The Gamer Chronicles, Part 1
I'll admit, I've always been a gamer. I'm all about video and computer games; I think they're better than a book because while a book can take you to a far-away land on an adventure, a video game actually can give you the visuals, the sounds, the interactivity of it all. Plus they're a great way to pass the time and also to meet new people. Video games are basically electronic sports; while sports fine-tune your physical aspects, games do the same for your mind and hand-eye coordination. Thus, it is good to partake in both, and often.
Sometimes things happen in video games that the designers never intended to happen. And with the latest trend of MMORPGS, or Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games, games with hundreds of thousands of people with no specific storyline and a whole world of open-endness, crazy crazy things can happen. I'll tell you a couple of stories of nutso adventures I've had, and will post more as they happen.
Star Wars Galaxies: The Total Experience
$29.99 + online fees.
The first takes place in the game Star Wars Galaxies: The Total Experience. I was a HUGE Star Wars geek as a kid, I had action figures, read the books, bought the comic books, had board games, etc. I loved the shit. I still like Star Wars, although I don't follow it as much as I previously did. In SWG, you can do most anything in Star Wars. SWG is a MMORPG, meaning there isn't a set plot in the game to follow like in a single player game; you're amongst hundreds of thousands of other real people online, and you can interact with them all (the problem is, you have to pay a monthly fee for being in such an environment, about $15 per month). Since there is no set storyline, the stuff you can do is endless: you can become a Rebel, Imperial, or just try to survive on your own. You can meet the big characters from the movies, and minor characters from books, comics, etc. You can also visit famous places from the movie like Jabba's Palace, the Mos Eisley Cantina, Naboo, and the Pit of Carkoon (remember that gross thing in the sand dunes in Return of the Jedi?). There are a bunch of different professions; I am trying to become a Master Pilot and a Smuggler. You can be a rifleman, a weaponsmith, a furniture or clothes maker/designer, a shipwright, a pirate, anything. And people take this shit seriously. WAY seriously. I've talked to shop owners who treat me as if I'm a customer in a real store, with upmost respect and courtesy. People use lingo and slang terms I haven't heard before, and act so naturally in the Star Wars environment that it makes the experience that much better.
I think one of the reasons people treat it so seriously is because the "credits", or the money in the Star Wars Universe, can be sold for REAL CASH. Yeah, people buy fake online money with real money. This is why I will probably be playing this game for a long time, looting ships and smuggling illegal weapons and spice for hard, cold, American green. You sell your credits in millions. It's unimaginable to make so much money when you begin the game; I've only played it a couple of weeks and have only had as much as 30,000, most of which went to upgrades for my ship. I've heard from veteran players that making lots of Star Wars moolah is easier as I become a master of my profession. The going exchange rate for credits to real money right now is 15 million (the minimum you must sell) credits is worth $45 in real life. 50 million credits is worth $150 REAL LIFE DOLLARS. Holy shit man. Fake money for real money? Fuck yes! And the site is a credible source as it's been around for 5 years. I guess they're used to dumbass geeks paying real money for video game cash. Wow.
So anyways, onto the story. Like I said, I'm a fledgling pilot right now, a freelance privateer (I prefer to stay out of the war between the Rebels and Imperials, choosing a side can have you winding up dead in a cantina), doing odd jobs for smuggling crews to earn money and upgrades for my ship. A good thing about being in a MMORPG is that if you get lost, veteran players can help you out. Oftentimes they give you tips on how to get by, and can actually teach you skills. On one such encounter, I was speaking with a guy called Saruman. Saruman was a master pilot, and had much more experience than I did. I chatted with him for awhile and he gave me some tips. Later in the conversation he asked me if I want to take a ride with him on his YT-1300 Cruiser. The YT-1300 is the same type of ship as Han Solo's Millenium Falcon, except that the Falcon is much more modified than the stock YT. Seeing as how I hadn't had ridden in one before and I needed a ride back to Tattooine where my ship was docked, I decided to join his crew. First, Saruman wanted to fly around with me and some green skinned chick as the gunners, taking out pirates for experience. I thought I would get pilot experience as a gunner on his ship, but I was wrong.
We left the station and went into space. It was like that one scene where Han yells, "Get to the turrets!" and they all sprint off to them. Pretty cool. Me and the chick ran, and after eventually finding it, I got in. We started gunning down the incoming pirate ships, when I noticed Saruman was getting all the loot. See, after you destroy a ship, you get all the credits the pilot was carrying, along with any loot they had. Loot could be a ship component, guns, or anything random. Me and the chick were shooting down the targets, but Saruman was getting all the credits and the loot. Oh well, I thought, I might as well get the pilot experience from this. "Hey," I radioed to Saruman, "I get pilot XP for this, right?" He responded that no, I don't get pilot experience, I would only get gunner experience. Gunner experience wouldn't do me any good unless I was to become a permanent part of his or some other captains' crew, and I am no ones' crew member but my own. I'm not going to make a profession of working for this guy, especially when he hoards all the booty.
"Fuck this," I thought to myself. Covertly, I left the turret and snuck around the ship, looking for a way out. "Why isn't the second turret firing?" Saruman broadcasted on the speakers. Ignoring him, I ran to the escape pod, got in, and hit the switch. Before he realized what had happened, I had escaped his ship and landed on the planet. I never talked to him again.
Ejection
----------------------------------
Medal of Honor: European Assault
$39.99
The second story comes from the game Medal of Honor: European Assault. The Medal of Honor series has done a good job of making the games deliver a cinematic experience. In one of the MoH games, Rising Sun, had the beginning of the game exactly like the movie Pearl Harbor. It made the players feel like they were in the movie itself. MoH: European Assault does the same thing. I will give a game review of this later.
This situation happened on a couple of occasions, but I'll give you a story of a particularly humorous experience. I was in St. Nazaire, France, on a mission to destroy V2 Rocket hulls to slow down Nazi V2 Rocket production, and to eliminate a Nazi Major. I had already taken out the hulls, singlehandedly destroyed a docked U-Boat, gunned down waves of Nazis, and was at the door of Horst Brenner, my target to assassinate. I opened the door so I could peer in and evalute the situation. You are given three squad members in most missions you can give orders to and who support you and give you cover fire. The problem is, the friendly AI isn't that good. I was looking around the room when one of my squad members blindly charged into the room, only to get cut down by a squad of Nazis and Brenner, who was on an emplaced machine gun. I threw a grenade in the room to take some of the Nazis out, and sprinted into the room behind cover. My remaining two squadmates took cover beside me. When Brenner stopped to reload, I peeked out from behind my cover and took aim. I aimed right for his head and pulled the trigger when another of my squadmates ran and stood directly in my sights to fire at Brenner. I fired about five shots into my squadmates' head before I could stop. The helmet he had on did absoultely nothing.
Hoping my remaning squad member wouldn't do anything stupid, I emptied the rest of my clip into Brenner, but he still stood. As I reloaded, my last squadmate, taking action, tossed a grenade. The grenade flew straight up in the air, bounced off the catwalk above him, and landed right at his feet. Shit! I ran out from my cover to evade the frag, forgetting Brenner was still up there with his MG. He cut me down and as I lay dying, I saw my squadmate still hiding behind cover, thinking his grenade had hit Brenner. "Stupid AI!" I thought as it exploded, killing my squadmate and making me start over from the very beginning.
Now, Medal of Honor: European Assault is a wonderful game, but the friendly AI could use a HUGE overhaul so they don't run into your line of fire and calculate the trajectory of their grenades a bit more.
Dammit man I'm trying to fire a bazooka, get out of the way!
----------------------------------
These are some of the wacky adventures I've had playing video games, more to come...
Sometimes things happen in video games that the designers never intended to happen. And with the latest trend of MMORPGS, or Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games, games with hundreds of thousands of people with no specific storyline and a whole world of open-endness, crazy crazy things can happen. I'll tell you a couple of stories of nutso adventures I've had, and will post more as they happen.
Star Wars Galaxies: The Total Experience
$29.99 + online fees.
The first takes place in the game Star Wars Galaxies: The Total Experience. I was a HUGE Star Wars geek as a kid, I had action figures, read the books, bought the comic books, had board games, etc. I loved the shit. I still like Star Wars, although I don't follow it as much as I previously did. In SWG, you can do most anything in Star Wars. SWG is a MMORPG, meaning there isn't a set plot in the game to follow like in a single player game; you're amongst hundreds of thousands of other real people online, and you can interact with them all (the problem is, you have to pay a monthly fee for being in such an environment, about $15 per month). Since there is no set storyline, the stuff you can do is endless: you can become a Rebel, Imperial, or just try to survive on your own. You can meet the big characters from the movies, and minor characters from books, comics, etc. You can also visit famous places from the movie like Jabba's Palace, the Mos Eisley Cantina, Naboo, and the Pit of Carkoon (remember that gross thing in the sand dunes in Return of the Jedi?). There are a bunch of different professions; I am trying to become a Master Pilot and a Smuggler. You can be a rifleman, a weaponsmith, a furniture or clothes maker/designer, a shipwright, a pirate, anything. And people take this shit seriously. WAY seriously. I've talked to shop owners who treat me as if I'm a customer in a real store, with upmost respect and courtesy. People use lingo and slang terms I haven't heard before, and act so naturally in the Star Wars environment that it makes the experience that much better.
I think one of the reasons people treat it so seriously is because the "credits", or the money in the Star Wars Universe, can be sold for REAL CASH. Yeah, people buy fake online money with real money. This is why I will probably be playing this game for a long time, looting ships and smuggling illegal weapons and spice for hard, cold, American green. You sell your credits in millions. It's unimaginable to make so much money when you begin the game; I've only played it a couple of weeks and have only had as much as 30,000, most of which went to upgrades for my ship. I've heard from veteran players that making lots of Star Wars moolah is easier as I become a master of my profession. The going exchange rate for credits to real money right now is 15 million (the minimum you must sell) credits is worth $45 in real life. 50 million credits is worth $150 REAL LIFE DOLLARS. Holy shit man. Fake money for real money? Fuck yes! And the site is a credible source as it's been around for 5 years. I guess they're used to dumbass geeks paying real money for video game cash. Wow.
So anyways, onto the story. Like I said, I'm a fledgling pilot right now, a freelance privateer (I prefer to stay out of the war between the Rebels and Imperials, choosing a side can have you winding up dead in a cantina), doing odd jobs for smuggling crews to earn money and upgrades for my ship. A good thing about being in a MMORPG is that if you get lost, veteran players can help you out. Oftentimes they give you tips on how to get by, and can actually teach you skills. On one such encounter, I was speaking with a guy called Saruman. Saruman was a master pilot, and had much more experience than I did. I chatted with him for awhile and he gave me some tips. Later in the conversation he asked me if I want to take a ride with him on his YT-1300 Cruiser. The YT-1300 is the same type of ship as Han Solo's Millenium Falcon, except that the Falcon is much more modified than the stock YT. Seeing as how I hadn't had ridden in one before and I needed a ride back to Tattooine where my ship was docked, I decided to join his crew. First, Saruman wanted to fly around with me and some green skinned chick as the gunners, taking out pirates for experience. I thought I would get pilot experience as a gunner on his ship, but I was wrong.
We left the station and went into space. It was like that one scene where Han yells, "Get to the turrets!" and they all sprint off to them. Pretty cool. Me and the chick ran, and after eventually finding it, I got in. We started gunning down the incoming pirate ships, when I noticed Saruman was getting all the loot. See, after you destroy a ship, you get all the credits the pilot was carrying, along with any loot they had. Loot could be a ship component, guns, or anything random. Me and the chick were shooting down the targets, but Saruman was getting all the credits and the loot. Oh well, I thought, I might as well get the pilot experience from this. "Hey," I radioed to Saruman, "I get pilot XP for this, right?" He responded that no, I don't get pilot experience, I would only get gunner experience. Gunner experience wouldn't do me any good unless I was to become a permanent part of his or some other captains' crew, and I am no ones' crew member but my own. I'm not going to make a profession of working for this guy, especially when he hoards all the booty.
"Fuck this," I thought to myself. Covertly, I left the turret and snuck around the ship, looking for a way out. "Why isn't the second turret firing?" Saruman broadcasted on the speakers. Ignoring him, I ran to the escape pod, got in, and hit the switch. Before he realized what had happened, I had escaped his ship and landed on the planet. I never talked to him again.
Ejection
----------------------------------
Medal of Honor: European Assault
$39.99
The second story comes from the game Medal of Honor: European Assault. The Medal of Honor series has done a good job of making the games deliver a cinematic experience. In one of the MoH games, Rising Sun, had the beginning of the game exactly like the movie Pearl Harbor. It made the players feel like they were in the movie itself. MoH: European Assault does the same thing. I will give a game review of this later.
This situation happened on a couple of occasions, but I'll give you a story of a particularly humorous experience. I was in St. Nazaire, France, on a mission to destroy V2 Rocket hulls to slow down Nazi V2 Rocket production, and to eliminate a Nazi Major. I had already taken out the hulls, singlehandedly destroyed a docked U-Boat, gunned down waves of Nazis, and was at the door of Horst Brenner, my target to assassinate. I opened the door so I could peer in and evalute the situation. You are given three squad members in most missions you can give orders to and who support you and give you cover fire. The problem is, the friendly AI isn't that good. I was looking around the room when one of my squad members blindly charged into the room, only to get cut down by a squad of Nazis and Brenner, who was on an emplaced machine gun. I threw a grenade in the room to take some of the Nazis out, and sprinted into the room behind cover. My remaining two squadmates took cover beside me. When Brenner stopped to reload, I peeked out from behind my cover and took aim. I aimed right for his head and pulled the trigger when another of my squadmates ran and stood directly in my sights to fire at Brenner. I fired about five shots into my squadmates' head before I could stop. The helmet he had on did absoultely nothing.
Hoping my remaning squad member wouldn't do anything stupid, I emptied the rest of my clip into Brenner, but he still stood. As I reloaded, my last squadmate, taking action, tossed a grenade. The grenade flew straight up in the air, bounced off the catwalk above him, and landed right at his feet. Shit! I ran out from my cover to evade the frag, forgetting Brenner was still up there with his MG. He cut me down and as I lay dying, I saw my squadmate still hiding behind cover, thinking his grenade had hit Brenner. "Stupid AI!" I thought as it exploded, killing my squadmate and making me start over from the very beginning.
Now, Medal of Honor: European Assault is a wonderful game, but the friendly AI could use a HUGE overhaul so they don't run into your line of fire and calculate the trajectory of their grenades a bit more.
Dammit man I'm trying to fire a bazooka, get out of the way!
----------------------------------
These are some of the wacky adventures I've had playing video games, more to come...
posted by KTrain at 2:34 PM
2 Comments:
Very pretty site! Keep working. thnx!
»
Very pretty site! Keep working. thnx!
»
Post a Comment
<< Home