By AsukaBlue 3 years, 8 months ago.
After seeing GAMER on opening night, I am faced with a broad array of ethical questions that before now had been previously un-entertained. You, the viewer, are shown the relationship between a player and his “icon” – a real human being under the control of the player. This “icon” has been infused with nano-cells which give the player full control of the movement and activity of the human being on the other end of the connection. Over the course of the film – you are shown that “icons” have real feelings and real lives they left behind, and real people they love.
So, then, what about the avatars in the games we play?
I know Anmut, my shadow priest, would be right pissed about some of the things I have made her do. Suicide missions into old world dungeons for a few pieces of rep turn in materials, throwing her headlong into a hopeless PvP scenario, even forcing her to drop her dark and gloomy shadow form to heal against her will – all these things that I enforce on her through my twisted will. If she were a sentient being, how would I feel about this?
The answer: I don’t know.
The weight on my shoulders for being in control of and ultimately responsible for a sentient being would ultimately lead to some sort of moral and ethical breakdown, Im sure, but if I did not have the time to consider all the options and she ultimately needed my help: she is my pixel child, and I will get her out alive.
The mind games played in the movie are absolutely genius. (Spoiler Alert) When Kable commands “Look at this knife. Think about me plunging it into your guts. Do it. Think about it” – even you as an audience member think about it plunging into your guts. Would a mind play like that really work? Could you not think about it?
You are now breathing manually.
You are now breathing manually.
You are now breathing manually.
Well, are you?
The movie, while action packed and brick-shitting awesome, brings forth a plethora of ethical questions that we, as GAMERS, must think about at some point. With the raging advancements in technology that can someday become a SLAYERS level phenomenon – would you play?
Or is SOCIETY more your flavor? While your character/avatar/icon isn’t particularly fighting for their lives in a hail of bullets – could you really exert your will, your perversions, your darkest desires on a real person? Could you control someone into sexual debauchery and pain with no moral or ethical dilemma?
Well, could you?
By AsukaBlue 3 years, 9 months ago.
Cataclysm Panel: Written as the panel goes on in a train of thought style with quotes from panel speakers-
Let me just go ahead and say Im pretty pissed off about this. Goblins? Fuck off. Great, we get green people and the Alliance get werewolves? Horde lands/territories (more than Alliance) are torn to shreds? Wow. No.
Metzen, Chilton, and two other lore guys. lol, lets hear the loretastraphy this is about to be.
ONWARD!
First off, you should notice when no one clapped when you said “Cataclysm” that the reaction isnt terribly favorable. When people (again) do not clap when you say “Deathwing” – you should know we’re pissed off.
Deathwing lore: Of course we all know that Neltharion was the Earthwarder, and Metzen addresses his corruption and the Old Gods, as well as his subsequent consumption by insanity and his own earthpowers. His powers are now magnified by the Old Gods, and “literally erupts into the world” causing the cataclysm.
Elemental planes: four planes created by the titans to contain the elementals. And are “pretty pissed” about being locked up for so long. The elemental planes will re-emerge into war with one another and the native races of Azeroth.
“Worgen, Worgen – Chris?”
Yeah, the worgen you gave to the Alliance because “it works”. “The Alliance needs more of a monsterous race” – uh, what? The Alliance are xenophobic and openly hate freaks and outsiders. “But they were formerly human” – oh yeah? well so were the Forsaken.
Metzen literally said that Arugal summoned the Worgen just now – so you can shove all the “BUT THE ELVVVVVVES” bullshit immediatly. Then, as an “oh shit” afterthought mentions the Scythe of Elune and the fact that they may be from a different “when” not a different “where”.
SO TELL ME MORE ABOUT THE STUPID RACE YOU GAVE THE HORDE SINCE YOURE DONE SAYING HOW AWESOME AND AMAZING THE WORGEN AND THEIR STARTING AREA ARE!
...
ok, I’ll wait since youre still talking about worgen.
...
Oh, ok, the goblins. Almost forgot.
Oh look, no one cheered.
WCII they were part of the Horde, yeah, we know. Theyre broken up into several cartels and Trade Princes that wheel and deal with both functions (which would make more sense to ALLIANCE since the Alliance ALREADY TRUST THEM AND THEYRE NOT BIG WOLF FREAKS FROM A NATION THAT ALREADY TOLD THE ALLIANCE TO PISS OFF).
“Meet and befriend the Horde” – so, they were a part of us but we didnt know them? And you just said they were friendly with the Alliance already? Wow. Your logic is terrible. BAD LORE. BAD.
“The goblins are the Horde’s comic relief”
Yeah, no one is laughing.
(Let me just go ahead and say: if you kill Thrall, I will uninstall this game RIGHT NOW.)
New Features:
-increased level cap to 85
-new races
-7 new zones
-guild advancement system: players can level their guild for new perks, guild levels 1-20 with a guild talent tree
(LMFAO @ THE DRAMA THAT IS GOING TO CAUSE)
-new race/class combos:
tauren paladin (LOL HOLY COW LAWL LORE)
gnome priest
dwarf shaman
-more phased terrain
-Archaeology: nodes, research, leads into Path of the Titans
-Path of the Titans: no expanded talent trees, but 5 extra talent points. Able to choose a path, unlimited by class, for abilities or passive bonuses.
-Mastery System: pruning some complexity from the talent trees and giving them to players in another way.
-New content: dungeons, creatures, quests, etc
5 new zones from level 78-85
2 new starting zones, levels 1-15
flying mounts in Azeroth
changes for all zones
(then in the same breath says: “oh Elwynn wont change much, but the Barrens will be split open” – THANKS! LOL ALLIANCE!)
recutting and reworking zones (wow, how stupid)
rehauling the Barrens/Desolate/Darkshore (thanks for destroying all the zones we loved)
They completely destroyed Azshara. Wow, one of my favorite zones going to complete shit. GREAT JOB GOBLINS!
(Buffering….Buffering….Buffering….)
Superweapon – If its “Sword of 1000 Truths” I will kill a baby. I swear to God.
Wait…Tol’vir? Stone cat people? So…let me get this straight. Horde gets green people, Alliance get Worgen…and the new neutral race is STONE CAT PEOPLE? They couldnt have, you know, allied with the Horde when they were discovered and let the goblins REMAIN NEUTRAL? /facepalm
OH MAN THE ALLIANCE GET MALFURION BACK TOO!!!!!!!!!! AWMAHGAWDDDDDDD.
...
....
“We dont want to just go back and redo old dungeons” ....what? But…thats what youre doing. You know, Onyxia and all.
(Sorry PvP folks, I dont PvP so this might as well be in another language)
Welp, if it wasnt clear that it was World of Alliancecraft before, it should be now. On top of getting the clearly more awesome race and having their lands not as badly effected by the cataclysm, they also get one of their major lore heroes restored (...like Varian wasnt enough)-while it looks like the Horde is about to fall into the hands of Garrosh.
I feel sick.
By AsukaBlue 3 years, 9 months ago.
Cataclysm Panel: Written as the panel goes on in a train of thought style with quotes from panel speakers-
Let me just go ahead and say Im pretty pissed off about this. Goblins? Fuck off. Great, we get green people and the Alliance get werewolves? Horde lands/territories (more than Alliance) are torn to shreds? Wow. No.
Metzen, Chilton, and two other lore guys. lol, lets hear the loretastraphy this is about to be.
ONWARD!
First off, you should notice when no one clapped when you said “Cataclysm” that the reaction isnt terribly favorable. When people (again) do not clap when you say “Deathwing” – you should know we’re pissed off.
Deathwing lore: Of course we all know that Neltharion was the Earthwarder, and Metzen addresses his corruption and the Old Gods, as well as his subsequent consumption by insanity and his own earthpowers. His powers are now magnified by the Old Gods, and “literally erupts into the world” causing the cataclysm.
Elemental planes: four planes created by the titans to contain the elementals. And are “pretty pissed” about being locked up for so long. The elemental planes will re-emerge into war with one another and the native races of Azeroth.
“Worgen, Worgen – Chris?”
Yeah, the worgen you gave to the Alliance because “it works”. “The Alliance needs more of a monsterous race” – uh, what? The Alliance are xenophobic and openly hate freaks and outsiders. “But they were formerly human” – oh yeah? well so were the Forsaken.
Metzen literally said that Arugal summoned the Worgen just now – so you can shove all the “BUT THE ELVVVVVVES” bullshit immediatly. Then, as an “oh shit” afterthought mentions the Scythe of Elune and the fact that they may be from a different “when” not a different “where”.
SO TELL ME MORE ABOUT THE STUPID RACE YOU GAVE THE HORDE SINCE YOURE DONE SAYING HOW AWESOME AND AMAZING THE WORGEN AND THEIR STARTING AREA ARE!
...
ok, I’ll wait since youre still talking about worgen.
...
Oh, ok, the goblins. Almost forgot.
Oh look, no one cheered.
WCII they were part of the Horde, yeah, we know. Theyre broken up into several cartels and Trade Princes that wheel and deal with both functions (which would make more sense to ALLIANCE since the Alliance ALREADY TRUST THEM AND THEYRE NOT BIG WOLF FREAKS FROM A NATION THAT ALREADY TOLD THE ALLIANCE TO PISS OFF).
“Meet and befriend the Horde” – so, they were a part of us but we didnt know them? And you just said they were friendly with the Alliance already? Wow. Your logic is terrible. BAD LORE. BAD.
“The goblins are the Horde’s comic relief”
Yeah, no one is laughing.
(Let me just go ahead and say: if you kill Thrall, I will uninstall this game RIGHT NOW.)
New Features:
-increased level cap to 85
-new races
-7 new zones
-guild advancement system: players can level their guild for new perks, guild levels 1-20 with a guild talent tree
(LMFAO @ THE DRAMA THAT IS GOING TO CAUSE)
-new race/class combos:
tauren paladin (LOL HOLY COW LAWL LORE)
gnome priest
dwarf shaman
-more phased terrain
-Archaeology: nodes, research, leads into Path of the Titans
-Path of the Titans: no expanded talent trees, but 5 extra talent points. Able to choose a path, unlimited by class, for abilities or passive bonuses.
-Mastery System: pruning some complexity from the talent trees and giving them to players in another way.
-New content: dungeons, creatures, quests, etc
5 new zones from level 78-85
2 new starting zones, levels 1-15
flying mounts in Azeroth
changes for all zones
(then in the same breath says: “oh Elwynn wont change much, but the Barrens will be split open” – THANKS! LOL ALLIANCE!)
recutting and reworking zones (wow, how stupid)
rehauling the Barrens/Desolate/Darkshore (thanks for destroying all the zones we loved)
They completely destroyed Azshara. Wow, one of my favorite zones going to complete shit. GREAT JOB GOBLINS!
(Buffering….Buffering….Buffering….)
Superweapon – If its “Sword of 1000 Truths” I will kill a baby. I swear to God.
Wait…Tol’vir? Stone cat people? So…let me get this straight. Horde gets green people, Alliance get Worgen…and the new neutral race is STONE CAT PEOPLE? They couldnt have, you know, allied with the Horde when they were discovered and let the goblins REMAIN NEUTRAL? /facepalm
OH MAN THE ALLIANCE GET MALFURION BACK TOO!!!!!!!!!! AWMAHGAWDDDDDDD.
...
....
“We dont want to just go back and redo old dungeons” ....what? But…thats what youre doing. You know, Onyxia and all.
(Sorry PvP folks, I dont PvP so this might as well be in another language)
Welp, if it wasnt clear that it was World of Alliancecraft before, it should be now. On top of getting the clearly more awesome race and having their lands not as badly effected by the cataclysm, they also get one of their major lore heroes restored (...like Varian wasnt enough)-while it looks like the Horde is about to fall into the hands of Garrosh.
I feel sick.
By AsukaBlue 3 years, 9 months ago.
After the initial confusion of figuring out how to get access to my pre-ordered Blizzcon Stream, I have to say that the quality of the broadcast and its audio is excellent. A little hiccup here and there for the flowing stream, but nothing unexpected (so far).
“Noob” – Limited edition figures that are being released by Blizz for the attendees: Ragnaros, A ghoul, and a scary green marine (sorry man, had trouble with your accent) – all of which are extremely cool. There is a special noob only available for Blizzcon attendees as well.
In-Game Pet – Grunty, the space marine murloc. This pet is available for all Direct TV orders and online spectators, as well as all Blizzcon attendees.
OPENING CEREMONY:
Mike Morhaime:
The energy of the opening ceremony was amazing. Fact of the day: the population from Azeroth in attendance to Blizzcon is more than the entire undergraduate population of UCLA. Wow! I really appreciated Morhaime addressing every faction of all the games, as well as all of the hilarity of his commentary relating to WoW. He expressed to all viewing that he does care about the players and their views, and that ultimately – his boss is, well, us. I also appreciated his acknowledgment of the service folks that play, were in attendance, or deployed – thanks Mike, thats real class.
The footage of the previous year’s Blizzcon accompanied with the beatiful WotLK soundtrack made my hair stand on end. I cannot imagine how excited the people who are actually there are feeling at this moment, if I – as a person watching over the net – am this excited.
Sam Raimi has signed on to direct the new WoW movie and was recruited at the previous year’s Blizzcon. Also involved is the Dark Knight producer, but no Bruce Campbell as Leroy Jenkins (NOOOOOOOOOOOO).
Morhaime spent some time speaking of the Onyxia rehash as the Wyrmbog was merely a setback as well as mentioned the release of the upcoming Starcraft 2. With the repeated commentary hints towards Cataclysm, I am literally on the edge of my chair waiting to see how much of the leaked patch notes are true.
What I am surprised at, though, is the constant (if unintentional) plugging of Ebay. Many many times already the Blizz coverage has joked of or mentioned selling exclusive merchandise on the online auction site, much to my shock and awe – especially with Blizzard’s previous stance on the Ebay sales of their goods.
Chris Metzen:
His charisma was really awesome – and his acknowledgment of the fans and his openness to them was really refreshing. He identified the t-shirts of Blizzard employees and encouraged all to stop and speak to them with no hesitation. ....and then, he asked where the Alliance was and I instantly was forced to hate him. Until he asked where the Horde was and I screamed at my monitor before I realized that he could not, in fact, hear me.
(Diablo segway, made some ramen. Sorry Diablo folks. However, your new Monk looks like a true badass- holy OP killing machine, Batman!)
BACK TO WOW – The revelation of the new WoW gameplay expansion set. Let me just say OMSDFRGNLSKFNGLKSFGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGSHOWMESHOWMESHOWMESHOWMENOOOOOOWW
Well- looks like the leak was true. And Im sickened. Goblins? Are you fucking serious? And Worgen for the Alliance? Tauren Paladins? Yeah, so basically Cataclysm is a shit on lore and suckerpunches Horde in the gut. Thanks.
Thanks Metzen, I’ll go back to my original position of hating you.
By AsukaBlue 3 years, 9 months ago.
Well, I tried to give it a chance. I really did.
And just save all the “BUT ITS BEEEEEEEEEETA” whiteknightery.
There are some simple things that anyone who has ever played any MMO EVER should have foreseen problems with.
-one server
-multiple people of the same name per server
-using a 3rd party downloading host for damn near everything
-that 3rd party host charging money to download the client to avoid a patch
-a mostly silent DEV team in the face of player frustration
Now, I understand that it was launched for the pre-sale beta on Monday. I do. And so far, so…kinda…good?
The thought behind Champions Online is awesome and inventive, but the level of frustration Ive had with damn near everything involved in this game almost isnt worth it.
The person sitting behind me is also playing the Beta. We cannot group, we cannot invite, we can’t even find one another on the same server…instance…thing….
You must look up to invite/friendslist/etc with a character@account name type format to get around 129890234689625 people all picking DR AWESOME DEATH MACHINE as their name of choice to find the correct DR AWESOME DEATH MACHINE – which, is fine if you know someone personally, but forget adding that super nice player that helped you with that quest that one time if you dont do a background check on them to get their account information before they blast off again to save the say.
For all the excitement I had for this game, I am extremely – MADDENINGLY – underwhelmed.
Chunky UI, irritating “gotta click everything JUST right” interfaces, as well as all the crash and burn problems that the PLAYERS are fixing instead of the tech team @ Cryptic?
Pass.
At least until the Beta works the bugs out and this thing goes live. For like 6 months or so.
Gamer beware, for now.
By AsukaBlue 3 years, 10 months ago.
If you havent seen it already, Gamefly has a HILARIOUS commercial full of the frustration Im sure a lot of us can identify with – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9aSqcGkwPYs if you havent see it.
So here is my WoW patch version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqkmM9nqWo8
By AsukaBlue 3 years, 11 months ago.
http://hawtymcbloggy.com/2009/06/23/the-fundfax-fairraiser-win-cool-stuff-support-a-worthy-cause/
Story:
Perhaps you remember Marissa, a 19 month old baby girl who was diagnosed with Infantile Spasms when she was a mere two months old. Her stuffed bunny Fairfax travels the world, sharing not only Marissa’s story but also spreading awareness of the serious pediatric epileptic condition that she, and other young children, suffer from. Approximately eight months ago we pulled together for a community project titled Fairfax ‘n’ the Chief in honor of her father (who is a fellow Halo fanatic). Today I’m proud to announce The Fundfax Fairraiser, a very special fundraising effort that will benefit sweet baby Marissa and those that are helping her through this very difficult fight.
The Fundfax Fairraiser gives you, the passionate gamer, a chance to win some absolutely incredible video game-related prizes. For every $1 you donate, you will receive one virtual raffle ticket that gives you a shot at winning everything from a Kotobukiya Steel Spartan 12” Figure (covered in more Bungie autographs than you could ever begin to count) to an EA Sports Pack to an autographed copy of The Godfather II to one of dozens of games spanning across the various platforms. So, you are interested in trying to win some cool stuff while helping out a worthy cause? Let’s take a gander at the things you just may find yourself the proud owner of when this is all said and done, and then we’ll get down to the nitty gritty details of it all.
By AsukaBlue 3 years, 11 months ago.
So, Ive been told that Transformers 2 was absolute crap by a bunch of holier than thou movie snobs and movie nerds.
I disagree.
I get met with a flurry of STRIKE DOWN THE NONBELIEVER! HERETIC! TRASH MOVIE LOVER!
Hold the phone, cupcake. Rewind that slobbering, keyboard smashing rage.
I bet:
you also did not like Watchmen
or The Dark Knight
or Iron Man.
Additionally, I also bet youre one of the trendhopping social sheep that slather themselves in whatever is most popular on the television at the moment.
So, gtfo of my nerd culture and go find something else to piss on.
WAHHH TRANSFORMERS WAS A BUNCH OF CRAP BLOWING UP WITH NO PLOT:
-if you didnt understand the plot, go back to paint by numbers
-you are most likely the same people who pick on Watchmen for being boring.
-its a movie directed by Michael Bay, why did you even go?
Im pretty sick and tired of a bunch of dude-bro’ing smackwits almost dropping trow and pissing all over the subculture that I have spent most of my life in – and that others have spent a lot of time in being picked on and tortured over, especially when the people who picked on them when nerdculture wasnt cool were the first ones in line when new nerd movies come out.
If comic books and action figures werent cool then, why are they cool now bro? Oh, cause the tv tells you so. Right.
Stop corrupting my nerd world with your beerkeg bullshit and go back to whatever else it is you people do.
And dont, and I mean this, ever – EVER- try to challenge me on nerdlore thinking that you are suddenly an expert on all the trendy nerd things in the media right now because you read a wiki.
You will be embarrassed.
In front of your friends.
In public.
By a girl.
Because I WILL argue you for hours on end whether or not Devastator is a composite Decepticon because he posses a singular psyche as opposed to a summation of his parts that possess a six parted subconscious. Just dont. Take off that Transformers tshirt, go home, and play some Xbox live with your pals.
And by the way, wtf @ GI Joe? Seriously Hollywood? Hurry up and jerk off on Thundercats too so you can finish raping my childhood with your retarded updated remakes. Thanks.
