And now for something completly different..

If you did not read that title in a snarky British accent, go back and read it again. I'll wait. Now that I have your Monty Python muscles going, I want to say that having this to do each day once more is invigorating. Hopefully, I can get a decent following like I once had on this site.

Now, onto the business of what you are here for: video games and gaming information, news, or something along the lines of all things "game".

Today I am going to speak about game design. As you can undoubtedly deduce from my previous postings, game design is something that I find interesting, and having the proper design makes or breaks ANY game. First, let's go over the trump card of any computer nerd's day: MMORPGs. Or, say it with me, Mummorpuggers! These games have all sorts of different profit-making models but these are not what I, as a...What should I call myself here? For now I think "Game analyst" will work, though I don't enjoy the professional ring that has, as I do not get paid to do this. So as I was saying: as a game analyst, I am more interested in what sort of game they have and not so much interested in how I get their permission to play it.

Let's take WoW for a first off. Everyone who has even sniffed at online gaming has heard of this beast of a Mummorpugger. People nay-say for weeks on end about this game. However, I am here to take the heat of the lynch mob and tell you something mind-blowing.  This game is very good, based on the merits of being a game. Take away the shitty community of elitist assholes and troll ninja looters and you have yourself a very good game. However, this being a Mummorpugger, it has the one pitfall of ALL Mummorpuggers, and that is the grind-fest of endlessness.

The grind-fest is not entirely a bad thing. It is what keeps us playing for more than 6 days and then dropping it like a broken toy. The problem is changing this grind-fest up in new and exciting ways so that those of us who have been doing it for years can attempt to justify to our fried minds that it's not the same old thing over again.

Now let's go to another game front: the console game. Not that these can truly be homogenized into that category, but they all have one thing that they ALL have to show us. Console games have to have replay value. Replay value is what keeps us still playing the game AFTER we have "beaten" it. If a game that hits the shelves doesn't have a high replay value, people will be very wary of shelling out to meet the high price tags that these games have these days. Coughing up 60-90 bucks for a game you play once and are done with is not something ANYONE wants to do. So either they do not buy it on release day and wait for it to go down about 40-50 bucks in price, or they buy it at a store like GameStop and then bring it back for an exchange after they have beaten it within the return time frame, and get a game with some true replay value.

A console game with replay value is not something that is so hard to find these days. It is something that, after a long time of games being one-shots (albeit 90 hour one-shots), is a nice change to see.  Take an old favorite, Final Fantasy 9. That game took weeks to properly play through, but once you had done it, there were so few secrets to find that replaying the entire game for just those was not worth it. To top it off, some of those secrets were only completable if you rushed through certain parts of the game and thus were meant for speed plays, which is not something I place into the replay value of a game.

Let us continue by going into the realm of the hyper nerd. Tabletop games have just about always been something that is under the stereotype of the basement-dwelling momma's-boy with his basement-dwelling momma's-boy friends who meet every weekend to play at being cool. This stereotype cannot be farther from the truth. This will scare and shock a few of you, I am sure, but many thousands of our U.S. Military play tabletop games whilst overseas. I kid you not when I say that some of our most bad-ass people in this country are nerding it up while in danger of having a bomb dropped on them. Some celebrities also enjoy the game. Vin diesel (Or his real name, Mark Sinclair Vincent) is rumored to have his D&D character's name tattooed somewhere on his body. Oh, and you know those people who invent the very things you are reading this blog post on right now? Avid tabletop players exist among them.

Now that we have the stereotype shattering out of the way, let's get into game design for these. The basic game design for these tabletop games involves the use of a randomized polyhedral object being tossed onto the table to determine an outcome. In other words, a die is rolled and that can be the deciding factor in whether or not your character lives. This design is just about universal to the mainstream tabletop world. This is basically putting the RNG (Random number generator) that video games use into the players hands, and is overall good design when used properly.

To avoid going too in-depth into this subject I will avoid explaining the ins and outs of why DnD 3.5 edition is the single most horribly balanced game in the history of the world. However, I will explain why it works in theory. The class-based system relies on placing a label on your character and defining what your character is and what they can and cannot do in the world. This works because people like having choices, but they also like being secretly told what choices to make. If you look at the cover of the game it looks like everything works out for magic vs melee being even. This is due to smart class tables and clever wording. However, when you get your feet into the game it quickly devolves into a game of "Put the fighter in the middle of the battle and have the squishy mage who used all his spells already in a barrel". This is at low levels. As the levels come and go you will quickly switch positions. "Put the silver bullet mage in the middle of the fight and put everyone else in a barrel lest they get caught in the blast!".

The specifics of why this is have been put into much more detail than I am capable of, over the entirety of the internet. So I will not be doing that here. Now onto what constitutes good tabletop design. Above, I may have made it seem like a class-based system MUST fail. This is simply untrue, though a class-based system must be done properly. Magic and mundane must be able to compete with each other at an even pace the entire way. This is much easier said than it is done. A good way to think of it is this, "If one side looks more promising than the other, no one will choose the other, and thus there is no reason to place it in the game." There is, however, a universal truth with magic: magic will always appear more powerful than the mundane counterpart.

So what are we to do? The answer is simple: do not relegate your game to a "power fest". By this I mean, do not have battle rely on the constant use of abilities. Give your characters abilities, but give the use of these abilities a cost that matters to the characters. So the mages will have to think about whether or not to use a major spell or simply continue to attack with basic things. You might think from the surface that this favors the melee characters, but when a mage can bring out a weapon that is powered by his magic to blast a foe with a spout of arcane energy, the archer might get a bit envious. This is all about game design. Placing incentives to play different things for different situations is something that is difficult to work around with, especially for tabletop, where all the things that can be resolved with complex math that a computer usually does for a video game would have to be done by the players every time they wanted to do those particular actions.


Thank you for reading my ramblings on game design.

Ogre Island Christmas Video Games and Gaming

What a Christmas Season on the Major MMORPG sites like Ogre Island! We have "captured" the moment at OgreIsland.com, the moment of Christmas on the Island :)



We thought we share the festivities with you all here on the blog Video Games and Gaming. Now, we haven't spotted Santa Claus yet, but you never know on Ogre Island! We have been told about a few events though, like some character/player spun trivia contests, a house contest, and then I am sure as the week progresses we will here about some additional fun that will spring up along the way :)



Enjoy your Christmas and Have a Merry Christmas on Ogre Island :)

Dalton and Stephanie Haile aka Wyverex and Wavecritter Google Us :)

Video Games and Gaming Rebirth RO

Rebirth Ro is one of the free versions of Ragnarok Online but by far the best. Chat features are useful but not as prevalent as some other MMORPGs. Meaning that the chat is not one of the biggest draws to this particular MMORPG, the actual game play is :) This can be a fast paced action, explore time quiet and cool game, or a healthy mix of quests, crazy fun, and friends.

Easy to get started once you download. This game takes about an hour to download (shorter or longer depending on your computer speed). This is a safe and fun game for all ages, still an MMORPG (massively multi player online role playing game) so there is always a risk of interacting with undesirables, but we did not run into any as we played.

With the set up, be sure to set your computer resolution to the closest setting to your own as possible (to figure out what your computer screen resolution is, right click on your main desktop and click properties, the info is listed here), full screen or windowed is personal preference and everything else is pretty much set up for you.

Start the game as a novice in both base and job level, talk to the introduction lady (if you do this twice, you will gain a base level :).

Follow the bridge and enter the training grounds. Talk to the receptionist, follow his instructions and he will then transport you to the training grounds. where there are several people you will want to speak to. First talk to the interface tutor who teaches you about the screen and how to manipulate efficient game play (highly recommended). Speak to the items girl in the upper right hand corner. Pay close and real attention to the items girl and do what she says as she says it (this is very important, don't listen and click through and then do what she says :)this following will benefit you greatly. Visit the skills tutor on the left, follow his instuction, and go through the blue portal on the left. Here you will find a helper who explains the finer points of combat. Speak to the guy at the other counter and he will send you to combat training :)

In the combat training area, stay in this area until you are at or over base level 35 (great suggestion, not required) and distribute your points accordingly. Pick up many items along the way but keep your weight limit around half full. These items can sold later at the vendor shop (money is a necessary thing:) There are also options here for stronger monsters in this combat training area whenever you are ready.

After training, head across the bridge to converse with the next NPC (non player character)standing by a door who will transport you to the next room. Talk to the guy on the upper left first as he will you in on all the classes you can choose from. This will help in your future game play tremendously, so listen in and choose wisely :) Speak to the counter guy and take the personality test, given your results, either choose your own class or the one decided for you by the test. You will then be warped to the town of that class and give you special items :)

The game has you go on a quest from the spot or town that the class is trained, but there are options :) Type @go 0 (@gospacezero) into the text chat area and get wisked to the town of Prontera where the job master lives. There is always a gathering of players here where you can find a healer, Warpra, and the shop to sell and buy items. Talk to the job master and he can instantly give you any class you want. We recommend avoiding the Ninja and Gunslinger at first as they will us any future class options. There is not an upgraded version of these but every other class has an upgrade. If chosen, the Ninja and Gunslinger might be a better second character choice.

There is an forum, status, rules, policy, and chat information all on the main site page for more.

This is a great start for an awesome MMORPG. Very "Final Fantasy Tactics" graphics :)

Dalton and Stephanie Haile aka Wyverex and Wavecritter Google Us :)

Elf City Ogre Island

One of the newer cities, Elf City, located in Ogre Island, the MMORPG for the masses and more, is the ideal location for the carpenter, boyer, tailor, cook, alchemist or herbalist. There are tree houses situated throughout Elf City and ladders to reach the elevated wooden walkway. 2 mystery trees housing a blue and gold crystal inside are yet to be known what these crystals will be able to do. Rose bushes are spotted along the East trail toward the Master Trainer as well as some well placed Orc Militia and Imps. Go South to the town of Noradaar Fortress to the free warp to Under Leaf or venture North to the Cave of the Undead.

At present, no player homes have been built in Elf City. No word yet whether there will ever be but the amount of pine and oak trees scattered about Elf City makes this Woodly the Sawdust Taco's Dream city (even though Woodly is a Dwarf :)

Color Key:

Light Blue: Water
Dark Blue: Tree with Blue Crystal Inside
Grey: House or Statue
Brown: Tree houses, Carpentry Table, Boyer Table, Elevated Walkway
Red: Fire or Stove for Cooking
Peach: Alchemy Table, Tailor Loom, Herbalist Table
Dark Green: Trees
Light Green: Grassy areas
Yellow: Fairies, Yellow Crystal inside a Tree house
Purple: Tree House Access to Grimwald Hold and Binx Sewers

Dalton and Stephanie Haile aka Wyverex and Wavecritter and sometimes Woodly

Video Games and Gaming Game Ogre

MMORPG and Free Online RPG Mega Directory of Game Ogre

With Game Ogres review directory, arcade and forum areas and the massive articles on Video Games and Gaming, this site is loaded with great information. Listings of MMORPGs and Free Online RPGs will give you a feel for whats out there to choose your dossier of Video Games. Gaming selections are varied and wide and this site has a great selection of articles, listings, contests, lairs, reviews and more. Even an in depth description of what a MMORPG is.

"What is a Free MMORPG?
A free MMORPG is a massive online game that allows you to play on an ongoing basis without having to pay a monthly subscription. However, a game needs to make money in some way in order to survive. To make money without monthly fees, different MMOs have come up with various strategies." READ MORE

Dalton Haile aka Wyverex Google Me

Video Games and Gaming Ogre Island Remix

Video Games and Gaming Ogre Island! Special Guests The creator of Ogre Island Vagabond and a few of Ogre Islands colorful and cool players, CW Canadian Warrior, Luy, FrozenShrooms, Woodly The Sawdust Taco, Wyverex, and Wavecritter. We Have Taken Our Two Ogre Island Shows, Remixed Them, and Added Some Coolness and Fluff! Stay Tuned For Some More Ogre Island Fun!
Listen Into To The Ogre Island Remix!
Dalton Haile aka Wyverex Google Me

Family Safety with MMORPGs

How to stay safe and have fun with your family playing and participating in any MMORPG (massively multi player online role playing game) along with some great tips and tricks as you go.

Using the chat features of these online games can save you from some direct weirdness with the stalkers or harassers. There is a chat feature on most games that allows you to ignore any certain player in game to not even see their chats.

Focusing on leveling up one player in the group at a time going from lowest to highest.

OgreIsland.com is a also a great online game. This one requires absolutely no download!

It is always a great start to have evyone create a specialty character for getting a group started from scratch. There are set ups and choices that don't necessarily work as a solo.

Creating your own clan for your new group is also a great idea to keep the weirdness away from your family fun only letting those join who you already know.

Finding an unpopular server, usually a non PVP server, (Player vs Player), will also get the entire party up and running smoothly and get the newer players feeling comfortable.

For More Information On MMORPG Family Fun and Safety Listen into to my radio show on many tips about family safety and MMORPGs. www.VideoGamesAndGaming.info

Dalton Haile aka Wyverex Google Me