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.

Another League of Legends Story

This is the story of the one time I ever decided to rage quit. Now, I want to say something clear here: I am not one to quit a game. Surrender? Maybe if the rest of my team wants to. Quit? Not me. So understand, please, that this moment was very much out of character for me.

Edutainment (Done Wrong)- Captain Novolin

Edutainment: entertainment that educates, or a work that both entertains AND teaches at the same time. Edutainment is a staple of development, and in fact might be one of the most effective teaching tool available. Works of edutainment require a LOT of skill and dedication, as well as expertise in not just the art of entertainment, but the science of teaching as well. Edutainment, then, becomes a hybrid of science and art, a work whose value is measured not just in its artistic merit, but on its educational effectiveness as well. Films, television, music, even video games can be venues for edutainment, and today we look at a game that absolutely failed at its job to both educate AND entertain: Captain Novolin.

A good compliment I can give the game is that the box art reflects the game's spirit.

Why Grand Theft Auto 5 deserved to be Game of the Year 2013

I was inspired to write this entry about two weeks ago, when a friend of mine (who shall remain anonymous) commented on Facebook: "I don't understand why a violent game like Grand Theft Auto 5 would win Game of the Year, beating good, healthy, family fun like New Super Mario Bros Wii U." And that got me thinking: Why did GTA 5 deserve Game of the Year? How about we answer that question?

All we hear is radio ga ga, radio goo goo, radio ga ga!

Learn from this- Grand Theft Auto 5

More than mindless entertainment, video games often provide us with subtle lessons that the programmers and writers want us to learn. Today, I take a good look at a few lessons that you can learn from that fantastic video game, Grand Theft Auto 5:

Learn from this- Final Fantasy Tactics

Final Fantasy Tactics is not just one of the greatest games ever made, it's the game that changed the way I look at gaming. The story was amazing, the game play was top notch, the graphics blew me away. Yes it had its flaws, but it still blew me away, and was a deciding factor in me choosing the road I'd take in life. Of course, it didn't turn out the way I wanted to, but hey. But I'm not here to gush about FFT, I'm here to share some of the lessons that one learns from playing the game.

The Friendzone and Katawa Shoujo

Friendzone: when you like someone and would prefer that person to be your lover, but that person sees you only as a friend at best. It tends to hurt, but the mature thing is to move on with your life, find someone new. Yeah, but most people don't really *do* the mature thing, do they? Nope, they need to go to some stupid site like LiveJournal or Tumblr and complain about it! Several bloggers and writers have already written about the Friendzone, and all that has needed to be said about it, has already been said. But today, I want to look at how that brilliant Visual Novel, Katawa Shoujo, deals with the concept of Friendzone.

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."