Okay, I'll split this post into two parts. If you're not a gamer-type (I'm looking at you Ta2dMom!), just skip to the second part!
I got the 30 day trial of FFXI, as you may have read in a previous blog. I cancelled it after 3 days. I never had a very good impression of MMORPGs, and playing FFXI seemed to confirm my beliefs in how awful they were. Nothing but money-hogging time sinks.
In FFXI, you lose a lot of XP when you die. So much that you can actually lose LEVELS upon death. Soloing is a hard grind, since running from monsters is practically not an option. Yet... you can't fight those higher XP monsters! You'll just die and lose the XP from your past 20 fights.
Oh, and you have to pay extra for every character you have beyond the first.
So, after I was talking to some friends about how I was convinced all MMORPGs are the epitome of suck, one gave me a free 10-day trial of Lord of the Rings Online. I was wary; when I started my 30-day trial of FFXI, I had to give my credit card number. I did NOT have to do this with LotRO, so it was already a positive point.
Then I actually got to play. First, you can DOWNLOAD the game, for the free trial. You don't have to buy the damn thing to find out you don't like it. Another positive point! You can make up to five characters per server, and there's a fair number of servers, which is also good. The price is a bit higher than FFXI (well, if you only had ONE FFXI character, anyway), but not by much. It's equal to WoW's monthly fee, and thousands of freaks keep paying THAT... maybe they're on to something?
So, I made my character (an Elven Lore Master... essentially a wizard-type), and tried to grasp the controls.
Remember, with FFXI, it took me a long, long time to figure out how to work the damn controls. With LotRO, and me having VERY VERY little experience controlling an MMO (Ragnarok Online uses a system more like Diablo than a traditional MMO), I had grasped the controls almost immediately. It was really quite intuitive, and everythign was pretty clearly explained. I had the DOWNLOADED version, no manual, yet I could pretty much GUESS how the major mechanics of it worked.
The game discourages grinding in favor of social interaction and quest-based XP gaining, which is great. There's also a system in place for people who have lives outside the game; the longer you log out between sessions, the more XP you gain next time you log in. Basically, you can play one hour a week, and still have a chance at catching up to the dweeb who sits on the PC for 20 hours a day.
And of course, elves are sexy.
The day after I started my 10-day trial of LotRO, I bought the retail version (special edition, even). And the next 38 days of it are STILL FREE! This game is awesome, and I used to HATE MMORPGs.
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Now, on to non-game things! The Air Conditioner was fixed in the house, and a DAMN good thing. It was an ass-reamingly hot 97 degrees, today. Thankfully, I work indoors, so I didn't know how bad it was until I stepped out of the office around lunchtime, then decided that it wasn't worth it to get in my car at that time. It was HOT!
I want to move somewhere cooler, but I don't want to leave everything behind. Change always scares me, and not having anything to fall back on scares me even more. If I moved out-of-state, I'd be out of reach of everyone who could offer me any assistance, if anything happened. That's a bad thing, to me. I'm one of those people who could do the same thing every day, if it made me feel safe.
The arcade idea keeps churning in my mind, too... sadly, Mike is the only one who'd really go through with it, and I don't think he's really into the idea. -_- Sigh.
There's a similair place near my work called "Cyberden", but they're for PC gamers. Still has some of the same ideas, though; Bawls and such on sale, Pocky in the vending machine... so I'm not the only one to think of this! I need a business parter!
Inventory is this week. I'll be working until about 10 PM this Friday, and then work some more this Saturday. The good news is that I'm off Monday... but then I work again NEXT Saturday. Uuuugh!
And finally, I got approved for a credit card. The same thing that got me in all this trouble, 10 years ago, can be my saving grace, this time around; it's one of those cards that reports to the credit bureaus every month. I can finally rebuild my score! Yay, me!
I got the 30 day trial of FFXI, as you may have read in a previous blog. I cancelled it after 3 days. I never had a very good impression of MMORPGs, and playing FFXI seemed to confirm my beliefs in how awful they were. Nothing but money-hogging time sinks.
In FFXI, you lose a lot of XP when you die. So much that you can actually lose LEVELS upon death. Soloing is a hard grind, since running from monsters is practically not an option. Yet... you can't fight those higher XP monsters! You'll just die and lose the XP from your past 20 fights.
Oh, and you have to pay extra for every character you have beyond the first.
So, after I was talking to some friends about how I was convinced all MMORPGs are the epitome of suck, one gave me a free 10-day trial of Lord of the Rings Online. I was wary; when I started my 30-day trial of FFXI, I had to give my credit card number. I did NOT have to do this with LotRO, so it was already a positive point.
Then I actually got to play. First, you can DOWNLOAD the game, for the free trial. You don't have to buy the damn thing to find out you don't like it. Another positive point! You can make up to five characters per server, and there's a fair number of servers, which is also good. The price is a bit higher than FFXI (well, if you only had ONE FFXI character, anyway), but not by much. It's equal to WoW's monthly fee, and thousands of freaks keep paying THAT... maybe they're on to something?
So, I made my character (an Elven Lore Master... essentially a wizard-type), and tried to grasp the controls.
Remember, with FFXI, it took me a long, long time to figure out how to work the damn controls. With LotRO, and me having VERY VERY little experience controlling an MMO (Ragnarok Online uses a system more like Diablo than a traditional MMO), I had grasped the controls almost immediately. It was really quite intuitive, and everythign was pretty clearly explained. I had the DOWNLOADED version, no manual, yet I could pretty much GUESS how the major mechanics of it worked.
The game discourages grinding in favor of social interaction and quest-based XP gaining, which is great. There's also a system in place for people who have lives outside the game; the longer you log out between sessions, the more XP you gain next time you log in. Basically, you can play one hour a week, and still have a chance at catching up to the dweeb who sits on the PC for 20 hours a day.
And of course, elves are sexy.
The day after I started my 10-day trial of LotRO, I bought the retail version (special edition, even). And the next 38 days of it are STILL FREE! This game is awesome, and I used to HATE MMORPGs.
-------------
Now, on to non-game things! The Air Conditioner was fixed in the house, and a DAMN good thing. It was an ass-reamingly hot 97 degrees, today. Thankfully, I work indoors, so I didn't know how bad it was until I stepped out of the office around lunchtime, then decided that it wasn't worth it to get in my car at that time. It was HOT!
I want to move somewhere cooler, but I don't want to leave everything behind. Change always scares me, and not having anything to fall back on scares me even more. If I moved out-of-state, I'd be out of reach of everyone who could offer me any assistance, if anything happened. That's a bad thing, to me. I'm one of those people who could do the same thing every day, if it made me feel safe.
The arcade idea keeps churning in my mind, too... sadly, Mike is the only one who'd really go through with it, and I don't think he's really into the idea. -_- Sigh.
There's a similair place near my work called "Cyberden", but they're for PC gamers. Still has some of the same ideas, though; Bawls and such on sale, Pocky in the vending machine... so I'm not the only one to think of this! I need a business parter!
Inventory is this week. I'll be working until about 10 PM this Friday, and then work some more this Saturday. The good news is that I'm off Monday... but then I work again NEXT Saturday. Uuuugh!
And finally, I got approved for a credit card. The same thing that got me in all this trouble, 10 years ago, can be my saving grace, this time around; it's one of those cards that reports to the credit bureaus every month. I can finally rebuild my score! Yay, me!
You know, we packed up and moved to Vegas almost 10 years ago. Didn't know anyone. All we had was a job and an apartment. I had a 1 and a half year old and had found out the DAY BEFORE we moved that another one was on the way sooooo...... here we are almost 10 years later, him with a new job and me home with 3 kids now and we made it work. I wouldn't suggest Vegas if you don't like the hot but, I will tell you that things have a way of working out even if you're on your own. Phones can connect people over a huge distance. (I suggest an unlimited long distance plan though as we had some MAJOR phone bills
I hope you can get the arcade thing off the ground. It sounds like a great idea. I hope you find a good investor and business partner.
xoxo
Eirian