point of emotions. They've been around a long time (main ones, fear and such, are part of the so-called "lizard brain" that mammals borrowed from reptiles because it's JUST THAT AWESOME) and they've been around for reason.
You know what anger really leads to? Anger leads to action. If you're angry about something, you care about it, and if you care about it, you're going to do something about it. Unless you're a spineless twit.
This website is awesome. It's about how people should get angry, and a whole list of things to get angry about. This is cool.
Anger is underrated. People think of it as something that makes people attack each other. That's something that idiots do when they get angry, but it's got nothing to do with anger itself. The idea that humans should maintain a kind of neutral emotionlessness is so bizarre, so counterproductive, it denies the point of emotions. They've been around a long time (main ones, fear and such, are part of the so-called "lizard brain" that mammals borrowed from reptiles because it's JUST THAT AWESOME) and they've been around for reason.
You know what anger really leads to? Anger leads to action. If you're angry about something, you care about it, and if you care about it, you're going to do something about it. Unless you're a spineless twit.
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