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Friday, October 31, 2008
Posted by
SFWriter13
What I'm Listening to Now: Valentine Pontifex by Robert Silverberg
The third in the Majipoor series, this book covers the period about ten years after the events in Lord Valentine's Castle. The book is performed by several readers, which adds to its variety and effectiveness.HeroCon 2008
Yeah, I know this report is a little tardy, but still . . .
On October 18th, I spent some of the day at the inaugural HeroCon 2008, a fun-filled day of all things City of Heroes/City of Villains. I went to two panel sessions and one workshop:
- Walking the Cat-Walk: Fashion in City of Heroes
- Getting Your Foot in the Door: How to get a job in the industry
- Making Movies with City of Heroes
I only took 10 photos, none of which are all that spectacular. But I post them here anyway for your amusement and bemusement.
It was interesting to see the wide breadth of ages (and cities of origin) of people who came to HeroCon. I was by no means the oldest person there. That was reassuring. :) There were a lot of couples there, both of whom were involved in the game. (I wonder if there's ever been a study . . .)
NaNoWriMo 2008In five hours and thirty minutes Pacific Standard Time, NaNoWriMo 2008 officially begins. Expect only weekly updates here as time permits. As always, you can follow my progress here.
Friday, February 15, 2008
Posted by
SFWriter13
In the context of a friend's references to Digital Natives in her blog, I got to thinking about the recreational pursuits of members of that generation. Online gaming is a big part of the digital revolution. I think there is little argument over the pervasive influence that MMORPGs such as World of Warcraft have had on the recreational landscape. Certainly, there has been much press over their purported detrimental influences on people of all ages. While I cannot entirely dismiss some of the claims, it does seem that many of the positive effects have been either overlooked or given little notice.I'm not a World of Warcraft player myself. I find City of Heroes a more interesting premise, but to each their own. So, my points here will be based here on my experiences with that game, but I don't believe I'm too far off the mark in reference to many of the others.- Mathematics: both simple and intermediate. How many experience points do I need to make it to the next level? If I add this enhancement, by what percentage does it increase my powers over this one?
- Economics: supply and demand, buying and selling of goods and services. The addition of the auction and consignment system for buying and selling items provides a tangible insight into real-world economic forces.
- Logic and Strategic Thinking: These enemies have these kinds of powers. If I attack them this way, what will happen? If I use these other powers, what will happen? What's the best way to deploy my team members? Should we split up or stay as a group?
- Teamwork: City of Heroes in particular is structured in such a way that you will succeed more quickly--and be more likely to succeed on challenging missions--if you work as part of a larger team. Part of the challenge can also be finding the optimal combination of characters and powers to achieve your objective. (Refer back to Logic and Strategic Thinking.)
- Social Skills: Unless you participate in these games as a solo player--which is possible, but seems to me would greatly diminish the overall enjoyment of the game--you constantly interact with other players, both in and out of character. As such, most of the social forces you encounter outside also come into the play. The chief difference is that it's a whole lot easier to walk away from people who don't like.
- Creativity: The basis of these games involves creating a character with a particular appearance and attributes. The level to which this can be expanded is usually limited only by the player's imagination. The games also provide tools that give players a virtual playground of options. City of Heroes, for example, has an absolutely amazing design center for characters, including not only basic body appearance, but costume elements as well. For those drawn by visual design, many, many hours can be lost in playing "dress up" with your characters. For those of us with less visual talents, it's possible to create complex stories for your characters, stories that can often be played out and expanded within the game.
I offer these chiefly as points of discussion and items for further thought. And, I guess, a note to parents that your kids just might be learning something useful during all those hours online.
Friday, July 13, 2007
Posted by
SFWriter13
You never know what people will pick up on. You toss ideas out there, hoping that one or more will resonate with others, but there's no sure way to know which ones will stick or what directions they might head in. I've always been interested in the process of creation and how it works. For the most part, I believe it's the result of synthesis of other ideas, but it can also happen suddenly like a lightning bolt.
For no other reason than because I found it interesting, I wanted to share the journey down one particular path of creation. In this case, the path that led to the idea for the Emerald Flight series of stories.
It all started with the concept for the design for a character for the game, City of Heroes. Someone I used to team with a lot was creating a new Super Group and I offered to make a character specifically for it. So, I started playing around with a visual design to see what inspiration might strike. (It often goes one way or the other for me: I either have a character personality in mind and try to design the physical representation to match, or develop a physical design and then work toward a personality that seems to fit.)
Thus, the character of Hope's Fury was born. As soon as I saw her in her uniform, I knew she was the medical officer of whatever group she belonged to. It was evident from her face that she was not human, so I decided she was from a race of aliens known as the Aerians. At that point, however, she was only a solo character, with no additional background beyond that.
I had another character, Emerald Flight, who I had created one day solely to test the archetype and build, who had kind of worked her way into the storyline established for the Raynes brothers, but I had not really worked out her background and story. So, she became the captain of a time traveling starship that Hope served on as the medical specialist (among other duties).
A fair amount of curiosity arose around the Aerians from some of the other players. Who were they? Where did they come from? How do they and humans meet for the first time? Why does Hope seem so arrogant? Is that normal for Aerians? I didn't really have the answers, as it wasn't really necessary to know for the current storylines, but would have made for interesting (and potentially useful) background information.
And then along came StarWing. Created by other of the other players, StarWyng (a bastardization of her true Aerian military rank of Star Wing) is another type of Aerian. Before StarWyng appeared, I didn't even know that there were Aerians with wings! She had a story all her own and also added (among many other details) that the Hope Furies were highly revered among the Aerians. That StarWyng was bonded with a Kheldian (a Peacebringer in this case) also reinforced a half-formed idea I had on why Hope had dark powers in addition to her healing abilities.
Having StarWyng appear got me wondering about what other Aerians might look like, particularly Aerian males. I could easily see a male version of StarWyng. Also, it opened the question of whether the majority of Aerians were winged or not and whether that created some kind of caste system among them.
These questions just kind of hovered around in the background, not really needing an immediate answer, but interesting to consider nonetheless. Then, I decided I wanted to create a character with a, well, more forceful personality than I usually created.
Enter StarBlood. A definite male of the species, he holds the rank of Star Blood. While Star Wings are much like our Pathfinders, Star Bloods are more akin to Marines or Navy SEALS (or, to use a fictional analogy, Klingons, but without the hygiene issues). As one player described him: "he is a Warrior with a capital 'W'". He is confident in his abilities almost to the point of utter arrogance. In addition to warfare, he also concerns himself with improving the Aerian gene pool. StarBlood is on a mission to find out what happened to the Aerians who traveled to Earth and were never heard from again. The Kheldian within has a far different mission of its own.
And so there the story stands . . . Quite a journey from a simple character design to the development of an entire alien species . . .
Wednesday, July 5, 2006
Posted by
SFWriter13
There's just something about a Jimmy Buffett song . . . But that's a whole different post . . .
Most days, I have to admit, I don't feel my age. There are certain routines, I suppose, that come with being at a certain stage of one's life: sleep, wake, eat, shower, drive, work, drive, eat, play, sleep. Repeat. But within that context, I sometimes catch myself thinking, "Gee, at your age, why do you still think that? Or do that? Or want that? Or want to be that?"
Some specific thoughts I've had:- I think video games are very cool. I'm hardly expert at them, but I sure do have fun playing them—alone or online with a group of virtual friends. I have my own XBox, Playstation 2, and City of Heroes account.
- I want to be a published novelist/screenwriter. I'm still at work at this. Even after twenty years I hold onto this dream. Maybe I just don't know when to give up, but I don't see why I should.
- My career is not my life. It's a means to pay the bills and to develop and exercise skills that I have acquired over the years, but it does not define who I am.
Sure, I still have to be responsible for "grown-up" tasks like mowing the lawn, paying the mortgage, and changing the oil in the cars, but those are just things I have to do, not part of who I am.
I'm not really sure where I was heading with this, but thought I'd share . . .
The third in the Majipoor series, this book covers the period about ten years after the events in Lord Valentine's Castle. The book is performed by several readers, which adds to its variety and effectiveness.
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