Recently I read an article from a facebook link in which a girl committed suicide. This was brought on by constant teasing and bullying from anothr individual, a mother no less.
This was terrible and apalling. How could ANYONE feel the need or have the desire to bully someone? How could anyone put someone down so much that he or she would kill himself or herself?
It's reasons like this that I originally made my online bullying blog. People can be hurt on the Internet just as much as they can be hurt in real life. People need to realize that their are consequences for your actions, virtual or not.
I'm just glad the perpetrator is being brought up on charges and treated as if this series of incidents was committed face-to-face.
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Skill vs Gear
Damn this has been bothering me for awhile now.
When WoW came out, the emphasis was all on skill. Knowing how to play your class, knowing the in's and out's of your abilities, and having familiarity with other enemy classes. Even if someone had better gear, you could still beat them if they weren't as good as you.
Slowly and subtely that has all changed. Skill has become less and less important. It didn't matter that I had been playing the game since beta, people in better gear who played under a year could nearly kill me before I even had a chance to defend myself.
How aggravating.
When WoW came out, the emphasis was all on skill. Knowing how to play your class, knowing the in's and out's of your abilities, and having familiarity with other enemy classes. Even if someone had better gear, you could still beat them if they weren't as good as you.
Slowly and subtely that has all changed. Skill has become less and less important. It didn't matter that I had been playing the game since beta, people in better gear who played under a year could nearly kill me before I even had a chance to defend myself.
How aggravating.
Monday, November 17, 2008
Patience....
Another thing I have had to learn (and still do) with MMO's is patience. All kinds of patience. The patience against failure and frustration. Patience against negative people and negative attitudes. Patience against inexperienced people who are trying their best to learn.
This is a tie-in to my other blog, but patience is just as important as teamwork. People have bad nights and tempers flare. Nothing was worse than losing a hard-fought game only for arguments to erupt. Worse still was when people just quit playing for the night and really demoralize the group.
Nice thing about all of this though is the principles I learned from this certainly can be applied to real life.
This is a tie-in to my other blog, but patience is just as important as teamwork. People have bad nights and tempers flare. Nothing was worse than losing a hard-fought game only for arguments to erupt. Worse still was when people just quit playing for the night and really demoralize the group.
Nice thing about all of this though is the principles I learned from this certainly can be applied to real life.
Teamwork
If MMO''s taught me anything they taught me teamwork. Didn't matter how well you played by yourself, if you didn't have chesmistry or the capacity to work well with other you weren't going to go far.
I spent a long time on my Field Marshal grind from the World of Warcraft. A lot, scratch that, all of, my success came from working together with other people.
Even today, teamwork is just as important as it was back then, epspecially in WoW. The horrendous days of having to attain enough honor within a certain pertange of your competitors is over. You still can't have a gung-ho, lone-wolf attitude these days.
I have to say, it's still just as much fun as before.
I spent a long time on my Field Marshal grind from the World of Warcraft. A lot, scratch that, all of, my success came from working together with other people.
Even today, teamwork is just as important as it was back then, epspecially in WoW. The horrendous days of having to attain enough honor within a certain pertange of your competitors is over. You still can't have a gung-ho, lone-wolf attitude these days.
I have to say, it's still just as much fun as before.
Sunday, November 9, 2008
Online Relationships?
Recently, I've been hearing more and more how online dating and relationships are becoming more precedent and common. This is bothersome to me.
Yet, with the internet and online-socialization becoming more common-place, are online relationships bound to occur more and more?
My best friend's brother has had several, none of which succeeded. Yet, I have heard of some being successful, and there HAVE been couples that wouldn't have met unless it was through the internet.
What do you all think of this?
Yet, with the internet and online-socialization becoming more common-place, are online relationships bound to occur more and more?
My best friend's brother has had several, none of which succeeded. Yet, I have heard of some being successful, and there HAVE been couples that wouldn't have met unless it was through the internet.
What do you all think of this?
The Zombie Invasion
A while ago, on WoW, the company created an event. To celebrate the Wrath of the Lich King "expansion" (adds new character classes, dungeons, monsters, spells and abilities, etc.), the company, Blizzard, suddenly created strange crates and infected rats in the major trade cities.
If the rats happened to die in your vicinity or you investigated the crate, you became infected. After 5 minutes, you died and turned into a zombie. Upon this happening, you could kill NPC's (basically any character that isn't under player control) and create more zombies that would follow you around. You were also free to attack any non-infected character. Even landing one attack on them could infect them.
Your health decreased constantly, forcing you to continue feeding or receiving various abilities from other players (such as a sort of battle-cry or a vomit that would slow people down).
It wasn't uncommon to find areas completely infested, with people on my buddy list trying to convince me to go there. Little did I suspect they were trying to lure me into their infected clutches. Luckily for me, Paladins can sense the presense of undead, as well as purge diseases even as potent as the infection (though it could take me up to 10+ attempts).
This event was a blast to participate in, as players themselves were the ones to spread the disease. You had two sides, also player instigated.
ALso, in case you were wondering, when your zombie was killed, you could revert back to normal.
If the rats happened to die in your vicinity or you investigated the crate, you became infected. After 5 minutes, you died and turned into a zombie. Upon this happening, you could kill NPC's (basically any character that isn't under player control) and create more zombies that would follow you around. You were also free to attack any non-infected character. Even landing one attack on them could infect them.
Your health decreased constantly, forcing you to continue feeding or receiving various abilities from other players (such as a sort of battle-cry or a vomit that would slow people down).
It wasn't uncommon to find areas completely infested, with people on my buddy list trying to convince me to go there. Little did I suspect they were trying to lure me into their infected clutches. Luckily for me, Paladins can sense the presense of undead, as well as purge diseases even as potent as the infection (though it could take me up to 10+ attempts).
This event was a blast to participate in, as players themselves were the ones to spread the disease. You had two sides, also player instigated.
ALso, in case you were wondering, when your zombie was killed, you could revert back to normal.
Monday, November 3, 2008
Computer Woes
Oh boy. Ever since the flooding, my computer hasn't been running the same. It started with a burnt out video card. I was forced to run the computer off the internal card, which is like using a bicycle attached to a hamster wheel to power your house.
I get a new card, and the damn thing doesn't want to work. To top it off, it now seems that my motherboard and processor are starting to grow. This is putting some nasty pressure on my wallet. It's also going to put a hamper on this class, as I am going to have to find an additional means to make these posts. Not fun at all.
I get a new card, and the damn thing doesn't want to work. To top it off, it now seems that my motherboard and processor are starting to grow. This is putting some nasty pressure on my wallet. It's also going to put a hamper on this class, as I am going to have to find an additional means to make these posts. Not fun at all.
Trip Down Memory Lane
Oh man Second Life's opendedness reminds me of Ultima Online. Yet at the same time it shows me some of the differences my current MMO has compared to UO. The professions in WoW are largely secondary. Characters are forced to quest and kill monsters to gain experience points in order to level up. Without leveling up it can't be possible to train up professions beyond basic levels.
In UO, your character did whatever you made it do. It was easily possible to make character's that never left the town. In fact, since players had a limited number of training points to distribute, mixing trade skills with combat skills was foolhardy. It was very common for people to create characters specifically as merchants.
In WoW, you MUST fight against monsters and you are limited to only two primary trade skills. This is kind of a let-down compared to UO, especially since the craftable items and gear are typically substandard to quest rewards.
In UO, your character did whatever you made it do. It was easily possible to make character's that never left the town. In fact, since players had a limited number of training points to distribute, mixing trade skills with combat skills was foolhardy. It was very common for people to create characters specifically as merchants.
In WoW, you MUST fight against monsters and you are limited to only two primary trade skills. This is kind of a let-down compared to UO, especially since the craftable items and gear are typically substandard to quest rewards.
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