Living in the Age of Ultron

Much like my good friend Victor Barreiro, Jr., I was living in the future last week, across the International Date Line. What I didn't realize was how far in the future I was living. The folks I was training were talking about getting tickets to see Avengers: Age of Ultron more than a week before it was scheduled to be released in U.S. cinemas. Well of course I had to get in on that action!

So after work on Thursday, my coworker and I headed downtown to a very modern cineplex on top of a department store, called CGV. Granted that, where we were, the movie was already in general release, I have never before had the opportunity to see an "advanced" screening of a movie. The TL;DR of my impression? The movie is awesome, better than the original Avengers movie. I will try to keep this review spoiler free. But be warned, one or two items that you consider spoilers may sneak in.

First off, Josh Whedon nailed it, again. There was plenty of action (it's a superhero movie, after all), but the relatively quiet moments where the characters had time to breathe and just interact were what made the movie. And let's face it, that's what sets Josh Whedon apart from the likes of Zach Snyder, Brett Ratner, and McG. He knows his characters, and how to bring out spectacularly intimate performances from his cast.

James Spader does a terrific performance as the voice of Ultron, which includes more humor than I expected, based on the trailers. Luckily, the other cast members are strong enough to keep him from stealing the show. And every character has adequate exposure, whereas some faded into the background a bit during the first Avengers movie.

As I said, there is plenty of action. The Hulk vs Iron Man battle glimpsed in the trailers is particularly fun. As has been said elsewhere (beware SPOILERS), collateral damage—that is, the death or injury of innocents—is a major concern to the Avengers, unlike some other recent Superhero movies. The Age of Ultron is plenty epic, and if you have been following the Marvel Cinematic Universe, you will not disappointed by this latest installment.

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Sports and Games

While I was busy exchanging germs with a couple hundred people in an aluminum can on Saturday, a competition aired on ESPN2. While not unusual that a sports network would broadcast a contest for entertainment, this happened to be an "eSports" tournament, which got all sorts of people in a froth. 

Sport (according to Dictionary.com):

1. an athletic activity requiring skill or physical prowess and often of a competitive nature, as racing, baseball, tennis, golf, bowling, wrestling, boxing, hunting, fishing, etc.
2. a particular form of this, especially in the out of doors.
3. diversion; recreation; pleasant pastime.

Most people fixate on the athletic component of the above definition in order to label a given activity as sport. I confess that I myself do so. On the other hand, I feel that primarily artistic competitions that happen to include an athletic component (e.g., dance, figure skating) should not be included. Neither would I consider competitions not involving athleticism (e.g., chess, videogames) to be sports. However, according to the third definition, I am wrong to think so. "Sport," much like "Obscenity," seems to be difficult to pin down, but we know when we see it.

Belghast thinks that we need to drop the "e" from eSports, as if they would be more legitimate without the wannabe prefix. I personally consider it a mistake to define every competition as a sport. We already have the ridiculous sounding Dancesport. What's next? Singsport? Why not? Singing involves plenty of physical exertion, more than the button-mashing of videogames that Belghast alludes to. How about Triviasport? The folks on Jeopardy mash buttons, too; and it's often reaction time/button mashing speed that determines the winner.

Game (also from Dictionary. com):

1. an amusement or pastime
2. a competitive activity involving skill, chance, or endurance on the part of two or more persons who play according to a set of rules, usually for their own amusement or for that of spectators.
3. a single occasion of such an activity, or a definite portion of one

Just as not all sports involve games (by the third definition thereof), not all games need to be called sports. My point is not to mock these various competitive organizations aspiring to be "Sports," but to point out that sports is not necessarily a  desirable thing to be associated with. Too many gamers (and other fringe interests) are concerned about credibility with the "mainstream." As the Godmother of Faff obliquely points out, the sports world is not exactly filled with proper role models. Nor are they likely to accept us "basement dwellers" into their cool kids' club in any case.

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I'm Back!

Where was I? Well, I spent two weeks in the future! ("Avengers: Age of Ultron" is AWESOME!), Also known as Korea. It's a nice country, the people are very friendly. But I hate the 40+ hours and two or three plane rides it takes to get there and back. I was awake for over 30 hours on Saturday (time-travel, remember?)

I spent a lot of my spare time playing Star Trek Online in the middle of the night. They are still doing the Delta Recruitment event, and Season 10 dropped last Thursday, changing the landscape (spacescape?) considerably. What used to be something like 20 separate zones of Sector space has been consolidated into just three or four "quadrants." I didn't get much time to poke around before my trip home, but the feel of Warp is vastly (heh!) different than it was before, encountering a load screen every few parsecs.

I did get some sight-seeing time in, and I took a few pictures of Seoul and Uijeongbu. Once I have them organized, we'll see if my experience in those cities matches the look and feel of TSW's Seoul neighborhood, headquarters of the mysterious Dragon.

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Developer Appreciation Week 2015 Recap

Whew! This weekend was interesting! I planned to post this on Saturday, but spent much of the day at the Austin Zoo and Animal Sanctuary, not returning home until about 10 pm. Then yesterday, I cut off a chunk of my thumb (It's just a flesh wound!) while cutting spuds for Scooter's delicious homemade potatoes au gratin, so the post didn't done on Easter either. Let's call it Developer Appreciation Tenday, and make this Roundup Monday, so here it is. Let me quote Stargrace:

[T]his fine balancing act of giving players what they want, what is best for the game, what can be done with the time and funds available, and every other factor that comes into it is probably one of the most difficult things to do. They need to be able to look at an issue from many different sides and then choose the best course of action.
~Stargrace, MmoQuests

Like Bhagpuss said in his post, I don't think games developers are rock stars. They are just teams of people working hard to make our lives a little more fun. And I applaud them for it. Here are the participating posts that I am aware of (besides my own) in approximately the order they appeared:

• Ravalation
• Tales of the Aggronaut, Pt 1
• EDIT: I would be remiss if I did not include the announcement article on MMO Games (dot com) (Thanks, Hannah!)
• Harbinger Zero, Pt 1
• Tales of the Aggronaut, Pt 2
• MmoQuests
• Alternative Chat
• GamingSF
• The Mystical Mesmer
• Tales of the Aggronaut, Pt 3
• Zerneblog
• Harbinger Zero, Pt 2
• Shards of Imagination
• Scarybooster
• Healing the Masses
• Casual Aggro
• Inventory Full
• EDIT: I missed one from Game Girl Confessions

Thank you to all who participated. I know a couple of my tweets got favorited by the community teams of the relevant games, so they are being seen. I hope everyone reads these and gets a warm fuzzy. That concludes the lovefest of Developer Appreciation Week. Please don't go back to your regularly scheduled rants.

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DAW2015: These Are the Voyages...

I'll be doing a Developer Appreciation Week rollup post tomorrow, since I did say folks had until the 4th of April to post. Of course, I will probably add whatever stragglers there are in the next couple days. In the meantime, Belghast has dedicated his weekly Blog Bonanza on MMO Games to DAW 2015.

Cryptic Studios: Star Trek Online

Just over five years ago, a new chapter in the lore of Star Trek launched Online, folding in the events of the "Prime Universe" that led to the formation of JJTrek. It featured the voice talents of no less than Leonard Nimoy, who has since been joined with cast members from the other series.

STO blends great storylines with immersive space combat and team-based ground missions that exude both the feeling of Trek and the responsibility of command. I became so attached to my Captains and their crews, that I still conceive stories for them five years later.

I recently jumped back into the game and created a new Captain to relearn the ropes and see what had changed, only to discover that Cryptic had a grand plan both to recruit new players and to encourage the steely-eyed veterans to rejoin the newbies at the lower levels. This event is called Delta Recruitment, and it just started yesterday. Scooter and I will therefore be creating even newer characters, hopefully tonight.

The folks at Cryptic are enthusiastic about STO and about Star Trek, and it shows. And far as I can tell, they get pretty free rein from their Perfect World overlords, which is also commendable. They've worked hard to make STO a pretty fantastic experience.

The hawkeyes among you, or those with a good memory, may realize that I Have Touched the Sky also launched five years ago. Much of what it is today, IHTtS and I owe to Star Trek Online. Blogging is a great hobby, and I have developed as a writer of both fiction and exposition. Most of my current online friends would be unknown to me if not for this blog; and therefore, if not for Cryptic Studios and STO. And for that I am truly grateful.

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DAW2015: Most of the Rest

I've played quite a few games this year, though perhaps not as many as some other folks. As Belghast said in today's Aggronaut, "[Devs] are my rockstars, and even if you are making a game that no one will ever play…  you are being awesome.  Games bring me so much joy, and there is a cast of often nameless and faceless people who struggled through crunch time to get that product into my hands." Even games I decided not play after some trial or beta are still herculean efforts by teams of people who poured no small portion of their lives into making what they hoped would please the players. No one sets out to make a crappy game. It's usually time and/or resource constraints along with pressures from folks who don't really understand the process that do damage to it. And sometimes a perfectly well-made game just isn't my cuppa tea.

Carbine's Wildstar Team

I spent a chunk of the summer playing Wildstar with Scooter. Wildstar is an interesting mix of old and new game design. I liked the irreverent approach to storytelling, the cartoonish art style, and of course the great music from Jeff Kurtenacker. You can tell the team had a lot of fun developing it. In many ways, playing Wildstar was a lot like I imagine playing in the Firefly 'Verse would/will be. And that's not nothing.

ArenaNet's Guild Wars 2 Team

Tyria is always a nice place to visit, and ArenaNet's buy-to-play approach means that I can poke my my head in whenever I get the itch, without worrying about the hobbles of F2P. I started a couple new characters around Christmas to experience GW2 anew, and enjoyed the look around. While some folks are not impressed with the living story, you can't deny the team is trying to keep things fresh. And of course the "Game of Thorns" expansion is on the horizon.

Trion's Rift Team

Rift will always have a special place in my heart as the game that Scooter and I bonded over. We returned this fall just in time for the Nightmare Tide expansion, and things are still hopping. I like the new minion mini-game, and I really like the Dimensions housing system. It seems like Trion has done the most to enable players to play with all their friends, with the "Faction as Fiction" crossover content; and not only the ability to "mentor" down from higher character levels, but also the ability to "sidekick" up lowbies to match veterans for some content.

Tech Support
On a side note, it is not just the people creating the game that we need to appreciate. I've been assisted many times by the support teams of various games, fixing issues with my account or the game client. Often issues caused by my own derpiness. Thank you so much to all the support personnel and community managers out there.

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Test post. Disregard

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. If you are reading this post through RSS or Atom feed—especially more than a couple hours after publication—I encourage you to visit the actual page, as I often make refinements after the fact. The mobile version also loses some of the original character of the piece due to simplified formatting.