“The only books that influence us are those for which we are ready, and which have gone a little farther down our particular path than we have yet got ourselves.”
—E. M. Forster
Tag: Computerspil
State of the art
The State of Play II conference already have a stream archive of all presentations. Smooth.
Same planet, different servers
I stumbled into Guild Wars the other night enjoying the thrill of almost meeting Ren and actually (re)slaying some undead aided by Mirjam’s black magic.
And to think that I finally found a lighthouse. For some time that has been my personal quest whenever I enter a virtual world – to search for lighthouses. Hey, it gives you something to do.
Old news
“Can we seriously say, that a poor peasant or artisan has a free choice to leave his country, when he knows no foreign language or manners, and lives, from day to day, by the small wages which he acquires? We may as well assert that a man, by remaining in a vessel, freely consents to the dominion of the master; though he was carried on board while asleep, and must leap into the ocean and perish, the moment he leaves her.” (“Of the Original Contract”)
Asked David Hume, and that old debate seems as fresh as ever – at least it’s a constant cause of disagreement among those interested in virtual worlds, e.g. this thread.
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So they thought they could mainstream gaming, study it and lay bare all its secrets? Thought they could clean it up and make room for newcomers who would be judged on their merits alone? Well, they thought wrong (‘they’ often do).
As always, the old-timers find ways of remaining exclusive. As is often the case this happens by inventing slang or even entire codes that only the initiated can negotiate safely. Leetspeek had to happen.
Here’s this blog in Leetspeek, courtesy of The l33t Surfer.