Been busy the past week. “Deus Ex : Human Revolution” was released last friday and I gave it shot and got stuck right away. And man is it deep!! The gameplay was really good and the story is really good but when I finally got to the end there are four different endings to it and they are all unique views and opinions on the old question of ethics and technology. The story centeres around “augmentation” which is basically either enhancements to a human or replacing an entire limb. The technology can ofcourse be used for good and for evil and in the game you run across them both. And then the speeches in the four different endings, it’s like they are arguing against themselves. One ending is very “pro-tech/pro-capitalism”, one very “pro-tech but controlled”, one very anti-tech and let anarchy rule and the last one “let the people decide for themselves”. I loved it! And the replayability of the game is also great, gone through it 3 times now and still discovered different things!
My life has turned into a series of routines as it is right now when I’m on parental leave. It’s just a matter of keeping the son happy, well fed and.. well that’s all really, everything else is a bonus! And I get about 1-2 hours of “else” every day which right now goes to “Starcraft 2”. Yeap, I finally gave up on “World of Warcraft”, it just wasn’t as rewarding continuing on lvl 85 as I’d hope. “Starcraft 2” is still challenging, I have a 50% win rate which I guess is as it was meant to be played (because the more you win, the higher rank you are and the better your opposition is so when you’re ranked perfectly I guess 50% is just the way it’s supposed to be).
ANYWAY, I’m going back to work in 4 weeks time, probably gonna spend the first week just catching up to what’s new and even what’s old since I haven’t been there for 6 months! Other than that everything is good, we’re still waiting for a place at some daycare so we can both work full time, not sure how that’s gonna work out otherwise!
Also trying to catchup with movies since we have missed alot since Sam was born. So far the best one has been “Tron 2” that we actually saw at the movies in 3D. But then again, you’d expect nothing else from a computer geek, right 🙂
Also updated alot in my photo album so check it out. You should know the password by now!
Just wanted to do a quick update to say I purchased the computer game Portal the other day on steam. And loved it. Played it again and loved it even more. Downloaded the song “Still Alive” and loved it.
I also love it when I change my mind about something ’cause it came out 2-3 years ago and I did pay any attention to it. My bad.
Buy it.
Oh, and 3 more days 🙂
Today I’m pissed! I was planning to make an update explaining how much I love my Helena, but instead I find myself being pissed about an article in Metro this morning. I’ve always like Metro cause they have like a no-bullshit attitude towards news, they just report the news. Sure they have a columnist or two but this wasn’t it. No, this was a 30-40 year old woman (juding by the photo) writing about a report from a swedish company that said that “there’s not a single case of computer game addiction that doesn’t have any links to World of Warcraft. It’s a computerized cocaine”!!
Oh man…. I don’t know where to begin. But lets!!
To start with, let me introduce myself. I started playing Warcraft at european launch in early 2005 and from fall of 2005 to may 2008 I was in one way or another leading guilds and 40 man raids (that was later slimmed down to 25). I played the game almost as much as I worked during that period and I feel pretty comfortable saying I know the game inside and out, every aspect of it. Then in may 2008 I met the woman of my dreams, sold off my main account and settled for my B account that I play occasionally with my friends. But enough of me, let us start…
First off, it’s “what’s the source of the news”. It’s a company. Complete with CEO and everything. Sure they have a green light from the social office, but it still comes down to making money and to do that people need to know they exist so what better way than to call the most played game in the world for cocaine!?
(and yes I do realize the irony of me writing about it here increases their audience, but I’m sure as hell not gonna link to them!)
Secondly, don’t people commit crimes to pay for their cocaine addiction? I have no problem dishing up the 10 euros per month it costs me to play Warcraft. And the kids today ask their parents for money for it. Now how would that sound if a 15 year old asked his mother for 10 euros for cocaine? And don’t ask me how much cocaine you get for 10 euros per month, I have no clue!
Thirdly, the drug dealer. In this case it’s Blizzard who has such a high profile thanks to Warcraft that they can’t afford to NOT listen to criticism. A company so responsible they even built in a parent tool into the game so parents (remember, the ones that pay for the account) can set limits to how much and when the account can be active. How would that go with a drug dealer? “Sorry, can’t sell to you, it’s past your bed time!”…
Fourthly (is that even a word), there are no documented health related issues to playing Warcraft on a regular basis. Yes there have been one or two cases of people dying after playing computer games for days at an end, but that’s not a regular basis! And really people, take two normal people, give one of them cocaine constantly and let the other level up a new char in Warcraft and see which of them dies first! More people die from ice falling off buildings than of Warcraft!
Fifth, I don’t know why people take cocaine but the only reason a person would play the game more than what can be considered “healthy” is if they have serious psychological problems! Because there really is just two ways to play the game. Either you can do it “the casual way” which is to play occasionally with friends and do some small scale stuff and you’re happy just playing with friends and maybe making new ones. Or you can do it “the hardcore way” which is all about one thing – E-PENIS! Yes, that’s the correct word for it! To make your character better geared, more powerful and more so called achievement points for achieving different in-game goals. But it’s all in game and if you have a need to get such a huge e-penis that you play it that much, then you’re not right in the head. And what would you rather have people who are not right in the head do – play Warcraft or do cocaine?
Sixth, now that sweden fails in pretty much every sport we used to own (like skiing or tennis), what’s not so known in the general media is the status Sweden has in cyber athleticism! We dominate! And last time I checked the most famous Warcraft player (besides Jenkins) was “kungen” who happens to be Swedish, leading the most famous guild that’s made up of a lot of swedes. Now how is that related to cocaine? Do we have any chart of cocaine addicts that are doing well and putting Sweden on the map?
Seven – the good feelings of cocaine (as I understand it) are artificial and chemically induced and effects your body so much that if done on a regular basis makes the body so addictive to it that you need weeks of detox to get out of it. Cause as I understand my House, cocaine isn’t something you cut cold turkey. The good feelings in Warcraft comes from achieving goals in game and the “just a little bit more” feeling is constantly there. However, pulling the power cable will quickly remedy that – cold turkey style. The body won’t be chemically dependant on anything and after a few days he/she won’t even care. I know, I sold my paladin account without any drawback symptoms what so ever.
I don’t for a second regret the almost 3 years I spent playing the game as much as I did. I made alot of friends. I learned a lot more about people skills. I learned how to motivate people, how to balance being nice and enforcing discipline, I learned alot. And I had fun.Which is what it’s all about for me.
So yeah, you come here and call me a cocaine addict if you want to and I’ll give you a crushing blow with my thunderfury! (how very old-school!)
//RoLaren aka Tandie
Edit: My bad, they said “cocaine”, not “heroin”.
Not sure I should be apologizing here for being so busy I haven’t had time to update it in weeks. So many things going on, from Warcraft to adapting to living with someone 24/7 to redesigning NataliePortman.com and ofcourse celebrating christmas. Again. And again. Cause me and Helena actually celebrated it thrice – once at her brothers place, once at my parents place and once at her parents place. Lots of good food and stuff that got me bloated. But I love it cause I still love christmas!! 🙂 And ofcourse I still love Helena 🙂
Got a new definition of love for you – my girlfriend serving me coffee, gingerbread and a whiskey while I’m having a blast with my friends in the World of Warcraft, even though she hates it when I’m playing… that is love … Damn I’m a lucky guy!
Yeap, I’m going back into the deep abyss of Warcraft again! Gonna try to level up asap and then chill as much as I can and my girlfriend will allow. Feels … pretty good and pretty bad… Good that the expansion is here, always fun with new stuff. Bad that my girlfriend will go around feeling ignored 🙁 Hopefully we’ll land somewhere in the middle.
Last weekend was a bit of a bummer for a nostalgic person like me. I moved in with my girlfriend a few months back but now it was time to clear out my old apartment since it was just draining cash. So after my family helped me load everything into self storage I had some professional cleaners come in and clear it and now the contract has expired so after 9 1/2 years I no longer live there at all.
When I moved in there back in 1999 I was the chief of our little department at Min Dator. Since then I’ve changed employers a few times, seen the world, lived the bachelors life, did all my WoWing there, my home cinema system and generally had a very good time there. But now I gotta try to have even better times in our apartment in Barkarby which I still think is a bit small, but what tha hell, I get to share it with the woman I love and that is by far the most important thing.
We celebrated 6 months yesterday me and my Helena. I think that’s a record for me.. but everything is going so good now, even better after our trip to Gothenburg!! We’re just all kinds of cute and cuddly right now…
And then Warhammer Online comes along and risk driving in a wedge between us 🙁
Since summer 2005 World of Warcraft have been a big part of my life, for almost one year it basically was my life. Doing big raids with 25-40 people that lasted whole nights was something I did every day. It’s hard, if not impossible, to explain to people who hasn’t been that into a game like this how fun it was, they just think you’re nuts. Then I met my Helena and ofcourse everything changed and I pretty much stopped playing for over 3 months. Then I started playing a bit when I wasn’t with her and it was great. But now that we’re living together I don’t have that time by myself and the other day I had to say “I can’t cuddle up with you in the sofa and watch this silly romantic movie, the boys need me in Warcraft” and I really felt how hard I fell from grace in her view. She was so disappointed. And I was disappointed too. But it’s fun, I’m good at it and I only get to play with my friends that often. Ofcourse I would always chose her above a computer game but I’m trying to have both and she’s awesome for not making me choose. Totally love her 🙂
Yesterday I took a very big step. I sold my WOW account! My paladin that I’ve worked so hard on for almost a year – gone! It felt right since I don’t have the time to play it as much as I should and I wanna do everything to make this relationship work so I just quit. Still have my old characters though but I can’t do the big and time consuming raids with any of them so I won’t be stuck in front of the computer a whole evening.
And just to be clear – this was an independant act, she didn’t ask me to do it or anything, it was all me!
How’s 2008 going so far? For me it’s… well, still to be decided. On the downside we have
1) Warcraft guild breaking down again (which ironically would actually be good for me)
2) Alot of TV shows are starting their last seasons
3) Our trekking saturdays is probably gonna be a thing of the past due to low attendance.
So that should make me atleast a little bit depressed? Well, I ain’t. Cause today I woke up and witnessed a snowstorm outside and said to myself “it’ll be a miracle if the trains are on time today”…. but they were! So at 8 am I sat down in my warm comfy chair with a warm cup of tea and enjoyed the snowstorm in Kungsan. That felt good. Then I got a cute e-mail from a cute woman I’m hoping to get a date with any day now, but ironically enough she’s off to switzerland to ski over the weekend so that’ll have to wait. Which is why I can’t really say if 2008 is off to a good or bad start yet.
But tonight… Alien vs. Predator 2! Yeah, I’m actually going to the movies!!
Weird weekend that was! On thursday I had a date (went pretty good), on friday I decided to try out jogging now that my bike is broken then got busy Warcrafting and then the new computer game Hellgate hit the stores. On saturday I squezed myself into a pair of 34″ waist jeans… two things about that that just makes me think I’m going nuts – first of all jeans. I haven’t worn jeans since the 80’s basically. So why now? Well quite a few women have said “now that you’ve lost all that weight, when are we gonna see you in jeans?” so I had to do it only to shut them up. And they were 34″ waist!! Back in may I was wearing 42″ !! That’s 8 inches gone in 4 months! (not counting the last month since I haven’t lost anything in the past weeks)!!
Then we hit the sci-fi convention that was in town over the weekend, followed that up by catching “1408” (slightly disappointing movie) and finished the weekend with even more Warcrafting and jogging. Man that was a busy weekend. And this week I didn’t have much planned at all. Now I got go-carting on thursday, dinner with friends on friday, probably date-dinner on saturday and home to my parents for father’s day on sunday. And I’m not even trying to keep busy, I just am!
Wow, that week went by way too quickly. And nothing in particular happened. Not that I’m gonna bore you with anyway. As a matter of fact it’s been a really boring week. Usually that’s a symptom that you’ve got some kick ass weekend you’re looking forward to that the week just flies by, and that’s the weird thing, I was sure I’d made some plans for this weekend with someone but just can’t remember what it was?! Coming up empty which means it’s gonna be a slow weekend with Warcraft, catching up with Heroes and movies and hoping someone calls and say “hey, got a party brewing, come over” 🙂
Accidentally caught some live show with Avril Lavigne, you know that small pissed off 17 year old canadian that was big in 2001/2002? … she grew up really nicely. Not a big fan of her music unfortunately.
I should have learned by now – never go into something with very high expectations. I went into this weekend with very high expectations and as always got disappointed. Friday night was ok but should’ve been better, it just never kicked off, it was just mediocre. Although saturday was completey up to expectations but sunday was just awful, terrible F1 race and very boring WoW raid and today I feel a bit disappointed. So let’s go into the next weekend with no expectations at all – even if it is a F1 weekend again!
One more weekend full of plans, all of it good!
Tonight – beer & dining with some friends to celebrate a guy’s 30th birthday. Tomorrow – after the f1 qualifying going back home to my parents for a day of fun with even more beer and my mothers special cooking. And on sunday going to O’Learys to enjoy the F1 race with even more beer and their special cooking, and ending it all with an evening of WoW. I wish every weekend could be like that!
Have fun!
It took a friend reminding me of a topic of conversation on saturday night to realise what it was that had that affect on me that I couldn’t explain. It seems we got to talking about computer gaming, one of the few things here in life where I rule, and _she_ (you all know her by now) expressed some opinions that … well, let’s just say that had a guy said it may have gotten physical. I dunno if I am way, way too analynical about stuff, but I can spend hours wondering about one little conversation, the phrasing or even one word. But yesterday as I was going over what was said and done on saturday evening… I think I don’t like her at all anymore. Which is cool considering that for the past few months I haven’t known what to feel..
Oh, pizza!!
I spent friday driving around stockholm again and chilling in my apartment with my brother and watching a few movies and playing some Playstation. A very relaxed and nerdy way to spend a friday but it was enjoyable nontheless. On saturday we went down to Nynäshamn to bowl with my sister and her kid and oddly enough on the very last series we all finished within 1 point of eachother, that’s how tight it was. Then it was off to a housewarming party at a friends place on the north-western side of stockholm, an area I’m pretty much never around. And it was a good party, not that wild and afaik nothing to be embarrassed over. (Update: apparently I had gotten a bit too physical at one point that got pretty embarrassing)
But something sure did happen and I don’t know what. I met _her_ again at the party but I pretty much knew nothing would happen this time around and it was probably all for the best but we did talk alot and I don’t know exactly about what but it must’ve been deep cause it got me depressed as hell the day after and I don’t know why?… that woman is no good for me basically. Anyway, trying to get home from that place was surprisingly easy even without a taxi but I ended up walking. 5 kilometers. At 3 am… that’s the state I was in that it seemed like a good idea at the time…
Then on sunday I crawled out of my bed at around 12-ish, walked all the way to the soffa and crashed there for 6 hours enjoying some crap movies and a pretty uneventful Formula 1 race and finished the weekend playing some WoW.
A very strange weekend for me indeed and I’m still very confused what really happened that got me depressed?…
Oh, ice cream!!
I didn’t have anything special planned this weekend. So I just kicked back, watched a movie or two, played some WoW and other stuff and just relaxed. Nothing to do and all weekend to do it. A few years ago I loved weekends like that. Dunno if I’m getting too old or what but now those weekends feels almost wasted. I feel I should either spend more time with my family or friends or be out finding the woman of my dreams or do something productive in any way. But nope.
This server has been acting very strangely in the past couple of days so I had to leave WoW for awhile to try to figure it out. Seems that someone had gotten access somewhere to this server and started putting up moves for download and that caused huge overload in this server. I removed all the files and hopefully capped the little security hole they go through and it should now work just fine