I used to follow the Epic Dolls podcast while I was still playing World of Warcraft.  Not long before I put the game on hiatus, the connected Epic Dolls guild disbanded.  It turned out that the podcaster and guild leader was stepping back a bit from Wow and had taken up with other games.  Leala Turkey's (former Epic Dolls leader) webpage mentioned that she played "Wizard 101".  It seemed interesting and looked a bit like Harry Potter.

So when I purchased the Crossover software, I decided to try Wizard 101.

Wizard 101 is marketed for elementary school age children.  It is a extremely sweet tempered mmorpg that gives the young set a taste of multiplayer gaming.  Recently its surge of popularity is due to it attracting hardcore gaming teens and adults.  The game does a good job catering to all ages.

The combat system is based on card games.  The player can pick and choose who and what they want to fight.  The game always provides safe areas so that players will not be jumped by the NPC enemies wandering around.  These safe areas are little parks and sidewalks.  But when the players is ready to fight, they only have to run up to an enemy to engage it.  The characters will then automatically run to a combat ring which lights up for the fight.  Up to 4 players can join any fight in progress.  They only have to enter the combat ring.  Once the fight starts, the player's screen will show a card hand from their shuffled deck of spells.  Those are the spells that the player will work with for the fight.  It will be reshuffled depending how long the fight lasts.  The player can also pick wild cards, called Treasure spell cards, in lieu of their regular hand.  The spells are powered by points which the player will gain or lose depending on the strength of the magic card they use.  This is not a game that depends on hot keys, the player will be able to pick with their mouse.  And each round the player will be given a timed count down to pick their move.  The combat system is ingeniously structured so that the player can play as simple or as intricate as they want.  Each spell has its own amusing and whimsical animation that I love to watch.  The game also has options for PvP play which takes place in a special arena.

The quests are like quests in every game...go deliver this letter, kill so many of these enemies, collect these items.  But they aren't designed to be painfully long.  Collection quests don't turn into painful grinds.  The areas are all well designed with wonderful art design.  The characters in the game are inspired by various children's books which I love.

The game is free to play.  However players will hit a wall very early, if they do not purchase access to another area.  So look at the free to play option as the same any other game does to gather new players.   This game will give you a taste with a few levels then you must subscribe or pay $1 to $5 dollars for each area.  Most players will know whether or not they want to continue playing this game by level 5 and access to other areas becomes an issue.

Another area in the game that is well integrated is the character store.  You can buy game money through the website which are called crowns.  Then in game, you can go to stores to buy items such as houses, gear, furniture, pets, mounts, wings or potions.  The housing option is very nice.  The player will be given his/her own instanced home island.  On that private island, they will be able to furnish and relax in their own Wizard 101 haven.

This game is very well designed and enjoyable to play.  And it can be a fun time for the whole family.  However, I don't think it is any safer for young ones to wander around in anymore than I would let them wander alone in World of Warcraft etc.  The game designers have done their best to add in parental controls but that is in no way a substitute for parental guidance.  The players your young ones will be interacting with will not be all their exact age.  And not everyone your child will play with will have their game enjoyment in mind.  They may even take advantage of them for game items or just behave nastily because they can.  So please do not let them roam around alone.  The game does allow the parent to control who contacts their child by turning off friend requests (from other players) and chat.  However I've seen young players get around this by offering friendship to anyone they meet.  Then, I suppose, they will be able to chat.  Please understand that kids are impressionable and eager to create new friendships but the game worlds have legions of people who just like to bully.  Don't let them make your child one of their victims.  So play with them or have an older child guide them while in world.

This game is highly enjoyable and family oriented.  I would recommend it to everyone looking for a few hours of casual gaming enjoyment.

Crossover Games

I own an Imac so that means my gaming choices are limited.  Since Apple has switched to Intel chips, it is possible for most games to be ported via a wrapper program that mimics a Windows environment.  Yes, of course if gaming is that important to a computer user they could use the Bootcamp program and then load in Windows.  And I've thought about doing that, and I may still become a bootcamper.  However right now, I don't want to drop upwards of $200 for the Windows system.

On Massively, a commentator mentioned that he/she played Lord of the Rings Online via a wrapper program called Crossover Games.  That idea intrigued me so I looked into the software.  The Crossover suite of programs are offered by CodeWeavers.  These programs mimic Windows using a wrapper based on the open source Wine project.

Crossover games is the "official" version of the Wine opensource project.  It is affordable at $39.95 (the fee supports the Wine opensource programmers) and the installation is simple.  What isn't simple is getting the subsequent windows games to work properly.  Since this option is rather arcane no matter how easy Codeweavers has made it, you will probably need to know a little something about programming to get anything working.

To use Crossover Games, the user must create a mini-windows shell called a bottle.  You can pick which flavor of windows you want this bottle to mimic (vista, winxp, 98, 2000).  A bottle must be created for each game you want to play.  Then you can load the games into the bottle via disc or downloads.  Theoretically, it should be easy.

However I could get nothing to work with it.  The LOTR instructions were easy however the program doesn't recognize the official game install file.  I tried to download the free to play Uru Online.  The installation progress was successful.  However the site registration is no longer available so I can't log in to the program.  As a lark I also tried to install Blue Mars.  However there was an error that had something to do with the install aware program.  I was at wit's end and wondered if I could use the software for anything.  Finally I managed to see the program in action with the game Wizard 101(review later). And I can say that Crossover works very well for what it is.

This solution is very ad hoc and is in no way a substitute for Mac Bootcamp.  But if you can't afford to spring for the Windows software at the moment, this program will do for the time being.  I recommend it.

Gaming the Populace

Jesse Schell, Professor and CEO for game design, was Metanomic's end of season guest today.

His topic was turning the masses into game pods ripe for companies to scrape.  What will they scrape data, money, Intellectual property, human rights etc.  Truly the world is their oyster.  And is this professor even thinking about ethics?  No.  What he is dreaming about is unending streams of funny money.  Funny money that you and I will receive in payback for our lost rights.  Yes,  dear folks, in payback for you being turned into a walking commercial for Disney, Proctor & Gamble, Chase and so many others in lifestyle "games", they will give you a few cents worth of "game" money.  In the past they would give you about 20 to 40 bucks for your input on their services.  But now it won't cost them a penny anymore because you will be their "product game" monkey and you will dance for banana WoW gold.

In response to my comment about data scraping, Schell was flippant in stating that Google already scrapes with their gmail program.  So the length of his ethical deliberation in all of this was...Google does it.  So if Google does it, then its full steam ahead.  He also stated that it was up to the people to either use or not use these "games/services".  Because the companies are already so honest as to make clear what they do with our data.  Their long and convoluted TOS policies are generally ignored by the public whose eyes glaze over when they see long blocks of text.  Which the companies are counting upon.

You see, Schell is working on the California Business model.  Which is to exploit any holes in the system until there is a mass uprising against underhanded practices.  This is what occurred with the newspaper, film and music businesses.  The technology companies scraped, scraped and scraped away using the populace as their cat's paw until the news and entertainment businesses started to fight for their IP.  Now they have moved on to bigger pastures...us.  And mind you, they will milk us dry for everything that is of any monetary value.

And if you don't think this is the case, watch the Metanomics program on their site.  Schell was very adamant about the people having to cause a stink about this mass enslavement for "games" before any changes could or should be made.  This coming from a PROFESSOR who teaches the younger generation.  No doubt his professional connections to many companies and his own company also taint his ethical stance on these issues besides him just being rather blithely sociopathic.

Because when any person starts to see the cave of wealth and dreams (as Elaine Supkis calls it), it twists them.  It starts them on the path to seeking the infinite.  Which just as assuredly spikes upward then crashes to zero.  This happened with the dot com bust.  It occurred with the big data scrape heist (this war is still ongoing).  VRs are just starting to go bust except for the big behemiths like WoW or games connected to behemiths like Facebook.  And now the new bubble of customer data scrape and IP heisting of the little consumer will begin in earnest.

This of course will crash as well.  And perhaps the current financial disaster will work in our favor.  After all people cannot buy bread with WoW gold.  Or sleep in virtual houses.  Someone still has to pay the bills.  Perhaps deep in the back of their lizard brains, Schell and his colleagues know these facts.  But the tech industry is built on exploiting holes and ponzi financial schemes.

They are going to sell these pipe dreams to companies for all they are worth.  Hopefully becoming infinitely rich in the process then pulling out to leave some jackass holding the bills.

And that jackass will be you and me, the game losers.

Texturing an SL avatar

I love Naergilien Wunderlich's clothing and avatars in SL.  They are so photorealistic and gorgeous.


This is her video detailing how she uses photo sources to create her avatar skins.  Fascinating.

City Siege

I started playing Warhammer back in August when the client was given a Mac hack in the form of a Cider app.  WoW exhaustion was already setting in with me, so WAR was a refreshing change.  Even with some of it's wonky lag problems.  I wrote a small, positive review on my regular blog.  This little blurb is another look at the game since I have reached end game material.

End game is problematic in Warhammer Online.  But it is by no means different in it's problems than any other massive online game.  They all suffer from the same problems, mainly player exhaustion and material repetition.  Warcraft has the same problem but their sheen of popularity masks it, plus they have pushed the leveling curve to a ridiculous extreme.

Truthfully FPS games are, by their very nature, perfect for human consumption. They are short, they have character accomplishments, they have story arcs and then (most importantly) they end.  Deep down inside our psyches, we have the 3 act play structure ingrained inside each of us.  We want a beginning, middle and end.  What happens in mmorpgs, is that there is no "end" end.  Once the accomplishments and talents are over, the players are stuck in some kind of limbo.  Game devs then face the Sisyphean task of throwing new features into the void to satisfy restless VR denizens.  There can only be so many levels before it becomes ridiculous.  I mean, who wants to start a new character in these games when the leveling curve is set at 80 and above?  Not only that, to feed the need for accomplishment without leveling, game developers branch out into armor set perks.  Which then gimps lower accomplished players against these player "gods" kitted out in fancy armor.  Cynically what it comes down to is that there is no solution to these end game problems in mmorpgs.  Unless there is a mass psychological change in the human race or some genius game creator develops a new kind of game.  Some would say that Second Life was just that attempt.  And what do you know, most game players hate it.  So it goes.

But back Warhammer Online's end game.

WAR's game developers had big visions for massive PvP objectives.  That dream was cut short in a shaky platform and population problems.  In WoW there are enough PvE quests to hide the inevitable for a short time.  But the PvE element is a bit lacking in WAR.  Everything is geared to the goal of city sieges.  The player numbers (better than they were when I began playing) just don't support this set up.  Sometimes the opposing sides are evenly matched and it leads to some fun play time.  But more often there are gross imbalances in player population on either side.  Not to mention the problems of gear disparities between low levels and people at the pinnacle of the game. I've taken my little lowbie Sorceress into end game city sieges and it wasn't a barrel of fun.  I can get a few little pot shots in, which are mostly mitigated by higher levels, before being sent back to the start line.

WAR has also gimped the solo play PvE in end game.  Their Land of the Dead PvE area is only open to each side if they win in PvP areas.  And since the PvP is ever changing that means access to this area can be rather short.  Which means not much can be accomplished.  Not to mention the fact that most of the quests are of the Public Quest variety.  A player needs to be in a well established guild in order to play this area at a moment's notice.

Most of these problems are inherent in the structure of the games themselves.  Its just frustrating that WAR is not only working against that factor but also unpopularity as well.  It promised a lot to a certain type of gamer who loves PvP.  And it couldn't live up to these expectations.  Could any game?  So the former player base has seized on these problems and trumpet the games demise on any forum on the net. Recently WAR had the bad luck of a bug in it's subscription department.  It lead to players being overcharged to a ridiculous degree in subscription fees.  The publicity this garnered was not good, and it could lead to people hesitating to register with the game at all.  On my end, I haven't noticed a population drop.  Free to Play people are still mindlessly running around the newbie Nordland zone and there are more people hanging around levels Tier 2 to 3.  End zone is akin to a small town.  Its filled with familiar names and faces with everyone knowing everyone else's business.

Warhammer has released information that will change some aspects of the end game city sieges.  They have lowered their expectations of massive mob fights and settled for 24 man focused fights.  This could help balance if players cooperate which they may not.  I just took part in a defensive city siege for Inevitable City, and just 5 players from the opposition took part.  Most of the defense players just stood around waiting for the other side to come to the playground but they never did.  So we just capped and recapped empty objectives for the next hour.  Perhaps the changes toward a smaller population will help.

As I stated before, this game has added good elements to the genre.  I hope they can refine what is in the game.

Subculture Fetish

I suppose someone, in some department, at Linden Lab thought that this ad looked "wholesome".  Never mind that the Second Life mesh does not allow for child shapes, this "child" looks like a small woman with mature sex characteristics.

Linden Lab has been burned repeatedly over the child avatar issue and yet they still insist on jumping over this third rail.  As if the umpteenth time they go around this controversy, the outcome will suddenly change for them.

There is not and never has been a popularity of child avatars on Linden Lab's grid.  Its a sub-sub culture that only draws attention to itself through vocal proponents among its small numbers.  Not to mention the many TV exposes from international news reporters that investigated the possible pedophiles that partake in this subculture.  The majority of residents are quite happy with being adults and enjoying their adult status in life.

So why is Linden Lab pushing this upon so many?  Some have speculated that its target market are customers of "The Sims".  But this particular ad was sent to older customers of Second Life.  Most of whom are not interested in child avatars or playing family.  Others have suggested that there are employees in Linden Lab who like child role play and use LL to condone their choices in world.

To new customers this ad can not do anything but cause confusion.

This is just another indication to me that the Lab has no idea who its core audience is for their world.  Instead they are themselves fractured among their own employees into different subcultures.  And each of these groups are infighting inside Linden Lab while attempting to bring attention to their own gangs.  I would have thought that Mark Kingdon would have been able to get a handle on this situation.  But it seems the unruliness of Linden Lab's employee culture is even too large a problem for him to handle.  His hands may be tied because the employees who give him the most trouble are probably rooted in the most sensitive areas of the company.  Mainly the coders, developers and engineers of the grid itself.

There is an attack video laying blame for Linden Lab's troubles on Kingdon's doorstep.  But I don't think that is the problem at all.  I think its Linden Lab's own employees that are the problem.  They have too long been able to steer the ship according to their fetishes.  Its tearing the company apart.  Which this wrongheaded ad is a sign of the misrule.

Of Screenshots and Machinima

Due to new TOS changes for Second Life, I will no longer be snapping screenshots.

There are problems in the TOS which exposes creators in SL to data scraping.  This has led to a clash, (long in the creation) between screenshot/machinima people with creators.  And one that is being exploited by Linden Lab to "liberate" IP property.

Most screenshot hobbyists work under the notion that they are inside a world that has real life analogues such as the public street.  I was once of the same mind.  But this is not the case in Second Life or any of the virtual worlds.  The artwork inside World of Warcraft, Warhammer Online, Aion, Farmville and Second Life is proprietary material.  We are allowed to screenshot these worlds for our own pleasure.  However that allowance does not extend to claiming ownership of these pictures.  They are not ours, not even if they look professional and fanciful.

Linden Lab's new TOS, which will go live on April 30, 2010, grants mass approval for screenshots and machinima regardless of the creator's wishes.  Not only that, if the owner of these various items lives on Linden Lab mainland, they don't even have the option to prevent screenshots/machinima.  This can only be prevented if the resident lives on a private estate that prohibits such practices.

Of course this has caused heated discussions all over the Second Life blog and news pages.  The clashing between creators and screenshot/machinimists hides the fact that Linden Lab itself can now showcase VR creations that they did not commission in order to sell their platform.  They are implying through the TOS that anything created with their tools is theirs.

So far, the official lab blogs have been quiet.  And the main point of the problem is still hidden by battles between residents.  I'm hoping that a revised TOS will be issued before April 30th which will be beneficial to the rights of the creators.