All Entries in the "rant" Category
How Not to Contact a Blogger about a New Game Release–Advice for Game Publishers
First off, I want it known that I like to hear from companies releasing new products. The game publishers may be in a niche industry, but it is very broad niche. There are literally hundreds of companies and I cannot possible keep track of all of their releases and activities. I need companies to [...]
Why Are Role-Playing Gamers Such Social Losers
in the eyes of many? Ask an average person to describe a role-playing gamer and words like “basement dwelling fast-food worker,” “socially inept,” and “poor personal hygiene” quickly spew forth.
Sadly, as much as I might hope otherwise, this stereotypical gamer exists. He (or she) usually makes it on the evening news when the local TV [...]
4th Edition Gamma World Power List Revealed
Wizards of the Coast just announced a new edition of “Gamma World,” an early post-apocalyptic RPG. After some research and a bit of sneakiness I discovered a partial list of the powers from the game. Here is a screen shot of the mutant plant list.
Ok, I admit it. This post is satire. I am afraid [...]
Absolute Power Corrupts, Sometimes
The Economist has a fascinating article regarding the abuse of power. Some very clever psychologists designed an experiment to test how individuals use and abuse power and the results were quite interesting. Though not strictly game related, the article is an interesting commentary on the worst type of person to wield power and who is [...]
There is a Live Action Yamato-Star Blazers Movie–I Think it is Going to Suck
Space Battleship Yamato (or Star Blazers to Americans) was among the earliest Japanese anime imports to the United States in the late 1970s. It was also the first Japanese anime I ever saw and it deeply affected me at the tender age of eight. If nothing else, it condemned the juvenile, flat and poorly written [...]
Real Review or Marketing Spin: How to Tell the Difference
Astroturfing is the fine art of generating buzz on the internet through deceptive methods. Here are some classic examples, fake websites, viral videos, “independent” blogs operated by marketing companies and supportive forum posts on key community web sites. Posts written by some marketing intern in a posh ad agency office. Astroturfing is, literally, [...]
Attention Game Designers: 10%-20% of Your Customer-Base is Color Blind!
I am color-blind. In my case, I have difficulty distinguishing between shades of red and green. Urban legends aside, I have no difficulty seeing green or red and a stop sign looks just as red as it does to everyone else. I do not see in black and white either. Color blindness (for most [...]
Reclaim the Vampire!
Vampire, the blood-sucking predators of ancient myth appear in some form or another in almost every culture. Creatures that shun daylight and stalk humans as prey. Unstoppable,
inhuman and utterly terrifying, vampires rightfully earned their place in millions of nightmares.
Role-playing games, almost from the beginning, included these fiends in the list of things that need killing. [...]
Villainy in a Vacuum: Antagonists Need Motivations Too
Protagonists need antagonists. Heroes need villains. This is a basic requirement for any story and for time immemorial heroes sallied forth to battle dread forces of darkness. Sadly, many
campaigns (and books for that matter) tend to ignore the villain’s motivation, turning them into shallow incarnations of evil, motivated only by the plot’s needs. As much [...]
