Why The Guild Season Three is like Buffy Season Six

I enjoyed Buffy: The Vampire Slayer Season Six a lot.  It had the musical episode, the near-marriage of Xander and Anya, and even Xander saving the day. 

Season Six is also the darkest season of Buffy: The Vampire Slayer.  Buffy has a death wish for most of the season and only finds relief through brutal sex with someone she hates.  Willow battles with addiction to dark magic and ends up turning evil when her girlfriend is killed.  Anya becomes a demon again after Xander leaves her at the altar.  All of these were compelling storylines by themselves, but together they cast a pall over the season.

The Guild: Season Three shares a similar dark streak.  What makes Season Three especially dark is that Season Two left the Knights of Good on the edge of ruin.  Rather than pulling the Knights of Good back from the brink, Season Three chronicles their continuing disintegration. 

Not only do the Knights of Good have to deal with their own demons, but they also face an external threat in the form of the Axis of Anarchy.  I have to admit I like the addition of a rival guild to the series.  None of the characters in the Axis of Anarchy are especially deep, but they do serve as great dramatic foils for the Knights of Good. 

Frankly, the Knights of Good would have enough problems without the Axis of Anarchy breathing down their necks.

Vork is still reeling from the revelation that it was Clara who was continually killing his character last season.  This leads him on a self-proclaimed journey of enlightenment.  In the end, the only enlightenment he find is that he seems to elicit feelings of disgust and dislike in everyone he meets.

Codex is given leadership of the Knights of Good by Vork.  Unfortunately, she only manages to preside over the guilds disintegration.  The experience is crushing to Codex, although in all fairness the forces tearing the Knights of Good apart may have been too much for even the best guild leader to overcome.  Codex regains some of her pride back in the season finale, although high on her victory she rushes into a sexual encounter she seems sure to regret.

Last season I said I lost all sympathy for Clara.  Season Three does little to change my opinion.  Clara seems to have little understanding as to why her husband is upset at her kissing other men or how her gaming addiction hurts her family.  While she does make some half-hearted attempts to patch up her marriage this season, it all seems to be motivated by an attempt to avoid suffering any consequences for her actions rather than actual concern.  I have to admit I found the revelation that Clara was pregnant again at the end to be horrifying rather than funny.

Zaboo finds himself in a poisonous relationship with Riley.  Riley has a controlling personality, and she has no problem using sex, or paintball guns, to keep Zaboo under her thumb.  Interestingly, Zaboo is probably the character who grows the most this season, as he ultimately manages to break off his self-destructive relationship with Riley by himself.

Tinkerballa is still pissed that Bladezz deleted her character.  She actually joins the Axis of Anarchy, but it is obvious she is not happy there.  She is obviously used to being the “Queen Bitch” of the group, and is put off by being just one of a crowd of ill-tempered gamers.  It is also pretty obvious that she regrets setting the Axis of Anarchy on Bladezz when she sees how far they are willing to go.  I was glad to see Tinkerballa come to the realization that there are worse things than a deleted character.

Bladezz comes off more sympathetic in this season than in any of the previous ones.  As the Axis of Anarchy begins to torment him in real life, you really begin to feel for the poor kid.  After all, no man deserves a website like this dedicated to him!

So what did I think of Season Three as a whole?  This was probably the best season of The Guild yet.  I wouldn’t be surprised to find some people turned off by the darker storyline, but like the aforementioned Buffy:The Vampire Slayer Season Six it provides a deeper look into what makes the main characters tick.

5 out of 5 purple drops

Too Many MMORPGs, too little time (and money)

I enjoy playing the occasional Massive Multiplayer Online Role-playing Game (MMORPG).  In the past I have been active in both City of Heroes and Age of Conan.  Well, my wife calls me a casual player, but she is a complete MMORPG addict.  So I take her opinion on the matter with a grain of salt.

Nevertheless, it is true that I have drifted away from playing MMORPGs.  I would love to start playing one again in my (nonexistent? fictional?) free time.  I do have one small problem.  Namely, that I enjoy playing with my friends and everyone I know seems to be playing different games.  Since I lack infinite time and resources, I must choose only one!

Here are my top contenders:

Age of Conan

Pros: I have heard of World of Warcraft Widows.  I may be an Age of Conan Widower.  So joining up with Age of Conan again would allow me to spend more quality (virtual) time with her.  Plus, I have a level 80 character on the game.  Although, sadly, more than half of those levels my wife earned for me.

Cons: Honestly, I am not a huge fan of gameplay in Age of Conan.  Plus, the relearning curve would be high.

City of Heroes/City of Villains

Pros: My friends Bob and Brian are playing this game.  I enjoy this game a lot, and probably would still be playing if my wife had not abandoned it for Age of Conan.  I have multiple high-level characters including two level 50 characters.

Cons:  My friends have characters that are much lower level than I am.  The game is aging and I have played it enough that I feel I have exhausted a lot of the content in the game.

Darkfall Online

Pros: My friend Chad plays this game.  He sees it as the second coming of Ultima Online and is evangelizes that the game contains unrestricted Player vs. Player (PvP).

Cons: This game is currently only available in Europe and you have to play off of the European servers.  Also, I am not sure how I feel about unrestricted PvP.

Dungeons & Dragons Online

Pros: My friend Ashby has expressed an interest in playing once it goes free.  Also, the mere fact that it can be played for free, even if in a somewhat limited fashion, is a big pro in and of itself.  Plus, it is Dungeons & Dragons!

Cons: It may be Dungeons & Dragons, but its Eberron.  I am a little concerned with whether or not the free accounts will be able to compete with the paid accounts, but I am not going to complain too much since at the very least it will be free to try.

World of Warcraft

Pros:  One of my co-workers, Jonathan, plays this game.  So does everyone else in the world, so at least it is not going anywhere.

Cons:  I know my wife will never play this game, as she has expressed distain for the “cartoony looking characters” in the past.

Hmm… I was hoping writing out the pros and cons of all of these MMORPGs would make one choice obvious.  Apparently not.  I suppose I will just have to content myself with obsessing over good old-fashioned pen and paper RPGs.

Or maybe I could go outside.

Dungeons & Dragons Online is free! Well, mostly free?

I haven’t thought about Dungeons & Dragons Online (DDO) for awhile. I had a brief interest in it when it was released in early 2006, but mixed reviews and the fact that I was already invested in City of Heroes made me decide to save myself $15 a month. So despite some interest, I was never really interested enough to check it out.

That will probably change with the Eberron Unlimited update coming out later this summer. A number of things are packaged in this update, including raising the level limit to 20 and the introduction of a new class. Really though, all anyone is going to talk about is that it will open up the option to play for free.

Yes, that’s right, you can play for free.

Are there caveats? Of course there are. While it is true there is no fee for playing the game, there is an incentive to get Turbine Points.  Turbine Points can be used at an online store to purchase items, premium adventure packs, extra character slots, hirelings, potions, and more.  Certain benefits, like a premium adventure pack, will apply to all of your characters, while others, like items, are bound to the character who purchased them.

So how do you get these Turbine Points?  Well one way is to play.  As you play, you will earn a certain number of Turbine Points.  The other way?  Hand over the plastic.  Yep, DDO will accept credit card or PayPal in exchange for Turbine Points at the online store.  There is also a third method.  You can choose to pay a $15 a month subscription gee to become a VIP member. VIP members get access to some exclusive content as well as a stipend of Turbine Points each month.

I know people will be split on the “pay for loot” aspect. My wife is a hardcore MMORPG player, and she would consider this cheating. She prefers to earn her perquisites through online play, and would be annoyed that a newbie could buy top equipment with real world cash.

On the other hand, my friend Brian has often wished that this feature existed on City Of Heroes in the past.  He is a casual MMORPG player and sees no reason he should be locked out of content just because his work and family obligations don’t allow him the luxury of gaming 20 hours a week.

I am choosing to look at it a third way. Dungeons & Dragons Online is letting me try their product for free for as long as I want. Sure, I might not get everything that the player who spends $15 a month or dumps $100 on the online store. That doesn’t matter because I can simply try it out and see if I like it with no obligation. If I really like it, I will sign up for the VIP membership. If I want to play it casually, maybe I will just buy an occasional item from the store. Best of all, if I hate it, at least it didn’t cost me anything to find that out.

Continuing my obsession with all things Portal

I love the video game Portal.  It is an amazingly fun puzzle game that looks like a first-person shooter.  Your character, Chell, wakes up in an Aperture Science testing facility run by the mad computer GLaDOS.  Using an Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device (a.k.a. a portal gun), you must work your way through a number (potentially fatal) training rooms until you can eventually confront the A.I. herself.

Assuming you defeat GLaDOS, the song Still Alive by Jonathan Coulton is sung for you by the A.I. at the end.  This song is actually what convinced me to purchase Portal in the first place, a decision I do not regret.  There is something amazingly fun and quirky song about this song.  One word I wouldn’t use to describe it is soulful.

Which is why I had to share this soulful rendition of Still Alive by Aya Korem.

 

Random Reviews: The Guild Season II

The first season of The Guild ended on a note of triumph.  Despite their differences, the Knights of Good banded together to "defeat" Zaboo's mother.  The Knights of Good had entered Cheezybeards as a guild turmoil, but left it united.

The second season undercuts this sense of triumph in the opening sequence.  Codex reveals that Zaboo's mother was a real estate agent who managed to get Codex evicted from her apartment.  Even worse, she still has Zaboo living with her, and is still fending off his unwanted advances.

As the season continues, the cohesiveness of the of the Knights of Good continues to erode.   Almost all of the knights fall into cycles of self-destructive behavior.  This is primarily driven by the selfishness of its members.

Clara is probably the worst offender off the group.  When she fails to get the Orb of Nurr, she begins hunting an killing Vork repeatedly in the game.  She takes advantage of her husbands good nature, lying to get out of attending her sisters wedding.  She takes advantage of Codex's meekness by planning a big party to relive her Sorority glory days.  She is even spends some time swapping spit with someone other than her husband.  I have to admit, by the end of season two I have lost all sympathy for Clara.

Tink and Bladezz are equally selfish.  Tink uses Bladezz to satisfy her materialistic desires by leading Bladezz to believe that she will satisfy his carnal desires.  They circle each other with self-destructive behavior and ultimately both suffer the consequences of their actions.

Codex is a bit more sympathetic but, as she eventually realizes, she should have simply been honest with Zaboo about her feelings from the beginning.  On the other hand, Zaboo seems trapped in a cycle of falling too hard for women he barely knows.  

By the end, Vork has declared that the "Knights of Good" have become nothing more than the "Knaves of Hooliganism".  The dream is over and the guild lies in ruins.

So, what did I think? I loved it!  If you haven't checked out The Guild, I definitely recommend giving it a shot.  After all, at less than 10 minutes an episode, it's not like it will take up a lot of time!

In case you are wondering where I went this weekend...

After a long hard week at work, I decided to spend the entire weekend playing Age of Conan.  I managed to bring my character from level 23 to level 31, which shows how much I was playing.

This is still nothing compared to my wife, who is currently completely addicted to the game.  She was raiding with her guild this weekend.  The raid went well.  So well, that they actually made a video of it, put it to music, and placed it on YouTube.

So gaze in amazement at my wife and her guild taking down Kylikki.

I am not sure whether to be proud or horrified.

Its been awhile since I posted...

and I want to apologize.  My inattentiveness to my blogging responsibilities is due to three unrelated causes:

My unexplainable addiction to GTA IV.  I have never actually played any of the previous installments, but this one has really grabbed me.  The storyline is very interesting and the open ended gaming is fantastic.

It amazes me that you can watch (fake) TV or surf the (fake) Internet in this game.  Personally, I enjoy playing pool in the game.  Using Grand Theft Auto IV as a pool simulation game seem like a bit of a waste, but hey what can I say.

Luckily my wife is around to go on all the crazy shoot 'em  up missions, visit strip clubs, and run over hookers to get her money back after utilizing their services.

 

Another time-sucker has been the new Age of Conan Hyborean: Adventures MMORPG.  My wife was a long time City of Heroes player, but recently the game has lost some of its appeal to her.  So she made the jump to this new game, taking me along with her.

I can't say that I am sorry to make the switch.  The graphics are beautiful and the game play is quick.  It is obviously in the early stages as the interface can be a bit quirky, and you can run into problems like ending up in a different instance from the rest of your group pretty easily.

Of course, Conan is differentiating itself from Everquest, World of Warcraft, and the like by its Mature rating.  This basically means more spraying blood and the occasional naked breast in the game.  None of this matters to me, but by the same token none of it offends me either.  At least I no longer worry about my wife's foul mouth corrupting some twelve year-old kid when she is playing this game.

Perhaps the biggest reason I haven't posted as much recently is that my work schedule has changed to second shift for a couple of weeks.  Which has really thrown my available free time into chaos while I adjust. 

(On the plus side, the ability to sleep in has really helped me catch up on my sleep, even if I am getting to bed later than ever).

Well, enough excuses!  I promise to be back on track shortly, so expect more updates soon!

No taxation without (virtual) representation!

Last night my wife showed me that her character had earned 270,548,850 Infamy on the game City of Villains.  I am not sure how much Influence/Infamy she has on other game accounts, but I would not be surprised if she cracked a billion.  What this tells me is that if the IRS ever starts taxing the virtual economy, I am screwed.

The concept of taxing virtual assets is not a new one.  I like to think that the idea is so ludicrous that it will never come to pass.  Unfortunately, I have also learned to never say never, especially when there is a dollar to be made.

I know many of you will say if the virtual income never is transferred to real income that there is no reason for the IRS to get involved.  The real problem is that the IRS always wants to be involved when there is even the potential to make some income.

To put it another way, the IRS has already inserted itself into barter economy, where no money is being exchanged.  If I do computer work for someone I know who happens to be an automobile mechanic, and he replaces the transmission in my car in exchange, I have earned "income" equal to the cost of the transmission and need to report it to the IRS.

This is the gateway that the IRS wants to use to get into the virtual world.  While we are not earning actual money, we are earning something we could potentially barter for real goods and services.  Hence we should be taxed on it.

The problem is that this is idiotic.  No one would seriously consider taxing you on the money you made in Monopoly.  This is because at the end of the day the owner of the game takes all the 'money' back and puts the game in his closet.  The same is true with City of Heroes/Villains, simply on a longer timescale.  Someday NCSoft will close up shop and all of my wife's influence/infamy will disappear into the ether from whence it came.  Unfortunately, I have noticed a trend that the legal system seems to lose its mind as soon as the words "computer", "online", or "technology" are uttered. 

I should note that there is one game that probably should be the exception to this rule: Second Life.  The main reasons is because you can convert "Linden Dollars" to US Dollars, so making a profit in the game can be turned into a profit in the real world.  However, the solution here seems simple.  When you cash in your Linden Dollars for real US money, that is your earned income.  While it is virtual, there should be no attempt to tax it.  Much like you don't pay taxes on stocks until you cash out, you shouldn't have to pay on virtual investments until you are see a profit.  Especially because much like a company can go bankrupt and you would never see a dime, Second Life could disappear tomorrow, and those thousands of Linden Dollars you never converted could disappear with it.

Is is wrong to want to play a video game just because of a song?

I recently heard the song Still Alive by Jonathan Coulton.  Its a catchy little tune that plays at the end of the video game Portal.  I haven't played Portal, but I know that the protagonist matches wits with the insane computer GLaDOS as she navigates through increasingly complex rooms using her aperture gun.  GLaDOS alternatively taunts and encourages the character with offers of things like cake and grief counseling. 

I had heard good things about the game, but wasn't really planning on picking it up anytime soon.   However, I recently checked out the closing credits on YouTube, and found I can't seem to get the catchy, if disturbing, little tune out of my head.

I think the only choice I have now is to buy the game and beat it.

Click below to see the video that is going to cost me $60.

Still Alive by Jonathan Coulton

Why Superheroes Never Change the World

I have been playing a lot of the video game City of Villains recently.  Its not nearly as popular as its counterpart game City of Heroes.  Before it launched it was widely assumed that the opposite would be true; City of Villains would be the hit and City of Heroes would become a ghost town.

It should be that way.  The new game made improvements to the AI, character design, and gameplay.  Nevertheless, despite a decent launch players eventually migrated back to City of Heroes in droves.  The biggest complaint seemed to be that the villains on City of Villains simply didn't seem to be very villainous.

I believe this is true.  Rather than traditional supervillains, characters in City of Villains seemed more like "Tragically Hip Antiheroes" (TM).  Of course, City of Tragically Hip Antiheroes (COTHAH), doesn't roll off the tongue the way City of Villains does.

So I started to think of what could be done to make the villains in City of Villains more like traditional comic book villains and realized it was tough.  The biggest problem is that supervillains are proactive while superheroes are reactive.  Villains are the ones always hatching plots, pursuing their dreams, and trying to change the world.  On the other hand, superheroes tend to wait for things to happen, whether it is a new supervillain plot, a natural disaster, or even a simple mugging.

In fact, whenever a superhero crosses the line and attempts to use their vast powers to make the world a better place, it almost always turns out bad.  When Firestorm attempted to end hunger in Africa by making a desert into a virtual Eden (Firestorm #77-79), he merely managed to spark a land war in an already volatile area.  Similarly, the story of well meaning superheroes becoming dictators has played out in books like Squadron Supreme, Kingdom Come, and countless others.  In essence, whenever a superhero takes a proactive stance in mainstream comics, he becomes the villain of the piece.

Taken to its logical conclusion, being proactive about changing the world is one of the defining attributes of the comic book villain.  Lex Luthor, Doctor Doom, and Magneto don't simply sit around and wait for things to happen.  They make things happen.

So does this mean that a great supervillain MMORPG is impossible?  Maybe it is.  The trick is that the proactive nature of supervillains means they are actually content creators, rather than content consumers.  Villains need to be able to create their own storylines. This is not something that MMORPGs do well.  Frankly, this may be an area where pen and paper games beat out MMORPGs for the foreseeable future.