Blog background stuff

Patchy posts as I do a little bit of tidying now that there is a body. (of work on here) I prefer writing, so probably won’t manage total silence while I go about reorganising this and that in the behindscenes.

… so what does this button do then? …”rate this eh… oh… that’s mebbe why that widget never did anything…

April – rationalised categories. Now have loads of  uncategorised posts ha! Categories will probably need a third pass in  a years time or so. Discovered that widget that does a tag cloud and trying it .

May – going through uncategorised posts. This badly needed doing even before I reorganised the categories. Adding links I forgot to add before. Backing up things.

etc

They nearly got me! (SOE EU sub)

Phew, narrow miss. I was thinking gosh, I’m spending quite a lot of time on SOE games, isn’t it – might be worth subbing to EQ2 or Vanguard, yes, I think I will!  It was that close, so close, so very close.

Then discovered prices are going up just for the EU….

ehm go learn how exchange rates work, and keep prices the same for all, meanwhile no sub from me on this occasion. Subs I should say (more than one of us were thinking about it.). It’s nice to see more people playing EQ2 - I see that means the scams are being beefed up again.

Off The Rails as soon as possible! (Vanguard Saga of Heroes)

The 4 funnelled starting zones in Vanguard are fine really, I don’t mind them. I am still trying out the various classes though and have now seen quite a lot of them. Also I see the dreaded “revamp” word being used regarding the original racial starting areas. Why? I don’t care if it’s boring and there is no room for personal glory in just fixing the bugs, evening out the quest flow and letting things be – not liking just fixing things, well that’s some dev’s personal problem. I’m just a player here, dev aspirations are not my concern, and I don’t like streamlined pablum, new for the sake of new.

Exploration is of time as well as area, you know. The deathknell of WoW-and-my long-standing relationship rang out exactly when they stripped out old content and replaced it with a thin, on-rails boring overfast trivial experience, which you only wanted to play once and never again and which outlevelled the zone. No more pleasant times with Thottbott tracking down obscure items or strange npcs or places I came across. I didn’t much care if things were broken here and there either. It was discovery, pure and simple, and exploration, and it was good. If things don’t work so well in old places and you don’t feel inclined to fix them, just put “Here Be Bugs” on the map and let people still be able to see what past devs made. Layers of time provide richness.

We can make far snazzier pyramids nowadays, but people still go to Egypt.

So starting on a rainy moonlit Qalian evening… (get comfy, snuggle down, I will tell a tale….)

So far my ventures into this world had been pleasant but bland, only the classes and their sheer dazzling depth had gripped me – but one must not judge a whole game world by the very startiest starty places and thankfully this dark elf was ready to go to the secondpartystarty starty place in Khal, as soon as the sun rose. Scorpions on leashes eh, she mused, well…. ok. Being trained by rats, no… rat people. Giggle! Anyway, soon time to find the path down the cliff and see what lay ahead. This did:

Wow.

I was not to know it right then, but that was to be the start of a marathon gaming session, the like of which I have not been tempted into since my very early days of instance soloing on World of Warcraft, before I got involved in guilds and raids and all the other things they push down your throat – and hence had no time for such delights.

Usually I do ignore the lore in games, I confess it. I find it badly constructed which soon annoys me. Whole chunks don’t fit together and the layers don’t relate. Things get undue importance then trail to nothing. But the lore here is slowly seeping in. Down the hill I had more doings with the ratpeople, the Ksaravi, and my doings weren’t as clear-cut as I expected. The quest flow in this area is nice, with little side trails that provide some interesting diversions from the main trail to the starter dungeon… One thing led to another as the secondpartystarty starty area of Khal unfolded it’s tale. I duly entered the Ksaravi Hollow cave.

I am something of a dungeon bunny, I like to solo them, I like to explore them, and I thought I was in one of the usual kind, which would have been good enough for me. But it was nicer than that really, not like any dungeon I’ve been in before. For one thing, eventually I fought my way to this:

(I had to come back later and take the screenshot on another alt)

By this time, it was past my bedtime in the game called Real but fortunately I was not due anywhere early next day … I mean what self-respecting dungeon bunny could resist???

Hehe – no more screenshots of the ratpalace – go see for yourself! It’s quite fun in there. I was there until near morning and got to the end boss, which I apparently killed. But I doid, and didn’t know .

And that settled that! Vanguard is an amazing game. It really is and I intend to carry on playing it.

Next though, the vexed business of “retooling starter zones”. I haven’t the time to race to see these areas before they destroy them in the name of progress and I have already missed one…. Mekalia? I think it’s called. How dismaying. How…. errr … oh well. Anyway my dark elf finished the dungeon properly the next day and! Off to find the Dark Elf starting zone isn’t it.

I’ll leave it there, but just to say I arrived safely – (having fun, wish you were here!)

What’s it got to do with games?

Referring to the Article 4 post below – I keep forgetting that people don’t necessarilily connect the same dots I do.

Games are societal minicosms and any designer worth their salt is going to be interested in how one sector seeks to dominate and exploit others. Let’s call it “loopholes” for gaming. Wurm silverdudes (and dudettes) cornering all the horses on a server (because nothing in the design stops them) is not much different to a real life hardware manufacturer ensuring that some games only run on their platform (because nothing in the law stops them). Etc. In gaming all kinds of real things get interesting. Moderation for example. I often see corrupt moderators in games. I often see misbehaving “moderators” in real life too. Quality control of enforcement is a live issue for both. Sometimes a game will find an interesting solution, sometimes life does. Need to watch both!

How exploitative people work is of huge interest to game design – unless you only want the last few pratts who drove everyone else off playing, of course.

Article 4

Well another thing that’s been going on while I ignored the media is the implementation of systems whereby people are forced to work for no money. They get bed and board in the form of their benefits (state obliged by law to keep them alive),   – money for which incidentally they remain liable. It will/has been deducted in the form of National Insurance at any time in their life that they do get paid work.

So a double payment (labour and money) is being extorted ostensibly in exchange for the (anyway) safeguarded legal right of all individuals not to have everything taken unto the point where life cannot be sustained.

It’s not good.

I think we are (still) bound by this:

Article 4 – Prohibition of slavery and forced labour

1. No one shall be held in slavery or servitude. 2. No one shall be required to perform forced or compulsory labour. 3. For the purpose of this article the term “forced or compulsory labour” shall not include:

a. any work required to be done in the ordinary course of detention imposed according to the provisions of Article 5 of this Convention or during conditional release from such detention;

b. any service of a military character or, in case of conscientious objectors in countries where they are recognised, service exacted instead of compulsory military service;

c. any service exacted in case of an emergency or calamity threatening the life or well-being of the community;

d. any work or service which forms part of normal civic obligations.

I hope “normal civic obligations” is defined somewhere, and that it means what everyone has to do gainfully employed or not – eg dispose hygenically of their own personal garbage, which is work for the safety and health of the entire community but (reasonably) nobody expects to be paid to put their bins out.

That article only relates to the “forced” part of course. Being forced to work without wages is hugely worse for the people involved. It will also skew the economy, since it provides an unpaid-for resource and competitive advantage to companies who would otherwise be obliged to pay the going rate for the labour they use. Nor have companies been slow to avail themselves of this colossal freebie.

Anyway, between wilfully hastening the death of old, feeble, and unable people, and forcing others to trade their time and energy in return for nothing, it seems Britain has been having a completely huge amoral binge. I did wonder why I’m now seeing disabled people confined to rooms in the family house in my area.  That may be anecdotal evidence to you, but to me it’s direct experience. Mad people shouting out of windows is how we are all coping – those fortunate enough to have families who care about them are safer there and at least fed, housed and looked after.

The morally indecent shenanigans probably also explains the extra paperwork I’ve been seeing too. Just checking everyone is in the right box for exploitation is it?

Am I really seeing a country in which ordinary people are en masse routinely forced to work for nothing to the substantial financial benefit of companies, private and public – and charities!?

I believe I am.

Random Wurm moment

After an almighty struggle to log in at all, some 21 tries and much grumbling  (deed upkeep due soon or I would have given up), I finally did log in – and this is what I saw:

Haha! 0 ok Wurm, you redeemed yourself :)

OK I’m blown away

But this isn’t about that. I had a stupendous evening with Vanguard, but will get a nice screenshot for writing about it, (and find out what the rat people are actually called). Right now I am so tired, can hardly see straight. Usually I’m very good about not getting sucked in and spending long hours playing while the rest of Britain is watching tv, but Vanguard got me this time.

I was feeling guilty for not doing my half hour on Wurm though, so I started  wearily to log in. Luckily I checked the forums first:

http://forum.wurmonline.com/index.php?/topic/75359-wurm-hole-not-a-hole-dug-in-the-dirt/

and http://forum.wurmonline.com/index.php?/topic/75325-server-restart-fail/

eek!

I’m not sure what the “black hole” is but it appears to be chewing on the Exodus server, and the Celebration problem, well who knows. I keep being disconnected there it is true – probably part of this.

I have no intention of logging in just now after all. I’m gonnae lay low!, but, you know, it’s this kind of event that keeps me there too. It’s always different, Wurm, it lives and breathes alright.

In b4 accused of h8 pvp

Quick and shameless balancer. I have a strange relationship with PvP. I don’t want to do it until I do. Then I find it very hard to stop. I also “kill” quite efficiently (once back in the swing) to everyone’s surprise including my own. I, in fact, like PvP perhaps far more than a sweet little middle aged lady should but I do not do it very often.

I also have some pvp ideas I am very fond of, composting at the back of my mind for another game

Just so you know

Is Pestermonth over?

Is it over yet? Please tell me it’s finished. Well, I think it is, I hope so anyway. The February Slump will be welcome this year, and the March Misery.

I’m still getting the odd bullet through the door as someone belatedly remembers they forgot to send me some wodge of paper needing immediate attention but it’s slowed down to the odd spingggg. Well it resulted in that 4m paperwork I own being shaven down to a slim 2m. I tidied as I searched for obscure documents inexplicably suddenly required, and thinned out what I could. My filing system is quite good but could do with some Grate Reconstruction. Tweaks anyway. Will get to it. It reflects my (TM) accounting system: In, Out, State (Official). But there was too much searching so I think I’ll add a thin file of “Stuff you keep needing to produce for the same imbecile” and also, given the passage of time, it might be an idea to have 3 sets of In, Out, State – pre-2000, 2000-2010, and 2010 on. I also have some floaty bits which don’t fit anywhere. Only a few, but they are annoying when you need them because, well, they tend to float about from one category to another. Need a fixed abode.

About half of the 2m is old drawings, notes, recipes, postcards, the odd letter – that kind of thing. Keepables. I can sort and box those, and it’s fine. Will find some nicer boxes though and maybe some nicer boxfiles. In a way Pestermonth did me a favour – I wasn’t hurrying to sort through all the paper I own though I had gathered it all to one place.

Binglebongles

If you earn 20 Binglebongles a month, and you lock in to paying 10 Binglebongles a month to play TWoFB and then a whale eats your housekey which costs 12 Binglebongles to replace you have a problem.

If you don’t lock in, you can replace your housekey and skip playing TWoFB that month and you don’t have a problem.

The reason why lockins, contracts and subs etc are very bad news is not only Opportunity Cost. Opportunity cost is a very rigid and narrowly defined loss. It is the loss of what you would gain if you spent the Bingebongles on something else. To get a number you need to always relate it to precisely what the something else is, and yes that is part of the loss when you tie up your Binglebongles.

The really big deal is this, when you cut down to the bone:

Lockins, contracts, subs and the like are a bad deal because they impair your ability to survive/prosper by tying up resources which could be better distributed in numerous ways at any given time. It’s not just one subset of wealth/objects you lose – it’s flexibility. Ability to react and adapt. Put away your ruler, it cannot be measured. If the Grate Freeze of 2013 occurs on the night a whale ate your housekey you might just make it if your friend you owe 15 Binglebongles to from last time will accept 10 and let you doss down on his sofa.

Unless of course you don’t read my blog and have already locked your remaining 10 Binglebongles into subbing for another game.

If you don’t lock your Binglebongles into anything at all, and someone comes along offering to sell you a house for 8 Binglebongles, you will have a housekey, an extra house plus survive the night of the Grate Freeze of 2013 just fine, and can still play TWoFB next month. There ya go!

Aye, don’t let your Binglebongles get caught in anything if you can help it!