GOPCity.
On the weird, erroneous, right-wing economic model embedded in SimCity… and everything it inspired, both online and off.
*screams in dragon*
So that took me… two weeks? Of grinding and egg hunts. Plus another two days to level all the masteries (I already had the points saved up, thankfully).
Now that I can basically fly around indefinitely1 at will, it’s time to go collect all those other jumping-related mastery points I missed out on the first time around! Whee!
- Not qui-ii-ite, but between the wall launch thing and that mount stamina restore ability—which is finally actually useful—it’s close enough for most maps.↩
Dragonfind.
Who gets sick of grinding for flying in one MMO, so immediately starts grinding for flying in another? This loser!
Narrative will.
The reason that letting the audience choose its own story keeps failing when the entertainment industry tries it is that it’s a bad idea. It’s the author’s job to write the story. They can then choose a way to convey that story that gives the reader freedom in how they experience it. But if the story itself is merely a loose collection of different options, each in a different genre and with a completely different tone, then what they’ve created isn’t a coherent work, but a self-indulgent mess.
Abigail Nussbaum on story.
This is from a really, really good comparative look between Black Mirror‘s “Bandersnatch” and the “walking simulator” video game genre which, among other things, really nails why I can’t fucking stand Black Mirror‘s smug, lukewarm, late-to-the-fucking-party takes on things. Also Firewatch was a fantastic game, so was Gone Home, and while I didn’t love Night in the Woods I can see why people do.
Also related thought: the tension in tabletop RPGs between “the GM designs the game and the players experience it” versus “the players make-up the game and the GM facilitates” it. I’ve mentioned before I am… not particularly a fan of the latter approach and, again, I think this article well-articulates why.
For the Humanity!
Look I have so many reservations about Bloodlines 21 but in this one thing, at least, I am content: they’re bringing back… THE DANCE.
- I still pre-ordered it, though.↩
eyeofthevirus Walkthrough.
So, true story: Once upon a time I wrote a short little MMO tie-in ARG. Like, not officially. Just for fun. The game was the then-Secret World, currently Secret World Legends, and I posted the initial link to the forums and it was… received pretty well? I think. Anyway, people definitely had a go at it, and they definitely thought they finished it.
Here’s the thing: no-one ever finished it. I know, because the last step sends me an email when someone completes it. I have never gotten an email.1
The other day, after a long, long hiatus, I picked up SWL again and… discovered I didn’t hate it as much as I’d initially thought? Which made me kinda nostalgic for my old ARG. And, well. Made me figure it’s probably about time I wrote a walkthrough. So here we go!
- I mean, that wasn’t from me. So I know the thing works.↩