The Culture of Message Boards

Video game related Message boards seem to emphasize release dates, quotes of various outspoken developers, podcast discussions, and few high-brow discussions that ultimately are highjacked by short-attention spanned fools who haven't the patience to understand the topic. The problem I see in all of this is that there isn't much variety, and whenever a new, unique sort of topic arises, the community is apt to ignore it. This creates a sort of dynamic hierarchy within the community that sets the underlings as ones who only respond to the queries of the people who are vain enough to consider themselves intelligent, or at least moreso than that of their fellow community members.

5.15.09

Does every Game need an Experience System?

In the wake of 2005's Battlefield 2, Infinity Ward capitalized on DICE's experience system with Call of Duty 4, and to great effect. So much so that this sort of carrot-stick incentive-based system has gone rampant. Games that trailed off of Call of Duty 4's explosive success are Lost Planet 2, Gears of War 2, Battlefield: Bad Company (although it's arguable whether or not Bad Company's inclusion of the experience system was a reaction to Call of Duty 4 or it was fully intentional from the start of development), Far Cry 2, Crysis Warhead, and Fear 2. Do you ever feel overwhelmed by how much you might have to earn to play at a reasonable level these days, especially if you're playing multiple shooters at once? And do you imagine yourself dividing your time between shooters given the time-consuming nature of the RPG-like experience system that is seemingly duck-taped in most modern online shooters? Personally, I find the ranking systems in some games truly unecessary, but then again, I'm certainly not someone who can plow through all the ranks in a few days, which
is something that may color my opinion.

The bad thing about this whole situation is the fact that fans don't seem to be getting bored of this experience system, no matter what game it's hastily botched on to. That's not very good in terms of the growth of the industry. As far ad I can see, people are eating any game up that has an experience system in it, and that's not encouraging any revolution. All I can hope is that Infinity Ward implements on some new gimmick before the experience system truly loses its luster.

5.5.09

My life, determined for being human

Why is my life essentially predestined by other humans. I have relatively very little choice how my youth should be spent, as my childhood will have expired by the time I have completed the minimum education requirement.

Call me insane for perceiving my own mind to be intelligent, but call me utterly mad for imagining my personal, permanent sense of joy to be spent obligation free, and spent

4.18.09

U2

U2 is virtually the best band the world has ever seen, as the group's music can be appreciated by an indiscriminant fan base, such as casual listeners to devout fans. That is particularly the brillance of U2 and the collosal failure of the large majority of the world's bands, as the world's bands typically do a competent job attracting an exclusive fan base, but as far as I can see, U2 appeals to anyone with any music preference. I'm almost convinced the band has achieved absolute mass appeal.

4.18.09

The wind, how arbitrary and serene

The wind, how arbitrary and serene,
Cooling the world at every scene,
Flowing like the wings of a butterfly, undisturbed, and ceaseless,
And its presence oh how conspicuous it is, like a sweltering day that goes breezeless,
Moving like a constant wave, over every man woman and child, breathing great life into them,
And its exhaling, so incredibly natural as a stem,
The wind is the most reliable companion, wherever one goes, it shalll go along,
And so, wherever it may go it shall be quite strong,
It is slow and vivid, rather harmonious too,
The greatest thing is that it's always surrounded by blue,
The wind, the freest creature to exist,
Even moreso than the being of mist,
Its smooth great claws pull the ocean ever so nearer,
Bringing that which it pulls ever so clearer,
Immersing one into great daze of delight,
Nearly so daunting, it evokes fright,
That which I speak of involves the undersea,
Had you in any case experienced any swimming with glee,
Then you would be rather informed and aware,
And not delirious and up asnare,

Posted: 4.11.09

McDonalds "Restaurants"

First, in providing the world with food no one wants,
A place that creates fuel not food,
An artery-busting giant

 Posted: 4.11.09

A Vagary open to Interpretation

I didn't know what I was doing. I was in a foreign territory. My heart was racing. I was unsure as to what was going on and what to do next. It was a fantasy that had played out thousands of times in my head before; yet finally, it was happening right in front of me.

I did nothing but sat still. Clearly, that was not what was to be done in this sort of situation. I had no experience, no exposure; no one hat taught me, nor told me. I was as stunned as a puppy in front of a locomotive screeching to a halt.

After that, things dissolved.

Throwback Series: Solitary Importance in the modern world

The throwback series is an opportunity for me to clear my Notes application on my iPhone and to keep my older writings on the cloud. These are unedited and may be very, very bad. 

Written December 3, 2009

Solitude holds a crucial significance in society today, as a society lacking such could only be speculated to amount to a thoughtless, depressed slave state. Without contemplation or contemplative meditation, the human mind loses sight of the ultimate goal in life, not to mention a noticable lack of improvement in social interaction as well as one's accuracy of  expression of past occurences. It is quite incredible what one can learn of one's self after deep contemplation. The sense one may understand after a social interaction is more clearly analyzed when under a barrage of contemplation; by regards to what one potentially could have more accurately expressed, as well as in gratification of what one aptly expressed. It is nigh certain that even without intending to reflect on past events, contemplation is subconscially performed if for example, something is learned during that particular event, then it may be compared with a currently ocurring event; thus it is considered to be contemplated. With the constant flow of life never halted to reflect on past events, life is nearly meaningless. When experiences are not recreated and enjoyed once again to a possibly fuller extent in our minds, life can be succinctly described as "taken for granted."     

It's so funny

It's so funny how whenever I go home for the weekend using Amtrak from Milwaukee to Union Station and then Union Station to the various southwest suburbs how I see the very same kids, the same kid I used to be.

All wearing the miserable khakis, the dog-collar-like lanyard, the longish, uncomfortable hair, the bursting-with-books backpack that always seems to tire even the strongest and most muscular of College Preparatory students' backs, the exhausted expressions they wear almost daily and the faces of relief each Friday.

"Just this train ride separates me and being home and relaxing," I would think to myself each Friday.

I remember how much I disliked the tumult the school provided me. Piles upon piles of homework, I would have to wake up at 5:40 a.m. each morning to get to a mere 8:00 a.m. class and how desperately I yearned for sleep all throughout the duration of the week.

The school wasn't bad, it was just unnecessarily difficult paired with an arduous commute each morning and afternoon. I grew from not minding the daily Metra rides to deploring them.

They're awful. They're noisy, bumpy, uncomfortable, often smell of unburned hydrocarbons from the archaic diesel engine that drives the polished steel barge that carries miserable business people and students to their miserable businesses and schools.

Above all, they're not even particularly fast. Honestly, Metra trains are reminders of what the British Revolutionary-era steam-powered trains were like, the ones that rocketed that nation to economic prosperity in the 1800s.

We are living so behind the times; where bullet trains in Europe and Japan reign.

Daily Women's Rights Activists

I am fine with women's rights. I am not some behind-the-times, nearly-senile, old fool who cannot come with grips with the sheer fact that women, unbelievably, are also human beings.

However, when it comes to my new job (as a parking lot attendant) I cannot stand one peculiar character quality.

That is, the sense of entitlement some of the particularly female parking structure patrons feel to outrightly ignore every last action I perform.

I am not a rapist. I am not a sexual predator, offender, or whatever deviant description you wish to throw at me. But some women sure act this is to the contrary. So why do you show such ambivalence to interact with your friendly parking attendant at every last opportunity you have?!

At least give me a smile in return!

There are far too many female patrons to count who are in such a hurry, who are so self-centered, so aggressive, so impossibly late for appointment x that they cannot so much as give me a thank you.

No, my job is not an exercise of sainthood. It is not an unimaginably selfless task I perform each day; it involves simply letting patrons through the fiberglass gates.

However, if you could just, for a mere moment, remove your blinders, and realize that there is a human being inside the booth that is letting you through the gates, in the very same way you so gravely value your human being-ness, and give me some sort of acknowledgement. Rather than hiding behind your Dolce & Gabbana sunglasses, your leather-wrapped interior, and your name-brand everything to be so militaristically, stoically inhuman!

 There is a women's revolution happening. And some, not all, women seem to feel it is their inalienable right to act like (forgive the term) utter "bitches."