August 5, 2013

  • Best of RockOfEadie #2:

     

    Another repost, in preparation for the end of Xanga (as we know it?) and the beginning of Xanga 2.0.  I do plan on continuing on to Xanga 2.0 as of now, although what I plan on doing with my blog will be different than in the past (Something you can read about HERE)... but until then, I'm sifting through my older stuff to find posts that I thought were interesting and calling this "Best of RockOfEadie" (regardless of the quality of the actual original post).

    This one may require a tad bit of context though... at the time, my layout consisted of a large stick man holding a pencil and made to look like he was specifically writing all of my blogs... I then changed briefly to a layout that just had a pencil-drawn tombstone on it for a while, and this was the first post I made under that new layout after having switched from the stick man.  This is also when I changed the name of my blog from simply "eadie" to "RockOfEadie"

    The original time post of this blog was July 25, 2008 11:15 AM

     

     

    Title:  Purpose of Life

        Can we really say that our lives have a predetermined "purpose" to them.  Is there really something that we were designed or intended to do?  This is a commonly asked question among philosophers, and a common argument for atheism.  That predetermined life is purely fictional is what has driven many great debates and discussions.  Often of course, to the point that it is completely overdone.  So why am I going to talk about it?  Because since when have I ever approached any topic in a normal way?

        One of the most common messages I get from viewers like you, is about my stick figure man on the top left corner of my blog.  He hasn't really been there for too long, but has somewhat become a trademark of my site.  Although this was not really my intention, I am in no way upset by this.  But many of you want to know where he comes from, what his story is, or just plain what the hell he is doing.  So I now present to you, the purpose of the pencil man's life.

     rain 1 rain 2 rain 3

        I first met the pencil man many moons ago.  He came to me one day in English class.  I could tell that he had already walked a long, hard road.  He was scrappy, slightly erased in some places, and his pencil was already well shaved to the point where there were only about four inches left.  I was immediately moved by his appearance.  He came to me asking for nothing, he required no favors.  He simply said that he was here to help.  When I asked him about his past, he simply told me that it was irrelevant.  He said that while many people say that we can learn from the past, he had discovered that there is always a way to erase it.  Nothing is permanent he told me, nothing is lasting.  I was obviously perplexed by this, but more so, I wondered how he would be able to help me.
        He then told me of his identity.  He said that he was a being, both mythical and very real, both intangible, yet entirely within anybody's grasp.  His profession was in writing.  He was unable to provide me with any references but I let him on board anyways.  He was immediately able to help me complete all my assignments for the class.  His love for fiction fueled my pieces and my grades maintained very high marks.  I couldn't believe the creativity and originality he inspired.  I asked him from where he got his ideas.  All he was able to tell me was that they were already there.
        We worked together like this for some time, but I didn't really feel that this was fair.  The inspiration and motivation in my work wasn't coming from me, it was coming from him.  I confronted him.

        Me:  Every time it comes down to doing my school work, I don't really feel that involved, it's like you are doing all the work.
        Him:  This is true, I told you before though, I wouldn't ask any favors of you, I am compelled to do this.
        Me:  You actually enjoy doing my work for me?
        Him:  Enjoy isn't really the correct word.  It would me more accurate to say that it is my purpose.  You see, I am your muse, your inspiration, your thoughts.  To say that I am doing all of your work is to say that you are doing your own work.  I am that part of you, your mental, I am part of you.
        Me (thinking to myself):  That would explain why you felt so familiar the first time we met.  That explains why I felt connected.
        Me (to him):  Then why do I feel like I'm cheating?  Why is that I feel a separation from you?
        Him:  Well, in a sense I am separate.  Whenever you are asked to write a story, you have to call on me, you have to summon my aid.  See, you are just as you are, a confused person, incapable of thinking freely unless you really dig.  Unless you call on me.  The human imagination is a very complicated thing.  It doesn't really stem from yourself, it comes from a collection of experiences and history that isn't really a part of you, but is instead given to you to call from.  Thus you receive a sense of separation from it.

        This was all too confusing.  Nothing made sense, but I decided that if something feels wrong, then it probably is.  I no longer asked him to help me with my assignments.  My grades did start to go down a little bit, but not nearly to the level that they were at before.  I felt prouder, and more accomplished.  I felt more complete.
        Then I started picking up blogging.  I loved getting on xanga, flexing the muscles of my mind, and reading and responding to what other people wrote.  It was my heroin; my thrilling, addicting, escape.  I needed it, real lightdaily, it too became a part of me.  Other people noted this, people in my life outside of xanga, they thought it wasn't healthy, they thought it was unnatural, I didn't care, it was comforting.  I noticed however, that what I was doing lacked polish, it lacked a sense of established uniformity, it needed direction.  I knew just who to turn to for help.  I called him out again, and once again he unquestionably came to my aid.  He was even more rugged this time around then when were first met.  He wasn't as dark, his lines were significantly fuzzier, his pencil was smaller, he looked completely used.  Nonetheless, he provided his unwavering assistance, and I began to get noticed.  My work showed more evidence of character, of charisma, and of direction.  However, the character that they were showing wasn't exactly my character.  They were exhibiting parts of creativity that didn't really express myself, but instead expressed what my muse intended of me.  I wasn't controlling it, I was letting it out of the cage, allowing it to run free and be myself while I sat behind the keyboard merely typing what it whispered in my ear.
        Eventually, I decided to try something different.  I let the muse out as I usually did, but this time, I didn't exactly write everything it told me to, I changed things, molded them to fit me.  I took the wild expressiveness that it was and caged it in.  I didn't tell it this of course.  I let it assume that it was still in control, so I let it tell me what I wanted it to, but then I added my twist to it.  I did this more and more until eventually I wasn't using it at all.  My work started to come more out of me.  The penciled man was then perplexed, it stood on, looking over my blogs with a puzzled look, always scratching it's head, always confused.  It knew something was up.  It approached me asking why the material presented wasn't that which it had provided me with.

        Him:  You aren't using my help?  Why have you changed?
        Me:  I finally understood what you told me.  I finally realized the truth.  The only way to truly evolve as a writer, as an artist, is to no longer require the use of my muse.  I have to gain inspiration and creativity from myself, I can't sit here and wait for you to show up.  You are unreliable, and out of control.  I have to think for myself, I have to be my own motivation.  This isn't to say that I don't appreciate what you have done.  Instead, I have in a sense become you.  Absorbed you.
        Him:  I was already you.
        Me:  On a physical level though.  I needed to become you both physically and metaphysically.  The body was the same, but the mind was separate.  I have surpassed you.  I have succeeded you.  I have usurped you.
        Him:  Very well.

        And that was how the conversation ended.  He flipped the pencil around and began working with what was left of his eraser.  He told me then that he had completed his purpose in life.  The last use a person has for their muse he said, is to no longer inspire their work, but to inspire themselves.  At this point, he said, he was no longer necessary.  Eventually, he was completely erased.  He was gone.  I couldn't help but wonder though.  Had I really done what I set out to do?  I wanted to free myself of the reliance on this figure, but his last words disturbed me.  If his final purpose was to inspire me, and not my work, does that mean that I have now become his work?  Have I cheated on the masterpiece of myself?  Of all the help he willingly gave me in what I wrote, perhaps it was the very same help that he lent toward me.  I had cheated myself.  I used him to become him.  It was all enough to make my head spin.
    erase 1
        Whatever had just happened was irrelevant.  It was as he said in the beginning, the past is in fact irrelevant.  Every can be changed, he himself was unmade for the sake of my present, therefor I no longer had to worry about what had already happened, I just had to continue focussing on my now.  My current.  My present.  My rock.
        I can become my own cornerstone, my own ideal.  I can express it simply by allowing it to flow through me as opposed to through an outside part of my mind, a part that was separate from my consciousness.  Does this mean that my writing will be different from now on?  Yes, but in only a very subtle way.  Will you be able to tell?  Perhaps not, so you shouldn't be alarmed.  But I will know, and I will take comfort in this.  I have found my rock.  Here it is.

    erase 2

        Until next time, good luck with life.

August 3, 2013

  • Survey

    @saintvi was reblogging about some silly survey she succeeded in succinctly answering awhile ago and extended an invite for others to take it as well.  So, I figured what the hey.  It does feel good to be back here on Xanga afterall, and good to try to get back into the community, so here goes:

    What was the last thing you put in your mouth? Mr. Pibb... and before that a protein shake... my god I'm so healthy.

    Have you ever kissed anyone named Matthew? Actually, no, believe it or not.

    Where was your profile picture taken? I drew it actually...

    Can you play guitar hero? Not worth my weight

    Name someone that made you laugh today? My employees

    How late did you stay up last night and why? haha, I was actually up until about 2 am on Skype with my friends from Fort Worth, Tx, and Canada doing a pen and paper role playing game we do frequently.  I'm a zombie girl trying to find my purpose in the world and discover why my necromancer father tried to bring me back from my unusual and untimely death.

    If you could move somewhere else, would you? I'm actually moving into Amberly's and my very first house next week.  Aside from that, I would love to move to Seattle.

    Ever been kissed under fireworks? Not that I can recall.

    Which of your friends lives closest to you?  I have two friends that live about an hour from me in Katy, Tx.  One friend I know from online, and the other is more an acquaintance named Dan the Theologian whom you may or may not have heard of.  The vast majority of my friends live in my hometown of Fort Worth, though.

    Do you believe ex's can be friends? Yes, with the passage of time.

    How do you feel about Dr Pepper? It works, but Mr. Pibb is better.

    When was the last time you cried really hard? Honestly, probably when I was like 8

    Where are you right now? At my apartment...?

    What bed did you sleep in last night? My bed...?

    What was the last thing someone bought for you for dinner? I think Amberly bought some Whataburger the other night.

    Who took your profile picture? Again, I drew it.

    Who was the last person you took a picture of? Probably either my son or daughter.

    Was yesterday better than today? Probably

    Can you live a day without TV? There is very little on TV worth watching, but I try to catch as many Rangers games as I can.

    Are you mad about anything? There is plenty in the world that I'm mad about, but I try to channel that into creativity.

    Are you upset about anything? Same as above.

    Do you think relationships are ever really worth it? Not sure I'd be where I am if I didn't think so.

    Are you a bad influence? Abso-fucking-lutely

    Night out or night in? Changes with my mood.

    What items could you not go without during the day? my phone... but I hate that

    Who was the last person you visited in the hospital? Probably my deceased mother-in-law

    What does the last text message in your inbox say? "Hey. Love you."

    How do you feel about your life right now? It's exactly where it should be.

    Do you hate anyone? Probably.

    If we were to look in your xanga inbox, what would we find? A bunch of crap.  All of it mass messages, mostly right now from people freaking out about Xanga, I haven't had any real messages there in years.

    Say you were given a drug test right now, would you pass? For the past 5 years, yes.

    Has anyone ever called you perfect before? I tell my employees that I'm perfect almost every day.

    What song is stuck in your head? This:  http://youtu.be/CO8vBVUaKvk

    Someone knocks on your window at 2am, who do you want it to be? Jessica Alba looking for a threesome

    Wanna have grandkids before you’re 50? If I do, I do.  It's entirely possible at this point.  The younger I am, the more energy I will be able to devote to them.

    Name something you have to do tomorrow? Go back to work.  I'm the manager of a shoe store, and Back to School is the busiest time of year for us.

    Do you think too much or too little? Way, way, way, way too much

    Do you smile a lot? It's more like a smirk, but yes, it's on my face constantly.

    Who was your last missed call on your Mobile phone? My old boss, Jai, he's pretty cool.

    Is there something you always wear? Underwear.  I've also developed a shoe fetish since working with shoes for so long.  I spend stupid money on Cole Haans

    What were you doing 30 minutes ago? Lifting weights.

    Did you have an exciting last weekend? Nothing special happened.

    Have you ever crawled through a window? I used to back when I lived with my parents all the time.

    Have you ever dyed your hair? No, but when I was a Junior in high school, I specifically remember my American History teacher asking me if I was going grey... I've only gotten greyer since.  It runs in my family apparently.

    Are you wearing a necklace? No.

    Are you an emotional person? Not even remotely.  I'm extremely sarcastic to my employees though, but I find it gets the point across better than yelling at them, and they aren't capable of yelling back.

    What's something that can always make you feel better? Being creative, Minecraft, music, baseball or tennis, drumming, hopefully Xanga again.

    Will this weekend be a good one? We should be finishing getting ready for our big move next week.  We'll be first time home-buyers so it's exciting.

    What do you want right now? Frullati, actually.

    Have you ever worn the opposite sex's clothing? I did a lot of stupid stuff for girls when I was in high school... wearing strange clothing was definitely among them

    Have you ever worked in a food place? I used to be an assistant manager at a Sonic... it was the worst job I've ever had.

    What's on your schedule for tomorrow? Work the first half of the day, and take care of the kids second half while the wife sleeps.

    Does anyone know your xanga password? Yes.

August 2, 2013

  • What you can expect out of me from Xanga 2.0

     

     

        Very soon, Xanga 2.0 will be here, and if I understand correctly, since I'm a LIFE member, that means I'm in, at least for a little while (if anybody would like to tell me, that would be cool).

        But as many of you know, I haven't been blogging on here as much as I used to, and as I have a fairly demanding job, and a wife and two children under the age of two, I don't exactly have as much time to "blog" in the traditional sense as I used to.  Especially considering a project I'm working on.

        I am working on writing a series of books called Banana the Five.  The concept for them is as ridiculous as the name sounds.  Effectively, it's a bunch of warrior bananas and other unusual creatures out to save the world.  Despite the goofy nature of the concept though, it isn't being written as a comedy, but rather expecting to reader to assume that all the ridiculous things you are reading about are plausible and normal within the universe they are in.  It's honestly very difficult to explain in too few words on here... but basically, my announcement is that I will be using my Xanga 2.0 account as a creative space for working on this project.  Here you may find blurbs, brainstorming sessions, graphics, and music all pertaining to the work I am doing.  As I will be attempting to eventually publish and sell these books if I can, I will not be posting the full novels here, although I wouldn't be surprised if numerous excerpts show up.  Additionally, I have a group of friends working on a video game that is being developed more or less simultaneously with my writing, so beta images from our work on the game, as well as some of the game's music will show up, along with lots of concept art and other fun things will make appearances. 

        Anyways, if any or all of this sounds appealing or interesting or just curious to you, please continue following me on here, and you'll likely see some pretty strange stuff.  Otherwise, don't expect TOO much else out of my continued blogging here (although it's entirely possible I could bust out a standard blog every now and then)

        There has already been a lot of work made on this as I've been working on it for a couple months (with a brief hiatus recently that is now effectively over)... so I can start you guys off with some teasers of what's been going on:

August 1, 2013

  • Best of RockOfEadie: MyXangaBook - The next big thing

     
    Decided to go back through my archives and look for something funny to repost just for the hell of it.  This seemed appropriate given the upcoming switch to Xanga 2.0... enjoy a little something something I originally wrote in March of 2008:

    Okay, so what do you do when you are working on an AMAZING post that you know won't be ready until around this time tomorrow, but you still want a post for today?  You repost something that didn't get the attention that you felt it deserved the first time around.  So without further adue, I present to you xangafacespace... or something of the sort.

    __________________________________________________________________________

     

       This post is going to be all about a website that I have recently discovered upon teh internets.  It is affectionately entitled "MyXangaBook.com".  You can't actually get there by typing it into the address bar on your browser, though.  The only way to get to it is to have it magically show up one day.  You can do this by doing absolutely nothing with any of your free time other than rapidly 'alt-tabbing' back and forth between these three websites (MySpace, Xanga, Facebook).  In one word, it can be called "thisissoamazingyouguyshavegottotryitlikeOMG".  From this website you can do everything:

    >Say hi to your friends
    >Complete tons of surveys
    >Click on super-cool advertisements
    >Do chain mails all day long
    >Blog
    >Blog some more
    >Blog some more
    >Blog MOAR!!!!
    >Take your midterms
    >Cook your food
    >Bomb the hell out of them desert type countries

    I strongly recommend coming across this site.  It lets you add over 2,000,000,000 applications a day that you will never even have to use again.  It lets you take 450 pictures of you holding your cellphone in front of a mirror per second.  You can "poke", "hug", "have sex with", and "kill" your friends all with the click of a mouse.  You can play sports, get buff, and attract tons of females.  You can be cool, have a social life, and drink lots of sodas and snack on pigskins all day too!

    In addition to all this, if you spend more than 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 hours on this website... AL GORE WILL PERSONALLY COME TO YOUR HOUSE AND CONGRATULATE YOU ON HAVING FINISHED THE INTERNET!  He will even bake you a cake in the shape of the world wide web!!!11!!

    Here is a screenshot from my page on MyXangaBook.com, feel free to click on it to see a larger, more detailed image:
    myxangabook

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    Is this cool or what?

    Ok so everybody, what I need you to do is as soon as you get to this site, leave me your new screen names in comments so we can hook up on MyXangaBook and have cam sex all day long!!!!

    This may just be the best thing ever!

    Ok, enough of that, now to continue my letter-a-day series with #11: Kollosal 'K'

    k

    K stands for what pretty much everyone in the world has begun calling me these days: KING.  I'm really not sure why everybody has to insist that absolute power be granted only to me, but HEY, it works in Cuba/China/France(probably) so why can't it work in the good ol' US of A?  C'mon people, we gotta keep up with the times!  All this election talk we have been having so much of lately is just silly!  Who needs a president?  Besides, at the rate things are going the next prez could be female... or worse... BLACK!!! *gasp*.  So people, people, why can't we just look to the good examples happening all around us.  Dictatorship is the wave of the future.  (Sure, I know that a king is a monarch and not a dictator, but don't rain on my parade).  Elections-shmections, I say we should simply let each figurehead decide his successor, therefore, at the momment, Bush should clearly and logically be the one to decide the next ruler of the world's last superpower.  I think we can all agree on this one. Who's with me?

     

     

    Until next time - Good luck with life.

     

    p.s. to females and black people, please don't shoot me, it's only satire.

     

July 25, 2013

  • George Zimmerman Found Dead

     

     

    Sanford, FL:  Recently acquitted murderer, George Zimmerman was found dead this morning in the living room of his second story apartment in Sanford, Florida.  Initial police reports indicate that the likely cause of death is a self-inflicted gunshot wound directly through the chest.  Other evidence collected in the room suggested signs of a struggle including bruises on the victims face and neck, and one of the sofa pillows being described as "slightly disheveled".
        Sources have confirmed that the state of Florida believes that they have enough evidence to prosecute Zimmerman possibly under the charges of assault or manslaughter.  Prosecutors say that Zimmerman acted aggressively by allegedly profiling Zimmerman for being a racial profiler, and despite a call to his family psychologist telling him to "calm the hell down" and "do not pursue", he followed Zimmerman against this advice and thus instigated the fatal confrontation.
        Zimmerman's attorneys, however, claim that Zimmerman was merely acting in self defense after Zimmerman turned on Zimmerman and began forcefully beating him into submission on the living room floor.  It was a last resort attempt by Zimmerman, who feared his life may be endanger, to use deadly force on the assailing Zimmerman.
        Pieces of evidence still being examined by Florida State Police include a recording of a 911 call made by an unnamed witness walking past the door to Zimmerman's apartment in which in the background can be heard cries of "help! help!" which are being studied to determine if they were made by Zimmerman, or in fact if they were instead made by Zimmerman.  Zimmerman's attorneys are also requesting copies of Zimmerman's text records where they believe they will be able to show that Zimmerman was "up to no good" and perhaps had a history of not making his rent payments on time.

     

     

     

April 4, 2012

  • Democrats don't support evolution.

       Whether you prefer to plant your tongue in your left or right cheek is irrelevant to me so long as you keep it there for the remainder of this article.

        It's quite simple.  Democrats, in no way, support evolution.  They may believe in it.  But they are concerned with doing everything in their power to stop it.  

        Society advances forward both technologically and mentally by the spread of knowledge and intelligence, and really, really good sperm.  Sperm being the wonderful container for which all desirable and undesirable traits are carried from generation to generation.  Spermy, sperm, sperm.

        Aaaaaanyway... Democrats are attacking evolution on two different fronts.  The first being BIG GOVERNMENT.  Of course, nobody likes calling it "big government" since it's such a nasty pair of words, but that is exactly what it means when so much of our daily lives our being regulated.  GRANTED... you may not be surprised after reading my post from a couple days ago that I wouldn't trust the average American with their own life either and understand perfectly the need for such regulation.  This doesn't mean that I think it's GOOD... I just think it's either that, or we go back to Hoovervilles.  The point is though, that BIG EVIL NASTY GOVERNMENT provides an environment that is directly counter to the ideal situation for natural selection to occur.  For our society to move in a forward direction, we NEED the lower-class, uneducated to start dropping like flies as a result of their own mistakes and lack of health.  This of course will remove generations of less than favorable spermies from swimming through less than favorable fallopians.  By requiring health coverage and other regulated benefits that help to directly counter-act the mistakes... the dredges of society are allowed to continue to breed and repopulate the earth with all the speed and rabidness of rabbits, which brings me to...

        THE BIG "A" WORD.  And no, I don't mean automaton.  The legalization of abortion is the single most counter-evolution action that society could possibly take part in.  Not only are the wealthy to middle class who don't have souls (which is most of the upper and middle class) able to pick and choose the very number of children that they have, but are able to mate endlessly without the fear of children at all.  The constant and healthy breeding by carefully choosing a mate based off of looks and intelligence is what drives the evolution process forward.  Without any risk of consequences, people can afford to be a little less choosy.  AND HERE'S THE BEST PART... BECAUSE of the government regulated benefits and healthcare options... it's actually beneficial for the lower class who rely on these packages to have as many children with as many different mates as they can.  Every single child they can get their grubby hands on is another dollar sign.

        In other words, not only are democrats doing everything they can to make a mockery out of Lord God Darwin's discovery of evolution, but they are doing their damnedest to carry it in the very OPPOSITE direction.

        Until next time, good luck with life.

     

April 3, 2012

  • Customer Satisfaction

        Would you like to buy a second pair of shoes today for half price with this, ma'am?

        *woman looks at husband*
        Go grab those ones that you were looking at, hun.

        *man comes back with pair of $70 Dockers*
        Okay, just so you are aware, you will get half price on these girl's sandals, since they are only $20...

        WELL THAT IS ABSOLUTELY RIDICULOUS!!!! 

        *awkward pause*
        I'm sorry ma'am, you get half price on a shoe of equal or lesser value.  Since the most expensive shoe are these Dockers, the sandals will go half price

        It's okay babe, I don't need these

        THAT IS EXACTLY WHY WE DON'T SHOP HERE

        *me, thinking that they are shopping here right now*
        Because we only give half price on the cheaper pair?  Otherwise people would buy a $5 pair and a $100 pair and get 50 dollars off...

        IT'S JUST UNBELIEVABLE  AND YOU NEVER HAVE THE SIZE WE'RE LOOKING FOR

        If we don't have your size, we can send it straight to your house in only 3-4 days at no cost.

        WE ARE NEVER SHOPPING HERE AGAIN!

        Is there another store in town that offers buy one, get one half price all year long and gives you the more expensive one at half off?

        I AM NOT GOING TO ANSWER THAT.

        *completes purchase*

        Thank you ma'am, have a nice day.

        Until next time, good luck with life.

        P.S.  @Slicy still wondering what your BNet name is, we should totally hit it up sometime.

     

March 31, 2012

  • Seeing People in a Different Light

    I would have to say that my transition into an almost full-blooded cynic has been a pleasant one. I legitimately enjoy the feeling of knowing that the vast majority of people that I come across on a daily basis are either incredibly stupid, or are otherwise just not fully conscious of the world around them. This is in stark contrast to my philanthropic wife who looks for any hint of good that she can find in a person (probably why she's still with me), but nine times out of ten, I just don't see it. I feel like Lot living in a world of Gomorrah and can't even find five good men.

    The most redeeming aspect, though, of this train of thought, is that the people that I DO come across whom I find to be respectable for some reason or another, are all the more refreshing to interact with. I am a big fan of not desensitizing myself to the point of numbness created by enjoying "every little detail" of life and the people in it, because when I do see the bright spots, I feel that it makes them all the brighter.

    I find this comparable to making a pencil sketch (my absolute favorite form of art) that includes some form of light source, be it a bulb, or candle, or a star. With a pencil and paper, it is literally impossible to DRAW light. All you can do is NOT draw it. Focus on the light as the brightest item on the page, thus making it effectively blank, and then grey-scale all of your other objects based on this contrast.

    If I want to truly see the best of what people have to offer, I have to make them the brightest part of my "drawing" and grey-scale everybody else back accordingly. I feel like this helps me look at the bigger picture more accurately. I, of course, don't mean that in any way as a racial metaphor. Mind you, there are lots of good people in the world, but just as drawing often has more than one light source; there are just so many more less redeeming people in my eyes, and these are the people that fill in the rest of my picture of society and the world. I feel like if I tried to be less than cynical, I would just be looking at a blank canvas.

    I realize that this is not the most Christian way of viewing other people, but we all have our sins. Mine just so happens to be being a bad person.

    Until next time, good luck with life.

    P.S. Did I use the semicolon correctly?

March 30, 2012

  • The future of multiplayer video games.

    I recently read a very excellent blog post by Mr. Andrew Reiner, the executive editor for GameInformer magazine, concerning his opinion of the current state of multiplayer gaming, with regards specifically to progression outside of the field of battle (in terms of leveling up or collecting items). He states, rather bluntly, that he feels that Mass Effect 3's system will be representative of what the future of multiplayer gaming holds. While I have yet to play ME3's multiplayer that many of my friends have been raving about (which I'm sure is fantastic), I feel that based on Mr. Reiner's description of what he feels is so compelling about it (which I will not describe here in detail, since he has already done a fine job), I can only say that I hope that when it comes to progressing multiplayer in a way that retains the gamers attention and facilitates replay value (which is the target of his sentiments), that developers are better than that.

    Like Reiner, I too am beginning to feel somewhat of a disconnect in terms of the replay value of games. When I was a child, the household that I grew up in did neither support, nor condone the use of video games until I was much older when compared to the majority of my peers, so the few games that I did have access to, I played, and played, and played, and played. The same type of game that could be worth 12 total hours of my time today, I likely squeezed 80+ hours out of back then. Now granted, being an adult, a husband, and a father could very easily account for my significantly shorter attention span when it comes to a game's longevity, but believe me when I say that I still play games far too much (just ask my wife). But beyond this, lately I have noticed that my lack of desire to play the same game, over and over again, is being catalyzed by the game's lack of a solid method of compelling me to do so.

    Back to Reiner's article, he points to the drawing point of multiplayer in Mass Effect 3 to be a card-based collection system that occurs after a match is over that serves two-fold as both a means to acquire better weapons and gear for your next mission, as well as a fix to cure the itch ingrained within every homosapien to collect stuff. And let's face it, this does sound like a really fun system that any multiplayer game should have, because really, who doesn't like collecting random stuff and getting more powerful while they do it. This has been a core mechanic of video games since the history of both video and games, and I welcome the evolution of it that we are beginning to see today. HOWEVER, this still doesn't really solve the overall problem. Don't worry, I'm getting there.

    One more, important piece of setup before I reach my dramatic point (which has been somewhat brow-beaten already) is the need to discuss the current console generation's use of achievement/trophy systems. Almost every game out there right now uses these systems that are quite literally meaningless, imaginary awards based off of certain milestones or feats performed in the games. These are slowly, but surely, turning even the most die-hard of us nay-sayers into what is being termed an "achievement whore" - somebody who is literally addicted to collecting as many of these things as is humanly possible. At first blush, this seems like an excellent solution to a gamer seeking to maximize his replay value out of his purchase. However, through my own experience, I have noticed that with most games, this creates one of two glaring problems. Either it will cause the gamer to continue playing a game long after he continues to find it fun, or the game will still be enjoyable, but he will have already collected all the possible achievements and no longer find playing the game to be "productive". I put productive in quotes because if you describe playing a game as a form of productivity, than there are some more pressing issues at hand.

    So now, after all of this setup, I get to the real meat and potatoes, and I'm sorry for taking so long to get there. For finding a true solution to the future of multiplayer (which is where the answer to maximizing replay value lies) you must first ask a question: Why is it, that in any other form of competitive entertainment, namely sports or board games, does the replay value stretch to nearly infinity? What do I mean by this? It's simple, take professional baseball, the sport is close to 200 years old, and despite the occasional rule change, it remains largely the same, and is more popular today than it has ever been. There is no Baseball 2, or Baseball: Modern Warfare. It's just baseball, year, after year, after year. Same can be said for Monopoly (there are different editions, but it's all the same game), basketball, scrabble, or even Uno. How come I can buy a chess board once in my life, and never feel the need to upgrade it every single year, but I can't play the same video game for more than a month? I think I have thought up the answer. Achievements, collectibles, experience points, all these things are great, and I welcome them in all my games, but every single one of them are limited. They run out. You reach the highest level, you collected all the trophies, you have every weapon in the game. You beat it. The single-solitary issue with the replay value of video games is that you can beat them. When was the last time you heard somebody say that they beat the sport of baseball or that they beat the game of chess? These are things that cannot be beat, only the competition. Multiplayer gaming needs to shift its focus to be more about this. Oh, I lost a round of Team Fortress 2, but look, I double rocket jumped while eating a sandwich and got the achievement for that. The fact that there were other people you were playing against is simply a means to an end.

    Lately, I've gotten back into an old love of mine: StarCraft. StarCraft is the largest e-sport in the world, meaning there are literally people that make far more money than you or I by playing this game professionally. Sure, there are actually several hundred achievements you can unlock for your profile when you play this game, but I can honestly say that after playing a few matches a night for several months now, that this is the first game where I feel like I am collecting achievements as a reward for successful competition, not competing so that I can get more achievements. And what's better, is that literally every single person that plays online is placed into divisions and given rankings within that division, with the goal of becoming good enough to ascend into the next divisional tier. When does this end? Once you reach the Grand Master division, which only the top 200 players in the world get to enter, and at which point you should start considering doing it professionally. In other words, it has almost infinite replay value. It's not a perfect system, but that is what I hope the true future of multiplayer is.

    In a sense, Mr. Reiner could be quite correct. The collect-a-thon style that is evolving in Mass Effect 3 JUST MIGHT BE the future of multiplayer, but that doesn't mean that I think that it SHOULD be. If the real concern here is that we want something to continue to pull us into a game long after we have "beaten it", it will take a focus on the competitive, human versus human, aspect of it. Skill ceilings that can't be reached, a constant desire to be better, and constantly another person, not a carrot, dangling just in front of you, taunting you and teasing you to beat them. That's the competitive human nature... and THAT is where the future of multiplayer games needs to be headed.

    Side note: To all my hundreds of Xanga subscribers on here who have likely died off due to my inactivity, I can't promise that I'm back... but I might be. I miss you guys, and I miss this place.

    Until next time, good luck with life.

January 18, 2010