N64 Mario Kart

A classic game that is much loved by all who play. Nintendo 64's Mario Kart was released June 17, 1996. A game targeted to all ages is still played today. When I walk through St. Cloud State dorm rooms i see at least 2 dorm rooms per floor that have it. Many college students play Mario Kart. When i first came to college i was suprized that so many people own Mario Kart. Because of the phanomeon i became to love the game again. The game offers 8 different mario charectors to choose from. The player can choose from 16 different maps. You can eaither chooes race or VS a race type.

For the games time the graphics are exceedinly impressive. The game play is addicting and brings a social environment when played with others.

The release of Diablo 3

There has been a lot of speculation and controversy over the release of Diablo 3. Over the last two years Diablo 3 forums have arisen all over the Internet. Now for the people that don't know what Diablo 3 is, im here to tell you. The Diablo series has been around the mid 90's. Blizzard released the first Diablo game on November 30, 1996. Diablo is a Massive-multi online role playing game. The point of the game is to complete quests, find and trade for good items, and reach the highest level, which is lvl 80. Since the first diablo game was released blizzard came out with second one to the series. Diablo 2 was released June 29, 2000. D2 had a massive change in the game. The graphics where insanely better and the game play was just generally better. After d2 was released in 2000 the release, Diablo 2 Lord of Destruction was released. The expansion added a whole new set of quests and better items. The expansion also added to races of characters.

There is still no official release date for diablo 3. You can be updated through duggaming.com

Xbox 360 users and the new interface

Just last month, Microsoft released a new interface for the Xbox 360. It has a smooth interface that grabs the users attention. All options are devided up into sections which are easy to use. There is a new option realesed that allows you to pick and customize Avatars. After the avatar update, statistics showed a one day 650% increase in sales.

Larry Hyrb, Director of Programming for Xbox live stated, "it's harder to parse the source for this, as the user interface has improved overall, but Hyrb also notes that the number of new friends added per member has risen by 33%."

Ive really like the new update to the Xbox and think it was a great idea to do.

Late post #1: Singapore Funds Kalypso for Virtual Worlds Research

Kalypso Agency is located in both Connecticut and Singapore. The company is a virtual worlds market research company. Just recently the Kalypso agency has recieved funds through Singapore's Interactive Digital Media Office and the i.JAM initiative. The funds are to promote breakthrough products in the IDM space. Kalypso, which focuses on Second Life, is shooting to combine behavioral data with marketing metrics to help businesses track virtual world efforts. Its said that the company is tied to a program called Co-Space, "a five-hundred million doller fund from IDM to promote mixed reality and mirror world applications in Singapore."

Its said "We are delighted to receive the support of the Singapore government for our market research initiatives in the virtual world," stated Kalypso Co-Founder Nicholas Cameron. "There are more than sixty virtual worlds now and there is a fundamental need for quality marketing research, as this medium continues to grow." [via MRWeb.com]

Something I've Learned...

What is something I learned? Well, I wouldn’t limit down to one thing. I would say I leaned to look around and appreciate the world around me as a player in a game, instead of letting it just past me by as I rush to accomplish a mission or quest, or in a more social virtual world, to meet someone. I’ve also added a lot of screenshots these past few months because of this new found curiosity. I’ll add them when an area interests me and makes me think ‘wow, the developer took some time here’. I also learned about Second Life, I had no knowledge of it before I came to the class and got to add a new virtual world to my list of things tried. The class made me want to go back to other virtual worlds I had long since abandoned, and take another look at them. I got to explore my interests a little bit more and then write a little bit about my findings. It was nice to be able to look at things from a different point of view then I usually take. Overall, I found the class to be rewarding, and I enjoyed taking it. So thanks Prof. Twombly. =)

Guild Wars Geography (Another Late Post...)

(Screenshot: An example of being limited by the depth of the water, I can't go much further then that in the water, keeping me a distance from the wall)

So in Guild Wars there isn’t a measurement of geography per say, but there seems to be some sort of system. And the areas that a player explores depend on the expansion they own. In Factions the player will start out Ascalon City, and there’s a gate leading to Ascalon Academy, but that’s closed out until further in the game. A lot of the areas are gained by the player ‘walking’ around and exploring areas. As they do that, they can find outposts or cities that are unlocked on the full screen map. Besides, traveling by foot, the player can travel by clicking an outpost, point, or city/town, on the map and be ‘teleported’ there. Each city has its own surrounding explorable area. The cities act of safe places or rest areas as there isn’t combat there, it’s also where people can meet up and form parties for areas outside the outposts. That’s another thing; the areas outside the cities don’t have other players running around, unless they’ve joined the players’ party. The cliffs and hills are kind of like obstacles, unless the player can find some sort of path, up or through them, most of the paths lead the player around, causing them to explore more. Also the terrain changes as the player advances in the game, for example, Pre-Searing Ascalon kingdom, is different from Post-Searing Ascalon. In Post-Searing Ascalon everything is sort of charred and dead looking, and much of the water has a ‘tar’ effect on the player, making them slower in the water then on land. Water is also used to limit the player, the water usually is shallow enough so the player isn’t submerged, and the deeper parts are inaccessible. The ground is sometimes used to hide monsters/opponents, for example to scorpion like devourers, many of them are hidden in the ground and are triggered to come up and out when the player comes closer. I’m sure there is more to the geography, but this is a basic sum from the top of my head.

Nautilus (Another Late Post)

My first visit to Nautilus was with the class, we sort of just explored, and I listened to conversation to find which places to visit. Including that large crystal that had a life meter. But, it’s been awhile since then, so I decided to go on my own so I could make this posting. I decided to look around one of the areas of Nautilus called Elissa or something similar, I can’t really remember the name at this moment. Anyways, what first caught my eye was a rather large chess set. And oddly thought of ‘wizards’ chess’ from the Harry Potter series. This made laugh a little bit, because I’m a fan of Harry Potter and of course that’s what I would think of. =) Anyways after messing around with the chess board a little while, I continued to explore the sim. There were a lot homes there, and pieces of land for sale. There were also a few shops, and freebies too. It’s interesting to see what this place is becoming. There are even items under the water, and it seems a lot of the time this part of the sims is ignored. So here’s to watching for what Nautilus will develop into. I almost feel as if I should discover a lighthouse one of these times.

Article Response-Untapped Market (Late Post#3)

I believe the article makes a lot of good points when it comes to immersive workspaces in SL. It talks about only importing “PowerPoint presentations” or “existing content”, rather than taking advantage of the possibilities Second Life has to offer. Even though the article’s author is speaking against the immersive workplaces, they make sure to mention that they can’t fully make an opinion or at least it’s difficult to, without more information or a demo. I have to agree with that. Without being informed to an extent someone is comfortable with, it’s hard to come up with an opinion. I think the author did a good job of saying their views with the information provided and it seems to be a well-written article. Maybe I’m not making any sense, but this is my response to the article. They also mention that there are businesses that already use Second Life for the purpose of the workspaces, but many these businesses have employees that are already knowledgeable in Second Life and “past the learning curve”. This response may not make any sense, but it’s a collection of my reactions, and my mind sometimes works all over the place. And that’s basically it.

SL Politics (Late Topic Post #2)

I never realized how many political sims there were in Second Life, whether they be official or not. I visited both a McCain and an Obama one. They seemed a little plain, but both offered the same things. One could find information about the candidate, including links to speeches about their views. Many of the sims also offered Pro-canidate items for avatars in SL to show their views. Among the official sims were many unofficial sims. These sometimes included ones that had places for both candidates, but these were rare as most sims were biased. And though many of the unofficial sims were more decorative then the official, they many times offered less information. One sim in particular, though I can’t remember the location, had an object that linked to the Obama webpage and that was it. The rest of the location just contained Pro-Obama products for sale, many of which were not free. Now, I suppose that was good for the user who already knew about the candidates, or for someone who didn’t care to know, but it didn’t have much work put into it information wise. A user looking for information would be much better going to an official sim to seek the information they desired. All and all, I think Second Life is an effective way of presenting political information, as long as the sim focuses mainly on that. 

ok mabey that last one wasn't the last one.

*walks back into the room* 

   Before you say/think anything I am coming back because I figured that it will be a good place to write about random things that happen to me...besides I kind of like being free to write about what ever I want. Now freed from my previous restraints with only writing about virtual worlds. I suppose I can write about my friends and random things like that.....speaking of which I suppose I could talk about my friends for a while..........Lets see where to start.......

    Well let me start off by saying that my friends are always on my mind...It is a concept that I picked up when I was a kid by watching anime like Dragon ball Z and Gundam wing and in general cartoons like Angry Beavers and KAblam....ahh the good old days...any way I get most of my concepts and ideas on friendship. Like loyalty and honor and some how from watching hours and hours and hours of these cartoons I was able to learn how to read people to a certain degree and I can usually make pretty accurate assumpations about how they will recact towards somethings. There is an unfortunate down side to this as I have trouble reading myself and as such when I go over board and I wont know about it until they snap on me and then I get angry about that and then a fight starts. Its really unfortunate because I have never been any good at reading emotions. I can read peoples actions but not the emotions underlying that action until I have known them for at least a year or I have gone through a very hard time and bonded with them over something.  Any way I will tell you about them in more details as the need arisies but no names will be used....and Donut I dont know if you are going to follow this but if you do then be prepared to discover just how logicial I can be....

2Moons

So I haven't played 2Moons for quite a while cause of school and all, and last week I started playing again. At the time I started playing again I was level 84 and o% and now about a week later I'm currently at 86 and 42% which is kinda sad...this basically means I've been playing a LOT. This is bad because I should really be studying for finals, but anyway most of the time I'm playing its either farming vouchers to g to Dead Front or fighting in Dead Front. Vouchers are items that monsters drop and when you get 20 of one kind, you exchange them for a map which is manditory to get into Dead Front. Dead Front, itself, is kinda hard to explain. There are only 4 parties of 6 people allowed in at one time, which is why I normally only go later at night. There aren't nearly as many people there at night. All 4 parties are working together to get to a common goal, but there are LOADS of monsters you have to hack your way through to get to this final boss. I have only successfully finished Dead Front once, if the creators gave more time to get through it, I would have finished it multiple times, but no...they only give you 30min. So yeah theres my rant of 2Moons....enjoy! xD

Something I Learned...

I actually learned quite a few things in this class and most of it was about Second Life. First of all theres the basic stuff like creating my character's dimensions and getting good hair. Then I learned how to make different objects and upload images to the objects to make signs or advertisements. The next thing I learned was how to use my AO's without then constantly playing so that was pretty sweet. I don't know there was a ton of stuff we learned how to do, I'm constantly learning new things like how to use the different weapons you can get. I remember learning how to turn someone into a vampire, too. It's a heck of a lot more complicated than it seems, there's like..10 steps you have to go through in order to do it in the first place. That is why I have only done it once and honestly, I can't really even remember how to do it anymore. :D So yeah, I know there's more stuff I learned but I can't remember them all at the moment so yeah...that's all! :)

As the Curtain Falls...

       And now it all comes to an end, when everyone within the blog parts and says goodbye. As I sit and ponder, "What have I learned from these experiences?". After thinking back on the time our class started, I can't really think of something new I've learned, but I have learned to see deeper in a game or virtual world. 

    When I used to look at games, I would just examine the whole thing completed(like many others do). As the class started each day, the professor would challenge us to think beyond just a game and examine what it is individually. When I would put this to the test I would examine the coding of the game or virtual world. But as time slipped away and had ground my examination process to an almost art-form observation. So now I look at any and every game I play in a critical light, to see what the developers added to enhance the experience, and how it all comes together to complete the feeling of the game.

     Also, I've learned more about communities within virtual worlds through witnessing and becoming a part of the Second Life community (Which I add, is a nice and sociable "game"). I've learned why some people act like jerks, why many act so narcissist and why no one within an objective MMORPG( World of Warcraft and such) have nice and humble players to talk to.

     The biggest thing I've learned within the class is the fact that many real life non-game companies are using Second Life to hold meetings. School and colleges are also doing this, having virtual replicas of classrooms within the real world as humans listen to others through voice communication provided by Second Life or the chat boxes for ease in coping the assignment/lecture.

      All in all I've learned a lot in general about virtual worlds, from a sociable aspect, a coding/art-form aspect, and most importantly, a learning aspect. I enjoyed how the professor also made the experience while learning all this very fun,interactive, and of course worthwhile. Thank you all for enduring with me through the months and all of you have a great Holiday Break!

The Last One Forever

This time I come to you with a feeling of saddness because I have to now write to you about what I have learned..

    Let me start with the most basic thing possable because I know that almost everyone will say this with out even reading my blog..I learned that their is an online game called Second life. I also learned that it is really fun and entertaining if you have nothing else to do and or you are bored out of your mind. Another thing that I have learned from this class is that we have the WORST ADVISOR IN THE FREE WORLD...(let me take a minute to explain...not Twombly himself but our FYE advisor...if you already know about that experience then just skip down to the next caps locked letter. if not  then leave a comment and i will get back to you when possible.) 

   Now that I have gotten that out of the way the last thing that I learned was that blogging can be fun and informative especially when you need some ideas on what to write about for a paper. I cant say that this class has changed my view on MMORPGS/ MMOG and the such but I can say that if I had to take this class again I would do it with out a second thought cause it was fun and intresting playing in a class and actually getting away with it the whole time.  I dont know if you can tell from the blogs but I think that I have changed a little anyway... But that is a blog for another time...*walks out of the room laughing *

  GODZILLA

Trivial secrets

   Ever noticed when playing your games the amount (or lack there of) in detail of the area around the avatar? Most people, unless told to analyze it, will miss it completely and just focus on the garbage that nowadays are the "focus" of a game. Little to most of the gamer's knowledge, the subtle and beautiful designs are what make the player so drawn in by the experience.

   One such example is Diablo 2's walls and floor within a dungeon, I've witnessed many overlook how the walls are torn down and/or splattered with blood to help create the feel that the idea is dangerous and that death is around. It's simple to overlook because the players think of it as a dungeon crawler and that all to be had is just kill enemy after enemy to get new skill, rinse and repeat till bored( Which a lot of my comrades seem to think with games). The worst of it is the game developers must continue to create such sublime subtle details, knowing that gamers will completely overlook something like this.  As many would ponder from that statement, "why would game developers care then"? The answer is back in the topic, it creates the feel for the game and no matter the game, it's required to let the player enjoy the whole variety of the game better. 

   Indeed, this quality doesn't get it's own category for rating when a game is reviewed because it helps on all ends of the game. If the physics are great and the detail of pushing a box in a zero gravity instance,and it will react and hit a wall, AND return (Thus proving Newton's laws)! Then the player can thoroughly enjoy as the fine tuned detail makes the player giggle with glee and think it's all just physics. Or when a monster is killed instantly and instant of the body just dropping to the ground, the body sprays blood all over the person and sticks while the pavement has an in-print of when he was standing when the crimson shower occurred. While at monster slaying, when an enemy is felled within most games, they all die the same. Either a bladed weapon or a blunt eating utensil, the beast within most games will die EXACTLY the same. And the most common and probably easiest noted is the ambience sound. When sounds that are distantly heard join in tune with the music (if you don't listen to music in games, try it for once) to enhance the player's ordeal of the game.

    While most don't expect something to have such a dire effect on their gameplay. But with all that is truly affecting the player, the subtle and trivial effects add up to be something just as important to games as gameplay or graphics.

First 25man raid.

Our first 25man raid was completed this evening for my new guild. We killed the only boss in the current Obsidan Scantum with 18 people. We killed this boss after killing the four leaders of the alliance citys and each being awarded a war bear! The boss fight is very simple if you kill the three other dragons prior to the main boss. The less dragons killed, the harder the main boss will be. We killed all of the dragons to make it a simple and clean first kill. While we were very heal heavy and tank heavy, with only 5 or 6 dps, we managed to slowly burn 7.5 million heath in a quick and simple maner. I hope to see the fight again with increased difficulty in the weeks to come. More dragons means better loot, but im happy. Im looking at my new teir 7.5 gloves as I write this.

Opehlia's Introduction (Late Post #1)

A quick note about my method for completeing my late posts:
I'm probably going to do 2 or 3 a day until they're done. =)
Now, onto the blog....

Hey! I’m Ophelia Cooperstone. =) My name was taken from the Shakespearian play Hamlet. Anyways, I’m mainly based off my creator, with a little extra thrown in for fun. My personality and age are what we share. If you see me on Second Life I’m probably exploring some sim, I don’t talk to people on my own, but I do respond if they say something to me. I don’t share my creators’ appearance however. And my appearance is changed a lot! I usually am spotted with some sort of long hair, either in an updo, or down. And I wear a lot of dresses. In a way, I could be considered girly, but I don’t care. I hang out a lot in nature or fantasy sims, as I enjoy them, and sometimes I explore the ‘haunted’ sims, I enjoy those also. I tend go away from the highly social sims though, I’m not sure why, but I only like talking to people every so often, that doesn’t mean I won’t talk to someone though! I am open for that! =D I’m just an independent sort of person. My appearance usually takes on that of a human, but I have been spotted with wings. Why? Cause wings are cool…ha ha. =P Yeah, another thing I have in common with my creator, I’m quite random! It makes life more interesting. *shrugs* This has been a look into the mind of Ophelia Cooperstone, which isn’t very far off from Tangerine herself. =)

Precious Item

So I found this place that sells luxury houses on second life, and they're pretty cool. They basically go for around L$10,000 which it about $40.00. Honestly, I don't think I would ever pay that much money for one item on Second Life, but obviously there are some people who will so...yeah. Anyway, each house is different from one another but you can see similarities between them too. They're basically made of boxes, you know like, no rounded edges or anything. They have big windows and they kinda look like a house you would see in a rich area on the ocean, or up in hills. A lot of them also have windows in their roof and have swimming pools in the back. I’ve noticed that most of them also have decks/patios off the back and they’re all tan in color, like the walls are made of big slabs of stone. I remember when I visited my cousins in Arizona last time, I realized that their houses were made out of stone rather than wood or sheetrock or whatever. I guess that’s because the stone help to keep the temperature inside the house cooler than it is outside, so I guess that’s another reason why I think these houses look like they would be by the ocean, or something. It's kinda like someone’s dream house, I know I'd love to live in one in real life. :)

http://slurl.com/secondlife/ScarletCreative/191/75/3/

Yay games! xD

So I lent Final Fantasy 8 and Final Fantasy 9 to one of my friends like...a year ago. She said she was gunna play them but I guess she got too busy and wasn't able to play them. She told me she most likely wasn't gunna be able to finish them any time soon and I wanted to play them, this was about 2 months ago mindyou ><. Every time I would ask for them back she was either busy, or didnt have them. Then I would forget about them for about a week. So I finally just called her one day and told her to get her butt over to my room and to bring my games, and now I have them back! WOOT!! Yeah, amazing story right? I try :) So anyway I've already finished FF8 and I'm about half way through FF9 'cause I love them that much. Yeah, that's about it for my rambling. :D

A Random Blurb About the Internet

If anything is true about the internet, it'd be that virtually every site out there is composed of text. In fact I have yet to discover a purely pictorial site, while I can't say the same about a textual site. As soon as someone starts to explore the internet they might realize how communicative it really is. Many of the forum sites I access regularly, are also accessed regularly by thousands of other members. With all this going on it's easy to get confused, and more so, learn something new. When I first started using the computer seriously myself, that was a long span of time, probably when I was in 4 or 5th grade, I didn't really think about it. It also seems the age group on the web is expanding in both directions. My longest active membership would have to be GaiaOnline. This site is pictorial and textual, and i find it to be enjoyable. It took me a few years to really get all I could do on the computer, and now it would be an understatement to say I've spent a large portion of my time posting whatever I want, as well as playing online games. It seems that only yesterday the computer was considered to be a once-in-a-while thing, and that if a person accessed the internet continuously some would say that person had no life. Now, with the development of social networking websites, that isn't necessarily true. So here’s to the internet, and its increasing growth!