I've been blogging a lot lately, but you probably haven't read it, because I was BLOGGING IN MY MIND. There have been a dozen times lately where I've said to myself, "I need to make a blog post about this." And then I begin thinking of some very witty things to say about it. And of course I never actually get around to typing. But hey, at least I got to read all my blog posts, and they were terrific. Trust me.
But let's talk about gaming. I've been doing LOTS of gaming, but almost all of it was on "alternative" platforms like my Sony Tablet or iPhone. So let me give you a quick run-down of what I've been up to, and what you could be up to, too:
Pocket Legends
I started playing Pocket Legends as a WoW substitute and it did a lot of things very well. If you love random grouping, this game is amazing at dropping you face-first into a group and getting things going real fast. I played it on the tablet quite a bit, but the graphics looked a bit dated, character options were very limited, and the quest line seemed to unravel to a point that I just didn't know what to do next. But if you need to kill 5 minutes, Pocket Legends can help you do it in a very fun way.
Arcane Legends
Along comes Arcane Legends, which to me is simply an update to Pocket Legends, likely using the same gaming framework but with a better graphics engine (No, I didn't research it - what kind of blog do you think this is?!). It has the same strengths and weaknesses as Pocket Legends, but looks better. The characters are still very limited in types and appearances, and the quest system is maddening. Quest Givers seem to be giving out the same old quests over and over, which becomes very confusing: "If I run this again, will I get something different, or be able to advance in some other way?" For instance, the game tells you that helping a character will let you collect a pet, but after helping that character, you still don't have the pet. The quest becomes available again, and you can't help but wonder, "Am I supposed to do this a bunch of times to get the pet?" So far, re-running quests hasn't gotten me anywhere. Perhaps I could Google it to find out. Nah. I'm too busy playing this thing.
Book of Heroes
A very cool turn-based RP game, that seems to be a cross between a card-based game (Magic), and table-top D&D. It has a decent story-line to follow, and pleasing graphics, but becomes a bit of a grind. If you're a grinder, check it out.
Rage of Bahamut
Mageic got me sucked into this game, and it's good fun, but highly addictive. It's your typical fantasy trading card game, with everyone else having better cards than you. You NEED that better card, and hey, for $9.99, you could get some points, and maybe buy it, right? But you know what would be even better? Get three MORE of those cards, and you could combine them into a more powerful monster and REALLY kick people's butts. You got the money, right? Good. OK, now all you need is 5 more cards to build a REALLY good deck. Oh, and be sure to get 4 of each to combine them. Better upload your credit card. It's faster. Oh, LOOK! New Cards are available! And that Ultra Super Rare card would TOTALLY ROCK! You can buy it off some dude for $49.99. Then just find 4 more of those... (excuse me while I go apply for another Credit Card.)
Infinity Blade
A beautiful hack and slash 1-on-1 a la Mortal Combat Gone Fantasy. Plunk down your real money for weapon and armor upgrades. My character could move super fast - in about half a second he swung his broadsword about 400 times. When that half second was over, I realized I was very bored and uninstalled the game.
Blood and Glory
The same damn game as Infinity Blade, but Gladiator-style. If you prefer Rome over Fantasy with your super-speed hack and slash fighting, this is your game. And you brought your lunch money for those weapon upgrades you need, right?
Neverwinter Nights 2
Sweet, sweet Dungeons & Dragons bliss. Why isn't this a tablet game yet? I reinstalled this 7-CD game on my iMac (running VMWARE), and am just now really getting back into the flow of things. What a great game. I had forgotten how much difference a really good story can make. I'm slowing down, actually READING quests, getting invested in the main story, and trying to make the right choices so that my NPC party members don't get pissed off at me. And the settings are so CLASSIC D&D - I spend pretty much all of last night in a dark crypt full of skeletons & zombies. It doesn't get any more old school than that. Well, maybe Baldur's Gate... but that's NEXT. If you have any old NWN disks lying around, load them up and give them another try. I'm betting you'll be amazed at the amount of focus on the story. No, the game isn't an open world, and so sometimes it feels like you're being herded along a predetermined path (umm, because you ARE), but if you're willing to float with the current, it's truly amazing where they take you.
I'm still waiting for a phone-based Dungeons & Dragons. I guess we all are.
Mortigan of the Tiny Screen
Friday, March 29, 2013
Tuesday, November 6, 2012
Ressurrected... Sorta
I'M BACK, BITCHES! Well... sorta.
I had envisioned Mortigan's grand return to World of Warcraft (and this blog) for the launch of Mists. But it didn't happen. Morty slept throught the launch and has since stayed nice and cozy in Worgen hibernation.
But there's been a lot going on game-wise that I've wanted to talk about, but simply haven't because I didn't want to "degrade" this Warcraft blog with posts about other games that most of you probably AREN'T playing.
So let me set the framework for all the upcoming non-WoW posts that I'm planning to write.
Gaming has changed for me. Largely because whenever I'm playing, I have a soon-to-be 3-year-old daughter climbing on me demanding, "I push it! I push it! I push it!" She really changes the dynamic of things:
First, I don't want to be in a situation where other real people are counting on me, and suddenly I need to bail, or at minimum get the mouse and keyboard taken over by a toddler with questionable gaming skills. (Although she is pretty damn good at "Let's Go Jungle" first-person shooter that we play at Chuck E. Cheese's.) It's just too hard for me to carve out time for in-depth time-sink gaming like WoW. I need to be able to jump in and then jump back out at the drop of a hat, or at the drop of my tea all over the carpet (caused by you-know-who). Less involved gaming simply works better. Games like Rage of Bahamut are fun, and can be walked away from at any given moment with absolutely no consequence. And that's what I need right now. To be able to leave whenever, without my character (or anybody else) getting screwed in the process. I'm not going to wipe a 10-man raid because my daughter suddenly wants noodles.
Second, I'm finding lately that I use my Sony Tablet far more than my computer, and tablet gaming is generally both less involved and far cheaper. For just one or two dollars, I'm diving into a new game constantly. (Although I did recently spend $10 or so on Rage of Bahamut card upgrades so that I could CRUSH THOSE THIEVING BASTARDS WHO STOLE MY LOOT WHILE I WAS OFFLINE. (Revenge is a dish best served any way you can get it.)
And third, (at lastly for this post), there are some DAMN GOOD tablet games out there. Pocket Legends is a MMORPG that works pretty well as a substitute for WoW, and you can play it on your phone. It does a number of things really well that WoW could take a lesson from. (I'll get into that in a future post.) And right now, I am totally sucked into Bard's Tale again. That was the coolest game EVER back when I was shoving disks into an XBOX. I was hooked from the moment he killed his first single normal-sized rat and triumphantly announced "QUEST COMPLETE!" and playing it again now on my tablet is just as much fun as it ever was on XBOX. - I did mention, right, that Bard's Tale is available on the android store for $2.99? What a bargain! But wait, there's more - it comes with Bard's Tale 2!
So to sum it all up, I'll be posting on here about games... and probably comparing them to WoW quite often for those of you who only care about WoW. And if you did happen to play Pocket Legends, Bard's Tale, or Rage of Bahamut, well then you'll be luck.
Anyway, hooray for me... I'm blogging again.
Mortigan the Nuckelavee-slaying Bard
I had envisioned Mortigan's grand return to World of Warcraft (and this blog) for the launch of Mists. But it didn't happen. Morty slept throught the launch and has since stayed nice and cozy in Worgen hibernation.
But there's been a lot going on game-wise that I've wanted to talk about, but simply haven't because I didn't want to "degrade" this Warcraft blog with posts about other games that most of you probably AREN'T playing.
So let me set the framework for all the upcoming non-WoW posts that I'm planning to write.
Gaming has changed for me. Largely because whenever I'm playing, I have a soon-to-be 3-year-old daughter climbing on me demanding, "I push it! I push it! I push it!" She really changes the dynamic of things:
First, I don't want to be in a situation where other real people are counting on me, and suddenly I need to bail, or at minimum get the mouse and keyboard taken over by a toddler with questionable gaming skills. (Although she is pretty damn good at "Let's Go Jungle" first-person shooter that we play at Chuck E. Cheese's.) It's just too hard for me to carve out time for in-depth time-sink gaming like WoW. I need to be able to jump in and then jump back out at the drop of a hat, or at the drop of my tea all over the carpet (caused by you-know-who). Less involved gaming simply works better. Games like Rage of Bahamut are fun, and can be walked away from at any given moment with absolutely no consequence. And that's what I need right now. To be able to leave whenever, without my character (or anybody else) getting screwed in the process. I'm not going to wipe a 10-man raid because my daughter suddenly wants noodles.
Second, I'm finding lately that I use my Sony Tablet far more than my computer, and tablet gaming is generally both less involved and far cheaper. For just one or two dollars, I'm diving into a new game constantly. (Although I did recently spend $10 or so on Rage of Bahamut card upgrades so that I could CRUSH THOSE THIEVING BASTARDS WHO STOLE MY LOOT WHILE I WAS OFFLINE. (Revenge is a dish best served any way you can get it.)
And third, (at lastly for this post), there are some DAMN GOOD tablet games out there. Pocket Legends is a MMORPG that works pretty well as a substitute for WoW, and you can play it on your phone. It does a number of things really well that WoW could take a lesson from. (I'll get into that in a future post.) And right now, I am totally sucked into Bard's Tale again. That was the coolest game EVER back when I was shoving disks into an XBOX. I was hooked from the moment he killed his first single normal-sized rat and triumphantly announced "QUEST COMPLETE!" and playing it again now on my tablet is just as much fun as it ever was on XBOX. - I did mention, right, that Bard's Tale is available on the android store for $2.99? What a bargain! But wait, there's more - it comes with Bard's Tale 2!
So to sum it all up, I'll be posting on here about games... and probably comparing them to WoW quite often for those of you who only care about WoW. And if you did happen to play Pocket Legends, Bard's Tale, or Rage of Bahamut, well then you'll be luck.
Anyway, hooray for me... I'm blogging again.
Mortigan the Nuckelavee-slaying Bard
Thursday, October 20, 2011
OOC Blog
it may not be World of Warcraft, but you can check out my OOC blog here. I have a couple real-life posts - 100% epic truth - all ready and waiting for you. Check it out:
http://mortiganthewarlock.blogspot.com/
http://mortiganthewarlock.blogspot.com/
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
A Shallow Grave
So as to not simply delete this blog and vanish without comment as I had done a few years ago (the burn-out exit), I've decided that my current absence will more than likely end up to be temporary, and so I'll stay away from the delete button and leave things intact (the slow fade exit).
But truth be told, I am not currently playing ANY games at all, and have canceled my Battle.net Warcraft subscription because I'm simply not using it, and not rich enough to not care about the $15 per month being sucked quietly out of my wallet.
I don't have any grievances with Warcraft. I haven't taken my ball and run home crying. My life simply doesn't support the time required for heavy raiding - or even the long instances currently necessary for better gear - and I have little interest in grinding Alts (I deleted the one hunter I started). As far as Warcraft is concerned, I have always been only Mortigan the Warlock, and in the future will only be Mortigan the Warlock.
Somewhere on an Everquest Server is Grimmick Davengeful, my level 30 Shadowknight Troll. I have very fond memories of him, and occasionally miss him. But not enough to ever go back to Everquest. On America's Army somewhere is Davengeful, my Honor Level 40-something soldier who always had a penchant for Rocket Launchers. Mmmmm... good times! Maybe Davengeful will someday return to the battlefield (if AA ever re-releases a Mac version), but his chances aren't much better than Grimmick's.
And now - perhaps more temporarily than those others - Mortigan returns to the grave. When he arises again, he'll probably be Forsaken - he never could get over his distaste for gnomes. But Morty's grave is a shallow one. Easy to get out of if needed. Maybe he'll be back on Azeroth very soon. Or maybe a year or two. Time only knows.
As for me, it's so difficult to keep my mouth shut that I just can't stop myself from blabbing on and on, so I've created a new OT blog (thereby keeping this one as perfectly pristine as a newly-rolled Level 1 twink). My OTHER BLOG (which currently has absolutely nothing on it) can be found here: http://mortiganthewarlock.blogspot.com/
Yes, it's almost the same URL. But WARlock and not just LOCK. Bookmark it if you want to hear me talk about things like Helloween's music, my daughter, my promotionless job, and who knows what else. Otherwise, I'll see you back here when Mortigan finally claws his way out of the grave.
Thanks for reading - it's been fun!
Mortigan, Dead Again
But truth be told, I am not currently playing ANY games at all, and have canceled my Battle.net Warcraft subscription because I'm simply not using it, and not rich enough to not care about the $15 per month being sucked quietly out of my wallet.
I don't have any grievances with Warcraft. I haven't taken my ball and run home crying. My life simply doesn't support the time required for heavy raiding - or even the long instances currently necessary for better gear - and I have little interest in grinding Alts (I deleted the one hunter I started). As far as Warcraft is concerned, I have always been only Mortigan the Warlock, and in the future will only be Mortigan the Warlock.
Somewhere on an Everquest Server is Grimmick Davengeful, my level 30 Shadowknight Troll. I have very fond memories of him, and occasionally miss him. But not enough to ever go back to Everquest. On America's Army somewhere is Davengeful, my Honor Level 40-something soldier who always had a penchant for Rocket Launchers. Mmmmm... good times! Maybe Davengeful will someday return to the battlefield (if AA ever re-releases a Mac version), but his chances aren't much better than Grimmick's.
And now - perhaps more temporarily than those others - Mortigan returns to the grave. When he arises again, he'll probably be Forsaken - he never could get over his distaste for gnomes. But Morty's grave is a shallow one. Easy to get out of if needed. Maybe he'll be back on Azeroth very soon. Or maybe a year or two. Time only knows.
As for me, it's so difficult to keep my mouth shut that I just can't stop myself from blabbing on and on, so I've created a new OT blog (thereby keeping this one as perfectly pristine as a newly-rolled Level 1 twink). My OTHER BLOG (which currently has absolutely nothing on it) can be found here: http://mortiganthewarlock.blogspot.com/
Yes, it's almost the same URL. But WARlock and not just LOCK. Bookmark it if you want to hear me talk about things like Helloween's music, my daughter, my promotionless job, and who knows what else. Otherwise, I'll see you back here when Mortigan finally claws his way out of the grave.
Thanks for reading - it's been fun!
Mortigan, Dead Again
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Where Have All The War Bears Gone?
It's been a LONG time since I've seen any Black War Bears. Especially any young ones. In fact, I can't remember the last time I saw one.
Maybe it's because land mounts seems to have little place in a world where flying is faster, easier, and available everywhere. There certainly seems to be a complete absence of ANY kind of land mounts in use these days. Sometimes I miss it. I remember riding across Kalimdor - a ride that seemed to take FOREVER - but at the same time gave me a good impression of how large the world really was (even if much of it was empty, low-level acreage that had to be endured more than explored). It's easy to argue against traversing large expanses by land. After all, there is a REASON that ships, blimps, flight-paths, and portals were created. And one could say, "If you're traveling by land, why not go all the way and do it ON FOOT, Morty?!" Yes, I remember traveling from Undercity to the Crossroads on Kalimdor on foot for some low-level quest, and no, it was NOT fun, and something I would not want to repeat. I'm not necessarily stating that we SHOULD be riding around on land mounts, as much as bemoaning the fact that we aren't interacting as much with the world as we used to.
And speaking of not interacting - I hardly EVER see the Horde these days. Which brings me back to the Black War Bears. I don't think I've seen a single "For The Horde" raid at all since starting back up with Cataclysm. I would've thought that the ease of flying directly down onto the front doorstep of the soon-to-be-dead king would start an endless wave of weekend assaults on major cities. But no, it's been dead quiet. Once or twice a smattering of Horde have shown up at the front gates of Stormwind just to poke the hornet's nest a bit, but not ONE SINGLE RAID have I witnessed. Maybe everyone already has a Black War Bear, and no longer cares about "For The Alliance/Horde". I remember the good ol' days of Wrath, where as a Forsaken Warlock of the Horde, I'd head down to Stranglethorn Vale with two other Taurens who took great delight in ticking off as many Allies as humanly possible. We'd make our way quietly up the coastline, and finally swim the last stretch toward Stormwind underwater before quietly surfacing down by the ships. When no one was watching, we'd mount and ride hard and fast with pounding hearts and shaking hands into the labyrinth of streets that led to a then-deserted Dwarven District. We'd enter a long-unused shop, kill the shopkeeper behind the counter where no one would see the body, then head upstairs to the little balcony. Once there, I'd open a lock gate, and we'd start spamming trade chat: "We are INSIDE IRONFORGE already - Have a Lock ready to summon - get your Black War Bear FOR THE HORDE!!!" and the raid would fill up in seconds. As soon as they'd join, I'd be summoning them. And when they arrived, they'd get my whisper: "You keep your mouth SHUT about where we are!" And that's when they'd notice that we're not in Ironforge at all... we're in Stormwind. And all the Allies with Horde Alts who saw the trade chat and ran home to tattle on us would be sounding the alarm in Ironforge, far, far away. In less than 5 minutes, there would be 40 of us Horde rolling out of that little shop in the Dwarven District, snickering to ourselves and chatting it up: "We's in your base, killing your King." It was brilliant. And beautiful. It still warms my heart and sets a smile on my face. And even now that I'm Worgen, I still chuckle about it every time I go near that shop.
But that kind of fun seems to be missing these days. I haven't seen a single invite to join a "For The Alliance" raid, which I'd be ECSTATIC to join, even though it would mean going up against my beloved Lady Sylvanas. (Maybe I could just sit that fight out... there would be plenty of other DPS.) And there have been no swarms of Horde Drakes dropping down onto us in Stormwind. Our king is getting fat and lazy. He never fights these days.
Maybe it's another side effect of the Dungeon Finder. After all, I rarely see Horde at all any more... because I never really go anywhere. I log on, queue up, check my mail, run auctions, troll trade chat, etc., until I get my summons. Then I'm inside an instance, do my thing, go back to Stormwind, and log out. Rinse and repeat. I have a growing suspicion that many other people are doing the same. We just aren't coming across the Horde very much any more.
My only Horde interaction at all lately was a single Forsaken Death Knight I came across in the Hellfire Peninsula. After zoning in, I saw "Hellfire Peninsula is under attack!" I immediately flew toward my old stomping ground, Thrallmar, worried that some Allied scum would be tearing up such a lovely place. But as I was swooping down toward the front gate, the Horde banners caught my eye. They looked kinda funny to me as they started to loom large on screen. Oh, right. I'm NOT Horde any more! I put my heels into my Blue Proto Drake that Skadi so kindly gave me long ago, and turned her toward Honor Hold - a place I'd never been. Sure enough, there he was. An 85 DK in the stable, trying to kill I-don't-know-what. I switched to my PVP gear set on the fly. (You ARE using gear sets, right?) I dropped down right in front of him and hit him with a Soulburned ball of fire. Now, most of you know that I HATE PVP, that I SUCK at PVP, and that I generally RUN from PVP. But not this time. It was high time to test the 3 pieces of PVP gear I've gotten so far. The DK started some sort of attack, and summoned his army of orangutan zombies. My health was dropping. But nothing he did stunned me, moved me, or did ANYTHING to prevent me from proceeding through my rotation at full speed. And I learned something very valuable in that moment: If you can't hit me for 30K, and you can't stop ME from hitting you, you're in a hell of a lot of trouble. BECAUSE I CAN HIT YOU FOR 30K. And I cooked that Death Knight into oblivion in short order. My hands were shaking as I watched him release. Dang, I forgot to hug him. I quickly refilled health, mana, soulstoned myself, switched my Imp for my Succubus, and got ready for him to return. He did not disappoint. Within a few minutes he was back. With my Succubus out, he died even more quickly. Afterward, he wouldn't face me again. He ran away and did NOT come back. I savored the taste of sweet success. Uh oh. I feel a growing fondness for PVP. But outside of battlegrounds, these encounters are happening less and less. This was a rare moment.
Whatever Blizz does next, I hope they work in new opportunities for a Horde/Alliance war. This whole "let's team up and fight a common enemy" is starting to get boring. Let's kill each other instead. And give me a Cataclysm equivalent of a Black War Bear when I do. Maybe a FLYING Black War Bear. Something. I miss the war.
Mortigan the Death Knight Slaying, Butt-kicking, Flame-Pot-Shoulder-Wearing Warlock.
Maybe it's because land mounts seems to have little place in a world where flying is faster, easier, and available everywhere. There certainly seems to be a complete absence of ANY kind of land mounts in use these days. Sometimes I miss it. I remember riding across Kalimdor - a ride that seemed to take FOREVER - but at the same time gave me a good impression of how large the world really was (even if much of it was empty, low-level acreage that had to be endured more than explored). It's easy to argue against traversing large expanses by land. After all, there is a REASON that ships, blimps, flight-paths, and portals were created. And one could say, "If you're traveling by land, why not go all the way and do it ON FOOT, Morty?!" Yes, I remember traveling from Undercity to the Crossroads on Kalimdor on foot for some low-level quest, and no, it was NOT fun, and something I would not want to repeat. I'm not necessarily stating that we SHOULD be riding around on land mounts, as much as bemoaning the fact that we aren't interacting as much with the world as we used to.
And speaking of not interacting - I hardly EVER see the Horde these days. Which brings me back to the Black War Bears. I don't think I've seen a single "For The Horde" raid at all since starting back up with Cataclysm. I would've thought that the ease of flying directly down onto the front doorstep of the soon-to-be-dead king would start an endless wave of weekend assaults on major cities. But no, it's been dead quiet. Once or twice a smattering of Horde have shown up at the front gates of Stormwind just to poke the hornet's nest a bit, but not ONE SINGLE RAID have I witnessed. Maybe everyone already has a Black War Bear, and no longer cares about "For The Alliance/Horde". I remember the good ol' days of Wrath, where as a Forsaken Warlock of the Horde, I'd head down to Stranglethorn Vale with two other Taurens who took great delight in ticking off as many Allies as humanly possible. We'd make our way quietly up the coastline, and finally swim the last stretch toward Stormwind underwater before quietly surfacing down by the ships. When no one was watching, we'd mount and ride hard and fast with pounding hearts and shaking hands into the labyrinth of streets that led to a then-deserted Dwarven District. We'd enter a long-unused shop, kill the shopkeeper behind the counter where no one would see the body, then head upstairs to the little balcony. Once there, I'd open a lock gate, and we'd start spamming trade chat: "We are INSIDE IRONFORGE already - Have a Lock ready to summon - get your Black War Bear FOR THE HORDE!!!" and the raid would fill up in seconds. As soon as they'd join, I'd be summoning them. And when they arrived, they'd get my whisper: "You keep your mouth SHUT about where we are!" And that's when they'd notice that we're not in Ironforge at all... we're in Stormwind. And all the Allies with Horde Alts who saw the trade chat and ran home to tattle on us would be sounding the alarm in Ironforge, far, far away. In less than 5 minutes, there would be 40 of us Horde rolling out of that little shop in the Dwarven District, snickering to ourselves and chatting it up: "We's in your base, killing your King." It was brilliant. And beautiful. It still warms my heart and sets a smile on my face. And even now that I'm Worgen, I still chuckle about it every time I go near that shop.
But that kind of fun seems to be missing these days. I haven't seen a single invite to join a "For The Alliance" raid, which I'd be ECSTATIC to join, even though it would mean going up against my beloved Lady Sylvanas. (Maybe I could just sit that fight out... there would be plenty of other DPS.) And there have been no swarms of Horde Drakes dropping down onto us in Stormwind. Our king is getting fat and lazy. He never fights these days.
Maybe it's another side effect of the Dungeon Finder. After all, I rarely see Horde at all any more... because I never really go anywhere. I log on, queue up, check my mail, run auctions, troll trade chat, etc., until I get my summons. Then I'm inside an instance, do my thing, go back to Stormwind, and log out. Rinse and repeat. I have a growing suspicion that many other people are doing the same. We just aren't coming across the Horde very much any more.
My only Horde interaction at all lately was a single Forsaken Death Knight I came across in the Hellfire Peninsula. After zoning in, I saw "Hellfire Peninsula is under attack!" I immediately flew toward my old stomping ground, Thrallmar, worried that some Allied scum would be tearing up such a lovely place. But as I was swooping down toward the front gate, the Horde banners caught my eye. They looked kinda funny to me as they started to loom large on screen. Oh, right. I'm NOT Horde any more! I put my heels into my Blue Proto Drake that Skadi so kindly gave me long ago, and turned her toward Honor Hold - a place I'd never been. Sure enough, there he was. An 85 DK in the stable, trying to kill I-don't-know-what. I switched to my PVP gear set on the fly. (You ARE using gear sets, right?) I dropped down right in front of him and hit him with a Soulburned ball of fire. Now, most of you know that I HATE PVP, that I SUCK at PVP, and that I generally RUN from PVP. But not this time. It was high time to test the 3 pieces of PVP gear I've gotten so far. The DK started some sort of attack, and summoned his army of orangutan zombies. My health was dropping. But nothing he did stunned me, moved me, or did ANYTHING to prevent me from proceeding through my rotation at full speed. And I learned something very valuable in that moment: If you can't hit me for 30K, and you can't stop ME from hitting you, you're in a hell of a lot of trouble. BECAUSE I CAN HIT YOU FOR 30K. And I cooked that Death Knight into oblivion in short order. My hands were shaking as I watched him release. Dang, I forgot to hug him. I quickly refilled health, mana, soulstoned myself, switched my Imp for my Succubus, and got ready for him to return. He did not disappoint. Within a few minutes he was back. With my Succubus out, he died even more quickly. Afterward, he wouldn't face me again. He ran away and did NOT come back. I savored the taste of sweet success. Uh oh. I feel a growing fondness for PVP. But outside of battlegrounds, these encounters are happening less and less. This was a rare moment.
Whatever Blizz does next, I hope they work in new opportunities for a Horde/Alliance war. This whole "let's team up and fight a common enemy" is starting to get boring. Let's kill each other instead. And give me a Cataclysm equivalent of a Black War Bear when I do. Maybe a FLYING Black War Bear. Something. I miss the war.
Mortigan the Death Knight Slaying, Butt-kicking, Flame-Pot-Shoulder-Wearing Warlock.
Monday, June 20, 2011
Odds and Ends
A number of short topics in this one. First, I just spared you a lot of torture. I was writing a LONG illustration of how closely life in Azeroth mirrors my own real life, but it ended up sounding like me just going on and on and on about regular life. So I deleted it. (Yes, sending me a thank-you card would be appropriate.) It did have one amusing-to-me rant about American football, and how the winners of the NFL Superbowl have the gall to call themselves "World Champions" despite no one else in the world actually playing - or even giving a crap - about American football. "World Champions? Really? So you guys played the Germans? No? Ummm... surely you played England then, right? No? Who exactly then did you play? Oh, you played San Fransisco, eh? Hang on while I check my globe - but while I'm away, why not go ahead and call yourselves Champions of the UNIVERSE? I have a feeling that all the other planets are going to forfeit their games..."
How does that have anything to do with Warcraft? Well, it was part of me telling about how my own failure in High School football runs parallel to my failure in PVP... right down to eating a lot of grass and dirt and getting my face stepped on. Some people (like me) should stick to band - and the hell away from PVP.
I pretty much PUG everything in my real life, too. I don't have a clue who these co-workers are, and I'm certainly NOT going to Happy Hour with them to find out. I'm just not into Trade chat, sorry. I never hang out with friends - because I don't have any. Not the real kind, anyway. Not the ones who will show up on moving day to help you load your furniture in the van. Or hold your hair back while you vomit last night's tequila into the toilet. Or help you get rid of a body. If you've got friends like that, AWESOME. Me? I gotta PUG it.
And I never have any friggin gold in real life, either. Gotta pay for the damn Porsche Mrs. Mortigan made me buy. At least in Azeroth there is no financing. We DON'T need that nightmare.
There. Done with my illustration of life in Azeroth mirroring my own. Saved you a lot of painfully boring text, but keeping all the major points. If my stuff ever even has points, which leads me to the following...
I made a BIG LONG POST about Chinese Gold last Thursday, which I think was missed by a lot of people - either that or a huge pile of people have abandoned this sinking ship I call a blog. But even if you don't read MY post, check out Minstrel's comment which very nicely summed up all the points I wanted to make, but never actually got around to stating:
Thank you. Exactly what I wanted to say, but didn't. Ultimately, I believe that if you somehow could eliminate Chinese Gold Farming altogether, you wouldn't be helping the poor Chinese laborers (or prisoners) - you'd just be sticking them with some other job... one that's probably a lot crappier than farming WoW gold.
I also made my first Alt. A Space Goat Hunter named Mortigal. But rather than actually reading up about Hunters or LEARNING anything about hunters, my goal is simply to BLATANTLY COPY a uber-ass-kicking Hunter I grouped with in ZG, who was rocking 29K DPS! I looked him up on wow-heroes, copied down all of his gear, his spec, his pets, etc. I figure if I follow in his footsteps, I CAN'T POSSIBLY GO WRONG. Except I lost my first duel already. I should take my own advice, and stay the HELL AWAY FROM PVP. But somehow, I just can't resist a beat-down every now and then. Keeps my self-esteem in check, I guess.
And one last thing. Elkagorasa, a long-time reader and commenter here, has some extremely important news about Valor and Justice Points related to Patch 4.2. Unfortunately, I can't read his blog here at work, but maybe you can. Check him out at http://www.elkagorasa.info
There. I think that's everything. For now. Oh wait. One reader wanted a refund of his $19.99 for the PDF version of my Sleazy Guide to Free Justice Points. I am of course more than happy to issue refunds for a low processing fee of $39.98. So if you'd like a refund of $19.99 (even if you didn't make a purchase here), just send me $39.98 to ensure speedy processing, and you'll have your $19.99 refund paypaled back to you in no time! Customer service is SO important - and I strive to be the best!
Mortigan of the Random Stuff
How does that have anything to do with Warcraft? Well, it was part of me telling about how my own failure in High School football runs parallel to my failure in PVP... right down to eating a lot of grass and dirt and getting my face stepped on. Some people (like me) should stick to band - and the hell away from PVP.
I pretty much PUG everything in my real life, too. I don't have a clue who these co-workers are, and I'm certainly NOT going to Happy Hour with them to find out. I'm just not into Trade chat, sorry. I never hang out with friends - because I don't have any. Not the real kind, anyway. Not the ones who will show up on moving day to help you load your furniture in the van. Or hold your hair back while you vomit last night's tequila into the toilet. Or help you get rid of a body. If you've got friends like that, AWESOME. Me? I gotta PUG it.
And I never have any friggin gold in real life, either. Gotta pay for the damn Porsche Mrs. Mortigan made me buy. At least in Azeroth there is no financing. We DON'T need that nightmare.
There. Done with my illustration of life in Azeroth mirroring my own. Saved you a lot of painfully boring text, but keeping all the major points. If my stuff ever even has points, which leads me to the following...
I made a BIG LONG POST about Chinese Gold last Thursday, which I think was missed by a lot of people - either that or a huge pile of people have abandoned this sinking ship I call a blog. But even if you don't read MY post, check out Minstrel's comment which very nicely summed up all the points I wanted to make, but never actually got around to stating:
Minstrel said...
...The problems here are not "gold farming"...it's governmental abuse, perhaps prisoner abuse, debateably exploitative economic conditions (if people are essentially "forced" into high work/low pay jobs due to no other options, akin to sweatshops, if those bother you).
Gold farming simply happens to be profitable, it has no intrinsic evil to it (just the unethical aspect of being against the rules of the game). If hold farming weren't profitable, it wouldn't mean the Chinese would abandon authoritarianism, prisoner abuse or exploitative economic conditions. They'd just move on to the next most profitable venture.
...The problems here are not "gold farming"...it's governmental abuse, perhaps prisoner abuse, debateably exploitative economic conditions (if people are essentially "forced" into high work/low pay jobs due to no other options, akin to sweatshops, if those bother you).
Gold farming simply happens to be profitable, it has no intrinsic evil to it (just the unethical aspect of being against the rules of the game). If hold farming weren't profitable, it wouldn't mean the Chinese would abandon authoritarianism, prisoner abuse or exploitative economic conditions. They'd just move on to the next most profitable venture.
Thank you. Exactly what I wanted to say, but didn't. Ultimately, I believe that if you somehow could eliminate Chinese Gold Farming altogether, you wouldn't be helping the poor Chinese laborers (or prisoners) - you'd just be sticking them with some other job... one that's probably a lot crappier than farming WoW gold.
I also made my first Alt. A Space Goat Hunter named Mortigal. But rather than actually reading up about Hunters or LEARNING anything about hunters, my goal is simply to BLATANTLY COPY a uber-ass-kicking Hunter I grouped with in ZG, who was rocking 29K DPS! I looked him up on wow-heroes, copied down all of his gear, his spec, his pets, etc. I figure if I follow in his footsteps, I CAN'T POSSIBLY GO WRONG. Except I lost my first duel already. I should take my own advice, and stay the HELL AWAY FROM PVP. But somehow, I just can't resist a beat-down every now and then. Keeps my self-esteem in check, I guess.
And one last thing. Elkagorasa, a long-time reader and commenter here, has some extremely important news about Valor and Justice Points related to Patch 4.2. Unfortunately, I can't read his blog here at work, but maybe you can. Check him out at http://www.elkagorasa.info
There. I think that's everything. For now. Oh wait. One reader wanted a refund of his $19.99 for the PDF version of my Sleazy Guide to Free Justice Points. I am of course more than happy to issue refunds for a low processing fee of $39.98. So if you'd like a refund of $19.99 (even if you didn't make a purchase here), just send me $39.98 to ensure speedy processing, and you'll have your $19.99 refund paypaled back to you in no time! Customer service is SO important - and I strive to be the best!
Mortigan of the Random Stuff
Thursday, June 16, 2011
Made In China
This post should probably be written by The Grumpy Elf. Or by Dwarven Battle Medic. They could write an insightful, thought-provoking, carefully-written post that gives this subject the sensitivity and humanity it needs. But no, Morty's going to write it instead. And like a skydiver who realizes the moment he jumps that he forgot his parachute, even though I haven't yet said a word, the course of things is already set, and the outcome is unavoidable. Squeamish readers may want to look away.
There was an article posted in May on Chinese Prisoners being forced to farm Warcraft Gold. It was syndicated on a number of sites, but as far as I can tell, THIS post from The Guardian is the original. The purpose seems to be to expose the evil of Chinese Gold Farming, and discourage gamers from trafficking with such individuals. It's taken me a while to build up my reply, and to do so, I'm pasting in the original post so that I can interject comments.
But first, I wanted to do the kind of exhaustive and meticulous research that I am so famous for. It happens that just across the cubicle wall from me, there is a co-worker who is FROM CHINA. I trapped her in the break-room. Here is the conversation (she doesn't really know me):
"Hi. Ummm... Can I talk to you for a second?"
She eyes me warily. "Uh, yeah. Sure."
"Do you play video games?"
"No."
"Oh. Well, see. I play a game called World of Warcraft. Basically a virtual world. And in it, if you want to buy the REALLY COOL items, you need gold. LOTS of gold. And since it takes a lot of time to EARN that gold, an entire industry of Gold Farming has started up in China. Companies there sell the gold to gamers for real money."
She looks at me like I'm explaining that we need oxygen to breathe. "Oh, yeah, I know all about that." she says.
"You know about Gold Farming but you don't play?" I ask.
"Oh yes. My friends back in China have a Gold Farming company. They own one of those websites."
"REALLY?" I ask enthusiastically. "COULD YOU GET ME A DISCOUNT?! Wait... no, I mean, I've heard a lot of bad things about the industry, and am trying to learn more." I sound very earnest.
"Like what kind of bad things?" she asks.
"Oh, like they force kids to play."
"Nobody is forced. Kids like to play games. And they're not kids. They're College Students."
"But I read they play for like 14 hours straight."
"They'd do that anyway. They always play that long. Even when they're not getting paid to do it."
"I heard the working conditions are horrible. Poor lighting. Cigarette smoke so thick you can't breathe."
"Do you play with the lights on?" She asks, already knowing my answer. "And everybody smokes. They smoke the whole time they play. They ALL do. But nobody is making them. They'd smoke if they weren't playing, too."
"So you think it's fine?"
"Yeah. I mean, if they're going to play for 14 hours, it's better if they can make a little money doing it. They can at least have some money that way. Otherwise, they'd just play all day for nothing."
"Thanks!" I say, and let her escape back to her cubicle. Obviously, her friend's company isn't one of the prison companies in the article, but her take on things is much different from other "Don't Buy Chinese Gold" posts I'd read. And dang it, I forgot to get the name of that website!
And with my thorough research concluded, I'll tackle the controversial Prisoner article, line for line.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/may/25/china-prisoners-internet-gaming-scam
The URL alone should clue you in that this isn't fair and unbiased journalism. There's a POINT being made, and everything written will be supporting that point. But let's be clear and honest. Buying Chinese Gold is not a SCAM. If you paid for gold but never got it, now THAT would be a scam. Buying Chinese Gold and GETTING Chinese Gold is a business transaction. Maybe unethical. Definitely violating a rule somewhere in that Blizzard Terms of Service contract that you never bothered to read. But a SCAM? No.
As a prisoner at the Jixi labour camp, Liu Dali would slog through tough days breaking rocks and digging trenches in the open cast coalmines of north-east China. By night, he would slay demons, battle goblins and cast spells.
Regarding the rocks:
I've always wondered - what do they do with all those broken rocks? And is there a size requirement? Do prison guards pass around a perfect example of a broken rock and say, "THIS is how we want it." Or perhaps they have a little frame in which the busted rocks must fit - kinda like the thing at the airport where if you bag doesn't fit in the space, you have to check it. And is there a penalty if the rocks are TOO small? "Dammit, prisoner! These rocks are TINY and useless! Must I show you the example rock again?!"
Regarding the demons and goblins:
What demons is he slaying? Is he farming in Felwood? I can't imagine much lucrative gold coming from there. The burning steppes? No. And I can't really think of any high-yield demons in instances or raids. A couple here and there. But I can't imagine demon-slaying taking up much of his time. And if he's killing goblins, I guess he's an Ally doing some PVP quest-giver ganking. I can't imaging that being very lucrative. No wonder he gets beaten. Oops, I'm jumping ahead.
Liu says he was one of scores of prisoners forced to play online games to build up credits that prison guards would then trade for real money. The 54-year-old, a former prison guard who was jailed for three years in 2004 for "illegally petitioning" the central government about corruption in his hometown, reckons the operation was even more lucrative than the physical labour that prisoners were also forced to do.
They chose this 54-year-old as one of the people to play? If I was a guard, I'd grab the 20-somethings first. Especially the ones that look like hard-core gamers. Not saying old guys (like me) can't play, but come on - business is business. And throwing in the fact that he was imprisoned for something that is considered a God-given right in the West is supposed to make you feel extra-sympathetic (or extra-outraged) about his plight. But let me set you straight. Things work differently in different countries. And you're expected to know how things work in your country. Mrs. Mortigan is from Russia. I've been there a number of times. And despite them not being a communist country any more, you still don't want to go around running your mouth in public about local corruption, your general dislike of the government, or any other negative crap that might get you in trouble. No, you keep your mouth SHUT. Or you only say nice things. I was on a train to Moscow the year we were bombing Yugoslavia for something or another. A crowd was protesting and throwing rocks at our Embassy. And some guy sitting across from me on the train noticed my poor Russian and worse accent, and upon discovering that I was from the US, asked me very seriously: "What do you think about your country dropping bombs on Yugoslavia?" And considering my predicament, I replied, "I think the US should mind it's own business, and leave Yugoslavia to the Russians to handle however it sees fit." He stared at me for a second, then smiled broadly and tossed me a warm Baltika beer from his backpack. I was instantly his friend. He then opened his backpack all the way to show me the $40,000 or so (retail) worth of pirated software he was carrying. He had... EVERYTHING. "Can I get copies of this?!" I asked jokingly but no so jokingly. But I digress. Bottom line - people know the risks they face in their country. While Americans wish every country had all the same "rights" and find it horribly wrong when people are imprisoned, hurt, or killed for expressing their views, this guy ultimately knew what he was potentially getting into when he petitioned about corruption.
Prison bosses made more money forcing inmates to play games than they do forcing people to do manual labour," Liu told the Guardian.
Then why not drop the rock-breaking business and go full-time gold farming? That's what I'd do. Screw the rocks - except of Tuesdays, of course, when the servers are down. They can bust rocks on Tuesdays.
For any prisoners NOT forced to play games, were they given 12 hours of leisure time? Were they just hanging out, napping, reading books, watching re-runs on TV? I doubt it. I'm no Chinese Labor Camp expert, mind you, but I doubt the forced gamers were saying, "Dammit, I was going to watch Gilligan's Island! What if they're finally rescued and I miss it?!" I'm sure the guards found something really crappy for the non-gamers to do, too.
I heard them say they could earn 5,000-6,000rmb [£470-570] a day. We didn't see any of the money...
As a prisoner, how much exactly did you expect your cut to be? My guess is that you're getting the EXACT SAME amount of money that they're paying you for the REALLY CRAPPY WORK - busting rocks. I.e. Zero. Zilch. No money for you!
The computers were never turned off.
Of course they're not turned off. Who turns off a computer these days?! Really, they don't use much electricity. Know what does? My SWIMMING POOL. OMG. My realtor mentioned that the chemicals to keep the water nice could get expensive, but NO ONE said that running the pool pumps to keep the water circulated would cost me an extra $150 a month. Friggin expensive. Know what else is expensive? My yard guy. He charges extra to skim the grass clippings out of the pool after he mows. Wish I could hire one of those rock-breaking prisoners to do it. It would sure save me some money.
Memories from his detention at Jixi re-education-through-labour camp in Heilongjiang province from 2004 still haunt Liu. As well as backbreaking mining toil, he carved chopsticks and toothpicks out of planks of wood until his hands were raw and assembled car seat covers that the prison exported to South Korea and Japan. He was also made to memorise communist literature to pay off his debt to society.
Yeah, that part would totally suck. Much worse than forced gaming. But the wording here makes it sound like it was the gaming that haunts him, and there rest is just thrown in "as well". I wonder, was he on a PVP server? Since he was a caster as mentioned earlier in the article, maybe he was getting ganked a lot. Yeah, that would haunt me, too. That's why I got the HELL OFF DAGGERSPINE-US. I still have emotional scars from being laughed at by one particular Rogue. Damn him!!!
But it was the forced online gaming that was the most surreal part of his imprisonment. The hard slog may have been virtual, but the punishment for falling behind was real.
The writer uses the word "surreal" but it kinda gets lost amid the rest of the sentence (purposefully, in my opinion) to make it sound like this guy would rather be busting rocks or whittling chopsticks than farming gold. Yeah, right. And playing was a "hard slog". Sure. That's exactly how I'd describe it, too. That's why I play. I like a good hard slog. The sloggier the better. - Would anyone else like a slice of Slanted Journalism?
If I couldn't complete my work quota, they would punish me physically. They would make me stand with my hands raised in the air and after I returned to my dormitory they would beat me with plastic pipes. We kept playing until we could barely see things," he said.
And if you didn't bust enough rocks to meet quota, or carve enough chopsticks, what happened then? Did the guards hand you a tasty cool beverage and tell you go cool off in the shade? Did they give you a foot massage? Heck no. Not enough rocks = plastic pipe encouragement. But the writer doesn't say that. He only mentions the punishment for not earning enough gold. And really, if a prisoner is off who-knows-where killing demons and ganking goblin quest-givers, then the plastic pipe treatment sounds about adequate. Get yourself some good add-ons, and concentrate on farming, fool. And stay the hell out of Felwood. Those demons don't carry squat.
And to save both you and I some time, the next few paragraphs simply bring everyone up to speed on the scope of the Chinese Gold industry, and I was starting to doze off during that part, so I'll skip it. Read the link above for the full text. Let's get back to the real complaints about Chinese Gold.
"China is the factory of virtual goods," said Jin Ge, a researcher from the University of California San Diego who has been documenting the gold farming phenomenon in China. "You would see some exploitation where employers would make workers play 12 hours a day. They would have no rest through the year. These are not just problems for this industry but they are general social problems. The pay is better than what they would get for working in a factory. It's very different," said Jin.
At this point, we're no longer talking about prisons... just Gold Farming companies. My Chinese co-worker thought nothing of her friends playing for 14 hours a day. And even here at MY work, there are a lot of 12-hour workdays. Am I being exploited? Given a choice between doing what I do for 12 hours, or playing WoW for 12 hours, I'll take Warcraft FTW!
The buyers of virtual goods have mixed feelings … it saves them time buying online credits from China," said Jin.
Ultimately, EVERYTHING in World of Warcraft boils down to time or money. You want a Time-Lost Proto Drake? No problem. All you need is time. Want to hit the gold cap? Put in the time. Want a full set of the latest Tier set? You just need to be playing more, that's all. Quit your job. Live in your mom's basement. Never go outside. EVERYTHING in WoW can be yours.
Don't have time to earn the money to get what you want? The Chinese can help you with that problem. "But that's cheating!" you say. "It's not fair to just BUY what you want with real money!" Really? What about that new Guardian mount? Is that fair? It's yours for the taking, if you're willing to pay Blizz outright for it. Don't have the money? Well, YOU CAN'T HAVE ONE.
Personally, I think Blizz should just offer to sell Gold themselves in 10K increments, just like they sell mounts and vanity pets. They could price it high enough to not ruin a server's economy, but low enough to discourage buying elsewhere. Personally, I think 10K gold should cost $20. For those players out there who simply can't dedicate hours to the game, it would be a huge windfall. And judging from the still few Guardians I see flying around, I don't think it would hurt things too much - other than the Chinese Gold Buying business. Which of course would mean that with no customers buying Chinese Gold, the prisoners would no longer be playing WoW. They'd just get an EXTRA shift of rock-busting. And we gamers could all sleep better knowing that Chinese prisoners were no longer being forced to play WoW. The world would be a better place.
Mortigan the Shopper
There was an article posted in May on Chinese Prisoners being forced to farm Warcraft Gold. It was syndicated on a number of sites, but as far as I can tell, THIS post from The Guardian is the original. The purpose seems to be to expose the evil of Chinese Gold Farming, and discourage gamers from trafficking with such individuals. It's taken me a while to build up my reply, and to do so, I'm pasting in the original post so that I can interject comments.
But first, I wanted to do the kind of exhaustive and meticulous research that I am so famous for. It happens that just across the cubicle wall from me, there is a co-worker who is FROM CHINA. I trapped her in the break-room. Here is the conversation (she doesn't really know me):
"Hi. Ummm... Can I talk to you for a second?"
She eyes me warily. "Uh, yeah. Sure."
"Do you play video games?"
"No."
"Oh. Well, see. I play a game called World of Warcraft. Basically a virtual world. And in it, if you want to buy the REALLY COOL items, you need gold. LOTS of gold. And since it takes a lot of time to EARN that gold, an entire industry of Gold Farming has started up in China. Companies there sell the gold to gamers for real money."
She looks at me like I'm explaining that we need oxygen to breathe. "Oh, yeah, I know all about that." she says.
"You know about Gold Farming but you don't play?" I ask.
"Oh yes. My friends back in China have a Gold Farming company. They own one of those websites."
"REALLY?" I ask enthusiastically. "COULD YOU GET ME A DISCOUNT?! Wait... no, I mean, I've heard a lot of bad things about the industry, and am trying to learn more." I sound very earnest.
"Like what kind of bad things?" she asks.
"Oh, like they force kids to play."
"Nobody is forced. Kids like to play games. And they're not kids. They're College Students."
"But I read they play for like 14 hours straight."
"They'd do that anyway. They always play that long. Even when they're not getting paid to do it."
"I heard the working conditions are horrible. Poor lighting. Cigarette smoke so thick you can't breathe."
"Do you play with the lights on?" She asks, already knowing my answer. "And everybody smokes. They smoke the whole time they play. They ALL do. But nobody is making them. They'd smoke if they weren't playing, too."
"So you think it's fine?"
"Yeah. I mean, if they're going to play for 14 hours, it's better if they can make a little money doing it. They can at least have some money that way. Otherwise, they'd just play all day for nothing."
"Thanks!" I say, and let her escape back to her cubicle. Obviously, her friend's company isn't one of the prison companies in the article, but her take on things is much different from other "Don't Buy Chinese Gold" posts I'd read. And dang it, I forgot to get the name of that website!
And with my thorough research concluded, I'll tackle the controversial Prisoner article, line for line.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/may/25/china-prisoners-internet-gaming-scam
The URL alone should clue you in that this isn't fair and unbiased journalism. There's a POINT being made, and everything written will be supporting that point. But let's be clear and honest. Buying Chinese Gold is not a SCAM. If you paid for gold but never got it, now THAT would be a scam. Buying Chinese Gold and GETTING Chinese Gold is a business transaction. Maybe unethical. Definitely violating a rule somewhere in that Blizzard Terms of Service contract that you never bothered to read. But a SCAM? No.
As a prisoner at the Jixi labour camp, Liu Dali would slog through tough days breaking rocks and digging trenches in the open cast coalmines of north-east China. By night, he would slay demons, battle goblins and cast spells.
Regarding the rocks:
I've always wondered - what do they do with all those broken rocks? And is there a size requirement? Do prison guards pass around a perfect example of a broken rock and say, "THIS is how we want it." Or perhaps they have a little frame in which the busted rocks must fit - kinda like the thing at the airport where if you bag doesn't fit in the space, you have to check it. And is there a penalty if the rocks are TOO small? "Dammit, prisoner! These rocks are TINY and useless! Must I show you the example rock again?!"
Regarding the demons and goblins:
What demons is he slaying? Is he farming in Felwood? I can't imagine much lucrative gold coming from there. The burning steppes? No. And I can't really think of any high-yield demons in instances or raids. A couple here and there. But I can't imagine demon-slaying taking up much of his time. And if he's killing goblins, I guess he's an Ally doing some PVP quest-giver ganking. I can't imaging that being very lucrative. No wonder he gets beaten. Oops, I'm jumping ahead.
Liu says he was one of scores of prisoners forced to play online games to build up credits that prison guards would then trade for real money. The 54-year-old, a former prison guard who was jailed for three years in 2004 for "illegally petitioning" the central government about corruption in his hometown, reckons the operation was even more lucrative than the physical labour that prisoners were also forced to do.
They chose this 54-year-old as one of the people to play? If I was a guard, I'd grab the 20-somethings first. Especially the ones that look like hard-core gamers. Not saying old guys (like me) can't play, but come on - business is business. And throwing in the fact that he was imprisoned for something that is considered a God-given right in the West is supposed to make you feel extra-sympathetic (or extra-outraged) about his plight. But let me set you straight. Things work differently in different countries. And you're expected to know how things work in your country. Mrs. Mortigan is from Russia. I've been there a number of times. And despite them not being a communist country any more, you still don't want to go around running your mouth in public about local corruption, your general dislike of the government, or any other negative crap that might get you in trouble. No, you keep your mouth SHUT. Or you only say nice things. I was on a train to Moscow the year we were bombing Yugoslavia for something or another. A crowd was protesting and throwing rocks at our Embassy. And some guy sitting across from me on the train noticed my poor Russian and worse accent, and upon discovering that I was from the US, asked me very seriously: "What do you think about your country dropping bombs on Yugoslavia?" And considering my predicament, I replied, "I think the US should mind it's own business, and leave Yugoslavia to the Russians to handle however it sees fit." He stared at me for a second, then smiled broadly and tossed me a warm Baltika beer from his backpack. I was instantly his friend. He then opened his backpack all the way to show me the $40,000 or so (retail) worth of pirated software he was carrying. He had... EVERYTHING. "Can I get copies of this?!" I asked jokingly but no so jokingly. But I digress. Bottom line - people know the risks they face in their country. While Americans wish every country had all the same "rights" and find it horribly wrong when people are imprisoned, hurt, or killed for expressing their views, this guy ultimately knew what he was potentially getting into when he petitioned about corruption.
Prison bosses made more money forcing inmates to play games than they do forcing people to do manual labour," Liu told the Guardian.
Then why not drop the rock-breaking business and go full-time gold farming? That's what I'd do. Screw the rocks - except of Tuesdays, of course, when the servers are down. They can bust rocks on Tuesdays.
There were 300 prisoners forced to play games. We worked 12-hour shifts in the camp.
For any prisoners NOT forced to play games, were they given 12 hours of leisure time? Were they just hanging out, napping, reading books, watching re-runs on TV? I doubt it. I'm no Chinese Labor Camp expert, mind you, but I doubt the forced gamers were saying, "Dammit, I was going to watch Gilligan's Island! What if they're finally rescued and I miss it?!" I'm sure the guards found something really crappy for the non-gamers to do, too.
I heard them say they could earn 5,000-6,000rmb [£470-570] a day. We didn't see any of the money...
As a prisoner, how much exactly did you expect your cut to be? My guess is that you're getting the EXACT SAME amount of money that they're paying you for the REALLY CRAPPY WORK - busting rocks. I.e. Zero. Zilch. No money for you!
The computers were never turned off.
Of course they're not turned off. Who turns off a computer these days?! Really, they don't use much electricity. Know what does? My SWIMMING POOL. OMG. My realtor mentioned that the chemicals to keep the water nice could get expensive, but NO ONE said that running the pool pumps to keep the water circulated would cost me an extra $150 a month. Friggin expensive. Know what else is expensive? My yard guy. He charges extra to skim the grass clippings out of the pool after he mows. Wish I could hire one of those rock-breaking prisoners to do it. It would sure save me some money.
Memories from his detention at Jixi re-education-through-labour camp in Heilongjiang province from 2004 still haunt Liu. As well as backbreaking mining toil, he carved chopsticks and toothpicks out of planks of wood until his hands were raw and assembled car seat covers that the prison exported to South Korea and Japan. He was also made to memorise communist literature to pay off his debt to society.
Yeah, that part would totally suck. Much worse than forced gaming. But the wording here makes it sound like it was the gaming that haunts him, and there rest is just thrown in "as well". I wonder, was he on a PVP server? Since he was a caster as mentioned earlier in the article, maybe he was getting ganked a lot. Yeah, that would haunt me, too. That's why I got the HELL OFF DAGGERSPINE-US. I still have emotional scars from being laughed at by one particular Rogue. Damn him!!!
But it was the forced online gaming that was the most surreal part of his imprisonment. The hard slog may have been virtual, but the punishment for falling behind was real.
The writer uses the word "surreal" but it kinda gets lost amid the rest of the sentence (purposefully, in my opinion) to make it sound like this guy would rather be busting rocks or whittling chopsticks than farming gold. Yeah, right. And playing was a "hard slog". Sure. That's exactly how I'd describe it, too. That's why I play. I like a good hard slog. The sloggier the better. - Would anyone else like a slice of Slanted Journalism?
If I couldn't complete my work quota, they would punish me physically. They would make me stand with my hands raised in the air and after I returned to my dormitory they would beat me with plastic pipes. We kept playing until we could barely see things," he said.
And if you didn't bust enough rocks to meet quota, or carve enough chopsticks, what happened then? Did the guards hand you a tasty cool beverage and tell you go cool off in the shade? Did they give you a foot massage? Heck no. Not enough rocks = plastic pipe encouragement. But the writer doesn't say that. He only mentions the punishment for not earning enough gold. And really, if a prisoner is off who-knows-where killing demons and ganking goblin quest-givers, then the plastic pipe treatment sounds about adequate. Get yourself some good add-ons, and concentrate on farming, fool. And stay the hell out of Felwood. Those demons don't carry squat.
And to save both you and I some time, the next few paragraphs simply bring everyone up to speed on the scope of the Chinese Gold industry, and I was starting to doze off during that part, so I'll skip it. Read the link above for the full text. Let's get back to the real complaints about Chinese Gold.
"China is the factory of virtual goods," said Jin Ge, a researcher from the University of California San Diego who has been documenting the gold farming phenomenon in China. "You would see some exploitation where employers would make workers play 12 hours a day. They would have no rest through the year. These are not just problems for this industry but they are general social problems. The pay is better than what they would get for working in a factory. It's very different," said Jin.
At this point, we're no longer talking about prisons... just Gold Farming companies. My Chinese co-worker thought nothing of her friends playing for 14 hours a day. And even here at MY work, there are a lot of 12-hour workdays. Am I being exploited? Given a choice between doing what I do for 12 hours, or playing WoW for 12 hours, I'll take Warcraft FTW!
The buyers of virtual goods have mixed feelings … it saves them time buying online credits from China," said Jin.
Ultimately, EVERYTHING in World of Warcraft boils down to time or money. You want a Time-Lost Proto Drake? No problem. All you need is time. Want to hit the gold cap? Put in the time. Want a full set of the latest Tier set? You just need to be playing more, that's all. Quit your job. Live in your mom's basement. Never go outside. EVERYTHING in WoW can be yours.
Don't have time to earn the money to get what you want? The Chinese can help you with that problem. "But that's cheating!" you say. "It's not fair to just BUY what you want with real money!" Really? What about that new Guardian mount? Is that fair? It's yours for the taking, if you're willing to pay Blizz outright for it. Don't have the money? Well, YOU CAN'T HAVE ONE.
Personally, I think Blizz should just offer to sell Gold themselves in 10K increments, just like they sell mounts and vanity pets. They could price it high enough to not ruin a server's economy, but low enough to discourage buying elsewhere. Personally, I think 10K gold should cost $20. For those players out there who simply can't dedicate hours to the game, it would be a huge windfall. And judging from the still few Guardians I see flying around, I don't think it would hurt things too much - other than the Chinese Gold Buying business. Which of course would mean that with no customers buying Chinese Gold, the prisoners would no longer be playing WoW. They'd just get an EXTRA shift of rock-busting. And we gamers could all sleep better knowing that Chinese prisoners were no longer being forced to play WoW. The world would be a better place.
Mortigan the Shopper
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