They Live

I have been writing a lot more lately. Like a lot. Like just about every morning I write for at least 30 minutes. Where have all those words gone? Into a novel. Gram is finished! Sort of. He is currently under scrutiny and will be punched up more and revised a bit and then, who knows? I'm just going to try and get that bitch published. With more writing comes more reading (and vice versa) and I've been inspired to keep up with the proverbial Joneses (or Wheatons) and maintain this blog a little bit. It lives!

How this will happen: currently I am hoarding posts in my cheeks like a chipmunk. I will be releasing them, starting in two weeks, on some kind of regular basis. Probably twice monthly. That said, it will be a little weird at first. Some of these entries are very topical and will be dated by the time I release them. That's okay. If it's a good story, it's a good story, even it's months late. I am also considering a change in blog name. "Freebooter" is a very fun word but it's like. "Kommand" is staying because it is slightly unique, even if it's a reference to an excellent thrash song. 

So there's no time like the present to restore this RSS feed! Since Google Reader is on her deathbed, I recommend The Old Reader. Clean and lovely. 

Stick around. Words are coming!

"Give me a name and it produces a story."

I started A Clash of Kings this week and I was pleasantly surprised at how good it felt to see all the old gang again. I left A Game of Thrones excited and ready to learn what happened next, but not quite eager to continue the series. That was last year. I actually intended to sit myself down and read the remaining four books of a A Song of Ice and Fire all in a row this summer, but having finished a few books over spring break I deemed A Clash of Kings the next thing to start on the ol' Kindle and just went for it. I love the pacing of the books and the political intrigue and the backstabbing and the worldbuilding. One thing that strikes me, though, especially as a Tolkien fan, is the quality of the names in the series.

They just aren't good!

Jamestown

Ah yes, the shmup! My favorite niche (cult?) game genre. It's part ADHD hellhole, part doctorate level zen-like meditation camp, part army grade pattern recognition program. The thing about shmups is that they require a bit of finesse to rise above the mire and range into the pixelated night and soar. Otherwise it's a mess of epic proportions. So when a shmup is given the royal treatment; say, an online commercial release, full and decently written story, proper distribution and localization; it is a thing to behold.

I used to collect shmups like clouds collect rain. I've played a lot of them and what it takes to make a good shmup is a proper and reasonable level of challenge (including stage length), well designed ships, thoughtful boss encounters, and a strong balance between skill and stage memorization. Jamestown delivers on all of these and more.

I started this post months ago so I'm just going to post this as is. Crap.

Tidiness is Next to Compulsiveness

Yes, I know the correct noun is compulsion.

I got to thinking about game features and what I like and why I like it. It's an interesting thing to dwell on because, for one, it's good to reflect on what we like and why we like it and find what needs are being met by our behaviors and compulsions. In addition, it's fun to see what role games play in our need to meet our needs.

Two posts in one month?! Buh?!

It is a difficult thing to forgo one's habits. We find ourselves in the niche of those comforts as have had some effect to comfort us in the past, though they are only second, third, fourth, or fifth best. But we know that they have an effect. Even if the effect is not quite what we need, if it distracts us from or alleviates the stress of life, the cold and the dark, then it is worth receiving and interfacing with. It's the case of being stuck in a hot shower: one knows that life is going on outside the shower stall, that inevitably our skin will prune or the water will get cold or that we will run up the utility bill, but inside that cocoon of hot water and gentle noise life enters an apparent stasis. It is, of course, an illusion; a minor comfort to proverbially wash away the dark and the cold, but those things which we do all we can to avoid are still awaiting us beyond that hazy curtain.

So we have many hot showers, many placebos and opiates, but only one true cure. The cure, as it seems, is far away and through a winding, coarse path that we must carve ourselves, rife with distractions (fair and foul) and pricker bushes and all manner of annoyances. It's the difference between finding a comfortable dugout to sit on a third of the way up the hill and climbing the hill to find a fully furnished cottage with all our favorite things and a gracious host. It's obviously worth the effort but the more time we spend in our dugout the more the cottage slips into a state of myth in our minds and hearts.

It's dry and rather safe in the dugout, much better than being out on the slippery hill, but it's still second best.

So what does it take to get off of one's ass and forgo those comfortable habits for something lasting and wholesome? I can't really say. I suppose the comforts (the dugout, the hot shower) have to fail us enough to motivate us to find the real thing. That, probably, could take a lifetime. 

The Moderate Gamer

I'm confounded by this all-or-nothing attitude toward MMOs. I understand it because I've been there but, sparing myself any Freudian waxing, it doesn't make lots of sense. It seems a very juvenile attitude to have, whereby one is either the "best" or not there at all. These perpetual worlds can be savored slowly, dropped when the enjoyment fades, and resumed when interest is piqued again.

It's not like single-player games where you play through, beat it, enjoy it, play it again when you feel you want to relive the experience (not unlike books). These online games are always growing and changing, there for you when you want to give it another go.

I suppose I just get annoyed when the same people who complain about the game from the outset and devour content like cheap steak decide to make a big fuss about their "leaving" a game, only to return in a few months. Who cares.

The Secret World

So The Secret World is due out in April. I'm intrigued by its setting: the modern world, with a hugely epic backstory spanning millennia, where every myth, urban legend, and conspiracy theory you ever heard is true, and where secret societies fight for control of these powerful myths. I don't know how it will shake out as a game, but the idea has piqued my interest terribly. I haven't gone in for this sort of thing since I got into Lovecraft back in college. Feeling inspired, I wrote a little story about a character finding his way into the secretive Illuminati of TSW. Enjoy!