A special message

 With the war happening in Ukraine right now, I'm seeing a disturbing amount of young men and women itching to head over there and blast some Russians. I find myself in need of sharing this special message...

War isn't like in Call of Duty or Medal of Honor. When you get shot, it'll hurt like hell. Unlike in video games, one bullet will be more than enough to kill you if you get shot in certain parts of your body. There'll be no respawning for anybody. Combat armor is heavy, gunshots and explosions are very loud, and having debris flying everywhere is detrimental to your breathing.

War isn't a game, and I can't stress that enough. War is war, it's hell on Earth. You don't WANT to be in a war, trust me. The Ukrainians and the Russians are in a war, and I promise you, they hate it. The only people who like war are the people who know they won't have to fight in one.

If you've got the luxury of  staying home, do so. If you have a family, consider your duty to be taking care of them. Pray for a swift end to this war, and to all wars.

Four Year Anniversary

It's been four years since I've started writing this blog. Normally, I like looking back on how much things have changed. That's easy to do when the changes are good (better writing, better content) but what happens when the changes are bad? What happens when you face yourself with a situation that makes you question whether you're on the right path or not? That's the situation I find myself in today.

A Quick Reminder for Pokemon Go Players

It seems to me like Pokemon Go has become the smash hit of 2016! Half my Twitter feed has been nothing but people commenting on the game. "Oh, I found a Geodude on the plane!" "I found a Magikarp in my backyard!" And honestly, this is good! I'm glad people are out there having fun! This year has been especially hard, and it seems like every other week we're getting nothing but bad news. If it's not a beloved celebrity dying, it's a mass shooting, or a terrorist attack, or a murder. Maybe that's why we distract ourselves with video games.

But remember, people: real life is still going on out there. As you play Pokemon Go, the world still spins around, and life still goes on. The world doesn't stop for you to catch that Vulpix in the church yard, or that Mewtwo in Vatican City, or that Pidgey in your toilet. Life still goes on.

Here's a sobering fact: children are still dying in Syria, Daesh is still killing people, there are still thousands of killings a day all around the world, and you're out there playing Pokemon Go. And why not play? Why not cover our ears and eyes to that which we can do nothing about? We each struggle in our lives; why add the miseries of others to our own?

I am reminded of something I once heard. When God confronted Cain over Abel's death, Cain asked "Am I my brother's keeper?" A wise man once told me that the rest of the Bible answers that question: yes, you are. We all are our brother's keepers. In all of us lays a responsibility to make the world just a bit better than how we found it.

And how can we make the world a bit better? Simply put, we can't; not in a grand scale, anyway. We can't end the war in Syria and the Levant just like that, we can't end world hunger from one night to the next, and racism in the US, Europe, and all around the world will NOT be going away any time soon. But what we CAN do is practice kindness.

A kind word here, a helping hand there, it can make the difference in someone else's day. In a world where cruelty is law, kindness is rebellion. Until next time, take care of yourself, and each other.

A Smite Story

I don't just play League of Legends, you know, I'm also an avid Smite player. No, I am not GOOD at Smite, I just love the game. Anyway, I want to tell you guys a story that happened to me in the game, and if you're not careful, you may just learn something before I'm done.

Five Reasons Why I'm Still a Gamer

I've been a gamer since I was five years old. I first started by playing Super Mario World for the SNES, and my entire childhood was defined by that machine. Twenty four years later, here I am, making a blog about video games. In many ways, I've not changed since I was a child. I've been asked before, though, on why I'm still gaming, why I haven't "grown up" and be like the rest of my peers. These are my five reasons why I'm still a gamer.

Nina's Death- Harvest Moon A Wonderful Life

Harvest Moon is that series of games where you can just sit back, relax, and play to your heart's content without needing any violence, sexuality, double entendres, or any vulgarity. It is safe, clean family fun. But once in a while, this series does something that hits the player hard. Today's blog entry seeks to analyze one of the sadder moments in the franchise: the death of Nina in Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life.

Yes, this game IS as cute as the box suggests.

Goodbye, Travians

I meant to leave this blog entry for the 25th of July, but I feel like this is as good a time as any. On the day of July 25, 2014, Travians will close its operations.

Travians was a browser game, free to play (but with some premium content for people willing to pay for it), and somewhat addicting...at first. The meat of the game has always been chatting and sharing with other players, playing mini games with them, having battles, and so forth. Players were encouraged to make friends in game, to trade with them, and have fun. It was a community driven game.

I started playing Travians on the summer of 2009, five years ago. It was my first MMO experience, and it was my gateway to Internet culture. Way back then, the game was PACKED. It was not unusual to see over a thousand players at the same time, all online. The game was a whole year old by that time, so that may explain why it was so popular at the time. I met plenty of people in the game, two of which I still communicate with to this day.

Travians was more than just a chat room with a game attached; there's also a mission based game in there. Your character (one per account) lives up to 111 days (and no, not in game days, I mean Real Life days), and once day 111 comes and goes, your character dies, bringing forth a new generation for your character. Think of it like "levels", and your character goes up a "level" every 111 days. These "levels" are called Generation, abbreviated in game as gen. My character lived to gen 10, and if I had played consistently in 2012, I'd be gen 13.

The game gives you missions from gens 1 to 3. That means you are given a year to finish the game's missions. What happens if you pass a generation without finishing the missions? Well...no penalty! The game just pretends that you passed the mission! Not like it mattered, because the only thing the missions were good for was advancing the story; there were no other rewards, at all. Although this was a huge flaw in the game, the missions were entertaining...at first. More on this later.

Between missions, you were encouraged to chat with friends. There were no less than 12 different chat rooms on the main hud, with many more individual chat rooms per player AND player's house AND guild house! And there were also several chat rooms for the clubs as well! The game really heavily emphasized friendships and inter player communication!

I met a lot of friends there, and no one I wish I had never met. The game was there for me when I needed someone to talk to. The game was there to entertain me on many lonely days and nights. I once stayed up to 5 AM playing the game! I have some great memories from this game...

But the game died out a long time ago. When once there were almost a thousand players online, there were suddenly 250 people online. And then 150 people online at a time. And then...80 people. Of 1650 accounts, only 80 would be online at a time. What happened? Why did the player base shrink so badly?

One of the game's biggest flaws was the fact that, after gen 3 there was NOTHING to do. Every day you came online, it'd be the same thing: you collected resources, you sold resources, you would chat with friends if they were online, you would attend community actions. Lather, rinse, repeat. Every day. Many, many players would delete their accounts due to the absolute boredom brought upon them by this horrid routine. I have had many friends abandon the game because of this.

There were no new missions added to the game until about late 2012, but by then it was too little, too late. A good chunk of the player base was gone, and those that stayed had no interest in the new missions anyway. By then, the game was more of a chore for most players, with many simply ignoring the rest of the game and simply focusing on community actions. That's what happened to me.

And then one day, I stopped caring.

The game held many memories for me, both good and bad. But for a long time, it was nothing but the bad memories that came to me every time I logged on. It was the memories of friends who never bothered to say goodbye, of drama, of sleepless nights where I needed a friend most and no one was online. And other memories too, that I'd rather not write about here, sorry.

So I stopped logging in. There were days where I'd think about deleting my account, but I never got around to it. I would log in again, play a while, and then I'd log out. And it was like that for a long time.

And then one day, I got the message. On June 15, I logged in, and read that in one month, the game was closing, for good. I guess the message hit me harder than expected. I have spent a few days just thinking about everything, you know? About how life changes, and how sometimes these changes are good, and sometimes these changes are not so good on the surface.

A few days before, on June 11, I had to put my dog down. I had that dog for 15 years, which makes that most of my life. I knew it was coming, for a long time I knew. And then, boom. It happened. It had to happen. The dog was no longer walking, confined to his little bed, wetting himself, whining every minute or so. It was way more painful than expected, and I expected a lot of emotional pain.

Life has a funny way of sneaking up on you like that, you know? You never know when what you thought would always be there, will go away. I had that dog for 15 years. I've played Travians for five years. And next month, both will be little more than a memory.

But I'm not angry, or sad, or even nostalgic. Yes, I'll miss them both, but my memories are still in my heart. let me share some about Travians.

Christmas 2009, I got up extra early to play with my present, Disgaea 3. While I gave my little brother a turn at the PS3, I logged onto Travians and just spent the whole morning chatting, having fun. I will always remember that Christmas.

August 2010, a friend of mine had died. She and I would chat in the game every day, just talking, sharing stories, joking around. She was 15 at the time. Kate was her name. To this day I remember the absolute shock I felt hearing the news.

I am thankful for my time with Travians. I met good people, had some good times, some not so good times, and some fun moments that will live on in my heart. I welcome change, even if it doesn't seem like the change is good.

There is nothing left to do, but to say goodbye. It is often said that the most painful words in the English language are "good bye", and make no mistake, these words have destroyed countless hearts. But to me, maybe these words can act as a release, as a way to close a chapter of our lives in order to start a new one. So, good bye.

Good bye, Travians.

Learn from this- Harvest Moon

There are those that say that there is nothing to learn from video games, that they are a waste of time. There are those that make the ignorant claim that gaming will turn your brain to mush, that the youth is better off without video games. Today's blog is a simple list of lessons gained from a video game franchise: Harvest Moon. This short list alone proves these people wrong, as not only are these lessons applicable to real life, but they are important lessons that every person needs to learn.

Lesson 1: Sometimes a curse is a blessing wrapped in hardships to overcome.

 When you first start the game, you are given a simple, run down farm. There is nothing in it: no animals save for one dog, the fields are chocked with weeds, tree stumps and rocks, and you've got no way at all of making any money. Sounds like someone played a prank on you, right? Nope, quite the opposite in fact. This run down farm? The land is fertile, rich, and can provide for you if you work it. With your hands, and ONLY with your hands, you can turn this barren field into a money maker. The ground is good, and it can provide if you work hard on it. This doesn't happen overnight, however. The field is huge, and your hours are short. Time used on cutting weeds, chopping stumps and moving rocks is time that isn't being spent on growing crops, tending animals and raising your family.

This will one day be a giant field of grass, where your cows can run free and graze to their heart's content. But today, it's a dump, and the only way it can become a field is through your hard work and sacrifice.

This leads us to our second lesson...

Lesson 2: You don't have infinite time, so use it wisely.

  Like in real life, your days on Harvest Moon consist of 24 hours, no more. With those 24 hours, you need to do the following: eat, tend to the crops, till the soil, care for your animals, spend time with your family, socialize with the town folk, purchase seeds for future crops, keep your own health replenished, and finally, sleep. It's intimidating, isn't it? And since most of us gamers tend to sleep in rather late (I used to sleep in until noon!), it sounds like an especially daunting task! How can this be done?

Alright, I'm almost done watering my crops. Lunch is in fifty minutes. During the afternoon, I'll go to town and see what's up, and at sundown I'm having a beer with the guys. 

I know that a lot of us are allergic to routine. We can't stand the idea of doing the same thing, over and over for the rest of our lives. But, this isn't about routine. It's about planning ahead, about knowing that you don't have an infinite amount of time, and about knowing that your responsibilities come first. This leads me to the next lesson...

Lesson 3: The busier your day is, the more important it is for you to wake up early.

A lesson I had to learn the hard way is that 12 PM is not a good time to wake up if you have things that need to be taken care of. Noon is a good time to wake up if you're going to have a lazy afternoon anyway, if it's your day off. But when you have things to take care of, errands to run? Horrible time. Likewise, in Harvest Moon, if you wake up this late, you will not have enough time to do your errands. In Harvest Moon, your day starts at 6 AM. No, you don't wake up at 6, you start working at 6. By 6 AM you already woke up, got dressed, and ate breakfast. You're charged, you're wide awake, you're ready for work. Six in the morning.

Busy, busy, busy! As soon as I'm done milking the cows, I gotta water the crops, collect the eggs, shear the sheep, brush my animals AND feed the chickens! Once that's done, I gotta head to town to pick up that tool I ordered, visit the mayor, head to church, visit the in laws, buy some food for tonight's dinner, and of course I gotta visit my pals! Good thing I woke up early today!

Lesson 4: Plan for tomorrow, today.

When you wake up, you need to know precisely what it is you need to do today. You need to know beforehand what it is that needs doing, and then go out and do it as soon as possible. How? By planning. In Harvest Moon, you are given every tool available to know how your NEXT day is going to be like. The weather report is always 100% accurate, and by 6 AM tells you what kind of weather you're having the next day. I know that this isn't realistic, but then again, we also have the science to predict the weather. Living day by day might be good for a while, but when you have responsibilities, those take priority. You plan ahead and take care of what you need to do. Which leads me to the next lesson...

Lesson 5: It's OK to have free time. Have fun!

Now there's an idea!

If all you do in life is work, you'll find that your days are miserable. Likewise in Harvest Moon, if all you do is plant crops and work, you'll find yourself hating the game. Go out and have fun every once in a while! Play, dance, sing, have fun!

Lesson 6: Patience is a virtue.

You're not going to have a money making farm overnight. You're not going to have a family one week from meeting the girl you fell for. Your crops are not going to grow within minutes of you planting them. Everything takes time. Everything. You need to learn to wait patiently. Speaking of love...

Lesson 7: Love takes time to grow.

In every Harvest Moon game, you can marry someone of the opposite sex. (How heteronormative, but hey.) When you meet them, you'll be a stranger to them, always. They don't know you, you don't know them YET. But hey, a goal in these games is to find a spouse and raise a family. To make the candidate fall in love with you, you need to shower that person with gifts, talk to him/her on a regular basis, and wait for his/her love level to be in a good enough level. For example, in Harvest Moon Back to Nature, the love level is measured by heart colors. Black means total stranger, purple means new acquaintance, blue means friend, green means she/he has a little crush on you, yellow means he/she has a crush, orange means he/she really likes you, and red means he/she loves you 100%. When can you ask that person to marry you? At the red level, no earlier. To get to that level takes time, lots of it. In fact, I spent a year and a half of in game time before I was ready to marry the girl I had been romancing that entire time! But, it was worth it. Love takes time and effort. (And money)

"I don't want, anybody else. When I think about you I touch myself!"

Lesson 8: Love needs to be maintained, or it will be gone.

It does not do for you to ignore your new spouse after you marry him/her. Oh what, you think that just because you got married, that's it? Nope. Your spouse is still an individual with needs, and one of those needs is love. YOUR love. He/she married you because he/she loved you. Marriage isn't an achievement to unlock, it's a commitment. And you need to commit to make it work. Otherwise, you'll lose your spouse, and it's going to hurt.

"You don't care about me anymore. You never tell me good morning, you just scarf down what I cook for you without so much as a thank you, you forget our anniversary, my birthday, and you're seldom home. You rarely look at me anymore, and sometimes I feel more lonely in your company than I do by myself. I can't do it anymore. I'm leaving, and I'm taking our son."