Biggs' Zone

A Geek's Cogitations, Conjectures and other Cortical Experiences

Tag: dysfunctional human behavior Page 6 of 7

Biggs On: Trolls

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On August 24, 2012

In Biggs On

If you are not a gamer, then you probably won’t relate to this post. I am not going to talk about the kind that live under bridges (more like the kind that live in their parents basement). I am going to talk about how there are some terrible trolls out there and good trolls (both in-game and on the web).

I know what you are thinking: “Is there such a thing as a good troll??”

I say there is. Have you ever read a comment on an article or in Trade chat and it just got you all flustered and riled? You start developing an involuntary compulsion to make personal assaults using profanity and caps. In my opinion, that is a good troll and only good in the sense that they probably don’t believe a word of what they said, but they know you do. They have a talent for pressing the right button to make your blood pressure spike. I am just as guilty for falling victim to this ploy as anyone else, especially when it came to defending SWTOR.

There are days where I swear I will never read another comment or enter Trade chat again. Unfortunately, by doing so, you might miss out on some pretty excellent comments and comedy. I admit I’m not perfect so despite the fact that most of the time I know that people are only saying things that make me nerd rage, sometimes I still cave in and flip out. You may have noticed the times when I have done that from some of my past posts (i.e. most Soapbox posts).

So you are probably thoroughly confused. If the people that I just described are the “good” trolls, then what are the bad trolls? The bad trolls are the dorks that try too hard. The kind that you would swear are 12 years old because they clearly have no idea what people are discussing. You ignore them because they are annoying, not because they irked you right off.

The anonymity of the Internet gives the trolls courage so the best that we can do is remain civil and maintain our composure, which is easier said then done.

Wait, did someone say [Thunderfury, Blessed Blade of the Windseeker]??

Passion and Humility

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On August 1, 2012

In General Cogitation

I firmly believe people should be passionate about the things they believe in and enjoy but I’ve learned recently that its important to know limits. You can be passionate to a fault. If you don’t learn to know your limits you become obtuse and irrational. If you do know when you have reached your limit, you also learn humility. I have learned this lesson recently and its a tough thing to swallow because unfortunately I became obtuse and irrational before I discovered humility.

While I’m not going to mention specifically what brought me to this uncomfortable place, it might become obvious to some. I really wanted something to succeed and I did all I could to present a positive image despite all the negative feedback and news that seemed to happen on a daily basis. The more people cried and spat the more I became angry at how ugly they were making it out to be. The recent statistics are indisputable which has only proven the ugly truth that the trolls have been spouting all along.

I have been taught a painful and valuable lesson in humility. It isn’t the first time and it won’t be the last time because despite the fact that I fought a losing battle I still remained true to my beliefs. This is what is good and bad about American politics and the feuding political parties. It’s good to see people fighting for what they believe in but some fight it so blindly that they do not allow room for compromise and defeat. This is an equal flaw among both parties.

So I have decided that while I will continue to support my passion, despite what the future holds for it, and ignore all the negative comments and news. I don’t care anymore. I will not let it affect my enjoyment even if I am in the minority. Life is too short to allow “me too” trolls to burden my passions.

Soapbox: Movie Theater Etiquette

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On July 24, 2012

In Soapbox

I recently saw a movie and I rarely see a movie in the theater, mainly because I think its too expensive to see movies anymore. I really dislike movies that are only available in 3D because I really don’t want to pay an extra $4 per ticket just for a gimmick whose fad is starting to wane. But I digress.

So my past movie theater experience was The Dark Knight Rises (you can read my review of it here) and I had a rather rude stranger sitting next to me. He started by arriving late so his girlfriend kept texting and calling him but it was only during the previews so it wasn’t that upsetting, but it set the precedent for the remainder of the evening. He sat right next to me and seemed to want to check his texts or respond to texts every 10 minutes. In fact at one point he was talking on the phone to his girlfriend who he sent out to get him pizza (from the local pizza place located in the same building as the theater).

I couldn’t believe how rude and obnoxious this asshat was. There were a few times I became really tempted to start screwing with the guy. I even thought about trying to reach over and grab a slice of his pizza. In fact I think from now on if you are sitting next to me and you feel the need to read and respond to your text messages, expect to share your messages with me. If I see you reading and sending texts I am going to purposefully look at your phone. I’m not going to try to hide it either. I am going to lean over so you can feel my breath on your neck because obviously your text messages are more interesting then the movie.

There is a reason that theaters have the promotions that play just before the movie asking all patrons to turn their phones off. All of us paid to watch the movie but your texts and phone conversations are not part of the experience, unless you are sitting next to me … then I will make them part of my experience.

/end soapbox

SWTOR: It’s Gonna Be Around A While

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On July 18, 2012

In Gaming, SWTOR

There is so much doomsday talk around Star Wars The Old Republic that I think something positive needs to be posted out there (thank God for Hyperspace Beacon). It’s as if everyone wants SWTOR to fail, but it’s not going to fail! Just because subscription rates dropped 20% after the first couple of months (which is the industry standard for every MMO), or some executive leaves the company doesn’t mean the game is failing (unless your CEO is Curt Schilling). I am still playing SWTOR and let me tell you that it has a great player base and, since 1.3, I have had several of my friends come back to play it.

Bioware still holds weekly Developer Q&A sessions where they consider player ideas and questions and discuss what players can expect in the next patch or what tweaks the developers are working on. Clearly that is a sign its failing.

Bioware still performs weekly maintenance on all the servers for 4-6 hours (which is the same timetable for Blizzard maintenance) to improve server performance and stability. Clearly that is also a sign its failing.

Bioware is still introducing new content for players at major events (such as the recent HK-51 unveiling at Comic-Con – which, by the way, I am really excited about). OMG! Clearly they are going under!

All of these false prophets need to find something else to pick on and stop all this pathetic whining. SWTOR is a great game and its doing quite well. We should let the business people, that actually understand how business works, handle the natural functions of running a large corporation. I will bet real money that we will still be talking about content updates for SWTOR a year from now and all the lousy doomsayers will have moved on to the next “so-called” flop (which appears to be Elder Scrolls Online, so be ready Bathesda’s PR department).

By the way, if you haven’t tried the new features in 1.3, come back and check them out. Granted you have missed the free 7-day window but renewing for one month won’t kill you (unless you are republic scum and you’re on Corellian Run, mwahahahaha … j/k).

Cheers!

Biggs On: Why I Still Play SWTOR

By

On June 22, 2012

In Biggs On, Gaming, SWTOR

It has been a tumultuous time for Bioware and EA lately. The layoffs, server mergers, and plummet in stock price has been a pretty grim omen for the game manufacturer. SWTOR and Bioware have been receiving some tough criticisms from the gaming community and its sad to see such negativity because honestly I really enjoy playing SWTOR. I would say I enjoy it more then WoW and a lot more then Diablo III (I just couldn’t get into Diablo III – I like DC Universe Online more then D3, but I digress).

All the things people complain are wrong with the game I don’t see as negatives. I enjoy the story, the quests, the gameplay, the feel of the game. I love how crafting works, combat, instances, raids, pvp and traveling between planets is an appropriate concept for the game because its freaking Star Wars! In fact there is very little that annoys me about the game; the harsh feedback and whining from the gaming community is more annoying then anything in the game.

Yes, it plays like WoW so I would agree that one could loosely suggest its a WoW clone, but when did that become a negative? It seems to me that creating a clone of a previously successful game was the formula for success. Case in point: WoW was labeled as a clone of EverQuest and some may even argue that EverQuest was a clone of something older then it (perhaps Lineage or Ultima Online). The point is, games are made to parallel their predecessors or competitors to entice players to try their game. The more alike the game is to something they have played before, the easier it is to keep them playing it.

I have no control over the destiny of SWTOR. If Bioware has to shut it down then I am going to try to keep playing it until that day. I do think that if they were successful in going to a Free-2-Play model they may see people come back in droves because it really is a fun game. The risk though is now that they are consolidating servers, if they get a sudden influx of returning (or new) players, it may cause over-population and performance issues. It’s a difficult line to walk especially since gamers these days are so fickle and the market is saturated with so many games.

In the end, these games are a business and therefore they must make money. I trust that Bioware and EA will do what is necessary to keep producing great games. Who knows, perhaps those people that are constantly whining and complaining are the minority because the people that are content with the state of the games are too busy playing them instead of crying to complete strangers (who don’t give a rip) on the Internet.

Cheers!

Soapbox: Gamers Lack Appreciation

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On June 19, 2012

In Gaming, Soapbox

I was reading through a post on WoW Insider about Cataclysm and the author was discussing the things he liked and will miss about Cataclysm. Someone said something in the comments that, I think, explains why most gamers are spoiled, whining brats. Nobody appreciates the work and effort that goes into designing and developing these games. There will never be another MMO that will reach the number of users that World of Warcraft had because Blizzard has set the bar so high no game will ever satisfy that many gamers again. Gamers are so spoiled that now they expect every feature of WoW to be available at launch of any new MMO.

The mere thought of that last statement is hilarious almost to the point of absurdity. All games are developed in a closed source environment. Obviously Blizzard isn’t going to share its dungeon finder algorithm, for example, with Bioware or Trion. It doesn’t matter anymore that a majority of the features currently in World of Warcraft weren’t available at its launch, but apparently now they are a necessity for all new games. If a new game doesn’t have these features then its deemed “unfinished”.

The MMO gaming industry is cutthroat and volatile. The longer a company waits to deliver a new product the farther behind they will be so it becomes crucial from a profit and marketing philosophy to deliver something sooner rather than later. Nobody will ever release a product that is bug free and with every feature at launch. I remember how much grief players would give Blizzard on days when there were huge content patches that made the game almost unplayable. It was expected that nobody would be raiding on Tuesday nights because the game was incredibly unstable and buggy.

Perhaps the MMO genre has lost its edge. I see comments on posts (mostly on gaming news and blog sites) that they don’t like the “kill X number of Y” type of quests, or any kind of quest. I never see anyone offer alternative methods of leveling. Clearly they have a better idea for leveling then completing quests if they are complaining about it … or maybe they are just complaining because it makes them feel important.

I also see people complaining that Game X lacks any end game content when it actually has the same end game content all the other games have (i.e. raid, pvp, instances, dailies). What else do you want?!? If these games lack so many features, and clearly you know what features they should have, then submit your resume! I assure you that you will find out immediately why games take so long to make and what it takes to develop one.

I think the appalling lack of appreciation is lost because of blind ignorance!

/endsoapbox

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