What do video games inspire you to do?

Have video games inspired you to undertake other activities outside of gaming?  It might be podcasting or figuring out how to make in game food in real life?  For me, it is reading and writing but only specific games invoke those impulses in me.

Reading

Star Wars: The Old Republic is one of those games that drives me to bury my nose in a book.  It isn’t that SWTOR is so boring that it drives me to read, rather the storytelling is so good that I want to continue once I log off for the day.  I loved the books that were published with the release of the game and am sad that there are no more planned novels to be released.  But that’s alright, I have plenty of other books to read to keep me busy for a lifetime.

Neverwinter is also another one of those games that compels me to read.  For the first time ever, I’ve read novels set in the Neverwinter universe and I’ve loved them.  There is something magical about novels that I haven’t put my finger on yet.

Writing

The Elder Scrolls Online inspires me to write unlike any other game I’ve ever played.  Everywhere you look there are scenes and settings that make you want to log off and start writing.  I don’t just mean role play writing or stories but real writing from the characters and ideas that float around in my head.  I’ve found that when I get writers block I just have to log in to ESO and soon enough my fingers are itching to write once again.

So what has gaming inspired you to do?

Freedom of Speech

First off, this is a topic I am so passionate about it will be posted on my non-gaming blog as well.  I woke up this morning and read a post from Belghast from my Twitter gaming feed.  So far nothing unusual there but the first half of his post made me grind my teeth which is unusual.  In response to a blog piece written by someone he follows, he re-tweeted the blog twice and there was some long involved Twitter chatter about it yesterday. 

All well and good, nothing abnormal so far but then apparently the chatter devolved when another person chimed in to state that the author of the original blog piece was “pretty”.  Apparently, this became objectification of women as sexual objects and the man (presumably) was lectured, instructed, on why this was inappropriate.  I freely admit I didn’t read the conversation because quite frankly, I am so incredibly tired of this victim thread/conversation types.

I’m a woman and by God I am sick of this crap from women!  A man pays you a compliment and instantly you are a sexual object?  Whatever happened to taking the compliment gracefully and moving on?  If the behavior is so offensive, then you could have just muted or blocked the offending user instead, as I understand it from Belghast’s blog this morning, the poor bloke got called out on social media for being male. 

Yes, it can be uncomfortable as any person when someone else pays you a compliment that is unexpected, unsolicited, and out of left field.  But that doesn’t mean you’ve become a sexual object by any means.  It used to be a simple act of common courtesy to pay compliments to others.  Now it has become grounds for harassment, “objectionification”, and more.

Free speech isn’t just speech that makes you comfortable.  Free speech means everyone is free to engage is speech regardless of the feelings of others.  You have the choice to engage those whose speech you disagree with either verbally, written, or by ignoring said speaker.  You do not have the right to shut down the speech of others because it makes you uncomfortable. 

Whatever happened to civil dialogue between those that disagree?  Whatever happened to difference of opinion that where freely expressed?  Whatever happened to the knowledge that differing ideas are what founded this country and once made Her great?

Oh yeah, political correctness and hurt feelings run amuck happened.  If you don’t like the speech of another, then there are better options than playing the victim card.  Learn from the differences, engage the other person to see if you can find common ground, ignore them, or just walk away for a while.  But please, for the sake of sanity and common dignity don’t play the victim card and deny someone else the right to their freedom of expression.

Technorati Tags: Games,Gaming Lifestyle,gaming sexism,Free Speech,blogging,Twitter,Belghast

Daybreak Games Restructuring

Unlike many on my Twitter feed, I am not surprised and far from upset at the announced personnel changes at the newly acquired and renamed Daybreak Games.  I’m not so heartless that I don’t feel for the people who went into work this morning employed and left work today without a job.  I wish them all the best and hope they find positions they excel in and love sooner rather than later.  I’ve been laid-off, I know how unexpected and scary it is.  I’ve been through a corporate acquisition where the new bosses seem to be blindly making decisions for no regard for people loved and cared about by many.

That being said, I think shaking things up over at the former SOE is a good thing and will result in positive changes for the community and the games.  New ideas and change needs to be blown through the catalog of titles over at Daybreak.  Some games need to go, others need resourced poured into them to make them more than the niche game they currently have become. 

There is no fathomable reason that truly solid games like Everquest and Everquest II did not succeed far more wildly than they did.  SOE failed, repeatedly and often, over the years to spend time, money, and resources on their continued development.  Bugs that have existed since launch should have been squashed by now.  A graphics update for a game that is over fifteen years old, and still supported with an active community, is unforgiveable. 

Instead, SOE felt free to spend time and resources flitting from game to game, developing half-finished crap and expecting gamers to be satisfied.  SOE repeatedly, under the leadership of Dave Georgeson and Linda Carlson (among others), said one thing publically and did the exact opposite later.  SOE and now Daybreak have too many games in their catalog, too few resources, and no true vision or commitment.

Look I like who Linda Carlson is on Twitter but she wasn’t the best Community Manager I’ve ever encountered.  At events, she was far more accessible to drinkers and those willing to buy a round in a bar.  I’m no teetotaler but I as a gamer shouldn’t have to buy the public CM of your gaming division a round to get a chance to speak with you.  And while that may not have been your experience, it was definitely the experience I walked away from SOELive with.  Dave Georgeson has devoted much of his career to the Everquest franchise but completely ignored long time Everquest fans and players who objected to the cartoon graphics of Everquest Next.   John Smedley is still at Daybreak but he too ignores Everquest players and concerns for the new “hotness” game in development.

We pay for two yearly All Access subscriptions to Daybreak which is a terrific value.  That being said, as Everquest II players we are tired of having long standing bugs not being squashed, outrageous prices for digital only expansions every year, cash shop changes that make no sense or contradict public statement made earlier, and those are just a few examples. 

I am hoping that Daybreak gets the financial house in order and speaks to players with a consistent and honest voice at events, on social media, in game, and on the forums. 

Technorati Tags: Daybreak,SOE,SOELive,gaming,Everquest,Everquest II,Linda Carlson,Dave Georgeson,John Sedley

ESO: Patch 1.6 First Impressions

Patch 1.6 just hit the PTS so I realize it isn’t ready for prime time, let alone release, but overall what were my first impressions?  Mixed at best, some things very well implemented and others not so much.

Provisioning Revamp

Provisioning Revamp VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

All of the sudden there are a plethora of food and beverages never before seen in Tamriel, Mint Chai or Banana Surprise anyone?  The food and drink system has completely been revamped and replaced with food and drinks you’d easily find in any first world country.  It makes zero sense and is completely lore and immersion breaking.  Food and drink is now faction specific but if released in it’s current state you will be selling a lot of provisioning items that are stored in inventory.

Justice System

Justice System VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Those barrels and baskets you’ve looted in every Elder Scrolls game for lock picks, food items, random gold?  They are all now considered theft.  Every items I moused over this morning was theft and this is a huge departure from other Elder Scrolls game. 

Certain NPCs and all guards now have a weird glow outlining them when moused over, presumably to be a visual clue for your current outlaw status.  I did witness one guard chasing and killing a wanted player.  Towns and cities will soon be littered with living NPC’s standing over their dead corpses if the PTS is any judge.  Obviously this is immersion breaking as well.

Also there was no introduction to the Justice System that I ran across this morning.

Collections

I am going to be upfront, I was the most excited about the Collections tab.  It would get the pets, treasure maps from Collector’s Edition, and trophies/trinkets out of my inventory.  So, I am incredibly sad to report that this isn’t true.

Collections VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Pets are out of my inventory true enough, but that is all.  Still there are all those treasure maps and the quest reward trinkets/trophies.  Your inventory woes have not been addressed, alleviated, or reduced.

Removing five pets from my inventory isn’t even a drop in the bucket compared to those treasure maps and trinkets hogging space.  I am incredibly disappointed with the collections implementation as it currently stands.

Appearance Armor

When this was mentioned in the live stream last week my heart sang with joy.  I’ve dreamed of appearance armor since beta.  Try as I might to equip armor in the appearance/costume slot this morning nothing worked.

So if it is only certain armor that gets to be slotted in the appearance slot then how am I getting to play my way?  What if I really like a robe that is low level but some developer never flagged it as being appearance appropriate?  Having an appearance/costume slot that is limiting is pointless and frustrating.

Mounts

Mounts are now shared across the account with stats being shared among mounts.  Yes, I’m cheap and only have the one mount but now it doesn’t matter since stats are shared.  You can still buy the other mounts at a stable but the cheapest mount I saw was 42k but I also didn’t check every stable this morning. 

In no way am I disappointed in mounts or the implementation.

Overall

First impression of the patch was a very mixed bag for me.  Hopefully, there will be improvements based on feedback.  The PTS went live yesterday and I know it is early in the testing but some of these things (TREASURE MAPS & TRINKETS) should have been thought of and implemented by developers since they have been a sore point for almost a year now.  Appearance armor needs work and by god, whatever development team though lore breaking provisioning was a grand idea needs to be replaced!

Technorati Tags: ESO,Elder Scrolls,Elder Scrolls Online,Patch 1.6,PTS,lore,provisioning,appearance armor,mounts,Justice system

XboxOne: Assassin’s Creed Unity Dead Kings

Disappointment is an understatement to put it mildly.  The only DLC to be released for this installment in the AC series and it is buggy.  It is inconceivable that after the fiasco that was the release of AC Unity, Ubisoft failed to go over the code for the DLC with a fine tooth comb multiple times.

I finished the main game early this morning and was looking forward to completing the DLC today.  Then I ran into not one, but two game breaking bugs.  Luckily I found a work around for the first game breaking bug.  The second game breaking bug is just so damn frustrating that I’m not interested in trying to work around the bug. 

Allegedly, there is yet another patch in development for Unity.  No details on what the patch will contain or when it will be released.  As usual, Ubisoft is dead silent on the bugs in Dead Kings and their social media feed is focused on multiplayer for Unity AC Rogue on last gen consoles.

I might, time and life permitting, go back and finish Dead Kings but it isn’t very likely.  I have lost faith with Ubisoft, it’s ability to find and correct bugs, upfront and honest communication with customers, and their willingness, or rather lack thereof, to adapt and change based on consumer feedback.

Technorati Tags: AC Unity,Ubisoft,Dead Kings,AC Rogue