MMO Gypsy

[FFXIV] An Anniversary to Remember

Thanks to Rohan’s post this week I got around doing the FFXIV anniversary event “The Rising“, which is still available until September 7th. It was hands down the greatest anniversary quest-line I’ve ever come across in an MMO, so I am very glad there was still time. Because I read Rohan’s post first I had a vague idea of what it was gonna be about and a good thing too – I would’ve missed a lot of the inside jokes and references otherwise and likely have clicked impatiently through half the speech bubbles first. Don’t do it!

*Spoilers ahead*

As Rohan mentioned too, The Rising is one remarkable and successful shattering of the fourth wall in an MMO. Strictly speaking, MMO anniversaries are all a little out of character anyway, as they specifically celebrate the existence of your virtual fantasy world since [insert launch date]. SE have more to celebrate than most though and so they’ve taken things as far as it gets; if you have any history with FFXIV/ARR or SE at all, or any context of how far this title has come since 1.0, you really need to take the 20mins to experience this unique event! It is delightful in its self-irony and heart-warming in its humbleness. As far as my own MMO experiences are concerned, The Rising is also very much unprecedented in its very personal and direct address of the player base. Also, when do you ever get to explore a dev team’s virtual offices or sit with one of your favorite MMO composers’ alter ego?

Talking MMO music with ol’ Soken!

For those who won’t be experiencing The Rising either because they can’t or don’t want to, you can check out the essential cutscenes on youtube and read about all the not-so-hidden references on the reddit mega thread. That only leaves me with saying “you are welcome, SE” and kudos for not giving up on a legacy that’s dear to so many franchise fans worldwide! May our adventures in Eorzea indeed be a continuous source of joy and wonder! Happy weekend everybody!

Shared hopes

Off-Topic: Questions I have no Answer to

This is an off-topic post written at work. Sorry it ain’t too happy.

There is a young guy at the clinic I work for that I come across ever so often on my way to the cafeteria or when meeting clients. He must be around 20 years old although I can’t exactly tell. Like many of the more longtime residents, he likes hanging in the park and talking to random people. Every time I see him, I don’t know quite what to expect. Some days he ignores me, on others he waves at me greeting me like an old acquaintance. On other days he’s raving loudly, so I pass by not saying anything. I know quite a few people who are afraid of him, taking a detour whenever he comes in sight. Some are nervous or just indifferent. That’s not a judgement of any of these reactions as not everyone employed at the clinic is equipped or meant to directly engage with patients. Naturally this is an environment dedicated to their care but that doesn’t mean everybody down to the frontdesk person knows exactly how. For most of the support staff, the patients remain firmly on the other side of daily business. The young man raving in the park is just another voice they’ll hear outside a window.

I guess what makes it different for me in his case, is that I know this young guy was once upon a time somebody’s son and someone’s brother. I know not his name but I know that he was sound of body and mind. He probably obsessed over brands and baggy pants (he still wears giant hiphop attire and bling), hated his teachers and dreamed of a sweetheart somewhere. Until one day a car accident killed his entire family and left him all alone and forlorn in this world. I wonder if he remembers the accident that left him a sole survivor. I wonder if he remembers that he once had parents and siblings. I wonder most, if it matters if he doesn’t.

Now the clinic is his home. The staff that look after him to the best of their ability. The park and the people in it who take a detour whenever he comes in sight. I don’t want to pity him because pity is a patronizing emotion and I have no idea how the world looks like through his two eyes. He may be as happy or unhappy as the next person, there’s no way I could know. Yet I’m still gutted by his story, I can’t help that. I am sad that he will probably never again be in full charge of his own life. But then, am I? Should we even look at different lives in this way, as if there was one preferable way of living?

I don’t know. These are difficult questions.

Down Memory Lane Blogging Bonanza! My Bestest Posts

Blaugust is over and I am already blogging again – what is this madness??

One of my prompts I didn’t get back to in August was a sort of memory lane thing where I’d browse my own blog for my top 3 to 5 favorite articles of all time. Seeing how more bloggers have done similar lately and also Murf telling me about his blogging bonanza for MMOgames, I thought this could be a fun if not entirely easy thing to do.

What are top posts anyway? Are they our personal favorites or our most popular posts? The ones with the most hits or the most comments? I guess that depends on who you are as a blogger. For me, my best posts are those that stand the test of time and where I feel I was being particularly insightful or well-spoken. I can already tell you that my most-ever visited post on both mmogypsy.com and raging-monkeys.blogspot.com (for those who don’t know my former url) was this guide on Skyrim clothing. Yes really, over 161’000 hits on a guide with some pictures that no one else had uploaded at the time (and which are now offline due to me losing the old webspace). That’s a third of my all time hits on the old blog. It took two major tumblr and pinterest re-blogs to spiral matters out of control.

See, this is why I really don’t give a big toss about stats – they are completely out of order. If you ever posted a guide on anything particularly popular, such as WoW or other bigger titles, you’ll understand. Stats have no meaning toward my enjoyment in writing and not even toward more sought-after things like content quality or popularity (not a personal one anyway). I enjoy interactions and great discussions, not even just the number of comments but the quality; my most ever commented on post was one ravaged by a troll. Who wants that?

Anywho, without further ado I present to you some of my alltime favorite posts from the last 5 years on this here blog in no particular order, chosen because they still stir something inside of me, make me care and resonated with others too. Maybe also, because I feel they represent me most as a person, blogger and MMO player.

1) Holding on to your Escapism

“When less informed people talk about game-related escapism (for that still seems to be less established than the literary form), they only ever focus on the escape; the negative distancing, the social estrangement. Hardly ever do they understand that when we do, when we need to, we escape to a better place – maybe to the only, currently right place in our life. That it’s only there where we find shelter, safety and peace of mind. For a little while. And that it may save us from something. That it gives us hope.”

2) The Deathbed Fallacy. Or: Spare me your Gamer’s Remorse, Thank you!

“….but spare me and the rest of the happily ever after gaming crowd. Spare me the underachiever complex and lamentation of failed grandeur which you so graciously bestow on everyone around you in one sweeping, condescending blow of rotten hindsight wisdom. I think videogames are fucking great – they have been for the past 28 years of my life!”

3) What the Players want – Who can say?

“”What the players wanted” and any variation thereof is a commonly used phrase and reaction to MMO design, more often MMO design changes, that vexes me on a personal level. And oh, I have done it myself: how many times did I not do the “now reap what you sowed! (and I hope you suffocate on it)” fist-shake in gloomy retrospective whenever WoW changed for the worse over the years since 2004, in my very personal opinion? In a less considerate moment I’d love to blame all of you out there who are still playing for the state of the game. You ruined WoW for me or something.”

4) Achievement Hate, Exploration and Mystery

“The epic quest of kill ten rats has humble beginnings. Once upon a time the explorers of virtual worlds received hardly a hint of where to go or what to do but such are not the times we live in. Those who embarked on this journey before Blizzard’s time will remember that era of glorious uncertainty but early WoW players too, know how considerably the questing experience has changed over the course of a decade. The “kill ten rats” of yore and the “kill ten rats” of today have precious little in common.”

5) Placeholders for Real Things, Shortcuts to Nowhere

“Many good things in life, surprises and chance encounters happen while we’re not on plan, not on time. They happen while we’re waiting. They happen on the side of a winding road. They happen because we got distracted and our eyes weren’t fixed on one point in the distance. Maybe “timesinks” are where life really happens.

If we remove all the “unnecessary detours” in games that people consider a nuisance, what exactly are we “saving and optimizing ” that time for? When you arrive faster at treasure and glory, where do you go from there? And just how much have you missed on that shorter journey?”

(P.S. I suck at title capitalization.)

Thus concludeth Blaugust 2015

I had a lot of plans for this final Blaugust post but instead I find myself meanly sabotaged by sea sickness and headaches which is why I will be cutting this short. That’s the rather inconvenient thing about blogging every day, sometimes you got nothing to share but real life. But hey, blaugust is all about putting it out there no matter what, right?

I can’t believe it’s August 31st and that I actually managed to stick with an entire month of daily blogging! It was an experience worth having and taught me a few things about how easily I can get into writing if I really set my mind to it and also, that it really helps to plan some topics in advance. That said, I am not going to turn into a daily blogger after this – I still appreciate the time to flesh out my thoughts and wait for a topic or theme to itch badly enough for me to dig deeper. Some days it’s nice to get home after work and not feel pressured to write or just spend time commenting on other blogs instead. I’ve always put time aside to interact with the community which is much harder to keep up when you’re also supposed to write on a daily basis. Oh and play games, that’s right.

A big high-five to everyone who was along for this mad blaugust ride and congratulations to all who saw the challenge through! I am proud to have been a member of the party. A special thank you goes to Belghast for being the organizing wizard behind this, I promise to add my last few post links to the forums asap! I still intend to do another blogroll update post after today with more bloggers I’ve come across thanks to blaugust. There’s also an AMA question I received from Bel and at least two more prompts I didn’t get a chance to write on (it will happen!). Seems I won’t be running out of topics for a while to come.

Seeing how Wilhelm already comprised a complete list of blaugust bloggers for this year, am shamelessly going to copy that and signal-boost everyone one last time:

Congrats everyone! And keep that blogging spirit rollin’!

Gamer Space [#Blaugust 30]

I recently moved to a new home which came with the perk of having my own gamer room/office again. I’ve truly missed this, even if I’ve always done my best to carve out a cosy niche or corner for my desk, books and other bling that makes me happy. I’ve been hanging the same pictures and room lights for over 12 years now, I keep the same books on my shelf and the same family sword on my wall. My friends who have followed me from first to second, to third and fourth apartment through the years, tell me how my room always looks the same no matter where I am. My personal space means comfort and stability as much as identity.

The Future is VR and I can’t wait (#Blaugust 29)

Today marks the first day I was able to try out the VR technology of the future. I’ve been waiting for this a long time, the last few months I’ve been keeping close tabs on what’s happening with the Vive especially. It so happens that we got our hands on an Occulus Rift for the weekend, so imagine my excitement.

And it does not disappoint, although I feel fairly nauseous as I write this. My friend tells me I’ve been too greedy during my first steps, exploring the villa in Tuscany sim at too fast a pace – this vertigo is something I did not anticipate to this degree. I hear it’s all part of an adjustment process however and I can’t wait to see more. I’ve been in outer space and up a skyscraper, I ambled into a scene from Spirited Away chasing the dust puppies, I’ve been hunted by witches. For a fair few seconds, the experience was smooth enough to fully immerse myself and lose all notion of where I really was, in favor of the VR. It was bewildering, scary and wonderful.

I can’t wait to visit Tamriel. I cannot even fathom how it would feel walking through Elwynn Forest in true first person mode. I imagine I’d break out into tears arriving at the Lion’s Pride Inn, listening to the music. Be still, my heart.

Is this the future of gaming? It sure as hell is! And I can’t wait.

MMO Regrets Round-Up [#Blaugust 28]

This was gonna be part of a final recap post for blaugust but I realized I already have other topics coming up for the next three days and oh my, then the month is already over – can you believe it?

One of my blogging prompts for this mad ride of blaugust was MMO regrets. I am generally not much into remorse in my private life and I have little tolerance for the type of gamer scorn that follows bad MMO breakups. As commented on one of Braxwolf’s posts recently, the easiest way to have a life without regrets is not to regret anything. That seems like a well-duh thing to say but at a second and third glance, that line becomes more powerful.

When it comes to my time inside MMO worlds however and especially online communities, there’s a thing or two that’s left a bitter after-taste in my mouth. Not an all-encompassing grief or anything but a smear on that picture nonetheless. I think MMO regrets are a pretty fascinating topic because rarely do players invest as much (in many different ways) as they do in this genre. And indeed, there’s a lot of company when it comes to this topic:

My MMO regrets: The Iron Dagger
MMO regrets: Light Falls Gracefully
MMO regrets: Biobreak
MMO regrets: Gaming SF
Regrets, I’ve had a few: Tobold
My MMO regrets: Healing the Masses
The back burner and regret: Through Wolf’s Eyes
My own MMO wistful regrets: I have touched the Sky
They’re all okay by me: Why I game

I’ve a feeling there were more but blaugust is hard to keep track of, especially when you don’t get pinged directly. If I missed anyone or if you’re yet to post on this topic, let me know so I can add ya!

Lamenting Cover Art [#Blaugust 27]

Coming across an amazing Castlevania cover the other day on twitter, it hit me how much I miss the old game covers for videogames. I remember how we revered those boxes of nes and snes titles in the early days – how bold and colorful and over-the-top epic many of them were!

What happened? Okay, for one we entered the digital age of gaming. I admit I don’t miss the dust settling on rows of physical game copies. Still, I appreciate great concept art for games, posters, teasers, thumbnails in my Steam gallery. There’s no reason why digital gaming should go coverless, is there? Elaborate covers are a chance to tell a story within mere seconds. Like a main theme, they can sell a promise and herald things to come. They are someone’s vision of what the game should be, could be. They are distilled like poetry.

Do not even attempt to compare this to WoW cover art.

But who has time for poetry these days?

Fig: A better Way to kickstart Games? [#Blaugust 26]

In case you haven’t heard yet, there’s now a new crowdfunding platform exclusively for games and it’s called Fig (yes really). As reported on Wired, Fig’s advisory board includes indie studio heads and kickstarter heavyweights such as Tim Schafer, Brian Fargo and Feargus Urquhart. Besides focusing on games only and a highly curated, much shorter list of available projects at any given time, there’s namely one other big difference between Fig and KS:

‘But the biggest difference is Fig will combine rewards-based crowdfunding with equity investing. Fans can support Outer Wilds to get rewards, but accredited investors can get a share of revenue once the game is released. Fig CEO Justin Bailey, who was the COO at Double Fine, says campaigns eventually will be opened to non-accredited investors, meaning anyone could become an investor in a game and reap the rewards.

“Look at what happened to Oculus,” he says, referring to the pioneering VR company that started as a Kickstarter project. “It was sold to Facebook for 2 billion dollars, and the people who were involved, the superfans who were getting behind Oculus to make that possible, they didn’t see any of that. It would seem like they should, since they had a pivotal role in that coming about.”’ [source]

As someone who only ever kickstarted something twice in her life, supporting friends on both occasions, I don’t know that I have an opinion on this new crowdfunding option for games. What happened with Occulus Rift was definitely a low if not foreseeable act, so from that point of view Fig is a response that should appeal to enthusiast funders with bigger pockets. I’ve come across negative voices in a few places too, sarcastic comments about gamers requiring their own platforms for everything far away from all other media and culture, isolating themselves like the weird bunch they are.

I wasn’t aware how the variety of products on kickstarter meant such an awful lot to some people but maybe I’m missing something. Anyway, do you think Fig is a good addition to videogame crowdfunding or should games remain on generalist sites like kickstarter, together with comic books, combat kitchen ware and towel shorts?

Another Battle Bards Episode [#Blaugust 25]

Today marks the 57th episode of Battle Bards, the world’s so-far one and only MMO music podcast. It’s not an anniversary of any kind, it’s neither a round number nor an even one (in fact it’s a prime!) – to me however, it’s another episode I have loved recording for our fellow VGM aficionados out there. After 2.5 years, Syp, Steff and myself are still at it, enjoying the verbal pingpong we’ve developed over time in good spirit, as always. That makes me happy and that’s a reason to celebrate.

Today’s episode is dedicated to the music of Blade & Soul, that Korean NC Soft title we’ve yet to see launch officially in the west. The soundtrack is beautiful and diverse, not in the most elaborate sense but something I listen to ever so often. Check it out!