Free Realms is fun

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Free Realms is a new MMO, developed by Sony Online Entertainment. (http://www.freerealms.com) The game is one of the newest of the free to play games (FTP).  You can be online and play for free, but you get more content if you spend money in game, or if you pay an additional subscription fee, in this case a relatively inexpensive $5.00 per month, US dollars.  From what I’ve read, the “free to play” part doesn’t appear to be the proverbial “bait and switch” – it looks like you get a lot of game for free.

The game is ostensibly targeted to, as SOE puts it – “everyone young at heart: tweens, teens, and families alike. It’s a rich and magical world where even parents are welcome. In fact, you’ll want to jump right in and play with your kids! ”  http://www.freerealms.com/forParents.vm

Gameplay is stunningly diverse.  You can fight monsters, explore new areas, train pets, mine for things like shiny gems, cook, race cars, and play minigames. I may have left something off the list – there’s so much of it.  The game is set in a fantasy world, but not a heavy, dark one. The look of the game is bright, lively, pretty in parts, with a great sense of design.  It’s like a fun wacky cartoon you get to be in.  You can also play as a character (an avatar) with wings!  If I have a choice, I’m always going to play someone with wings.  Why would you not? 

Free Realms - starting area - May 2009

Free Realms - starting area - May 2009

 

 

 

My character in the starting area, where we learn to play the game.  Notice the wings?

 

 

 

Free Worlds was originally marketed to families, but I’ve read articles and posts across the MMO world saying that adults are jumping in and having a great time.  Even at the, for want of a better word “hardcore” or “classic”, MMO sites such as TenTonHammer and MMORPG, I’m finding posts where grownups say that they are playing this game, sometimes as their secondary “no pressure” MMO.  I’m still at the beginning of the game, but it looks like a fun game I’ll enjoy playing.

Massively (http://www.massively.com) can do hardcore, but they aren’t snooty about what is supposed to count as an MMO.  They’ve done some interesting articles on Free Realms,  and a great little webcomic!

http://www.massively.com/2009/05/15/massively-webcomic-grinders-the-best-of-the-best/

Here’s a great picture of a crowd of people in Free Realms

http://www.massively.com/2009/05/16/one-shots-friday-night-dance-party/

American Idol – Chris Daughtry and Adam Lambert

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I don’t usually write about popular culture, except when I talk about MMOs, which are as “popular culture” as it’s possible to be!  Today’s post is an exception.  American Idol is nothing if not popular culture.

I rarely watch American Idol, but I got interested, so I went on the American Idol Site and I watched the performance videos for this season, season 8.  I think all the top singers are quite good, but my pick for season 8 is Adam Lambert.   After picking my favorite for this season, I got curious about previous years.  I read about a previous contestant from Season 5, Chris Daughtry, so I watched the videos of some of his performances on YouTube.  

Chris Daughtry and Adam Lambert both have great voices which they use well.  I thought they were excellent at the performing part, being in front of a live audience.   You don’t see that with all the contestants.

What I find interesting about Adam Lambert, aside from the phenomenal voice and vocal control, is his performance sensibilities.  On the voice – you don’t see a lot of trained countertenors in pop music.  On the performance – he knows how to move on stage in a way that keeps you interested.   I enjoy his theatricality.  During “Rat Pack” week, he dressed like a rat packer, very sharp suit.  Other times he’s a glam rocker, a classic rock star, a 50s “boy next door”, or a simple soulful singer.  I like his connection to the audience.   I know that you can’t get into a performer’s head, but his performances appear emotionally sincere to me.  He appears to love performing and wants to share that joy with the audience.  The theatrics and the costumes were fun, but I didn’t feel as if they were jokey or campy, or retro.  They seemed like ways for Adam to express himself and get people into the performance.  The performances felt “real” to me.  Some of the song interpretations were daring, which I suspect is something you don’t see all that much in American Idol land.

Chris Daughtry was the upset of American Idol Season 5, when he didn’t win.  He’s since moved on to a very successful music career.  Understandably, from the video I saw, he looked disbelieving and upset when he didn’t get enough votes to continue to the next round.  From what I’ve read, most of the people covering the show (Entertainment weekly, as an example) thought he was the proverbial “shoe in”.  When I saw his performances I couldn’t understand how anyone could have been better.  He looked and sounded like a fully formed rock singer to me, a good one, with charisma, vocal control, and a sense of who he is, oddly enough, like Adam Lambert.  His performances were emotional and intense and assured, with a strong physical presence.

I think the emotionality and intensity and self confidence and physical presence is something he shares with Adam Lambert.  I thought he seemed nice, but who knows, perhaps the voters thought he was too cocky.  He’s a different sort of performer from Adam Lambert.  I like his acoustic performances very much (I like the timbre of his voice), but his voice and the way he performs – it’s made for fronting a rock band.   He’s got the controlled intensity and emotionality down.  I still don’t understand how he (or anyone) can sing in a loud band and you can hear him and also understand every word – a very clear vocal performance.  I know he’s worked at it, but it has to be something about his voice, something that can penetrate all that sound.

From what I’ve read, Chris Daughtry is not a trained singer (no voice lessons), unlike Adam Lambert.  Unless Chris Daughtry does something about training, I wonder if he’ll be singing with his full range into his 40s.  That rock singing has got to take a toll on your voice.

If you are interested in the American Idol contestants’ vocal ranges, here’s a great website – http://www.idolranges.com/

Of all the contestants so far, Adam Lambert (not a surprise) and Chris Daughtry (a surprise) have the widest ranges on the songs they performed.  They may have wider ranges (I’ve read estimates of Adam’s range as at least 3 octaves), but this is the range of the songs they sang on the program.

If you are interested in learning more about their singing, Master Class Lady has a great site – http://masterclasslady.com.  Rosanne Simunovic , a voice instructor, analyses the American Idol performances in a kind and generous but technical way.  Her blog is easy to read but written to inform.  I learned a few things about the technical aspects of singing.  There’s an interesting post about Adam Lambert’s performance of “Crying” by Aerosmith.  You can see the “Crying” video on the American Idol site.  Rosanne wrote about how a performer can recover from something that isn’t right, in this case a backup singer that was off key.  She pointed out that Adam took the earphone out of his ear during his performance.  It was so subtle that I had to watch the video several times to even see it.  I think he did this so he wouldn’t be thrown off by the off key backup singing.  That’s so interesting!  

Here’s the post –

 http://masterclasslady.com/2009/05/14/american-idol-season-8-top-3-vocal-masterclass-article-judges-choice-and-singers-choice/.

 

amarez – mszv

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Guild Wars – April 2009 – party, festival

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In April I went to an online party in one of our Alliance Guild Halls.  There was virtual dancing.  We don’t have Alliance parties very often, but when we do, we enjoy them.
Guild Wars, Guild Hall Party, April 2009

Guild Wars, Guild Hall Party, April 2009

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At the end of April, Guild Wars had an in game festival to celebrate their four year anniversary.

http://www.guildwars.com/events/ingame/four_year_anniversary/default.php

 I came from another multiplayer game world, Uru, where there was very little to do.  Consequently, I was amazed that a game company would give you fun stuff to do, in game, for something that only lasted one week.  We had events in Uru, but we had to “make do” with what we had.  One could say that this showed creativity on the part of the Uru players, but it just didn’t seem right.  It’s hard to play “let’s pretend” with no props and nothing changing in the game.

I’ve learned that many multiplayer games  have  festivals.   People like to come together, in a virtual space,  for a reason, for something special.  The festivals in Lord of the Rings Online are said to be quite good, particularly in the hobbit areas.  This makes sense – you can imagine the Shire having really good festivals!

 I enjoyed the Anniversary Celebration.

Guild Wars Festival Game, April 25, 2009

Guild Wars Festival Game, April 25, 2009

 

 

I’m playing a game of chance where you stand on a ring, and some sort of blast knocks you down.  If you don’t fall down (not up to you) you win.

 

 

 

 

GW Festival, another game, April 25, 2009

GW Festival, another game, April 25, 2009

 
 
 
 
A “whack the serpent” game, where the goal is to tag the serpent heads that rise up out of the ground.  I’m a slow tagger, so I only won when I was the only one playing!
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Guild Wars Festival, Dragon Arena, April 2009

Guild Wars Festival, Dragon Arena, April 2009

 
  
 
 
 
Here is a view of the Dragon Arena, so lovely and festive.  I didn’t play, I just visited the place.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
All for now,
amarez – mszv

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Ice Plants – Point Reyes National Seashore 2006

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Here’s a picture for Doug, who asked if I had any photos of ice plants on the beaches of San Francisco or Pacifica.  The closest I have is some photos of the ice plants at Point Reyes National Seashore, in Marin County, north of San Francisco.  This photo was taken at North Beach, Point Reyes National Seashore, in March 2006.

Now that I’ve learned that ice plants are invasive, I understand that they should probably be ripped out of Point Reyes National Seashore.  I  know that, but the ice plants are wonderful to see in the spring – the brilliant color and the green leaves against the ocean.

North Beach, Point Reyes National Seashore, March 2006

North Beach, Point Reyes Seashore, March 2006

Ice Plants

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The ice plants have started blooming, here where I live, south of San Francisco, in the San Francisco Bay area.  Ice plants are succulents which form a ground cover.  The most common species in my area appears to be Carpobrotus edulis.  They are very hardy, hold water (good for this dry area) and they have beautiful pink and yellow flowers in the spring.  They were popular as ground covers for commercial spaces, and were planted along the highways to help prevent erosion.  They grow well in our climate.  Here’s a description and some pictures – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carpobrotus_edulis

I like them, though, yes, I know that they are an invasive species.  Ice plants are not native to this area.  They are native to South Africa, which has a Mediterranean climate like our climate, so of course they grow well here.  I realize that we need to get them out of natural habitats such as the Point Reyes National Seashore,  and the San Francisco estuary, but I do enjoy seeing them bloom in my area, in the spring.

The ice plants are pretty along Bayshore Drive.  I went there on Sunday, April 5, 2009, and took pictures.  

The California Poppy (our state flower!) has also started blooming.  I’ll have to go take pictures.

Ice Plants in Bloom, April 2009

Ice Plants in Bloom, April 2009

Guild Wars Virtual Party

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There are shared spaces in Guild Wars for groups of people in what is called a guild.  These shared spaces are called “guild halls”.  “Hall” is a misnomer – the guild halls are small islands, with buildings, and they are beautiful.   They are places for your guild to meet, and they also perform various game functions.  You can visit the guild hall of your guild as well the guild hall of any other guild in your Alliance – a group of guilds.   A member of a guild can also invite you to their guild hall, in game.

Sometimes we use our guild halls for parties. At this party we had to mute the in-game music, as we had a person playing music via shoutcast – a way for people to broadcast personal play lists over the internet.  We had our own personal music DJ!

The party (end of March) was fun.  Virtual parties aren’t exactly like in-person or “real” parties, but there is something real about them.   It’s a nice way to connect across physical spaces and time zones.

Guild Wars Party - March 29, 2009

Guild Wars Party - March 28, 2009

The Baylands in March – Another Heron Picture

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I like to walk in the Palo Alto Baylands Park, looking out onto the San Francisco Bay.   March is the end of the rainy season. 

I like how deliberate the heron looks – they always do.

Heron, Palo Alto Baylands, March 2009

Heron, Palo Alto Baylands, March 2009

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 

             

The bay is narrow, here at the southern end of the bay.

Here’s a link – map and pictures of the bay and areas around the bay.

http://baynature.org/

amarez – mszv

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A Home for the Outdoor Thermometer

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In March I visited my parents in Pennsylvania, the northeast part of the US.   It wasn’t spring yet, but you could tell that spring was, as they say “just around the corner”!

For Christmas I got my parents an indoor/outdoor thermometer.   The outdoor thermometer makes a wireless connection to the indoor device, and the indoor device displays both the indoor and outdoor temperature.  This is both practical and, if you are into weather, fun!

I would have simply hung the outdoor thermometer outside, on a nail.  My father wanted to make a home for it, to protect it from the elements.  So the outdoor thermometer is nestled in its own little house.  Isn’t it cute?

The picture has some glare from the blinds, because I shot it from inside the house, and I didn’t open the window.

A Home for the Outdoor Thermometer

A Home for the Outdoor Thermometer

 
 
 
 
 
 

Guild Wars – The Love Continues

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In Guild Wars I’m still working up to playing with “real” people.  I want to combine it with my solo play.  I’m waiting because I’m still figuring out all the basics, such as everything the little mini compass map shows you.  An example is the red dots on the compass map – the red dots are the baddies.   When I couldn’t find the cave I was looking for, I amused myself by watching a red dot suddenly appear on the compass map, as an evil mutant monster insect/crustacean thing rose up out of the ground in front of me.  I feel bad killing the variations of gargoyles in Old Ascalon.  The gargoyles seem to have some sort of a culture (albeit a grunting one), but those monster insect things deserve to die.

It takes me forever to orient myself in a new part of the world.  My sense of direction is not great in “real life”, and it’s not great in the game.  I accepted a quest that sent me to Shalev’s cave (Old Ascalon area) – how hard could that be to find? I had it marked on a map I printed out.  3 hours later, I never found it, but me and my tough little priest henchwoman killed a bunch of monsters.  She’s my computer generated companion, but I’m getting quite fond of her.   The next day I discovered I was looking in the wrong place for Shalev.  I also learned what I didn’t know about the compass, the mission map and the general map!

I’m a member of a “Guild”.  More specifically, my characters in-game are in a guild.  My guild is in what is called an “Alliance” of 10 guilds.   The in-game purpose of guilds and alliances is for PvP – player versus player combat.  Combat can be between individuals or groups.   Guild Wars has several ways of doing this, all of which are said to be interesting and fun.  But – you don’t have to do it.  Some of our alliance guilds are into PvP, some are not, but it’s all OK.   We also use our guilds and alliance for friendly socialization, and for helping each other out in the PvE part (player versus environment) – where we defeat the evil beings in our world.   I was invited to join an established guild and alliance.  Each guild had made enough progress to get their members guild halls.  Guild halls consist of an interior and surrounding space, often an island.   These are shared spaces where only members of our guild and alliance can visit, unless we give someone an invitation.   The spaces are beautiful.  I love visiting them – so peaceful.

You can talk to people in Guild Wars via text chat to the people in your play area, your Guild, your Alliance.  I started to chat with people in the Alliance chat – nice friendly people.  It makes the world seem more like an actual world.  Even if you are doing something by yourself, there are other people in the world, some of whom you know.  It’s nice.

Old Ascalan - monster fight
Old Ascalon – monster fight

 

 

 

My elementalist/priest (magician/healer), right, and my henchwoman priest (healer), left, battle a really ugly monster.

 

 

 

One of our Alliance Guild Halls
One of our Alliance Guild Halls

 

 

 

I walk through water.

 

 

 

 

amarez – mszv

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Guild Wars – I’ve fallen in love again

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Last Friday night and Saturday day I played Guild Wars, for the first time in months.  Guild Wars is an MMORPG, a multiplayer role playing game.  Guild Wars makes extensive use of “instancing”, where you have your own copy of an area, all yours to play in.   The towns are  full of “real” people, but the quest areas consist only of you, whoever you choose to bring with you, and the typical computer generated characters that make up games.  I like that a lot.  I can play with people or not, as I choose, and no one gets in my way or spoils the fun for me. 
 
I can also take things slowly when I play by myself – no pressure if I’m slow or take a long time to learn something.   I like interacting with people in an online world, but I’m not good at both socializing and playing a game with people.  I’d rather run around and talk to people in the world, and then do the quests by myself.  This works for me.  It also works well for the story. 
 
I’m not much of a role player – I don’t like to be completely “in character” in an online world – talk completely as if the world was real.  Most people have my playing style – strict roleplayers are not common in online games.  However, when I’m in a quest area, all by myself, that’s when getting involved in the story and really feeling like you are “there” – that’s when it takes over.  When I’m by myself I can get more into the world than when I’m socializing with people.  Being with people is good too – it’s just different.
                      

I haven’t played Guild Wars much since school started at the end of August – no time – so my  February 27th and February 28th play time was a treat.  I fell in love with Guild Wars again.  It’s hard to explain if you’ve never gotten into an online world.  Yes, this is a fantasy setting (like Lord of the Rings, but different) but it works for me.  It’s a wonderful escape from the real world.  My primary character is a magician/healer – in Guild Wars terms that an elementalist/monk.  Combat is beautiful – calling on the elements (earth, fire, water, air) is great fun, and there are wonderful special effects. 

There’s also a story.  I’ve finally gotten past the good times – before terrible things happened to my part of the world.  I’m at the point where evil monsters almost destroyed our main city, and us.  The world is different now – a different kind of beauty, more stark, ruined, we are barely holding on.  The world has also opened up to me.  I’ll be able to travel to other areas that aren’t destroyed and see new things.

I’m looking forward to seeing the Jade Sea. From one of the Guild Wars wikis – “The Jade Sea is located on the eastern side of the Canthan continent. It is the home of the Luxons, whose entire watery realm was frozen into solid jade when the Jade Wind swept across the region.” (http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/The_Jade_Sea).  What could be better?

Here are some pictures –

My Desktop

My Desktop

 

My desktop, a Dell Dimension 8400 is 4 years old, but I just got the hard drive replaced, and it was still under warranty!  It runs fine, though I’ll be putting more memory in it – 1GB is not enough nowadays.  I want to get a new desktop, but I think I’ll wait until Windows 7 is out.                 

I do like my new screen setup.  Last Thanksgiving I participated in the “Black Friday” shopping experience. I showed up at Fry’s Electronics at 4:50 AM, the Friday after Thankgiving (US Holiday in November) to get my 21.6 inch wide screen monitor, for cheap.  Combined with my 17 inch monitor, I finally have enough screen real estate so that playing games and doing work is a pleasant experience.

Guild Wars Prophesies Pre Searing - Fighting Bandit Blood Sworns
GW Prophesies Pre Searing – Bandit Blood Sworns

 

Guild Wars Prophesies, pre searing.  My elementalist is battling two Blood Bandit Sworns, female bandits who roam the pre-searing world of Ascalon.  These are vicious fighters, and they attack on site! 

You can view yourself closer in Guild Wars, but sometimes I like to pan all the way out to get a more panoramic view of my avatar in the world.

 

GW Prophesies Post Searing - Outside of Ascalon
GW Prophesies Post Searing – Outside of Ascalon

 

Guild Wars Prophesies, post searing.  I’ve pushed the in-game view far away from my avator to get this view. My elementalist (on the right) is on a quest in the area west of Ascalon City. 

I’m with a henchman, a computer generated character who is a member of my party.  She’s good at healing, but not much of a talker.

 

 

 

amarez – mszv

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