Is Virtual Not Real?

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Virtual reality, maybe an ironically coined term, is meaningful to me. However, is it not akin to a dream, detached from reality; nothing but quickly fading imagery.

Anime is both virtual and awesome!

Dreams are an interesting lot. They do not affect me physically, directly, but they do affect me emotionally. Also, they reflect my own thoughts back at me, which can make me change my mind, and so my choices in real life.

The virtual world, also known as the internet, is like a phone call. It is real people, in a real conversation, only physically removed. Even though we now also enjoy face-to-face video chat.

And phone calls matter! We take very seriously conversations, even if they are not done in proximity. A letter can change the world. It had, many times before, when country leaders, warlords, scientists, and businessmen made choices according to remote conversations.

So, I am thinking that even if it is virtual, and even if it lacks touch... who cares. Not every activity has to include all of our senses, to be meaningful. Plenty of physical activities, from frisbee to sex, can be without speech, yet be as meaningful as a good conversation.

It only takes an acceptable level of interaction, to be satisfying. And I say, each to their own needs.

My New Computer Is So Awesome

At ~$700, I got a new Intel I3 3.6ghz computer, with 8gb DDR3 1600mhz RAM, and a quick & silent 128gb SSD. After deliberating, I added to the package the expensive-but-powerful Asus GTX 750 OC GPU, so everything runs super smooth!

It lives inside drawers.

And it's silent as fuck.

It did take some adjustments and sawing, though.

Intel Core i3 4160 3.6Ghz 3MB L3 Cache s1150 - Tray $135

Arctic Freezer 11 LP $20

Asus H81I-PLUS LGA1150, Intel H81, DDR3 1600, PCI-E, VGA, DVI, HDMI $91

G.Skill Aegis 8GB DDR3 1600Mhz PC3-12800 CL11-11-11-28 $95

Asus GTX750 OC 1GB GDDR5 VGA DVI HDMI PCI-E $152

Sandisk Ultra Plus SDSSDHP-128G-G25 128GB SSD SATA III $81

TP-Link TL-WN722N nLITE 150Mbps $12

SilverStone 450W 80+ SFX SST-ST45SF $90

SilverStone Sugo SG05-LITE Mini-ITX $45

Achievements Through Patience

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The problem of patience is that there are always different, and changing, reasons to act, or otherwise. This means that, unless we do not want to explode with anxiety, then we must learn to evaluate situations quickly.

One way is to meditate. By sitting quietly, comfortably, and without disturbances, any person is able to reflect on their thoughts. By using concentration and effort, we can achieve clear conclusions, about the choices we want to make, and the risks we want to take.

People use different methods, to handle their own impatience and anxiety. It could be beer or weed, and online chat, on websites or through games.

Click for a simple ganja-chai recipe.

Sadly, it seems that external methods have serious drawbacks. Weed interferes with the concentration required to reflect. Beer disorients the mind, so that decisions are only impulsive. Chats  encourage an impractical, detached from reality perspective.

Without patience, all we have left is irritations, and how we respond to them. We do not develop strategy and wisdom.

However, if we wait for understanding to broil, then we win the ability to achieve our mind's goals, and the manifestation of our dreams; or rather, a life of reaching towards.

A Virtual Game World Framework In NodeJS

I have been spending many of my creative hours, in these past months, working on a big project of mine. I call it Node World.  ***THUNDER CLASH***

The Open Source Code on GitHub

My Announcement of Node World on GameDev

A Live Demo For Developers

In summary, it is a framework for MMO's. It is intended to help developers and MMO fans - programmers, writers, and artists, express their ideas in a virtual world, without having to do everything from scratch.

I've found much inspiration in modern manga, such as Sword Art Online.

In elaboration, however, Node World has been my dream for several years. Ever since I realized how modern games are limited. How repetitive and inflexible they remain. I wanted to have a game world, where many players can join together, and not only explore and do combat, but also make a difference, in the game world itself!

I am looking for developers to join me! NodeJS is a relatively easy programming language, and I am doing my best, for the sake of modifications, to keep the code simple and readable. Contact me, if you want to inquire about it!

And our manga seers are only improving!

The goals of Node World are well defined:

1) The server seamlessly integrates any client into itself: Text, 2D, and 3D.

2) The project is modular, both in code and in functionality, so that programmers can easily modify and add to the project, and players can modify and add to the virtual world, without editing the code, at all.

If you have any ideas you want to share, then comment below, and say what this project brings to your mind. :-)

Reviewing The Elder Scrolls Online Beta

I will keep this article rather concise, so let us exclude the introductions, and get to the point.

The Elder Scrolls Online, the beta, which has just begun a rather massive event, starting recent Friday, 31.1.2014, has been a new experience for me. It is an MMO of a new generation. It actually has some serious story, questing, and a realistic vibe, to it.

Man, I saw no radar in my beta! ><"

First of all, it feels well made. It does not feel cheap, or "AZN", or a scramble of well-tested ideas, scrounged into an "role-playing-like action game". It is a real MMORPG. There are a lot of actors reading out the quest texts, and shouting about in populated areas. The visuals are compelling, and not toy-ish. The UI and controls are minimal, logical, and entertaining. It feels really good.

Maybe just as important as the feel it has, it draws the interest of the player. I am only enjoying a few days of beta here, as I have been invited with a private key; one of the lucky ones, who got rolled in. But, in these few days, I have found myself growing more and more curious about the game world itself, and about where it would lead me. Unlike many other games, which quickly turn into a repetitive-quest grind-fest, ESO straddles itself tight onto its' story and characters. NPC's are not that stupid. MOB's feel more purposeful, than in many other games. It is kind of nice.

I will point out, critically, that the atmosphere of the game is quite dark and gloomy. For many of us, who enjoy a light-hearted - casual - funky sort of ~vibe~, I seriously doubt that it is there. Even the player-base feels different. All those individuals, who have been enjoying the Elder Scrolls single-player games of the past, now turn in their hordes, to play this new release; the next of the series, really.

You see, it's a different sort of humor.
For me? It ain't extreme enough.

I strongly suspect that, while being a rather good MMO - unusually so even, it will only draw unto itself a rather specific crowd. I hope it gets enough trolls.

Oh, and I do not plan on buying it, myself. Nothing personal, really.

Basking In Fantasy

In these cold winter days, up here in the northern hemisphere of the Earth, I find myself spending more hours reading books of fiction. Well, I say reading, but I enjoy more audio-books than paper books or ebooks, really.

It is enjoyable to imagine different worlds, full of unexplored wonders with tales of thrilling adventures. Whether these worlds are either strongly or loosely based on our own reality, matters little.

The Elder Scrolls Online

Is it all just a pretense?

The careful mixture of emotions and ideas that is displayed in stories, represents a reality that is not quite our own, but more so how we feel about it.

In other words, stories feel more real, while representing reality in an impossible way. After all, stories can describe events and objects that clearly have no evidence for, in our own lives, while still feeling true and eminent.

Sort of like living a lie?

No. Our perception of reality does not change, when we pretend. A pretense is only a layer that we put over our perception of reality, just like putting sunglasses over our eyes. It does not change our notion what is real.

Still, to pretend that a story, or even a game, has real meaning, requires from us a justification. We justify the pretense, by setting out rules of conduct in a defined setting. This is the same as actors, when they play a character on stage or in front of the camera. Pretending to be a character outside of that setting, would only then truly be lying.

Is the purpose of pretense to generate beneficial behavior?

Dreams are a pretense. We experience dreams, in order to improve the functionality of the brain, and thus generate beneficial behavior, when we are awake again.

We also have many popular games, from card & board games to sports and social entertainment games, that encourage action and thought, where idleness and atrophy would have been the default. Even if on rare occassion conflict or injury may result, those are still generally considered beneficial.

Never the less, there are many instances of pretense that neglect to consider our well-being. False marketing, militarism, nationalism, religious fanaticism & extreme hierarchies are some examples that we are all familiar with.

Behold, how this monstrosity turns into an
 innocent little girl, in front of your eyes!

Does pretense enhance our sense of reality?

It sounds like a contradiction, right? Imagining things in order to enhance our sense, or understanding, of reality. Almost laughable.

All cultures, from the wildest tribes to the most technologically sophisticated nations, bask in fantasy. More often than not, it is those most impossible ideas and stories that persist, when a culture makes the transition from tribe to nation: The belief in deities, and superstitious behavior.

It is the need of living things to grow that encourages pretense, wherever and whenever life is little more than subsistence. Boredom, tediousness, disinterest, and even apathy, are all urgent signals for us to find entertainment in pretenses that rejuvenate our faculties.

So, I must conclude that yes, pretense enhances our sense of reality. Pretense brings us to life, when we would have become dull and detached, from our own needs and abilities.

A Generation of Worlds

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As I continue my journeys in the world of game development and 3D art, I noticed that my wiki, which I use to express my own ideas about game development, should have an actual game attached to it. That is to say, that while writing down technical ideas for games is great, it would also be better presented in the guise of a simple entertaining game world.

The idea came to me intuitively and by muse! Elves Versus Trolls. I have always wanted a game that lets not only all those cutsie gamer people enjoy playing, but a game world that encourages and works with internet trolls. Why? Because, I am one such troll! And I am not ashamed of it.

Internet trolling is an art form. Just like dance and reggae. It does not have to be insulting to anyone to be funny. Trolling can even be helpful, when touchy topics are highlighted, and nobody wants to get dirty, philosophically speaking. I have been active in trolling circles for many years, and I am proud of me and most of my fellows. We bring humor and joy and good company.

So, why have trolls in a game?

I would like to talk about this in my next blog post. In the meanwhile, let me tell you about http://donjon.bin.sh/world/. What an interesting world generator!!! Not only does it have many options to choose from, for your own totally unique world, it also lets you export the result in different ways, so you can have both an animated gif, an image, and a map! How awesome is that? :-)

I also noticed they have other generators in their website. Mostly fantasy gaming related, id est Dungeons & Dragons games. I have not really checked the other generators, so do share if you find anything interesting. Comment below! ;-)