World of Warcraft Gets (Some) Accessibility....

Buried in the 3.1 patch notes we see this:

The Interface menu features a Color Blind option.

Yay for accessibility.

Web 2.0 = DRAMA!

Angry online divorcee 'kills' virtual ex-hubby
Police say woman logged on virtual reality game and ended ex's avatar
By Mari Yamaguchi
The Associated Press
updated 10:48 a.m. ET, Thurs., Oct. 23, 2008

TOKYO - A 43-year-old Japanese piano teacher's sudden divorce from her online husband in a virtual game world made her so angry that she logged on and killed his digital persona, police said Thursday.

She used his identification and password to log onto popular interactive game "Maple Story" to carry out the virtual murder in mid-May, a police official in northern Sapporo City said on condition of anonymity, citing department policy.

"I was suddenly divorced, without a word of warning. That made me so angry," the official quoted her as telling investigators and admitting the allegations.

The woman had not plotted any revenge in the real world, the official said.

She was charged with illegal access onto a computer and manipulating electronic data, police said. If convicted, she could face a prison term of up to five years or a fine up to $5,000.

As in "Second Life" in the U.S., players in "Maple Story" raise and manipulate digital images called "avatars" that represent themselves, while engaging in relationships, social activities and fighting against monsters and other obstacles.

The woman used login information she got from the 33-year-old office worker when their characters were happily married, and killed the character. The man complained to police when he discovered that his beloved online avatar was dead.

The woman was arrested Wednesday and was taken across the country, traveling 620 miles from her home in southern Miyazaki to be detained in Sappporo, where the man lives, the official said.

The police official said he did not know if she was married in the real world.

In recent years, virtual lives have had consequences in the real world. In August, a woman was charged in Delaware with plotting the real-life abduction of a boyfriend she met through "Second Life."


In Tokyo, police arrested a 16-year-old boy on charges of swindling virtual currency worth $360,000 in an interactive role playing game by manipulating another player's portfolio using a stolen ID and password.

Virtual games are popular in Japan, and "Second Life" has drawn a fair number of Japanese participants. They rank third by nationality among users, after Americans and Brazilians.

Reminded me of Warcraft...

I'm Probably Yelling at Spore RIGHT NOW

My husband was given Spore as a birthday gift. It finally arrived.

I've been playing with the Creature Creator for a few weeks now.

That in no way, shape or form prepared me for the space-race level of Spore.

I have cursed at Spore a lot over the past week.

I've yelled because:

• Controls (based on the gaming I HAVE done, which is less than my husband, but substantial) were anything but obvious.
• Controls were not documented in the book. ("How do I do this?" "I don't know" "What does the book say" "It doesn't")
• This is the only game I've played where when you're driving (spaceship), and you turn side to side, the camera moves, but if you turn side to side a LOT the camera stays in place and suddenly the ship is facing you and you are driving backwards. Maybe that's how Sims Expansion Pack #24,343 works, but it's not how my BRAIN works.

On top of that, the space race portion is... emotionally devastating. There are lots and lots of forum postings on the innerweb. They all go something like this:

"I made a civ of about 6 planets in 5 systems, and suddenly these guys came out of nowhere, and they killed all my allies, took all my planets, and won't talk to me. And there are a lot of them, and they have destroyed everything."

Which would be one thing if it was one guy... but it's hundreds and hundreds of people over and over again.

It's obvious when playing that Electronic Arts has read the studies about gaming being addictive not because people enjoy gaming, but because they like the feeling of accomplishing something.

So what does Electronic Arts do? They give you a badge for loosing planets.

Ok, I just spent 6 hours building those worlds up, and they are gone, gone, gone. I have no chance to get them back (I'm allowed 2 fighters, the enemy has about 15 per grouping). Giving me a badge the first time this happens does not alleviate the feeling of PISSED OFF ed-ness that loosing 6 hours instills.

My husband keeps asking why I keep playing (I'm on game 3, and this will be my last one) and I keep saying the same thing, "I like it when I build up worlds, but I don't understand why they make the game destroy them all."

And then he pulls up another thread with 1,343 other people complaining about the same thing.

*sigh*

And this is a game geared for Sims players? Really? I think EA literally said to themselves,

"Well, players can turn the planets PURPLE (ohhhhh), so it shouldn't matter if the game kicks their ass repeatedly on 'easy', because, hey, PURPLE! And GREEN!"

I, also, like many reviewers, found the first three portions of the game to be shallow, with not much in them to bother playing a second time. However, I'm willing to forgive clunky starting phases, and crappy mouse-response and poor usability, if the game gives me something to sing about, but when it just trashes my work over and over again?

This is my last time through, it's got half a big green bar to get better, and then it can join the stack of 3,343 other games my husband plays that I won't touch.

At least I don't have to tell my creatures to do the dishes...

*Sigh*

Dear MSNBC & Penny Arcade,

Instead of focusing on, "how to get your girlfriend to game" lets try the following:

• Don't make fun of girls for being good at math
• Don't harass girls for being good at physics
• Don't mock girls for texting
• Don't patronize girls for being confused by crappy systems
• Don't ignore girls in computer class

Once you've mastered that:

• Don't hire men because you understand them better
• Don't pretend women aren't there at conferences and seminars (no, we won't think you're hitting on us)
• Don't act like pigs in the IT work place just because you think it's ok since most of your coworkers are men
• Don't conduct business at strip clubs and in locker rooms

Then maybe you won't have to "get your girlfriend" into computers, and computer games, because she will be right along side you.

I've been playing games since I was 12 (Oregon Trail, anyone?), and I don't do the SIMS and I don't do Harry Potter. I don't do head-shot games, either, but mostly b/c I tend to fall off things in the game and die... I'm not good at them. Stop playing into the stereotypes, treat women like equal creatures and this won't be a "problem" any more. (Lately I've been playing w/ the Spore Creature Creator, waiting for Wrath of the Lich King, and totally kicked the ass of Civ on the DS)

Just a thought,

-Me

Blast from the Past

After last night's post, my husband installed Oregon Trail V. 1 on my old, craptastic laptop.

It was just like I remembered. We managed not to starve to death, but we all died anyway. And not of dysentery.


April 1, 1848
We started down the trail with:
20 oxen
10 sets of clothing
1000 bullets
3 wagon wheels
3 wagon axles
3 wagon tongues
2000 pounds of food

April 2, 1848
Broken wagon tongue.
We fixed the broken wagon tongue.

April 3, 1848
An ox is sick.

April 5, 1848
Broken wagon wheel.
We fixed the broken wagon wheel.

April 7, 1848
We shot 850 pounds of meat but we were able to fit only 90 pounds of meat in our wagon.

April 10, 1848
We have arrived at the Kansas River Crossing.

April 11, 1848
The ferry got our party and wagon safely across.

April 12, 1848
We took the wrong trail and lost 3 days.

April 16, 1848
An ox died.

April 18, 1848
Broken wagon tongue.
We couldn't fix the wagon tongue, but we replaced it from supplies.

April 20, 1848
We have arrived at the Big Blue River Crossing.

April 21, 1848
We had no trouble floating the wagon across.

April 25, 1848
We shot 315 pounds of meat but were able to carry back only 200 pounds of meat.

April 27, 1848
Broken wagon wheel.
We fixed the broken wagon wheel.

April 29, 1848
We lost 14 pounds of food due to spoilage.

April 30, 1848
We have reached Fort Kearney.

May 1, 1848
Heavy fog. Lost 1 day.
We lost 10 pounds of food due to spoilage.

May 8, 1848
George is sick with typhoid fever.

May 10, 1848
We shot 46 pounds of meat.

May 11, 1848
We shot 59 pounds of meat.

May 12, 1848
Broken wagon axle.
We couldn't fix the wagon axle, but we replaced it from supplies.

May 13, 1848
No water.

May 14, 1848
Bad water.

May 17, 1848
George is well again.

May 18, 1848
We shot 47 pounds of meat.

May 19, 1848
We shot 28 pounds of meat.

May 21, 1848
We didn't have any luck on this hunting trip! We returned to the wagon empty-handed.

May 22, 1848
We found some wild fruit.
We have reached Chimney Rock.

May 24, 1848
We shot 1 pound of meat.
Fred has a fever.

May 25, 1848
We found some wild fruit.
An ox is sick.
We decided to rest for 2 days.

May 31, 1848
We shot 3 pounds of meat.
Broken wagon wheel.
We couldn't fix the wagon wheel, but we replaced it from supplies.

June 1, 1848
We have reached Fort Laramie.
We traded 1 set of clothing for 1 wagon tongue.

June 2, 1848
Fred is well again.

June 3, 1848
We shot 2 pounds of meat.

June 4, 1848
We will now travel at a more strenuous pace.

June 6, 1848
No water.

June 7, 1848
No grass for the oxen.

June 8, 1848
No water.

June 9, 1848
No grass for the oxen.

June 11, 1848
No grass for the oxen.

June 12, 1848
We shot 53 pounds of meat.

June 13, 1848
No water.
No grass for the oxen.

June 14, 1848
Bad water.
We have reached Independence Rock.
We decided to rest for 2 days.

June 17, 1848
We decided to rest for 2 days.

June 19, 1848
We will now travel at a steady pace.

June 20, 1848
We shot 52 pounds of meat.
Bad water.
No grass for the oxen.

June 21, 1848
Bad water.
Fred is sick with typhoid fever.

June 22, 1848
No grass for the oxen.

June 23, 1848
An ox died.
We decided to rest for 3 days.

June 28, 1848
We shot 215 pounds of meat but were able to carry back only 200 pounds of meat.
We decided to rest for 2 days.

June 30, 1848
Fred is well again.
No water.

July 1, 1848
Bad water.
Tony has a broken arm.

July 4, 1848
Tony died of typhoid.

July 7, 1848
We shot 241 pounds of meat but were able to carry back only 200 pounds of meat.
No grass for the oxen.

July 8, 1848
We have arrived at the South Pass.
We traded 262 pounds of food for 2 oxen.
We lost 1 pound of food due to spoilage.

July 9, 1848
We didn't have any luck on this hunting trip! We returned to the wagon empty-handed.
Bad water.
We took the wrong trail and lost 3 days.

July 10, 1848
George is sick with typhoid fever.

July 11, 1848
Henry has cholera.

July 12, 1848
We decided to rest for 4 days.

July 15, 1848
We didn't have any luck on this hunting trip! We returned to the wagon empty-handed.

July 17, 1848
We decided to rest for 3 days.

July 19, 1848
George is well again.

July 21, 1848
Henry is well again.

July 22, 1848
We found some wild fruit.
Bad water.

July 23, 1848
We didn't have any luck on this hunting trip! We returned to the wagon empty-handed.
Bad water.

July 24, 1848
An ox is sick.

July 26, 1848
No grass for the oxen.

July 28, 1848
Bad water.

July 29, 1848
We shot 140 pounds of meat.

July 30, 1848
No grass for the oxen.

July 31, 1848
Bad water.

August 1, 1848
We decided to rest for 5 days.

August 7, 1848
No water.

August 8, 1848
We shot 493 pounds of meat but were able to carry back only 200 pounds of meat.
Bad water.
We have arrived at the Green River Crossing.

August 12, 1848
The ferry got our party and wagon safely across.

August 14, 1848
We didn't have any luck on this hunting trip! We returned to the wagon empty-handed.
Bad water.
No grass for the oxen.

August 15, 1848
Heavy fog. Lost 1 day.
We found some wild fruit.

August 17, 1848
No water.

August 18, 1848
We shot 359 pounds of meat but were able to carry back only 200 pounds of meat.
Broken wagon wheel.
We couldn't fix the wagon wheel, but we replaced it from supplies.

August 19, 1848
Heavy fog. Lost 1 day.

August 20, 1848
No water.

August 21, 1848
No grass for the oxen.

August 22, 1848
No grass for the oxen.
We lost 29 pounds of food due to spoilage.

August 23, 1848
No water.

August 25, 1848
No water.

August 26, 1848
We shot 359 pounds of meat but were able to carry back only 200 pounds of meat.

August 27, 1848
No water.
We lost 41 pounds of food due to spoilage.

August 28, 1848
No grass for the oxen.

August 29, 1848
We have reached Soda Springs.
We traded 200 bullets for 1 wagon wheel.

August 31, 1848
We shot 374 pounds of meat but were able to carry back only 200 pounds of meat.
No grass for the oxen.
Fred has cholera.

September 1, 1848
Bad water.
We decided to rest for 2 days.

September 5, 1848
No grass for the oxen.

September 6, 1848
We found some wild fruit.

September 7, 1848
We have reached Fort Hall.
We decided to rest for 4 days.

September 11, 1848
Fred is well again.

September 13, 1848
Bad water.

September 15, 1848
No grass for the oxen.

September 16, 1848
No grass for the oxen.

September 17, 1848
We found some wild fruit.

September 18, 1848
No water.

September 19, 1848
Bad water.

September 21, 1848
Fred was lost for 1 day.

September 23, 1848
We shot 320 pounds of meat but were able to carry back only 200 pounds of meat.
Fred has a broken arm.
The trail is impassable. Lost 8 days.
A fire in our wagon destroyed:
9 sets of clothing
1 wagon wheel
14 pounds of food

September 29, 1848
We traded 136 bullets for 1 set of clothing.

October 1, 1848
We traded 141 bullets for 1 set of clothing.

October 2, 1848
Bad water.
No grass for the oxen.

October 3, 1848
Bad water.

October 5, 1848
Bad water.

October 6, 1848
Bad water.

October 7, 1848
We have arrived at the Snake River Crossing.

October 8, 1848
The wagon tipped over while floating. We lost:
george (drowned)
fred (drowned)
We decided to rest for 5 days.

October 11, 1848
Henry is sick with typhoid fever.

October 12, 1848
We decided to rest for 9 days.

October 21, 1848
We shot 301 pounds of meat but were able to carry back only 200 pounds of meat.

October 22, 1848
Henry is well again.

October 23, 1848
We lost 18 pounds of food due to spoilage.

October 24, 1848
No water.

October 26, 1848
No grass for the oxen.

October 27, 1848
No water.

October 28, 1848
No grass for the oxen.

November 1, 1848
Bad water.
We have reached Fort Boise.
We traded 68 dollars for 2 sets of clothing.
We visited the store and bought:
1 wagon wheel

November 2, 1848
No water.

November 3, 1848
We lost 10 pounds of food due to spoilage.

November 6, 1848
Broken wagon axle.
We couldn't fix the wagon axle, but we replaced it from supplies.

November 8, 1848
We shot 2 pounds of meat.

November 10, 1848
Rough trail.

November 13, 1848
We have arrived at the Grande Ronde in the Blue Mountains.
We decided to rest for 3 days.

November 18, 1848
Henry has a broken arm.

November 20, 1848
Henry was near death, but the doctor was able to help.

November 26, 1848
We have reached The Dalles.

November 28, 1848
Henry died of typhoid.

November 29, 1848
I have the measles.

November 30, 1848
I have a broken leg.
I decided to rest for 6 days.

[ End of Journal. ]

On December 3, 1848, Jim died of cholera.

Weather.com: Fail

Weather.com has 42 icons for Thundersnow, Full Moon, and a whole bunch of other stuff.

But they don't have one for "smokey."

Considering the history of dust storms in the Midwest and California-burning days, I think that's a glaring gap.

Excuse me, I need to go cough up a lung now.

Edit: Here's a suggested icon for Dust Storm:

I Try Google Reader...

I've got a ton of blogs I want to read, but the ones that update every three seconds were overwhelming the ones that only update every two weeks.


My husband has used a bunch of different feed readers. He has been semi-happily using Google Reader for many months, "It's less horrible than the rest of them."


So he set me up (I have no patience) last night.


So far we have three thoughts for the Damnit-Google-80-Bazillion-Dollars-and-the-Best-People-Free-Snacks-But-Living-In-CA-Can-Buy-and-This-Is-the-Best-You-Can-Do? file.


1. Somehow running Google Reader in IE 6 on my crap-tastic laptop last night resulted in 347,000k of memory going to IE. Hmmm. World of Warcraft only needs 250,000k.



2. For reasons known only to Google, this is the one page in the entire universe (ok, not the entire universe, but Google should know better) that the icon doesn't link to ANYTHING. I kept clicking it trying to go to my "home". Instead I have to hunt for a text link, "back to Google Reader". Huh?
See right there where it says GoogleReader? Clicking that does NOTHING.

3. Oh, Google. This is just sad. (IE 7 + CSS + Form field)

Noooooooooooooooo

Confusing....

When trying to delete files off my laptop so it can actually defrag (damn you, world of warcraft! 25% of the HD!), I found this image from a vacation in 2005.

It's not enough that the exit signs point in opposite direction, but why does one side have a footnote in Japanese? I think we hit this and decided to go to the left... mostly because it was downhill and we had come from the castle uphill...

In Case You Live in a Cave and Haven't Seen This Yet.... (Online Communities, Explained)

Stolen from xkcd.com

*whimper*

The World of Warcraft login servers are down.



Oh, the pain, oh the pain.

I'm a Green Gamer

Ok, I, and 2.9 million other folks, have purchased World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade, some of whom camped out in Wal-Mart to do so. There's another 5 million who play, but didn't upgrade.. yet.

We bought our copies online since I had turned my AmEx points into Barnes and Noble gift cards and we had a Target card from Christmas (yes, copies, more on that in a minute).

Here's what's bugging me:

Blizzard must have some very restrictive distribution agreement that says they HAVE to ship boxed copies.

Because I can't think of any other reason for them to NOT allow online purchase of the codes to upgrade an account. You can't even buy a duplicate code (say, two accounts, one household) online. For each account you want to upgrade, you have to schlep to the store (or pay shipping) and get an actual copy in your hot little hands.

This isn't bugging me because it's a pain, although it is, it's bugging me because:

a)Blizzard has a sales channel for selling pre-paid game subscription cards... which don't come in big ole boxes. They are little credit cards.

b)The environmental impact of printing 4 million boxes, booklets, and burning 16 million CD's -- all of which will be used exactly once and then thrown away -- is not zero.

c)Blizzard has lots and lots of bandwidth.

Is it thinking too far outside the box to expect them to allow people to purchase (hey, full price is fine by us) the code to turn an account on without waiting for the CD to show up? Is it thinking too far outside the box to say allowing people to download the application might just work for an online game? Is it thinking too far outside the box to expect a company to care?

I'm a gamer.

And I'm green.

Who Care About my GPA, I've Got All Purples and an Epic Mount!

"The researchers found that the games can provide opportunities for achievement, freedom and even a connection to other players. Those benefits trumped a shallow sense of fun, which doesn't keep gamers as interested. Players reported feeling the best when the games produced positive experiences and challenges that connected to what they knew in the real world."

Bad, Google, Bad

So, Google took down "old Blogger" for maintenance today.

I don't really care.

What I DO care about is getting this error when trying to get to "New Blogger".

Did anyone at Google stop to think that maybe taking down all those Blogs w/o telling anyone might cause some sort of problem to the whole system? I'm guessing they had some server swamping from people trying to get to blogs. (Gee, whiz, wow, people want to see blogs... on blogger? Really?)


They are calling it a scheduled maintenance. Maybe Google logs show the slowest time for Blogger is noon on Tuesdays, but somehow I doubt it. Scheduled maintenance should ALWAYS be at your slowest time (unless you are World of Warcraft, then it's every Tuesday and Tuesday becomes know as "patch Tuesday" and every one of your customers hates Tuesday.) Otherwise don't call it scheduled, because, well, then you're lying to your customers.

1% of America Knows What This Post is About

ding. 59.

Second Life Assets and the IRS

Possibly one of the odder articles I've seen. Honestly, it sounds like an NPR April Fools joke. Except it's not.

on a different note

Sunday Jim and I were going to play W.O.W.

But our server was down. Forcing us to another server.

We proceeded to make two night elves (bouncy bouncy). Both girls.

Flufee (Fluffy not allowed)
and
Bunnies

@$#$%#$@%#$@%

what happens if you leave your account up and i need the computer