My thoughts spilled all over the page...welcome to a tiny part of my mind.

• 17Oct 07

  What comes instead of games

  After my contract with myself stating that I will limit my gaming to those few games that are realistic enough to actually be useful to me as a source of learning, I realized that games aren't the problem. No doubt, the agreement I made with myself helped, but now I'm typing this blog and participate in myspace conversations and play bass guitar and walk to the store instead of taking a tram.My mindturned out to be extremely good at finding ways to kill time to compensate for the time I used to spend on games.

  And now I'm thinking. I used to waste a lot of time on games but the times I had within those games are imbedded in my memoy forever. The dark journey I took across the mountain and through the dust storm to finish my great quest in Morrowind; the fires I sat near my buddies who were playing guitar in the wasteland of STALKER; the conspiracies I solved with a cold blooded shot from the darkness in Splinter Cell; the beautiful treasures of the unknown I found in the nebula clouds of Freelancer...These things make my stomach feel funny even when I just think of them. Now I have nothing to release my stress, and yet I'm still wasting my time almost as much as before.

  The solution: find in your life a goal the way to which will be pleasant enough, so you don't have to look for ways to waste your time, all for the purpose of not doing what you're supposed to at school.

  • Posted Oct 17, 2007 5:26 am GMT
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• 7Feb 07

  My way

  I have always been in an unusual position. I once heard that a Japanese professor of some kind was convinced of drugs being as bad of a thing as games. I happen to agree with him. In fact, I would go further. Another person, someone's father, stated that he'd rather have his son take heroin than play games because at least heroin takers move around and do things. Although, as a father I'd rather have my child happy and lazy due to games than mentally damaged and broke due to drugs, I can't say that the man didn't have a bit of truth in his argument. In short, I hate the concept of games. These virtual simulations destroy real lives, and I if they were banned alike like heavy drugs, I wouldn't find it a harsh decision.

  Yet...I am a gamer. In fact, I am one of the more hardcore gamers out there. With a history of different consoles, finally ending with the entrance of the good old all-round PC, I had played almost every acceptable game ever to be put on the market...until recently, when I signed a contract with myself. Yes, as crazy (or pathetic) as it sounds, I actually typed a friggin contract for myself and signed it. Therein I declared no longer to play games, with several exceptions.

  The exceptions consisted of games where a certain skill is to be gained (or improved), games that are close enough to reality so they can basically be cinsidered to be training simulators. I left out these exceptions for two reasons. One reason is that I could not help but leave the door slightly opened for the drugs to return to me in small portions. Second reason has to do with why I think banning games would be impractical. That reason is that governments would have a hard time banning something that they themselves use to train their soldiers, mostly pilots. The line between a simulator and a game-simulator is too vague to see. Whether people want to admit it or not, but games can teach. Tactical shooters teach movement tactics, teamwork and firefight tricks. Total War series teach Medieval battlefield tactics, which, although aren't too useful today, do enrich your mind. Flight Simulator teaches, at least partially, to control an airplane.

  Now I only write a review or two on a game a year, as I've decided to cut dramatically the time I devote to games. I need to help my light addiction while I still can. A single game can still wipe out your life (World of Warcraft anyone?), but I take little steps at a time, taking only the most useful out of the gaming indsustry, even if it is still combined with a lot of fun.

  • Posted Feb 7, 2007 2:35 am GMT
  • Category: Games
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• 4Mar 06

  The dark future of gaming

  After reading so many threads on so many forums, I decided to kill some time by stating my opinion about the issue many gamers are talking about lately: the turning of games into large expensive vulgar jewels.

  These are jewels that have to be made because the technology will not wait for the developers. Although many gamers argue that the graphics don't make the game, the truth is that every developer knows that in order to stay on the market he must use the latest tech to bring larger, more complicated and prettier games into our homes. The complications in making these jewels force the extension of developer teams. That means even more costs.

  Therefore, these are jewels that push the companies to the edge of a marketing cliff. It's the edge between the price of the game and the amount of money a player is prepared to pay for it. I think most of us will agree that no matter how good an Xbox game is, we're not prepared to pay more than $60 for it.

  The solution to the problem of the complications that come with gaming evolution, as one of our union members explains, is being sought for by some companies in outsourcing. Outsourcing means hiring mercenary developer teams that are good in one particular thing and “…it means that designers and programmers no longer have to be a jack of all trades, they diversify but they also specialize in different applications and different aspects of a games design…”. This does not necessarily make games cheaper. That would depend on the mercenary developer. It does, however, ease the process of making games and it brings work to people all over the world. On the other hand, can this mean that now some things in games will be outstanding and other horrendous because one group of designers was good and the other bad? I can see it now before me: a game from an International company with the CD made in China, car models stamped by underage kids in Taiwan, gun models created in Russia. Will we be able to trust any game company ever again? Only if they find the right sources that are stable.

  And what about the quality of the game. Many gamers say that gameplay in the recently released game is awful and that it seems like several suits gather in a smoked room every now and then to decide what sells today, “Oh, it seems they like the whole “homies in the hood” thing. Let’s capitalize on that!” I can’t agree. There was nothing but improvement in games like Grand Theft Auto San Andreas and many of the new role-playing games allow for more and more freedom with much more atmosphere than ever before. Maybe these concerns that the players have are simply premature fears that in the future the games might turn into something like a cheap Hollywood action-movie with Jean Claude Van Damme, where every time the player would have to kill everything that moves to avenge the death of a brother…or a wife…..an uncle?.. We gamers like the little quality club we had and don't like any serious change.

  • Posted Mar 4, 2006 3:25 pm GMT
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