Maebius Musings

Recently, my son has been drawing short 4-page comic books in his spare time, and is planning on a large 8-page one featuring Bulldogs playing Baseball (The Bulldogs are the school mascot/team name).

Here is a rare glimpse into the creative process involved in bringing these works of art to life.

I present to you,  “Electro-Charles versus Hairy Potty!”

Enjoy!   Transcript as follows:

Maebius: Here is the master comic, hard at work.

The Artist: Oh hi!   I’ll start with the face… Then draw the rest of the hair… The eyes, the nose, and the mouth…

The body, his legs, his arms…  I added spears since he’s in battle.  Facing a Hairy Toilet.

Maebius: Could you read the comic for us quickly before you finish the artwork?  So that the read… viewers of this video can see the comic?

The Artist(affecting his ‘erudite’ accent):   Alright, I’ll finish it later.

Electro-Charles versus…

Electro-Charles versus Hairy…

Electro-Charles  (points to picture) versus Hairy potty (points to picture).

(turns page) Zaaaaap!

(third page) Hairy potty is terrorizing the city with his henchmen.

(while pointing out features of the illustration) Henchmen… city people…  (Maebius mumbles something in the background to acknowledge the contents of the illustration)

(turns to final page) Electro-Charles defeated Hairy potty and saved the world.

Maebius: Excellent!  We’ll have pictures when the comic is finished and coloured.   Good bye.

2 Comments »

The kid’s been getting quite creative with adventures outside, turning our yard into a vast forest full of dragons and Pokemon(tm). His latest adventure, with Pikachu, the thunder-mouse Pokemon, was to find a stash of Thunder Apples, the only food Pikachu will eat.

Also, they are learning rhymes at school, so he had me help write down the “secret riddle” to help us find the thunder apples. I repeat it, with his permission below. So if you ever visit us, perhaps you’ll be able to find the treasure also! Enjoy!

When you walk into the yard you will see a tree.
But when you look up do not look for a bee.
If you do not look at the bee, you will be led to the smiley-face tree.
Next to the tree you will be on the other side.
And you will find another tree with great pride.
And that tree with great pride will have a tire-eye.
Then you walk back to the tree with two eyes.
and back again to the tree with a tire-eye
because there you will find the prize!

Now, for those who have not seen our yard, we have a pine tree with a smiley face Like these on it, and another with a small tire-swing. Thus, the tire-eye and smiley trees.

How fun!

2 Comments »

Note: Message today is related to World of Warcraft, an online game I play with great frequency.

Way back, I had posted a bit of history with my characters, and expressed interest and a goal of achieving “Moonkin form” on my druid.

I admit, I forgot to blog about that day, but it has come and gone. My druid Pohatu is currently lvl 63 and has now essentially mastered all the shifting forms with the exception of Epic SwiftFlight form. This is essentially the same as regular flight form, just faster and a bit prettier-looking.

So, I’m enjoying the druid as a ‘Tank’ far more than I thought I would. It’s hectic, being a new tank in the midst of random overpowered DPS. But random overpowered Healers being grouped with me makes it a little more ‘bearable’.
Tanking is frenetic, stressful, and ultimately quite satisfying when you know that your character stood face-to-toe with a Big Bad Boss-monster and kept the rest of the party safe.

/Rawr!
Here’s a little photo gallery of how Pohatu usually looks (Tauren flight-form gets the brown model, Elves get the purply-black one)

Pohatu has the greyish Bear form in the lower left of This Image.

Likewise, he’s the dark grey/black cat form in the upper right of this here image.

1 Comment »

((For neko-Taka, hunter (and Maaruish Priest) in my World of Warcraft Guild))

Symphony uv Pain Guild Chartah

Prefaec

dis chartah shoodz b read adn understanded by awl Guild memberz. If yoo haz n e kweschunz or remarks doez nawt hesitaet ta contact a Officah or teh Guild Mastah. Srsly!

misshun Statement

Symphony uv Pain (SOP) iz a wurld uv Warcraft Raidin Guild awn teh Uz Farstridah RP servah. Awr focuz iz buildin a stron guild wif gud relationshipz thru gud recruitin adn teamwurk. We iz currently lukin foar memberz uv awl classez hoo wish ta posetivly contribuet ta awr guild.

Organizashun

Leadership - Officerz adn Guild Mastah

Teh followin iz a list uv requirementz foar teh Officerz adn Guild Mastah:

·         b Respectful – nawt ownlee uv teh Guild Memberz but uv everywun dat dey meets in game.

·         Willin ta halp – halp owt Guild Memberz wehnivvah yoo kan.

·         Willin ta lissen – halp Guild Memberz wif deir WOW problemz adn lissen ta new ideaz.

·         Communicaet – Talk in oficah chat adn guild chat, communicatin teh problemz adn ideaz dat yuv heerd.

·         Knowledgeable – haz gud, solid knowledge uv teh game.

·         Committeded – Officerz shoodz b committeded ta teh well bein adn advancement uv teh Guild.

·         posetiv attitueded – Officerz iz xpectud ta haz a posetiv attitueded in guild chat adn wif teh Guild Memberz.

·         Officerz iz roel modelz foar teh new adn youngah memberz uv teh guild. Officerz shoodz behaev az we wud lieks awl Guild Memberz ta behaev.

·         Abuz uv officah powurz iz nawt permitteded. If yoo feel a officah iz abusin deir powa, pleez inform teh Guild Mastah.

Ta b promoteded ta teh rank uv Officah yoo must b nominateded by a Officah adn den twotheded by anudda Officah. dis will initiaet a voet wif teh final decizhun ta b maeded by teh Guild Mastah.

Ranks

·         Initiaet

Teh rank uv Initiaet iz assigneded ta anyoen hoo loses deir rank.  Initiatez iz nawt permitteded ta meaow in guild chat nor seez bank content.

·         Recruit

Teh rank uv Recruit iz given ta new memberz hoo must furst go thru a 30 dai probationary period. Teh probationary period may b waiveded at n e tyme at teh Officah’s discreshun.  Recruitz may b askeded ta leef teh guild at n e tyme foar negatiev behavior or foar violashun uv teh Guild Chartah rulez.  Recruitz may meaow in guild chat but noes kan seez bank content. Recruitz iz also permitteded ta host guild eventz, raid, etc, but guild bank repair costz iz nawt available.

·         Membah

Recruitz hoo haz stayeded adn haz playeded durin teh 30 dai probationary period may b promoteded ta Membah at teh Officerz/GM approval.  Memberz iz permitteded ta meaow in guild chat, alloweded access ta bank content adn repair costz uv 20 gold per dai.  Memberz may adn iz encourageded ta scheduel adn host guild eventz adn raidz.

·         Officah

Same az memberz, also haz teh riet ta enforce disciplinary acshun.  May eject memberz frum teh guild in xtreem circumstancez. Officerz haz full votin privilegez within teh guild.  Officerz iz permitteded ta full access uv teh guild bank adn may distwibyut eetemz ta uddah guildmatez.

Officerz iz appointeded by teh Guild Mastah wif teh approval uv teh Officerz.

·         Guild Mastah

Teh rank uv Guild Mastah containz awl uv teh ritez adn privilegez uv a Officah. In addishun, teh Guild Mastah may veto n e acshun put in plaec by officerz.

Teh Guild Mastah servez az lawng az him or her desirez, adn a successor will b nameded by awl officerz uv teh Guild ownlee wehn teh Guild Mastah haz decideded ta resign. Teh Guild may b disbandeded at anytyme wifout prior notiec.

noat dat whiel teh Guild haz noes foarmal democratic structuer, teh Guild Masterz adn Officerz will taek teh wishez uv teh memberz into account wehnivvah possible.

·        Altz

Altz inducteded into teh guild iz automaticawly promoteded ta teh rank teh current Main iz at.  If yur Alt iz in anudda guild, we still welcum yoo ta raid wif awr, but Guild memberz will haz furst choys ta raid spotz.

Recruitment

§  We requier dat new memberz read adn understand teh guild chartah. Yoo must indicaet dis by notificashun finded awn teh SOP websiet.

§  Recruitment iz at teh discreshun uv teh Recruitment Officah adn ownlee aftah guild rulez iz agreeded ta by teh new recruit.

§  By joinin Symphony uv Pain yoo haz agreeded ta teh Rulez adn Regulationz uv teh Guild provideded in dis chartah.

§  Yoo must b 18 yearz old or ovah ta join Symphony uv Pain.

§  Yur charactah must b yur Main charactah.  We wantz guildmatez committeded ta SOP. If ur moar  inclineded ta raid wif anudda guild, pleez join dat guild.

§  Yur charactah must b Level 40 or abuv ta join.  dis iz ta keep trial account characterz frum sittin in teh guild foar monthz.  We will inviet yur Alt at yur request at n e level once yur Main iz a actiev membah.

Communicashun

* wun meanz uv communicatin wif each uddah iz teh SOP foarumz. uz dem ta tell guildmatez abowt yur game experiencez, ta post screenshotz, ta foarm a party, ta plan raidz, etc. adn ta check foar newz frum teh Guild Mastah, Officerz, or udderz. Check eet often!
* We expect awr memberz ta adheah ta teh foarum rulez.
* We uz Ventrilo sow we kan talk wif uddah guild memberz whiel in game. dis speedz up playin adn increasez teh success uv raidin. Ta uz Ventrilo yoo needz a hedset wif a microfoen adn teh Ventrilo client wich kan b downloadeded at www.ventrilo.com . Teh info foar teh Ventrilo servah kan b finded awn mai territory paeg uv teh websiet adn awr passwurd will b given ta yoo in-game.
* Teh SOP Ventrilo iz a 35 person servah.  If ur runnin a owt-uv-guild 10- or 25- man raid, ur required ta getz permisshun ta uz SOP’s vent frum a Officah prior ta givin owt teh guild vent info.  By nawt doin sow, yoo will b banneded frum vent foar a period uv tyme at teh Officerz/GM’s discreshun. Srsly!
* Wehn loggin off uv vent, maeks suer yoo “Disconnect” furst, or else yur charactah will b put in teh AFK sexshun adn will taek up a channel awn teh servah.
* Teh Guild Mastah adn Officerz haz teh riet ta eject/ban anyoen frum vent foar bein disrespectful, abusiev, uninviteded adn/or showin n e bad behavior either ovah vent or in-game.

Guild Eventz

* Officerz will organiez SOP Guild progresshun Raidin.
* It iz xpectud dat Memberz tri ta getz az involveded az possible wif deez eventz if dey haz classez suitable foar dem.
* uddah Guild eventz (5-manz, quest halp, vanilla wow raidz, etc) kan b scheduleded by Recruitz, Memberz, Officerz adn teh GM.

Guidelinez

Behavor

·         It iz xpectud dat awl memberz uv teh Guild treat each uddah wif respect.

·         Bad languaeg iz tolerateded, but if taken ta excess or if memberz complain abowt eet, teh offendah will b askeded ta moderaet deir languaeg. continud excessiev swarein kan ultimately lead ta disciplinary acshun. Also bearz in mind dat awr memberz com frum difrnt bakgroundz adn awl agez (ovah 18 yrz), racez, religion adn sexual orientashun.

·          If yoo needz halp wif eetem tradin or uddah deelinz in teh guild, feel free ta aks a Officah foar assistance.

·         Cooperashun iz sumfin we pried ourselvez awn. We wish dis tradishun ta continu. It iz nawt xpectud dat higher level characterz giev up too mutch tyme ta halp owt teh lowah level characterz; haoevah, halp iz olwayz appreciateded adn shoodz b reciprocateded.

·         agreez ta a leadah, uzually teh Main Tank (MT). Teh leadah iz teh wun hoo organizez teh run az eet progressez, sow pleez b cooperatiev. Raid Leadah (RL) or Main Healah (MH) will assign healin assignmentz.

·         Foar Offishal Guild partiez or raidz teh leadah will b pikkeded by teh Officerz.

·         It iz xpectud dat awl memberz uv a party involvin Guild Memberz behaev in teh spirit uv teh game. noes fingah pointin.  Yoo will b warneded once; twoth tyme -removeded.

·         Ta raid wif teh guild, yoo must haz installeded at least teh followin addonz:  Ventrilo, Omen3, adn dedly Boss Modz, srsly.  noes exceptionz.

o Acceptin a Guild Calendar inviet duz nawt guarantee a spot in a raid.  Class, experience, gear, adn level uv instance will deturmien teh raidin team maeded by teh GM/Officerz.
o Raid team memberz hoo continuously show up awn tyme, haz a posetiv attitueded, contribuet informashun adn iz generally enthusiastic abowt raidin will haz furst preference ovah sumoen hoo duz nawt.
o Pleez noat dat if ur ta secuer a spot awn teh raid team, yoo needz ta show up at least 15 minits prior ta teh raid, or yur raid spot will b filleded.
o If yoo noes kan maeks teh raid, pleez let a Officah nows either verbally, in-game male or send a messaeg ta thru teh websiet asap.
o If ur repeatedly a noes-show, yoo will nawt b askeded ta raid wif awr. Srsly!

·         Keep vent clear ta heer raid strat, instrucshuns, etc. frum teh RL adn especially durin lootin.

·         Minimum AFK/BRB/BIO’s pleez. RL will meaow foar breaks periodicawly.

·         nows teh fytez – kan b read at WOWWIKI or seen awn Youtueb, Project Loer, etc.

·         Loot rulez must b establisheded befoar teh group engagez teh furst mob. Examplez uv Lootin Systemz iz: needz befoar Greeded, Roll awn BOE, Pass awn BOP, etc. Pleez discuss teh mattah extensively befoarhand if thar iz teh intenshun ta uz a “non-standard” system.

·         Current Loot rulez iz az followz foar Offishal Guild Raidz:

+ Officerz reserve teh riet ta deturmien loot distribushun.
+ A Loot Mastah will b assigneded by teh GM/Officerz.
+ Rollz may ownlee b dun if eet iz a apparent upgraeded foar dat class.
+ 10 Main Raidz – Alloweded ta win 1 peec uv gear pluz Tier gear.  May roll awn Main Spec or Off Spec.  If yoo intend awn rollin foar Off Spec, den b prepared ta play dat spec wehn askeded.
+ 25 Main Raidz – Alloweded ta win 2 peecz uv gear pluz Tier gear.  May roll awn Main Spec or Off Spec.  If yoo intend awn Rollin foar Off Spec, den b prepared ta play dat spec wehn askeded.
+ n e gear nawt usable/wanteded will b shirdeded foar SOP Guild Bank foar SOP memberz ta uz.  If noes enchantah iz prezent, den gear will b rolleded by awl foar vendor/rp.
+ professhun eetemz kan ownlee b rolleded foar by characterz dat possess dat professhun adn haz meeted teh required proficiency ta uz eet.  (i.e. if Reciep: Mongooes dropz, ownlee enchanterz dat haz reecheded level 350 may roll foar eet).
+ Runz may b scheduleded ahedz uv tyme foar teh soel purpoes uv obtainin a eetem foar a specific person.  awl personz enterin dis party/raid shall nows adn agreez ahedz uv tyme dat if teh sayed eetem dropz, awl will “Pass” except teh specific person, hoo will “needz” awn teh eetem.  (i.e. Bronze Draek frum HCOZ).

·         Memberz iz xpectud nawt ta engaeg in negatiev behavior wif peeps frum owtsied teh Guild. Haoevah, shoodz teh behavior uv a external person in a party/raid b utterly intolerable (e.g. ninja-lootin, verbal abuz), awl memberz iz encourageded ta join together, adn, if appropriaet, ta warn teh Guild az a hooel against deez personz.  Namez will go awn a list uv dowz we haz haded bad experiencez wif adn doez nawt wish ta group wif in futurz runz. Srsly!

Resourcez

·         If possible, let awl peeps in a party skill up awn resourcez by takin turnz – minin, herb pikkin, skinnin.

·         We encouraeg complimentary servicez amongst Guild memberz. traid skill eetemz wich kan b maeded wifout a cool down adn if teh materialz iz supplied, teh eetem shoodz b free. Memberz iz encourageded, but certainly nawt obligateded, ta shaer looteded eetemz uv relatively modest value (traid-gudz, green eetemz) foar free. Srsly!

·         If yoo haz becom teh ownah uv a eetem thru a in-guild exchange dis duz nawt giev yoo teh riet ta uz eet az yoo wish. Srsly! If yoo meaow yoo will uz a eetem anudda Membah haz given ta yoo foar free, den sellin eet at teh AH immediately afterwardz wifout consent will b considered a serious breech uv teh Guild Chartah.

Guild Bank

·        Initiatez adn Recruitz haz noes Guild Bank content access.

·        Memberz haz Guild Bank access ta Tab 1-3.

·        Officerz adn GM haz Guild Bank access ta Tab 1-4.

·        awl depositz iz ta b maeded into Tab 1, wherin awr Guild Bank Officah will sort adn organiez eetemz into correspondin tabz.

·        Teh Guild encouragez Guild Bank uz.  If yoo seez sumfin yoo needz, den pleez taek eet. If eet iz a raer or epic eetem in Tab 4, pleez aks a Officah ta plaec eet in Tab 1 foar yoo.

·        Guild Bank gold depositz iz nawt mandatory but highly appreciateded if ur takin eetemz adn/or usin bank repairz often.

·        Yoo may nawt taek sumfin frum teh Guild Bank adn sell eet ta anudda playah or awn teh AH, nor taek sumfin ta disenchant adn uz or sell. dis acshun will b a automatic removal frum teh guild.

·        Guild Bank eetemz lef foar a period uv tyme will b vendored at teh discreshun uv teh Guild Bank Officah.  awl profitz will b returneded ta teh Guild Bank gold account.

·        If yur account iz hackeded adn teh guild bank haz bein involveded, yur rank will go down ta Recruit foar a minimum uv 30 daiz adn eet iz xpectud dat yoo will notify a Game Managah ta haz awl eetemz/gold restored.  nawt doin sow will b a automatic removal frum teh guild. Srsly!

Disputez adn Argumentz Between Memberz

·         awl disagreementz/disputez/argumentz shoodz b handleded discreetly. dis meanz noes spammin guild wif insultz, accusationz etc. awl argumentz shoodz b taken ta privaet channelz az soon az possible.

·         If a problem noes kan b resolveded pleez brin eet ta teh attenshun uv teh appropriaet GM or Officerz az soon az possible.

·         Undah noes circumstancez iz argumentz ta b carryed awn usin n e foarum siet. dis cauzz moar  problemz between Memberz adn mayks teh Guild luk bad. Teh same ruel appliez awn Guild chat, traid chat, General chat, Ventrilo or Teamspeak or n e uddah plaec wher teh disagreement kan b vieweded/heerd publicly.

·         Teh GM adn officerz haz teh final wurd in n e dispuet between Memberz.

Sanctionz

We iz nawt a guild dat wantz ta poliec eets memberz. We hoep ta uz dis sexshun ownlee rarely, but n e breech kan b reporteded ta teh Guild Mastah adn/or Officerz hoo will deal wif teh mattah.

·         Teh Officerz iz responsible foar decidin hao ta deal wif Memberz hoo re-adjus Chartah rulez.

·         Officerz haz compleet freedom uv acshun adn kan warn, fien (az reparationz, in caes uv breechez relateded ta moneyz or eetemz), demoet or remoev Memberz az dey seez fit. Immediaet removal frum teh Guild will ownlee occur in teh gravest uv circumstancez. If possible, teh breechez shoodz b discusseded by several Officerz befoar teh moar  seveer measurez uv demoshun or removal iz taken.

·         Breechez by Recruitz will faec a lowah level uv tolerance than dowz uv full Memberz; dey may b removeded wifout consultashun if deir actionz maeks clear dey don’t shaer teh general guild spirit.

·         If problemz iz relateded ta a eetem, teh class uv a eetem (raer, epic) will b taken into account.

·         Teh Guild Officerz haz teh riet ta uz deir judgment concernin anyfin dat iz nawt covered in teh Guild Chartah.

SOP Guild Chartah Amendmentz

* Teh Guild Mastah haz teh final meaow. A Officah iz nawt alloweded ta deviaet frum dis chartah or enforce rulez nawt explicitly mentioneded heerin wifout consultin teh Guild Mastah furst, except undah xtreem circumstancez.
* Teh Guild reservez teh riet ta change teh contentz uv teh Chartah at anytyme eet iz deemeded necessary ta doez sow. Agreement between teh Officerz adn Guild Mastah iz sufficient foar such chanzes.
* n e Guild Chartah chanzes will b posteded awn teh websiet az a “SOP Guild Chartah Amendment”.

1 Comment »

Imagine this setting:

A young boy is playing a video game, involving the usual slaughter of fantastic creatures and gaining more and more power.  The character portrayed assembles a collection of allies to help fight, including a tall dark-skinned desert-warrior with a staff, and a strange moon-creature with a machine gun.

In this game, the characters carry a supply of water, which slowly is reduced over the course of play, and can be refilled by stepping into clear puddles, or purchasing in-game bottles of water.

Consider the fact that when they first join the party, the Desert dweller has a moderate ‘water supply’ limit, and can hold a few quarts of water before any special items increase that maximum.   The moon creature can only hold a small bottle.  This means the moon creature must use some special items to increase this water-limit, or risk taking more damage (due to thirst) or carrying a lot of inventory bottles to refresh the small amount he holds.

The kid smiles as this last character joins the group, and excitedly turns to his parents to confide in a conspiratorial stage-whisper that “the Desert guy obviously had more water since in the desert you need to carry water a lot and there’s not much room in the moon suit, right? Right? Cool, huh!”

Multiple choice test for all you readers.  No right answers, but I’d like you to honestly consider and discuss WHY you may choose a particular result.  (and yes, it’s biased, but that is intentional)

What are your thoughts on the above situation?

A)  Why is a kid playing so many video games? Running around killing imaginary things is not good lessons to learn.  Go outside and play!

B) Why is a kid playing so many video games?  Yes, they are fun, but you could be doing crafts and other family oriented activities.

C) That’s nice, but now turn off that game, and lets hit the Library to research Desert peoples, and the scientific feasibility of actually living on the barren moon.

D) You know, the kid’s pretty bright, to have made such a connection at something like a simple Video Game.  Do you sit and play with him, or just let him do his own thing until he asks for help?

E) Nice observation! Lets talk about deserts and moons (see # C) tomorrow after school.

…

…

Your grade, according to the local community educational institution, is apparently the letter of the choice you made.    Need a re-test?   :/

3 Comments »

This is a shorter post than I honestly want it to be, but I wanted to toss out a rough-draft for commentary and archival purposes, since I’m doing a bit more on the topic behind-the-scenes.

I’m guilty of it too, but why is it that people are so frikkin afraid of thinking for themselves?  Related topic: why are Debate clubs and such seen is such a negative light by the “cool kids” and harbor suck a “geeky” label?  Heck, in that regard, why are Geeks/nerds shunned so in our younger years when those same types often turn around and be “successful” on the corporate community?

I digress.

As a gamer, I enjoy the playing and discussion of various electronic games in various formats.   Yet all across the internet, stating a preference for one game almost invariably results in hostile commentary in the forms of “Us vs Them” from other game-preferring crowds.  Even among the same game (such as World of Warcraft) one faction is all but universally reviled as “the enemy” from players of the opposing faction.

Tobold makes a few points more related to this topic here: http://tobolds.blogspot.com/2009/09/art-of-discussion.html

Likewise, the recent speech by our president is shrouded in all sorts of “news-worthy” drama and incidents of blatantly ignorant avoidance. (ignorant in my opinion, which I do also understand follows my own Us Vs Them complaints).

Some schools refused to broadcast the event, to appease protesting parents and avoid in-fighting between the supporters and opposers of our President.  To me, this totally goes AGAINST the message itself.   His message was not controversial, unless I’m just failing to see how “Work hard, do better” is controversial.

Granted, Sharon Astyk mentions that perhaps the common school -> college -> consumer-job -> house+car+stuff is not the best option, but I still think that the message from our president was broad enough to work.  Hard work = good results. In today’s society, at least, school is still a very good indicator of opportunity.  What gets my goat is that some schools refused to show it, out of fear or something, in order to appease those who disagreed.

In my opinion, school is about learning.   Learning is more than just 2+2=5 [sic], or that Columbus sailed the ocean blue in 14-hundred 92.  It is about thinking bout things, and being exposed to (without being force-fed) concepts you disagree with, in order to figure out for yourself Why you disagree.

Even if your dream is to be a street-corner prophet, having a basic grade-school education will help your plans and influence public opinion more than a being a drop-out.

In my own life, our elementary school cut recess last year. The state mandates Phys-Ed (gym) a certain amount of time per day.  This didn’t fit the schedule so they cut free play-time.  For High-schoolers, this isn’t an issue, but for my own kindergarden child, I and many other parents protested. We lost, since the decision was that Gym was active time too. (I still disagree and the war’s not over…)

Yet there again is the point I’m thinking here.   Did you read any of the above examples and feel either a smug agreement or a trickle of bile at my “wrongness”?

Why is it that many topics, from games, to real philosophical issues, can be so hard to discuss fairly and intelligently?  Do our ape-subroutines kick in that hard, and emotions naturally still rule over rationality?

No wonder we are where we are at.  Such huge strides in some cultural sectors, such slow ruts in others.

Your thoughts?

5 Comments »

I figure it’s time for a brief update on my addiction, World of Warcraft.   Feel free to skip this post if you are one of my readers who visits for the more esoteric musings.  I’ll be back with more sloshy or solidified posts after this weekend. 

(insert screenshots here)

I have two main characters lately,  Kanandi, the troll priestess, who is now active in a wonderful casual raiding guild, and Nookni the hunter, who groups with others infrequently and spends much time farming materials to sell, or practicing his fishing skill.  Both of these characters have now reached the max-level and are tons of fun to play in their own rights.

Kanandi tends to only come online lately to join in group runs of instances, and for this reason tends to have a bit of a cash-flow problem.  When working on progression fights, there are repair costs that rack up.  As a cloth-wearer, these are kept to a minimum, but still spends more on potions and repairs than she actually brings in in-game.  However, also due to the fact that Kanandi sees more bosses die, her gear and equipment is getting better than I ever expected to earn before I joined up with this guild.  I’m starting to finally lose the feeling that I get “propped up” by the other group members.

Nookni, however, is quite a joy to play now that I’ve gotten to max level, and can concentrate on simple semi-mindless grinding of monsters.   He’s currently talented as a Beastmaster, which makes the hunter-pet by his side quite powerful (at a cost of Nookni being less Uber).  This allows me to effortlessly zone out and just send in Nall to attack a group of enemies, then loot the rewards after a few moments.  With such a powerful pet, able to survive being outnumbered, it’s a nice way to unwind before bed, and earn a bit of in-game cash (to support Kanandi’s raiding).  Sometimes, I also enjoy fishing with Nookni, which is about as mindless an activity you can do.   Click the button to fish, click again on hte bobber when it “splashes”, and collect your reward if done quick enough.   Easy, and easy to do with some tunes queued up from Last.fm, and relaxing.

My druid, Pohatu, is not in the guild, and currently on temporary vacation until I can earn some gold to outfit him and Nookni with a bit better gear.  In particular, this game has “heirloom” items that scale as the wearer levels up.  They are purchased by special Emblems received in high-level dungeons (see the synergy here yet?) and Kanandi allllmost has enough to buy a really fancy Staff for Pohatu to use along with his fancy shoulders.

The guild I’m in with these two characters is tons of fun.  They use a Ventrillo service, so we can voice-chat, and I’ve gotten to know quite a few really funny and unique individuals, some of whom are non-english speakers (Québécois). I look forward to raid nights when one of our french+english speakers regales us with “Ferret Fact of the day” (He raises ferrets), or the mage-girl gets picked on for being a hot dumb blonde.

All in all,  I still enjoy this game, mostly as a form of therapy and socialization, rather than a hardcore Gamer-epeen.

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My 5yr old son has been really enjoying “game night” on some evenings, and yet our collection is limited to CandyLand, Chutes&Ladders and such for kid-games, or RISK/Monopoly/Chess for more adult games (beyond the ubiquitous Video Games),…. and I’m looking for something a bit more middle-ground.

Kid-friendly but not as easy/boring as Candyland.

He kinda likes UNO, but card games are tougher since he can’t hold the cards properly.  Things like Poker/solitaire/Snap/ don’t quite hold his interest as much mainly due to the whole “hold all your cards” thing.   From what I recall, even the cheap-ass cad games are different enough from “card games” with 4 suits, etc,  that they might be a nice change of pace.   He’s even gotten the concepts of playing FLUXX, which is sometimes too hard, and sometimes too easy, depending on the rules we use.  Still, it’s just cards, which has limited appeal after a while.

Thus,  I’m just looking around mainly for rules-sets online to create our own cheap version of some games.  I had thought something Catan-lite or Carcassonne might be interesting enough for him, or a simplified tabletop RPG/Warhammer type thing might be interesting… but unsure.

Since some of my readers probably have played more of those types of games than I have lately, would you suggest any particular style/name of a game for a very intelligent and awesome 5 year old?

Just thinking out loud, no pressure to provide rule-lists or such. I am mostly looking for inspiration and perhaps a game-name to look up or some-such.  :)
Any thoughts?

One game I created on my own last autumn, which we loved to death for a while, I called “Early bird catches the worm”.

Basically, the game board was a simple “move X# spaces” based on a die roll.  The “start” was up in a tree, and the “finish” was a hole in the ground, with the path of spaces winding through the branches, across the clouds, and down to the ground… all drawn in pen/highlighter on the back of those big desk-size calendar sheets from corporate workplaces.

All players were birds, and the unique catch was having separate game-piece (hunk of play-dough) which started 8-10 spaces away from the finish line and represented the worm. (where the tree-trunk intersected the ground).  Each round, players would roll the die, and move the appropriate number of spaces.  After each player went once, the worm would move one space ahead.

If the ‘worm’ reached the finish before any of the player/birds, no one wins.  Otherwise, first bird to catch the worm won.

This was simple, fun, and the additional non-player worm make an interesting addition to the usual “first one to end wins” and caused great fun and giggles when the birds won and ate the worm.   Of course, over the course of playing this, we added a few house rules like one space that gave you a twig which could be dropped on the worm to make it lose a turn, a feather that let you swoop ahead three spaces, birdseed on hte ground that made you lose a turn, and all manner of “extra complications”.

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Lately, I’ve been feeling a bit down and idle when it comes to World of Warcraft, until about a week or so ago.  That changed.  Warning to those reading still, this is kinda a gloating “I ROCK” post full of links to gear and in-game stuff for World of Warcraft.

Before I posted the prior entry about idling my healer, I had gotten an invite to help heal a 25-man NAXX raid.  For those not knowing the game, this is kinda a Big Deal.  Naxxramas is one of the end-game dungeons and requires 10 people to run normally.  The Heroic version requires 25 people, and a certain level of gear and skill to succeed.  That, plus taking hours and hours, and is usually broken down into a few nights at a time, since you are saved to it for a week and can re-enter to attempt more bosses a few days after you first enter it.

The folks who whispered me needed an off-healer, and were folks I had run with what felt like YEARS ago.  They used Ventrillo (a voice chat program) to coordinate things.  We went in, explained the fights to a few folks who also were new to the place, and proceeded to die a few times, but otherwise killed some bosses (earning achievement: Momma said Knock you out).  Kanandi also is now wearing some new gloves a new ring, and new bracers too. (I did feel bad grabbing three awesome upgrades in one night, but everyone else was already geared up, or the wrong class).

They asked me back a few nights later, and offered to have me join their guild.   I explained that Kanandi only gets online once or twice a week lately, and I’m poor in-game thus can not get all the best enchants and gems.  You know, all the stuff that being a Real Raider(tm) requires?

They scoffed jokingly and said essentially: “Too bad, you are invited anyway.  We’ll gear you up and it will give those lazy enchanters an excuse to go farm up their own materials to make your gear sparkle.  That, plus it’s apparent you have at least a bit of skill, which is nice, and are friendly, which is even better.  Don’t worry about it!”

Thus, this weekend and last night, I got my noobish butt dragged through a few end-game instances, including Obsidian Sanctum (10-man place one step up from Naxx!).  There, with me being tank healer and one other tree-druid on the raid, I was literally quaking in my boots hoping I could keep folks alive.   The fight in OS  is one that requires strategy.   On the way to the boss, there are small dragons that spawns portals periodically which you must jump inside (thus out of phase with reality, and the other enemies).  during hte boss fight there are fire elementals that appear from time to time and start smacking around random people until they get rounded up, and there are flame walls that sweep across the field and must be avoided.

I am happy to report that I was feeling the Flow those two evenings. (Less is More!)  I moved out of the fire, I moved out of the pancakes, and avoided flaming elementals, while still spamming my awesome PewPew lazor heals on folks who needed them.  It felt Awesome!   This was also noticed by the others, who I could almsot picture looking smug as they stood alive after the fights:  “See, you rock, thanks for joining us!”.

However, the title of this post is two-fold…

Not only did I switch guilds, the original guildleader of my new guild left just a few days after I joined.    I don’t know the whole story, and don’t need to, but I was there in Vent when he discussed the transfer and I must say it was kinda neat to hear.    Apparently, there was some issues in real-life, where the Guildmaster and one of the officers worked together.  This strained things somehow, and since the officer had many many friends in the guild, it was decided that the Leader would pass the torch.  The founder/Leader was giving up what he had created over a year ago, and had groomed to the well-oiled machine I was seeing, and passing it on so that the other group of loyal folks would not fragment.

It was somber and heart-felt, with much respectful questioning or discussion.  I could tell it was a thought-out decision for the best of the whole, when it was equally obvious the leader himself was losing something dear to his heart.

It’s just a game, some may say, but I disagree, and have before.

We all invest time and energy to the characters we created, and the draw of why I enter is much more for the people within the world, than the pixels themselves.   As a glorified chat-room, as some describe it, it still has value.

For some, it becomes a job.  For some it’s just a way to pass time.
But for others, like this new guild, it is quite apparent that it is Family.

“Aka’Magosh!“, to the former leader of  “Hand of Doom“.  May the Earthmother protect you always…

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*UPDATE* it seems the new blog feed worked!  approx 15 minutes after publishing the post here, my RSS reader lit up with “new bost on Maebius Musing”.   w00t!

As the first actual post to be entered in the new WordPress site, I figured I would keep it simple. That, plus it’s been a while since I updated here, due to technical difficulties, life-events, and other such things.

On the World of Warcraft game, my priestess healer has been at max-level for quite a while, and is all-but retired lately, other than to craft new bags for any alts, or sometimes join a few instance dungeons whne I’m feeling like being online for more than an hour or so.   Otherwise, my troll hunter Nookni just turned lvl 79 and is slowly working his way up to lvl 80.    Besides Nookni, still working slooooowly on Pohatu the druid, hoping to get him to lvl 40 by the end of June.  I’m only logging in about an hour or two, a few times a week, but not nearly as much time as usual, or necessary to actually concentrate on levelling up and such.  I’ve semi-lost interest in the meta-game itself, and just enjoy logging in to unwind before bed, alone, just me and my pixels, solo in an MMO.

The garden is doing good so far, with everything planted, and the only thing left is to allow the passage of time.  Very few weeds so far this year, and what did start to pop up got nipped in the sproutling stage so far.  My son’s been helping with that chore too, since he learned about gardens in schoool and now understands hte interest in making sure the plants grow so we get food later in the autumn.    Unfortunately, all the squash/zucchini plants wilted overnight on Monday for some unknown reason, since all the other plants were fine.

Once the full moon rolls around, I plan on re-starting my outdoor MoonMuse experiment, and document such thoughts every single day.  Wish me luck.

Spiritually, I’ve been in a bit of a funk myself.  Blogs have been quiet, which seems to indicate either the feeling is shared among those I read, or life got exciting for everyone too.  Either way, it’s interesting pattern, though potentially unrelated, since it is also exam time for school-age folks, and vacation season for us family-types.

Nothing great to report lately.  However nothing overtly bad either, outside of a few ‘cryptic’ events to some good friends that we are still sending energy too until the situation resolves or re-balances out.

For now, for me,  it’s good enough to be just good enough.

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