http://hammerandsickle.wordpress.com
I'm planning on getting a domain and wordpress handles domain direction EXTREMELY well, so I migrated.
The URL for this bitch was too long anyway. ^__^
Friday, November 2, 2007
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Omgwahtehfehk
Know Your Raid, episode VI:
The Former Leader
In a guild or raid, at this point in the lifespan of the Warcraft, it is quite common to find people that have been former leaders or former raid leaders. These people, while now no longer in a position of power or merit, still try to exert their pull to get their agenda fulfilled. This is a very simple personality role, and it is filled by many.
However they are not all subversive and selfish. Many former leads use their experience to help the guild (as a Progressive). In my experience I have seen many former leaders in guilds and raids I have been in and only 2 of them, not even including myself, were not after their own personal agenda.
The Former Leader
In a guild or raid, at this point in the lifespan of the Warcraft, it is quite common to find people that have been former leaders or former raid leaders. These people, while now no longer in a position of power or merit, still try to exert their pull to get their agenda fulfilled. This is a very simple personality role, and it is filled by many.
However they are not all subversive and selfish. Many former leads use their experience to help the guild (as a Progressive). In my experience I have seen many former leaders in guilds and raids I have been in and only 2 of them, not even including myself, were not after their own personal agenda.
Monday, October 29, 2007
Migration
Going to start moving this over to Word Press.
Mainly for the easier URL.
Once I get a domain too it'll be easier to point it to wordpress.
Sucks though since it is post by post.
I'll post the URL after I get a few posts in.
Mainly for the easier URL.
Once I get a domain too it'll be easier to point it to wordpress.
Sucks though since it is post by post.
I'll post the URL after I get a few posts in.
Thursday, October 25, 2007
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Routine
This is what I do every weekday while at work/getting ready for work. My job is the best and worst job I've ever had.
At 7:15 my alarm sounds.
I snooze alarm for the next 40 minutes (~4 snoozes).
I'm up and zombied at 7:55.
I showered the night before so I just gel up, get dressed and bail by 8:05.
My drive takes between 15 and 30 minutes.
At work around 8:30. I sign/card in (security kiosk).
I get to my desk at 8:35ish, say hello to my cubemate Colleen, and then I look at whatever I left from the day before.
Shortly after I get on my guild's forum and post/respond to whatever is going on (today was Void Reaver kill looool).
By 9 I'm done with guilding, so I hop on gmail and talk to either Mercedes, Jensen, Matt, Billy, Cara, or Missy. All depends on who is on. Usually it's Matt.
That initial chat goes for about 45 minutes until I usually start checking smashbros.com, swgemu.com, lookspring.co.uk (Magaret Robertson yay), facebook.com, and bbc.co.uk. I check other sites usually throughout the day, but these are my dailies.
Around 9:45 I get coffee and figure I need to do some work.
At 9:50 I start taking a test usually. If I have no tests, I fake that I'm working and usually work on polishing the script, working on scheduling, or working on budget for production, barring that I'm not absorbed in facebook or gchat.
I put together my tracking for the day (my supervisor wants to know how I spend my hours). I bullshit that 100% and send it to her. It has Excel =SUM formulas in it so she is completely impressed and usually does not question my time.
After that, usually about 10:15 I go back to the test I started and pull on my headphones with my pod and play some either videogame remixes, soundtracks, or full albums from whatever band I feel like listening to at work (usually AFI or MSI or At the Drive-In).
I finish the test by about 11:30, all the while chatting on the gchat. If I'm in deep conversation, the test will take me until about 1.
If I have another to do, I'll get started on that.
I don't take a lunch ever. I eat before work (snack), eat when I get off work (meal), and then again a few hours before bed (snack).
All the while I'm getting email for requests of getting people set up with programs online. I put off those emails until about 3:15. I do all the requests at once and late enough so they don't get done today because the people that request are usually morons. The emails I get are so I can fill out an excel spreadsheet that these people are too lazy to fill out. That is one of the purposes of my job. To do something someone else could easily handle (but that's the purpose of all admin/content editors).
Once those requests are out, I usually bail. It's 3:30 to 3:45 by then.
So in summation, I get there at 8:30 (sometimes as late as 9) and I leave about 3:30-3:45, all the while doing little to no work. That is why it is the best job I've ever had.
Final notes:
I get paid only $14/hr, which after taxes is about $22,000 a year. My standard of living (studio apt, minimal bills [I've had to stop buying games as often as I want]) is about $21,800/yr.
So it is only the worst job I've ever had based on my situation and status, but there is literally no light at the end of the tunnel (here, elsewhere however..).
At 7:15 my alarm sounds.
I snooze alarm for the next 40 minutes (~4 snoozes).
I'm up and zombied at 7:55.
I showered the night before so I just gel up, get dressed and bail by 8:05.
My drive takes between 15 and 30 minutes.
At work around 8:30. I sign/card in (security kiosk).
I get to my desk at 8:35ish, say hello to my cubemate Colleen, and then I look at whatever I left from the day before.
Shortly after I get on my guild's forum and post/respond to whatever is going on (today was Void Reaver kill looool).
By 9 I'm done with guilding, so I hop on gmail and talk to either Mercedes, Jensen, Matt, Billy, Cara, or Missy. All depends on who is on. Usually it's Matt.
That initial chat goes for about 45 minutes until I usually start checking smashbros.com, swgemu.com, lookspring.co.uk (Magaret Robertson yay), facebook.com, and bbc.co.uk. I check other sites usually throughout the day, but these are my dailies.
Around 9:45 I get coffee and figure I need to do some work.
At 9:50 I start taking a test usually. If I have no tests, I fake that I'm working and usually work on polishing the script, working on scheduling, or working on budget for production, barring that I'm not absorbed in facebook or gchat.
I put together my tracking for the day (my supervisor wants to know how I spend my hours). I bullshit that 100% and send it to her. It has Excel =SUM formulas in it so she is completely impressed and usually does not question my time.
After that, usually about 10:15 I go back to the test I started and pull on my headphones with my pod and play some either videogame remixes, soundtracks, or full albums from whatever band I feel like listening to at work (usually AFI or MSI or At the Drive-In).
I finish the test by about 11:30, all the while chatting on the gchat. If I'm in deep conversation, the test will take me until about 1.
If I have another to do, I'll get started on that.
I don't take a lunch ever. I eat before work (snack), eat when I get off work (meal), and then again a few hours before bed (snack).
All the while I'm getting email for requests of getting people set up with programs online. I put off those emails until about 3:15. I do all the requests at once and late enough so they don't get done today because the people that request are usually morons. The emails I get are so I can fill out an excel spreadsheet that these people are too lazy to fill out. That is one of the purposes of my job. To do something someone else could easily handle (but that's the purpose of all admin/content editors).
Once those requests are out, I usually bail. It's 3:30 to 3:45 by then.
So in summation, I get there at 8:30 (sometimes as late as 9) and I leave about 3:30-3:45, all the while doing little to no work. That is why it is the best job I've ever had.
Final notes:
I get paid only $14/hr, which after taxes is about $22,000 a year. My standard of living (studio apt, minimal bills [I've had to stop buying games as often as I want]) is about $21,800/yr.
So it is only the worst job I've ever had based on my situation and status, but there is literally no light at the end of the tunnel (here, elsewhere however..).
Monday, October 22, 2007
Herald
Like my thoughts on Halo, I have a similar taste in regards towards Penny Arcade.
The strip from Friday the 19th, as an example. Also read the blog associated with it. The blog is just a nice reminder of how much money you don't have, by the way.
Anyway, Penny Arcade to me is summed up in two similies. Penny Arcade is like Dane Cook and Penny Arcade is like Perez Hilton.
I used to read Penny Arcade back when it was a pathetically drawn comic, before the days MC Frontalot created an abortion of a theme song for the comic (?!!why?!) and it was actually enjoyable (the comic, not MC Frontalot). The takes on gaming and gamer culture was pretty accurate, but like all good things..
Somewhere along the line, Penny Arcade found its "myspace" (Dane Cook's foil for popularity) and shot up into superstar status. That's all well and good, but with popularity, you begin playing towards an audience instead of covering what you want. And also you start getting lots and lots of money, which alienates you from your fans. Somewhere also along that line, PA took the role similar to G4 and Fox's IGN (yes Fox owns IGN, lame) in telling you what you should be playing instead of figuring it out for yourself. I missed the reviews like "Game X didn't suit us well, but if you enjoy ___, X is for you." Now it's just, "this game fucking sucks, save your fucking money, oh wait only people like us can afford a PS3 so this review is fucking pointless."
In that sense also PA's blogging is similar to Perez Hilton's. Talking about shit no one really cares about (review) only to name (in this case, game) drop because you can. Truth is your audience is so destitute that they will never be able to reach your specific "status" or even the level you blog about (no average gamer can afford a PS3, I'm sorry). Sucks is because it seems what PA has evolved into is what any gaming icon(s) turn into: distant, self-serving, lame.
What sucks the most, and what the worst part is, no one can hate Penny Arcade.
Note to self: charity.
The strip from Friday the 19th, as an example. Also read the blog associated with it. The blog is just a nice reminder of how much money you don't have, by the way.
Anyway, Penny Arcade to me is summed up in two similies. Penny Arcade is like Dane Cook and Penny Arcade is like Perez Hilton.
I used to read Penny Arcade back when it was a pathetically drawn comic, before the days MC Frontalot created an abortion of a theme song for the comic (?!!why?!) and it was actually enjoyable (the comic, not MC Frontalot). The takes on gaming and gamer culture was pretty accurate, but like all good things..
Somewhere along the line, Penny Arcade found its "myspace" (Dane Cook's foil for popularity) and shot up into superstar status. That's all well and good, but with popularity, you begin playing towards an audience instead of covering what you want. And also you start getting lots and lots of money, which alienates you from your fans. Somewhere also along that line, PA took the role similar to G4 and Fox's IGN (yes Fox owns IGN, lame) in telling you what you should be playing instead of figuring it out for yourself. I missed the reviews like "Game X didn't suit us well, but if you enjoy ___, X is for you." Now it's just, "this game fucking sucks, save your fucking money, oh wait only people like us can afford a PS3 so this review is fucking pointless."
In that sense also PA's blogging is similar to Perez Hilton's. Talking about shit no one really cares about (review) only to name (in this case, game) drop because you can. Truth is your audience is so destitute that they will never be able to reach your specific "status" or even the level you blog about (no average gamer can afford a PS3, I'm sorry). Sucks is because it seems what PA has evolved into is what any gaming icon(s) turn into: distant, self-serving, lame.
What sucks the most, and what the worst part is, no one can hate Penny Arcade.
Note to self: charity.
Friday, October 19, 2007
Know Your Raid, Blanket Categories
Each personality viewed so far is mostly specific. In raiding personalities (and I've realized with the help of my D.P. that this applies to many online games), there are several Blanket Categories that encompass many of the smaller personalities. I'll go over a few with a quick description.
Loot Whore
The most common and usually used as a specific descriptor, when it is not. A ninja (someone who takes gear unneeded, without permission, and then leaves a group or guild) falls into this, but ninjas are typically rare. A loot whore is basically someone who just really, really, really likes gear. They believe that progression hinges on their specific character when it does not. At all. Loot whores are typically unrealistic and quick to argue in favor of them getting gear over another person. This category encompasses any raiding person except for say, the Nice Guy.
The Progressive
The Progressive are a group of people in a raiding guild that have altruistic intentions. They are the Angels where Loot Whores are the Fallen. Less selfish and more about the raid progress itself, they will do what they can to either make sure everyone wins or everyone loses. I've always enjoyed being apart of the Progressive for two reasons; it is the closest notion to communist theory applied to raiding and a Progressive Asshole is one of the most essential personality roles in a guild and raid. The Progressive set up systems like RPP and DKP and do their best to make sure systems like that remain fair. Progressive guild members are typically officers, guild leaders, raid leaders, and usually a core (a core is a gaming clique, a unit of 5-6 people that work extremely well with each other and usually have similar motives; note that a Loot Whore core can easily kill a guild [happened to me in the past 6 months, sadface]).
Casual
A casual is someone who plays a few days a week and a few hours on those days. They make up the majority of the game. Many casuals believe that they can use that minimal time that they play to hop into a raiding guild. In most cases, they fail, but some are able to make it work. Signs of a casual in a raiding guild: the log on specifically at raid time, stay for the raid, then quickly get any daily quests done immediately after the raid before logging off. Net time online: 4-5 hours, which is actually a stretch for them. They use that daily quest money to buy everything they need to raid. Not that there is anything wrong with playing like that, but I don't get the pull to have raiding gear to merely only raid further. Casuals are also some people who detest raiders and raiding. The game has some difficulty in it specifically for the raid-minded player. Casual people enjoy an easier trip through their game. Understandable, and when you have two sides on one issue and one side is 90% of your player-base (like in WoW), the developers will side with that contingent. It's just business.
So those are three of the categories that can encompass the personality roles of raiders and guildies. There are more and I'll throw some up after KYR article 10.
In production news, today is credit card day, which means RED purchase day which means I get to obtain the INTAGIBLE FEAR THAT WILL GOVERN MY LIFE FOR THE NEXT SIX MONTHS.
Funny part is, I can't fucking wait for that.
Loot Whore
The most common and usually used as a specific descriptor, when it is not. A ninja (someone who takes gear unneeded, without permission, and then leaves a group or guild) falls into this, but ninjas are typically rare. A loot whore is basically someone who just really, really, really likes gear. They believe that progression hinges on their specific character when it does not. At all. Loot whores are typically unrealistic and quick to argue in favor of them getting gear over another person. This category encompasses any raiding person except for say, the Nice Guy.
The Progressive
The Progressive are a group of people in a raiding guild that have altruistic intentions. They are the Angels where Loot Whores are the Fallen. Less selfish and more about the raid progress itself, they will do what they can to either make sure everyone wins or everyone loses. I've always enjoyed being apart of the Progressive for two reasons; it is the closest notion to communist theory applied to raiding and a Progressive Asshole is one of the most essential personality roles in a guild and raid. The Progressive set up systems like RPP and DKP and do their best to make sure systems like that remain fair. Progressive guild members are typically officers, guild leaders, raid leaders, and usually a core (a core is a gaming clique, a unit of 5-6 people that work extremely well with each other and usually have similar motives; note that a Loot Whore core can easily kill a guild [happened to me in the past 6 months, sadface]).
Casual
A casual is someone who plays a few days a week and a few hours on those days. They make up the majority of the game. Many casuals believe that they can use that minimal time that they play to hop into a raiding guild. In most cases, they fail, but some are able to make it work. Signs of a casual in a raiding guild: the log on specifically at raid time, stay for the raid, then quickly get any daily quests done immediately after the raid before logging off. Net time online: 4-5 hours, which is actually a stretch for them. They use that daily quest money to buy everything they need to raid. Not that there is anything wrong with playing like that, but I don't get the pull to have raiding gear to merely only raid further. Casuals are also some people who detest raiders and raiding. The game has some difficulty in it specifically for the raid-minded player. Casual people enjoy an easier trip through their game. Understandable, and when you have two sides on one issue and one side is 90% of your player-base (like in WoW), the developers will side with that contingent. It's just business.
So those are three of the categories that can encompass the personality roles of raiders and guildies. There are more and I'll throw some up after KYR article 10.
In production news, today is credit card day, which means RED purchase day which means I get to obtain the INTAGIBLE FEAR THAT WILL GOVERN MY LIFE FOR THE NEXT SIX MONTHS.
Funny part is, I can't fucking wait for that.
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