"Croatoan", the name of an episode of the TV series Supernatural = TRUE
"Croatoan", the name carved into a tree in the center of the abandoned English settlement of Roanoke, VA = TRUE
"Croatoan", the name of a Native American tribe whose own settlement was found South of Roanoke = TRUE
What's funny about the Supernatural episode is that their explanation and meaning of Croatoan is a demonic virus that turns people into a mass of like minded crazy people who ultimately disappear into the unknown. In the episode they talk about the abandoned Roanoke settlement and how nobody, to this day, really knows what happened to those early colonists. With all other options remaining undiscussed, we come to find out the this mysterious demonic virus is the real reason behind the vanishings of the late 16th century.
The more rational theory, i.e. one not invented for entertainment purposes only, is that those Roanoke colonists found friends with the Croatoan nation and ultimately setteled with them, mixing over the years to later become what we know today as the Lumbee people (who, btw, still live in the same coastal regions of NE North Carolina, south of Roanoke.
Reality sucks, fantasy is often much more interesting. And the concept that a demonic virus can turn all of us insane before causing us to disappear into the nether-regions of the universe makes for better writing...and watching. Unless, of course, you just love watching things like PBS & CSPAN.
WoW's Croatoan?
I know it's annoying to hear, but change is constant. One thing we can be sure of is that the way in which we interact with each other today will change into something else tomorrow. Imagine how long the Queen of Spain had to wait before Christopher Columbus reported back. There was no email or Twitter back in those days. But even has over 500M people obsess over, er, utilize social networking sites such as Facebook, you can rest assured that not even a $50 Billion valuation of the company will keep it up and running 20 years from now. At the pace we're going, Facebook will be obsolete in 10.
I don't know that I'm one to talk about life cycles of games, etc, but I'm going to anyway. See, WoW has been around for a while, in gaming life terms. I've been playing for over two years now, I believe, and others for over 6 (or is it 7?, I forget). There will be more content patches for Cataclysm, and most likely one or more expansions. Many people have asked the question before, "when will WoW reach its end?", I guess I'd like to pose the possibility that it will do so via Croatoan.
No, I don't think that the community will depart peacefully and simply migrate to another game with nothing but a word etched into a tree. I believe that WoW will suffer the fate of a demoic virus, with one person infecting the next until all are driven crazy and go off to play some other new game, but remain infected still. I wouldn't claim that this will happen to everyone, I guess what I'm saying is that WoW won't go quietly.
Believe it or not, as for myself I mostly provide anecdotes to prove a point, but from my first day to today there is more hostility in WoW among the players. In a simple BG the other day, I sat staring at the BG chat more than anything (well not really, but I did read a lot of it), I noticed how much people were yelling at each other and blaming one another for our failures. Other examples are horror pug stories, which increased x100 since the inception of LFD, largely due to the fact that a significantly larger population was now grouping with random strangers, thereby causing statistics to amplify what was already there. Meaning, there were already bad pugs before LFD, but since so many more people were running pugs, and raids became more pug friendly, there were just more horror stories to listen to.
But don't worry so much about what others think, what have you seen with your own eyes? Have you seen more abusive language, more blatant disrespect for other people based on random, uncomprehensible motivations? Surely not everyone is infected with Croatoan, but it's starting to spread. More people means more things happen, both good and bad. But just as the news reports bad stories, the bad experiences get amplified in our minds due to the emotional effect it has on us. The more emotional we get, the less rational, the more susceptible we become to negative influences.
Perhaps we will respond in kind, fall victim to the bait set by the trolls and in so doing, become deformed, grow tusks, and spew illogical hate over something that we would otherwise deem meaningless. Or maybe there are many good people, who upon sensing the Croatoan virus crawl up their arms over their skin will wish to dash to the decontamiation area below Gnomeregan and cleanse themselves of the filth, after which they will also decide that the Croatoan people are much more friendly than the imposing English empire - i.e. will find another game to play and do so quietly.
Perhaps what will be left at the ending days of WoW will be nothing but infected Croatoan people, oddly working together for some demented goal. The devs, upon seeing a population of demons, posessed by the common goal to end all life, will flip the switch, causing the infected to shout to high heaven for the crime of having their beloved game stripped from them. News flash with Brian Williams reports that Blizzard Entertainment suddenly and without warning, turned off all servers, shutting down the most popular MMO in history. Upon sending a field reporter to Blizzard headquarters, nobody was there to greet them.
Slowly the reporter and camera crew will walk into the Blizzard offices, and finding them empty will find their way into the server room. On a screen, still turned on, will be one word flashing the reporter in the face: CROATOAN.
"Well Brian," the reporter will say, "It seems that WoW has gone the way of the Roanoke colony of the late 16th century. If our insider reports are correct, WoW failed due to a massive community infection. Some made it safely out to play other games, some have disappeared and may never be seen in the MMO community again, and the host of the infected are outside burning down our TV van. Odd indeed are all these things, but I was told there were signs. Signs of an infection, but Blizzard only applied patches, never a healing ointment. Well, we don't know what's next, nor how many will participate in the next 'big thing', but what we do know is that there is no cure for a virus, only treatment of the symptoms."
Malarkey
I love hyperbole, don't you? I don't really think all that will happen, but it's more entertaining than real life. Still, I do believe that Croatoan, in some form, will and has infected many players. It's not as severe as I paint it, but the end result, I believe, is a game that will leave more questions than answers when all is said and done. Will people ever be able to point to what caused WoW to fail? Maybe it will simply grow old and die, a prisoner to improved technology and our insatiable appetite for a more immersive experience. Who knows? But wouldn't it be cool if Blizzard did that, for just one day, leave their workstations and put a sign on their front door: CROATOAN
For one day, as a pratical joke, the reaction that would illicit would be, well, historical.
Showing posts with label Ideas. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ideas. Show all posts
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Idea Ownership - Doth it Matterith?
A while back, I don’t exactly remember when, Tesh (From Tish Tosh Tesh) asked me a profound question:
“Does idea ownership matter? Is it not wise to consider ideas on their own merit rather than dismiss or validate them based on their source?
Just a thought…”
I finally have a good answer for him, not my incoherent ramblings from my first attempt. This is something I have thought about constantly for a few months now. So I hope in this attempt I can make my answer perfectly clear. To the question “Does idea ownership matter?”, I say:
YES
“Does idea ownership matter? Is it not wise to consider ideas on their own merit rather than dismiss or validate them based on their source?
Just a thought…”
I finally have a good answer for him, not my incoherent ramblings from my first attempt. This is something I have thought about constantly for a few months now. So I hope in this attempt I can make my answer perfectly clear. To the question “Does idea ownership matter?”, I say:
YES
AND
NO
(If you’ve come here for WoW stuff, hang in there, for me it all comes back to another question about Blizzard that I don’t have the answer to. Moving on…)
Idea Defined
My answer is 100% contingent on the definition of “Idea” that we’re talking about. If we were to discuss a theme or subject of unknown authorship, of general public knowledge and/or interest such as Taxes, Immigration, Slavery, Communism, Capitalism, then NO, idea ownership does not, or at least should not matter. Who came up with the idea of slavery anyway? I don’t know. But over time it’s evolved into a subject of debate and consideration (SDC). That’s right, I just made up my own acronym!!! Who had the bright idea that governments should tax its people? I sure as heck-fire don’t know. These are ideas of a special kind, SDC’s that have no known authorship and are debated in public forums or even privately among friends and acquantences.
There are difficulties, however, in debating these general subjects. One problem I see is that no or very few subject(s) is presented by an impartial spokesman, so any information shared will be tainted by biases too difficult to mask completely, if any attempt to mask them at all has been made. Other difficulties are the variables that become part of the equation: An individual's communication skills (listening, speaking, phraseology, use of common fallacies), personal experiences, personality, temperament, education, and the list goes on and on. The ideal is that these subjects should be considered on their own merits and idea ownership does NOT matter. Too bad the world isn’t ideal.
A Bright Idea
The other definition involves an idea that has a known author, which idea is an actual entity (a thought, conept, sensation, or image) that is actually or potentially present to consciousness. Combined with that are ideas which can be considered “plans of action”.
For example: I have an idea for a new TV show. A little alien, only about 2 ½ feet tall (who, by the way, likes to be called a small, but just as smart, person) with magical powers travels from world to world saving the galaxy in which he lives from evil glowing balls of gas and fire. It will be called “Sun Killer, The Irony of Misunderstood Heroism”.
Would you watch a show about a Gnome who accidentally destroyed all the suns in a Galaxy, believed himself to be a hero but everyone hated him, but due to his utter ignorance kept on doing what he thought was heroic? Maybe, maybe not. Are your opinions changed knowing who the author of the idea was? If, for example, the show was put into production, should I (the author) receive credit for the idea? Does idea ownership, in the above example, matter?
Let’s say you’re on Safari in Africa and fall into a pit with 10 cobra snakes and your grandmother and uncle Vinny. Someone needs to come up with an idea, a unique and specific plan of action fit for the situation or you're all gonna die. "Quick, take granny's shawl and toss it onto that tree root, we'll use it to pull ourselves up!" Or let’s assume that you are a blog writer, a novelist, or a poet? Did anyone else come up with the idea of Harry Potter or was it JK Rowling who had that idea? Maybe you had something similar, but you suck at writing, so you scrapped it. Oh well, no billionaire ball for you!
This definition of idea is clearly different than the first I presented. It implies that the idea is a creative thought or concept designed to answer a question or serve a purpose or make someone's life better, etc, etc, etc. Given this definition of Idea, to answer the question, “Does idea ownership matter?” I say without hesitation…YES.
To prove this I point to some popular social and legal norms. Plagiarism is illegal and unethical in just about every civilized nation I know of (excepting communist or dictatorship states). In science, education, the workplace, if you copy someone’s work and pass it off as your own, that’s bad. Why? Because idea ownership matters!
Many nations, including the US of A has enacted copyright laws to protect original authors of their ideas, or intellectual property.
“Copyright is a form of protection provided by the laws of the United States (title 17, U.S. Code) to the authors of ‘original works of authorship,’ including literacy, dramatic, musical, artistic, and certain other intellectual works. This protection is available to both published and unpublished works…[The laws] generally gives the owner of the copyright the exclusive right to do and to authorize others to do the following:
http://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ1.pdf
(See link for more details)
A scientist who bases some part of their new and groundbreaking theories on somebody else’s work MUST reference all his/her work or that scientist will be unemployed and will have to find a job teaching Junior High School somewhere…if they are lucky. Why? Because idea ownership matters. It matters so much, in fact, that breaking copyright law can land you a hefty fine or even up to time in jail. Ouch!
Ideas in the Business World
In business…oh, business. Here is where I begin my decent into Blizzard and World of Warcraft. I’m a businessman, oh yeah. I got to business meeting and have business luncheons, and dress up in business attire, and have a business office. I’ve also had a business idea of mine stolen by a co-worker, which ended up in their promotion and my ultimately having to leave the company. If ever I were to resort to violence to solve problems, that would have been one instance where violence was justified. But that was a long time ago, when I was ignorant and foolish and trusting of, you know, other humans. I’m more guarded now and make sure that I protect my business ideas very, very carefully.
Idea ownership is king in business. It can bring you into the position of CEO or land you in the unemployment line. I imagine if you’re a game developer and come up with a really crappy idea for a game, it may be hard to keep your job or find work in the future. But if you develop a really, really, really great idea and that idea takes off, you could benefit from it in major ways.
Which brings me to my final question, one that I do not have an answer to.
WoW Dev Team – Group Rewards or Individual Recognition?
Does anyone know how much the devs who create all aspects of WoW actually work together vs how often they work alone? Who initially thought up the concept of talents? Did they get a raise? How about 31 point talents? Did that person get a promotion? Or are the ideas that flow within the development team considered “shared” ideas?
Legally, I know ATVI owns all the ideas, it’s how all good businesses protect themselves and their intellectual property and investments. Technically there are things I created at my previous jobs that are legally “owned” by those companies, but I know that I created those programs or processes, etc. And they know it too. But the work I did while there legally belonged to them, as do the ideas belong to ATVI.
But the practices of reality do not always reflect the legality of things. In practice, I wonder if individual devs get credit internally for their work or for any great ideas or concepts that they design? If 10 people are in a room and at the end they decide to go with 31 point talent trees, who gets credit for it? Does anyone? Does everyone? Does idea ownership matter within Blizzard’s development team?
Maybe that question can only be answered by Blizzard, or maybe someone out there has insight that can ease my troubled mind. If I were working on WoW, in some developer capacity (which will never happen, I’m an accountant, remember?) I think that I would enjoy personal and individual recognition of some things, and also be happy for the success of others and as a whole team. But to be void of any individual recognition, to be told that ownership of ideas didn’t matter when I was the one who created the LFD tool (just an example) I think would hurt, ya know, emotionally. How motivated would I be if I never received recognition for the ideas that helped build a really great game? I, Gronthe, would definitely lose some motivation, if I were being honest with myself.
How many used to watch Saturday Night Live in the 1990’s? There was a skit, I can’t remember who did it, I think it was Al Franken, who would have celebrities look into a mirror and say: “I’m good enough, I’m smart enough, and doggonnit people like me.” It was especially funny when Michael Jordan did it at the height of his popularity. But I’m afraid that in business, in the workplace, self-affirmations isn’t enough. I know I’m smart, but I need my boss to know it too. I depend on his opinion for my living. Without it, I lose job satisfaction.
I’m hoping that Blizzard does both, recognize people and teams, and they probably do. But I don’t know for sure. I hope they do because Idea Ownership, when discussing thoughts and concepts of original authorship, DOES MATTER in society, as evidences by our norms and our laws.
All other general subject ideas, SDC’s so to speak, idea ownership DOES NOT MATTER. I should not validate or invalidate an idea, or a subject matter, because a biased source delivers the topic in a way that is leading and not 100% objective. It may be difficult, but the ideal still stands, it does not, or at the very least should not matter. In reality, however, I'm afraid that it does, that people get tainted by a biased opinion that is difficult to uproot. But alas, a discussion for another time...
So to Tesh, who’s questions have tortured me the past few months, I hate you!!! No, I really don’t, I thank you for making me think about this more. For making me delve into my own opinions, for making me look around me in the world and consider the applications of these questions.
I know this wasn’t your typical World of Warcraft post, it was an attempted expression of thoughts that I tied into WoW, somehow. Anyway, I’m tired, I think I want to take a nap. Until next time…
(If you’ve come here for WoW stuff, hang in there, for me it all comes back to another question about Blizzard that I don’t have the answer to. Moving on…)
Idea Defined
My answer is 100% contingent on the definition of “Idea” that we’re talking about. If we were to discuss a theme or subject of unknown authorship, of general public knowledge and/or interest such as Taxes, Immigration, Slavery, Communism, Capitalism, then NO, idea ownership does not, or at least should not matter. Who came up with the idea of slavery anyway? I don’t know. But over time it’s evolved into a subject of debate and consideration (SDC). That’s right, I just made up my own acronym!!! Who had the bright idea that governments should tax its people? I sure as heck-fire don’t know. These are ideas of a special kind, SDC’s that have no known authorship and are debated in public forums or even privately among friends and acquantences.
There are difficulties, however, in debating these general subjects. One problem I see is that no or very few subject(s) is presented by an impartial spokesman, so any information shared will be tainted by biases too difficult to mask completely, if any attempt to mask them at all has been made. Other difficulties are the variables that become part of the equation: An individual's communication skills (listening, speaking, phraseology, use of common fallacies), personal experiences, personality, temperament, education, and the list goes on and on. The ideal is that these subjects should be considered on their own merits and idea ownership does NOT matter. Too bad the world isn’t ideal.
A Bright Idea
The other definition involves an idea that has a known author, which idea is an actual entity (a thought, conept, sensation, or image) that is actually or potentially present to consciousness. Combined with that are ideas which can be considered “plans of action”.
For example: I have an idea for a new TV show. A little alien, only about 2 ½ feet tall (who, by the way, likes to be called a small, but just as smart, person) with magical powers travels from world to world saving the galaxy in which he lives from evil glowing balls of gas and fire. It will be called “Sun Killer, The Irony of Misunderstood Heroism”.
Would you watch a show about a Gnome who accidentally destroyed all the suns in a Galaxy, believed himself to be a hero but everyone hated him, but due to his utter ignorance kept on doing what he thought was heroic? Maybe, maybe not. Are your opinions changed knowing who the author of the idea was? If, for example, the show was put into production, should I (the author) receive credit for the idea? Does idea ownership, in the above example, matter?
Let’s say you’re on Safari in Africa and fall into a pit with 10 cobra snakes and your grandmother and uncle Vinny. Someone needs to come up with an idea, a unique and specific plan of action fit for the situation or you're all gonna die. "Quick, take granny's shawl and toss it onto that tree root, we'll use it to pull ourselves up!" Or let’s assume that you are a blog writer, a novelist, or a poet? Did anyone else come up with the idea of Harry Potter or was it JK Rowling who had that idea? Maybe you had something similar, but you suck at writing, so you scrapped it. Oh well, no billionaire ball for you!
This definition of idea is clearly different than the first I presented. It implies that the idea is a creative thought or concept designed to answer a question or serve a purpose or make someone's life better, etc, etc, etc. Given this definition of Idea, to answer the question, “Does idea ownership matter?” I say without hesitation…YES.
To prove this I point to some popular social and legal norms. Plagiarism is illegal and unethical in just about every civilized nation I know of (excepting communist or dictatorship states). In science, education, the workplace, if you copy someone’s work and pass it off as your own, that’s bad. Why? Because idea ownership matters!
Many nations, including the US of A has enacted copyright laws to protect original authors of their ideas, or intellectual property.
“Copyright is a form of protection provided by the laws of the United States (title 17, U.S. Code) to the authors of ‘original works of authorship,’ including literacy, dramatic, musical, artistic, and certain other intellectual works. This protection is available to both published and unpublished works…[The laws] generally gives the owner of the copyright the exclusive right to do and to authorize others to do the following:
http://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ1.pdf
(See link for more details)
A scientist who bases some part of their new and groundbreaking theories on somebody else’s work MUST reference all his/her work or that scientist will be unemployed and will have to find a job teaching Junior High School somewhere…if they are lucky. Why? Because idea ownership matters. It matters so much, in fact, that breaking copyright law can land you a hefty fine or even up to time in jail. Ouch!
Ideas in the Business World
In business…oh, business. Here is where I begin my decent into Blizzard and World of Warcraft. I’m a businessman, oh yeah. I got to business meeting and have business luncheons, and dress up in business attire, and have a business office. I’ve also had a business idea of mine stolen by a co-worker, which ended up in their promotion and my ultimately having to leave the company. If ever I were to resort to violence to solve problems, that would have been one instance where violence was justified. But that was a long time ago, when I was ignorant and foolish and trusting of, you know, other humans. I’m more guarded now and make sure that I protect my business ideas very, very carefully.
Idea ownership is king in business. It can bring you into the position of CEO or land you in the unemployment line. I imagine if you’re a game developer and come up with a really crappy idea for a game, it may be hard to keep your job or find work in the future. But if you develop a really, really, really great idea and that idea takes off, you could benefit from it in major ways.
Which brings me to my final question, one that I do not have an answer to.
WoW Dev Team – Group Rewards or Individual Recognition?
Does anyone know how much the devs who create all aspects of WoW actually work together vs how often they work alone? Who initially thought up the concept of talents? Did they get a raise? How about 31 point talents? Did that person get a promotion? Or are the ideas that flow within the development team considered “shared” ideas?
Legally, I know ATVI owns all the ideas, it’s how all good businesses protect themselves and their intellectual property and investments. Technically there are things I created at my previous jobs that are legally “owned” by those companies, but I know that I created those programs or processes, etc. And they know it too. But the work I did while there legally belonged to them, as do the ideas belong to ATVI.
But the practices of reality do not always reflect the legality of things. In practice, I wonder if individual devs get credit internally for their work or for any great ideas or concepts that they design? If 10 people are in a room and at the end they decide to go with 31 point talent trees, who gets credit for it? Does anyone? Does everyone? Does idea ownership matter within Blizzard’s development team?
Maybe that question can only be answered by Blizzard, or maybe someone out there has insight that can ease my troubled mind. If I were working on WoW, in some developer capacity (which will never happen, I’m an accountant, remember?) I think that I would enjoy personal and individual recognition of some things, and also be happy for the success of others and as a whole team. But to be void of any individual recognition, to be told that ownership of ideas didn’t matter when I was the one who created the LFD tool (just an example) I think would hurt, ya know, emotionally. How motivated would I be if I never received recognition for the ideas that helped build a really great game? I, Gronthe, would definitely lose some motivation, if I were being honest with myself.
How many used to watch Saturday Night Live in the 1990’s? There was a skit, I can’t remember who did it, I think it was Al Franken, who would have celebrities look into a mirror and say: “I’m good enough, I’m smart enough, and doggonnit people like me.” It was especially funny when Michael Jordan did it at the height of his popularity. But I’m afraid that in business, in the workplace, self-affirmations isn’t enough. I know I’m smart, but I need my boss to know it too. I depend on his opinion for my living. Without it, I lose job satisfaction.
I’m hoping that Blizzard does both, recognize people and teams, and they probably do. But I don’t know for sure. I hope they do because Idea Ownership, when discussing thoughts and concepts of original authorship, DOES MATTER in society, as evidences by our norms and our laws.
All other general subject ideas, SDC’s so to speak, idea ownership DOES NOT MATTER. I should not validate or invalidate an idea, or a subject matter, because a biased source delivers the topic in a way that is leading and not 100% objective. It may be difficult, but the ideal still stands, it does not, or at the very least should not matter. In reality, however, I'm afraid that it does, that people get tainted by a biased opinion that is difficult to uproot. But alas, a discussion for another time...
So to Tesh, who’s questions have tortured me the past few months, I hate you!!! No, I really don’t, I thank you for making me think about this more. For making me delve into my own opinions, for making me look around me in the world and consider the applications of these questions.
I know this wasn’t your typical World of Warcraft post, it was an attempted expression of thoughts that I tied into WoW, somehow. Anyway, I’m tired, I think I want to take a nap. Until next time…
Guild Recruitment
There are a few forms of guild recruitment currently available to wow players. You can post a "classified ad" on the official forums or on a forum of some other well known wow-related website. There are the local chat channels in-game, where you can spam your ad 100 times a day, if that's the kind of game you want to play. You can make a "mostly guild" dungeon or raid run and bring along others (guildless or not) and attempt to recruit them away from their current status and into your guild. You can have people fill out applications, go through interviews, prove themselves in a trial run somewhere, take them into the middle of knowwhere blindfolded then leave them to find the quickest way back to your guild's secret hiding place in some obscure cave in Winterspring. Bottom line is there are many avenues to follow, and all with differing results.
But what if there were an easier way, a more streamlined way of recruiting people, while keeping the previous avenues open (because as we know, some people like to do things the old fashioned way or not at all). I have an idea which may be totally insane or somewhat useful, I'll let ya'lls decide.
LFGLD Tool
An in-game browser designed to bring people of the same server together. Functioning somewhat like the previous LFG tool, players searching for a guild would be able to list their names (which listing would not disappear upon logging off, only manual removal by player would work). The named players would designate their primary and secondary (if applicable) spec, their race and class would be included. Race because there may be somebody out there who wants to create an all-Worgen guild or something, who knows? There would also be the options to classify your primary objectives: Raiding, PvP, Social, Leveling, Trolling, Gold Selling, Goblinism, Hacking, etc. The player would be able to select up to two additional objectives, but the primary is the reason you seek to be recruited.
Meahwhile, guild leaders who seek to recruit can browse the system, filtering according to their needs. So let's say that a PvP guild seeks to recruit a max-level, Horde BM Hunter who's primary objective is PvP, they can filter by race, class, spec, and primary objective and BAM! They found a few potential candidates. From there they can choose to approach them in whatever manner they see fit. They can have them fill out apps, run live with them to test their skills in real time, whatever they want.
Purpose
I have spoken before about the position some players (not all, btw) find themselves in once they land in a guild, primarily raiding guild. They may want to run as one spec but are asked to perform a secondary role. I am not going to discuss that further in this post, but the reason I'm suggesting the implementation of this LFGLD tool is because I believe one of the solutions that would allow more people to play their preferred spec is more targeted recruitment by guild and raid leaders.
It's my opinion, targeted recruiting helps all parties involved. One, it fills the exact roles a guild is searching for AND it allows the person being recruited to play the spec he/she prefers and is most likely best at. This, I believe, produces an effective and happy raider, less prone to conflict and more likely to perform well due to their intimate knowledge of the spec they love the most.
Ugh, I can't believe I'm going to say this, but out of a disclaimer attitude I feel I must. I know there are tons of people who perform exceedingly well in their dual specializations, I myself was an excellent healer and melee dps with my Shaman, both became natural and comfortable. But like I said, I don't want to go too far down this path, so...
Will it Work?
Is this a tool that would work on a realm to realm basis? Would it only work if you could list yourself over your battlegroup, or is realm only sufficient? Would you use it if you were looking for a guild? Would it be better than trying to post in trade chat, "LF Guild", then getting mocked at by trolls saying, "Go make your own, noob!"? I really don't know, it's just an idea.
I believe that it would be a useful recruiting tool, and it would allow someone who's guildless to just list themselves then go along their merry way playing the game until somebody responds. At that point both parties can do whatever they want to determine if the union will be a good fit or not. Personally I would use it, and given the changes to guild structures upcoming, I think guilds could use a tool to help them recruit better than sending out random invites to a list of people they are told are guildless (happens to me all the time and I decline every one).
Please, feel free to share your opinions or demolish my own, I don't claim to know if this would work or not, but I'd be curious to hear from you.
But what if there were an easier way, a more streamlined way of recruiting people, while keeping the previous avenues open (because as we know, some people like to do things the old fashioned way or not at all). I have an idea which may be totally insane or somewhat useful, I'll let ya'lls decide.
LFGLD Tool
An in-game browser designed to bring people of the same server together. Functioning somewhat like the previous LFG tool, players searching for a guild would be able to list their names (which listing would not disappear upon logging off, only manual removal by player would work). The named players would designate their primary and secondary (if applicable) spec, their race and class would be included. Race because there may be somebody out there who wants to create an all-Worgen guild or something, who knows? There would also be the options to classify your primary objectives: Raiding, PvP, Social, Leveling, Trolling, Gold Selling, Goblinism, Hacking, etc. The player would be able to select up to two additional objectives, but the primary is the reason you seek to be recruited.
Meahwhile, guild leaders who seek to recruit can browse the system, filtering according to their needs. So let's say that a PvP guild seeks to recruit a max-level, Horde BM Hunter who's primary objective is PvP, they can filter by race, class, spec, and primary objective and BAM! They found a few potential candidates. From there they can choose to approach them in whatever manner they see fit. They can have them fill out apps, run live with them to test their skills in real time, whatever they want.
Purpose
I have spoken before about the position some players (not all, btw) find themselves in once they land in a guild, primarily raiding guild. They may want to run as one spec but are asked to perform a secondary role. I am not going to discuss that further in this post, but the reason I'm suggesting the implementation of this LFGLD tool is because I believe one of the solutions that would allow more people to play their preferred spec is more targeted recruitment by guild and raid leaders.
It's my opinion, targeted recruiting helps all parties involved. One, it fills the exact roles a guild is searching for AND it allows the person being recruited to play the spec he/she prefers and is most likely best at. This, I believe, produces an effective and happy raider, less prone to conflict and more likely to perform well due to their intimate knowledge of the spec they love the most.
Ugh, I can't believe I'm going to say this, but out of a disclaimer attitude I feel I must. I know there are tons of people who perform exceedingly well in their dual specializations, I myself was an excellent healer and melee dps with my Shaman, both became natural and comfortable. But like I said, I don't want to go too far down this path, so...
Will it Work?
Is this a tool that would work on a realm to realm basis? Would it only work if you could list yourself over your battlegroup, or is realm only sufficient? Would you use it if you were looking for a guild? Would it be better than trying to post in trade chat, "LF Guild", then getting mocked at by trolls saying, "Go make your own, noob!"? I really don't know, it's just an idea.
I believe that it would be a useful recruiting tool, and it would allow someone who's guildless to just list themselves then go along their merry way playing the game until somebody responds. At that point both parties can do whatever they want to determine if the union will be a good fit or not. Personally I would use it, and given the changes to guild structures upcoming, I think guilds could use a tool to help them recruit better than sending out random invites to a list of people they are told are guildless (happens to me all the time and I decline every one).
Please, feel free to share your opinions or demolish my own, I don't claim to know if this would work or not, but I'd be curious to hear from you.
Friday, September 17, 2010
More Poetry in WoW
(Disclaimer: For whatever reason, whenever I post the paragraphs aren't separating well, so it looks like one huge paragraph. Be patient, I'll try to fix it but I don't know how).
One of the defining features of JRR Tolkien's Lord of the Rings novels is the poetry that he masterfully weaves into the story. The Hobbits are all too fond of rhymes and riddles, but there are other examples of how the language itself is poetry, consider the scene when Frodo visited Lothlorien:
"It seemed to him that he had stepped through a high window that looked on a vanished world. A light was upon it for which his language had no name. All that he saw was shapely, but the shapes seemed at once clear cut, as if they had been first conceived and drawn at the uncovering of his eyes, and ancient as if they had endured for ever. He saw no colour but those he knew, gold and white and blue and green, but they were fresh and poignant, as if he had at that moment first perceived them and made for them names new and wonderful. In winter here no heart could mourn for summer or for spring. No blemish or sickness or deformity could be seen in anything that grew upon the earth. On the land of Lorien there was no stain."
-The Fellowship of the Ring, p. 365
To me this is a greater example of pure poetry then any contrived rhyme of "roses are red, etc". What it does is allow the reader to be swept up in the moment from the perspective of [Frodo], and experience the wonder of seeing most beautiful scenery our eyes have ever beheld.
Then there is the more common style of poetry as well, such as these lovely examples from the same book:
One of the defining features of JRR Tolkien's Lord of the Rings novels is the poetry that he masterfully weaves into the story. The Hobbits are all too fond of rhymes and riddles, but there are other examples of how the language itself is poetry, consider the scene when Frodo visited Lothlorien:
"It seemed to him that he had stepped through a high window that looked on a vanished world. A light was upon it for which his language had no name. All that he saw was shapely, but the shapes seemed at once clear cut, as if they had been first conceived and drawn at the uncovering of his eyes, and ancient as if they had endured for ever. He saw no colour but those he knew, gold and white and blue and green, but they were fresh and poignant, as if he had at that moment first perceived them and made for them names new and wonderful. In winter here no heart could mourn for summer or for spring. No blemish or sickness or deformity could be seen in anything that grew upon the earth. On the land of Lorien there was no stain."
-The Fellowship of the Ring, p. 365
To me this is a greater example of pure poetry then any contrived rhyme of "roses are red, etc". What it does is allow the reader to be swept up in the moment from the perspective of [Frodo], and experience the wonder of seeing most beautiful scenery our eyes have ever beheld.
Then there is the more common style of poetry as well, such as these lovely examples from the same book:
"Home is behind, the world ahead,
and there are many paths to tread.
Through shadows to the edge of night,
until the stars are all alight.
Then world behind and home ahead,
we'll wander back to home and to bed.
Mist and twilight, cloud and shade,
Away shall fade! Away shall fade!
Fire and lamp, and meat and bread.
And then to bed! And then to bed!"
Also:
"The shadow lies upon his tomb,
In Moria, in Khazad-dum.
But still the sunken stars appear,
In dark and windless Mirrormere;
There lies his crown in water deep,
Till Durin wakes again from sleep."
We may either forget or not know that Tolkien was an award winning poet, not just one of the most beloved story tellers of the 20th century. We are all aware of the influences that he had on our world of game playing and fantasy, but that's not the topic I wish to address. I wonder, sometimes, given Tolkien's influence on just about everything that came after him, why there is little to no poetry in games, particularly WoW.
Now please, as I have not played every game in the world I certainly cannot say that no games incorporate poetry, so if there are examples out there I would love to hear of them. I would also like to make clear that I do not wish for WoW to incorporate Tolkien poetry, I realize that if I want access to that I could play LOTR Online (I actually don't know if there's much poetry in that game), read the books or watch the movies. I also am well aware that the name of the game I enjoy the most is World of WAR-Craft. I just wanted to get the obvious out of the way to spare me the agony of having it pointed out to me in any comment.
In any good fantasy story, I believe that there must be great characters, an easy to follow and engaging plot, and significant conflict. Added to these are the details of the story, in both the characters and the world they live in. The more meaningful the world, the more important are those characters to the survival of all that's good in that world. To me, a world without virtue, without beauty, without love and culture isn't really a world worth saving. If I am a "hero" dropped into a world of pure evil and told that I needed to bring my manifest destiny to the miserable creatures of that world, the destiny of light and life and good and courage, blah, blah, blah, I'm going to look up and say to the one dropping me off, "No thanks, I think I'll let this world destroy itself, there is nothing good here but me, and if I leave no loss to the world, it's already destroyed."
I just can't seem to generate a desire to save something if I'm the only good thing in it. To that end, I look around Azeroth and I see that, according to my character, there is much worth saving, much that was good before, or worthwhile, and that through my efforts that worth can be secured for the future generations. When Deathwing comes he'll do much damage to the world, and why do we care? Because there are things that we value here, whether it's culture, people, etc., Horde or Alliance, there are things we wish to protect or restore to their former peaceful state.
I know this is WARCraft, but we don't war solely because we wish to shed blood. Sure, politics churn the war machine, disagreements add fuel to that fire, and it's people who do things that are considered 'evil' that unite us in our war efforts, but to what end? To continue to war even after we have defeated all the evil that has risen in the world? I understand that there will always be a hatred between Horde and Alliance, but even those parties have joined forces to defeat common enemies.
So, in this fantasy world, in Azeroth, I wonder sometimes that I do not see more of the things I'm fighting to save. I play mainly Alliance, so am I fighting so that my farmers can farm in peace? So that the tailor may weave with endless supply of wool? I want to be fighting for more culture, for writers and artists and musicians, people that are being phased out of our real world for math and science (btw, I am SOOOOOO pro math & science). Schools drop their arts programs when there's a shortage of money, but it's always been my belief that the arts are what makes our world beautiful. So I wish it was more in Azeroth, that there would simply be a deeper culture to save and to protect.
Writers (poets included) have been the source of great controversy in our world because they discuss issues in times and ways that allow for societal introspection without resorting to one-liners and cheap shots (like politicians). Uncle Tom's Cabin, Nineteen Eighty Four, Les Miserables, The Scarlet Letter, and many, many, many others. Where are these wonders in Azeroth? I'm freakin' dying over and over and over to help these Westfall farmers rid themselves of evil beasts and machines (which is fine and all). I'm clearing the forests of Duskwood of the 'bad' Worgen, in hopes that maybe someday these homesteads may be returned to their rightful owners. I'm fighting the scourge in Northrend and doing battle with the Lich King himself to save all lands from death and decay. I'm at War with the Horde on principle alone, they're just so darn ugly, and we know that ugly people need to be killed.
I am the first to admit that I don't know the entire story of Azeroth, I'm not familiar with enough of the lore to make definitive statements, all I speak of is from my own experiences. And what I experience is that there are not a lot of musicians or writers or poets in Azeroth. In real life I fight for their cause in many ways, I wouldn't mind having some artists to fight for in Azeroth as well.
Please, I am open to correction and education on this topic, I'm also open to peotry, if you so desire. The more the merrier.
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Super Powers
I talk about my real life a lot...why? Well just look to your right at the definition of Dualism. We can't escape the fact that our real lives have a direct impact on how we play the game and how we interact with everyone in it. So I had some ideas that came to me while having a small chat with my youngest son (7 years old, btw).
For years my wife and I have been attempting to devise the coolest and most powerful superpower that we would like to be endowed with. At first I made up something stupid (according to her), I would like to breathe anywhere. I justified it by saying that if we were locked in battle in outer space, invisibility or super strength or super speed or flying ability wouldn't do you so good because you would die from lack of oxygen.
I, on the other hand, would survive.
My answers have changed over the years, but I still hold fast to that power as a "side-power" only. Recently my kid has involved himself in these debates. Most recently I gave him a choice of 3 super powers, here they are in no particular order:
1) Power to control the minds of all non-human creatures
2) Power to control the minds of all HUMANS
3) Power to CREATE magic out of his thoughts
Yeah, the last one is cheating a bit, but when I told my wife about the list she gasped - "Ambitious for such a gentle person". And so I agreed, but I wasn't going to tell him to not wish for those, using your imagination as a child is a positive and constructive development tool.
When I play wow I am limited to the spells, powers, and abilities of the particular race/class combo that I have chosen for the moment. Warriors cannot shoot frostbolts out of their hands, no matter how much it would make them feel special. So if someone who played a warrior really wanted to shoot those frostbolts he/she would have to roll a mage (preferably not a Gnome, I would be afraid for their safety and for the rising cost of shoe makers as punting would become an epidemic).
But what if my Shaman or Warlock or Priest or whatever could do something completely and totally awesome that would make everyone within a thousand yards go "Holy crap, that was AWESOME!" Even if they were made speechless, that would be another desirable effect. I would even go for myself being impressed at my own supernatural powers. So, what would I want my Shaman to be able to do?
First, since shamans can bend the powers of the elements to their will, I would like to see myself with the ability to pull lava (magma inside the earth) up through the ground until the rocks or earth around my body became intesely hot, then I would take that lava and rocky earth and spin it around like a tornado then unleash it into a village of evil murlocs, all the while I was in control of the path of devastation that it took. Upon destroying the village and everything in it, I would call upon the forces of water to flood the village so that no living thing could ever spawn there again; this would save me and my posterity from a lifetime of unwanted murloc raids.
I'd also like to see my mage with a frozen lasso, like Indiana Jones. I would take the lasso and wrap it around every bad dude in the room, pull them all together so that I could freeze them in place. I'd take a step back to admire my handiwork, at which time my lasso would snap through the air faster than the speed of sound making a sound so terrifying that even you may wish to quit wow for fear of the possibility that I am no toon, but my toon is a manifestation of my true self, dangerous and lethal.
Everyone would stand there and look down at their bodies, only to see the top half of each of them slowly slide off their bottom halfs, death in their faces.
Or maybe my son had it right, to be able to control all beasts, demons, elementals, etc and call forth an army of all of them as I do single battle with the mighty dragons of Azeroth and Northrend. My army would swell and my enemies would cower. Their doom moments away as each beast that came to my side continued to split in two for 20 seconds, then to fight by my side for 2 minutes. Can you imagine how big my army would be?
I think that the kinds of powers, or better yet the manifestation of our powers could be a lot cooler than they are now. I also think that the ideas for various super powers that our toons could wield are limitless, but there just are not enough keybindings to accomodate them. Plus that would make for very complex rotations, don't you think?
Still, it would be better than only pushing 2 buttons.
I have not even scratched the limits of potential spells, powers or abilities. I wonder what your minds can create? Let's have a contest, let's see if we can spread the word around the community and try and come up with the coolest ability in the world. The only guideline is that it must be in harmony with the class, so basically no frostbolts for warriors, stuff like that.
And no "snap my fingers and the universe implodes" stuff either, that's just weak. It has to be a power that can be controlled, managed, manipulated by your character. It can be powerful, for sure, but let's also keep it realistic. For example, no "swing my sword and all of Ulduar dies before me". I want unique, fun, but in harmony with the World of Warcraft.
Feel free to comment on any that come to you off the top of your head. I'll give this experiment one week. So next Tuesday I'll review the suggestions and post the best ones. We can then vote for the best, the winner to receive acclaim and a year's supply of root beer.
Well, maybe not the root beer.
For years my wife and I have been attempting to devise the coolest and most powerful superpower that we would like to be endowed with. At first I made up something stupid (according to her), I would like to breathe anywhere. I justified it by saying that if we were locked in battle in outer space, invisibility or super strength or super speed or flying ability wouldn't do you so good because you would die from lack of oxygen.
I, on the other hand, would survive.
My answers have changed over the years, but I still hold fast to that power as a "side-power" only. Recently my kid has involved himself in these debates. Most recently I gave him a choice of 3 super powers, here they are in no particular order:
1) Power to control the minds of all non-human creatures
2) Power to control the minds of all HUMANS
3) Power to CREATE magic out of his thoughts
Yeah, the last one is cheating a bit, but when I told my wife about the list she gasped - "Ambitious for such a gentle person". And so I agreed, but I wasn't going to tell him to not wish for those, using your imagination as a child is a positive and constructive development tool.
When I play wow I am limited to the spells, powers, and abilities of the particular race/class combo that I have chosen for the moment. Warriors cannot shoot frostbolts out of their hands, no matter how much it would make them feel special. So if someone who played a warrior really wanted to shoot those frostbolts he/she would have to roll a mage (preferably not a Gnome, I would be afraid for their safety and for the rising cost of shoe makers as punting would become an epidemic).
But what if my Shaman or Warlock or Priest or whatever could do something completely and totally awesome that would make everyone within a thousand yards go "Holy crap, that was AWESOME!" Even if they were made speechless, that would be another desirable effect. I would even go for myself being impressed at my own supernatural powers. So, what would I want my Shaman to be able to do?
First, since shamans can bend the powers of the elements to their will, I would like to see myself with the ability to pull lava (magma inside the earth) up through the ground until the rocks or earth around my body became intesely hot, then I would take that lava and rocky earth and spin it around like a tornado then unleash it into a village of evil murlocs, all the while I was in control of the path of devastation that it took. Upon destroying the village and everything in it, I would call upon the forces of water to flood the village so that no living thing could ever spawn there again; this would save me and my posterity from a lifetime of unwanted murloc raids.
I'd also like to see my mage with a frozen lasso, like Indiana Jones. I would take the lasso and wrap it around every bad dude in the room, pull them all together so that I could freeze them in place. I'd take a step back to admire my handiwork, at which time my lasso would snap through the air faster than the speed of sound making a sound so terrifying that even you may wish to quit wow for fear of the possibility that I am no toon, but my toon is a manifestation of my true self, dangerous and lethal.
Everyone would stand there and look down at their bodies, only to see the top half of each of them slowly slide off their bottom halfs, death in their faces.
Or maybe my son had it right, to be able to control all beasts, demons, elementals, etc and call forth an army of all of them as I do single battle with the mighty dragons of Azeroth and Northrend. My army would swell and my enemies would cower. Their doom moments away as each beast that came to my side continued to split in two for 20 seconds, then to fight by my side for 2 minutes. Can you imagine how big my army would be?
I think that the kinds of powers, or better yet the manifestation of our powers could be a lot cooler than they are now. I also think that the ideas for various super powers that our toons could wield are limitless, but there just are not enough keybindings to accomodate them. Plus that would make for very complex rotations, don't you think?
Still, it would be better than only pushing 2 buttons.
I have not even scratched the limits of potential spells, powers or abilities. I wonder what your minds can create? Let's have a contest, let's see if we can spread the word around the community and try and come up with the coolest ability in the world. The only guideline is that it must be in harmony with the class, so basically no frostbolts for warriors, stuff like that.
And no "snap my fingers and the universe implodes" stuff either, that's just weak. It has to be a power that can be controlled, managed, manipulated by your character. It can be powerful, for sure, but let's also keep it realistic. For example, no "swing my sword and all of Ulduar dies before me". I want unique, fun, but in harmony with the World of Warcraft.
Feel free to comment on any that come to you off the top of your head. I'll give this experiment one week. So next Tuesday I'll review the suggestions and post the best ones. We can then vote for the best, the winner to receive acclaim and a year's supply of root beer.
Well, maybe not the root beer.
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