I added a sitemeter to my blog last night, because metrics are fun. I built this place to put my thoughts in one area instead of strewn about the intertron on various forums and blogs, but its still nice to know if anyone visits me and what drives them to the site. Its a neat little shareware program for anyone that is looking for that type of thing.
You may have surmised from the stunning layout and extreme creativity of my blog design, that I am a hack designer/ programmer. In fact, if it wasn't for the Blogger mechanics, you would be reading this on little napkins taped to a poster board in my office. God damn it, I ran out of tape again, so you'll have to wait for the next post...
So this is a work in progress, and it will improve over time, but I care more about the words and ideas than I do about the design, so don't hold your breath for any web awards in the near future.
Showing posts with label Profile. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Profile. Show all posts
Wednesday, September 20, 2006
Friday, September 15, 2006
Thursday, September 14, 2006
What the hell is a cyndre?
Over at Kill Ten Rats, Oz has a classic post regarding the importance of our virtual identity. In MMOs, the single most defining characteristic of your avatar is your chosen name. Thus, the importance of being 'Blaznarat' as he says.
At character selection, gamers make many decision that will have a lasting impact on our role in the virtual society that we have chosen to inhabit. We can be male or female, gnome or elf, brown hair or black... No matter what choices you make in customization, however, you will still be just another brown-haired elf maiden, in a sea of elves. Thus it is the naming convention that allows us to define and hone our virtual selves.
MMOs are built and sustained on the community that develops and thus remains loyal subscribers despite any number of reasons why they should have moved on. Take Ultima Online for example. They are approaching ten years, and despite inferior mechanics, outdated graphics and a host of newer options in the marketplace, their faithful continue to log every day. It was not the choice to be female, or elf that kept Nightshade playing this long, but rather the virtual person that Nightshade has become, and the friends she has made.
So what the hell is a cyndre, you ask? Well, Cinder was a name I used for many of my D20 characters back in the day, and when I joined the grandpappy of MMOs, Neverwinter Nights back on pay-to-play AOL, my beloved name, the very spirit of who I was in my fantasy life, was taken...
Cyndre was born that day, and I have never had to race against a host of others to be Cinder, Blade, Ghost or any other iteration of oh so sought after, leet identities. I don't have to worry that my friends from UO would see my name on their new EQ server, years later and wonder if the asshole PKing the newb, was the same Cinder they knew, or later still, if I was the clown spamming /1 in Elwynn Forest who they hadn't seen since we uninstalled Norrath.
I don't need to be leet, I just want to be me.
At character selection, gamers make many decision that will have a lasting impact on our role in the virtual society that we have chosen to inhabit. We can be male or female, gnome or elf, brown hair or black... No matter what choices you make in customization, however, you will still be just another brown-haired elf maiden, in a sea of elves. Thus it is the naming convention that allows us to define and hone our virtual selves.
MMOs are built and sustained on the community that develops and thus remains loyal subscribers despite any number of reasons why they should have moved on. Take Ultima Online for example. They are approaching ten years, and despite inferior mechanics, outdated graphics and a host of newer options in the marketplace, their faithful continue to log every day. It was not the choice to be female, or elf that kept Nightshade playing this long, but rather the virtual person that Nightshade has become, and the friends she has made.
So what the hell is a cyndre, you ask? Well, Cinder was a name I used for many of my D20 characters back in the day, and when I joined the grandpappy of MMOs, Neverwinter Nights back on pay-to-play AOL, my beloved name, the very spirit of who I was in my fantasy life, was taken...
Cyndre was born that day, and I have never had to race against a host of others to be Cinder, Blade, Ghost or any other iteration of oh so sought after, leet identities. I don't have to worry that my friends from UO would see my name on their new EQ server, years later and wonder if the asshole PKing the newb, was the same Cinder they knew, or later still, if I was the clown spamming /1 in Elwynn Forest who they hadn't seen since we uninstalled Norrath.
I don't need to be leet, I just want to be me.
Welcome to my world
Why do people start blogging?
I would imagine there is a plethora of motivations that drives each one of us to begin pontificating on our topics of choice, and as many diverse reasons as there are blogs. So the real question then, is why did I decide to start a blog?
Well, because you NEED to hear what I have to say. Life or death... glory or tragedy... victory or defeat... Its that important. So like any clandestine hero, whose only fault is the hubris that shall be his end, I have arrived to deliver the gospel according to me.
You on the other hand should probably find anywhere else to be. You see, I'm just Some Guy. I'm no Grouchy Gnome, secretly hiding my insider identity behind my online persona, although for other reasons I have chosen to post as my virtual moniker... more on that later. So why should you click back here day after day? Well, because I have a lot to say, on topics that you obviously care about, or you would never have found me in the first place. In my great hubris, I believe I have some useful insight to share, and if nothing else, I read more forums, information sites and blogs that any human should, and I am usually a good source of the current events in the gaming industry, and the virtual worlds that I have chosen to call home.
I hope you agree, or disagree and challenge me in the comments section. I love PvP after all, and whether its pixilated or typed, its always fun to go toe to toe with another skilled individual. So welcome to my world, your presence here makes it your world too, and I hope you choose to stay.
I would imagine there is a plethora of motivations that drives each one of us to begin pontificating on our topics of choice, and as many diverse reasons as there are blogs. So the real question then, is why did I decide to start a blog?
Well, because you NEED to hear what I have to say. Life or death... glory or tragedy... victory or defeat... Its that important. So like any clandestine hero, whose only fault is the hubris that shall be his end, I have arrived to deliver the gospel according to me.
You on the other hand should probably find anywhere else to be. You see, I'm just Some Guy. I'm no Grouchy Gnome, secretly hiding my insider identity behind my online persona, although for other reasons I have chosen to post as my virtual moniker... more on that later. So why should you click back here day after day? Well, because I have a lot to say, on topics that you obviously care about, or you would never have found me in the first place. In my great hubris, I believe I have some useful insight to share, and if nothing else, I read more forums, information sites and blogs that any human should, and I am usually a good source of the current events in the gaming industry, and the virtual worlds that I have chosen to call home.
I hope you agree, or disagree and challenge me in the comments section. I love PvP after all, and whether its pixilated or typed, its always fun to go toe to toe with another skilled individual. So welcome to my world, your presence here makes it your world too, and I hope you choose to stay.
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