WoW Confessions

It started out innocently enough. I was having lunch with Ryan, the editor of the podcast, and he was giving me a bad time about my lack of game time recently.

"There's all this Game on Girl talking and yet you're rarely on Steam."

I confessed that my professional and personal life has gotten in the way of "serious" gaming but that I still game socially everyday. I then sent him an invite to Bookworm Heroes, my new social gaming addiction. A little role play, a little word building. Pretty much perfect for the amount of time I have to game right now.

From there we started discussing other games we played together.

"What was that one game we started that we didn't really get back to?" asked Ryan.

"Which one? That's most of the games we've all played recently."

"The MMO?"

"Oh Guild Wars 2."

"Right. That one. That was the last big one we all got together and didn't play."

So I asked because the answer had been bugging me for awhile: "Why didn't you like it, Ryan?"

"It wasn't WoW."

He said it. What I had been thinking for ages but had never said. As much as I loved the streamlined questing, the story elements, and the artwork of Guild Wars 2, I couldn't engage with the game the way I normally would with an MMO. I couldn't figure out why... I think in part it was timing and the other part was the lack of commitment from my fellow gamers. We just didn't "click" with Guild Wars 2 as a group.

So then I said it.

"I miss WoW. I miss playing Sunnybee (my main avatar - a human warlock)."

Ryan said, "Yeah me too. You were just getting good with Sunny when we quit."

It was true. I wrote about the first time we all raided together and the satisfaction I felt from that experience. We had managed to get decent gear and I was finally understanding spell durations and not to "clip" my duration spells. It was also one of the first times we had all worked together as a group.

We started talking about going back to WoW, resurrecting our accounts and old friends (avatars) and how it might actually be fun to <gasp> play a panda. A hush fell over the table and Ryan said, "After all the grief you've given WoW, after all the stuff you've said about Blizzard on the show, how can you go back?"

I thought for a moment about going back in secret... starting a new account and not telling anyone, perhaps most importantly one of my closest gaming friends, Mark, who was furious with Blizzard after D3 and pandas and pokemon pets. But I knew that would be beyond disingenuous. Game on Girl was created based on my gaming experience and has grown into something amazing and dynamic and awesome and I couldn't start lying about that.

It's been a couple of weeks since this conversation and Ryan started a new trial account to test the waters. I've been tempted but I still haven't committed myself to going back into the WoW fray. I can't quite bring myself to do it even though the thought of playing again is compelling. The time commitment keeps me from opening a browser and reinstalling the game.

So, dear readers, I ask you: what is a gamer to do? To WoW or Not to WoW? Please leave your thoughts in the comments.

Episode 61 - Tropes vs Women in Video Games: Damsel in Distress Part 1

I know you've all been waiting for this discussion. Anita Sarkeesian's Tropes vs Women in Video Games is perhaps one of the most talked about and anticipated YouTube video series about video games.

We analyze her argument in the first episode, Damsel in Distress Part 1, and its relation to many of the discussions we have at Game on Girl. Joining me and Rhonda is Toria Spencer, one of the writers for the site for an engaging discussion that ranges from religion, to wrestling, to the significance of dames. 

We'd love to hear your comments about our discussion and your thoughts on Tropes vs Women in Video Games. Leave your comments here, follow us on Twitter, or "Like" us on Facebook.

Until next time, game on!
Regina & Rhonda & Toria 

Episode 61

Tropes vs Women in Video Games is Live!

Anita Sarkeesian's video series for Tropes vs. Women in Video Games has launched! I've included the Youtube clip of the first episode here, figuring it was relevant to our mission here at Game on Girl. I for one think she's done a very good job introducing the "damsel in distress" trope here, and look forward to part 2. I'm also glad to see the series come to fruition; Sarkeesian received a grotesque and disturbing amount of misogynist rebuttal and belittling (and I'm putting it mildly) for this project. The ugly reality of the divide, at least online, of male gamers who seemingly are incredibly ignorant about women playing games and that they too have a right to contribute to the medium is dumbfounding to me. However, I'll save that for another time (next week, maybe?). For more of Anita's work, check out her blog Feminist Frequency, and she has further examples of damsels on her Tumblr.

Why I Left Facebook Gaming

Ok, so I didn’t leave it completely.  I still play Words with Friends with one person (only one, mind you; ok, occasionally with two, but only those two!) and an “action adventure” game called Castle Age, mainly because I’ve belonged to a few really strong guilds there and have met many wonderful people with whom I do not want to lose touch.  (I have one other game loaded because a friend of mine works on it, but honestly, I haven’t played it in ages and occasionally try others, but tend to leave them after a day or two.)  

But all the other games:  FarmVille,  Vampire Wars, Ravensky City, CastleVille, Hidden Chronicles, Marvel: Avengers Alliance, the Sims Social, Hatchlings, ChefVille, My Zoo, Adventure Something, some other dragon game, some cute little critter game, a game referencing Middle-earth, another dragon-ish game (these last few, now all apparently gone), I simply stopped playing and deleted them from my account.

Why?  Usually the answers were, for the most part, pretty simple.  Sometimes it was because the game was poorly produced and difficult to play, either in controls or in constant errors needing reloads.  Sometimes the game play was insipid.  Sometimes playing the game seemed overly complicated or mundanely slow.  Sometimes it was because I wasn’t getting enough bang for my buck (and seeing that the games were free, at least free to play, that says something about the satisfaction that came from playing).  I simply did not want to put my time in - and believe me, these games can end up eating a helluva lot of time! - with something that just didn't satisfy.

The most frustrating reason I have for leaving a game - and unfortunately, what has caused me to leave quite a few games - is when greed becomes the main motivation for the game existing.  Not on the part of the players (necessarily) but the company that built it and/or runs it.  Greed for exposure, greed for publicity, greed for the bottom line.  I’m not adverse to a company making a profit - profit is a necessary in order for a company to be a "going concern".  Profits are what allow designers and admins to live, to have homes and feed their families, it's what allows for new games to be developed and current ones to be perfected.  I completely understand that no one and no company can live on good deeds alone, and I abhor those gamers who keep defaulting to the greed of developers when a game doesn’t live up to their expectations (no matter how extreme or unrealistic those expectations are).

But when a game seems to exist only to force the player to promote it on their news feeds in order to play, or the only way one can advance except in miniscule, incremental levels is to actually pay for adequate energy, stamina, tokens, whatever to actually accomplish anything, or causes the player to have to beg other players to send them gifts or items needed to advance… that’s just sad.  And maddening.

These kinds of games claim to be free, but like the proverbial crack dealer on the playground, they suck you in at no cost but do their best to addict you to their game so that you then will spend money in order to play in a significant manner, or make it so that you have to pay in order to partake in the most fun aspects of the game.  Or, if you still refuse to pay out cash and settle for a slower advancement, you end up competing with and against those who do have the resources to buy buffs, tokens, energies, equipment and extra life.  This makes it not so much of an unfair advantage for those players (my choice, their advantage)  but makes it so that there is never a chance for a level playing field.  I'd much rather a gaming company come right out and tell you the you will need a subscription to play a game, rather than keep dangling the only really fun aspects of the game for those who will pay for the ability.

In my next post, I will take a closer look at one of these social media gaming companies:  Zynga.

Game Music and Me, We Go Way Back: Body Harvest (N64)

This is certainly not on the list of usual suspects in terms of N64 gaming music...but it ought to beI may be taking a hiatus from these following this particular article; they haven't generated a lot of commentary. This may be my fault. I'm just babbling about music that has left a tangible impact on my gaming psyche, and perhaps I'm leaving you all out too much in my recollections. I'm not sure. Maybe I'm just being too harsh on myself. :p If you've been enjoying these at all, let me know! It'll motivate me to keep on keeping on or something.

Anyway, instead of diving into a broad pool of gaming music by console like I have been, I'd like to instead put the spotlight onto a particular game's soundtrack. In this case, it's the vastly underrated score for the forgotten N64 action/shooter Body Harvest. If you'd like some background on the game, I just so happen to have written a lengthy piece on the game for Hardcore Gaming 101 that may be of interest. For those who would like the Cliff Notes version, I'll summarize: Body Harvest was originally announced before the launch of the Nintendo 64, to be published by Nintendo and was developed by Lemmings and Grand Theft Auto developer DMA Design. Nintendo and DMA had conflicting opinions on how to design the game; Nintendo hoped to convince DMA to make Body Harvest a RPG, but DMA wasn't really interested in going that way. Eventually, Nintendo backed out, leaving the game in a brief bit of limbo. Midway stepped in to publish the game in America, and DMA Design was bought out by Gremlin, which was bought out by Rockstar/Take 2 Interactive, and now are best known for...well, I did say Grand Theft Auto a few moments ago. :p The game itself is a solid if slightly clunky experience that shows a lot of the same design philosophies as GTA3, but I think it controls better. :p

Stuart Ross and Allan Walker were responsible for composing the game, and the quality of the instrumentation and the stunning arrangements are a definite highlight for a console not well regarded for its sound hardware. Most people would probably point to Zelda: Ocarina of Time as the finest example of musical excellence on the N64, but not I. Body Harvest exceeds in terms of its stunning sampling and striking emotional weight leaves me awe-struck. Here's a sample:

Such a excellent piece. It's one of the random "indoors" themes that occur whenever Adam, the protagonist, steps into a cave, house or other building. What I love about it is how it conveys both a sense of safety and tension. Aliens are lurking about outside, and while Adam is escaping any fear of harm inside, it's only a temporary state. He will have to return to the fray at some point, and I think this and other indoor themes display this duality quite well.

So, is there an underrated soundtrack you'd like to pop? Want to further talk about Body Harvest? Just want to say "you're doing fine, Jerry?" Let me know in the comments!