Toon Army !!

Well, I managed to get in a larger than expected session on FM2011 last night and so far my Newcastle Uts team are doing rather better than expected??

I'm about halfway through the season (January transfer window has just closed) and I'm currently in 4th. I've used the time so far to tweak my free-flowing 4-4-2 formation and its working marvellously, proving to me that I am indeed a tactical genius and it was merely the Luton Town players that we failing :)

I'm keeping some fairly good unbeaten runs, but too many draws is keeping a decent sized gap between myself and 3rd place. I'm anticipating a fairly hard scrap to keep this final Champions League place as I've played the majority of the harder teams at home so far.

Bringing new players in has been quite a chore as Newcastle have very little money to play with, but with some good scouting a and few speculative choices I've filled out the squad nicely and my signings so far have done well. My front pairing of Xisco and Andy Carroll have been banging the goals in like crazy which, combined with some inspired half-time team talks, have turned quite a few potential loses into creditable draws and more that a few wins.

The big thing that I have found is that I'm making much better use of my scouting reports than in any previous game. The addition of dealing with agents is an interesting feature and this is where the scouts reports are fantastic. I'm saving a fortune on players wages with some calculated haggling, based on the scouts info on what players are likely to accept. Example: I bought a youngster from Chelsea who's agent was asking for wages of 19k per week. My scout indicated that the player would likely accept between 4k and 6.5k per week (current contact was £1500 per week), so I offered the contract at 4k, halved the signing on fee and agents fee. BOOM !!!  New player signed !!! Thats a saving of almost 1mill over the course of 1 year !!!

First game when I get home tonite is an away fixture to Man City who are riding high at the top of the Premiership......... could be tricky??

C'Mon !!!

Ok, I said I'd update here about my exploits with Luton Town in FM2011....... here's the update....

I've stopped that game temporarily (i hope) and am going to perfect my tactics, training regimes etc. at another club. Newcastle here I come!!!

Have managed to get into my main game again the last week or so and last night had a real blast!! Got some really good PvP gaming in and was relatively successful, although seemingly I missed the biggest part of it by getting online too late :(   The main player I roll with is a guy I've played this game with since its inception, some 7 years ago. It's always good when we are playing together as the class I play is pretty much a glass cannon, and he manages to keep my going with his healing skills (most of the time). Combine that with some mad skillz from the other guildies and faction members and we can pretty much hold our own in most situations.

Last night was good because everyone was there for the right reasons......... FUN !!!  There was no bitching, whining, moaning or smack-talk. Strangely enough this could well be because one of the chief instigators of that sort of stuff was absent from the proceedings. I cant really express how much this pleases me, although me and the guys did kick his ass royally about a week ago, as it always makes the gaming session much more enjoyable. Having said that, it always puts a smile on my face when I see him get whooped, even more so when I get to do it ;)

Back Again !!

SURPRISE !!!  Yup, despite another abscence I'm back yet again.

In all honesty I havent much to talk about, gaming-wise, as I've been suffering from a few back problems which means I havent been able to sit for extended sessions at my PC.

Having said that, I did manage to get some "trigger-time" last night. OMG how much have I missed playing???  Had a real blast with my guildies last night, and was quite successful despite a little rustiness. Got about 3 hours in, which is good considering the back issue, and it has really whet my appetite for more. I was quite surprised at how much I seemed to have missed playing....... not bordering on addict level, more the social aspect I feel. Of course this is a personal perspective and other people may disagree, but who cares about them ;)

I did manage to fill my gaming time whilst laying on the floor/bed. Management Sims are a blessing in that regard! You can pick them up and put them down at will, dipping in and out as much or as little as you want/need without any penalty. My game of choice?  Football Manager 2011....... damn that game is so in-depth and time consuming!! I've probably done 25+ hours of RL time and only played about 7-8 fixtures, but thats what makes it such a great game. Just for the record, my Luton Town team is struggling despite my current best efforts.......

Well, best leave it there. I'll update Luton Town's progress as I go along for anyone that's interested

Booooooooooooored !!!

To be honest I don't have much too much "online gaming" stuff to talk about at the moment. I've become a little jaded with stuff lately and have taken to revisiting some old games, but even these don't seem to hold my attention anymore.

Is this general feeling of "boredom" with the genre a result of the lack of variety in online gaming, or just a period of "burn-out" that I've seen/heard in other online gamers? Not sure I can answer this accurately, but I suspect its a little of both. I still enjoy chatting to my guildies and other other friends in-game, but no matter which game I'm playing they are just not holding my attention long enough.

Actually, now that I've started writing this entry I think I may have a partial answer........

My job is really frustrating and boring me at present, which I think is leaving me in a deflated mood by the time I get home. Therefore by the time I've booted up my system, logged into whichever game I randomly decide to play, I'm really not up for it........

Now thats been identified, maybe I can do something about it. Anyone got the classified ads?   LOL

Life's a biatch !!!

So, again I find myself apologising for lack of activity here (not that I know if anyone comes here to read it?)

Apparently life is a bitch. Well, its not apparently, its absolutely totally 100% a bitch !!!  I've been thrown so many curveballs lately, had so much bad luck and had life kick me in the bollocks so many times for me to not agree :(

RIGHT !!  Got that out of the way now, time for some inspiring musings, some deep thoughts or maybe a little ranting?

The subject of this particular "episode" was inspired by a news story I saw on Yahoo.

"Ex-SAS: Gamers should pilot drones"

Wow, impressive headline huh? The text of the news report is even better...

"Ex-SAS soldier and writer, Chris Ryan, says the skills that video game players pick up on their consoles could make them better soldiers."

"When you are behind the controls of a game, it's more or less the same controls as a drone."

"We need guys who played these games and are very skilled at them. It's guys like me on the ground that would rely on an ex-gamer to help out."

What a great idea!! Lets entrust millions of dollars worth of equipment to a bunch of guys (and girls) who take great pleasure in "pwning n00bs" whilst screaming the same sentiment at the screen. That throw hissy-fits when things dont go there way, that have to scoff starch-laden snacks and quaff energy drinks all day AND spend most of their time trying to find work-arounds or "sploits" for any and every rule setup in their particular environment of choice ???


Ok, so I'm generalising quite a little bit there, but I think you know what I mean. Surely, with the almost constant stream of injured service personnel being released from their particular armed service branch, they have a source of people that could be readily retrained to provide this skillset. They already have the military training and simply releasing them into the general populace is a waste of all that time and money, when a little bit of lateral thinking could provide these brave men and women with an alternative military career?

Baaaaack :)

Well, I have been absent for a little while due to RL pressures and I have neglected this blog...

But, I'm back now and raring to go, getting back into my game, irc and forum surfing. So what shall I talk (rant) about today?  Hmm, not much actually.

My gaming time has been severely restricted of late so nothing has really had the chance to annoy, irritate or even impress me. Actually that's not strictly true. Something has impressed me... my online friends!

Within my circle of friends there has been a few "traumas" lately. A bereavement, a separation and a serious illness, and don't forget the financial squeeze that everyone's feeling. However through everything my friends have suffered we've all been there for each other, be it forum posts of support, a quick text message, a lengthy email or even the occasional phone call.

People seem to forget that these games we play online foster strong communities, sometimes forged through a common love (or hatred) of someone or something. These communities aren't some virtual concept or construct, only the medium by which they were created is virtual. To quote (Raph) Koster's Theorem "Virtual social bonds evolve from the fictional towards real social bonds. If you have good community ties, they will be out-of-character ties, not in-character ties. In other words, friendships will migrate right out of your world into email, real-life gatherings, etc"


People don't seem to get this concept. We aren't just people that play a game together, we're friends. Maybe this doesn't get communicated to the "outside" world enough or in the right way?

Geekness

So, what makes someone a geek, because apparently I am one!!

Someone decided, based on knowing just 2 facts about me, that I am a geek. And, just to be clear, it wasn't used in a positive context !!!

I was doing a double shift and the chap I was with on the 2nd shift was someone I haven't worked with before. So, as I'm going through the shift change stuff we start chatting. Fairly standard stuff, work, women, football, the weather etc. During this conversation I happen to mention that I play computer games to keep me out of the pub and to save money (which is why I was working a double shift), then when I tell him he can some some films or whatever on my laptop he drops the geek bomb!!

Anyway, this upset me a little and I proceeded to verbally pwn the cocky little git !!! However afterwards I got to thinking about what determines whether you're a geek or not. General society seems to infer that anyone with an interest in computers is a geek. This is re-enforced if you happen to be from my generation and have been interested since the late 1970's or early 80's. That would indeed make me a geek, however questioning friends and colleagues they disagree, mainly because they actually know me.........

So, whats the description for a "typical" geek?  Urban Dictionary (by no means the definitive source) has several "interesting" descriptions  view them here however it would seem on the whole that geek is not viewed as that derogatory these days. In fact its actually worse to be called a nerd now, with geek almost being socially acceptable.

Having realised that being "a geek" was no longer the social outcast it once was I got to thinking about one particular definition that I had read and how it applied to the people I socialise and game with. Now I have a pretty diverse collection of friends and reading the definitions of what a geek is, most of them would fit, however when I looked closer you wouldn't have thought it.......

Example :  "A geek is someone who is generaly not athletic, and enjoys Video Games; Comic Books; being on the internet, and etc."


Me - Gym 3 times a week, former semi-pro paintballer
Guild Leader - Ex US Infantry now Security Contractor
Guildie - Construction ground worker and amateur footballer (that's a soccer player to you US readers)
Guildie - Fire-fighter - nuff said
Guildie - Paramedic

Now admittedly I picked one of the more derogatory definitions but it does illustrate peoples pre-conceptions. The wierd thing is, I also had those same pre-conceptions or else I wouldnt have reacted so badly.

Notorious T.W.A.T

Every game has them, just as real-life...... That 1 player that everyone loves to hate. It not necessarily a jealousy thing and neither is their behaviour. Its a lot of both invariably !!

Its the inane gloating after a gank
Its the retarded counting skills ("we're outnumbered! need more players" when they have a 2:1 advantage)
Its the using any spolit going and calling it skill
Its the way they have LOADS of followers that follow them around like puppies
Its the "play my way or I'm taking my ball home" mentality
Its the game forum BS

So, its a lot of things..........

Now you may all think that this entry is inspired by getting my ass kicked in-game and I'm just acting butt-hurt. Well actually far from it tbh. It actually originated from a conversation seen in a faction chat channel last night and relayed to me by my guild leader. This player was talking about how they had just beaten a smaller gank squad of my faction. Now a smaller group than yours cant be a gank squad can it?  And gloating about killing an inferior sized group is hardly impressive? But this is the mentality of the person, and its a daily thing, possibly even an hourly thing!!

Now my ethos and most of those I play with has been to just play of the enjoyment. We're not interested in making a name for ourselves, being looked upon as "uber" and certainly not wanting to be judged as twats. In the main I think we achieve that, although we have had our moments on both ends of that spectrum ;)  So why do these other people feel it necessary to act the way they do?

e-Motivation

Well, I'm back again having recovered from a particularly nasty bout of pleurisy.

Having not done any gaming for a few weeks I was looking forward to hitting the ground running and getting back to my winning ways. Well I managed a couple of really good play sessions before I found myself strangely de-motivated by literally ALL my online games? With this is mind I've been trying to analyse what is causing this lack of enthusiasm.

Is it the individual games themselves? I'm a fairly broad spectrum gamer with MMORPG's and FPS's my more prominent choice, but even the RTS games I have are played with/against online opponents. I cant pin down anything with the games that has changed or is annoying me or whatever.

Is it the people I play with?  I have a great bunch of online friends, many of whom are also now genuine RL friends (I have been to 2 of their weddings and been cited in 1 divorce) so I'm pretty sure its not them, and any opponents I play against are just some random person that I really have none or very little feelings towards.

Is it me?  Well, maybe thats the crux of the issue?  The one thing that is constant with my gaming is me. I'm happy enough in myself. Work's going ok, home life is pretty good, not overly stressed, social life is sorted. Hmm, what else is there?

I'm honestly at a loss to explain this apparent lack of motivation. Hang on........... "apparent" lack of motivation?  Maybe I should look at what I've actually done lately, gaming-wise.

Ok, so here's the summary since I returned from illness: -

Thursday - (MMORPG) PvP'd for about 3-4 hours racking up an impressive kill tally. Nearly a full group of guild mates were involved. Logged to play an RTS but only managed 10-15mins before quitting to watch tv

Friday - (RTS) 2 hours killing people on my favourite maps, then log into the mmorpg for a couple of hours pew-pew. Not much happening so log off and go back to the RTS

Saturday - no gaming as went wedding suit shopping (not my wedding!!) and then enjoyed a sun-drenched BBQ

Sunday - some RTS, some MMO then beta testing an upcoming game for about 4 hours

Monday (last night) -  home late, loads of phone calls but managed 4 hours on the mmo

Ok, so on the face of it there's still quite alot being played, so where are these feelings of apathy coming from?  I think it can be down to the TIME that I'm typically playing and that I'm hitting some kind of fatigue barrier? I am going to bed earlier than I used to. OMG I think I've cracked it !!!

I'm getting OLD.........

Lies, Damned Lies and Statistics

So I'm chatting to some guild mates on Ventrilo one night, just shooting the breeze, talking a little shop, usual kind of conversation. Anyway, the subject comes up about how we are doing in PvP as a guild. "We were 7th on the server last week!" the guild leader pipes up. 7th? 7th across the whole server? That seemed impressive for the size of guild we are and the number of current active players.

Now, I've always considered myself an ok kind of player and the guys in the guild are all pretty similar level, or higher. I've frequently had conversations with various guildies about the skill level of fellow faction members and of course slagged off opposition players, but seeing your guilds name actually ranked against others gave me pause for thought and inspired some further investigation. (by the time I checked them they were subject to the weekly update)

The guild has risen to from 7th to 5th on average kills per week.
I'm top of the tree for my given profession (woohoo, go me)
My guild leader is just behind me in 2nd place (another ego boost for me)
Another guildie is top of his profession

Impressive huh?  Well, I'm not entirely sure. As I look at the published lists I cant help wondering how we have done so well. We arent a hardcore PvP guild, we have limited numbers (half our guild is alt characters) and we dont practice or anything. How have we managed this level of "success".

So, I have a look at a few other stats...    Our total weekly kills puts the guild 6th, a good 100+ kills behind the 5th place lot. On an individual basis I come in 10th on weekly kills, another guild member is 20th, another 28th and the guild leader back in 31st !!  One gratifying stat is that the newest guild member has come in at a respectable 48th. Bear in mind this is all out of 738 registered players and 318 active participants.

Personally I think this isnt too shabby. We arent setting the world alight, but we are holding our own when we need to. Just think what a bit of pratice and co-ordination could do for our game....

The London Meet-Up

Well, its been about a week since meeting up with some of my online gaming friends and I've slowly put things together in my head.....(I lost about 4 hours due to lager)

Was great to see some old faces again, some new faces and generally enjoy a top night of boozing.

It was odd to relate the ingame persona to the RL person and as suspected there was quite a marked difference in many of them. The "online super-hero" turned out to be a very young mild-mannered quiet, unassuming lad. The quiet unassuming support player turned out to be a massive rock-monster !!

What was great is that despite the varied back-grounds, upbringing and even languages the one thing we had in common was the catalyst for an immensely enjoyable day.

If you lead them, they will follow...

Its often said that people can be like sheep, blindly following each other no matter what the circumstances. That analogy can also be applied to online gamers, although often its more like lemmings !!

Us gamers join clans, guilds, player associations or whatever you want to call them, for a variety of reasons. Some just have the need to belong, others join for strategic reasons and some just like to have a cool tag over their name. Whatever the reason for joining I wonder whether this actually alters the way we play the game? Do aggressive players have their ways tempered by playing with more moderate players, or do similar players tend to gravitate towards each other automatically creating their ideal "group".

With this in mind I started to think about how players can and do influence each others behaviour online. I have witnessed a fair amount of what I deem "dubious" behaviour and have seen ordinarily placid/respectful players join in, seemingly out of character from their usual actions. Bold and aggressive play by one player or group of players, particularly in PvP environments, will often cause bystanders to jump in and help out.

With all these things, it takes someone to start it off. Be it forming a guild, initiating PvP or meeting up outside of the game, there are leaders and there are followers. Which one are you?

Genesis - In the beginning...........

"1st day: all fine, installed game, I'm happy, creating char. [...] 10th day: It's ok, some weird people around, but nothing too bad, still having fun. 20th day: THAT ******* n00b!**** **** **** **** my char ! 30th day: cancelled. I've been sectioned" - rsciw(Stratics IRC)


Well, here we are, at the beginning. A good place to start most things I suppose.

I actually got inspired to do this by one of my online friends last night. I call him a friend but we have never met, never seen photo's and really know next to nothing about each other. So why do I refer to him as "a friend"?

Online communities are much like any community in that we naturally associate with people that share a common interest, in my case particular online games, or people we feel an affinity for. Over my gaming career I've made numerous friends, some of which have become very close "real-life" friends. Some have come and gone, others have stayed with me but how much have I really known about any of them?

How much do we know about anyone we encounter online or in-game? Anyone that regularly plays an online game knows that there are "celebrities", the players people love to hate, who get under your skin by the way they behave and abuse other players. Why do they act like this? Is it an extension of their real life personality or maybe it follows the stereotype and is the lonely shy 20yr old creating a more desirable persona for himself?

I cant answer this from anything but a personal viewpoint. My ingame persona is similar to my real life persona (I hope) and I think thats reflected by the persona's of the friends I have both online and in real life. This theory is going to be tested though, as shortly I will be meeting (for the first time) several of my online/in-game friends. I wonder how that will pan out.............