The title of today's post is only partially representative of what I would like to say today. I'm almost done with War and Peace, a 19th century novel by Leo Tolsoy about the lives of many Russian aristocracy members and the war between Russia and Nepoleao led France and their ultimate invasion of and retreat from Russia.
It's one of the world's great pieces of literature, and for good reason. I was reading today when a couple things stuck out to me and I thought they were particularly applicable to some other modern-day things that have been on my mind.
To summarize in very general terms, "his Supreme Highness", or master general of the Russian army near the end of the French incursion was named Kutuzof. He continually ordered the retreat of his forces while Nepoleon occupied Moscow. But in October of 1812 the French abandoned Moscow and began their retreat, ultimately to their destruction, but all along the way many of Kutuzof's aids and officers under his command offered various offensive plans that they felt would serve severe blows to the French. Upon receiving a message of the French movements, and knowing of the youthful desires of many of his underlings and of the partisan (or guerilla) fighers, a thought crossed his mind that we still view as true today:
"He (Kutuzof), with his sixty years' experience, knew how much dependence was to be put on heresay, knew how prone men who wished anything were to group all the indications in such a way as to conform with their desire, and he knew how in such a case as this they are glad to overlook anything that may seem opposed to it."
Whether it's a fight with your significant other, a disagreement with a professor, a difference of opinion with a complete stranger on a blog or Twitter or chat room (or other), or a political fight on a college campus or on CNN, it all sounds best in our own minds, because we are the ones who not only formulate facts, but arrange them in a way so as to fit or match our opinion, regardless of any other truth that may be staring us in the face.
I don't write about my experiences in World of Warcraft because I am right, I write about them because I believe I'm right and I have those facts that support whatever claim that I desire. The same is true for most of us out there that, for whatever reason, wish to put our intensely personal and biased opinions out there for comment or criticism. We all have access to that truth to disseminate, and which all other mortals are at our disposal to learn from or disagree with. Ah, how I truly love relative absoluteness.
BETA for MoP
I jump into the MoP beta from time to time to glance at things as they change. It's difficult sometimes to keep up with the changes, so I don't. It's overwhelming, especially when you may become attached emotionally to some "awesome buff/change" to your favorite class, only to see it nerfed into submission or removed completely. Maybe it's just a promise of a better tomorrow (Hello there, Path of the Titans), that isn't even given a chance to fail or succeed because the devs have decided, with their all-knowing powers, that it just won't work as intended.
An interesting case study, currently in progress is that of the new Druid talent Symbiosis. Will it work? Is it too difficult to balance? Is it mostly for PvP or PvE, and is there a "best choice" that all druids will be forced to make, just as optimal raiding talent specs exist and have existed? It's surely not for solo play, it requires a Druid to group to even use this ability, which seems not well thought out, but hey, what do I know?
Then there is the constant whining of the Warriors. I'm sorry, but I see more blue posts about Warrior mechanics, etc than almost any other class, and I get annoyed by that. Not because I don't play a Warrior, because I do have one or two floating around, but there always seem to be this feeling I get that some classes are more talked about than others. This is and/or has been a natural course of action of players and devs for a while now, more now that players appear to have slightly more clout in their feedback, provided it's "constructive" or insightful.
But honestly, this is just my opinion, and I am right becasue I have an unspoken set of evidences that means you are wrong and you should, if you value your repuatation, agree with me.
Raiding
I find it somewhat sad that 25 man raids are dying. I really began serious raiding in Wrath, and even then towards the end of it when we assaulted ICC (I've never killed Arthas, btw). What I enjoyed was every once in a while I would try to find a 25 man group to run with, and I enjoyed the differences from my normal 10-man team, it just felt more "epic", if you get my drift.
Cataclysm came around and changes to lockout and loot rules effectively killed any reason to raid with 24 other people when you could obtain the same loot with less hastle and similar difficulty in 10-man groups. Blue comments in the last month worry me more and point towards the apathy the devs seem to have about the surviveability of legit 25-man teams.
Raid Finder has been a WoW changer, much like Dungeon Finder was back in Wrath, and I can certainly get my 25-man fix at even less of a struggle or danger to my physical well being (as a RF run can be done in 45 minutes or even less these days, depending on the group).
I mostly feel sorry for those guilds who, long ago, built themselves as 25-mans, and structure and rules have dictated a new paradigm for everyone. Whether that's good or bad is up for endless debate, I believe there's no one right answer, but for me I wish there were that lure for a more epic adventure (not heroic version) that gave me greater rewards.
War and Peace
It's taken me more than 5 years to read War and Peace, it took 4 and 3/4 to get through the first 120 pages, and the last couple months to get up to the 92% completed mark. I'm almost done, and now I wish I weren't. I wish I had a thousand or two thousand more pages to read, because like any great piece of literature I don't want it to stop.
Interestingly, when a computer game is finished, all the writers do is an another 2000 page appendix and call it The Burning Crusade, or Wrath of the Lich King. It's brilliant. The story of World of Warcraft will, nay, it MUST come to an end sometime. But not today. Mists of Pandaria gives us yet more to read, more to do, more to love and more to hate. More to argue about, more to agree with, more to learn and more to forget.
WoW is great literature, not in the way Tolstoy wrote, or Hugo, or Homer or Hemmingway, but it's proven that it has legs as hardy and stout as the Russians displayed as they took back their Mother Land from an invading army. Yes the French were low or cut off from their supplies, they invaded late in the year without thought for their keep, but one thing that kept Russia going, that sustained their soldiers and their aristocracy, was, according to Tolstoy, their Spirit.
It seems to me WoW has a spirit, and some may offend it while others defend, but I have to give the creators of this game the credit they deserve. They made something people want, and even when finished with one book, they come back for the sequels, the additions that reshape the world you play in, that I play in, that we all play or have played in. It's not perfect, no game ever will be, and for all they take away that I'll miss, I have in me my memories that they can never take away. That is worth something to me, and I'll keep those that will bring a smile to my face when I so need it.
Showing posts with label Literature. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Literature. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 9, 2012
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Why Acronyms Will Destroy Civilization!
Let me begin with my conclusion. Acronyms will destroy civilization because it is a rapid deformation of language, which if continued at its present pace, will destroy our ability to communicate true thought. WoW is the breeding ground of the earth’s demise!
The Beginning
I am fortunate to have English (or American English) as my first language. Much of the world is compelled to learn English in school, and does so quite proficiently. In the US we have the elective to learn other languages, but nothing is mandatory and most fake their way through foreign language courses just to get the grade then forget everything they “learned” when the semester is done.
I have taken it upon myself to learn another language proficiently, however, and try to learn others. I read, write and speak near perfect Spanish. Actually, the particular version I speak is sometimes called Castellano (Castilian)! It’s still Spanish, but as we know the same base language can be spoken differently by different peoples around the world. English is spoken in the US, Australia and England, but we all know that they sounds very different from one another. My teaching came from Argentina, heavily influenced by Spain, from whence Castilian originated, thereby the language considered to be spoken in Argentina is Castellano (or Castilian) – though they have their own flare that they’ve added, which I love.
Over time languages change, words are added, taken away, spellings change, meanings change, etc. But very recently in our civilization there is a new language being spoken by the youth and even the older of the world, Acronym! I’m going to here and now call Acronym a new language, even though I know it technically isn’t, but it’s fun and helps me to focus my theme for this post so freakin’ roll with it, will ya!
Acronym has existed as a rogue, silently stealthing its way into languages across the world. With the advent of the personal computer, email, cell phones, and finally texting, Acronym has exploded into a worldwide phenomenon. Unstoppable, Acronym is now, after thousands of years, poised to take over the world and destroy human civilization as we know it. Acronym first planted its roots in video games more than two decades ago. Slowly unspooling itself from arcade to console to computer to cell phone based games, it’s now so deeply rooted in our civilizations psyche it may already be too late to quell.
Already the chosen language for cell phone texting, Acronym has invaded all MMO’s ever invented…ever. It’s emergence in WoW is not a coincidence, however, and has been planned for nearly 3,000 years.
OK, That Wasn’t the Beginning…This is… really!
3,000 years ago an ancient philosopher once said:
“The day efficiency is more important than constancy, shall be the day the earth takes her last breath. SISBD” -Philosopher Dude
So for 3,000 years, the great debate in the real scientific community isn’t whether man evolved from apes (not today’s subject, you’ll get banned for commenting about it), it’s been a raging debate over the meaning of those five letters, S.I.S.B.D. It does not translate into any known language of the day, but there are some theories floating around, some making more sense than others. Here is the list of the most famous probable translations.
SISBD = Sugar In Succulent Blueberry Dumplings!
SISBD = So, I suck Bob Dylan?
SISBD = Somewhere In Syria are Blue Dragons! (mostly discarded, not because Dragons don’t exist, but because of the use of the word “are” – scientists are strange)
SISBD = Shorter Installation Sessions Bring Drachmas! (Possible irony in use here)
SISBD = So It Shall Be Done! (Pff, that’s just stupid)
SISBD = Shadow Bolt > Incinerate > Shadow Bolt > Bane of Agony > Doomguard
In a conference this past June in Jerilisha (I forgot the country), it was decided by a panel of judges that SISBD’s true meaning as an acronym, which translated was a spell rotation for an Affliction Warlock. The philosopher, by using this acronym was saying that not only was the end of the world beginning 3,000 years ago, but also that the MMORPG World of Warcraft would be the vehicle that would drive our civilization into oblivion.
Stunned at such a powerful revelation, Activision Blizzard has maintained a tight lid on the news from the scientific community. But now we know that WoW is destroying Civilization by not only utilizing Acronym but demanding its usage by all players, old and young.
Don’t ever text? Too bad, learn Acronym or die! Not a tweeting kind of person, suck it! You must learn Acronym or you won’t be that 1M DPS for 25M ICC that can PST GS/ACHIEVE. That’s final and there’s nothing we can do about it.
Path of Enlightenment
I began my rebellion against Acronym nearly two years ago. I met someone else who also despised the power that Acronym had over WoW players. We met secretly in a room above a shop in Dalaran, talking of a world of complete sentences and verbs and adverbs. It was intoxicating. We were enlisted as official rebels by a guild leader who we felt truly understood our hate of Acronym. Day after day we would post recruitment ads in trade chat using nouns, verbs, adjectives and even a gerund once in a while (gerunds were always highly stimulating).
One day I was asked to join a group into Ice Crown Citadel 10 Man Raid Instance. I offered my services and was led by the raid leader into a room set aside for teaching new raiders. In this room I was faced with my deepest fears, from trash mobs to bosses to other damage dealers standing in fire (oh the horror). But it all had a purpose, to enlighten me and teach me the errors of my ways.
I am ever grateful to that raid leader for teaching me that Acronym love me, and I love Acronym. I don’t know how I could ever live without Acronym. You must understand that the philosopher had it wrong all those years ago, efficiency is not the death of mother earth, adverbs are.
I now sing the praises of Acronym to any and all who will listen to the truth. Whoever said, “Acronyms will destroy civilization because it is a rapid deformation of language, which if continued at its present pace, will destroy our ability to communicate true thought. WoW is the breeding ground of the earth’s demise!” is a poor soul in need of a hug, a nice guild, and some NAXX 25M as DPS, just pst GS/ACHIEVE for invite.
The Beginning
I am fortunate to have English (or American English) as my first language. Much of the world is compelled to learn English in school, and does so quite proficiently. In the US we have the elective to learn other languages, but nothing is mandatory and most fake their way through foreign language courses just to get the grade then forget everything they “learned” when the semester is done.
I have taken it upon myself to learn another language proficiently, however, and try to learn others. I read, write and speak near perfect Spanish. Actually, the particular version I speak is sometimes called Castellano (Castilian)! It’s still Spanish, but as we know the same base language can be spoken differently by different peoples around the world. English is spoken in the US, Australia and England, but we all know that they sounds very different from one another. My teaching came from Argentina, heavily influenced by Spain, from whence Castilian originated, thereby the language considered to be spoken in Argentina is Castellano (or Castilian) – though they have their own flare that they’ve added, which I love.
Over time languages change, words are added, taken away, spellings change, meanings change, etc. But very recently in our civilization there is a new language being spoken by the youth and even the older of the world, Acronym! I’m going to here and now call Acronym a new language, even though I know it technically isn’t, but it’s fun and helps me to focus my theme for this post so freakin’ roll with it, will ya!
Acronym has existed as a rogue, silently stealthing its way into languages across the world. With the advent of the personal computer, email, cell phones, and finally texting, Acronym has exploded into a worldwide phenomenon. Unstoppable, Acronym is now, after thousands of years, poised to take over the world and destroy human civilization as we know it. Acronym first planted its roots in video games more than two decades ago. Slowly unspooling itself from arcade to console to computer to cell phone based games, it’s now so deeply rooted in our civilizations psyche it may already be too late to quell.
Already the chosen language for cell phone texting, Acronym has invaded all MMO’s ever invented…ever. It’s emergence in WoW is not a coincidence, however, and has been planned for nearly 3,000 years.
OK, That Wasn’t the Beginning…This is… really!
3,000 years ago an ancient philosopher once said:
“The day efficiency is more important than constancy, shall be the day the earth takes her last breath. SISBD” -Philosopher Dude
So for 3,000 years, the great debate in the real scientific community isn’t whether man evolved from apes (not today’s subject, you’ll get banned for commenting about it), it’s been a raging debate over the meaning of those five letters, S.I.S.B.D. It does not translate into any known language of the day, but there are some theories floating around, some making more sense than others. Here is the list of the most famous probable translations.
SISBD = Sugar In Succulent Blueberry Dumplings!
SISBD = So, I suck Bob Dylan?
SISBD = Somewhere In Syria are Blue Dragons! (mostly discarded, not because Dragons don’t exist, but because of the use of the word “are” – scientists are strange)
SISBD = Shorter Installation Sessions Bring Drachmas! (Possible irony in use here)
SISBD = So It Shall Be Done! (Pff, that’s just stupid)
SISBD = Shadow Bolt > Incinerate > Shadow Bolt > Bane of Agony > Doomguard
In a conference this past June in Jerilisha (I forgot the country), it was decided by a panel of judges that SISBD’s true meaning as an acronym, which translated was a spell rotation for an Affliction Warlock. The philosopher, by using this acronym was saying that not only was the end of the world beginning 3,000 years ago, but also that the MMORPG World of Warcraft would be the vehicle that would drive our civilization into oblivion.
Stunned at such a powerful revelation, Activision Blizzard has maintained a tight lid on the news from the scientific community. But now we know that WoW is destroying Civilization by not only utilizing Acronym but demanding its usage by all players, old and young.
Don’t ever text? Too bad, learn Acronym or die! Not a tweeting kind of person, suck it! You must learn Acronym or you won’t be that 1M DPS for 25M ICC that can PST GS/ACHIEVE. That’s final and there’s nothing we can do about it.
Path of Enlightenment
I began my rebellion against Acronym nearly two years ago. I met someone else who also despised the power that Acronym had over WoW players. We met secretly in a room above a shop in Dalaran, talking of a world of complete sentences and verbs and adverbs. It was intoxicating. We were enlisted as official rebels by a guild leader who we felt truly understood our hate of Acronym. Day after day we would post recruitment ads in trade chat using nouns, verbs, adjectives and even a gerund once in a while (gerunds were always highly stimulating).
One day I was asked to join a group into Ice Crown Citadel 10 Man Raid Instance. I offered my services and was led by the raid leader into a room set aside for teaching new raiders. In this room I was faced with my deepest fears, from trash mobs to bosses to other damage dealers standing in fire (oh the horror). But it all had a purpose, to enlighten me and teach me the errors of my ways.
I am ever grateful to that raid leader for teaching me that Acronym love me, and I love Acronym. I don’t know how I could ever live without Acronym. You must understand that the philosopher had it wrong all those years ago, efficiency is not the death of mother earth, adverbs are.
I now sing the praises of Acronym to any and all who will listen to the truth. Whoever said, “Acronyms will destroy civilization because it is a rapid deformation of language, which if continued at its present pace, will destroy our ability to communicate true thought. WoW is the breeding ground of the earth’s demise!” is a poor soul in need of a hug, a nice guild, and some NAXX 25M as DPS, just pst GS/ACHIEVE for invite.
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
This is a Test
I read an article today about linking to used or older posts over at Tish Tosh Tesh. Sure, I know he was making some point or another about the issue of buying/selling used games, but he said that if anyone linked to any of his older posts, like this one about "Selling and Reselling", that he would start charging people.
"So, henceforth, anyone (including myself) who links to any of my previous blog posts must pay me the full price originally charged for the post...Each link will incur the full price, so if you link twice, I'll expect you to pay twice."
So, if I understand correctly, if I post this article by Tesh, since I've linked to it once already now I have to pay twice the original amount.
I guess I'm being watched by a Big Brother WombatCam as well, so I guess I should be scared!
Well, Tesh, all I have to say is I AIN'T PAYIN'!!!! I'm taking a stand. I'm using your old stuff and you're gonna like it. Why, if people like your old stuff who's to say they won't buy your new stuff. I know, like you say your stuff is free, but "we're talking ideals and morals here, people!"
Ah the joy of games people play.
Oh, I almost forgot!
"So, henceforth, anyone (including myself) who links to any of my previous blog posts must pay me the full price originally charged for the post...Each link will incur the full price, so if you link twice, I'll expect you to pay twice."
So, if I understand correctly, if I post this article by Tesh, since I've linked to it once already now I have to pay twice the original amount.
I guess I'm being watched by a Big Brother WombatCam as well, so I guess I should be scared!
Well, Tesh, all I have to say is I AIN'T PAYIN'!!!! I'm taking a stand. I'm using your old stuff and you're gonna like it. Why, if people like your old stuff who's to say they won't buy your new stuff. I know, like you say your stuff is free, but "we're talking ideals and morals here, people!"
Ah the joy of games people play.
Oh, I almost forgot!
WAR IS PEACE
FREEDOM IS SLAVERY
IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH
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