This blog starts a new mini-theme within the whole ranting theme. In this section, I'll be discussing a specific genre of video game and what I like and dislike about it. I'll start with a genre that I like, but that isn't one of my favorites, to give me a more balanced look at how this theme will work.
This time, the topic will be survival horror games, and to a lesser degree horror games in general. Now, I may not know everything about this genre, but I have played many of the most important games of the genre. I have played all four of the regular Resident Evil games, though not the semi-side story Code Veronica, the prequel Resident Evil 0, and the other assorted spin-offs. I much prefer the Silent Hill games, including all four regular games of THAT series. But my collection ends with Eternal Darkness; I never played Alone in the Dark, Clock Tower, Siren, that recent zombie game I forgot the name of, and so on. No, take that back. I also played half of the first Fatal Frame game.
Still, I understand how the genre works. It's a tricky series to get right. The problem with the survival horror is that the series serves two masters. Horror requires that the player be scared of the situation, which means a sense of danger and loss. Often, this means that the character is in much worse circumstances than the normal hero. Enemies are numerous and more powerful than the hero, resources to fight them are limited, save points and healing are usually few and far between, and death is often instantaneous. On the other hand, games require some sense of balance and "fun." Constantly replaying the same cut scenes, dealing with limited inventories and shifting items into and out of boxes, and avoiding enemies to even survive, gets frustrating. It's that sense of balance that makes things difficult.
I think the trick is to determine how much of survival is "survival" and "horror." The trick is finding ways to scare the player in other ways. Here are the ways that I see the genre works.
1) The Survival element. Resident Evil, save for maybe 4, are based on this element. Save points are limited to a number of typewriter ribbons and can only be used in said typewriters. The only weapon most of the time are guns with minimal ammo. Every time you venture into unknown territory, you know it will cost you part of your precious resources, and safe territories don't exist. You likely had to dodge some of the monsters instead of killing them to get that far, and even if you did kill them all, the game loves respawning old enemies or tossing in new ones. This creates an ongoing sense of dread, though as I warned before it also can be frustrating and tedious. Often, tricks, even ones that kill the mood, are used to kill monsters without using as much ammunition, like letting enemies get as close as possible before aiming straight up with a shotgun, killing a zombie with one blast.
2) The shock value. The Resident Evil games are famous for that, as well, to the point where they coined the "Monster jump out of windows," syndrome. The scare comes from dangerous, or at least scary-looking, events that seemingly come out of nowhere. Rarely is this sudden appearance a major threat, but they break players out of their status quo and sphere of comfort. Overuse of this gimmick can lead to derision and boredom, but when done right, like a certain unforgettable scene about a quarter into Eternal Darkness, it sticks to gamers' minds for years.
3) The seen and known. In other words, this means the aesthetics are scary. While Resident Evil does a bit of this, both because of the inherent Uncanny Valley related fears of zombies and the more exotic monsters, this is the bread and butter of Silent Hill. The monsters tend to be pseudo-Freudian abominations so unnatural that one can't even be certain what they are even when seeing them directly. How they move and act is as scary as the attacks themselves. But the setting itself is designed to be as disturbing as the monsters. A small town is transformed into a hell of torture implements, infernal machinery, and rickety gratings over oblivion.
4) Narrative fears. Eternal Darkness relies on this sort of scare. It's not the gameplay that matters in this fear, it's the meaning of the game. For example, in Eternal Darkness, the fear comes from the nigh omnipotent horrors that will inevitably conquer the planet, and the only point of victory is to delay that destruction by a brief amount of time. Even with the relatively easy gameplay with nigh-infinite abilities to heal and enemies you can decapitate in one attack, the constant presence of doom and a story that does horrible things to your sympathetic protagonists constantly keeps the player on edge.
5) Fear of the unknown. This is often considered the most "sophisticated" of fears, because it lets the player's imaginations create the fear for them. Silent Hill uses a lot of these as well, in the areas where the previously mentioned "town from hell" areas are not present. In these cases, the town is shrouded in fog, making it impossible to see what's even a few feet away. However, the threats are still there even when not seen, and the series' use of the radio which plays static whenever a monster is near uses it. This tells the player that something nearby wants to kill them, but there's no way of knowing what or where. The strange monsters again take advantage of that. Since they look so strange, it often takes a long time to even understand the enemy and know exactly what they are. Eternal Darkness uses this as well. Some of the insanity effects are shock values, and others are aesthetic changes when the player's sanity is low. But the fact that these effects are completely random and numerous enough that a player may never see them all adds that fear of the unknown, as does the fact that every location can change as sanity gets lower. A mansion might be normal when you first explore it, but you know that if you revisit when your sanity gets lower, it will be much different and much worse.
If you add up all five, you can have a game that offers a wide variety of scares, often without sacrificing a game that's fun, or at least not annoying. Some games don't get it exactly right (Silent Hill 4 is notoriously irritating for its invincible foes, much more limited resources than earlier Silent Hill games, a constant escort mission in the game's second half, and a limited inventory box,) but those that do get it right are exceptional and terrifying. In an era where horror movies are flood of sub-par remakes, unambitious adaptations of Japanese movies, and torture porn, a survival horror game is a welcome scare indeed.
Thursday, May 1, 2008
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
My Life: Everybody Hurts Sometime
I feel bad a bit about this post, because it. Will be whiny. I know there are people who are suffering from cancer, AIDs, hideous deformities, blindness, deafness, missing limbs, and other, equally bad diseases and other conditions. I could have it so much worse. Nonetheless, after the week that I had, I feel I am entitled to complain a bit about my fate. This subject about my life will therefore be about all the ways my life could have been better, physically. Incidentally, I know I have almost no readers, but if I did, I have to ask any women who would ever possibly be interested in me to stop reading about now. If you persist anyway, you have been warned.
Today starts with a fun trip to the dentist office! There, I got my mouth X-Rayed, my gums poked and scraped, and I learned that I had as many as three cavities. Wee! Now, this one was my fault. I hadn't gotten my teeth checked up in years, so I expected some weakness there. Plus, while painful, it was nowhere near as bad as the other things I endured lately...
Because I spent the last three days barely able to walk and frequently in constant pain even when sitting. My back went out, and as a result, my muscles got strained, my hits started hurting, and even my legs ache. I was less deserving of this. I think I pulled a muscle at the gym last Friday, though ironically I think the problem started when I had to skip the normal exercises for much of the week. But this is happening a few times a year now, and it's making me nervous.
At the dentist, meanwhile, I had to fill out forms for things like allergies and medications. Allergies I did have to fill out, because I have ragweed and seasonal allergies, making most of my summers and/or early falls painful. My nose gets clogged, my eyes itch, and it just gets unpleasant. Fortunately, it's not true every year, but it's enough to get annoying. I'm mostly immune to sinus issues otherwise, at least normally. Lately, though, I have a habit of getting really awful colds and sinus infections, and both usually make my throat ruined as well. There are times when I can barely talk with these colds and infections.
As for the medications, I'm mostly fine, save for medications I rarely take for, sigh, my acne. It was horrible and slightly scarring back in late elementary school and junior high, improved slightly afterwards, but didn't really become managed until dermatologist visits some years back. Even so, I get the occasional breakout, though fortunately few on my face. It's not exactly a boost to my social life at the time.
Speaking of embarrassing things that happened as a kid, there were the obligatory braces. That started around 11 and was on and off until I was 14 or so, and even then there were the usual retainers, including at least two "incidents" with one in a garbage. But that's over now! Well, except for the metal wire I permanently have behind my lower jaw. In fact, the difficulty I have flossing back there is one of the reasons my teeth were so bad.
Completing my embarrassing childhood trifecta, there are the glasses. That one started earlier when I turned eight, and my eyes got worst throughout the rest of my schools. The glasses I wore were for the most part of the "dorky" variety, though I did FINALLY switch to contacts by late junior year in high school. Even that was a path of tears (literally.) It took me some months before my sensitive eyes were able to put contacts in, it regularly took me as many as 45 minutes to put the contacts in some mornings, and years later my eyes became increasingly irritated by the contacts or the solutions I used, and often I couldn't wear them for days on ends. I got better in the later years of college, but I didn't finally resolve that issue until a year or two after graduating from college, when I finally used laser eye surgery to resolve the damn things. Ah, knives slicing me open and concentrated radiation piercing my most delicate organs, is there nothing you can't do?
But all three of the traditional "childhood sucks" problems paled in what happened in junior high. It was actually the summer between 7th and 8th grade. I was at a friend's house, I hopped like 1 foot away from my current position, and my knee decided it didn't like this. It ended up quite a distance from where it normally was, and by the time it popped in again, my ligaments in that area were torn. I spent the next six weeks in a knee immobilizer and a good year after that using a leg brace in gym. It could have been far worse if I had any interest whatsoever in sports, but even so, it was a very uncomfortable summer, not to mention the constant physical therapy afterwards. On the plus side, whenever I sucked in gym for a long time, I had a perfect excuse.
I think that's the basics of my physical disappointments. Oh, there are more; the time I was swarmed by bees in high school (I luckily got out of there with only six stings or so,) the time I got a metal pipe jammed into the top of my mouth (totally my fault, but I was six,) and of course the deformed left index finger I got as a baby when I somehow grabbed onto the hot wiring of a lamp (not so bad; it's completely functional and actually looks kind of cool.) But you get the idea. This may of course be one of the reasons I'm a transhumanist; the desire to get your body "fixed" is more pleasant when so many things have been or are broken.
I feel bad a bit about this post, because it. Will be whiny. I know there are people who are suffering from cancer, AIDs, hideous deformities, blindness, deafness, missing limbs, and other, equally bad diseases and other conditions. I could have it so much worse. Nonetheless, after the week that I had, I feel I am entitled to complain a bit about my fate. This subject about my life will therefore be about all the ways my life could have been better, physically. Incidentally, I know I have almost no readers, but if I did, I have to ask any women who would ever possibly be interested in me to stop reading about now. If you persist anyway, you have been warned.
Today starts with a fun trip to the dentist office! There, I got my mouth X-Rayed, my gums poked and scraped, and I learned that I had as many as three cavities. Wee! Now, this one was my fault. I hadn't gotten my teeth checked up in years, so I expected some weakness there. Plus, while painful, it was nowhere near as bad as the other things I endured lately...
Because I spent the last three days barely able to walk and frequently in constant pain even when sitting. My back went out, and as a result, my muscles got strained, my hits started hurting, and even my legs ache. I was less deserving of this. I think I pulled a muscle at the gym last Friday, though ironically I think the problem started when I had to skip the normal exercises for much of the week. But this is happening a few times a year now, and it's making me nervous.
At the dentist, meanwhile, I had to fill out forms for things like allergies and medications. Allergies I did have to fill out, because I have ragweed and seasonal allergies, making most of my summers and/or early falls painful. My nose gets clogged, my eyes itch, and it just gets unpleasant. Fortunately, it's not true every year, but it's enough to get annoying. I'm mostly immune to sinus issues otherwise, at least normally. Lately, though, I have a habit of getting really awful colds and sinus infections, and both usually make my throat ruined as well. There are times when I can barely talk with these colds and infections.
As for the medications, I'm mostly fine, save for medications I rarely take for, sigh, my acne. It was horrible and slightly scarring back in late elementary school and junior high, improved slightly afterwards, but didn't really become managed until dermatologist visits some years back. Even so, I get the occasional breakout, though fortunately few on my face. It's not exactly a boost to my social life at the time.
Speaking of embarrassing things that happened as a kid, there were the obligatory braces. That started around 11 and was on and off until I was 14 or so, and even then there were the usual retainers, including at least two "incidents" with one in a garbage. But that's over now! Well, except for the metal wire I permanently have behind my lower jaw. In fact, the difficulty I have flossing back there is one of the reasons my teeth were so bad.
Completing my embarrassing childhood trifecta, there are the glasses. That one started earlier when I turned eight, and my eyes got worst throughout the rest of my schools. The glasses I wore were for the most part of the "dorky" variety, though I did FINALLY switch to contacts by late junior year in high school. Even that was a path of tears (literally.) It took me some months before my sensitive eyes were able to put contacts in, it regularly took me as many as 45 minutes to put the contacts in some mornings, and years later my eyes became increasingly irritated by the contacts or the solutions I used, and often I couldn't wear them for days on ends. I got better in the later years of college, but I didn't finally resolve that issue until a year or two after graduating from college, when I finally used laser eye surgery to resolve the damn things. Ah, knives slicing me open and concentrated radiation piercing my most delicate organs, is there nothing you can't do?
But all three of the traditional "childhood sucks" problems paled in what happened in junior high. It was actually the summer between 7th and 8th grade. I was at a friend's house, I hopped like 1 foot away from my current position, and my knee decided it didn't like this. It ended up quite a distance from where it normally was, and by the time it popped in again, my ligaments in that area were torn. I spent the next six weeks in a knee immobilizer and a good year after that using a leg brace in gym. It could have been far worse if I had any interest whatsoever in sports, but even so, it was a very uncomfortable summer, not to mention the constant physical therapy afterwards. On the plus side, whenever I sucked in gym for a long time, I had a perfect excuse.
I think that's the basics of my physical disappointments. Oh, there are more; the time I was swarmed by bees in high school (I luckily got out of there with only six stings or so,) the time I got a metal pipe jammed into the top of my mouth (totally my fault, but I was six,) and of course the deformed left index finger I got as a baby when I somehow grabbed onto the hot wiring of a lamp (not so bad; it's completely functional and actually looks kind of cool.) But you get the idea. This may of course be one of the reasons I'm a transhumanist; the desire to get your body "fixed" is more pleasant when so many things have been or are broken.
Today starts with a fun trip to the dentist office! There, I got my mouth X-Rayed, my gums poked and scraped, and I learned that I had as many as three cavities. Wee! Now, this one was my fault. I hadn't gotten my teeth checked up in years, so I expected some weakness there. Plus, while painful, it was nowhere near as bad as the other things I endured lately...
Because I spent the last three days barely able to walk and frequently in constant pain even when sitting. My back went out, and as a result, my muscles got strained, my hits started hurting, and even my legs ache. I was less deserving of this. I think I pulled a muscle at the gym last Friday, though ironically I think the problem started when I had to skip the normal exercises for much of the week. But this is happening a few times a year now, and it's making me nervous.
At the dentist, meanwhile, I had to fill out forms for things like allergies and medications. Allergies I did have to fill out, because I have ragweed and seasonal allergies, making most of my summers and/or early falls painful. My nose gets clogged, my eyes itch, and it just gets unpleasant. Fortunately, it's not true every year, but it's enough to get annoying. I'm mostly immune to sinus issues otherwise, at least normally. Lately, though, I have a habit of getting really awful colds and sinus infections, and both usually make my throat ruined as well. There are times when I can barely talk with these colds and infections.
As for the medications, I'm mostly fine, save for medications I rarely take for, sigh, my acne. It was horrible and slightly scarring back in late elementary school and junior high, improved slightly afterwards, but didn't really become managed until dermatologist visits some years back. Even so, I get the occasional breakout, though fortunately few on my face. It's not exactly a boost to my social life at the time.
Speaking of embarrassing things that happened as a kid, there were the obligatory braces. That started around 11 and was on and off until I was 14 or so, and even then there were the usual retainers, including at least two "incidents" with one in a garbage. But that's over now! Well, except for the metal wire I permanently have behind my lower jaw. In fact, the difficulty I have flossing back there is one of the reasons my teeth were so bad.
Completing my embarrassing childhood trifecta, there are the glasses. That one started earlier when I turned eight, and my eyes got worst throughout the rest of my schools. The glasses I wore were for the most part of the "dorky" variety, though I did FINALLY switch to contacts by late junior year in high school. Even that was a path of tears (literally.) It took me some months before my sensitive eyes were able to put contacts in, it regularly took me as many as 45 minutes to put the contacts in some mornings, and years later my eyes became increasingly irritated by the contacts or the solutions I used, and often I couldn't wear them for days on ends. I got better in the later years of college, but I didn't finally resolve that issue until a year or two after graduating from college, when I finally used laser eye surgery to resolve the damn things. Ah, knives slicing me open and concentrated radiation piercing my most delicate organs, is there nothing you can't do?
But all three of the traditional "childhood sucks" problems paled in what happened in junior high. It was actually the summer between 7th and 8th grade. I was at a friend's house, I hopped like 1 foot away from my current position, and my knee decided it didn't like this. It ended up quite a distance from where it normally was, and by the time it popped in again, my ligaments in that area were torn. I spent the next six weeks in a knee immobilizer and a good year after that using a leg brace in gym. It could have been far worse if I had any interest whatsoever in sports, but even so, it was a very uncomfortable summer, not to mention the constant physical therapy afterwards. On the plus side, whenever I sucked in gym for a long time, I had a perfect excuse.
I think that's the basics of my physical disappointments. Oh, there are more; the time I was swarmed by bees in high school (I luckily got out of there with only six stings or so,) the time I got a metal pipe jammed into the top of my mouth (totally my fault, but I was six,) and of course the deformed left index finger I got as a baby when I somehow grabbed onto the hot wiring of a lamp (not so bad; it's completely functional and actually looks kind of cool.) But you get the idea. This may of course be one of the reasons I'm a transhumanist; the desire to get your body "fixed" is more pleasant when so many things have been or are broken.
I feel bad a bit about this post, because it. Will be whiny. I know there are people who are suffering from cancer, AIDs, hideous deformities, blindness, deafness, missing limbs, and other, equally bad diseases and other conditions. I could have it so much worse. Nonetheless, after the week that I had, I feel I am entitled to complain a bit about my fate. This subject about my life will therefore be about all the ways my life could have been better, physically. Incidentally, I know I have almost no readers, but if I did, I have to ask any women who would ever possibly be interested in me to stop reading about now. If you persist anyway, you have been warned.
Today starts with a fun trip to the dentist office! There, I got my mouth X-Rayed, my gums poked and scraped, and I learned that I had as many as three cavities. Wee! Now, this one was my fault. I hadn't gotten my teeth checked up in years, so I expected some weakness there. Plus, while painful, it was nowhere near as bad as the other things I endured lately...
Because I spent the last three days barely able to walk and frequently in constant pain even when sitting. My back went out, and as a result, my muscles got strained, my hits started hurting, and even my legs ache. I was less deserving of this. I think I pulled a muscle at the gym last Friday, though ironically I think the problem started when I had to skip the normal exercises for much of the week. But this is happening a few times a year now, and it's making me nervous.
At the dentist, meanwhile, I had to fill out forms for things like allergies and medications. Allergies I did have to fill out, because I have ragweed and seasonal allergies, making most of my summers and/or early falls painful. My nose gets clogged, my eyes itch, and it just gets unpleasant. Fortunately, it's not true every year, but it's enough to get annoying. I'm mostly immune to sinus issues otherwise, at least normally. Lately, though, I have a habit of getting really awful colds and sinus infections, and both usually make my throat ruined as well. There are times when I can barely talk with these colds and infections.
As for the medications, I'm mostly fine, save for medications I rarely take for, sigh, my acne. It was horrible and slightly scarring back in late elementary school and junior high, improved slightly afterwards, but didn't really become managed until dermatologist visits some years back. Even so, I get the occasional breakout, though fortunately few on my face. It's not exactly a boost to my social life at the time.
Speaking of embarrassing things that happened as a kid, there were the obligatory braces. That started around 11 and was on and off until I was 14 or so, and even then there were the usual retainers, including at least two "incidents" with one in a garbage. But that's over now! Well, except for the metal wire I permanently have behind my lower jaw. In fact, the difficulty I have flossing back there is one of the reasons my teeth were so bad.
Completing my embarrassing childhood trifecta, there are the glasses. That one started earlier when I turned eight, and my eyes got worst throughout the rest of my schools. The glasses I wore were for the most part of the "dorky" variety, though I did FINALLY switch to contacts by late junior year in high school. Even that was a path of tears (literally.) It took me some months before my sensitive eyes were able to put contacts in, it regularly took me as many as 45 minutes to put the contacts in some mornings, and years later my eyes became increasingly irritated by the contacts or the solutions I used, and often I couldn't wear them for days on ends. I got better in the later years of college, but I didn't finally resolve that issue until a year or two after graduating from college, when I finally used laser eye surgery to resolve the damn things. Ah, knives slicing me open and concentrated radiation piercing my most delicate organs, is there nothing you can't do?
But all three of the traditional "childhood sucks" problems paled in what happened in junior high. It was actually the summer between 7th and 8th grade. I was at a friend's house, I hopped like 1 foot away from my current position, and my knee decided it didn't like this. It ended up quite a distance from where it normally was, and by the time it popped in again, my ligaments in that area were torn. I spent the next six weeks in a knee immobilizer and a good year after that using a leg brace in gym. It could have been far worse if I had any interest whatsoever in sports, but even so, it was a very uncomfortable summer, not to mention the constant physical therapy afterwards. On the plus side, whenever I sucked in gym for a long time, I had a perfect excuse.
I think that's the basics of my physical disappointments. Oh, there are more; the time I was swarmed by bees in high school (I luckily got out of there with only six stings or so,) the time I got a metal pipe jammed into the top of my mouth (totally my fault, but I was six,) and of course the deformed left index finger I got as a baby when I somehow grabbed onto the hot wiring of a lamp (not so bad; it's completely functional and actually looks kind of cool.) But you get the idea. This may of course be one of the reasons I'm a transhumanist; the desire to get your body "fixed" is more pleasant when so many things have been or are broken.
Sunday, April 27, 2008
Review Omnibus
This will be a short and unusual review section, as it will be several short reviews instead of one long one. The first review covers why.
My back: As of now, a D at best. For reasons unknown to me, my back has a tendency a few times a year to become incredibly painful, and this weekend I was due I guess. Today was spent skipping church, the gym, and everything else that involved mobility. Even walking was difficult; I had to sort of hunch over while I did it. And unusual muscle movements started to put stress on the rest of my body, so my left hip started hurting too. Wonderful, that. I don't know why this happens. I've been seeing a chiropractor, but it clearly hasn't helped enough yet.
White Fence Farm: Specifically, this refers to the original restaurant, owned by the Hastert family, back in Romeoville. This family-style chicken-focused restaurant is really known for its sheer size and aesthetics. The restaurant is huge, having a good dozen major dining rooms, each given a unique name, making it almost feel like navigating a labyrinth just to find your table. The design of the restaurant is homey and rustic, with wood furnishing and walls and old doodads lining every path. The entrance in particular captures this feel; there are ancient news clippings on the walls, old children's rides conveniently located next to semi-modern arcades, and even a small museum. The food itself is fine; decent chicken of the sort one can expect, but they're famous for their corn fritters, which are basically small donuts with a kernel or so per fritter. Despite having a back of man thrice my age, I had a good time, but I attribute much of that to my niece. They also have a petting zoo, though it's a small one and all the animals weren't really in a position to be petted, so I don't know what that deal was. Sadly, the farm motif was also ruined by the industrialization of the entire area around the restaurant, making it stand out a bit too much. But that's hardly their fault. I give the restaurant a B-B+, though I think you go for the atmosphere primarily.
Fox cartoon shows: Simpsons-Didn't see. Great inspiration, the series will earn an article here at some point, but it had sunk into craptitude years ago and this is the year I'm trying to finally declare my independence.
King of the Hill-A low B. The premise started out fine (Peggy Hill never has good birthdays, and the current one ended disastrously so,) but it never really went anywhere. They start things off well by having the original theme, a disco-themed murder mystery onboard a train, go wrong by the end of act one, when one of her friends figures the mystery out before the train even leaves, and the actual actors call it an early night. But then it sort of gets into a weird non- sequitar of public sex, a pseudo mystery replacing the normal one that lacks any real suspense, an abrupt resolution, and a B plot involving Bobby that also fails to go anywhere.
Family Guy-A C or so. The main plot, involving a son that Brian suddenly has (a human one, for some reason,) is as important as most Family Guy plots at this point. It's all about the incidental jokes, but these were not as clever or memorable as the best Family Guy ones, and the entire thing ended with another return to the status quo; a typical move for sitcoms including Family Guy, but to be fair this show has been known to mix things up at times and make permanent changes. Just not this time, unless the son does show up again.
American Dad-American Dad gets unfairly maligned as a clone of Family Guy, and it did start that way, but with time it found its own path, combining Family Guy humor (though mercifully doing away with the cut-away joke Family Guy is famous for,) with actually coherent plots, usually revolving main character Stan Smith's conservative beliefs when mixed with real life and his own naiveté. This week's episode wasn't their best, but it wasn't bad. A former KGB rival of Stan's moves in across the street and begins a battle for the heart and mind of Stan's son, becoming a sort of twisted fable about communism versus capitalism. The B plot, involving Roger and Klaus' trip to Europe, never really developed a plot of its own, nor any real resolution, but the main plot made up for it, though the show has had funnier weeks. Probably a B minus; this was a fairly slow return for main of the shows after weeks of reruns.
Next week, I expect to do at least one, and maybe two, video game reviews! Also, I'll be able to walk again!
My back: As of now, a D at best. For reasons unknown to me, my back has a tendency a few times a year to become incredibly painful, and this weekend I was due I guess. Today was spent skipping church, the gym, and everything else that involved mobility. Even walking was difficult; I had to sort of hunch over while I did it. And unusual muscle movements started to put stress on the rest of my body, so my left hip started hurting too. Wonderful, that. I don't know why this happens. I've been seeing a chiropractor, but it clearly hasn't helped enough yet.
White Fence Farm: Specifically, this refers to the original restaurant, owned by the Hastert family, back in Romeoville. This family-style chicken-focused restaurant is really known for its sheer size and aesthetics. The restaurant is huge, having a good dozen major dining rooms, each given a unique name, making it almost feel like navigating a labyrinth just to find your table. The design of the restaurant is homey and rustic, with wood furnishing and walls and old doodads lining every path. The entrance in particular captures this feel; there are ancient news clippings on the walls, old children's rides conveniently located next to semi-modern arcades, and even a small museum. The food itself is fine; decent chicken of the sort one can expect, but they're famous for their corn fritters, which are basically small donuts with a kernel or so per fritter. Despite having a back of man thrice my age, I had a good time, but I attribute much of that to my niece. They also have a petting zoo, though it's a small one and all the animals weren't really in a position to be petted, so I don't know what that deal was. Sadly, the farm motif was also ruined by the industrialization of the entire area around the restaurant, making it stand out a bit too much. But that's hardly their fault. I give the restaurant a B-B+, though I think you go for the atmosphere primarily.
Fox cartoon shows: Simpsons-Didn't see. Great inspiration, the series will earn an article here at some point, but it had sunk into craptitude years ago and this is the year I'm trying to finally declare my independence.
King of the Hill-A low B. The premise started out fine (Peggy Hill never has good birthdays, and the current one ended disastrously so,) but it never really went anywhere. They start things off well by having the original theme, a disco-themed murder mystery onboard a train, go wrong by the end of act one, when one of her friends figures the mystery out before the train even leaves, and the actual actors call it an early night. But then it sort of gets into a weird non- sequitar of public sex, a pseudo mystery replacing the normal one that lacks any real suspense, an abrupt resolution, and a B plot involving Bobby that also fails to go anywhere.
Family Guy-A C or so. The main plot, involving a son that Brian suddenly has (a human one, for some reason,) is as important as most Family Guy plots at this point. It's all about the incidental jokes, but these were not as clever or memorable as the best Family Guy ones, and the entire thing ended with another return to the status quo; a typical move for sitcoms including Family Guy, but to be fair this show has been known to mix things up at times and make permanent changes. Just not this time, unless the son does show up again.
American Dad-American Dad gets unfairly maligned as a clone of Family Guy, and it did start that way, but with time it found its own path, combining Family Guy humor (though mercifully doing away with the cut-away joke Family Guy is famous for,) with actually coherent plots, usually revolving main character Stan Smith's conservative beliefs when mixed with real life and his own naiveté. This week's episode wasn't their best, but it wasn't bad. A former KGB rival of Stan's moves in across the street and begins a battle for the heart and mind of Stan's son, becoming a sort of twisted fable about communism versus capitalism. The B plot, involving Roger and Klaus' trip to Europe, never really developed a plot of its own, nor any real resolution, but the main plot made up for it, though the show has had funnier weeks. Probably a B minus; this was a fairly slow return for main of the shows after weeks of reruns.
Next week, I expect to do at least one, and maybe two, video game reviews! Also, I'll be able to walk again!
Friday, April 25, 2008
My Inspirations: And the Horrible Confessions Continue
Part of me feels a bit bad about what I am about to write, because it's...not quite the most complementary thing I ever did. And that's a shame, because at the time, he was among my heroes, and his work, silly as it was, among the most inspirational to my own.
The inspiration in question is an author named Piers Anthony, and the work in question included many series of books, but the most important ones were the Xanth series. The last time I checked, this series had over twenty books, making it among the hardest things to get through this side of Terry Pratchett's Discworlds. I first read one when I was, I think, 13 or 14. I read nearly the entire series at that point throughout high school, and I thought they were amazing, incredible pieces of fiction.
If you were interested in starting them, I would recommend you not do so.
The Xanth series in particular deserves an explanation. They take place almost exclusively in Xanth, a fantasy land in a parallel world. It mostly is disconnected from our world, but periodically it opens, and when it does it often, at least in modern times, is connected directly to the space around Florida, which the land then resembles and which is, conveniently, the home state of the author. As fantasy worlds go, this one is very strongly emphasizing the fantasy. The place is home to elves, dwarves, dragons, demons, dryads, nagas, and pretty much anything else you can imagine, and even the humans aren't normal. The ones who first arrive act normal, but any human born there (or technically, brought by a stork. It's one of those fantasy worlds,) has a unique magical power. Some are completely useless, but others are so powerful they can lead the user to conquest, and because of this and tradition the land's King is always a possessor of one of these talents.
Even beyond this level of magic, the place is full of strangeness. There's a giant canyon that splits the entire place in half, a magical and angry storm cloud, a sentient, magically-generated computer, gourds connected to the realm of dreams, endless varieties of magical plants and creatures and...the puns.
Oh, God, the puns.
That's the thing about Xanth. It's...it's cute. Monster names are alliterative, human names are almost always tied into their magical power, and nearly everything else is a joke. Most are absolutely terrible puns made into literal monsters, but there are references to pop culture, products, and more. Some of them are fairly amusing (Hannah Barbarian still makes me laugh,) but after a while, they get to you. They weren't so bad in the early novels, but they got worse as they continued, and for a very good (or bad) reason. Piers started taking requests. So he go inundated with puns by his readers and happily toss a couple hundred in per novel and then thanked the contributors in the authors notes. I'd complain more, if I wasn't, well, one of said contributor. Hey, I thought the Hall Minotaurs were funny, okay.
But it's not just the puns that get to me now, especially since Piers' other works mercifully didn't use them. One of his other issues was some very odd takes on relationships, sexuality, and gender. Let's ignore the very odd things, like the "love" springs Xanth that makes you fall in love with the first creature you see, regardless of...pretty much anything. Women play starring roles as often as men, but they often end up in situations where they end up naked or in their underwear. The obsession with the underwear alone is enough to warrant some psychological theorizing, but I won't do that here. It should be noted, of course, that I started reading these things when I was just hitting puberty. These sorts of things were much better at obtaining my interests then, but while it was entertaining enough when I was a teenager, it's slightly less pleasant when I know mostly think that this is a man in his sixties writing endless novels about getting teenaged girls into their underwear.
This philosophical bent often bothered me, too, even when I was a fan. Piers had a very strong opinion on the concept of honor, which among other things, or rather especially, meant keeping one's word and following one's duty. The Xanth novels only occasionally got weird about this, but other works of his often took this to ridiculous extremes. If a supervillain captured the heroes and said "promise to help me conquer the world or I'll torture you to death," the heroes will promise, and that's what they'll do. Even if they escape or the villain just lets them go, they can happily spend the rest of the series working for evil because evil coaxed a promise out of them. Piers even thinks this includes forcing one's offspring into agreements, so if your parents agreed to work for evil before you were even born, when you grew, that's what you did! Between this and the earlier issues, it led to some shallow and frankly insane-seeming heroes.
But of course Piers had his strengths, as well. His imagination was second only to his attention to detail. Xanth itself was pretty simplistic, but it still contained dozens of unique reasons and a long history (most of his early books included a timeline a dozen pages long.) Other works got into much more esoteric lands, like two parallel planes that exist on two sides of the same planet, or an infinite number of planes that can be linked via five-dimensional algorithms represented by five beings. And the long series often took advantage of their length by advancing the plot for years or even generations. Those twenty+ Xanth novels included something like four generations of heroes, letting us see them grow up, fall in love, get married (often two seconds after falling in love, but still,) and having children that would then become the heroes three books later. It was often too pat, too easy, too contrived, but it's a method I never forgot, either.
Many of my later idols, like Joss Whedon, often trended to far towards the other direction. If there was a relationship, it was doomed within a season. If there was a group of characters, expect at least two to die, or at least turn evil. At this point, it's hard to imagine, say, the Buffy universe in twenty years without wondering how any of the characters survived.
These rules have entered my own designs. That imagination helped inspire the multi-dimensional ur-story of all my ideas, not to mention the complex ones individual games use. And that attention to detail? There's a reason my history/timeline is some 200 pages long, and the index of important characters and terms is even longer. And this timeline includes generations, children who grew up, some who did not, and a history full of heroes and villains. If Joss made me unafraid to kill a character, Piers reminded me not to be afraid to let them live sometimes as well. He contributed that much at least. Which at least makes us even after the "Satyr/Satire" pun.
The inspiration in question is an author named Piers Anthony, and the work in question included many series of books, but the most important ones were the Xanth series. The last time I checked, this series had over twenty books, making it among the hardest things to get through this side of Terry Pratchett's Discworlds. I first read one when I was, I think, 13 or 14. I read nearly the entire series at that point throughout high school, and I thought they were amazing, incredible pieces of fiction.
If you were interested in starting them, I would recommend you not do so.
The Xanth series in particular deserves an explanation. They take place almost exclusively in Xanth, a fantasy land in a parallel world. It mostly is disconnected from our world, but periodically it opens, and when it does it often, at least in modern times, is connected directly to the space around Florida, which the land then resembles and which is, conveniently, the home state of the author. As fantasy worlds go, this one is very strongly emphasizing the fantasy. The place is home to elves, dwarves, dragons, demons, dryads, nagas, and pretty much anything else you can imagine, and even the humans aren't normal. The ones who first arrive act normal, but any human born there (or technically, brought by a stork. It's one of those fantasy worlds,) has a unique magical power. Some are completely useless, but others are so powerful they can lead the user to conquest, and because of this and tradition the land's King is always a possessor of one of these talents.
Even beyond this level of magic, the place is full of strangeness. There's a giant canyon that splits the entire place in half, a magical and angry storm cloud, a sentient, magically-generated computer, gourds connected to the realm of dreams, endless varieties of magical plants and creatures and...the puns.
Oh, God, the puns.
That's the thing about Xanth. It's...it's cute. Monster names are alliterative, human names are almost always tied into their magical power, and nearly everything else is a joke. Most are absolutely terrible puns made into literal monsters, but there are references to pop culture, products, and more. Some of them are fairly amusing (Hannah Barbarian still makes me laugh,) but after a while, they get to you. They weren't so bad in the early novels, but they got worse as they continued, and for a very good (or bad) reason. Piers started taking requests. So he go inundated with puns by his readers and happily toss a couple hundred in per novel and then thanked the contributors in the authors notes. I'd complain more, if I wasn't, well, one of said contributor. Hey, I thought the Hall Minotaurs were funny, okay.
But it's not just the puns that get to me now, especially since Piers' other works mercifully didn't use them. One of his other issues was some very odd takes on relationships, sexuality, and gender. Let's ignore the very odd things, like the "love" springs Xanth that makes you fall in love with the first creature you see, regardless of...pretty much anything. Women play starring roles as often as men, but they often end up in situations where they end up naked or in their underwear. The obsession with the underwear alone is enough to warrant some psychological theorizing, but I won't do that here. It should be noted, of course, that I started reading these things when I was just hitting puberty. These sorts of things were much better at obtaining my interests then, but while it was entertaining enough when I was a teenager, it's slightly less pleasant when I know mostly think that this is a man in his sixties writing endless novels about getting teenaged girls into their underwear.
This philosophical bent often bothered me, too, even when I was a fan. Piers had a very strong opinion on the concept of honor, which among other things, or rather especially, meant keeping one's word and following one's duty. The Xanth novels only occasionally got weird about this, but other works of his often took this to ridiculous extremes. If a supervillain captured the heroes and said "promise to help me conquer the world or I'll torture you to death," the heroes will promise, and that's what they'll do. Even if they escape or the villain just lets them go, they can happily spend the rest of the series working for evil because evil coaxed a promise out of them. Piers even thinks this includes forcing one's offspring into agreements, so if your parents agreed to work for evil before you were even born, when you grew, that's what you did! Between this and the earlier issues, it led to some shallow and frankly insane-seeming heroes.
But of course Piers had his strengths, as well. His imagination was second only to his attention to detail. Xanth itself was pretty simplistic, but it still contained dozens of unique reasons and a long history (most of his early books included a timeline a dozen pages long.) Other works got into much more esoteric lands, like two parallel planes that exist on two sides of the same planet, or an infinite number of planes that can be linked via five-dimensional algorithms represented by five beings. And the long series often took advantage of their length by advancing the plot for years or even generations. Those twenty+ Xanth novels included something like four generations of heroes, letting us see them grow up, fall in love, get married (often two seconds after falling in love, but still,) and having children that would then become the heroes three books later. It was often too pat, too easy, too contrived, but it's a method I never forgot, either.
Many of my later idols, like Joss Whedon, often trended to far towards the other direction. If there was a relationship, it was doomed within a season. If there was a group of characters, expect at least two to die, or at least turn evil. At this point, it's hard to imagine, say, the Buffy universe in twenty years without wondering how any of the characters survived.
These rules have entered my own designs. That imagination helped inspire the multi-dimensional ur-story of all my ideas, not to mention the complex ones individual games use. And that attention to detail? There's a reason my history/timeline is some 200 pages long, and the index of important characters and terms is even longer. And this timeline includes generations, children who grew up, some who did not, and a history full of heroes and villains. If Joss made me unafraid to kill a character, Piers reminded me not to be afraid to let them live sometimes as well. He contributed that much at least. Which at least makes us even after the "Satyr/Satire" pun.
Thursday, April 24, 2008
One Day Delay
Staying late at work was only the start of how my schedule got messed up tonight. Don't worry; today's update will be tomorrow.
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
My Ideas: My Dark, Dark Admission
This idea, like many of them, has origins in many places. We'll start with the easy one. It began with a new power I wanted to give one of the species I made, one that will get its own write-up later. The gimmick was a strange one. They would create a machine which I will simply call "The Randomizer" at this point. It will take a sample of their race and give them powers that were, as the name suggested, random. It wasn't normally a permanent change, unless they were willing to sacrifice incredible amounts of power per individual involved, but it could, with luck, turn the tide of crucial battles.
The gimmick took some effort to set up. I had to come up with a few hundred random terms, and in the end I even created programs that used the randomizer, both in my calculator (man, does anyone else remember those TI-80+ that match classes expected?,) and even a simple Java variant. By this point, it wasn't just an amusing concept for the species, though. I ruled that the race did make some permanent heroes using it, and thus full characters came from it. From there, it was inspiring. I would use it when I was bored or when I was in a creative slump, letting me create entire new character concepts in seconds, often in a way that defied normal archetypal clichés. Fire-breathing dragons were one thing, but umbrella wielding bubble dragons? That was new.
This game idea started, to a degree, from those humble origins. But it had others. It also came from my interested in Star Wars and other mandatory space operas and games like Master of Orion, which revolved around the simulation of galactic empires and, well, star wars. What bothered me was how different these things were. Most good space operas aren't just about how neat the setting is; they're about characters as they grow, become friends or enemies, betray each other, fight, form rivalries, and do all the good things that happen in stories. Most space simulation games, by contrast, are clinical things where you play "yourself" as manifested through an invisible avatar. If there are any characters, they only appear as doomed leaders of other empires, and thus who you eventually conquer, and "heroes" that serve as little but sets of bonuses.
The game in question, Ascension, tried to do away with this problem by being two games at once. On one level, it's a space simulation game where you form an empire, fight galactic wars, conquer planets, yadda yadda. On the other, it's a tactical RPG where the characters have to explore ancient ruins, raid enemy space stations, and meet their equals on the others sides on the battlefield.
The game took place in a typical future. Earth was part of a neutral if strict multi-stellar empire, and they were surrounded by planet-sized nations run by charismatic leaders or, more often than not, super-powered mutants. But the real enemies in the game, at least initially, were a race of conquering aliens who already ruled half of the known galaxy. They had a disturbing belief in the value of other alien races; they made excellent spare parts. That was in fact the secret of their success, for whenever they conquered a race, they found their most powerful biological traits, harvested them, and incorporated them into themselves.
From the perspective of the heroes, the plot begins with Bellidemir, a mutant herself and an outcast on her primitive world. She had the fairly impressive ability to control water, and after a surprisingly short series of adventures, she went from outcast to leader of a small colony world. This lets the player get started in the simulation aspects of the game early, as the player turned her colony into the capital of her own stellar empire.
The RPG plot, meanwhile, was intentionally traditional, and here I injected a bit of fantasy into my sci-fi. As she gains power, she learns that once their universe was more magical, to the point where it was run by gods. However, an ancient civilization (yes, one of those,) grew so powerful that they conquered the gods, imprisoning them in a pocket plane. Bellidemir learns that if she can collect some mystical artifacts (yes, some of those,) she could enter their prison plane, defeat their jail keeper, and thus earn their thanks as a reward. It's the greatest of all prizes, though ironically the evil aliens, known as the Converged, deliberately leaked its existence to the other races. They realized all the other nations combined could destroy them, but if they fought amongst themselves, the Converged could pick them off one by one. And if they should enter the pocket plane, the jail keeper should easily destroy any who try to free the gods anyway. It was a win/win for them. Guess how the plot resolved that one.
And then I took the fantasy and added the crazy. You see, except for seven cases (possibly eight; one of them is Bellidemir's mother,) all the main characters in the game were made using the Randomizer. Even Bellidemir herself. This led to some truly crazy characters, like a pyrokineticist who was in a coma, yet still served as a combatant. Or another psychic who was trapped on an unknown alien planet and "joins" the party through various projections made of crystals. Or the former party girl possessed by an ancient samurai spirit. Or the billions of microscopic people who lived on a planet the size and shape of a normal person. The list goes on, making one of my strangest and most favorite character sets to date. And save for Bellidemir, all were optional characters that could be friend or enemy based on her actions. As for the other seven, one was a classic character brought in as a cameo, and the other six were very familiar to me. Save for some modifications, they were the characters from the old coin game, which I discussed in an earlier writing. They served as another viewpoint to Bellidemir's actions, though in the end they joined her as well.
Despite not thinking about it in a while, this is one of my favorite ideas to fall back on. The concept was original, and the two genres mix better than some might expect (though, to be fair, the concept isn't completely unprecedented; the X-Com series is one popular series that tried this.) Bellidemir is not exactly my favorite characters, but many of the others have a long-time historical appeal, including the final boss, who is unfortunately classified. But it's the randomness of the cast that remains my favorite element. I even was tempted to use it for other games, or even to make an entire game concept out of nothing, but frankly that always struck me as cheating. Well, okay, there is one exception, but that's another story for another night.
The gimmick took some effort to set up. I had to come up with a few hundred random terms, and in the end I even created programs that used the randomizer, both in my calculator (man, does anyone else remember those TI-80+ that match classes expected?,) and even a simple Java variant. By this point, it wasn't just an amusing concept for the species, though. I ruled that the race did make some permanent heroes using it, and thus full characters came from it. From there, it was inspiring. I would use it when I was bored or when I was in a creative slump, letting me create entire new character concepts in seconds, often in a way that defied normal archetypal clichés. Fire-breathing dragons were one thing, but umbrella wielding bubble dragons? That was new.
This game idea started, to a degree, from those humble origins. But it had others. It also came from my interested in Star Wars and other mandatory space operas and games like Master of Orion, which revolved around the simulation of galactic empires and, well, star wars. What bothered me was how different these things were. Most good space operas aren't just about how neat the setting is; they're about characters as they grow, become friends or enemies, betray each other, fight, form rivalries, and do all the good things that happen in stories. Most space simulation games, by contrast, are clinical things where you play "yourself" as manifested through an invisible avatar. If there are any characters, they only appear as doomed leaders of other empires, and thus who you eventually conquer, and "heroes" that serve as little but sets of bonuses.
The game in question, Ascension, tried to do away with this problem by being two games at once. On one level, it's a space simulation game where you form an empire, fight galactic wars, conquer planets, yadda yadda. On the other, it's a tactical RPG where the characters have to explore ancient ruins, raid enemy space stations, and meet their equals on the others sides on the battlefield.
The game took place in a typical future. Earth was part of a neutral if strict multi-stellar empire, and they were surrounded by planet-sized nations run by charismatic leaders or, more often than not, super-powered mutants. But the real enemies in the game, at least initially, were a race of conquering aliens who already ruled half of the known galaxy. They had a disturbing belief in the value of other alien races; they made excellent spare parts. That was in fact the secret of their success, for whenever they conquered a race, they found their most powerful biological traits, harvested them, and incorporated them into themselves.
From the perspective of the heroes, the plot begins with Bellidemir, a mutant herself and an outcast on her primitive world. She had the fairly impressive ability to control water, and after a surprisingly short series of adventures, she went from outcast to leader of a small colony world. This lets the player get started in the simulation aspects of the game early, as the player turned her colony into the capital of her own stellar empire.
The RPG plot, meanwhile, was intentionally traditional, and here I injected a bit of fantasy into my sci-fi. As she gains power, she learns that once their universe was more magical, to the point where it was run by gods. However, an ancient civilization (yes, one of those,) grew so powerful that they conquered the gods, imprisoning them in a pocket plane. Bellidemir learns that if she can collect some mystical artifacts (yes, some of those,) she could enter their prison plane, defeat their jail keeper, and thus earn their thanks as a reward. It's the greatest of all prizes, though ironically the evil aliens, known as the Converged, deliberately leaked its existence to the other races. They realized all the other nations combined could destroy them, but if they fought amongst themselves, the Converged could pick them off one by one. And if they should enter the pocket plane, the jail keeper should easily destroy any who try to free the gods anyway. It was a win/win for them. Guess how the plot resolved that one.
And then I took the fantasy and added the crazy. You see, except for seven cases (possibly eight; one of them is Bellidemir's mother,) all the main characters in the game were made using the Randomizer. Even Bellidemir herself. This led to some truly crazy characters, like a pyrokineticist who was in a coma, yet still served as a combatant. Or another psychic who was trapped on an unknown alien planet and "joins" the party through various projections made of crystals. Or the former party girl possessed by an ancient samurai spirit. Or the billions of microscopic people who lived on a planet the size and shape of a normal person. The list goes on, making one of my strangest and most favorite character sets to date. And save for Bellidemir, all were optional characters that could be friend or enemy based on her actions. As for the other seven, one was a classic character brought in as a cameo, and the other six were very familiar to me. Save for some modifications, they were the characters from the old coin game, which I discussed in an earlier writing. They served as another viewpoint to Bellidemir's actions, though in the end they joined her as well.
Despite not thinking about it in a while, this is one of my favorite ideas to fall back on. The concept was original, and the two genres mix better than some might expect (though, to be fair, the concept isn't completely unprecedented; the X-Com series is one popular series that tried this.) Bellidemir is not exactly my favorite characters, but many of the others have a long-time historical appeal, including the final boss, who is unfortunately classified. But it's the randomness of the cast that remains my favorite element. I even was tempted to use it for other games, or even to make an entire game concept out of nothing, but frankly that always struck me as cheating. Well, okay, there is one exception, but that's another story for another night.
Sunday, April 20, 2008
Reviews: You'd Think We'd Be Better At This Sort of Thing
This will have to be an abridged review; it's been a busy and distracting day. You see, today is a special annual event celebrated by cultural subgroups. It's a holiday of sorts; albeit an obscure one.
I'm speaking, of course, about the day Gen Con events are available to order. What did you think I meant?
As holidays go, though, this is not the most fun of events. To get registered for Gen Con...actually, I'll start at the beginning. Gen Con is the annual convention for role-playing games, miniature games, and assorted other games. It's geek's paradise, at least in theory. Getting events for it, however, is hell.
Imagine 30,000 people desperately trying to go online to the same website in order to get some of the most popular events, many of which having only 4-6 openings. The servers die early and often. This year, it took me 2 1/2 hours, and of course my favorite events were already filled. Now, this was partially my fault. The events almost never become available on a weekend, so I was off my usual plan, and the stress of this year made me sloppy and careless.
For example, on a good year, my plan for getting events is: download the schedule days early, go over it with a fine-tooth comb, create a file listing my desired events and sorted by date and identification number, go on the website very early, log in, and get as far into registration as they'll allow. If possible, even list all the events I want on the site and paste them into the order form.
This year, my plan was: realize it was event day about 2 this afternoon, panic, take an hour logging in while trying to download the events list from an equally busy folder, fumble through it to find enough events I'm interested in, and try to get them purchased. Often, I fail. But that's pretty standard; nobody gets some of the really tough ones. But I ended up missing a few of my standbys.
And, so, my review of Gencon's events system is a solid C-. It's not lower for two reasons. First, there aren't really fair ways to give four tickets out to ten thousand people, and they're not responsible for making these events, just organizing them. And secondly, we're gamers. This is a system to be mastered. It's a game. It has winners, losers, and rewards for the former. It's not their fault I forgot the rules this time. Nonetheless, all of this just made my screenplay writing even farther behind, and for that they must pay.
I'm speaking, of course, about the day Gen Con events are available to order. What did you think I meant?
As holidays go, though, this is not the most fun of events. To get registered for Gen Con...actually, I'll start at the beginning. Gen Con is the annual convention for role-playing games, miniature games, and assorted other games. It's geek's paradise, at least in theory. Getting events for it, however, is hell.
Imagine 30,000 people desperately trying to go online to the same website in order to get some of the most popular events, many of which having only 4-6 openings. The servers die early and often. This year, it took me 2 1/2 hours, and of course my favorite events were already filled. Now, this was partially my fault. The events almost never become available on a weekend, so I was off my usual plan, and the stress of this year made me sloppy and careless.
For example, on a good year, my plan for getting events is: download the schedule days early, go over it with a fine-tooth comb, create a file listing my desired events and sorted by date and identification number, go on the website very early, log in, and get as far into registration as they'll allow. If possible, even list all the events I want on the site and paste them into the order form.
This year, my plan was: realize it was event day about 2 this afternoon, panic, take an hour logging in while trying to download the events list from an equally busy folder, fumble through it to find enough events I'm interested in, and try to get them purchased. Often, I fail. But that's pretty standard; nobody gets some of the really tough ones. But I ended up missing a few of my standbys.
And, so, my review of Gencon's events system is a solid C-. It's not lower for two reasons. First, there aren't really fair ways to give four tickets out to ten thousand people, and they're not responsible for making these events, just organizing them. And secondly, we're gamers. This is a system to be mastered. It's a game. It has winners, losers, and rewards for the former. It's not their fault I forgot the rules this time. Nonetheless, all of this just made my screenplay writing even farther behind, and for that they must pay.
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