I can't do well when I think you're gonna leave, but I know I try

[Zone #1] Nevalith@reaperxi: *brofists his homie*..WOOOOO
[Zone #1] Glaive@MrHurin: Ey,bro! Whatcha doin',bro? How are ya,bro? Okay,bro! Bye,bro!
[Zone #1] Nevalith@reaperxi: BTdub
[Zone #1] Glaive@MrHurin: a conversation of modern people.
[Zone #1] Glaive@MrHurin: a.k.a idiots.

To be fair...

[Zone #1] Nevalith@reaperxi: In my my culture they replace bro with the N word..
[Zone #1] Nevalith@reaperxi: *sigh*
[Zone #5] Knightly Grave@Grave-Family: Noob? D=
[Zone #1] Glaive@MrHurin: Not not nothing?
[Zone #2] Skyfire@JonSills: Neville? Neighbor? Nitwit?

But the idiot factor dropped for this part, so okay, people are not completely without redeeming merit.

I'm not in the best space right now, I'll openly admit. I'll take my points of humor where I find them.

The giant hand avatar from 2010 is up again on Marketplace. If you want it, get it now, because it vanishes when October ends.

Here's a list of catgirls in various media from a wide variety of nations. You're welcome?

Fans of Dr. Steel have been dealing with a strange, sidewise loss--I was never a fan, but a friend passed this on to me, which sounds strangely conspiratorial and bizarre. If anyone knows more, leave a comment in, well, the comments, and I'll update. I'll also do my best to run down what actually happened in the meantime.

Here's Sheldon the Tiny Dinosaur in Minecraft, some hysterical Wor'ds Best Father pictures, the 'Ecce Homo' restorer now wants royalties (the hell??), and for anyone interested in quilting, this is the best tutorial I've found so far on the new "quilt as you go" method.

And I found this completely randomly--it's a stupidly charming paean to the joys of the Nether in Minecraft. Well worth the watching.

Also, if you have recently experienced anything with the new "BUG" reporting system (over the actual JIRA system)--good or bad--consider going here and telling the Lindens why.

the scent of a lemon drips from your eyes

[Zone #6] Ema@nanayja: NECRON U IDIOT....I NOTHINK SAD YOUR FREND...IF I SAD COZ U ARNT IN MY TEAM IS BAD? I DKNW WHAT HE SAD U BUT....IDIOT

This came out of the blue, when I arrived to Champions to run some casual missions three, four days back.

[Zone #2] Becca@GynoidBecca: Wow... there's some rage.
[Zone #2] Becca@GynoidBecca: Isn't it too early in the day for rage?
[Zone #2] Becca@GynoidBecca: It's 7:38a. Way too early for such rage.

And then, not one minute later:

[Zone #6] Ema@nanayja: AND NECRON WHAT DO U THINK U ARE COZ U CAN CALL ME BICH? U NOTHINK
[Zone #6] Ema@nanayja: NECRON DO U HEAR ME? U NOTHINK

We were all starting to wonder if these messages were meant to go to this "Necron" directly, and Ema just...somehow missed.

So...this one's going to be brief, and I'm sticking it back in the buffer because it's not vital, but...I came close to one of those points of leaving SL.

Well, screw that, I was going to. I'd dropped to logging in maybe once a week again, and--indicative of the general emotional state at present--I'd already made the decision to go. I think it's strong evidence of the fact that the decision, once made, never made it to the blog. I was really going to leave. For multiple reasons, I'd simply had it. I had officially hit that "it's too painful to be here anymore" point.

Then...something entirely unanticipated. Moreso, given that I barely have a Marketplace page, and wholly lack an in-world storefront for the foreseeable future. I got a commission.

I'm still not entirely sure how, mind you, I even got the commission...but it's there. And it's going to be long-term, it's pulling me back into world to force the rusty build skills through their paces, so...yeah. Not dead yet. The love life is still on life support, and I have no clue when or if that's going to resolve, but...at least for building and scavenging for new sculpts...I'm not ready to leave.

Yet.

In the meantime, I figure, I'm late to it, woefully late, and there will likely be zero giveaways involved, but I'm planning a haunt. (As I'm writing this, it's actually the first of October, not the 22nd of September. Ah, post-dating, biting me in the ass again.)

I have no idea if it will be any good, but I'll post pics and links when I have 'em.

when the diamonds fall, they burn like tears

[Broadcast] Lucki: WHAT IS IT ZOMBIE? WHAT ARE YOU ATTACKING?
[Broadcast] Lucki: ...TIMMY FELL INTO THE VOID AGAIN?
[Broadcast] Literal Lass: Come for the interdimensional dance party, stay for the damage!
[Broadcast] Literal Lass: All right, dance floor, I give, you have beaten me.
[NPC] War Witch: No comment.

(from the City of Heroes album; the deathing at the D.)

I'm not sure if I'm going to be able to adequately explain this. But about three weeks ago--you know, back when I had hope--some of the game developers behind City of Heroes had taken to hanging out in the D. Because they're mourning the loss of the game just as much as we are.

[Broadcast] Achaica: am I just not cool enough to see what's going on? :(
[Broadcast] Taren Knight: sometimes
[Broadcast] Dan the Dangerous: it really is the end of times, all rules have broken down
[Broadcast] Kana Illusory: this is lame
Light the Path has defeated Litany of SiIence
[Broadcast] Achaica: you mispronounced "awesome"
[Broadcast] Litany of SiIence: (( Might I be able to get a team so I don' die? ))

And me responding to another player asking a question (that I didn't save in chat):

[Broadcast] Literal Lass: (( Alexia: Noooo one knooooows. And seriously, that's true. Just mysterious spawning....things....that kill people. Which we can't see. Or defeat. Except occasionally through pets. Maybe. ))

(from the City of Heroes album; the deathing at the D.)

I didn't get a lot of good pictures to explain what was going on, but basically, one of the developers (Tunnel Rat, as it turned out) had dropped by, rezzed a bunch of things that could one-shot kill folks, turned on damage in the D, then left. It took people a bit to figure out what was going on. We had two things on our side:

• Pets could both see AND injure the random balls of energy;
• The hospital was just off the dance floor, so no one got booted from the zone if they got killed; and
• There's no XP loss in the D itself, because there's (supposedly) no deathing; the hospital's in zone because of holiday events. So, no matter how often we died, we didn't get XP debt.

At this point, folks were banding together, trying to find ways to kill things:

[Looking For Group] Celerin: All we have so far is 'Unaffected' though.
[Broadcast] Lucki: It's probably a bluff.
[Broadcast] Achaica: I'd call it "Lord British"
[Broadcast] Achaica: combat log says "poison gas"
[Broadcast] Achaica: it's apparently stronger than all of pocket d
[Broadcast] Lucki: Poison gas and soul burn is whats attacking our pets--but it doesnt say what our pets keep missing
[Broadcast] Literal Lass: I'm seeing Radiance Jump 2 and Light the Path defeating pets and people both
[Broadcast] Lucki: Whatever it is keeps moving around now and then like a person
[Broadcast] Lucki: MAYBE ITS A GHOST.
[Broadcast] Literal Lass: The D is HAUNTED!

(from the City of Heroes album; the deathing at the D.)

Some high-powered healers realized if they got on teams, they could just spam healing and keep people alive that way. It worked--after a fashion.

[Broadcast] Achaica: the DARKNESS
[Broadcast] Jessye Jaymes: Why did you use magic missile?

Ah, fellow geeks who speak my language. Always fun.

[Broadcast] Literal Lass: We're fighting the nothing. How existential.
[Broadcast] Lucki: Neverending stoooreeeee~
[Broadcast] Mind Spike.: Anyone know whats going on in here , i just logged on and pocket D is both on fire and damaging?))
[Broadcast] Literal Lass: One minute, I'm talking to War Witch, the next I'm on the dance floor getting hit by blue flame.

It got chaotic, I won't lie. We weren't exactly used to this.

(from the City of Heroes album; an angel statue in Founders' Falls.)

This is nothing to do with the deaths on the dance floor. This is a random image I'd planned to toss into a future entry. This will now exist as my brief comment on last week's Doctor Who (which is forward from this post, because I post-dated this post, so to be specific, it was "The Angels Take Manhattan").

Which I can't even discuss without major spoilers in ALL directions, but damn. Good, painful, intense, beautifully written, magnificently acted...but I did mention the painful, yeah? Yeah.

[Broadcast] Glacier Sagittarius: I have a feeling it's Dampening Field, the invisiable force that's normally in the corner by the red bar window.
[Broadcast] Glacier Sagittarius: Pets sometimes attacked it
[Broadcast] Achaica: pocket D is already drunk enough. you can tell because we're picking fights with nothing at all.
[Broadcast] Achaica: someone is enjoying omnipotence

(from the City of Heroes album; the unused design for upper-level Nemesis officer warhorse mounts. Steam-powered, of course.)

Another shot that has nothing to do with the deathing, but I have tons of these, and I'm going to toss up more--this was another dev in the D who came in, rezzed out these unused mount designs, and left after partying with us for a few hours. Essentially, these were planned from nearly the first, but, between one thing and another, never got implemented.

(from the City of Heroes album; the unused design for upper-level Nemesis officer warhorse mounts. Steam-powered, of course.)

As can be seen, you could sort of 'cheat' a sit on the back of the mounts by first flying up to about horse shoulder level, then choosing a sit-on-bench or sit-on-chair emote from the list. It mostly worked.

(from the City of Heroes album; another angle.)

The vents in the muzzle vented steam on occasion, and there was an ornate stovepipe 'tail' that spewed smoke, in addition to the flame-jet 'mouths' each warhorse had.

(from the City of Heroes album; another angle.)

And on occasion, people danced on them.

Also, after all that (and the chat captures anyone who's been reading along has already read through), I present to you why Champions Online remains, in my opinion, the lesser experience (on at least a social-game level):

vakarcs@tomika72: ddddddddddddddddddddddddd
the blaack panther@sharrief1: nice boob
the blaack panther@sharrief1: bbboobbas
the blaack panther@sharrief1: i love bboobs
Annika Ember@EmillyOrr: Ugh.
the blaack panther@sharrief1: i need a girlfriend
the blaack panther@sharrief1: i need a queen
Annika Ember@EmillyOrr: And you're looking for one in the Powerhouse??

To explain: the Powerhouse is in the main section of the city, and it's where people go to test out new powers, and see if they want to keep them if they've got choices between two. Mostly, though, it's a noob paradise, because most of the higher-ups just pick their poison and move on to other missions.

the blaack panther@sharrief1: big tiiiittes

Believe me, there was more, but I think those two short passages convince to illustrate the point. From quirky "Neverending Story" and D&D gaming references to..."i love bboobs". Yeah.

I'm not the killing type

Some enterprising gamer put together a list of all the questions so far answered on the City of Heroes AMA. There's a lot of good there, a lot of pain, but it's worth the read even if you don't play--because, yet again, it perfectly demonstrates how active, and interactive, the development team at Paragon Studios was with their community and customers.

Of course, the biggest example I have is from experience with Second Life, where asking a Linden for any form of redress is about as effective as kicking a brick wall. But even jumping over to a near competitor, Champions, the difference is striking. Part of their "Whiteout" adventure pack had several glitched missions. They were all annoying to get through, but part three did us in, and--because the main enemy to fight never spawned--trapped us in the endgame space, where we had to simply log out.

Before we logged out, three of us sent in a support ticket explaining the difficulty. It's now one full week later, we've heard nothing. We likely won't hear anything, either, based on folks who've sent support tickets to Cryptic in the past.

Essentially, we had to log back in, return to the "Whiteout" mission sets, and do section three over again from the very beginning, and hope that the end boss did actually manage to spawn. We did this, but it was two hours we didn't need to spend, on a mission that was still glitchy.

I contrast my experiences in Champions and Second Life (as well as a host of other games) with my experiences in City of Heroes. It was a rare occasion when I didn't hear back within the hour of a support ticket going in. Those rare occasions were generally always on me, having to log out before that first hour wrapped up, and in each of those instances, I was sent email within two hours, at the latest.

I never had an unresolved problem. I never had to wait days, or even weeks, for a reply. And while I have nearly always been a subscriber to City of Heroes, I don't think that's even it, because for over a year now, I've heard back from sim owners--sometimes, even multi-sim owners--in Second Life who send in requests for support and hear nothing back. So it's not a money issue, it's a caring issue.

Meanwhile, I've been on this long and meandering journey (for about three weeks now) investigating various YouTube feeds concerning the Slender Man mythos. I've been concentrating mainly on the MarbleHornets videos, because they're the most comprehensive work so far (at 66 videos to date).

There's been other interesting developments I've discovered along the way. Like YouTube user "totheark" began commenting back on the MarbleHornets videos. While some of the Marblehornets videos are disturbing enough, "totheark" seems to be communicating in some cryptic, unbroken code.

And then there are the ones that just don't seem to sync up with the main storyline: like "Operator":

Lakes
in
Stillnesss
will

Take
Every
life
of the
Night

The description on that one, by the way?

\\\yes\\\

So what does it mean? It took me a week to realize, I was slow on the uptake: the capitalized letters form an independent word: LISTEN. And once I did, I realized that the sounds directly traced back to the missing audio from one of the early MarbleHornets vids.

What's been so fascinating to me in all of this (and, to date, I've watched the total output of MarbleHornets, DarkHarvest00, EverymanHYBRID, and TribeTwelve [with TribeTwelve's videos, so far, being my favorite], as well as about a third of the videos on the compileTRUTH channel), is that the Slender Man is, start to finish, a wholly invented urban legend. Yet, at this point, there are countless blogs devoted to the happenings in the mythos, several video feeds solely dedicated to him, and at least one (though I think fan-produced, not commercially released) actual film devoted to the Slender Man.

I'm fascinated enough to continue watching. There are some really inventive, arcane minds putting these various feeds together, and there's a definite liking for puzzles. Some of the puzzles I get, some take me longer (the bit of coding regarding prime numbers and the sequences from Base 64 notation, for instance, sent me researching for three days before finding out what that one said), but it's still enough to keep me watching. And to keep me unnerved.

T'is the season for unnerved, after all...or at least, it will be soon. I'm just getting the preparations underway a few weeks early.

and morning is broken as you mourn your life

[Zone #6] Spellbinder@mijj: What the hell? Isn't ever mob supposed to drop anniversary stuff? I cannot get them to drop

So, there was an anniversary party going on in Champions. If you killed enemies--or objects--then there was a chance of anniversary presents dropping. You had to be killing enemies around your level, or objects in zones where you hadn't outleveled, to get them to drop at all, though.

[Zone #6] Russian Spetsnaz@weewoozesty: not every mob
[Zone #6] Russian Spetsnaz@weewoozesty: if ur farming mobs for it i feel sorry for u

Trying not to twitch at the use of "ur" and "u", here, too. Then again, it's yet another goddamn game where they refer to their characters as "toons". Gods, I loathe people who do that.

[Zone #3] Celus@macarondebiscuit: you kiding me ?
[Zone #3] Celus@macarondebiscuit: go %$#( your mom

Random hostility, the gift of the internet to we, the fortunate few.

[Zone #6] Russian Spetsnaz@weewoozesty: aaaand you just showed us all that your some 10 year old

To be fair, I'd make the same assumption.

[Zone #7] Bane@TalenaGrimz: looking for ninja based sg to join
[Zone] Annika Ember@EmillyOrr: Wau, I put those last two statements together--ten years old, AND looking for a ninja SG :p
[Zone #6] Jewel Lemon@monaahiru6: me too :D

Also, there seems to be far more roleplay supergroups on Champions than there were on City of Heroes. Not sure why.

[Zone] Tristan@CaptainBrumast: Is Sapphire gonna sing again?
[Zone #3] Cat Baptiste@alli210: no idea, I hope not
[Zone #2] Mandate@mlmii: It is my understanding that she sings every hour.
[Zone #1] Manik@embermclain01: yes... one an hour...for the next 10 days
[Zone #1] Manik@embermclain01: the same song
[Zone #3] Cat Baptiste@alli210: OH DEAR GOD
[Zone #6] Vanquish@rap: The rest of the time she's 'back stage' 'entertaining' VIPs
[Zone #3] Cat Baptiste@alli210: FRIDAY FRIDAY GOTTA GET DOWN ON FRIDAY *sobs uncontrollably*

[Zone #1] Manik@embermclain01: you seem upset about singing
[Zone #1] Manik@embermclain01: I had no idea the bluenette was a frenchy

See, I've mentioned this before. I think Sapphire's supposed to be Hispanic. Which isn't a problem, except in both her singing voice, and her speaking voice in the loop, her accent is all over the place. Just listening to her, knowing nothing about the character, I'd have guessed Spanish, French, and possibly Malaysian at different points in the recorded loop--and I still don't know what she's supposed to be going for.

[Zone] Annika Ember@EmillyOrr: I swear, I'm putting "I don't duel" in my bio.
[Zone] Tirados@DZPlayer122: Nobody reads bios unless RP is involved...
[Zone] Tirados@DZPlayer122: and even then only rarely.
[Zone] Kage@kagetsuwamono: Won't do you any good, Annika. No one reads bios around here.
[Zone #1] Angry Bear@twg042370: Annika: Hit the O key. Under privacy you can block duels
[Zone] Annika Ember@EmillyOrr: Yeah, I persist in the delusion that people read.

I thought this was just random posturing, but I've spent the past several nights running around in Champions checking bios. I'd say--based on the completely spurious, entirely subjective analysis of the people I managed to click on before they flew off--that that's an accurate statement. Forget reading the bios; based on what I saw, only 25% of players seem to have bios at all!

How'ver, back to the Champions anniversary thing--around midnight two nights back, Cryptic did a hot patch, kicking everyone off their servers for about five minutes. When they came back up, the anniversary coding was gone from the game.

Well...almost:

(from the Champions album; part of the anniversary concert stage, just hanging around in midair)

This is half the anniversary party stage from the top of the walking ring around the center of New Detroit, or whatever it is they call it in Champions.

(from the Champions album; the concert screens)

A closer look. The stage itself is gone, all the NPCs that populated the stage itself and the dance floor in front of it are gone; the cake's gone, the fireworks are gone (most of the time; ghostly pastel shadows still manifest from time to time if you look up). But the panel screens showing...I guess that's supposed to be Sapphire, screaming at the audience? They're still there.

(from the Champions album; Holo-Sapphire dancing)

And here's one of the hologram Sapphires, dancing on what used to be a holo-display platform at her feet. The platform itself--and the stage it was on--are completely removed.

We're hoping a future patch removes these remnants, as well.

I want to find some dark cloud to hide in here

[Zone #3] Lady Bacon@dontpanic3: STOP THIS SONG
[Zone #7] Mongoose@Alchemystic: Bahahaha Sapphire can't sing for %(#).
[Zone #3] Lady Bacon@dontpanic3: dammit sapphire
[Zone #3] Lady Bacon@dontpanic3: you suck at singing

Basically, it breaks down like this. Champions is celebrating their third anniversary of operation (it just ended today; I started writing this a week ago). To commemorate this, they recycled the song for their second anniversary of operation...which was also the song from their first anniversary of operation.

How bad is this song? Think of the most overprocessed, bubble-gum poppiest Hatsune Miku song. Record that song. Then give that song to a sixteen-year-old girl with a web-cam to record a cover version of.

It still wouldn't be as bad as Sapphire's version of the "celebration" song.

[Zone #6] Summer@dragonmp93: she sings in spanish?

Near as I can tell, yeah, about a third of the so-called "song" is in another language. I can't bear to listen to enough of it to name which one, though.

[Zone #6] Kira Synth@MCsnipin: T_T my.....ears......they died...she killed them.

We feel your pain.

[Zone #7] WraithHawk@ModernMyth: OH GOD NOT THE SONG

Could be worse. You could watch her dance.

[Zone #1] DarkFire@mattcus1: At least she's better then One direction

Not by much.

(Oh, and if that last video looked familiar? It's because One Direction--or their video director, Declan Whitebloom--was largely imitating the movements of the Monkees in the Monkees' theme song. Cue face of resigned disappointment, here.)

(And Declan Whitebloom's site really explains all you need to know about him, frankly. Lorem ipsum dolor, indeed.)

So, this next little bit I kept getting distracted from posting. It's worth the noting that I was not in a particularly agreeable mood when this exchange took place; but I like to think that at least it resolved in a less confrontational space.

It all started out when someone challenged me to a duel. Red and white costume, typical spandex hero gear, symbol I didn't quite connect to anything across his chest. I said no, in no uncertain terms, and then told him why:

Annika Ember@EmillyOrr: Get real, your name is Captain Turkey.
Captain Turkey@Aruza: What?
Annika Ember@EmillyOrr: I don't duel. Period.
Annika Ember@EmillyOrr: Not with you, not with anyone.
Captain Turkey@Aruza: You afraid.
Annika Ember@EmillyOrr: Of what? You?

Cue audible snort, RL, from the me.

Captain Turkey@Aruza: Yes.
Captain Turkey@Aruza: You afraid from me.
[Zone #2] Vespa@CanisErectus: Yes Power, you have 3 hours (?) Annika Ember@EmillyOrr: You're moderately amusing, but nothing to be afraid of.
Captain Turkey@Aruza: You racist.

I'm...what? Racist. Because I won't duel?? What now?

Annika Ember@EmillyOrr: *laughs* How can I be racist of a cartoon superhero?
Captain Turkey@Aruza explains the battle plan to Annika Ember.
Captain Turkey@Aruza listens to the battle plan for Annika Ember.

I'm going to go out on the limb here and say those are random emotes. Because I certainly wasn't saying anything about battle plans.

Captain Turkey@Aruza: You are racist hero.
Annika Ember@EmillyOrr: No. I just don't like duels. I don't do PVP.
Captain Turkey@Aruza: But its not a reason to insult my name.
Annika Ember@EmillyOrr: Had I not run across you asking me to fight you, I wouldn't have insulted your name.

Now--while that is true--he also had a point. Mainly, just because I'm in a bad mood, there's no excuse to insult someone based solely on their name. He's right.

It also made me pause a bit, and I extended what I could in the way of apology:

Annika Ember@EmillyOrr: But for the record, if you're talking about the country, not the large flightless bird, then it's a fine name.

Because seriously, I'm being geocentric--I'm an American, we hear "Turkey", we don't think about another nation, we think about the Festival of Overeating.

Captain Turkey@Aruza: Okay okay. Good games.

And he flew off. So, he thinks I'm a jerk, but I'm hoping I at least convinced him I wasn't racist on top of it. I can live with him thinking I'm a jerk.

[Zone] Hung@iteamalot: The nothingness is coming
[Zone] Cerulean@Alchemystic: They look like good, strong hands, don't they?

Random bit of chat from elsewhere. And from tonight's chat insanity:

[Zone #7] Mortimer Blake@NightErrant: I have a plan to deal with Dr. Destroyer! I need 200 yards of frilly pink silk, one ton of tinfoil, and a truck load of makeup in bulk.

I'm for this plan. Who's with me?

And later still:

[Zone] ADRYAN@adytza100: this is unlimited?
[Zone] ADRYAN@adytza100: gingerbread
[Zone] ADRYAN@adytza100: is limited?
[Zone #1] Miss Adventure@FlyingFinn: if you eat it...
[Zone] Annika Ember@EmillyOrr: Gingerbread?
[Zone] ADRYAN@adytza100: trde for this become?

There's a "Become Gingerbread" costume in Champions? I don't understand.

time has no time for us anymore

[Broadcast] Hostillian: For the record, Lord Recluse was going to conquer Paragon. Just an FYI for all of you.

Well, at least we know.

Skipping from City to random Champions conversation...

[Zone #3] DarkFire@mattcus1: Would anyone be able to sell me Fire Flight Travel Power?
[Zone #2] Janie@kagetsuwamono: You can't sell travel powers.
[Zone #3] Demon Princess Lucretia@Aesirgard: Uh... Fire Flight is a standard power.

So, this is the breakdown for the uninitiated. In Champions Online, there are travel powers, essentially different ways superheroes can use to get around the city. Things like flight, super-jumping, super-fast running...In Champions they get occasionally more arcane: things like traveling around as a puddle of ooze, or dissolving into a stream of black scarab beetles and using their multiple legs to move you places. There's also a fire flight power, which is what it says it is--flight, while on fire.

[Zone #3] Network@-The-Mighty-One: I will sell you that Flight tp, just give me your name, bank details.. credit card.. etc..
[Zone #3] DarkFire@mattcus1: For gold yes

He still seemed to be missing the point. It's a travel power, it can only be unlocked at a certain level, or purchased from the C-Store with the in-game token currency, the Zen.

[Zone #3] Gloom Beast@misterhammermk1: I"m gold, just got the mission to come here, and it's empty
[Zone #2] Janie@kagetsuwamono: There's no gold in this game.

Now, this was a fairly random comment, with something that doesn't make much sense as a response. But just to differentiate: there are two levels of player, since Champions went free-to-play: silver (which is everyone who doesn't subscribe) and gold (which indicates the subscribers). Gold, obviously, gets more benefits--they get a monthly Zen stipend, they get certain for-pay abilities for free, they have more costume options and more travel powers available.

[Zone #3] DarkFire@mattcus1: Subscribers
[Zone #2] Janie@kagetsuwamono: There are resources, Questionite, Zen, and recognition.
[Zone #5] Skcarkden@Skcarkden: holy crap... a technicality nazi, and he still gets the context wrong

He does seem to be, yes. But I'd also point out that beyond the simple subscribers notice, there is gold in the game--of a sort. Beyond the Zen (which has to be purchased with large amounts of Questionite, earned through missions, or from the cash shop, for actual RL currency), there are various forms of "recognition" points--for those who play City of Heroes, that's similar to the various forms of "merits" handed out--as well as Questionite (earned through completing boss-level fights), and the three trade currencies.

[Zone #4] Core@Ashlocke: Gold, Nilver and Loppers

Yeah, that's the somewhat amusing thing. There are three listings for in-game coinage: G coins (which are called gold, and are gold-colored), N coins (which are silver) and L coins (which are copper). Rather than make it something simple and understandable--gold/silver/copper--they went with gold as gold, silver as N coins, and copper as L coins. Hence, gold, nilver and lopper. Well, what else are we to call them?

[Zone #5] Skcarkden@Skcarkden: gold as in gold sub, as in NOT silver, was the context
[Zone #3] DarkFire@mattcus1: So i guess no ones selling me FireFlight
[Zone #3] Demon Princess Lucretia@Aesirgard: Because it's not possible.
[Zone #4] Deep Cut@preachmore: u cannot sell travel powers apart dark speed wich is a device

Well...yeah. Because Dark Speed is a device that makes the hero run fast, it's not a travel power, per se; it's a device assist.

But DarkFire still doesn't quite seem to understand.

[Zone #5] J.C Deeplove@Fishtoad: I reckon somebody would if they could, but you can't trade powers.
[Zone #3] DarkFire@mattcus1: i'm trying to get questionite
[Zone #5] Skcarkden@Skcarkden: By that response, would seem like you were 100% oblivious to gold being a subscription term, hence the correction would be moot anyway

I suppose that's sort of fair, at least--why bother to separate out what he's trying to say, when what he is saying, understandably, is wrong in the first place?

Still, now it gets even more confusing: he's trying to buy a travel power he'd have to pay Zen or subscribe as a Gold player to get, with gold or Questionite? Really? Does he even know how Questionite is given out in the game?

[Zone #3] DarkFire@mattcus1: most of the surveys you have to pay for anyway
[Zone #3] Shen@Disarmed: Half of them put a nice virus on your computer.
[Zone #3] DarkFire@mattcus1: I did one free one but didn't get any zen
[Zone #5] Skcarkden@Skcarkden: the surveys are a joke
[Zone #3] DarkFire@mattcus1: yesh

On that, at least, we're in agreement: the current survey structure through Peanut Labs seems to be less than reliable. Think this through: Questionite in game currently goes for between 165 and 180 Questionite, per Zen. It's vastly inflated, which is odd, because Questionite is occasionally annoying to get. One would think there'd be a switch in priorities--more Zen given per Questionite, because Questionite can really only be earned by completing a series of daily missions, most of which require either time or moderately high levels to beat.

Unfortunately, that's not the case, because regardless of how annoying it can be to earn, Zen can only be "earned" by being a Gold subscriber, or by paying actual RL funds to get it. So, Zen becomes the premium acquisition.

Bring this back to Peanut Labs. Peanut Labs goes by the perimeters given by the game. The only other game I've dealt with that uses them was Runes of Magic. And, in Runes, it was fairly clearly stated up-front which offers would give what amounts of diamonds, but I only remember a couple of times where an offer said they'd pay out, and then didn't.

Contrast this with Champions Online, who seem to have given Peanut Labs no controls to operate within. Thus, there's a lot of offers that are bugged--id est, that say they're going to pay out Zen, and never do. There's even more offers that are thinly disguised (and sometimes not so thinly disguised) attempts to gain as much personal information as possible from the player--while still never paying out Zen for the cack-handed attempts. At this point, when the surveys are discussed in world, seasoned players generally advise new players not to do the surveys.

[Zone #5] Skcarkden@Skcarkden: You have to give them answers they want to be given the zen

True, which is the case with most surveys, but in the case of Peanut Labs, it's not even that. It's still more that the "surveys" offered are actual scams, and they won't get you Zen, they'll simply get you hacked.

[Zone #2] Janie@kagetsuwamono: Not every offer actually gives you the zen it's supposed to. Which sucks.
[Zone #3] Shen@Disarmed: they put it that way so u have to pay...more
[Zone #2] Janie@kagetsuwamono: But they only give you 3-5 zen...
[Zone #3] Shen@Disarmed: 3 zen?
[Zone #3] DarkFire@mattcus1: still better than no zen
[Zone #2] Janie@kagetsuwamono: For videos, yes.
[Zone #2] Janie@kagetsuwamono: ANd that's worth 3 zen to you? Do you know how many 15 second videos you'd need to buy a costume pack?

Again, let's break this down. A standard speciality costume pack costs 475 Zen. Watching video offers (mostly advertisements for services or commercials for products) gains you 3 to 5 Zen per each video watched--and that's if you get an offer that pays out.

Assume that all video offers pay out that 3 Zen standard. You'd have to watch 158 separate videos (and all videos run between 30 seconds and a minute and a half on average). That works out to, what, about two days of video time?

It's cheaper all the way around just to buy the damned Zen.

[Zone #4] Network@-The-Mighty-One: play the video, turn the volume down low. (not on mute or it won't count) and play C.O.
[Zone #5] Skcarkden@Skcarkden: i really don't get why companies are "trolling" for advertising schemes
[Zone #4] Network@-The-Mighty-One: It makes you want to buy points
[Zone #4] Network@-The-Mighty-One: Which they then make money
[Zone #5] Skcarkden@Skcarkden: you only watch an ad by choice, for a few coins, and they're the bad guys?

In a limited sense, yes. Because Cryptic/Perfect World Entertainment put no restrictions on the types of offers they wanted to be associated with their game, they get a mish-mash of advertising vids, surveys wherein the survey taker must pony up financial info, or actually purchase something, just to finish the survey, and outright graft for player info.

Peanut Labs is not an ethical company. But they do (reasonably) curtail their obvious bids for player data if told by the hiring firm paying their service fees. So yes, I do think Perfect World is at fault for not specifying these controls.

[Zone #2] Janie@kagetsuwamono: Okay, wise guy. How many videos are up at a time? 5, maybe 6? A day.

That's the other problem. We can't simply take a day, watch thirty videos, then get on with our lives--pushing aside the simple time sink that would be, they never put that many videos up at one time, because they want to drive players to the payout offers, over the 30-second commercial ones.

[Zone #2] Janie@kagetsuwamono: That's 32 days.
Accounting for a standard five videos per day, yeah. Again, it's far cheaper to just buy Zen in the cash shop.

[Zone #3] Shen@Disarmed: Yea i sure have the patience and time to watch those stupid videos
[Zone #4] Network@-The-Mighty-One: Because it -WILL NEVER- be fixed. They are focusing on PWE games and they are updating sto.. Why? because STO makes money.
[Zone #3] Demon Princess Lucretia@Aesirgard: Hands up anyone in this conversation besides me that was part of the Beta.
[Zone #4] Network@-The-Mighty-One: This game doesn't make as much money as STO. e.g. why they don't really give two craps about this game atm.
[Zone #3] Shen@Disarmed: Who cares if youve been playing since beta?
[Zone #3] Demon Princess Lucretia@Aesirgard: Well, anyone who cares about accuracy in the context of what it was before PWE?

I find this fascinating--remember, these aren't the new players to Champions, these are established players, some subscribers even. Yet while in City of Heroes, there's a built-in respect for people who beta-tested the game, in Champions, that seems to be the set-up for instant contempt on the part of the player base, or at least scattered bits of the player base. Why?

[Zone #5] Skcarkden@Skcarkden: CO has has bugs forever, even before PWE took over
[Zone #5] Skcarkden@Skcarkden: people just tend to notice the bugs more, because they never get fixed to it's everwhere and not just in few places now

Can anyone say, Second Life? I knew you could.

[Zone #3] Demon Princess Lucretia@Aesirgard: Here's a thought: if you hate it so much, go play DCUO. All you're doing here is polluting bandwidth.
[Zone #3] Shen@Disarmed: No one said u have to buy em, duh
[Zone #5] J.C Deeplove@Fishtoad: Well I think our trolling has kept Shen from his delightful game of Fanwankery: The Sony Edition.
[Zone #5] Skcarkden@Skcarkden: Well i would suggest every player that wants CO improved write a letter and send it a copy to PWI HQ and Cryptic head office, writing a letter still has more impact to date
[Zone #3] Shen@Disarmed: They dont listen, skrcarkden
[Zone] Nicole@sngl8: Wait, what's this "writing" and "letter" thing?
[Zone #3] Demon Princess Lucretia@Aesirgard: Well, they certainly don't listen to people complaining in Zone about it.

Rarely if ever.

[Zone #3] Shen@Disarmed: Im opening your eyes, not complaining
[Zone #3] Shen@Disarmed: and Im telling you my opinion
[Zone #3] Demon Princess Lucretia@Aesirgard: No, you're suffering from confirmation bias.

It's possible, but it's more likely he's just saying Cryptic and Perfect World are as disconnected as the Lindens are.

[Zone #5] J.C Deeplove@Fishtoad: No you're complaining bro.

That too.

[Zone #5] Skcarkden@Skcarkden: Well just one person sending a letter def won't mean much
[Zone #3] Shen@Disarmed: The freedom of speech, ever heard of it?

Okay, again, for the folks in the cheap seats--it's a privately-operated virtual server running a game. There ARE no "free speech" issues, because there is no free speech preservation for a video game.

Okay? Okay. Moving on.

[Zone #2] Janie@kagetsuwamono: Nicole, it's an ancient method of transfering data wherein one person scratches graphite onto a piece of paper, and then sends it to another, who reads the scratches.
[Zone #5] Skcarkden@Skcarkden: but if lots of people do it, they might take more notice

True, which is what we're hoping with City of Heroes. (To that end, more fun news--today, we gave the entirety of the Paragon Studios former staff dinner out. And there's more activities in-game planned for later in the week, and the week after.)

[Zone #3] Demon Princess Lucretia@Aesirgard: You're free to your opinion. Just like I'm free to point out when you're ignoring everything that contradicts it.
[Zone #5] J.C Deeplove@Fishtoad: Yes the freedom of speech allows all people the right to voice their opinions freely, but you lost your credibility when you started comparing Champs to DCUO.
[Zone #2] Janie@kagetsuwamono: Only the truly ancient, or anyone over the age of 20, remembers writing letters.

Well, I guess I fit both at this point--hells, I was ancient at age eleven--but come on, has letter-writing fallen that much out of favor? Why?

[Zone #3] Shen@Disarmed: why? is it bad to compare
[Zone #5] J.C Deeplove@Fishtoad: The reason why CoD and ME's fanbase age average is 12-14 is because they're susceptible to the aggressive advertising. That includes - but isn't limited to - bribing reviewers, hiring employees to -
[Zone #5] J.C Deeplove@Fishtoad: - censor bad comments left on their videos, giving their employees the right to lash out at consumers who complain.
[Zone #3] Shen@Disarmed: COD Has a...meh community
[Zone #3] Shen@Disarmed: like idk. its like all the retards are gathered in one game

Well, but that's mostly just the player base. What "Deeplove" is talking about is actual employees that are hired to run interference for Call of Duty's shortcomings.

[Zone #5] J.C Deeplove@Fishtoad: In short, they control the media that is centered around their game and effectively lead what they believe is a fanbase.
[Zone #3] Shen@Disarmed: That is corruption, my friend

Actually, no, that's closer to aggressive marketing. Corruption would be when they started killing players who spoke out; but it's still possible to say negative things about Call of Duty, or the studio employed to run it.

[Zone #3] she-woman@blackdarknesz: HELLO GUYS
[Zone #3] she-woman@blackdarknesz: DO U SPEAK MY LANGUAGE?
[Zone #3] Skcarkden@Skcarkden: No
[Zone #3] Dragonstorm@Crashbang: I can't read caps

Brilliantly well put, Dragonstorm. Kudos to you.

[Zone #4] Light cygnus@frodo56140: DO you have any problems?
[Zone #3] she-woman@blackdarknesz: yeah i have a problem
[Zone #3] Dragonstorm@Crashbang: yes, a keyboard that cant spell

Eh, I think that's more user error, really. Don't blame the keyboard.

[Zone #3] she-woman@blackdarknesz: dragonstorm nobody does da proper engalish in internetz
[Zone #3] she-woman@blackdarknesz: righting proper grammar is for english homewor

"Homewor"? "HOMEWOR"??? You're too lazy even to end words properly??

[Zone #3] Skcarkden@Skcarkden: you don't write grammar, you use it

EXACTLY.

[Zone #3] she-woman@blackdarknesz: i dont talk like i type

Thank God.

[Zone #3] she-woman@blackdarknesz: fingers and vocal cords not same thing

I give up. Because obviously she's missed the point of the entire conversation BEING WRITTEN DOWN, WITH NO ONE SPEAKING...

[Zone #3] Skcarkden@Skcarkden: who said anything about you talking? when it was all written

HA! I wasn't the only one to notice that!

[Zone #3] she-woman@blackdarknesz: bunch of grammar grandmas

I'm sure you meant that as an insult, dearie, but I take it as a mark of pride.

[Zone #3] Blackjack@Inspektor_Herring: Is there a superhero based on semantics anywhere?
[Zone #3] she-woman@blackdarknesz: wat is semantics
[Zone #3] she-woman@blackdarknesz: alt tab and google it for me
[Zone #2] Reaper@ReaperOxide: This is a chat, not a phone. You can at least try.

Yeah, because at this point, she's sounding almost too lazy to breathe in and out.

[Zone #3] she-woman@blackdarknesz: no reaper
[Zone #3] she-woman@blackdarknesz: I won't.
[Zone #3] she-woman@blackdarknesz: No.

So...not just lazy, but actively embracing being stupid? Go her. Proud day for the advancement of feminine intelligence, people.

And then, one day later:

[Zone #3] Azarath@Akizia: Oh no...shes singing again
[Zone #3] Azarath@Akizia: someone shoot her
[Zone #2] Storm Hawk@kbit08: She's singing for YOU!
[Zone #3] Azarath@Akizia: I have the gun if someone has the bullets

I'd insert something in here about how violence against women begets little beyond more violence, even in the virtual sense, but...she's a really, really bad singer. It's hard not to agree.

And...

[Zone #1] Rough and Tumble@Cronicle: It is getting wto wheere a redheaded Cyber girl cna't get a dany descent girl talk in this game!!*pouts*

Well, if that's how you talk normally, I don't imagine so. More from the trenches later.

but yesterdays have no importance, they were devoured by stormy seas

From a Skype conference of friends:

[2:32:57 AM] Emilly Orr: "Aphiel Sielyr Cassielah"
[2:32:59 AM] Emilly Orr: The bio:
[2:33:50 AM] Emilly Orr: "The Physicals:
Height: Seven Feet, Three Inches.
Weight: Two Hundred Thirty Five Pounds.
Hair Color: Ashen Silk with Crimson Tints.
Eye Color: Bright, Sparkling Ruby.
Wing Color: Jet with Crimson Streams.
Bust Class: E."
[2:34:19 AM] Emilly Orr: "Race: Fallen Astral Deva (Erinyes)
Original Home Plane: Celestia.
Current Home Plane: Phlegethos."

Okay, so she definitely wins points for Most Pretentious Character Name. But she didn't stop there. I'd also point out that no woman on the planet would refer to her bust size as a "Bust Class". Period.

[2:36:14 AM] Emilly Orr: "[Face/Head]:
Aphiel's face is composed of sharp features. A deviously knit brow brings a valley between the curves of her forehead. Ashen bangs of strewn silk decorate over the smooth surface almost always. The devil's eyes burned of lasered, ruby fire, and her plump, plush crimson painted lips almost always held a pouty allure of twitchy prowess over her facial expression. Aphiel's mane was long, and very well cared for, and was almost always scented a sweetness that resembled a vanilla hinted rose of sorts."

Okay, let's talk about this "ashen silk" nonsense. Silk is a fabric. It can be a substance. It can definitely be a texture. IT IS NOT A COLOR. "Ashen silk" means NOTHING to anyone with a brain.

Also, she flew off before I could grab a shot of her, but she had black hair. Black hair with red-streaked bangs. So "Crimson Tints", okay, fine, I'll buy, but "ashen silk"? Bite me. You have black hair, deal with it.

[2:38:36 AM] Emilly Orr: "[Waist & Up]:
Aphiel's body was toned, but at the same time her figure was incredibly curvy. Sharp angles dipped downwards into sultry valleys before rising up to crest over tightly curved swells in rolling out into the plumper feminine features. Hips were full, rounded to a honed curve, and softness, but beneath the thin padded layer of smoothness was the mass of her muscled form. The surfaces of her right arm were almost entirely decorated in fiery inklings of red, and orangish yellow flickered licks. Talons were long, incredibly sharp, and painted a bright glossy black. Apheil's back was completely overshadowed in it's prowess by her massive wings. Sixteen foot spread, jet feathered."

Um. So she's muscled yet curvacious, with sharp planes and angles (which are in no way evidence of femininity, just pointing that out) that somehow, manage to land like tsunami waves onto the "plumper" feminine features. Bwuh? Also, she has full lush hips that still manage to reduce to sharp angles? That doesn't work.

And how many "surfaces" did she have on her arms? I think she means, she's got a lot of tattoos, but that's not what she said.

[2:39:39 AM] Emilly Orr: "[Waist & Down]"
Aphiel's waist was slim, curvy, tight, and extremely powerful. The curves of those hips roared out to just slightly overtake the lateral reaches of her bustline above bringing together her hourglassed features. A pair of choice pants that left absolutely nothing to the imagination. Toenails painted red."

If you have a pair of pants that leave nothing to the imagination, and you're female, you're either in a Rob Liefield panel, or you aren't wearing pants. Flat out.

[2:39:50 AM] Emilly Orr: Oh, there is SO much wrong with this, but...at least she had a bio?

Sadly true. People in Champions Online generally don't write bios, and they don't read them. I'm not surprised at this point, I'm just resigned.

in this world, love lives no more

One day in City of Heroes...we heard rumors of oddity in Pocket D:

[Broadcast] Lucki: Whatever it is keeps moving around now and then like a person
[Broadcast] Lucki: MAYBE ITS A GHOST.
[Broadcast] Literal Lass: The D is HAUNTED!

Basically, we were in Pocket D--a cooperative, damage-free environment--getting damaged. Getting damaged a lot. By invisible forces who occasionally manifested toxic smoke clouds, brilliant beams of white light, or burning blue flames.

[Broadcast] Achaica: the DARKNESS
[Broadcast] Jessye Jaymes: Why, did you use magic missile?
[Broadcast] Literal Lass: We're fighting the nothing. How existential.
[Broadcast] Lucki: Neverending stoooreeeee~

I remain amused that someone got the reference.

[Broadcast] Mind Spike.: What's with the burney treats?))
[Broadcast] Dan the Dangerous: (devs forgetting thier toys)

Actually, no. Tunnel Rat came into the D, and just put random damage patches around the dance floor. Also, he rezzed out Mynx and Luminary, two named NPCs, up near DJ Zero.

[Help] Celerin: if you have any skills that are useful, you should get in touch with the Titan network or offer your expertise, Coding, Legal, korean, Advertising, Business or whatever else they need.

It's a good tip--just go to Titan Network's site, and poke about. If you have any of the above skills, and are willing to donate them to the cause, TonyV would be appreciative of the help.

[Looking For Group] OZREAL X: anything is worth a shot. ther is a switch. a game where you save people now has people trying to save it. if nothing else then we have learned what this game is really about. there is a hero in us all.

That's a good thing to remember, too. Win or lose, we came together. Anything we do, we have more power if we don't do it alone.

[Help] Phantom of the Verse: send certified mail to Mr. Taek Jin Kim, CEO
NCsoft Corporation
1501 4th Avenue, Suite 2050
Seattle, WA 98101
USA

Also good to keep in mind.

[Help] Viridian Storm: Be nice
[Help] Viridian Storm: ...or at least polite.

Because, when you're involved in a protest, you should always try to keep your cool.

Then again...

[Zone #3] Frost Ice@alodylis: why think when i can not think

From Champions comes great wisdom.

Maybe I have been thinking too much.

Also, more on Sapphire's singing in Champions:

[Zone] Bliss@PennyDreadful: Oh god...the SONG!
[Zone #5] Ildela@General_Maximus: Disabled game music, having much more fun now. :p
[Zone #3] Dragonstorm@Crashbang: its not the song, its her singing
[Zone] Bliss@PennyDreadful: Have mine turned down to 0% and I still hear her...
[Zone #5] Spellbinder@mijj: It will be with you forever
[Zone #5] Neutrox@superkiller10: oh wow she's singing
[Zone] Bliss@PennyDreadful: Kinda reminds me of Jem. But somehow, worse.
[Zone #1] Leo@Avianos: Jem is truly Outragous! TrulyTruly Outragous!
[Zone] Bliss@PennyDreadful: ...I just died a little inside.

So did we all.

[Zone #3] Edy@gh0st0fsm0k3: wth
[Zone] Suicide Queen@doctorvyle: MY EYES
[Zone] Suicide Queen@doctorvyle: MY EARS
[Zone] Suicide Queen@doctorvyle: WHAT IS HAPPENING HELP
[Zone #1] Leo@Avianos: *smooch* Goodnight Everybody!
[Zone #3] Dragonstorm@Crashbang: come back and suffer with the rest of us
[Zone #5] Neutrox@superkiller10: TRULY OUTRAGEOUS
[Zone] Suicide Queen@doctorvyle: Sapphire has the exact same accent as Tommy Wiseau. What do I make of this?

So...she's quasi-European in a really, really affected sense?

[Zone #3] Glaive@MrHurin: *packs himself in a box*
[Zone] Bliss@PennyDreadful: The Anniversary Event should conclude with a fight against Sapphire. Winner gets to sew her mouth shut.

I will say for the record, I don't advocate violence against whomever sings for Sapphire. I just want her to stop singing, that's all. And apparently it's not just me.

we were just getting to the part where the shock sets in

Second day of the third anniversary celebration in Champions Online, and Sapphire's still...performing:

[Zone] Russian Spetsnaz@weewoozesty: note to self dont use headphones during a ingame event
[Zone #2] NightWalker@smartbomb32: that's not much of a show :P haha

To be fair, she's not much of a singer. I did make the decision to turn back on voice acting, and...it seems to be an overall game flaw. Whomever Champions tapped to do their voices...they're not...good.

[Zone #6] Lurimer@CloudsatDawn: phew missed it again
[Zone #6] Lurimer@CloudsatDawn: with her singing thats all you need
[Zone #6] Jaeger@DaedalusMachina: It's the top of the Hour! Time to go to !^&&^!( Lemuria

Yeah, and that's really telling, too: the fact that the player base would rather be anywhere else than within vocal range of the "singer" on stage? That's a handy tip to change your voice actress.

Another clip from Help chat on City of Heroes. This bit dates back to the day after hearing about NCSoft's move.

[Help] Max-inator: There is always CO or DCUO but they are not as good
[Help] Spider Vivi: F*** Those two, Don't ever mention them again
[[Help] Sugar Sparks: once you CoH nothing compares
[Help] Spider Vivi: give city of heroes to someone else, I put so much effort into this game. I can't. I can't accept it.
[Help] Spider Vivi: I f****** CAN'T
[Help] Operative Magnus: The second stage of grief, that is.
[Help] House of Whacks: floating belly up?
[Help] Otaku Assassin: Yeah. But contrary to popular belief, there's not a specific order to those stages of grief, and not all of them can be experienced in each case.

Whether it's mourning the loss of a love, a pet, a shared dream, or a game, grief is pretty much grief all around--some griefs are greater, some lesser, but the experience feels the same. I've noticed, though, that in addition to gamers getting very attached to their games, there's a perception that the loss of a game is somehow more relevant, more intense, more vital to life. If we take everything we know about adaptation and evolution, and rank it logically, gaming comes in pretty close to the bottom of the list. The basic survival needs trump just about anything else: breathing, eating, staying warm enough, staying dry enough, finding ways to keep the lights on and keep food on the table.

The thing about immersive games, though, from a psychological perspective, is that they can feel more real to us than working, than interacting, than getting enough to eat, to drink. Than moving enough to keep our bodies healthy and functioning. It's not just that they're easier to disappear into; but the very experience of walking around as someone else seems to disorient us. Our minds view our creations as ourselves, subconsciously (and on occasion, consciously).

This shouldn't be news to anyone at this point. Parents have let their children die because they wanted in-game experiences more. People have died themselves after multiple hours of gaming with no breaks, no food, no water. Granted, this is not the universal experience, this is the aberrant fringe, but it has happened.

In this light, what happens when our games die--when our virtual alternative selves die--can become, for some people, an emotionally equivalent experience to an actual death. This is key: while it's not the same thing, how it feels is what's important. Emotional resonance creates illogic, because at this point we aren't thinking, we're simply reacting. And we can feel as if we're reacting to a highly charged, intensely emotional event.

[Help] Operative Magnus: It still feels like a nemesis plot, to me.
[Help] Spider Vivi: it still feels like a joke, i can't think of it as anything else
[Help] Operative Magnus: Jokes are funny. This is not.
[Help] A Dumb Snowflake: Took the words right of my mouth, Magnus.
[Help] Screaming Patriot: When a company decides to pull the plug I guess thsi is how it feels. I don't blame the developers of guild wars 2 but I'm just not trusting NC Soft again
[Help] Spider Vivi: How do you make a company like NCsoft change its mind? Are we really that helpless?
[Help] Otaku Assassin: Yup. We are.

Maybe not. There was a lot of press after yesterday's rally. As I mentioned, Massively almost instantly put up their coverage (about an hour's worth, all told), and there's been a lot of mention on the 'almost-CNN' blog post of three days ago. But that's not the biggest news. Several authors and artists have banded together to save the game, with the most notable being the across-the-bow offer by Mercedes Lackey. To wit:

"I am going to make you an offer. I am a multi-award-winning, New York Times bestselling fantasy and science fiction author. And I will offer myself and my likeness to endorse and advertise, exclusively, all NCSoft products for a minimum term of five years and a maximum term of ten years, for no compensation or payment, if you will make it possible for the game and Paragon Studios (even in a reduced capacity) to continue to function, either once again under the NCSoft umbrella, or until a new owner comes forward."

"I had in mind something like this: Advertisements with a photo of myself, imposed over a transparent image of one of my more striking characters, both of us in the same pose. Text: 'I am New York Times bestselling fantasy author Mercedes Lackey. Creating fantastic realms is hard work, and when I relax, I like to play in someone else’s world. I play NCSoft Games. Anything else is unimaginable.' The tagline for the ad campaign would be 'NCSoft: anything else is unimaginable.'

Let that sink in for a moment. Lackey has rarely endorsed anything, so the simple fact that this is that important to her speaks volumes about both the game and the community. But she's not just throwing this on the table to endorse City of Heroes. She's offering--for a minimum of five years, not to exceed ten years--of free, uncompensated, total endorsement of all NCSoft products, both those that exist now and any that might be created over the next decade--her power as a bestselling author, and as a gamer.

That's huge. Though we have yet to hear any response from NCSoft.

[Help] Spider Vivi: Protest won't do anything. They fired the team.

This is the down side--NCSoft did fire all Paragon Studios staffers. Some have already found new positions, because staying afloat, in these economically charged times, is generally better than hoping for a distant alternative future job to circle back around. So at this point, even if NCSoft apologizes and hires Paragon Studios again--well, who's going to be left?

And each day that passes makes the likelihood of the devs and the coders and the support staff to be free and available that much less likely, overall.

[Help] Foremost in Battle: the economy is at fault people don't have jobs or money and so some of the things we love are lost

Sad, but ultimately true.

[Help] Ivory Scorpion: I dont know if its the economy. This is pretty cheap entertainment. I mean... REALLY cheap
[Help] Foremost in Battle: I thought this morning what it must be like as a dev to wake up and your last 8-10 years of work is over
[Help] Sugar Sparks: best $15 I ever spent on entertainment!
[Help] Foremost in Battle: it must be very tough
[Help] Screaming Patriot: Yeah I never dropped my sub
[Help] Foremost in Battle: some folks are working in the background to see if the game code can be purchased

As far as I know, the attempt is still ongoing. No word yet on whether it will be successful or not.

[Help] Nina Fury: yesterday was my birthday
[Help] Nina Fury: I got a year sub for christmas

Ouch.

[Help] Sugar Sparks: does this mean we will have to pay by the month until shutdown?

No. When everything was shut down, everything was shut down--points can still be used in the in-game store, but the store outside of the game is gone. I'm still wondering what's going to happen with the rest of my subscription--I had three or four months to go. That's between $45 and $90 of funds I cannot use to play the game, so what happens then?

[Help] Operative Magnus: I paid for a year sub with my tax return last year. Had a few months left, too.
[Help] Sugar Sparks: I'd pay an extra $5 or $10 a month if they'd keep the game going
[Help] Operative Magnus: I felt like something might have been wrong when they opened the euro servers to us. Like a fool, I stayed quiet.
[Help] Screaming Patriot: They didn't need the Free to pay model. The game was surviving on it's on. To me they could've down sized a few of the servers.. that were low pop
[Help] Eve of Gaia: it seems they didn't have enough paying subscribers - they went free to try to attract more ppl in & entice them to pay (content on free is restricted). It didn't work.
[Help] Celerin: The game was making money. Freedom was successful.
[Help] Screaming Patriot: Then what's the problem?

Near as we can figure, Aion. Aion tanked in the second quarter, but, because it still has millions of subscribers, as opposed to City of Heroes' hundreds of thousands, CoH got axed to make up the deficit. I don't think it was the right move, obviously, and that this point NCSoft might be, just might be, reconsidering themselves.

But we have no way to know for sure unless there's a press conference or contact from NCSoft directly, again.

did you really think I'd let you kill this chorus?

[Looking For Group] Shock and Awesome: Is kickstarter not an option?

I've heard this a lot over the past few days. There are deep and inherent problems in approaching this from a crowdfunded angle, namely: while Paragon Studios runs (or ran) City of Heroes, Cryptic was the first originator, and NCSoft is the holder of copyright on the IP now. Would NCSoft release the IP? It's highly doubtful. So, essentially, it would be almost instantly killed as a concept even were it to make it to the Kickstarter launch post page. Why? Because if you don't control the property, you can't ask for money to fund it, and Kickstarter's own internal rules would knock it down--likely before it ever saw the light of day.

[Looking For Group] Gadgette: Kickstarter is ONLY an option if NCsoft agrees that they'd sell the game if X amount of money was made.

Right, but even were that highly unlikely eventuality to come to pass, they'd have to have either already sold the property back to Paragon, or have signed a binding intention to sell with the company. Neither of these are likely to happen, either.

[Help] Airdancer: It is hard to want to do something when you know it's all pointless now. Still I've been here so long i can't think of anything else to do when I get off work
[Looking For Group] Ecco Dolpheus: is all i looked foward to when i was coming home from work
[Looking For Group] Rita Ramjet: and its all you can continue to look forward to till nov 30

Laugh if you want, but think about this in the larger sense of games. How many people plan their lives around weekly WoW raids? I personally know someone who made the choice to travel to BlizzCon, pay for hotel tickets, and pay for content offered there (signatures, admission, et cetera), knowing she'd be coming home to a house empty of food, with rent paid but not power paid, and hoping beyond hope her parents helped her so she could keep the lights on. It was that important to her. She didn't bring food, either--she was humbly, deeply grateful to a friend that heard about her plans on Twitter, and the first night of the convention, dragged up an ice chest full of crackers, peanut butter, cheese, and refreezable ice packs. She also handed over a shopping back of "just add water" soups--both mug soups and noodle pots. That is how my friend ate while she was there.

People do this for games. They suffer a loss, they think of friends online over friends in RL--and to be utterly honest about this, too, some of these folks don't have many friends RL. For many, the game world is their support network.

How many people play in SL, have lives, husbands, and children, yet ignore the husbands, wives, or children they have beyond the screen? It happens, far more often than you think.

[Looking For Group] Shadow Marshal Luger: it is a little fishy that the other money losing games NCSoft owns arnt being suddenly shut down and CoH that makes marginal profit is

The key word there is "marginal". It was making profit for the company, it just wasn't making enough.

[Help] Screaming Patriot: the horrors of learning to ski at the chalet...
[Help] Grand Grimoire: only winter tho
[Help] Jericho Phears: was looking to do that this yer, got the gold in both last year

Well, the Chalet's open again, for what it's worth.

[Help] Boomtown Titan: I'm downloading CO since it's closer to this but damn those graphics are goofy

(from the Champions album; Annika in Millenium City)

I think I've figured out part of why. There are directly photosourced textures in City of Heroes--usually in caves, which is why they're so jarring when they show up--but in Champions, even the photosourced textures have this odd, clean-edged gloss to them. The entire world looks closer to an 80's comic book at times--which may have been the intent.

The problem is, that's also a heavy detraction. I'm not crazy about viewing the world in Comic Sans, or in looking at SL-style, vintage 2008 trees. It doesn't make me want to play the game.

(from the Champions album; Annika and Nighthawk in a cut scene still.)

Take this, for example. There's still self-insertion into cut scenes as part of the experience--on the theory that we tie better to what we see on screen if something we identify as "us" is also in the scene--but check out the shine on that tile floor. If we look up, there's nothing to cast the reflection lights on the floor. And if it's that shiny, the problem becomes--why don't we see ourselves in the reflections?

SL solves this by having settings that pre-generate reflections and/or shadows, though most viewers just don't bother, thereby solving the problem. In City of Heroes, the only places with high reflection and shine were internally solved--and we've seen this in SL, too, where a 'reflective' floor is reflective because a mirror image of the structures above the floor lies underneath it.

In this case, it's just bad photosourcing, with no attempt to correct it.

(from the Champions album; flying in Millenium City)

I don't want to say it's "too clean", because that's not really the complaint. I don't mind clean lines in a game; hells, I play Minecraft, land of the clean sharp lines. For me, it goes deeper into the entire ethos behind the world: there's very little attempt at complication, by design. It's not stucco on an apartment building; it's just olive paint. The places where they do choose to add detail and visual complication are thus jarring and out of place, like photosourced tiles, or photosourced asphalt by the docks.

(from the Champions album; water off the docks in Millenium City)

Or let's talk about water. Which this is. No, seriously.

(from the City of Heroes album; off Striga Isle)

This is a shot taken when flying into Striga Isle. Even though all the oceans in City of Heroes average about two feet deep, there's still a strong impression that it goes down further, and there are active, ongoing, animated reflections on the surface water.

(from the City of Heroes album; underground lake in First Ward)

Or here, where the source light is an unearthly, ambient teal glow, and the water itself is charged and moving with eldritch reflections and colors. Even given the potential supernatural nature of this water, it still looks like water.

The water in Champions? Looks like someone tried to mix mercury with oil, or made one of those swirling bottles that have glitter blended with dyed water. Save that in this case, the water's just vaguely silvery-grey. This is my alternative??

[Looking For Group] Rita Ramjet: sadly this is the real world...and the villains sometimes win.

Yeah. And for me, the thing is, I liked City of Heroes because I liked the storylines, not because I had a desperate need to be a superhero and fly around the city. I'm currently in the (long, long, SO long, and involved) process of downloading Perfect World International, because I already have a Perfect World account (since Perfect World bought out Cryptic, everyone who had a Cryptic account to play Champions had to convert over to Perfect World), and I'm more interested in fantasy games anyway.

But going through these has generated yet another depressing day. I had about fifteen potential entries saved and titled; since last night, I'm down by eight, because I just selected everything and cleared the space. I'll use the title later, but it's just too much right now.

tracing lines to what connects me and binds me to (pt. II)

Picking up where we left off...

[Help] Crimson-Darke: Because they made a product that millions wanted to use
[Help] Crimson-Darke: That is why they are number 1

True, and even with their flaws, companies like Blizzard are success stories that all game companies want to have. They want their game to have the unpredictable, magic something that makes millions want to play that game over all others...at least for a while.

[Help] Metal Raven: I don't like Blizzard because they don't seem to grasp the concept of "Our customers got us to where we are now, why is it a bad idea to gouge them and throw away our core fanbase for the crowds that give us more money"
[Help] Ambient Light: You mean a product that's been done in dozens of iterations before?
[Help] Metal Raven: They got to where they were because they disregarded everything their core fanbase said in favor of the crowds that said "we have more money!"
[Help] Firebomb: And they know it, and they treat you like it. "We're the ebst. You wanna leave? We don't care. We have millions of you.
[Help] Temporal Surgeon: Why do people always beeline for "jealousy" to explain why people dislike something? Jealousy only occasionally factors in to complaints about something

Yeah, that confuses me, too, but it's another common understanding trope--"You don't get this thing/you're talking down this thing, so you must be jealous of it". That doesn't always work, yet a lot of folks fall into this conventional thinking rut anyway.

[[Help] Temporal Surgeon: Since we're playing armchair psychologist I strongly suspect people claim "jealousy" in order to try to summarily discredit complaints and act like they're doing nothing wrong

I think that's a fair assessment, too. It's always easier to shift blame; some folks are very, very good at that. (It's my biggest personality flaw, I openly admit this--it's very easy for me to shift blame, and it's been the constant struggle of my entire existence to accept when I'm at fault, keep that fault, and apologize if I need to.

But it's far from easy, and I'm speaking as someone who (possibly overly) analyzes her actions. What about everyone else, who usually don't bother--or don't have the life skills to analyze their own actions, anyway?

[Help] Damgun: Bliz WAS a great company. Now they're just a division.

Of who?

[Help] Third Discipline: And if they did, so what? Why hate them for it?
[Help] Temporal Surgeon: Third Discipline - What people are doing here isn't "hate." You are throwing out ad hominem attacks like it's candy to try to shut down discussion.

This happens a lot, too.

[Help] Third Discipline: Who's devils advocating? All I asked is why you guys are wasting time hating on a company when all you have to do is simply not pay them money. Like I do.
[Help] Third Discipline: Learn what ad hominem is. I haven't insulted anyone
And, as with every internet discussion, the conversation has turned from game debate, to actual debate debate, with tactics and definitions. You'd think folks would have tired of this long ago, but it keeps coming up.

[Help] Temporal Surgeon: People here aren't "hating" or "jealous." They are making some pretty reasonable criticisms of Blizzard.
[Help] Metal Raven: There's honestly nothing to be jealous about when it comes to blizz. Are they rich, rolling in money and arguably doing fairly well? well, sure.
[Help] M'rtin of Mars: If this argument gets any more meta it'll start eating its own tail.
[Help] daedrius warbrand: and there goes help chat again, lol

Oh, it was there long ago.

[Help] Temporal Surgeon: Ad hominem is not an insult. Ad hominem is an argument that targets the credibility of someone on the basis of some personal attribute.
[Help] Vibrobeast: ok fine. they somehow turned gold into paper
[Help] Metal Raven: I'm bowing out of the argument and going back to actually helping people :p

You are wiser than most of us, gentlebeing.

[Help] Third Discipline: You are correct, "I wouldn't trust Blizzard with my granny's ashes" isn't hate, it'
s just a legit argument
[Help] Metal Raven: Sure [Help] Third Discipline rolls eyes
[Help] Touchup: Yes--can you guys go argue this in a private channel labeled "Debates Etc"?

Wait, we have that channel??

[Help] Rita Ramjet: I don't think CoH is going to last, its just another WoW clone.

And now we've reached the level of players trolling the channel. Because, seriously, that's not even close to accurate. While both games premiered the same year, City of Heroes launched in Aprille of 2004, with WoW following in November.

[Help] Touchup: *tabs out of help before eyes bleed*
[Help] Vibrobeast: o.0 CoH came first
[Help] Wrath Talon: coh is a wow clone?????? since when????
[Help] Ambient Light: Rita, I... I really hope you were being sarcastic there.
[Help] Rita Ramjet: Wow was the first MMO

Not even close to close. Mazewar was the first graphical-based cooperative experience, being introduced in 1974, but it was pretty much cable-spined to the early ARPANet, and was close to being another form of online bulletin board, really. There were various MUDs in between, which were, again, essentially just online roleplay bulletin boards. The first quote-unquote "real" MMO--in sense of scale, at this point, the "massive" in "massively multiplayer role-playing game"--was Neverwinter Nights, which premiered in 1991.

[Help] daedrius warbrand: ...... don't take the bait

Yeah, because seriously, they have to be trolling.

[Help] Wrath Talon: Rita stop trolling
[Help] Rita Ramjet jiggles the bait

And now we have the admission.

[Help] Third Discipline: I'm not talking about legit or people talking about why they don't like a Blizzard product. I'm strictly talking about people who say things like "I wouldn't trust Blizzard with my granny's ashes". If you have legit complaints, I'm not talking to you. I'm talking about those who simply hate.
[Help] Damgun: I'm sorry, but Pandara or Pandarin or whatever is worthy of a good mocking.

That's actually a fair point.

[Help] Damgun: That's like saying every FPS is a Wolfenstein clone. There is no MMO quite like COH.

*snerks* No, but seriously, that's just an amusing concept. What if everything was a Wolfenstein clone? How often do we have games that are now throwing back to the days of the side-scroller? Both Minecraft and Trials: Evolution have player-made maps that make both games side-scrolling--to a limited extent in Minecraft, a much larger extent in Trials.

[Help] Techpoison: what clone do you call champions online?

And that one gets weird, because Cryptic--the company that runs Champions--sold off City of Heroes to NCSoft, who now runs it...but then ran off and created Champions. So...in essence, Champions is a clone of City of Heroes.

there are mountains to climb, so let me carry you

This is an exceedingly weird article for me, not the least of which is the author seems to gush about what an unusual experience this is for gaming in general:

Of course people already use online games to meet people, and sometimes romances develop from online interactions. But you’re not usually interacting in ways that so closely imitate real life flirtation and social interaction. And you don’t usually have the option to have sex with another character. The potential for the matchmaking platform is interesting to say the least.

Obviously, she's never used Second Life. Which baffles me, a little--I mean, of course not everyone is going to have experience with SL, but not to even mention it? Writing the entire article as if it's the single most amazing thing since raw toast, this sort of dating/gameplay experience? Because it's not just SL; there have been a lot of games with internal (or even external) dating components.

Still, the author of the Zynga article does share an intriguing comment, almost as an aside:

Cultivating romance online is now the norm.

Now, for me and mine, this is true; but then, for me and mine, it's nearly always been true. While my lady wife did not jump on the internet bandwagon when I did, by a certain point we both had online loves, and offline loves, and sometimes those loves changed categories. It became a facile means of referral to use "long-distance" to cover both those people we only saw occasionally, and those people we only interacted with online. For us, there was never a separation between online and offline, per se; it was just a matter of distance, over means of interaction.

When I started dating in SL, I did develop a mostly unspoken understanding that SL and RL were kept separate, but not for the reasons most people seem to foster this division. At least for me, loves that were "only SL" were not pushed to that side because I never intended to meet them, or get to know them better; in fact, in some cases I grew very close to certain individuals. But they were held within the sphere of SL relations because there were things I could do in SL that I could not in RL.

And I'm not limiting this to sheer deviance; mostly, it's things like growing fur, or being able to coordinate my outfit with my skin and my hair, or dating non-humans. Walking around as a doll, or a faun, or fae. These are things I cannot accomplish in RL, things that I thought contributed largely to how I interacted with these individuals.

What intrigues me most about that comment is how commonplace she seems to think dating online is; not just for me and mine, who half-live on the net full-time as it is, but for everyone. Is that truly the case? More people are meeting each other, talking to each other, becoming intimate friends, online rather than off?

[Help] Omega-Maiden: Pocket D is like Caprice in Champions Online, just not as terrifying
[Help] Crisp Ego: Caprice was terrifying? I had some okay RP there. xD
[Help] Hard Zero: Then you're terrifying.
[Help] Omega-Maiden: The vampire transexual toons are scary

Never checked out Caprice when I was playing Champions, but this amused me. I'd assume it's equivalent to roleplaying in Pocket D in City of Heroes, or, you know, Hentai High in SL.

In non-sex news, this is adorable beyond all reason. A young girl was asked what she wanted to be for Hallowe'en; her answer? "Batman Princess". So her mom made the costume, because her mom is cool like that.

And I just heard about one woman's quest to play every piano in Second Life. I don't know the state of the project now, since that was from back in 2007, but it might be fun to find out.

I only saw her once, but that was all I needed

This from Cryptic Studios:

At Cryptic Studios, your privacy and security is important. As part of our ongoing efforts to monitor and enhance security, we recently detected evidence of an unauthorized access to one of our user databases. The unauthorized access occurred in December 2010, and evidence of this has just been uncovered due to increased security analysis.

The unauthorized access included user account names, handles, and encrypted passwords for those accounts. Even though the passwords were encrypted, it is apparent that the intruder has been able to crack some portion of the passwords in this database. All accounts that we believe were present in the database have had the passwords reset, and customers registered to these accounts have been notified via e-mail of this incident.

While we have no evidence that any other information was taken by the intruder, it is possible that the intruder was able to access additional account information. If they did so, the first and last name, e-mail address, date of birth (if provided to Cryptic Studios), billing address, and the first six digits and the last four digits of credit cards registered on the site may have been accessed. We have no evidence at this time that any data other than the account name, handle, and encrypted password were accessed for any user.

So, essentially, while it may only be my username and password that was hacked, it might be my real name, identifying bits of my credit card number, my email address, my date of birth, and my billing address.

Wonderful. People, this is not making me want to download and play Champions again, just so you know.

Also, I love that they're just getting around to telling us this happened now, when the original break-in was in December of 2010! Way to stay up to date, guys!

In a bit of RL news--and I love this idea--there's now a mobile hangover recovery service operating in Las Vegas, Nevada. The staff on the bus--which resembles a large RV or touring bus on the outside--are all registered nurses or doctors, and no walk-ins are taken. These are regularly scheduled appointments, they're simply appointments on a bus--or, for an extra fee, the doctor and his staff can come to your room.

Using a combination of liquid vitamin supplements, rehydration saline drips, and small amounts of drugs to combat nausea and body pain, the treatments won't kill hangovers, but they do alleviate most of the symptoms. Quite honestly, there should be a set-up like this in every major vacation destination. It's inspired.

Back to Second Life announcements--so far, I don't know if it's a bug or if it's a permanent, Linden-based change, but it's now no longer possible for estate managers and sim owners to filter objects by owner name. I'm actually hoping this is just a bug that will be fixed soon, because if you're on the ground trying to track down 150 screaming headcrab zombies that are lagging your sim all to hell, and you're not able to track down how many of them are owned by the given juvenile idiot who dropped them? It's going to make your job as a manager insanely harder than it needs to be.

Even better? Top scripts no longer refresh when you hit that button, say if you just want to see if the info's changed, or have moved to another part of the sim. Both of those two JIRAs need to be watched, because these are serious problems that need to be addressed.

And back to CaleCraft. In these early establishing days, we were dividing our time between exploring and mining, or in the case of the residents in the main village, dividing their time between building and organizing the village, and expanding their reach.

Every few days, Fawkes and I would make the somewhat lengthy trek back to the village, dropping off resources: sand, glass, cobble, coal; clean stone, stone brick, stone slabs, wooden planks, dyes; even on occasion baked clay bricks and ducken eggs (at least until the ducken pen was built), and seeds for wheat to grow. Other residents were also dropping off resources, and soon the community center had chests nearly overfilling with supplies for building and creating.

So, this is a Minecraft chicken. In the main default game texturing, they have white feathers, yellow beaks, a bright red wattle, and beady little chicken eyes. So why do I call it a ducken?

Well, that goes back to the Painterly texture set. One of their options is a pixelated version of the mallard from Duck Hunt.

(from the Minecrafting album)

You must admit, the body style on this particular critter does approximate "duck" more strongly than "chicken".

(from the Minecrafting album)

This is from one of my private worlds, by the way--this is not from the CaleCraft server. Not because CaleCraft doesn't have ducken--they do--but it was easier to hop in to a solo and stalk the mighty bird on my own.

(from the Minecrafting album)

Of course, that did have a down side. Most ducken do not like to be followed, and this one rushed me several times, ruining the shots I'd lined up.

Off to cull through more pictures, for future entries!