Roderick

Well I bet they at least had more fun than I had with my Killzone demo

I'm not the most qualified apostle to speak, but I believe WoW was designed also for the guy who just wants to take in a few hours once in a while, playing casually without getting the feeling you're missing the whole thing. And what can I say? It's Blizzard, there's bound to be a massively rewarding experience tucked in there.

Wow... if it wasn't for the fact that I'll be getting WoW in a matter of weeks, I'd fucking have to kill you all for your insensitive flaundering.

I'd like to add to this topic with the statement that the particular Penny Arcade strip was spot on and hilarious.

I'm looking to single first for a while, then maybe form my own guild. But a serious one, on a RP-server. Woohoo. Only Undead allowed

I'm going for the Undead Warlock. I know, pretty standard but I've set my mind on it. I'm especially looking forward to the hero-classes they're going to add later on. You can already somewhat predict which races and classes will get which indicators. Night elves will have demonhunters, orcs blademasters and Undead... liches

I wouldn't mind that much, but I think it's a fair way to even things in the start. And I catch up pretty fast Mind you, just because you're in the beta doesn't mean you get first dibs or anything. You were already lucky to begin with. Wouldn't be fair for the people who actually have to pay for the experience to be at an immediate disadvantage. That said, I still have high hopes that there'll be an RP-server on februari 11th.

But on the positive side, there will be no Optimus Prima in sight, requesting me to transform & roll out, or otherwise call me a homo or ruin my game or the suspension of disbelief. If the counterside is that I have to cope with the occassional freak or drudge through some overdone Shakespearian sentences, it's still well worth it.

Maybe someone just needs to set the proper example. Maybe you just ran into a bunch of losers, who knows? I just know that many gamers are willing to roleplay for real (which doesn't mean you have to be tooootally serious ALL the time, but just that you know the right balance between what's appropriate and what's not).

Reassuring though the combination of Jake and Penises might be, I'd really rather have some confident answers to my question

CYNICISM IN THE GAMES INDUSTRY Last thursday evening I attended a lecture on school on gamedesign. There was this guy from a Netherlandic gaming company called Playlogic and he told us about the development process. His emphasis lay a bit thickly on the financial aspect of development, whereas I was there to hear some less publisher-handy facts and some more designer quotes. I was to be sorely disappointed. It was to be a sign on the wall. I was there with a classmate from Animation, and we were surrounded by a legion of people studying Game Design & Development. Mere weeks ago I had been pondering whether I shouldn't switch classes and hop over to GDD instead of Animation. I chose in the end not to because I like animating and I'll get there without specific schooling; but this evening showed that I would've made a grave mistake, had I switched classes! Like I told you, the whole lecture revolved around technical aspects (where to get devkits) and economy (the money-thing). At one point, my friend and I asked the man about the creative side of the job. I myself queried if the host aspired authorship and wanted to make games bearing his signature, and what he thought of authorship in the games industry in general. A mocking outburst of laughter thrashed through the room, as countless Game Design & Developers mockingly wished me good luck in pursuing my ambition. The host assured me there was no such thing but a quickly conjured up argument that game developing was too big a project was whisked away by my statement that films were of equal magnitude (a clichéd point but valid nonetheless in this argument). In the end we agreed on disagreeing, but I was stunned. Stunned that we, two animators (coincidence?), had been the only ones to even show a remote interest in the creative aspect of gamedesign. We were smitten by such an overwhelmingly cynical response to our honest questions that it was almost a frightening thing to behold. A while earlier my companion had asked what was wrong with the games industry (with all the generic license games and EA and such) and the host only had a faint cover-up of an answer involving finances. But at that point, we both understood what was really wrong with it. It was that relentless cynicism that we witnessed. A mocking expression of anger towards anyone that still dared to dream and hope for a creative place in the industry. What I saw then and there in that auditorium were fresh publisher slaves that would never rise to meet their abandoned ideals. What had happened to these bitter men, to be so cynical, so young? Was it the school itself, which trained them to bow before the publisher's whim and had beaten into them that authorship is a myth? Was it their own doing, angstily having decided that all dreams are futile and a sign of weakness? Oh I know that they must have taken us for gullible fools, thinking with ill-conceived arrogance that we'd sooner or later become just like them; cynical and 'realistic'. But they have judged poorly. What they see as being realistic I see as being mundane, unimaginitive and dull. Their arduous behaviour has only strengthened my resolve to pursue my dreams and fight intensely to be able to express myself through game development. And those students of GDD? It would seem they have already made up their mind. It's always a poor sight to see people so young to have killed off their dreams and become chanceless drones, ripe for the picking by publisher sweatshops. I weep for thee, the meek. Sweet dreams. -Roderick

Yeah I know, I meant that they started smoking because it's an image thing. I'm well aware that almost all older smokers curse themselves that they ever started. Making the practice all the more pathetic of course.

If you consider that, I'd estimate, 95% of all smokers were coughing and splurting the first few times they had a cigarette (and thus generally not enjoying themselves), I think it's safe to say that 95% of all smokers smoke because it's an image thing. Which means they're very susceptible to trends and popularity, therefore weakwilled and without any taste of their own. But then again, I am fucking bitter when it comes to this topic. I always laugh though when I see exactly those people moaning their whole life, struggling with the love-hate relationship with their cigarette. Tough luck, suckers.

I would be the quintessential antismoker who's always up for heaving a warning finger in the air in trembling fashion. I'll be damned if I ever smoke even one cigarette.

I played it and it was completely hyped and overrated. I'm gonna kill myself too I think.

Seen the current state of our country you could say the difference is smaller than you'd think.

I am so glad now that I didn't choose to to gamedesign. Are you still on the HKU, dacloo? And you, _oswald, do you still work in the [Netherlandic] industry? Tell us about yourselves (preferably in the chit-chat forum in the appropriate introduction topic, but I'm curious. My post seems to have attracted some outside interest ).

Ooh, I read about it in Edge and it looked extremely promising in all its retro-designed state of the art glory!

Thanks for understanding, Marek. Yes I know Two Tribes, right now they're making Three Tribes for the Nintendo DS. The guy from Playlogic was, by the way, a gamedesigner, it was his actual function and he clearly stated that he didn't program or did art or anything, that he really was there to oversee the whole shebang. I did calculate already that it might just have been a crappy lecture. Still the attitude of the people attending seemed wholly uncharacteristic of what I'd expect of HKU students. But I'm curious what your own views will be about that when you've teached for that class in the coming months

I'm just way too sensitive. I knew that I was exaggerating, but what I said as being very stunned was true. At that point point I had been sitting for over an hour listening to this guy rambling on about how to extract devkits from a publisher and how tough this was and blah blah blah. And the GDD'ers attending were only asking all this stuff about how to get there and elaborating about the devkit bullshit and, cripes. If they were interested in the creative part than you'd think they might actually have moved into that area. So when I finally opened my mouth and asked this one little thing that, for the first time in the evening, had to do with the artistry of the business, and was completely laughed at, well... it might be I got a skewed view on things :hmpf: Oh I know there are dreamers among them, you don't get into the HKU education without some sort of vision. But I was so ticked off at their arrogance (they were practically screaming that I as a mere animator could never achieve what they wanted to become). I had to vent that. But still, I think the whole thing was a farce. Maybe the handful other lectures I didn't attend did look into the creative side, but if this was the standard then it may just be the education that's shallow. And I know that if I were in that class, I'd sure as heck be complaining my ass off that I wanted to hear something of any artistic value. (btw, Ys, I'm second year now. Yeah- I'm moving fast ) Jake; point taken. It didn't occur to me yet. I only looked from my own motivation, which is to become a gamedesigner and all that implies. Didn't really realise that not all of them might aspire that. That said, I never scoffed at them for not aspiring it, I just never thought that they might not want to. Anything else was inspired by their wicked revulsion to the whole notion of me dreaming the dream. [ADDED]: for clarity: the thing I did scoff at was their perceived attitude at just accepting how the game industry worked and not showing the frailest spark of rebellion.

I don't think that's true. This has less to do with the timeframe but more with the state of mind of these students. Those garage-kids back then had a dream; well I have a dream as well. And call me naive, but I am of the mind that if I will it hard enough, I'll succeed. The problem is that these kids have no dream to begin with. They're going to enter the industry with the idea that it's just a job, a trade. Not an art. And there lies exactly what the fuck is wrong. They are going to be the future game designers. And they have no vision and for all I know won't even want to stand up to publisher bullying. Gaming is in a downward spiral indeed if these dreamless fools decide how our hobby shapes up in the future.

You've a long way to go Moos, before understanding this thing called humour

WHAT?! There's no Gamecube version coming?! I have been waiting for this game for a fricking year now and they're skipping the Cube?! Now if it were San Andreas, well, I could get that. But this game just screeeeeams 'Gamecube!' dammit!

If only I could get a hairy face... I'll have to wait some more, unfortunately. I pine to harvest some classic facial growth.

Back ontopic: Ouph! I'm drawing so many comicpages these days that I could start a museum, haha! But seriously. Comics. So many. So many nearing deadlines. It's work. Still doing it.