Balanced Gaming

Are MMO’s fun?

2009-07-01T12:07:58Z

Tourist jokes aside (not that the tourist problem is a joke, mind you), I’ve come to this brilliant conclusion: MMOs are just not that fun for most people.

I know, shocking.

With all the time we spend going back and forth on how X game is awesome and your MMO sucks, or how game Y would be so much better with feature Z, the majority of gamers are telling of us ALL our games suck. The whole genre, garbage. And in a way they are right. Why in gods name would I pay $15 a month to complete 100 kill x mob quests when I could do far more interesting tasks in a single player RPG? Why would I grind up an imbalanced character so I can PvP ‘sometimes’ when I can just get a FPS for cheap and have all-access to PvP of all flavors?

PDF copy of blog post here in case of link rot

Hiding in computer games?

2009-01-06T20:07:43Z

Hiding in a computer game? Computer games are a great place to escape. It’s what makes them fun. Quite similar to reading a good book, actually. Although you don’t hear about to many people addicted to books.

The thing is, computer games are hella-fun. It’s also easy to get lost in them. This site is about helping people to find some kind of balance with computer games. It’s an individual thing, that each gamer needs to figure out for themselves.

The WoW torture question

2009-03-03T22:07:58Z

I’m referring here to this BoingBoing thread from late 2008. And maybe Clive Thompson’s response in Wired.

Is it a good idea to provide virtual rewards for playing out simulated acts like these? Is it okay because it’s a violent game anyway? Is it ok because it’s an NPC? Would it be better if doing so led to the character’s inevitable degradation from virtual humanity?

Discuss. :)

Balance

2009-01-06T20:17:02Z

Balance is about doing what you need to do and then having fun. Not that tough, ok? Do important stuff first, and then frag. This is gloriously uncomplicated.

So what is important? I have no idea. For me, important stuff is (in order):

Taking care of my family
Working and making money
Progressing in my career
Taking care of myself (part of this is having fun)
Participating in a meaningful spiritual community
Keeping up with the d&d 4e rules
Learning how to rocket jump in tf2

My gameography

2009-02-22T13:41:27Z

This is a list of computer games I’ve played and enjoyed over the years. They aren’t quite in order of when I played them. I’ve dabbled in quite a few, but this list represents the ones I’ve really played for a while.

1. Atari 2600 games
2. Some ColecoVision games
3. Zork 1
4. Zork 3
5. Star Trek
6. Tons of Infocom games
7. The Ancient art of war (more info)
8. Wizardry series up to the Legacy of Llylgamyn
9. Civilization (all of them)
10. Alpha Centauri zomg.
11. Castle Wolfenstein 3D
12. Doom
13. Decent
14. Shadow Warrior
15. Sim City
16. Steel Panthers
16. Net Hack
17. Quake
18. Adventure
19. Master of Orion
19. Privateer
20. Dark Castle
21. Escape Velocity
22. X wing games
23. TIE Fighter
24. Metal Gear Solid
24. Command and Conquer
24. Warcraft (and II)
25. Starcraft
26. Never Winter nights
26. Final Fantasy X - it’s worth the hype.
26. Diablo 1 (and 2, can’t wait for 3)
27. pennmush which is actually a server that has thousands of games - probably my all time favorite
28. Eve Online - Played as a Minmatar. I loved my Thrasher ( a destroyer). I tried to play casually, but found it hard to enjoy for a few hours a week.
29. Team fortress 2 - my latest enjoyment.

tfr2 (on a mac, no less!)

2009-01-08T08:48:09Z

tf2 is the latest enjoyment.