Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Something Presicous this way comes.

Well as much as I don't want to I have no choice I have to write about something from a blog that
I thought was precious. The only Blog to actually catch my attention was the one about the dragons and how they are one big happy family. I beleive that they are special because it is family based and from what I have seen it really is a community. you guys can find it here. But I digress they are really a nice bunch of dragons who ( depending upon who you talk to ) are very friendly and will answer any and all questions to the best of their abilities. Their dragons are so cool and they also have a drawing for who gets the dragons and what not. I beleive that this is precisous because it shows that families can be connected through internet connections and the like. It also shows just how much people love dragons. By the way these dragons cost upwards of 3,000 lindens to buy. so they arn't cheap but once you buy one your in for life. 
any way that was it nice and short and sweet. Hope you enjoied it. 
  Godzilla.
http://slurl.com/secondlife/cathedral/125/20/97
Twombly this is the address

Politics in SL

Politics have a presence in secondlife, even if it is not a very large presence. Political parties may attempt to persuade undecided voters by doing a few different things. First, they may try to bring voters in by offering them free items, such as t-shirts or banners. Second, they may attempt to spam chat in many different zones. This has only happened to me once, and it was very annoying. Constant spamming of pro-mccain ads. Obama will raise taxes! And then kill your first born! All lies. Personally, i think that political campaigns in second life are fairly pointless, as people who go to the places that the political parties own most likely have already made up their mind on who to vote for. I didn't, however, mind getting a free tshirt and banner out of going to Obama'a campaign spot.

O' My pretty Precious!

While wandering the world of Second Life, I noticed a great variety of items. Among the things I like, I absolutely love dragons, all shape,sizes, and types. The area in which I find them is also well done, millions of prims are used to create an atmosphere that's beyond some damned area with a few billboards. The seller also shows off what the product looks like as well as what it will do and look like. The Sim is called Cathedral, in the Isle of the Wyrms.
As much as I love when people use their creativity to make something awesome/beautiful, it fails to surpass my love for Dragons. This group( I say group for the reason that I feel no one soul could create something so grand!) has more than just a single dragon object, they have an array of scaled beasts that range from the tiny and somewhat cute whelps, to the dragons which are available as a mount or statue. And with each, they have different purposes/responses to interaction and inactivity, such as the whelps will sit on the character's shoulder and unleash some puffs of smoke. The dragons, from what I read in the library( that is stationed just on the side of the area in which the Eggs to "rise" your own dragon is), can fly quickly through the skies with your AND another on it's back as it breaths flames. Pictures to show it's proof are within the books in the library, which brings me to another point about the area, instead of billboards clogging the skies and flashing, they cleverly make a library and signs pointing to it to tell the character where to go to learn about the dragons. And in the library are actual books that when clicked on will turn the page to allow someone to feel like they are reading about a beast within an old age Cathedral! Something that rose my curiosity is that in the big room were eggs of the dragons, when clicked opened a menu to learn about that specific type. Also the menu allowed the player to see if the Whelp,Dragon, or hybrid was available,price, and even what the product looked like in full scale in the center for all to see. I noted over 12 different eggs that sported this ability, and behind them, a giant book said everything about the selected dragon at the time.
Alas, from what I scanned from the glorious area, even the whelps, the smallest and cheapest of the bunch, are 600 Lindens just for the generic fire or ice ones. The price on ones such as Spirit and Shadow rose to anywhere between 700-900 Lindens. The dragons I only noted the Tiamat (from what I know, it's the Goddess Dragon) Dragon was over 1000 Lindens. I was unable to find any price on the hybrids, which interested me to see what they were like but I couldn't dream of being a half-breed monster.
As it seems, in Second Life many see these beautiful beasts as the most precious thing in all of SL and I would have to agree. It's due mostly to the fact that I couldn't stop drooling as soon as I entered the giant building so well done. The Dragons themselves bring a twinkle to my eye as I stand before all it's artisan crafted glory and an easy and fast interface before purchase only shows that these creations are so well defined and professionally made that every Linden is worth it in my opinion.

The Season Changing Trees at Kenroku

After visiting New World Notes and looking at the precious items post, I decided to look at the trees at the region Kenroku. These trees are nice looking, so I can see why they’d be popular, there were two comments on the blog about them in fact. I found the cherry blossom tree to especially alluring. There are several other trees there, including maples. There are even trees that have falling snow. The cherry blossoms had petals falling down from the branches. There is a shop where the trees can be purchased, where I found the cherry blossom tree, which offers a nice variety. Also, I believe the trees are positioned around the sim. I saw a lot of trees with falling leaves as well as a few Christmas trees. The sim looks like it would be an interesting place to visit too. When I didn’t notice the shop after first arriving, I noticed a path instead. This path led through threes, and I presume to more shops or a garden, or maybe even someone’s land, since the land is group owned. The trees themselves cost around one thousand Lindens. I didn’t explore very much of the land, because I have serious lack of Lindens, but someone else might find something they like and can afford there. The SLurl can be found below:

Precious Things in SL.

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Dejavu/39/42/22/

The location that I visited during class was a place that sold a special item called the Tornado Hud. This item seemed to be something that the player could equip and wear on their bodies. The item had a very special feature. The item can summon a Tornado from the sky and allow the user to control it. Aside from the standard funnel of the storm, sound effects, rain and, lightning are present. The item even has scripted items that can be destructable buildings that can be spawned in the path of your Tornado. I believe this item to be the most precious item to me because of my love for the weather and the fact that it is most likely what I am majoring in. The item and a demo of it can be found at the link above, it sells for a price of 1700 Lindins.

the most precious thing in SL

There is a place not so far away that sells all things dragon and dragon related. This place is called the Isle of Wyrms.  This area has 25 sims devoted directly to it and other related areas. These sims are devoted completely to dragons. Here they sell dragon avatars, dragon pets, dragon eggs, and many magic items. Most of these items are very expensive, but very elaborate. Many would argue that these are very precious indeed, but some would say that they are just useless junk. The most popular of these items are the full body dragon avatars, which breath fire and are animated. The cost of these are 1200 lindens, or $4.69 in USD. I personally think that this is a fairly reasonable price for something as elaborate as this. the URL for this place is http://slurl.com/secondlife/cathedral/123/229/106/

My most precious item



As i was reading the blog from New World Notes, I found a link that indicated a precious item called "Black Swan."   Through this link it took me to a place in Second life where i found items that where considered "Precious Items."  I browsed the area and found many "Precious Items."  One item really caught my eye.  Its a statue of an angel on its knees with his wings spread out and arms behind its back.  The item is called "Light Waves Angel without Base Medium."  The item cost L$29500 which is roughly one-hundred and six dollars ( $106 USD). 

I've concluded that the reason why this item cost so much is because it is quite a massive object.  But more importantly the detail of the Angel is very good.  You can see every muscle structure,  every feather of the wings, and every detail in the face.  It is a very good piece of work but obviously very expensive to own.  "Light Waves Angel," is currently owned by a user named "CounterFactual Fizzle."  Not sure where the name came from LOL.  

I find my self wondering why in the hell would anyone pay that much money for something they cant even use....  It is a beautiful piece of work and could be placed in multiple areas in Second Life. 

Gaming madness

This is the only time that I will be talking about the massively multi player game known as World of Warcraft. Now having never played it myself I can't say too much and be taken seriously by the rest of the gaming population. But from what  I have seen and heard of the world so far has promoted me to start this rant. 
The first thing that I want to say about this game is that it can destroy a persons life. A friend of mine told me that his friend actually stayed up for three days straight and played it only stopping to eat and go to the bathroom. That is a sad statement to say the least. 
  The next case I bring forward is that even though playing World of Warcraft in a way promotes social gathering's it does so in almost a negative way. By pulling people in and creating an addicting game that can destroy someones life if they haven't got any shred of will power in their body. Blizzard is almost as bad as 4Kids  in my opinion, but much more dangerous due to the fact that 4Kids doesn't have nearly the same amount of fans and followers as WoW does. 
Ok and then the final thing that I am going to say before I end this blog in a most dissappointing mannor. Because of WoW video gamers world wide have been branded as people who sit in their parents houses at the age of 34 and play WoW in the basement. But mostly I think that......well I dont know what I think any more...Its 8:41 in the morning and I have no Idea wheather or not I have just kicked up a hornets nest or if I am screwing with a hedge hog. Either I am about to die or I am safe... time will tell.....any way Talk to you all later Godzilla.

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Your blood is my trophy...

This is old stomping ground for me, the first person shooters (FPS) games. I recalled playing counterstrike 1.6 and other Half-life based competitive shooters. The community that revolves around these games are the single reason I left the games. Most people that play an FPS that I would encounter either had a very short temper or had an attitude that rivaled a 13 year old (or were of that age).
But among the community, achievements and respect are earned not from being sociable or well-known, but for how many have been slain and how well the character can dodge a helping of lead. And if that's not enough, there are stats that involve the victories of the bloodbaths and stack them versus how much the player is a meat shield(their deaths), and make the Kill-to-death ratio percentage. That lone percentage is so crucial in these communities, it's almost as important as the number the government labels a person with, only thee percentage can change depending on how well someone can do, basically the measure of someone's skill within the game.
Normally, I would agree to something like the ratio, but when weapons of different powers and other factors don't affect the percentage, then it's not a true measure of the player's skill. As an example, Player1 (P1) plays with normal powered weapons and with most of the people doing same, no overpowered instant kill guns. While Player2 (P2) plays with the weapons that guarantee an instant kill with little drawbacks, and plays with people that P1 would play against. Obviously P2 would dominate the game and kill almost everyone while P1 would have a bit of trouble killing just one person. And before the comment of "It's skill that determines who's best" I've already called BS, and my proof is the AWP from Counterstrike (any version really). It's a Sniper true, but when someone shoots a toe to kill a people instantly, the Army needs to start researching how to make AWP's in real life.
Another ratio FPS fans like is the kill per minute. Again, I would normally accept the stat, but this is against the clock rather than the other players. Looking back to the first example, when P1 kills all his foes, he takes at least five shots before he can claim a kill unless he gets the head shot and then it's a quick kill. But since he is an average gamer, he can't pull off the head shots and takes about ten seconds for a kill. On the other hand, P2 can look at a player and they are dead, it's instant and takes only a second. His kills are going to be alot higher than P1's kills, therefore his kills per minute will be higher than P1's, just like the kill-to-death ratio, except it's a much bigger difference between the two players.
I guess this time, the rant wasn't targeting an audience of gamers (go figure...), rather their idea of ranking. As I speak of ranking, FPS ranks aren't alter by the guns as well. P2 will still have a higher rank than P1 for the sole fact P2 can spatter anyone with one hit and P1 needs to actually try and has a fair chance (dear *insert divine figure* no!) of death. And the icing on the cake is I found the only thing to prevent this is other players calling P1 a noob. Last I checked, muting and ignoring features prevented that and if he remembered that in grade school we were taught stick and stones proverb...

Sunday, November 30, 2008

Virtual meetings

Having a meeting over the internet has several advantages to a meeting in person. For one, people don't have to be worried about how they present themselvs or how they look when useing a virtual avatar. This allows for people to work and get the job at hand completed without these issues. Also, use of internet for meetings allows for little to no racism to take place. People can choose to hide their identity if they choose and not show who they are in real life. This allows for people to act and do their work without fear of interference.

Naxxramas

Naxxramas is the first of the new set of raids released for the Wrath of The Lichking Expansion. This is the easiest of the new raid content and is a revamped version of the orignal 40man instance. This version is for 25 or 10 people and is on a weekly reset. Naxx is one of the best designed raids ever in wow history and alot of fun. Alot of the abilitys used in the Burning Crusade raid content come from this very instance. I believe that blizzard did a great job trying to allow for more people to experience this content. After clearing all but Kel'thuzud, I believe this to be sofar, my favorite raid instance. Hyjal can go to hell.

Alone for the holidays.

This thanksgiving I chose to stay on campus and I had a really good time. I didn't have to worry about anyone else and I could stay in my room all day and not worry about anything. I had some time to my self and thus I started playing a video game known as Grandia 2. This game has nothing to do with Grandia 1 or Grandia 3 in fact this game is all alone in the world of Grandia. But I digress in my gaming rants. Thus I must say two things about this game. It has a good plot line to it and the second thing is that it has this one boss that has been unanimously declared that this single boss is the TOUGHEST BOSS EVER TO BE CONCIVED OF IN ALL OF GAMING HISTORY........that has been proven....but anyway the story follows the character called Ryou. He is a mercenary who has been drafted to protect a priestess by the name of ......well I forget and dont want to look it up..... any way I was saying that as they progress along into the world of.....again I forget.....they end up fighting against a demon that I have also forgotten. look I dont really remember about this game ok all I remember is that there is this one boss about half way through the game that is impossable to defeat.......IMPOSSIBLE!!!!!!!!! it pissess me off more then any other game in the known world even more then the Bible Game!!!! and that is saying a lot....anyway I will come back when my memory is working better...
  Godzilla