effects of addition

Hey so today there is a new patch that will be updating a game i have played for well over 3 years, Maplestory. Yes it's a 2d-mmorpg that often little kids play and i've heard enough rough comments from peers that it's a kid's game. But in my understanding mostly all games are about the same - they get you into it and convince you to play for a few incentives. Well this game is probably the most time consuming game i've ever played... Nothing that i've played seriously has required so much commitment and effort to prosper.

This game is probably going to prevent me from playing other MMORPGs alike... even the new ones like World of Warcraft, despite it's great audience, would not sway me from playing the game i started with, Maplestory.

Maplestory is an online RPG that takes place in a kinda "kiddy" environment; a lot say it's anime-like because of the look of the characters. Most people find it cute and stick with the theme of killing cute monsters.... but eventually all this will be old news and you start killing harder monsters like in any game... This game's play style is similiar to playing a game like castlevania (symphony of the night) -- which i have just recently finished playing. You destroy monsters and gain a variable amount of points (called experience) and accumulated enough to advanced to a higher "level" -- leveling up. Leveling up gets exponentially more difficult but as you grow your character, it acquires new skills and flashier moves to help you defeat monsters more quickly. So what does this all add up to? A game that is exponentially harder to progress over time for one thing but it also has something these old games like castlevania don't... community.

The game is an "internet" game so this means that you get to interact and chat with other players while they do their own thing. Sure you can form parties, but the interesting thing about this particular online game is that you are playing amoung kids of all ages... And in most cases, the people who are successful in the game aren't kids at all. They are mostly college kids who have managed to stay in the game and use their education / experiences to their advantages.

The game, oddly, has a more sophisticated side to it... as you play the game more, you will seee that some players are much more powerful than others... that is because there are items in the game that you can craft and upgrade to use as weapons... Aside from weaponry, there is a lot of mathematical thinking involved because each character's damage is based off of a formula... so people who understand the formulas better know exactly how to play the game to get maximum results (like me of course). Kids under 10 probably will underestimate most things, especially math formulas. Another side of this game is the economics and social power. like in real life, you sorta need to make investments and "buy" smart to succeed; in this game it's sorta the same thing. Also knowing the right people helps you in the end -- when you need help the most.

So what does this all mean? it means i have an addiction because all i can think of now is to train my character and enjoy the rest of the game at another level... it's pathetic that i still crave a mindless session of exponentially difficult proportions in order to move on in the game... just to give a perspective, it takes about 1 hour to gain 5% progress towards the next level.

thanksgiving weekend

The week of thanksgiving was great, I invited friends over for a party i started. The occasion was for the up-coming black friday event that usually takes place after thanksgiving day. Being a 3 year veteran of this crazed shopping event, i know to sacrifice a day in advanced to get the deals people wanted.

The party started a day before thanksgiving; this gives people time to celebrate it with me BEFORE family (and/or shopping). The turkey was good and everyone enjoyed the dinner, a friend colin brough over some blu-ray movies and some games for the ps3; we watched transformers on the ps3 and the dark knight afterwards from a laptop. About 5 of the 8 people showed up to the party and only 2 of the 5 showed up on black friday.

Most of the people who went with me weren't sure of what to get but i persuaded them to grab that $20 laser printer that had a $150 rebate (got one last year with still ink in it). It wasn't as cold as last year and we had a great position in line untill 20 people cut in front of us 2 hours prior to the opening at 5am. Dispite the event, i had a good time talking with the people around me and getting all the items i really wanted. This year i bought me a new computer (from parts) and will be getting my room ready for those new PC games that i've neglected for a while.

The next day was another sale at Fry's; I went to get the last pieces for my machine - the case and the power and had to go off to play badmitton with my cousins and uncle. The day was pretty good - we haven't been together like that for months and we shared a lot of each other's personal life with each other. A lot of planning was done that day for the next meet - up in december (i hope we have as good as a time as that day's).

Anyway i needed to return something at fry's so i ended up going back for a 3rd time and ended up getting a few more things ... much less than the item i returned. All this shopping has reminded me i still need to deposit all that money i had left over from china.

I have a brand new quad core computer with more hard disk space than i needed - and also graphics card that seems to be worse than the integrated one on the mother board.... what a bummer. All this new stuff is making me want to do something productive - hopefully the next blog i will figure out what to do next with the time alloted .