Khevor's Landing

It’s a new month and after a lengthy downfall of snow here, the day was gorgeous.  A healthy portion of the snow that fell melted and even for my short jaunt outside to go to the store put a smile on my face at how nice it was out.

If that alone wasn’t enough to put a nice ribbon on the end of February, Canada won 14 gold medals in the Vancouver Olympic Games (and 7 silver and 5 bronze).  I can only imagine the Olympic crowd at the end of the Olympic hockey game as Canada won against the U.S. 3-2 (Closing ceremonies followed that game).

For me, however, it’s been a little difficult to be particularly happy or excited.  Contracted the flu a few days ago and I feel like I’ve been hit by a fleet of trucks.  Beware the warning signs – sore throat, headache, and mild muscle pain.  I don’t even want to discuss the bathroom issues!   After that, it hits.  Hot and cold flashes, low grade to high grade fevers, and the nose blowing starts.   I’ve gone through a box of tissues and 5 rolls of toilet paper alone just blowing my nose.  If you grind your teeth in your sleep (like I do), the jaw pain upon waking up is no picnic either.  My jaw doesn’t normally hurt but with all the other aches and pains I’ve experienced I shouldn’t be surprised that my jaw would too.

In any event, none of it has stopped me from delving into C# programming some more.  I’m not a great programmer (not even a good one), but I do enjoy it.  The only problems I’ve experienced with it are the lack of things to do.  I don’t just code for the sake of coding.  I have to have a reason for doing it, otherwise I feel like I’m accomplishing nothing.  Well, this time, I found a reason.

I’ve been playing Mass Effect 2 to death (I’ve beaten the game four times over – even once on Insanity [won't do that again, either]) but there have been details that I didn’t like about the characters I used.  Usually in relation to their Mass Effect background (I imported my ME games).  So I went back to Mass Effect with the intent of building a character I like with all of the accomplishments I wanted from ME – strictly for the purpose of importing him into ME2.

I discovered this wonderful resource for ME gamers – Teryx’s Mass Effect Checklist.  Unfortunately for me, I can’t effectively use it.  It’s in a pdf format but I don’t have a working printer (it’s six pages in length designed for printing on both sides of the paper thus 3-pages both sides).  However, I do have a dual monitor setup.  As a result, that led me to start programming.  I have a very early stage, operational program that uses all of the information from Teryx’s hard work in a small program that I can run on my other monitor.

I made XML file versions of all the information in the ME Checklist pdf that the program uses (read-only).  It is interactive and allows you to [manually] keep track of what you’ve found/done/have yet to do.  This program does *not* hook into the game and keep track for you.  Like I said, I’m not that good of a programmer (although, I have to admit, that’d be pretty sweet).  It doesn’t have the ability to save or load stats yet and I’m still working on the Planetary Checklist portion but it works well so far.

If you look at the screenshots, in the planetary checklist, don’t get your hopes up… the red crosshair that is there is static.  If I get ambitious, I’ll photoshop the image to remove it.  I wouldn’t even know where to begin to draw a usable crosshair like that one in the game.  Seems like it’d be too much work for a small utility like this anyway.

Happy Valentine’s Day to those that ‘celebrate’ such nonsense.  It’s just another day with absolutely no importance to me whatsoever (especially given that no one can decide on what the origins of the day are).  Personally, I think it’s just one of those ‘special’ days that corporations invented so they can sell more useless crap to people and get rich off making people fat.

Anyway, I just read an article by Jon Wood at MMORPG.com where he looks at the possibility of MMO game developers catering to a younger demographic.  As a result, the older generation(s) are missing out on the type of game[play] they enjoy.  I use the term ‘older’ loosely as he (and many of the posters that replied to the article) aren’t even in their 30s [yet].

While I understand where the article is coming from, I don’t necessarily agree with it.  I agree with the statement that, as with all games, MMO games are made to make money (obviously) but every MMO game out there all have their roots in the same thing – pen and paper, dice rolling, table top games circa 1979+.  The only difference between then and now is that there are a lot more concepts that can be made into an online game than there were when the first MMO games were created.  The term ‘franchise’ didn’t just crop up out of nothing, after all.  Going back to the whole ‘making money’ thing, there were a variety of ways to capitalize from a given idea.  Comic books turned into movies (and sometimes vice versa), then contracts with toy companies were hammered out to make figurines and other toys, followed by specialized gimmick things (such as a deck of playing cards with the favourite characters printed on the back) came out.  These things made money for a lot of companies.  MMO games are nothing more than another way to capitalize on an idea.  Look at Star Wars as an example.  Wildly popular for the last 33 years to the point that Lucas Arts is still capitalizing on it (or do I need to mention the two MMO games based on the franchise?).

How do I explain World of Warcraft then?  Easy.  WOW came out at exactly the right time – just as the mainstream MMO games at the time were losing favour with the “masses.”  When I was still playing EverQuest and disgruntled at how things were changing and not in a good way, almost everyone I ran into couldn’t wait until World of Warcraft was released.  What happened to the population of the old games when it was?  People flocked to WOW in droves.  They, in turn, spread the news to their friends, co-workers, etc., about this great game that you can play online with everyone you know.  Of course, to a limited degree, that was already occurring with the older games but like a friend of mine said, ‘I don’t want to just start out playing a game that’s been established for years already.’

The fact that World of Warcraft came out and millions flocked to it was hardly a surprise.  The surprise came when tens of millions did.  Everything about the game, though, was straight-forward and easy.  There was no guesswork involved at all.  Naturally that would appeal to the masses as they could jump into the game and start playing based on a learning curve that resembled a wheelchair ramp.

Since that time, many companies and developers have been trying to recreate what Blizzard did with World of Warcraft and can’t figure out why it’s not working.  The result has been devastating to the MMO gaming community – over-saturation of the market (come on, there’s a Hello Kitty MMO game for crying out loud!  If nothing else, that should’ve told you something.).  There are so many MMO games out there now that the novelty of the idea has long since lost its polish.

Dungeons and Dragons was popular when it came out.  By the time second edition was released, it was hugely popular.  At its height, Magic: The Gathering came out and slowly started to supplant D&D simply through sheer addiction and its inherent competitiveness.  As that was waning, MMO games were being discovered.  While those predecessors still exist, they’re hardly mentioned now.

Having said all of that, the lifespan of an MMO game can be told by how populated its starting areas are.  Based on things I’ve heard, World of Warcraft is dying.  Without new players, the only thing that keeps a MMO game going are hooks to maintain the status quo.  New expansions, new gear, new areas to discover, etc.  Even that wears thin after awhile, however.  Unlike the dying days of EverQuest, however, there isn’t one great game just waiting to be released to entice the masses of World of Warcraft players to it.  Chances are, the greater population of WOW gamers have already tried other MMO games on the market and their collective reaction was ‘meh’.  What’s the old adage about ‘too much of a good thing?’

Look at Star Trek as a good example.  The original series wasn’t well received when it was first aired, but still became a cult classic.  Then, in the early 80s, Star Trek: The Next Generation came out and it became wildly popular.  Again, wanting to capitalize on the idea, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine was conceived and released roughly around TNG’s fourth season? fifth?  I don’t remember and am too lazy to be bothered looking it up.  Then, roughly within the same number of seasons into DS9, Star Trek: Voyager came out soon to be followed by Enterprise.  Now look at that mess.  Series after series after series each of which overlapping the previous.  It wasn’t a huge surprise that Enterprise was cancelled.  By that time, people were so sick of Star Trek that when it came on, they’d go off and watch something else.

MMO games are currently the same way.  New MMO games aren’t doing that great for the very reason I just pointed out with the Star Trek-based television shows.  And now, with the new Star Trek Online MMO game released, I have to wonder how long that will last (you know, after it’s been picked apart by trekkies/trekkers for its inconsistencies with canon lore and other relatively meaningless details).

For the last week or so, I’ve been feeling kind of sick and although it started off as being sick, I’m fairly certain that’s not what it is now.

As we progress further through the winter season (and, thankfully, closer to spring), I think my ‘sickness’ is actually SAD (seasonal affective disorder – aka Winter Depression, blues, blahs, etc.).  Like many others, I’m just as susceptible to this ‘affliction’ – possibly more so given I lead my life primarily indoors.  As such, the symptoms of being tired/run-down/worn-out are more pronounced.

The other symptoms (such as sore throat and a dry cough), I believe, are from other factors – namely the low humidity levels (roughly 30-40%) and the fact that I’ve been smoking more heavily the last month or so.

Unfortunately, knowing this doesn’t solve much.  It proves that I’m not actually sick with a virus, but the results are similiar enough where lots of liquids and plenty of rest are still in the cards.  Mood swings can be expected as well (although my anti-depressants take care of that, for the most part).

I’m on Cipralex (aka Lexapro in the U.S.) and I have to admit, it does what it’s supposed to quite nicely – at least, for me.  It evens out my moods and how I’m feeling, emotionally speaking.  The drawback is that I don’t really feel mood measures of either end of the spectrum.  For example, I don’t get particularly happy nor sad/upset.  If I do reach either of those extremes, it’s short-lived.  Some might think that’s an awful way to live, but I assure you, had you experienced what my life was like before, you’d sing a different tune.  Needless to say, it’s a good thing.   There are side-effects, however.  I won’t get into the one that affects me as it’s rather personal.  (That, into and of itself, should give you an idea.)

If you haven’t noticed already, I imagine you will eventually.  My domain name has changed.  Welcome to khevorslanding.ca.   The .net version will still work but it will automatically bring you to the .ca domain.  Next May (2011), the .net version might go the way of the dodo as I’ll be using the .ca version of my domain as my primary.  Of course, this change may throw off search results and what have you but they’ll adapt.

What does this mean exactly?  Nothing.  At least, not really.  The .ca domains are just registered Canadian domains (and with it come trademarks – in my case, khevorslanding.ca is now mine by registered trademark; it just adds legal protection to my domain name that I otherwise wouldn’t have had.  As such, it also adds stronger legal validity when I post a copyright to my domain name.  Doing so adds copyrights to the trademark).  The only real distinction is that it proves I’m a Canadian citizen with a domain registered with the CIRA (although I still have to send in some information to them – that may have to wait though).

In any event, there it is.  I think you could call this a ‘new beginning’ for me although nothing has really changed – other than the .ca at the end of my domain name.  For me, however, it’s a personal thing of some importance.

It’s been quiet the last couple of days as I’ve been playing games, mostly.  As I mentioned in an earlier post, I’ve been playing Mass Effect 2.  I’m enjoying most of it, but the mining is intensely boring/tedious.  I’m also not thrilled about the onboard AI (aka EDI).  Seems like an unnecessary addition to the game.

Also, I’ve been beta testing an upcoming MMORPG called Dawntide.  It’s a sandbox fantasy MMO game with a lot of potential.  Although it’s currently listed as in the beta stage, there are still a large number of issues that some people would consider an alpha stage.  In either case, it’s interesting, but I haven’t been able to do much due to a very unpleasant framerate of 1 in the only city constructed (atm).  Nonetheless, the potential is there.

However, even with the time spent with these games, I’ve been sick.  As a result, I’ve only spent a couple hours a day or so with either game.  I am feeling better now, for the most part; just tired, mostly.

On a different note, due to my own security measures, I’ve noticed that certain normal connections to the site have been blocked.  There are a variety of reasons for this and, for my own safety, I have no intention of unblocking these connections.  Typically, ‘normal’ users shouldn’t have any problems visiting the site.