My Game Story

Why there was nothing 'natural' about my EyePet's death

2009-11-02T15:28:00.000-05:00

Why there was nothing 'natural' about my EyePet's death

by Patrick Steen

Of Flowers

2009-07-18T22:59:00.001-04:00

I was playing Flower recently. A friend was watching, someone who had never seen the game. I showed him the rain level, the one where there is no so sun and the telephone towers lay heaped upon the ground. Upon seeing the wasting trash and debris, he said, "How did anyone let this place get so bad?"

Of Flowers, by Finn Haverkamp (Gryffin)

Let There Be Sprites

2009-02-23T19:13:00.002-05:00

By Chris Cao.
From MTV Multiplayer.

Injecting Imagination

2008-12-04T07:06:00.002-05:00

Animal Crossing: City Folk came out recently, and I’ve had the chance to play the game the last few days. Historically speaking, I’ve played the two previous Animal Crossing's. I played the Gamecube version a great deal and the DS version only a little bit. I felt the DS version didn’t really offer anything the Gamecube didn’t, aside from being portable. And going over to “friends'” towns was a difficulty hard to overcome. However, with the release of City Folk, I once again find myself enthralled in the world of fruits and villagers, trying to appease the raccoon God day in and day out.

There is something intoxicating about this world, this empty world that breathes around as constantly as your real world does. Every day, I get up and go about my laborious tasks: search for the money rock, sell some fruit, sell some shells, check the recycling bin, check the lost and found, talk to some villagers, and lastly, visit the city.Then I stop in my tracks. What am I doing? I answer this question with one word, reward. I am in the process of upgrading nooks store, expanding my house, saving up for a well and most importantly, building up an orchard. Ah, the orchard, a fickle thing indeed. Only fruit of the international kind can grant me any amount of wealth I desire. But how do I do this? I have to venture outward, pass my rolling log of a village into other's, into unexplored territory. What would I find in these strange worlds? What kind of cool villagers would I meet? What kinds of exotic fruits would they have that my native town did not? I am eager to discover.

I log onto a website in order to acquire “friends." Within 3 days, I have almost 30 friends. My gates are open to them, and their gates are open to mine. We travel between frequently, exploring each other’s Nooks and Able’s often. Roughly 4 days have passed. I have a large amount of exotic fruits sprouting up everywhere across my town of Odin. Soon enough, I will have a bounty of gold coming in waves from Nook's all but bottomless pockets. In just a short half-week, I am quickly developing an empire. My village will be a mecca among towns, my name will reach far and wide as others will want to visit this diamond in a rough. At least this is what I tell myself.

Animal Crossing is asks something of us, of all gamers who breathe in its seasonal air. Imagination. It requires it. I can go about my self-appointed mandatory chores for weeks on, but what am I achieving? Maybe I am enjoying myself. Maybe the call to fill the museum is too irresistible. Maybe there is nothing more I enjoy doing than watching good ole’ Shrunk perform one of his legendary comedy acts. I guess all of this is possible, but more so than not, it is incredibly unlikely. Not without an injection of imagination.

I have a thing for my neighbor. Not my real neighbor, no, my virtual neighbor, her name is Gala, she is a pig. She is adorable. After waking up each morning, I go and say “Hi” to her. She is always there to say something back. She wants me to find her a fossil, and find her a fossil I will. Derwin has a thing for her though. I hate Derwin, he is my anti-existence, and not good enough for her anyway. I try my best to kick him out of the town. I’m hoping Wolfgang the wolf will eat him.There are other villagers, like Tom; he is a cat. I secretly hope that he will invite me over for dinner so we can kick it old school, watch some Garfield or something. But I secretly know this will never happen.

Animal Crossing offers little depth. You can say “Hi” to your villagers, and they will respond. Maybe they will ask you for a catchphrase, maybe they will want to buy that piece of furniture you have on you, but anything past this is an impossibility for them.Luckily, there are friends, real live people that exist elsewhere in the real world that we call Earth. I visit them; they come and visit me. Some can actually communicate via voice. I don’t have this luxury, but nevertheless, I type what I desire. It is good to hear a laugh or two though. Ah, laughs, what an incredible thing. We are mere avatars, but there are people behind those bee-stung eyes. We will don silly costumes and get-ups that reflect who we are behind the game. That enough is a laugh-full. But aside from communication, and stealing others fruits from time to time, there is little to do with others. There are no low-budget mini-games that can pass the time, invoke enjoyment from those behind the controllers. But this doesn’t stop us.

“Let’s play Hide n’ Seek”, someone will offer. Hide n’ Seek, oh boy! 3 of us scurry away while the 4^th counts down from a given number. We hide behind trees, houses, or even other villagers. I hold a net to a fellow hider. I am his captor. When the seeker finds us, he will touch my captive first while I make my escape. My captive can ignore me if he wishes, but he doesn’t. After all, who would want to be hit by a net?

Later on in the day, while skipping through my own town, spinning my leaf umbrella in quick succession, one of my friends threatens me. He is holding my only coconut tree ransom. Either I give him my leaf umbrella, or he cuts down my tree. I stand there with a look of shock that Shrunk gave me. I love my umbrella; I don’t want to wait for Nook to send me a new one. One Chop. NOOO, I cry. I hastily drop my beloved rain cover on the ground. He knew I would give. I quickly chase after him with an axe as he circles Nooks place. It was all in good fun, everything is in this world of Animal Crossing.

What is Animal Crossing but a hollow shell? Repetitive tasks, 24/7. It is a game that invokes and forces imagination upon the creators of their worlds. It is a genre unexplainable. A mother may tell their child to go and play. I tell them, go fish for a pike with some friends out-of-town. There isn’t a plot to follow, a depth of character development or even pretty effects and animations that dazzle the eye. Animal Crossing is a world within a world, where you must stretch what you see into what you believe.

By Fletcher Haverkamp. A My Game Story Exclusive.

Eegra Far Cry 2 Review

2008-11-17T11:37:00.003-05:00

Eegra Far Cry 2 Narrative Review

By Dan Staines
Source: Eegra

Zombie Bukkake! in Left 4 Dead

2008-11-17T11:28:00.003-05:00

By 4PlayerPodcast.
Source: Youtube [via Left4Dead411 via Justin.tv]

Second Life Affair Ends in Divorce

2008-11-17T11:14:00.003-05:00

Second Life Affair End in Divorce

Source: CNN

National Videogame Archive

2008-11-12T11:51:00.002-05:00

I would like to bring to attention The National Video Game Archive, which was launched this September. As the main website states, The National Video Game Archive is "a joint project between the National Media Museum and Nottingham Trent University, which aims to celebrate that culture and preserve that history for researchers, developers, game fans and the public."

The FAQ on the site further elaborates:

The National Videogame Archive will collect, interpret, make accessible for study and research and, where possible, exhibit videogames and the associated ephemera paraphernalia of videogame cultures. The Archive aims to preserve, analyse and display the products of the global videogame industry by placing the games in their historical, social, political and cultural contexts. This means treating videogames as more than digital code that can be dissected and emulated or as a system of rules or representations. At the heart of the National Videogames Archive is a respect for the material form of the game as well as the boxart, manuals, advertising, marketing and merchandising materials that support it and that give it meaning and context.

Video Games are an important part of our history, and I commend the NVA for their effort to preserve our stories. A joint website, Save the Video Game, offers industry personnel perspectives on video games worth preserving.

Via Gamasutra

I proposed by hacking Chrono Trigger

2008-10-28T06:10:00.005-04:00

YouTube video description by TheRealPfhreak:

On October 17th, 2008, I proposed to my (now) Fiancee. Originally I wanted to return to the site of our first date, Mount Baker, near Bellingham Washington. Sadly, there was no discreet way to get her out there. So I turned to the next best thing, digitally recreating the mountain!

But why stop there? I figured I'd try and recreate many of our other favorite memories -- stargazing, dancing, even her favorite song lyrics (from the Princess Bride). I'm a college student who is studying Computer Science, and I wanted to do something unique that used my talents, so I did some research on Rom hacking, as she was playing through Chrono Trigger. (A perennial favorite of mine, I can't wait to buy it for my DS.) I even put in her cat, Cleo!

I had several goals in mind:
First) Keep the area in the context of the original game, the proposal should be a surprise.
Second) Get it done quick! I had the ring, I had the Father's blessing, and you can't sit on either of those for too long. You'll notice some of the NPC collision information is missing (the cat runs through a lot of weird places) and I didn't have time to properly debug every tile.
Third) Place memories that might be poignant enough to remind her of our relationship, while not inadvertently giving away that this was somehow hacked.(See goal #1.)

Overall, it was a resounding success. She had no idea that this wasn't part of the original. She asked, "Hey, are those the Princess Bride lyrics? Do the Japanese really love that movie?" to which I responded, "Yeah! That's probably it! Either that or a bored translator slipping in an easter egg."

When her name appeared on screen (blurred in this video), she glanced over to me (on one knee, with the ring out), wondering, "How did they get my name in this game?" When she saw the ring, she reread the proposal, nodded yes, and said, "You are such a huge nerd! I love this!"

I spent a long time debating whether or not this proposal was awesome or incredibly stupid. Her friends, and my friends helped talk me into it, and it was a huge success!

I built the area by fusing a pre-existing area (Denodoro Mountains) with concepts I had in my mind. Each NPC in the area (save the cat, and the young girl at the beginning) is supposed to be either myself or my fiance.

By TheRealPfhreak. From YouTube. [Story via 1up]

TEAM ROOMBA PRESENTS: More Team Fortress 2 Griefing

2008-10-17T13:48:00.007-04:00

Team Roomba was a genius griefing effort by its two members, led by Ryan "Floor_Master" Mannion. This year, Ryan Mannion passed away. For a poetic tribute to his memory, see the Team Roomba website. You can also read an interview with the Team at The Escapist to understand a bit of their philosophy. My Game Story offers its condolences to the family and friends of Ryan Mannion.

By Team Roomba and Ryan "Floor_Master" Mannion.

Fate Illuminate

2008-10-17T13:46:00.001-04:00

Fate Illuminate

supplant that twinge of hesitation
momentum steeled in exhalation
that bound beyond horizon's edge

to the dogs throw any scraps of fear
check all pity for your bruising lungs
supplant that twinge of hesitation

saliva bitter, spit out the tar
grit concrete into bleeding pores
for that bound beyond horizon's edge

sinews snap and callous bursts
pontify your leap to fate
supplant that twinge of hesitation

overt exertion, ecstatic motion
a secretion of endorphins blind
that bound beyond horizon's edge

of reason shatter any bastion
reflecting faith in mirror's frame
supplant that twinge of hesitation
that bound beyond horizon's edge

By Finn Haverkamp.

How Rock Band Saved My Marriage

2008-05-28T21:55:00.002-04:00

How Rock Band Saved My Marriage

By Rachel Shukert. On Salon [via Next-Gen]

GF TF2

2008-04-03T14:23:00.007-04:00

From lavalevel:

For this experiment I got my girlfriend who is by no means a gamer to play Team Fortress 2 and record her reactions.
I had given her the basics of movement and controls earlier and what you are seeing is her first attempts since that.

It turned out to be really interesting to see a player who doesn't have the general gaming know how that we take for granted handle in a frantic and competitive environment.

She was a great sport and I thank her heaps for it! You can also see she is SUPER companionate.

Footage by Simon Cotee. Played by Simon Cottee's girl friend. From lavalevel.net. Also available on GameTrailers

Halo 3 Triple Headshot With 1 Bullet

2008-02-11T21:34:00.000-05:00

By ACE0FSP4D3S. On GameTrailers.

Cuckoo for 'Chu

2008-02-01T14:08:00.000-05:00

Pikachu is on the loose
We smashed his bros., we dished abuse
But how could we alone deduce:
Those icons we flicked with panicked clicks
An electric mouse would on us afflict?
"Can't read Japanese," our excuse

With strippled fur and reddened cheek
He disappeared, a yellow streak
We tailed his tail and women's shrieks
Down the hall, that little puffball
A dash, a bawl, a frantic crawl
He disappeared, that little sneak

As daily holes in drywall attest
Our Japanese visitor is quite the pest
No wire or current can he not ingest
Make the blunder of catching his plunder
He'll squeak PIK-A-CHU! and call down the thunder
"I told you he's cheap," Gerald says

Small as a basketball, fast as a jet,
Fury erupts when he takes down the 'net!
We stationed some guards on every outlet
"What's the plan for this beast from Japan?"
RTFM: no man can
Not knowing kanji we came to regret

In desperation today I brought out a box
With forked stick and string, I hoped to outfox
That cunning rodent and giver of shocks
The dubious mandate to locate some bait
Culminated in several car batteries (eight)
But at current DC the little rat balks

I'm forced to ask you for help with our curse:
How can we capture, expel or coerce
This discharging rodent and subject of verse?
As I type this he's tread on top of my head
Hairs on my neck spike with current and dread
We freed Diddy Kong... but he's worse.

By Dave "Fargo" Kosak. Originally on GameSpy.
Image from GameSpy.

Warhawk Jeep Race - The Badlands

2008-02-01T14:05:00.000-05:00

By XkilludeadX. On Warhawk Racing.
See Invisible Studio for more about Warhawk Racing.

Knee HRC

2008-01-22T22:23:00.000-05:00

By dashdancedan. From YouTube.

Warhawk Archipelago Mine Trick #2: Mine Launch

2008-01-20T22:32:00.000-05:00

By europeanbamf on YouTube.

All Roads Lead To Rome

2008-01-13T14:52:00.000-05:00

-me watching one of the later romancing Liara conversation scenes-

Girlfriend walks into room, looks at the TV

-pause in conversation for a [dialouge] choice-

I unconciously make a "hmmm" noise that probably sounded like, "mmmm"

-detects a disturbance in the Force-

Girlfriend asks:
(in DANGER, DANGER, DANGER WILL ROBINSON! quiet, "offhand question" voice)

"Is she prettier than me?"

-sigh-

I (of course) answered her, "No."

Then, distracted as I continued to play the game, followed it up with,

"She's a fictional character in a video game."

(in what I thought was my "talking to myself" voice)

"Next thing you're gonna do is ask me if she makes you look fat..."

The very bad kind of quiet follows, my brain slowly catching up to what I had just said a bit louder than I had intended.

"She doesn't...make you look...she's not real, honey..."

I hear the gf go back to the bedroom, the sense of being in the proverbial doghouse thick in the air.

Thank goodness I still had more Mass Effect to play.

By KeeperOTD. From Mass Effect Forums.

The Death of Dark Samus

2008-01-10T15:39:00.000-05:00

This takes place at the end of Metroid Prime 2: Echoes.

After the final, angry cry of anguish from the thing, she knows it is over.

The creature descends from its magnetic suspension. The energy fluctuations around it have ceased. Now it limps across the floor, a broken beast, a sundered copulation of her blood and the Phazon.And what other dichotomy could have been interpreted within that copulation? Light and darkness? Life and death? Right and wrong?

Chozo, Luminoth, Metroid, Ing--who is to evaluate their righteousness? Who is to determine the predominance of one nature over another?

Now the creature is upon her, but she far from fears it now. No; she fears that faint reflection in her helmet, that woman who never found a moral visor, who overlooked a map to her opponent’s soul.

Light pours forth from her suit. The creature’s hand gropes for it, gropes for redemption.

She stands, a statue for the moment. This was the same evil, she reminds herself, that tried to kill her on Tallon, that, transcending death itself, followed her to Aether to sabotage her every move.

It is a beast, she reminds herself. It knows only hunger. It is only a series of chemical reactions giving the appearance of the soul. It is just like all the other organisms she destroyed in order to achieve her goals.

But how, she wonders with a chill, is she any different?The last particles of Phazon extricate themselves from the creature’s body. With that, it is gone. Silence. There is nothing to mark its actions but her memory. And even there they will not survive; there they will be distorted into crimes.The room oozes with Phazon. She knows she has to leave. The last, maddened survivors of the Ing are approaching. Do they seek revenge upon her, their angel of doom? Or are they simply trying to preserve what tenebrous life fate assigned them, even if it means burning in the realm of light?

They are headed to her now, but she remains a statue, gazing into the enraged Phazon that coats the walls. It beckons her to join an existence she does not understand, to become part of a nature that had, through the random scheme of fate, been cheated.

She looks at her flesh and sees Phazon. She looks at the Phazon and sees flesh. Could it have been this way?

But this is not reality, she knows. And reality will allow only one nature to survive. So she turns, springs, leaps through the portal. The light is welcoming.

Behind her, the portal closes; and with it, the wronged and embittered Phazon collapses into unreality.

By the morrow. From The Young Writers Society.
Images from RedSnake and IGN.

After a week of Halo

2008-01-06T19:07:00.000-05:00

". . . you have to wield it like a weapon to your advantage, otherwise she'll dump you!"

Image and Quotation by Helveck. From Bungie Forums.

This is but one of many, many, awesome stories about Halo relationships. Check out the thread "Love is in the Air" for plenty more good ones. Originially found at Kotaku. Expect to see a few more stories culled from this thread in the near-future.

A Story of Sex, Love, Creativity, Money and Power...

2008-01-05T17:55:00.000-05:00

Second Life is a virtual reality game from Linden Labs.

For a while it became such a part of my life that I was on it more than I was living my real life, which in those times became known simply as 'RL', as apposed to the game, 'SL'.

Early on it was difficult to play. There wasn't much help available on how to do anything, and for a while I just mucked about, going to places where you could get free clothes and hairstyles and things. Pretty much how most people start.

Slowly I began to get a handle on what I was doing. I started earning small amounts of cash by leaving my character sat on a 'camping chair'. It really wasn't worth it! Eventually I decided to just take the plunge and use my RL money to buy some SL money.

From then on, I didn't look back!

I bought myself so many cool things, like photo-realistic skin and hair, brightly coloured contact lenses, shoes, all sorts. After a while my character looked great, and I thought, 'now what do I do?!'

I decided to buy myself a small plot of land and set up a shop. I learned to use the game's built-in programming language, LSL, and the 3D creation tools, and started making ornate doors. It sounds like an odd choice for something to do in a virtual world! But they were easy to make, and sold for a few hundred a piece. People would take them and use them on their own building projects, but I retained the copy rights, so they had to buy more if they wanted more.

My RL partner at the time started playing too, and very quickly discovered there was a thriving sex industry within the game. She played for a while as an escort, having virtual sex with other virtual characters. That probably seems crazy too, but it's big money in SL. Didn't do much for our RL relationship though!

Eventually she decided to open up her own escort house, and I began creating scripted objects for use in her business. I made a teleportation device that took your payment for the hire of a room, and would teleport you to a 'skybox' - a room high in the sky that was usually filled with various sex apparatus! You'd get what time you payed for, and then it would throw you out once your time was up! I actually created everything you could need to run your own escorting business, and then started selling that too.

I tried using a girl a couple of times, which my partner encouraged me to do... but there was nothing in it for me - it was like Simpsons ****! I even had to make my own penis!

My partner and I spent about a year playing SL, in seperate rooms, and in truth it finished off our marriage. SL saved me!

Any way, not content with the money I had coming in already, I decided to buy more land and start another project. I built sky-scrapers! I programmed an elevator, and windows that could be tinted by voice command, and charged people a weekly fee to rent my apartments. It was great!

But still, it was all very material.Then one day I was flying along over some land without paying much attention to anything, when suddenly my flight-mode switched off and I fell to the ground. When I... my character... got up, I found I had fallen into someone's garden, and was among a group of people who knew each other. We all greeted and ending up talking for hours.

Suddenly, unnexpectedly, I had found the -true- reason SL is something special - these people became my best friends, and we would go everywhere together. We visited castles, flew around in model Star Trek ships, went shopping, went for walks, relaxed on the beach. And slowly one of them started to stand out from the rest, a girl named Echo, with a very beautiful avatar.

In time we fell absolutely madly in love with each other. We tried to fight it, but it was bizarre how much we had in common, how we would always say the same things as the same time. How even when we were offline we would be thinking the same thoughts!

I even proposed to her, because you can get married in SL. It was the most nerve-wracking thing I've ever done, completely virtual, but I was shaking like crazy in RL! I had a speech, I read her a poem, I was wearing a smart suit, and my character got down on one knee and held out a ring for her - a ring that was engraved with a line from a song that meant a lot to us. It was perfect, everything was perfect... except she said NO!!
Ha! That wasn't a good day in SL! But we were still fine, she just had issues with marriage, even virtual marriage it seemed! In the end we found out we had a 25-year gap in our RL ages, and it wasn't meant to be.

I took up photography in SL next, and became really good at it. I built a studio with changeable backdrops and lighting. I rented a beautiful expensive apartment in the side of a mountain behind a waterfall in the beautiful Bliss Falls Gardens.

Then one day, when my marriage had long ago died, I was speaking to a childhood friend who worked in the local pharmacy. She was lovely, always had been. I decided to ask her to come on SL, because I knew she was into gaming and the net and stuff - she was a kind of female equivalent of me!

SL somehow removes your inhibitions, probably better than alcohol, and she very quickly confessed that she had always liked me, by which I was very pleasantly surprised! We actually set up a date in RL, which went well and ended with a kiss. A few days later my mother died, of cancer.

I built a memorial for her in SL, a large marble column with some text about my mother and how she lived and died. The response was amazing - people started leaving candles and flowers all around it, and sending me messages of sympathy. SL really isn't anything special - the people playing it are.

Within a month, the shock of my mother's departure finally gave me the strength to get the hell out of my wife's house and out on my own. The RL girl and I started from scratch, and a year later we are actually very happily living together. We have a cat named Mal, after our mutual favourite TV show character, Malcom Reynolds! (Firefly) We even now have a baby on the way!

My SL character still exists, and I sometimes pop on and greet my old friends, but right now, my RL is so much more fun! Second Life changed my life, kept me sane when times were extremely tough, and released me back into the world as a happy person. I would recommend it to anyone.

By davidstone78, from the Experience Project.
Images from Gamespot.

How I Spent My Vacation: Elfing

2008-01-04T18:32:00.000-05:00

It is incredibly poor form for an MMO developer to make negative statements about an MMO.

Some of this may sound as though I am doing that.

However, just to be clear: I am enjoying this game as I have enjoyed few others.

As it is meant to be a humorous game, pointing-out funny things about it is not intended to be criticism.

There’s no way of saying anything about the game without illuminating one fact in particular. So rather than appearing to be sarcastic, or blind, I’ll just be direct: The English translation is completely terrible.

For me, that is a great deal of the game’s charm, and personally I hope they don’t ever fix it.

Ok? Ok!

I’ve been playing since the previous beta period. To get into that, I had to post an email address to a public forum, requesting a beta-key be emailed to it. On the one hand, that’s weird. On the other hand, it erased a sense of obligation to provide beta-tester feedback.

Now it’s in open beta, which means you can play without sacrificing an email address to the spam gods.

Since it’s a free-to-play, buy-stuff-if-you-want-to game, this makes the beta pretty much the same as just playing it.

Apart from the localization-issue (i.e. that whomever did it doesn’t know much English, nor that very well), I really haven’t encountered any bugs or incomplete content (er… to level 11, which means the newbie training area seems complete).

They even did in-game holiday events and such, so I haven’t a clue what the beta is testing at this point.

Like any other MMO, after creating a character and strating the game, I was plopped into a town with a quest to talk to the nearest NPC.
Unlike any other MMO, the NPC was completely unrecognizable to me as such, even despite holding a massive GUIDE flag, playing a horn and being twice the size of all other NPCs.

I suppose the developers might read that and think, “Geez! What do we have to do to make it more obvious which NPC you should talk to?!” (if they knew English I mean, which they don’t).

Oh man, nothing at all. My bad, there! (I’d reply if they did, in flawless Mandarin).

The first order of business for any newbie in any MMO is to go kill 5 rats, dogs, or the like.

Here it’s Flame Red Lip Monsters.
One of the coolest features is the local map, and auto-pathing to whatever you right-click. It essentially provides a menu-view of the town, without replacing the town with a menu.

I right-clicked on the exit there, it drew the dotted-red path and my little guy began walking. After closing this map-window, my little guy continued walking.
The specific exit-point is a little glowing teleporter doodad, which zoned me to Setting sun prarie, home of the dreaded Flame Red Lip Monsters.

I was greeted by a nurse.

A wet nurse.
Feel free to lookup the term wet nurse, if you aren’t laughing hysterically at this point.

As I was in no need of… her… yet… I wandered on to find my Lip Monsters.

Suddenly - swoosh-swish - I was in combat. Unfortunately, not with a Lip Monster, but with something far more frightening.

It was a Fart Drillmaster.
In that first fight, I learned how to attack, how to order my pet to attack, that I had a pet, that combat occurred in an off-map combat-screen, and that monster encounters happened the way they do in a lot of console RPGs, rather than the way they happen in a lot of MMOs.

I think my character also gained a level of experience, as did my pet Fluffy Mouse.

It wasn’t long before also learning that a lot of monsters have pets, too.
They were no match for me and my Fluffy Mouse.

With every victory, we gained xp. I also gained potential, and Fluffy Mouse gained discipline.

Sometimes we also found a trophy.
I know you’re wondering what a trophy is, because you don’t know, right? All you need to do is to read the description:
Other times, the only trophy we really needed was a thanks.
Per the norm, quest loot was considerably more appealing. I hope I never need to use my Imperial plus-calcium potato!
All the quests that I completed were all of the kill 5 of this, kill 10 of that, collect 4 of these by killing 4 or more of those sorts, excluding quests sending me from one NPC to another. Stock MMO quests.

One other quest some might consider an exception, was the become-a-soldier-quest itself, after killing 7 of something, being required to swear that my little guy would fight to the death for the Imaginary Goddess.

But most people wouldn’t consider that an exception, and would instead say, “What now? I didn’t really read it.” Stock MMO players.

Radically not stock-MMO, there’s an in-game quest database, organized by zone under each of the tabs, listing every quest by title and level, along with the location, text task, reward, and - if part of a series - the prior and following quest.
I find myself wondering if they are genius enough to have intended it to be available in the live game, smart enough to leave it accessible in the live game, or if it’s strictly a beta-test tool.

If it’s not just for beta… well then, daaaaaaaamn…

I went from a mere level one newbie, with a speed of 5,540…
… to a level 11 soldier with the slightly lower speed of 5262.
Keep in mind, I accomplished this without figuring out what Speed meant.

If that’s some kind of +5k bug, you’d think it’d have an obvious impact on, for example, anything being able to kill me. Not so!
At level 10, there were four professions to choose from, but I already had my mind made-up. Mis-remembering a conversation with an NPC earlier, I thought he’d said soldiers instead of guards, and I was determined to be an Elf of quality and courage.
Screenshots don’t lie though, do they? Guards, he’d said. Oh. Well, I wanted to pick soldier anyway.

My best friend, Fluffy Mouse, was a soldier, after all.
I found the career tutor of the soldier, Chief of 790,000 Imperial Armies, to see if I could become a soldier myself.

At the time, this is what he told me about soldiers.
I love that.

As of today, he says something else.
I can only hope that he actually says both, and that one was not a replacement for the other… That is comedy genius, right there.

Another side to all that comedy is discovered in reading the Lone Wanderer’s description of the Rover class.
Maybe I am an idiot, but when I read that, then the description of soldier made sense to me… whereas before it had not. Though I don’t think of soldiers in the real world this way, in game-terms I have the term fastened to mercenary, thoughtless, uniformed followers - typically up to no good.

But no, man… soldiers. I hope Elf Online doesn’t localize the original idea away.

Another impressive feature I’ll mention is this button.
With just a click…
Bam! Baby mode. I know, right? Why hasn’t anyone else thought of that?

And finally, you have to be impressed with this ingenious anti-cheat system (that is, anti-bot or anti-macro).

About once an hour, a window like this pops-up, assumes focus, and demands you address prior to doing anything else in the game:
‘Anything apart from typing in world-chat, that is, asking what in the hell that means. Depending on the time of day, you might receive numerous answers. All of them will be different, and all will be wrong.

Finally, you’ll just pick something.

Then the next window will open:
You’ll see four icons, none of which were in the first window, except sometimes. Inquiring in world-chat won’t give you as many choices for how to handle it this time, but any you do get will be completely different than the previous explanations, and will also all be wrong.

You’ll have to pick one sooner or later!

You might see this:
Rock on!

Otherwise, you’ll get a system message informing you that you will be logged out in 60 seconds, and that you should just logout right now.

For informational purposes, I will say that I chose the third icon both times in the above test, without knowing why I did, nor having so much as a hypothesis to put to the test.

Does this mean if you pick a shirt the first time then you should pick the shirt the second time? Does it mean you play ‘one of these things is not like the other’, and select ‘the one which does not belong’ (as they used to say on Sesame Street to teach kids that differences democratically determine deportation designations)?

Is the second window is merely a second chance, which I have a 75% chance of seeing, while overall there’s a [insert math] chance of passing the challenge frequently enough that everyone imagines their solution to be working?

I have no freaking idea. I suspect there are three things for one slot, one thing for another, and you should choose the one thing… and likewise suspect you won’t know which slot some of the things you see might belong in.

Bottom line is, humans are much closer to solving this puzzle than any computer a cheater would use against it. Maybe IBM’s research division could build a bigger, bluer computer, or NASA could convince their alien spacecraft SI to work on it. Maybe Google could figure out a way to get more cranial rats within a 10-foot ’server cube’. One of those could potentially solve it more quickly than the average Human.

But I just know there’s got to be some severely specially-abled mental giant out there, so incredibly more brilliant than anyone else, we declared him mentally disabled at a very young age and locked him away. A modern-day Kim Peek, if you will, whom we could impose upon long enough to provide us with the answer.

Sure, to ask for an explanation as well would be much too ostentatious, but with the what, we could work on the why at our leisure, and from both ends of the problem. We could even utilize idle CPU time with distributed computing to crack it, if we weren’t all gamers.

Wait. Isn’t Kim Peek the modern-day Kim Peek? Let’s just ask him.

Wait again. While typing the above brilliant bit of prose, I responded to two more challenges… and yeah, you just pick the one thing that is not like the other things.

200 golden coins, two clicks.

I wonder if that could be automated…

By on Jeff Freeman on Mythical Blog.

Phantasy Star II: A Pictorial History

2008-01-04T16:37:00.000-05:00

Recently my parents cleaned out their attic and brought to my place a huge box of crap from my childhood they'd been keeping and thought I would want. As a kid, I fancied myself a little author-artiste, and was always drawing pictures and making illustrated books. Thus I unearthed this little artifact, done when I was about eight or nine years old, a monument to my fandom of Phantasy Star II on the Genesis. I guess I loved the game so much I decided to make a book about its story. Here are some highlights -- I've scanned my original artwork with my luminous prose transcribed for your benefit. You'll have to forgive my somewhat tenuous grasp on the basic story concepts.When Rolf returned home, his sister Nei saw him pick up his sack and start to leave. Nei cried out, "please Rolf, wherever you're going, take me with you!" "Nei, you're much too young!" stated Rolf. But Nei barred the doorway. Rolf had no choice. He decided to take her with him.
Rolf and Nei laughed for awhile, but their laughter did not last long. A huge fire ant barred their path. "What's THAT?" asked Nei. "It's a biomonster!" Yelled Rolf above the angry roar of the fire ant. Mother Brain was the huge computer that "watched over" the home planet Mota. Due to it's wreckage, small creatures have mutated into gross, vile creatures like the fire ant, called biomonsters. Fire ant spit an array of poison. Nei put up her shield, but too late. She was struck by a ray of poisonous fumes emitted from the fire ant's pincers. Rolf shouted in rage. He ran up and slashed the fire ant.
As they passed through the small, town of Arima, they knew something was wrong. "What happened here?" Rolf asked a passing old man. "Scoundrels from the dungeon Shure blew up all the homes with dynamite, killed all the men and kidnapped all the women," the old man replied. "Shure..." thought Rolf. "Come on, Nei!" But a tall, solid man barred his path. "allow me to introduce myself. My name is Rudolf Steiner, Rudo for short. I don't have any special talents only I am good with a gun, and for that reason, I am a proffesional biomonster hunter. Would it be all right if I joined you on your journey?" Asked the man. "By all means, join us! We need all the help we can get!" Said Rolf. "I hear you are headed for Shure?" Said Rudo. "You heard correct," said Nei. "TO SHURE!!!!!!!!!!"Darum's at Northbridge," said Rudo. "We could rescue his daughter," added Rolf. Slowly the doors of Nido swung open, revealing a drifting damp mist. Nei shivered, and Rolf offered his cloak and Nei took it gratefully. The three pulled themselves up a bar and no sooner were they up on the second level than they heard wailing noise. They noticed a door. They heard the noise again. They burst through the door. A beautiful girl with pure blonde hair was in shackles against the wall. Rolf, in one sweeping motion, freed the girl. "Teim?" Nei was tentative. the girl nodded. "Please take me back to my father." They returned to the door and exited. Rolf put a veil over Teim to hide her identity.

As the party approached Northbridge, a man with a mask on rushed up. "Darum," said Nei under her breath. Darum didn't recognize his daughter. He marched right up to her and said "Hey girl! give me all your money or I'll kill you!" Teim resisted and tried to explain her identity, but Darum wouldn't listen. He drove his sword into the chest of Teim. Nei shut her eyes and Rolf took her hand. Nei opened her eyes. Teim had fallen, and Darum was busy emptying her pockets.

Rolf walked timidly up: "Excuse me, sir, allow me to show your mistake." Rolf gently lifted the veil, revealing what used to be Teim. "Teim!" cried Darum. "Oh what have I done? You won't die alone!" And before Rolf, Nei and Rudo could stop him, Darum stabbed himself and fell by his daughter. "Well," said Nei. Rudo cleared his throat, but said nothing. Rolf covered Darum and Teim in the flowered veil. Then they passed on to the next town.

There was an unpleasant aura about the biosystems lab as they approached. "Well Nei, we're here," said Rudo. Nei nodded. They entered. "You can wait outside, Nei, if you're afraid." "No." "O.K." Rudo got badly hurt on the third floor. Amy helped to heal his wound and they left him there. A container was on the topmost floor. Nei held her nose. "Biomonsters," she said. Rolf opened the container. "The Recorder!" "Hooray!" Called Nei and Amy.

There were four people tied to the wall. They were Kain, Shir, Anna and Hugh. Kain said he would like to join. Shir was a thief. She could steal any weapon, so she joined too. Anna and Hugh became part of the party as well. Rolf picked up the recorder. But two Biomonsters sprang out! Rolf and Co. put up a big fight, but the evil creatures bound the heroes in plasma ring and PRSN CLTHS and sent them to a satellite called Gaira.

On Gaira, they found Rudo tied up in plasmaring and PRSN CLTHS. Although they would have liked to untie him, they couldn't for they were in the same predicament. Suddenly, an alarm sounded and the Gaira sattelite was shifting off its orbit toward Palm! Just as the two things were about to collide, Rolf and party were rescued by a space pirate named Tyler. Rolf, Nei, Rudo, Anna, Amy, Kain, Hugh and Shir were unconscious.
When they awoke they were safely in Tyler's space-ship.Out the window, they saw Gaira crashing into Palm. Palm exploded. Tyler sent the party to Climatrol, where they could look for clues pertaining to the crook who disordered Mother Brain. But on the 7th floor....... "Neifirst!" Cried Nei. "O, sister!" But Neifirst merely responded with a hideous grimace. Puzzled, Nei looked at the masculine weapons and armor that Neifirst was using. "Neifirst, you can't have those male things!" "Fool! You say such things but you're powerless to stop me!" "No, we're NOT!" cried Rolf. "Yeah!" Cried everyone else. "I will slay my sister, and that is all," said Neifirst. "So be it," said Nei, brandishing her LASR. SLSHR. Neifirst threw her Foi pouch at Nei. When the powder cleared, Nei was dead.

By Leigh Alexander (at the age of eight). From Sexy Videogameland.

The Story Of Us

2007-12-29T19:16:00.000-05:00

On a cool Floridian February afternoon, a man walks into a personalized gift store by the name of Things Remembered. He is inquiring about a bracelet he has and wants engraved. He waits behind a middle aged woman to talk to the sales clerk who is explaining the custom design policy to the woman. The sales girl acknowledges him by asking if he has a question or an order to pickup. He shows her the bracelet and she tells him that she could engrave it for him and did he know what he wanted on it? He replies that no, he doesn't quite know yet, and she hands him a book of messages and designs while explaining the pricing to him. He pages through the book, while waiting for the older woman in front of him to cease her incessant questions about the designs.

"I really like this one but instead of a bear could we change that to a frog?"

"Unfortunately we cannot alter any of the designs in the book. If you'd like, we can order a custom made design just for you"

"No no…I don't want to wait that long. What about this one? Can we change the font in this logo?"

"I'm sorry, but again, no we can't alter any of the designs."

The man listens to this conversation between the woman and the sales girl before realizing he is late for his return to work, and must leave. He hands the book back to the sales girl and says he'll come back later on, when he has more time. She thanks him, but her words are drowned out by the older woman who is now asking about engraving on a blanket she has at home…the sales girl wishes she could have gotten to speak with the man more before he left.

About a week or so later, the girl from Things Remembered returns to her home after work and checks her email. She finds a message from a man she does not know that simply reads, "Hi". She ignores it, but does not delete it. A week goes by, then another, and every day the girl sees the email in her inbox and one night, just decides to answer it. She responds with a "hi" of her own and apologizes for the delay. A correspondence begins between the two people. Conversations begin over instant messenger, and after a short time, the man gives her his phone number. She hesitates, but calls anyway. Halfway through their first conversation, he asks if she works at Things Remembered, and she says she does. He asks if she remembers a man with a bracelet or an older woman asking about changing designs, and she remembers.They have dinner together a few days later. The dinner lasts well into the early morning hours moving from a table at TGI Friday's, to the parking lot of Wal-Mart where he changes her headlights for her. She hugs him at the end of the date. The next day, they talk on the phone, and the day after that, they go see a movie together and afterward hang around in the parking lot talking for hours.

She meets his family over Easter, he meets hers over Memorial weekend, they fall in love, twice; first with each other, then with Viva Piñata.

Yes, Viva Piñata. What could be more romantic than a game where you cultivate a garden beautiful and lush enough to attract many species of piñata animals, all with the sole intention of mating them to create a happy piñata ecosystem teeming with wildlife, candy, plants, and fruit bearing trees?

Soon, his Xbox was taken over by her addiction to the game, and he solved the problem by purchasing her own for her as an early birthday gift. They happily played in their gardens for hours, sitting next to each other, each with their separate gaming systems set up, sending piñatas back and forth.

He builds a mine and sends his miners to work; she systematically begins "romancing" all of her animals and steadily climbs toward level 108. His miners are finding emeralds, sapphires, and gold while she builds houses and discovers variants of each animal. He unearths a diamond, deep within the recesses of his mine, and she closes in on the final level. He tucks the diamond away, sure that it would somehow play an important role later on…

So we come to this, the part of the story that has captured international attention. One day, they are both playing happily in their gardens. She is hatching eggs, he is fidgeting in his seat. She receives a crate from him and opens it. His diamond pops out, and the message attached reads "Will you marry me?" She giggles and calls him silly. He slides something into his hand before getting up, walking over to her, and kneeling before her smiles up and says "Really. Will you marry me?" and holds up a beautiful turn of the century diamond ring, an heirloom that has been in his family for its third generation.

She hugs him, says "Yes!" as enthusiastically as she possibly could, and holding her hand, he slips the ring on while she swallows her flutterscotches to give him a kiss…

By Jenn and David Rosowski, AKA Procrasturbate.
Originially on MySpace VPWed.
Also see, original forum post. Images from Gamespot.

Girlfriend Leaves Town. Boyfriend Finishes Game. Fair Or Foul?

2007-12-29T18:58:00.000-05:00

When in a relationship, a lot of times “mine” becomes “ours.”

Sometimes that can be quite convenient, like when “Super Mario Galaxy” was released a couple of weeks ago and instead of paying 50 bucks for it, I only paid 25.

The day my boyfriend, Dan, and I got the game home and unwrapped it, a few decisions had to be made about how we would split our purchase. We decided we’d explore the new “Mario” adventure together under his Mii and take turns playing the different levels. When one of us needed a drink break, the other took over. When the phone rang, the controls were handed off. When a really cool world popped up, we each took a stab at it. When friends came over, we gave them some time with the game. All was going well, and we had amassed 19 stars as a team.

Then Thanksgiving arrived. I headed to my parents’ Wii-free home to feed myself all the turkey and stuffing I could handle instead of feeding star bits to Hungry Lumas. The day after Thanksgiving, I received this picture message on my phone:

Thirty-six stars! Dan had nearly doubled our total. Part of me was happy he was keeping himself busy since the rest of our roommates and most of our friends in the area had gone out of town for the holiday, but the other part of me felt left behind. What had he discovered in the game that I hadn’t seen yet? How far was he from saving the Princess?

“Nice” was all I could muster for a text-message response to the picture. I probably should have written, “WAIT FOR ME!” but I bit my tongue (or sat on my hands, I guess, as far as texting is concerned).

Then the next day, another cell phone message: “So much Mario … over 50 stars.”

Couldn’t he read the underlying message in my previous “nice” response? I mean, come on, if I had been excited about his rapid progression, I would have included an exclamation point or a smiley face, obviously. At this point, I was at a hockey game, so instead of straining a phony response, my next text read, “Red Wings tie it up!”

It was official: My Mario “team” had cut me loose and gone ahead without me. “Fine,” I thought. “I’ll just start a new game with my Mii when I get home and beat the game first!”

No such luck. When I called Dan on Sunday to confirm my airport pickup time, the inevitable had come true. “I beat the game!” he exclaimed. I feigned enthusiasm but was secretly bummed to have missed out on the achievement. It wasn’t the same when he beat Prince of Persia: Rival Swords months earlier, because I didn’t have a lifelong connection with that video game like I do with the “Mario” franchise.

But enough of my whining — what am I going to do about it? Well, I’ll start from scratch. The upside to this situation is I have my own personal intergalactic tour guide. There will be no more searching through the guidebook to find how to pull a lever. The truth is, we probably never should have shared a character from the start. A video game is something you need to explore at your own pace, and one person is bound to put in more time than the other.

By Katie Byrne. Originially at MTV Multiplayer.
Images from MTV Multiplayer and Gamespot

My Socom Story

2007-12-27T17:15:00.000-05:00

Sit down, my friends, and I shall tell you a tale.

In the beginning, when God created Socom, when the newbie cannon was the M63, the map of choice was Frostfire, and the claymores dominated the hostage room of Desert Glory, there was a young lad by the name of (NMC) C-MAN. He was a good friend, and a great player.

I speak of Socom, not of Socom II, mind you. In the time I speak of, the game was pure; there were no ghosts in the walls and the end-of-round screen clearly displayed that people were downed with 2-3 shots.

But I digress.

(NMC) C-MAN was once happily sitting at his couch in front of his modest 19 inch color television, bought nearly 20 years before to watch the 1984 Summer Olympics. In this late winter of 2003, C-MAN had no idea of the challenge he would face that afternoon after period seven. After about forty minutes of comfortable grenading to the soothing voice of a Russian terrorist singing the words Au Shlaa Grenada, C-MAN decided to change to the less familiar scene of Rat's Nest, which was then blanketed with bright sunshine. The enemy was formidable. It would be that game, when the rounds were tied five-five, that would test C-MAN's abilities.

Because he and his teammates were on the terrorist side, the initial plan was obviously to wait behind the sheet metal in the cavernous tunnels with claymores positioned at every corner. Had he known of the immense attack the opposition was plotting, C-MAN may have agreed and camped as well. As the round started, however, and C-MAN ran left to an opening beneath a blue cloud-spotted sky, he heard the cries of teammates dying and the roar of claymores exploding in vain. The noise was from the right side of the terrorist starting point. C-MAN's right thumb moved to the O button, and he awkwardly placed an unused left finger to substitute control of the right analog stick. In a weak voice he asked what happened on the right side, but because he had instinctively been watching the top of the screen for tactical messages, he already knew there would be no answer. Seven terrorists were fragged by M67s and HEs. Not one of them had killed a seal. It was eight on one.

C-MAN tapped the L2 button, and a black grenade appeared in the bottom left of his screen. He turned around from the opening and headed back to his own base. His right index was fully pressed, which filled the circular, yellow reticle and gauged a throw of about a hundred and fifty feet. He popped around the corner of the left side of the enormous underground room he had started from. "FIRE IN THE HOLE" appeared six times in yellow letters in the message box. Each grenade soared across the room and landed behind the corrugated metal standing upright in between the wall and a vertical wooden pole. As the sixth one flew, he heard the fourth frag a seal. Seven.

After frantically searching for a body, he found a dead terrorist and dove on his body. He was rewarded with four claymores. Air blew forth from the heater in his livingroom. Although it was warm, it caused his body to erupt in goose-bumps. Focusing again on the right-side opening of his base, he laid down six rounds of cover fire, leaving 94 left on his clip. As he turned around to leave the starting place again, he saw small clouds of dirt flying off the walls and heard hisses from the left speaker. They were in pursuit. C-MAN brushed the hair away from his sweaty forehead. He opened the menu to get his claymores and placed one just outside the left entrance to the base, facing away from the base. He backed away, and placed another behind the first metal panel after the opening. A mental timer went off in his head. He fired his M60 at the entrance as he walked backwards. The cross-hairs widened and rose above the middle of the screen. 94, 93, 92, 91, 90, 89, 88, 87; the bullets seemed to travel in slow motion. But they hit their mark. Six.

C-MAN backed to the right, which would have been to the left if he were facing forward. He placed another claymore around the corner, once again facing away from the direction he had just come from. And then he waited.

He didn't have to wait long; he knew it would only be a matter of seconds. He had hoped that when the first seal appeared in front of his last claymore, the others behind him would be in front of the other claymores.

One tan-camouflaged seal in a cotton, brimmed hat hurled around the last corner. C-MAN's index twitched, then plunged over the R1 button. The seal in front of him was blasted to the ground. Five, he thought, and as he glanced in the message box he anxiously confirmed what he had hoped: two more seals had been killed in the other blasts. Three.

He continued to back away, pressing down fully on the trigger and watching the numbers in his clip diminish. Another seal came around the corner. C-MAN nearly smiled as his cross-hairs went red over the charging seal, but his facial muscled contracted when the last two followed their crewman into the diminishing smoke of the last claymore. Guns roared and bullets flew. C-MAN's left joystick was smooth like a pendulum but unpredictable like this week's lotto numbers. He strafed left and right. The first of the three to appear was already dead, having walked right into C-MAN's heated barrel. Two.

The last, however, were just as random as he. Their movements were executed perfectly to avoid his fire. Soon, C-MAN knew, they would have to reload, and he still had a bit of a clip left. Indeed, they did reload. The opportunity was not what C-MAN had hoped it would be, but it was not completely futile. Blood squirted from the torso of one of the seals, and from the left shoulder of the other. But neither went down.

The standoff continued. C-MAN's clip was now running low, but his senses told him that their clips were low as well. In a few seconds, C-MAN, the two live seals, and the thirteen dead comrades heard the loudest silence of their lives. In was the sound of three magazines changing at once; from two M4A1SDs and one M60E3. Six feet scurried back and forth over the dirt.

All guns were once again ready, and the sound of the heavy machine gun poured through TV speakers. C-MAN heard none of it. No sound went in his ears, and he saw nothing but the yellow cross-hairs. His bullets tore through the neck of one of the seals. The seal's head went back as he threw up a pint of blood. One.

C-MAN gently pushed his right thumb to move the cross-hairs over the last remaining seal. His gun pulsed round after round into the seal's supple belly. At the same time, the seals silent bullets were slipping past C-MAN's blue turban. One penetrated the cloth.

The firing stopped. In perfect synchrony, the seal and the terrorist fell to their knees, and collapsed face first into the floor of the cave.

C-MAN knew that the first sign of victory would be Zipper's rendition of Turmkmenistan music.

No harmonious minor chords were to be heard.

The seals had won.

C-MAN died that day, never to return. I retired his name and started anew. Another legend was born, and his name was StealthFire.

By StealthFire on the PlayStation Forums
Images from GameSpot

Dead Men Walking

2007-12-23T22:36:00.000-05:00

I'm playing the game single-player. Kane, Lynch and crew are escaping a failed bank heist, and must clear a roadblocked highway tunnel to proceed. As Kane, I run down the tunnel looking for an exit, when suddenly a cop car screeches up to block the way. Two cops jump out, a man driving and a female officer with a shotgun. I shoot and kill the man, then wing the woman, pitching her to the ground still alive but disarmed. My personal style is to coldly walk up to any maimed enemies and execute them with a pistol shot, just to stay in character.

As I walk up to the female cop, she starts talking to me: "Please, I have a baby daughter at home. I don't want to die, don't do this to me." It gives me pause: I think, lord that's bleak. Alright, maybe I'll let this one live. Maybe the ambulance will get here in time, and--suddenly, from off screen, a blast of buckshot tears into the cop's face. I turn around to find Lynch standing there, pumping a fresh shell into his shotgun's chamber.

By Steve Gaynor at ShackNews on December 14, 2007. Image from Gamespot

Sun Rock Story

2007-12-23T17:33:00.000-05:00

I was questing near Sun Rock Retreat in WoW one night with these two other toons. One, just from the way she wrote, was clearly a girl. About 15 minutes in, she /w

"do you like me?"

Knowing that my wife was not looking, I wrote back

"yes. definitely."

She wrote back:

"no, seriously, because this other guy is telling me that he thinks you are fighting the way you are to show off for me."

At that point, I opened up the discussion to all three of us. We retreated to one of those little mounds in the center of the zone and talked about love, difficulties and personal issues. At one point the guy said,

"I had a terrible relationship with my mom. Sometimes I get so angry about it I just punch the walls in my house."

The next night, I was in Sun Rock, turning in quests and repairing, when I saw the girl from the night before. We were chatting about the scene the night before, how weird it was, how awesome WoW was that that could happen, etc. Suddenly, she cried out, her chest exploded in blood, and a lvl 60 alliance rogue appeared behind her, ganked her with one backstab.

It was the most shocking thing I've ever experienced in a game... This girl, who was starting to be a friend, killed in front of me, her blood splashed on my face.

Then the rogue one-hit me. No single player game could ever match that experience.

By Matthew, in a comment on GameSetWatch on June 20, 2007.
Image from SpiritHoof.

Dear Guy with the Flag in the Motorcycle Sidecar in Multiplayer COD3 Last Night

2007-12-23T09:01:00.000-05:00

I’m sorry.

There I was, with 11 of my Axis teammates in the lush Forêt d'Ecouves, locked in a Capture the Flag stalemate with only 2 minutes left on the clock.

Slowly making my way towards the enemy HQ, using every available fallen tree and piece of brush for cover, I knew that my prospects for success were dim. The Allies had tenaciously rebuked every assault thus far. And, as one of the Medic class, I knew my standard-issue trench gun (A shotgun so named for the brutally effective job it did so well in the real war) wouldn’t be much good if I came across someone packing even a medium range weapon and a good eye. But still, I pressed on.

That’s when I heard it – shots at 12 o’clock. I’d been discovered. My heart sank as I waited for the inevitable flash of red that would mean my end. And then – I saw you.
Cresting the hill in front of me, Allied flag in hand, running towards our base at full gallop. For a second, time froze, a scene from a movie in still life.

“The motorcycle goddamnit! The motorcycle!” you cried desperately, bullets whizzing by. Breaking from my reverie, I spun around and spotted the bike, idling in a nearby ditch. I jumped in the drivers seat and got the tires on the road just as you slid into the passenger seat, precious cargo in tow.

For a moment, as brothers now, you and I, we shared the thrill of victory. You let out a small laugh of relief as I gunned the gas and steered us towards home. Who knows what horrors you endured to get that flag and make it halfway across the map still intact. Now, speeding away from the enemy, you must have felt that you had cheated death, somehow.
Yes, for a moment, we had won. Then, I promptly drove us into a tree, and your pursuers gunned us down like dogs.

Your plaintive cry of “Noooooooo!” still rings in my ears.

That the Allies subsequently scored and won with only 3 seconds left on the clock not doubt only made you curse my name more.

Dear guy with the flag in the motorcycle sidecar...
I’m sorry.

By Awesomated on NeoGaf
Images from GameSpot

Today, I Encountered Something that Completely Woke Up My Conscious

2007-12-23T07:00:00.000-05:00

I was playing Assassin's Creed today, riding through the Kingdom on my way to Acre, and something remarkable happened today.

To start off, I've never been much of a "politcally correct" person, and not someone to protest against violence. I came across a fairly large French encampment towards the West side of the map, and found close to a hundred soldiers in total doted throughout the site. Section of tents by section of tents, I killed them all, usually about 5 or 6 at a time, usually by assassinating one or two, then facing the rest by sword.

Then, I came across two tall outposts made of wood. I climbed the first one, to find a guard cowering in fear at the top. I didn't really notice what he was doing, being so used to killing the soldiers on site at the moment, so I grabbed him and threw him off, to his death.

I ran to the next outpost, climbed up, and found one soldier at the top. He was down on his knees, cowering in fear, holding his hands in a pleading manner. I was about to throw him off like the last, but I stopped and thought about it. I literally sat, staring at the screen, and the soldier's pleading face for 5 minutes. I turned around and climed down the ladder, to kill some other Franks by the tent.

Now, you don't have to put much thought into this. Hell, I'm not even putting much thought into it, but it's interesting. It made me think, that's all, not necessarily about anything, just think.

By Shnozzle from the PlayStation Forums on November 20, 2007.
Image from The Gamers Gallery

A Warstory

2007-12-22T18:03:00.000-05:00

The other day my friend, Zaloko, and I were playing Battlefield 2. The server chose Songhoa Stalemate (one of the better maps), and per usual I played sniper. Zaloko chose support with the medic, and also happened to be an adept pilot. We resolved to work together and put our phones on speaker to create a tactical advantage. Zaloko has logged over ten in flight hours in Battlefield 2, thats a ton of flying. As such, we spawned and jumped right into a helicopter to lead the Chinese charge. As we flew over enemy territory (not for long, hehheh) Zaloko ordered, "Look right! Take them out!" "GAAHHH!," I yelled, fumbling with all the sniper positions. F2, F3, too many. Suddenly, Zaloko was yelling at me "Eject! Eject!" By the time I realized what was happening we were crashing straight into the ground. "Which button?" I shouted back! I pressed keys frantically but it was too late. "You will spawn in 20 seconds," the game told me. But it didn't matter, we were laughing too hard to be bothered by failure.We respawned and met up. "Hey!" I wondered, "Is friendly fire on?"Neither of us knew. "Don't move," I ordered. So I scrolled to my pistols and shot him in the head point-blank. And at the exact same time, Zaloko shot me. We laughed. "I guess so." Two health packs later we were on our merry way to capture a flag. I arrived at the crest of a hill overlooking an enemy base, which they'd recently captured (second Chinese flag from the left, in picture). I think every player in the map was there. The enemy was scrambling like ants. I lay prone and aimed down my M24 bolt-action rifle. Sometimes, players aren't too intelligent. Three U.S. players all went to the same open space in the base, and lay down on top of each other; their heads were overlapping. I couldn't help but laugh at the free kill they were providing. One shot, two kills. PWN3D.
Epilogue:
Woah! I forget this awesome part. There was an enemy tank nearby and I'm like, "I'm going to run over and blow it up." And I ran over and planted two C4 on the tank's side, quickly dodging out of the way before it blasted into char. It was awesome. Best. Game. Ever.

By Finn Haverkamp. AKA, Gryffin.
Originally Posted on Invisible Studio.

My Game Story: Tags

2007-12-22T17:46:00.000-05:00

Blogger, like other blog-posting hosts, allows for the attachment of labels or "tags" at the bottom of the post. We have devised a specific format for tagging posts on My Game Story for the readers' convenience. As an author you do not need to worry about your story tags, we'll take care of it. But as a reader, you may be curious about the tagging format. The format works much like a works cited format, like MLA. But ours is specifically for stories on this site. The tag format is below.

Author, Title, Story Format (if non-writing), Story Genre, Game Name, Mod (If Applicable), Gaming Event/Competition (if applicable), Other

However, because of the way blogger works, the labels will almost never appear in this order. Blogger orders the labels alphabetically, not the way in which the author orders them.

My Game Story: Submission Guidelines

2007-12-22T16:55:00.000-05:00

We want your story. And, we want to know about stories you've read. These are the guidelines for submitting stories to this website. If you are unsure whether or not your story satisfies the submission of acceptance guidelines, submit the story anyway and we'll determine if its right for the site or not.

Tip
Read a story or saw a video you thought was good? Tip us off. Email us at mygamestory@gmail.com with a description and link to the story, putting "Story Tip" in the subject line. If you tip us off to a story we will include your name in that story post.
Videos that are not your own should be "tipped" and not submitted. Instructions for submitting your own videos are below. At the bottom of each story, we will include a link to where the story could originally be found, if applicable. So rest assured your or someone else's site or forum will receive credit for an original post.

Submission Guidelines
First, make sure you have read the Acceptance Guidelines.
Email us your story at: mygamestory@gmail.com

Include in the subject line the title of the story.

Include in the email body a short two to three sentence description of your story.

All written stories themselves should be attached to the email as a document. We accept .doc, .rtf, and .odt formats.

We accept videos in two ways: either as an attachment to the email or linked to in the email body. If you are indifferent, we prefer if the video itself is either directly attached to the email or that a link is provided to where the video can be download directly.

We accept videos uploaded to external websites, like YouTube. In this case, you should link to the video in the email body and clarify the name of the person who captured the video, the person who uploaded the video to the website, and, if possible, a list of names of all the players included in the video.

Naming: The name of story authors is according to the preference of the authors themselves. You may chose to use your real name, player name, or user name. You may even submit all three, all of which would be included in the story body. However, we need to know which name you would like to specify as story author, reason being, author's names will be included in the post tag. We will only post one name for the author tag.

Images: We prefer if images are posted inside the story to break up a big block and for visual reference. Please attach any images you would like posted, or include links to where these posts can be found in the email body. Also, in the email body specify where you would like each image to be posted throughout the story. For example, "after the second paragraph."

Game Referencing
All titles of games should be italicized. Games are an art medium just like books or movies, and therefore the titles should be treated as such.

Quality and Length
My Game Story stresses quality over quantity. Quality does not mean length. Stories and videos may be as long or as short as you desire. However, My Game Story is not only for archival of video games stories, but also quality writing. We ask that you review and edit your work before submission. That said, we will take a look at any story you want to submit. Just send it in, you have nothing to lose. Story submission does not guarantee the story will be posted.

Uniqueness
We seek individuality among stories. Stories may not be accepted if another, previously accepted story discusses the exact same event in the same way. However, stories of the same event may be accepted if each is unique, if it recounts the events from a different perspective, or expounds upon the previous story, or just brings something new to the table that hasn't been previously seen.

Editing and Revision
We reserve the right to edit minor grammatical errors or misspellings or edit certain aspects so as to conform with the website conventions. We will not edit entire sentences or even words. We will not change the story in any way outside of minor mistakes or typos. We may reply to your email submission asking you to revise the story in some way, for example, for greater clarity on some point. You retain the right to ignore our resubmission request.

Disclaimer
We reserve the right to accept or reject any story or video for any reason. Also, we may accept your story but not immediately submit it. We may delay posting a story because of an over-abundance of similar game or story genre at the time of acceptance. We strive to maintain post-diversity at My Game Story.

My Game Story: What We Are and What We Aren't

2007-12-22T15:14:00.000-05:00

My Game Story is a hub for video game stories. Stories come in many forms, written, video, even comics. There are also many genres of storytelling, including fiction, non-fiction, and essays. We recognize that stories can be expressed in numerous ways and that some stories are better suited to certain genres or forms than others. My Game Story aims to cast a broad net over storytelling. We like to include as much forms of expression as possible, with one exception. My Game Story will not be archiving fictional stories, or, more commonly, fan-fiction.

Here is the general rule: all stories must be true, founded on truth, or based on the factual. My Game Story accepts non-fiction only. We have decided not to include fictional stories for a simple reason; we want all posted stories to be based in actuality or truth, even if, perhaps, the truth is stretched a tad. This is not only acceptable convention for non-fiction, it is expected. And considering our cultural use of exaggeration, stories will, and probably should, include some additional spice. It makes for a better story.

I should stress that we do truly appreciate fiction. I personally like to write, primarily, in the genre of creative short-fiction. Additionally, video game fiction can be truly impressive writing, such as the humorous stories of GameSpy's David 'Fargo' Kosak. That said, we feel there are other venues for fictional game stories available. My Game Story is for true stories only. Please read the Welcome Message for an explanation.

Below is a list of the genres and formats we accept at My Game Story:

Non-Fiction Stories
Poetry
Histories
Artwork and Comics
Videos

Poetry, Artwork, and Comics are self-explanatory. The others may not be so. For your convenience we've provided short descriptions of the other formats/genres.

Non-Fiction
Non-fiction is true stories, stories based on truth, or stories founded in factuality. These can be written with any voice, tense, or from any person you desire. They can be about an awesome experience you had while playing Starcraft. Or, stories can be more personal, like how Super Mario Bros. allowed you to connect to your daughter emotionally, for example. The universe is open to you. Write whatever you want about anything you want however you want to say it, as long as its based on true events. Please note, we accept stories about published games, independent games, mods for games, even flash games. As long as its an experience you had while actually playing some sort of game, it counts.

Histories
This genre is different from non-fiction, though the two can certainly overlap. As part of the My Game Story mission statement, we want to record stories about game experiences, but also histories of video games themselves. Histories are about specific video games, development studios or publishing houses, or game designers. An example would be a history about the the game Zero Wing and the resultant "All Your Base" viral phenomenon early in the century (someone please write this, or find it). Or, one could write a history about Alex Pajitnov and his eighth wonder of the world, Tetris. We feel these are equally important as non-fiction stories about game experiences. Naturally, though, we don't expect to receive them quite as often. And thats alright.

Videos
This may seem self-explanatory but our acceptance can be a bit tricky. We do accept multiple styles of narrative video, stressing, however, captured footage of gameplay. We also accept edited or directed pieces about video games or gaming events, as these would classify as histories. We do not accept gameplay tutorial videos. We do not accept machinima, as these are fictional. But we do accept pseudo-machinima, such as movies made with Lionhead Studios' The Movies, which is technically footage of, and the purpose, of the game and includes unpredictable elements.

Captured footage can be off-screen or direct-capture. Gameplay videos may be edited or spliced to include title screens and credits, for example, as long as the final video stays true to the actual events and does not falsify the happening or allow room for misinterpretation. Videos can even be directed. An acceptable video, for example, would be one in which the director deliberately demonstrated "the black hole" glitch in Super Smash Bros. Melee.

We also accept documentaries, being video versions of histories. An acceptable documentary would be coverage of a Major League Gaming tournament.

Lastly, after much deliberation, we have decided to not accept comb-videos. Here are a variety of reasons. For one, there are already a multitude of venues available for this format, combovideos.com, for example. Second, we want to focus on individual, exciting occurrences in video games. While combo-videos are awesome in their own right, and produce nice compilations of things achievable in specific games, they aren't exactly stories. Third, we would like to maintain diversity of story format and we fear there would be an influx of combo-videos. However, a documentary about Johnathan 'Fatal1ty' Wendel would be acceptable, though it many elements similar to a combo-video.

Collaborations and Series
Another option is collaborations. You are welcome to collaborate with other gamers and storytellers. For example, it is likely that some will have memorable game experiences but want friends to write the story for them. This is acceptable. Also, an infinite amount of people may contribute to the writing of a story. When submitting the story, be sure to give credit to all authors.

Last, we accept episodic stories. Perhaps you would like to write a diary of your experience playing World of Warcraft; if the story is structured well, has purpose, and is compelling, we will accept the story in episodes and post each entry individually. When submitting intended episodic stories, be sure to indicate that the story is or will be part of a larger series.

This post will be changed, updated and expanded upon as the site progresses. Also, any or all acceptance policies are subject to change, though we're likely to become more lenient than strict. Don't let this post discourage you. Though it may seem intimidating, we accept most any story you have to tell. Send them to us. We and millions of other gamers want to hear your story.

Please read and comply with the submission guidelines before sending in your stories.

Updated on 01/06/07. Changed "Comics" to "Artwork."

Welcome to My Game Story

2007-12-21T22:38:00.000-05:00

Storytelling is an intrinsic part of our being. As humans we have a natural urge to share our selves and stories. No where is this more evident than with video games. A passion for sharing experiences is at the heart of video game culture. "You should have seen this game of Pac-Man last night. You will not believe what happened."

My Game Story is founded on this passion for sharing. Video games have been around for forty years, and with them, stories. There are millions of stories out there, floating around our culture, just wanting to be told. Particularly with the ever rising popularity in dynamic multiplayer experiences, amazing stories are happening every day, every minute--stories that make us laugh, or cry, or think. Even now, you are remembering "that one time" you had with some game, old or new. We want to hear your story.

My Game Story is a place to share. This site also acts as an archive for all the amazing stories, both today or long past, experienced by gamers. The purpose of this site is to be a hub for game-story sharing. I know there are innumerable stories out there, sketched in notebooks, posted on forums, captured on film, or inside of you. We can't wait to hear them.

Please read the Acceptance Guidelines and the Submission Guidelines and information about post Tags.