by Karen Hertzberg on Jan 06, 2010
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We humans are a cynical lot, and that cynicism is ever-present
among MMOG gamers these days. Game launches in the past few years have
followed a cycle of incredible hype followed by bitter disappointment.
Are we becoming too jaded to see the promising MMOGs of 2010 with fresh
eyes? Karen "Shayalyn" Hertzberg recommends a dog's-eye view in today's
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A few mornings ago, I found myself lumbering around in a sleepy haze.
The kids were on their way back to school after a long holiday
vacation, and I had to get used to getting up at the crack of
dawn-thirty again. I moved through my routine as caffeinated
relief dripped too slowly into the coffee carafe. While my groggy kids
did their morning thing, I sat down to begin my Ten Ton Hammer rounds:
check for reported forum posts, ban spammers, compile a list of the
days articles for a press release, and put together the Epic Thread
for Loading
.
It was then that I heard the telltale clicking of claws on our hardwood
floors. I glanced up to see Toshi, our
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shiba_Inu">shiba inu
(a dog breed I've nicknamed, not coincidentally, the "shiba annoyu") go
merrily prancing by with a sock in his mouth. Our bathroom door doesnt
latch properly, so hed pushed it open and stolen the sock from my son,
who was in the shower.
Toshi, no! I scolded. I sighed and retrieved the undergarment from
him, then tossed it back in the bathroom so my poor son would have all
the pieces of his wardrobe handy when he got out of the shower.
I sat back down at my desk and tried to regain my focus. It wasnt long
before I heard that same claws-on-hardwood sound
clickclickclickclick!
I looked up, and watched as our furry, fox-like puppy
sailed by, in full Wonder Dog leap, with his front paws
outstretched, his back legs tucked up, and his tail held high, looking
for all the world like he should be wearing a cape.
And, of course, he had a pair of stolen boxer shorts in his mouth.
I might have been frustrated--after all, I was getting nothing
accomplished and my work had been interrupted for the second time in
under five minutes--but I couldnt help laughing. The thing that struck
me in that moment was the
href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QqGsxwQpa_g">abject joy
with which this little dog went about his pursuit of pilfered
underwear. Theres nothing quite so gleeful as a dog who has something
he knows hes not really supposed to have, and who suspects that,
despite the odds, he just may have gotten away with it this time.
Author George Bird Evans wrote, I think we are drawn to dogs because
they are the uninhibited creatures we might be if we weren't certain we
knew better. And hes right. The more I observe my dogs, the more I
come to understand what a cynical lot we humans are. I keep dogs around
in part to remind me to stay focused on enjoying the simple things,
that even when Im chasing my own tail
its all good.
Cynicism is present just about everywhere you look these days. The
economys still in crisis, and jobs are still in short supply. War is
still raging in the Middle East. But those are the big ticket items. On
a much smaller scale, I see the ever-present cynicism on our own forums
every single day. We publish an article about
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/78776">Allods Online,
a promising new free-to-play title, and within minutes the
href="http://forums.tentonhammer.com/showpost.php?p=412951&postcount=2">hostility
href="http://forums.tentonhammer.com/showpost.php?p=412952&postcount=3">begins
href="http://forums.tentonhammer.com/showpost.php?p=413023&postcount=5">to
flow.
Im not holding this jaded viewpoint against gamers, and especially not
against our forum members, who are unabashedly cool. Its no ones
fault, really. While logic tells us that no developer in his right mind
is going to want to make a lousy game, new MMOG releases have
generated a cycle of incredible hype followed by bitter disappointment.
Part of the problem is that now weve come to expect
the disappointment. Instead of giving the games we play a fair shake,
we enter them instantly looking for flaws, for a reason to say, See? I
knew it! I knew this game would let me down.
My proposition, and indeed my own personal resolution for 2010, is to
try to enter this years crop of MMOGs with fresh eyes; to realize that
just because its been bad doesnt mean it will necessarily stay that
way. We have some promising new titles on the horizon, from Star Trek
Online to Star Wars: The Old Republic to Final Fantasy XIV. Im going
to let myself look forward to them. Im going to go into them looking
for whats right instead of whats wrong. I want to find joy in playing
again, because there was a time when running around a virtual world
collecting virtual items and hanging out with friends and their virtual
avatars brought me quite a lot of happiness.
Failing that, at least Ill have my pup to remind me that theres
nothing like a freshly laundered, pilfered pair of boxers to
make the day complete.
Are you a jaded gamer? Are you hopeful about the games of 2010 or are
you skeptical? Share your thoughts in the
href="http://forums.tentonhammer.com/showthread.php?t=48809">Loading...
forum.
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- Karen "Shayalyn" Hertzberg and the Ten Ton Hammer team