Need a game ...

Been busy in the evenings lately but probably busy at all the wrong things :-)

I've been gaming a lot lately and also trying to keep up with all the recorded stuff lately. Babylon5 off dvd has taken a back seat while I try and stay ahead. After a little flurry of book reading, I've stalled after starting Inversions by Iain M Banks. It's not the author's fault, I've just gone SQUIRREL and got distracted by other things.

Like ?

I've been back in Warcraft now for the last few months and have been enjoying it far more than my various spells in Eve. The spacer MMO (Eve) tends to be a long tedious grind to support Player V Player (PvP) action. The trouble with Eve's PvP is that you have to go looking for it. Unless there's territorial stuff going on (which happens more in the alliance we're in now), looking for PvP means joining a gang that then goes looking for trouble. Problem there is, trouble either gets caught in the open and annihilated or trouble runs away. The "Rush" that comes in an even fight is quite rare. I don't find 20 vs 1 fights challenging or interesting.

Warcraft's PvP is structured differently, at least on the server I play on. It's based primarily on battlegrounds, which have strict limits on how many can take part. Warsong Gulch is 10 a side and you have to capture the enemy's flag from their base and take it back to your's 3 times to win. Arathi Basin is 15 a side and is based on dominating 5 control points. It's well designed and makes for a dynamic and engaging sequence of play where the "Who's going to win?" can change very quickly.

It's the kind of gaming that gets me drawn in and checking when the next Tol Barad (another domination type battleground with 40 a side Total Mayhem) is going to be. It gets the blood flowing.

Oh - it probably feeds the addiction prone tendencies due to the buzz from winning through Burning Stuff. My character plays with Fire and has talents like Firestarter and Pyromaniac. The people who know me personally will have just hidden in concrete flameproof bunkers.

There's just one problem with Warcraft now - I think I've taken my main character as far as it'll go from what I can do on my own. (1 more upgrade to come) I could hit the dungeon queues to get more Stuff but that tends to lead to frustration due to having the wider Warcraft player base inflicted on you. Most of the players of Warcraft are under the age of 20 and like to act like they're younger than 10. That "Rush" does funny things to the mind.

That's why I like to stick to just doing things with the guild, it's a collection of people who play the game a lot like I do. They play hard but are also prepared to have a laugh. Always have to remember that you're playing a game, taking things too seriously can put a definite dampener on things. That's a good attitude to take to everything, always be prepared to laugh at the work in full knowledge that the world will not hesitate to laugh at you if you let it. The Warcraft people are better than the Eve people. Eve people like to think they're a better class of player but it doesn't show when playing with them. Except for the Volition Cult corp, they break the mould by being good to be around.

Laughing at our mistakes helps us pick ourselves up when we're down. Plus it helps reinforce a bit of "yeah, I'm whinging but I'm not whinging at you". A few of our people at work are getting a lot of stick right now because we've just introduced a new information management system which wasn't ready. Not their fault but they're the closest people to us so they're the ones who get their ears bent over it.

Need a game ?

I've hit that point again where I've got a bit bored with the games I have and need something new. I have my Formula that beats Settlers IV. My Krogans are unbeatable in Moo2 if the start is good, my Sectoids are even better despite the start they get. Civ 4 is too big scale a game to play casually. Just finished another Mass Effect run. Warcraft is good but too much of a good thing makes the good thing go stale.

Starcraft II is looking like a contender, I've gone big into real time strategy games in the past. Plus there is also a case for letting the brain cool down a bit by reading a book instead of having to keep up with twitchgaming.

Ha - it'll cool down even more in the summer when cricket comes round again :-) I'm smart but when I start running around something happens in my head that means I have trouble counting even to 6 (balls in an over). Or I let the random thoughts spill out of my head like in a blog post like this one :-)

One thing I will hope to do is have fewer late evenings getting home. That's not just work, it's things like heading off to the Mall for emergencies. But it would be good to have 6 hours to myself in the evening instead of just 4 plus what I sneak in after midnight.

How long until the next Tol'Barad ? Must go check :-)