Loading... Celebrity Shuffle

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The deaths of Farah Fawcett and Michael Jackson were all over the news yesterday. Not to be morbid, but compare the emotional worldwide reaction to their passing with the more family-style mourning over the death of Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. Posthumous reaction might be a harsh way to gauge popularity, but it makes me wonder when game developers will ascend to the same level of celebrity as actors and singers. I want this to happen in part because it's so much harder to become a video game celebrity than an actor or singer celeb. Why? Some possible reasons in today's Loading... Celebrity Shuffle.

Coyote's daily column explores all things geek with Coyote's trademark wit in It's All Geek to Me. Read it daily at Ten Ton Hammer! Today's topic: Phoning it in (cell phoning, that is. Black gold. Texas Tea.)

The Pulse

You vote with what you view at Ten Ton Hammer, and the result is the Ten Ton Pulse (What is The Pulse?).

Here's today's top 5 Pulse results for today:

World of Warcraft Aion EverQuest 2 EVE Online (UP 2) Age of Conan (down 1)

Biggest Movers in the Top 20 this month :

Global Agenda (UP 42 to #19) Guild Wars (UP 15 to #10) Star Wars Galaxies (UP 6 to #18) Recent MMO Releases 6/12 - Neo Steam (release date) 6/16 - EverQuest 2 GU 52 (patch) 6/24 - Age of Conan Update 5: Gangs of Tarantia (patch) 6/25 - WAR "Land of the Dead" live (patch)

Important Dates

7/3 - 7/5 - Aion Beta Event #3 Upcoming Releases 8/25 - CrimeCraft (release date) 9/1 - Champions Online (release date) 9/22 - Aion (release date) Early 2010 - APB

Loading... Daily

First Farah Fawcett and then Michael Jackson. Yesterday was not a good day to be a celeb, or downtroddenceleb looking for redemption. It seems just about everyone on the Internet has something bad to say about Michael Jackson, I'm not everyone. Though I'm perfectly sure there's a special place in hell for those who do lifelong damage to kids and I think it's fairly probable that MJ wasn't acting entirely on his own brand of freakish but wholly innocent childlike whimsy, he's dead. Let it go.

But we can't. Unlike Fawcett, whose death came after after a courageous and highly publicized bout with colon cancer, Jackson's death came as a complete surprise. Was it the shock of his death, like a somewhat trashy but interesting book with the last few chapters suddenly and irrevocably ripped out, that made Jackson's death more headline worthy than Fawcett's? Had "Thriller" and "Beat It" entered permeated our cultural consciousness more than Charlie's Angels or Farah Fawcett's respectable and prolific acting career. In game lingo, are songs "more accessible" than a TV series or movies?

The idea of celebrity is interesting to me because I find it really hard to understand. Why don't we celebrate the screenplay writers on the same level as the directors? The writers give life and depth to the characters and setting and create the entire plot, the director just has to figure out how to film it. Who's the functionary and who's the innovator / creator? In true (or "true" stories), why do actors enjoy bigger fame than the roles they play? The subjects take all the actual risks and the actors get the millions, the Academy awards, and the Malibu beachhouse where they can snort blow with dozens of their closest non-friends.

I might not find the cult of celebrity particularly healthy or attractive to me, but I do find it useful. I really wish we had more video game celebs, in part for the promotional value (especially since video game budgets have exceeded filmmaking budgets since 2005), but also for the fact that celebrity in video game circles isn't something you can fake. A Paul Barnett or a Jeff Kaplan is involved at every stage of production, whether or not all of their ideas make it into the final product.

But I'd argue that, while becoming a celebrity is a difficult and lucky thing to have happen to anyone, it's far simpler to become an actor/singer celeb than a video game celebrity, that is, on the developer side if not the Fatal1ty side of things. After yesterday's Loading and a look at Mark Jacobs departure from EA Mythic in the wake of the new Bioware - EA Mythic MMO/RPG grouping, I was a little surprised at the number of you that wrote in to say that after your disappointments with WAR and Dark Age of Camelot's Trial of Atlantis expansion, you'd never play another game that Mark Jacobs had anything to do with. This isn't the case with Hollywood celebs. After Tom Hanks stunk it up in The Terminal or Mazes and Monsters, was anyone swearing off Saving Private Ryan?

There are a few reasons why we don't have much in the way of video game royalty. For one, most dev faces and personalities lend themselves better to the written interview and the cubicle than red carpets and the silver screen. It's not a knock; I'd much rather spend an afternoon marinating in the creative wisdom and humor of a Jeff Hickman or a Rob Foote than catering to the ego of some nipped and tucked Hollywood primadonna. Another reason is that we don't have the history, the promotional apparatus (yet), or the bottomfeeding tendancies of the rest of the entertainment industry. Sites like Ten Ton Hammer are trying to slowly, responsibly change that, and I'm guessing in another generation we'll be on-par. For now, no paparazzis, unless we're talking the occasional booth babe.

Does the concept of video game celebrity have a chance and would it be a good thing for gamers? Have your say in the Loading... forum, or email me! And have yourself a great weekend!

Shayalyn's Epic Thread of the Day

From our Ten Ton Torched Forum

Retard...Retardé

From McDonalds commercials to marriage to casual sex. How DO we do it?

Had
your fill of celebrity death news? How about a little moment
of WTF?. Get comfortable, relax, and observe how one simple thread
bitching about annoying McDonald's commercials can turn into a
philosophical discussion about marriage, monogamy, and casual sex. Ya gotta love that in a forum. 

==============================
Awesome Quotes from the Epic Thread

"How did we get from McDonald's commercials to this deep discussion?"

- JustaGuy

"Chicken McNuggets can have a strange effect on a person."

- AngryBeaver
==============================

Have you spotted an Epic Thread on our forums? Tell us!

5 new MMOG hand-crafted articles today! 115 in June! 752 in 2009!

New MMOG Articles At Ten Ton Hammer Today [Thanks Phil Comeau for links and Real World News]

Jade Dynasty Dev Journal - Pet Overview

If you ever wanted to have a developer tell you "exactly" what to expect from the pets in their game, you can look no further than the individuals at Perfect World Entertainment's Jade Dynasty. In their exclusive dev journal, you can learn all about your pets and how to advance and attain them in the game. Personally, I favor the fuzzy white bears, but that's just me. Aion Class Archetypes - The Priest

The first nine levels as a Priest in Aion serve not only as an introduction to the game’s core mechanics, but offer a small sampling of the types of abilities the two subclass selections will ultimately focus on further down the road. The ascension quest itself will allow Priest characters to become either a Chanter or a Cleric; two classes that might share a common theme of aiding your allies in battle, yet are otherwise distinctly separate classes in many key areas. During the most recent closed beta preview event, Reuben “Sardu” Waters stepped into the role of an Asmodian Priest, walking (and sometimes flying) a few virtual miles to give players some further insight as to what makes the archetype tick.
World of Warcraft: Ultimate Guide to Naxxramas

World of Warcraft's first premier raid dungeon since launch of the Wrath of the Lich King expansion offers new and experienced raiders a chance to earn some great loot, and learn some valuable strategies for future raiding.
We've got everything you need right here. Included in our Ultimate guide is the lore of Naxxramas, an achievements guide, the trash mobs you'll be facing, complete strategies to defeat the bosses, a loot guide to help raid leaders decide which item benefits which class the most, full-colored original maps, and of course, video coverage of the entire dungeon. You won't find a more complete guide anywhere else. World of Warcraft: Theorycrafting as a Mage

It's a lot of work figuring out what's the best gear and rotations for a Mage in World of Warcraft. There are a lot of complicated formulas between you and the data you need. Thankfully there are a lot of techniques, software, and websites on the Internet for the various classes that help model rotations and help demystify what happens to gear, gem, and talent changes. We go over various programs like Rawr and ways to figure out if changing something on your character will be a positive or negative experience. So come figure out the basics to theorycrafting with our latest guide! Summertime Gaming - Free-to-Play Games

Have you "been there and done that" with all the major titles on the market? Looking to fill the gaming gaps for these sometimes painfully long summer days? I have the answer for you! I put together a list of some of my favorite free-to-play games that are a must-try for the summer! These are all great games that have earned a second (or even a first) look while we await the shiny new games that are due to release this fall.

Hot Content - Or, what I took a fancy to:

Champions Online: Powers Interview - Sorcery, Darkness, and Supernatural EVE Online: Sins of a Solar Spymaster #17: The Archive of Tears geeked: Put a Kork in It Ultimate Soccer Boss Father's Day Giveaway! WonderKing Beta Key Giveaway Exclusive Aion Beta Screens from Asmodae geeked: Seriously, Brad? Aion Class Interview - The Assassin Jumpgate Evolution Exclusive Interview - Lore and History EverQuest 2 Monument and Might GU#52 Overview

Real World News

State Park manager fired for sexual harassment of mermaid

Claims that it shouldn't be a crime to try to get some tail, it will be a total fluke if he is convicted. KC man urinating while sleepwalking stabbed

The Aristocrats! Armed men steal half-eaten sandwich

Victim offered no resistance, as he had no intentions of playing the gyro.

Seen news you think I can mangle into a vaguely amusing snippet of text? Send it to me.

Thanks for visiting the Ten Ton Hammer network!

-Jeff "Ethec" Woleslagle and the Ten Ton Hammer team