Year: 2008

I remember a time when ALL games were single-player, non-networked. I remember when the first online games took hold, how magical we all thought that we could reach out and share the experience with someone far away.

My first online “game” was flying side-by-side with a friend in Flight Simulator. We used the software’s built-in modem feature, and to this day I remember how neat it felt to be able to fly around his plane and interact with it, in real-time 3D. Freaky.

Today, we yawn at such stuff!

Thanks for your visit Sleepypete…And your very kind and encourging words!

I am unfamiliar with Heinlein, odd as that may seem to be….Sci Fi is not on my radar, I’m afraid…It’s never been something I was drawn to…But, I sure do like those two quotes, a lot! (lol)
Not a “game player” either…..But, I’m happy you came by and liked what you saw today.

I’ve been reading a lot of Heinlein lately and one of the most striking things about Heinlein’s writing are the off the wall sayings that make total sense. One of them and you’ll have to bear with me here is :

Masturbation is cheap, clean, convenient, and free of any possibility of wrongdoing — and you don’t have to go home in the cold. But it’s lonely.

Wow – that’s a little out in left field. But it was reasonably fresh in my mind when I was pondering why I wasn’t particularly interested in playing a couple of classics on the weekend. I’ve sunk a lot of time into World of Warcraft lately but needed a bit of variation, so I had a peek at Settlers IV and Civ 4. Only a quick peek because I really couldn’t be bothered with them. I have a few other games too that I’ve not got my money’s worth out of. And then the quote above sprung up in my mind. Hmm – let’s take it to bits and have a look.

Cheap – single player games don’t have a monthly fee like Eve & WoW do.
Clean – there’s no chance of having a fight with someone in the guild. It happens. There’s also no idiots infesting your single player game.
Convenient – pause button, able to save the state without leaving other people in the lurch.
Free from wrongdoing – can’t upset people when there isn’t enough room for them in your gang.
Going home in cold – probably more appropriate to cricket or Re-enactment people, a single player game means you’re safe from the rain.

The pause button thing is not to be underestimated. It’s actually kinda dangerous leaving a character out in the wilds in an online game, although it’s a bit safer on the server I’m on now because it’s a “Normal” one. Means there’s a general state of peace instead of the Kill Or Be Killed state that makes a “Player Vs Player” server rather tense. Eve is even worse, because the pattern of play tends to have you alert at the keyboard for ages waiting for something to happen. Having a pause button is rather nice, it lets you break at your convenience or if you get called away. You can put the game to one side knowing it’ll be in the same state when you get back.

So, single player games are cheaper, cleaner, far more convenient cos of that pause button, you can’t annoy someone by leaving them off the team and you don’t get drenched when the heavens open with 5 overs to go.

But they’re lonely.

Lol – there you go, that’s me comparing computer games to masturbation and sex.

I don’t think I really noticed this before because World of Warcraft is pretty much the first big multiplayer game I’ve played, plus I’d always had the cricket to keep me in social gaming. I’ve always lived in fairly social housing too, ever since university when I was 18. That’s 15 years ago now. When I moved out of the social housing, I was living with someone. So there was a little voice on the other side of the sofa telling me to keep the noise down. Plus other whinging 🙂 (You’d have to have known her 😉

Pretty much since the WoW became the main game, I’ve been single, although the timing there is totally coincidental. After the breakup, WoW became a surrogate for the relationship I’d had. Which probably kept me sane in the months after, I had a group of Mercs to keep an eye on. That couldn’t last though – issues with some of the personalities (being ignored for a couple of months does this to you) meant I couldn’t continue torturing myself with the guild leadership thing and the relationships with Guildlink in particular, so I gave the job up to the best candidate we had at the time.

Bah ! I be digressing again. Closing note – Playing with Other People is far better than Playing With Yourself. I think that’s something that everybody can agree on 🙂 Oh – time for another Heinlein quote before I really close this entry :

Writing is not necessarily something to be ashamed of — but do it in private and wash your hands afterwards.

I must assure you that this entry was composed totally in private (ok, I had Dexter and Stargate Atlantis on in the background) and I promise that I’ll be washing my hands in the very near future.

PS More classic Heinlein quotes here : WikiQuote. G’wan – have a peek 🙂

Everyone seems to have a god …

It might not quite be the god that everyone expects them to have but gods seem to run all the way through our societies. There’s the famous ones, like Allah, the Christian God, Hindu gods and all of the other major faiths (names given in alphabetical order!). We’ll try and keep those big gods happy but the ones that seem to really matter are based on superstition …

Things like the grand prix people offering up a prayer to the Weather Gods in hope that the region of very wet weather going past the Spa-Francorchamps circuit at the moment will miss the circuit. There’s also sporting gods which people make observances to. Things like putting the right cricket glove on before the left, even though the padding makes that the more difficult way. There’s the Luck Gods that people look to when they breathe on the dice before offering a private prayer of “double six!”

All those little superstitious routines, why do we do them ? It’s a belief that some higher (supernatural) power is keeping an eye on what’s going on and will push events one way or the other depending on their whim. One of the Ten Commandments specifically prohibits Christians from recognising other gods but they’ll still use phrases like “Sporting God” or “Weather God”. Very curious 🙂

As for me, I follow a code that’s very similar to the major code of ethics that the Christians and Moslems are supposed to follow. I just don’t believe in the deity at the top. I do believe very heavily in luck and fate though – the phrase “Don’t Tempt Fate” seems to ring the truest of any uttering that deals with Faith.

What does that mean though ? I’ve been on a few Karting events, where I know I’m quick. However, in the banter leading up to it I’ve always been very cagey on what I’m likely to do. Boasting of thrashing everyone else is just setting yourself up for a fall. Confidence is healthy but overconfidence stops you thinking clearly about actually getting up and performing. Plus if you abuse Karma and Luck, then you’re probably going to set yourself up for some extraordinary event that will set you backwards.

It’s things like building up a return to the cricketing action and then seeing it rain solid for three days. Before turning into bright sunshine on the afternoon before the game. Or saying we’re going to lap everyone in the karting race and then getting a poorly kart in the random pick. Fate is a very fickle Lady, sometimes I think that we’re all here as a plaything for the gods that look after luck. After all, what were the chances of us evolving into what we are now ? It’s an extraordinary chain of luck to get all those genes in the right place but I think it’s worked out ok.

Hmm – I think that’s enough philosophy for one day. Time to climb back out of the hole I just dug 🙂 And to get back to the Grand Prix where most of the team bosses are praying to the Rain Gods to help things equalise with the front runners.

PS Lewis Hamilton yesterday : “not planning on letting anyone past today”
Lewis Hamilton today – gets over taken at the start of the second lap due to an inexplicable mistake. That’s Karma biting …

Just finished reading the above book, The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress by Robert A Heinlein.

This is a cracking book, it’s actually the first one of Heinlein’s books I read and it got me comprehensively hooked. It’s written from the point of view of one Manuel O’Kelly Davis (Manny for short), who is a humble computerman looking after the Lunar Authority’s main computer. A computer that’s had so much hooked into it that it has woken up and become sentient.

It’s name is Mike, short for Mycroft, a name that extends from its model type : HOLMES. Holmes being short for High-Optional, Logical, Multi-Evaluating Supervisor. What Mike has trouble understanding is jokes and the opening sequences of the book have him getting a bit of attention from Manny due to playing one of those jokes. It then breaks into 3 phases :

Setting up the revolution
Calm before the storm
Interplanetary war

It’s not a long book at 288 pages but packs a decent amount into those 288 pages. Even reading it now, at 42 years after it was written, this is one book that is most certainly Not Dated. Ok, it’s maybe a little behind the times when it comes to the effort needed for Mike to put a moving picture on a screen for him talking but that’s about the only place where the age of the book shows.

It’s a standalone book, although the sequel (The Cat Who Walks Through Walls) hooks into the Lazarus Long universe. The sequel is The Next Book. It’s not all about revolution on the moon, there’s bits in here about living up there plus Heinlein’s usual intelligent observations on society.

Excellent book, very well worth a read. The central character, Manny, keeps a level head running through it with the tone always being one of good humour. It keeps a good pace up and the ending chapter or two will definitely have you remembering this book.

We’ll see what happens next year there 😉

I can see why performing artists get a buzz. They’re doing their bit in front of an audience that’s judging them on how well they do.

In sport, you’re doing something similar in trying to perform the best you can – but there’s another person out there also trying to perform to their best and the one that does the better job comes out the winner.

There’s luck there too but I’m a firm believer in people making their own luck through practice, preparation and training 🙂

PS Would like to try sailing some time. There’s getting the best out of the boat … Plus, getting the most out of the wind too.

Blimey – when it decides to rain here, there’s no half measures.

I have a scale I use when it gets moist :

Damp – this is most rain that’s enough to get you wet, enough to keep the wipers on full
Unpleasant – visibility’s starting to get a bit restricted
Dangerous – poor visibility, standing water on the roads
Nasty

Nasty is when you’re driving and at any moment, you could get into the Aquaplaning thing. Which is never something that’s going to end up fun. I had a trip up and down the motorway tonight, the way there was fine – just “Damp”. On the way back though, I got the chance to see what happens when my latest car aquaplanes …

The tyres on the front of my Focus are fine, there’s lots of tread on them. The rear ones probably need replacing, so it’s time for the tentative driving style when things get worse than “Unpleasant”. We had a taste of what driving would be like during the gaming session … When it gets to be really heavy rain, it can be tricky to hear people through the sound of the rain on the roof.

Erm – I said Aquaplane above didn’t I ?

I must have hit a river going up one of the hills on the motorway – yep, it was raining that hard ! Car slows down as it hits the water, Orange Flashy Light comes on and blinks and I’m thinking “ooookay – time to let the wheel go relaxed and ride it out …”

Orange Flashy Light being the traction and stability control …

Hopefully it’ll rain itself out over tonight and tomorrow – there’s an England one day game scheduled for Wednesday. Did I crash with the aquaplaning ? Nah. Almost noone else on the road (apart from 2x PsychoTransit going at 80mph+) and the electronics in the car meant I retained control and didn’t leave my lane. Went from 70 down to 50 though …

I also had the chance to catch up with one of the boys from the Mercs while at work today. He’s a good bloke is Charge, never really got much out of what he put into the Mercs as the times when he could get on to play weren’t really compatible with the times when we would raid. It was good to have a natter – I’ve been fairly isolated with what happened with Mercs, ever since backing out of WoW about 6 months ago. What I have seen has come from the collapse of the Mercs guild site and a few posts that appeared before it died. Those posts resulted in a couple of rants on this blog, the most significant one being in May (archive link on the right should take you to it).

I won’t be going back to The Maelstrom server, there’s far too much historical baggage that came out of the “Iceangel the Enforcer” job that I often took on due to the other officers not having the guts to do it themselves. What I will be doing is remembering a select few :

Charge – thought I’d spotted him on my new server but – different Charge
Soul – one of the best people I know, used to work on the same project, great mate
Caira & Auraka – crossing fingers for their little one (dunno when C&A Jr is due …)
Fubb – has gone to Eve now as it suits what he’s after in an online game better than WoW does
Aella/Monkie – always a good one to have a natter with
And the various Violence Reborn people who I’m playing the game with on the Blade’s Edge server.

There’s a couple more ex-Mercs who might think they’re worth a mention above but … Nah. Their actions in the leadup to the guild breaking up and their actions immediately afterward disqualify them from a special mention. If you go from “we hate CiB and would do anything to stay ahead of them in loot tables” and then go actually join that guild that you were competing with as if they were the blood enemy, then the credibility goes through the floor. If you were the one in charge of the guild kicking everyone out and therefore breaking the promise made by a senior member that people could retire their characters and keep the guild tag, then I hope you don’t get allergic to sleeping pills.

A guild officer’s first responsibility is to look after the members of the guild. It isn’t to steal everything in the guild bank and leave to join a different organisation, without doing what they could to ease the transition. Yep, I effectively walked out on the Mercs by quitting the game – I was sick of the game at the time. But what I did do after was keep an eye on the forums and attempt to ease the transition from functioning guild to Retirement Home for Old Characters.

Heh heh heh – That must be what I mean by too much historical baggage to think about coming back to the Maelstrom. Time to get back to watching NCIS before heading off to sleep.

May you long have the ability to get out there and play – and to continue to share it with the people who matter most.

You’ve reinforced why participating in sports is so magical. Wonderfully put!

Just finished chilling out to a game of cricket on the telly that was far, far closer than the one sided show that we had on Tuesday.

Somerset vs Worcestershire in a game dominated by the batsmen but where the result was determined by the bowlers. Couldn’t have been a much closer finish, even though 20 minutes before the end it was looking like a foregone conclusion. Cricket is like that, unlike football where it’s rare that something happens to change the Result State, every ball in cricket can change the Result State.

What do I mean by “Result State” ?

In football, it would be the score changing from 1-0 to 1-1. The Result if nothing else significant happens has changed by the event of someone scoring a goal. In baseball, think of it being a double play to close out an innings where the bases are loaded or a home run that allows a side to catch up. Result State changes don’t happen too often in football, which is why I think they are very good for me to have on the telly while I’m trying to finish reading a book.

In cricket though, Result State changes happen almost every ball, especially in the new Twenty20 format which is getting so popular nowadays. I think that’s why I love the game so much and is probably why my enthusiasm has infected the rest of the family 🙂 They’re hooked too now. A shame they weren’t hooked 15 years ago, they’d have caught a finish and turn around almost as exciting as any I can (barely!) remember.

The scene – it’s the village cricket ground and a bit of a murky day. I liked those when bowling because the murky conditions would make the ball swing more. That was my main weapon, if you can find archive footage of one Waqar Younis, that’s what I aimed for. Although I was probably more like 60-70mph instead of 90mph. I had the massive boomerang inswinger that made his bowling so devastating 🙂

From what I remember, we’d batted well and set a decent target. It was a 40 over game, where bowlers could bowl a maximum of 10 each. Which meant 4 bowlers. I came on after 20, to bowl my 10 off the reel like usual. It was in my first season with the men’s team and I was 17 (pre shoulder injury), so at that time I could quite happily do that on the weekends. When I started, the match was pretty well poised. I took 3 wickets in my first 9 overs but when it came around to my last over, the match looked done and dusted :

2 main bowlers finished their 10
3rd main bowler with just 6 balls left (me !)
no 4th main bowler, so easy to hit part timers to come
About 5-6 overs left (plenty of time !)
6 runs required to win (could do it in one hit)
3 wickets left (loads!)
Bloke in and batting well on 48 not out

You add that all up together and even a relative cricket novice would say : 99 times out of 100 the batting side is going to win comfortably. That’s probably what 10 of the guys on our team though too. Not me – I was too young, naive and indestructible. Muahahaha – yeah right. I forgot to mention that some time through my first 9 overs I’d tweaked my back. I didn’t really notice cos the adrenaline and Game Face were tuning it out.

So what actually happened ? I’ve given a lot of tantalizing build up but not spilled the beans :

1st ball – oh dear those stumps are going flying – that boomerang inswinger got a result
2nd ball – darn – missed em but it’s ok, 48 not out guy is still at the other end
3rd ball – AEROPLANE WINGS ! Stumps are out of the ground again, next batsman please
4th ball – He runs in, He bowls, He screams a millisecond after the ball hits the pads !

And the bowling team win that 100th game out of a 100. We’d won an with an extraordinary final over, with the umpire giving a Leg Before Wicket decision that was probably a given seeing as my other 5 wickets on the night were also bowled out. We were a bit sheepish shaking the hand of the bloke on 48 not out as, by rights, they should have won that game.

Dunno how much of the above is actual memory and how much is reconstruction – but the figures are burned into my brain : 3 wickets for Mr Higginbotham who opened the bowling. Couldn’t have won the game without those as my inswingers didn’t tend to trouble the better batsmen. I wouldn’t have got my 6 without those 3 by the other guy. My figures were 9 overs, 4 balls costing 24 runs for 6 wickets. The 10th wicket was a run out. It wasn’t the best I’ve ever bowled, that was a 10 over spell costing 19 runs but only getting 1 wicket.

I’ll be trying to keep hold of the 6 for 24 memory as long as I can, it’s the best figures I’ll ever get as the state of my shoulder says I won’t be bowling again … Being able to bat too is a blessing 🙂 Will have to see how many runs I can get when batting and run-outs I can get in the field next year.

I think one of the problems with the modern world is that our communication and connectivity is so much better than it used to be that it takes a special effort to be on our own for a while.

Before mobile phones and email and online games, when that front door closed, we could quite happily shut the world out. Now, it’s not quite so easy …

I think it does us good to have a little Me Time occasionally, that’s why I’m having a week off work this week – I get kinda burned out sometimes. Still, it’ll be good to get back next week and be said “hello” to by the blonde lady who is the latest victim of The Grin ™ 🙂

If you’re looking for lighthearted fun dvd – can’t go wrong with anything Pixar 😉