Blogging about games: But…

final fantasy xiv

It’s funny. I think the only time when I can actually write something on this blog is when the online game I REALLY want to play among the games I have in my stockpile is having maintenance.

Case in point, right now I’m writing because I Elder Scrolls Online has maintenance right now.

Funny thing is, I could be spending this time working some first impressions articles for work, but I really want to just unwind with the game I actually want to play.

I want to blog about games more, and maybe re-earn my monicker as a “games blogger” but instead I’m a tech writer/editor and a games columnist for the two jobs I have.

Funny how that works. I’m still happy and I still get to play games, but sometimes, you sorta miss the days when you weren’t busy. Then again, I’m likely to miss the days when I actually had a job.

Ah well, I’ll enjoy my time, however I find it.

Saying Goodbye to Massively

I’ve written part of this story before, so I apologize if some of you may be reading it again.

Back in 2006, I was working for a video game news website. It wasn’t a very strong website so much as it was a job that I felt empowered doing. My writing meant something, and people read it, and I got paid for it.

I learned through that experience that I could earn a living by writing, by honing my craft, and by being the best darned person I could be.

In 2008, I was let go from that job, but they never quite explained to me why I was being let go. I doubted my writing abilities for for nearly four years, only writing blogs instead of looking for paid writing work.

I sunk into a depression so deep that I treat 2008-2012 as horrible years for me professionally, as I hid in Graduate School yet never finished because it wasn’t really what I wanted.

Throughout this time, I wanted to write for Massively so bad. I’d wait for openings, and I’d be too afraid to sign up or I’d try but not get picked, and I’d feel let down… but that feeling of wanting to write for Massively was strong enough to make me keep on writing on a blog. This blog.

In 2012, my friend Cassandra invited me to try pitching (that was a new word to me then) as a writer for MMORPG.com, and I jumped at it. I was afraid of the rejection, but I tried anyway because writing about games meant a lot to me.

I got in, and eventually after getting enough courage to keep trying to find paid writing gigs, I got a chance to write for Rappler.com as a tech reporter, and now as a desk editor as well as writing tech and the gaming piece here and there.

Living out my passions meant a lot to me, and I’m sure that same feeling runs through each staffer of Massively and MMORPG.com in equal measure.

The pay and the comments, however high or low the pay was or however bad or good the comments were, these were reminders that my writing meant something to someone. That my writing mattered. That I mattered.

I’m writing this to say that if it weren’t for the inspiration I got from reading Massively in its early days, I probably would have been a very lost soul today.

I salute the staff of Joystiq and Massively as they go on new endeavors, an unwritten journey that has yet to be chronicled.

-Victor Barreiro Jr.

I’m embracing the Guild Wars 2 Hype

GuildWars2-HeartofThorns-20150124

When I first started playing Guild Wars 2, I was turned off by it. A few years later, and it’s become a game I want to experience by changing how I choose to play it, by being my altoholic self and looking for the character types and professions that best suit me.

I enjoyed the livestream announcing Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns, and even more importantly, I don’t feel tied down to Guild Wars 2 in the meantime. I can just enjoy whatever I want to play, and that’s that.

That’s a good place to be. A very liberating place to be, when it comes to enjoying something.

WildStar for Less?

I was planning on getting Wildstar to really give it a fair shake.

But I don’t think I can justify spending 60 bucks on something I didn’t enjoy playing because of the UI for the first 15 levels.

I’d have gotten it for 25% off from Greenman Gaming, but it’s not available in my region.

I’ve been told past 15 actually gets better, but I might as well reserve the money for something else or for a sale on Wildstar in the future.

Unless, you know, someone can sway me otherwise?

 

Goal-setting in World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria

Mekgineer’s Chopper. Photo from Wowhead Contibutor Rillek

There are a lot of ways to add incentives to playing video games. In addition to achievements, there’s also the lure of items you wouldn’t normally be able to see without some degree of work.

I’m lured into continuing WoW due to a number of things, and I’ve decided to write them up as goals for me to achieve as I continue playing the game.

Goal One: Reach level 90 on my Hunter and my Monk.

I really want to see most of the content for this expansion, and in expansion’s previous. As such, I want to take my old hunter, whom I moved off of an oceanic server onto Baelgun, out of retirement.

I also enjoy playing my monk, even if it has a wild sort of playstyle. Love martial arts. 😀

Goal Two:Battle Pet Supremacy

I would like to take a pet battling team to the top of the leveling game, and make it a force to be reckoned with. Preferably one from each family.

Goal Three: Get some specialty mounts

There are three mounts I’m particularly interested in, and those are the Mekgineer’s Chopper from Wrath of the Lich King, the Raven Lord Anzu’s mount from Burning Crusade, and a camel from the Ramkahen faction in Cataclysm. None are flying mounts, but I already have my helicopter jet engineering mount, so I’m pleased there.

Goal Four: Have farm, will travel.

I would like to get a farming system set up on Pandaria. Hoping that particular aspect of the game expands into housing, but for now, I’m just interested in the awesomeness of it.

 

That’s what I have planned for WoW. Of course, there’s no telling what game might catch my fancy, but I’m hoping that, between WoW and TSW, I’ll be pleased during the majority of my playtime.

How I Imagine Subjective Discussions on MMOs Happen in Real-Time, Using Robots

My friend @FoxSynergy posted that tweet I just linked, which essentially starts a comparison between GoLion and Voltron, two robots that are essentially the same, just edited for different audiences’ sensibilities.

This made me imagine the following scenario, in which new commenters bring up with what they think are better robots than the offering previous. After I thought about it, it seemed like an interesting parallel to MMO discussions.

——

Voltron < GoLion (the anime Voltron lions was based on) < Leopardon (Japanese live-action Spiderman) < Tauburn (Star Driver) < Yuusha-Oh GaoGaiGar < Every Mobile Suit Gundam known to man, save for the G-Gundam series because that was the black sheep of Gundam < G-Gundam, because G-Gundam was the BEST HOTBLOODED anime in its time period. < Doraemon + his noncanonical dramatic ending due to the death of the mangaka who made Doraemon (technically a Robot) < Aquarion < Aquarion Evol < Evangelion mecha < Every Super Sentai Robot known to man < Every Power Rangers Zord and Megazord known to man (which is essentially the Super Sentai Robots, but fewer due to less seasons and with different names ) < The Daleks < The Cylons < Peebo from Bioman (justified since people are starting to mention smaller bots) < CL4P-TP < nanobots < The Mighty Orbots < Someone rereads the discussion from the end to the beginning and realizes people have diverged severely, and posits SDF-1 Macross as a response < argument ensues over the definition of “robot” versus “transforming ship”  < random passerby mentions Zettai Muteki Raijin-Oh < CHOU TENGEN TOPPA GURREN LAGANN WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK WE ARE? < I come in and talk about how my mom beats all of them because she hugs me and supports me and tells me she loves me. < Everyone sheds a tear and leaves to hug their mom.