Fatigue of the Ages
So I wake up at around 7.45am this morning after going to bed rather early. Which was around 12am last night. Not so early you say? Well it was early for me. Because I normally hit the sack a couple hours later than that. I found out that my youngest brother was still deep in slumber. Which was weird since he went to bed at around 9pm last night. He's supposed to go to school and I tried my best to wake him up.
I got him out of bed and out of the room and decided to go back to sleep. But I couldn't shake the feeling that he wasn't getting ready for school so I dragged myself out of bed and walked out of my room. As I suspected, he was laying asleep in the middle brother's room. My other brother had already gone out to school. I tried waking him up again but to no avail. I even tried telling my sleeping mother who had more persuasion to wake my brother up. But she came back after I went to bed last night so she was too tired to get out of bed.
Well, right now everyone seems really fatigued. Even I am a little tired. But of course because of my experiences in non-stop gaming over 3 days and National Service's nut cracker style training, I've gained some resistance and I'm able to force myself awake when I need to. Of course I am quite upset my brother's going to be skipping today's lesson. But he has no such experience of conquering the sleep demon that is plaguing him right now.
There's only one thing left to do but I won't do it. It would be to scream at him and physically abuse him to wake him up. Of course that will be super effective at achieving my objective of sending him to school. But it's not something that I am willing to do. Perhaps if I was 7 years younger I would do that to my brother. That was when I was still rather immature and decided that the ends would always justify the means.
With all this fatigue going around, I'm wondering if people in the world are burning out like my brother all too often. If so, then I suppose that people are kinda leading unsustainable lives. Lives that tire them out so much, people probably are going to die prematurely. Of course the weirdest exceptions might be the Japanese. They seem to live ultra stressed lives with the least sleep compared to most people on the planet and yet they seem to live the longest lives too.
Inspired by the Japanese
Perhaps it's the activities that they partake in *wink* *wink* that gives them such long lives. Hahaha, if you know the Japanese, their weird fetishes and seemingly hidden wild sex lives, you'd understand that having more sex truly will give you far longer lifespans even when coupled with high stress and inadequate rest. Of course I would be interested in following their footsteps. However if I'm living here in Singapore, the scene is rather rife with people coupling with rather dangerous and medically unsafe people unlike in Japan where most of the sex industry is actually stringently screened before allowed to do business.
The reason? Because the sex trade is openly illegal here in Singapore. Thus there's no such thing as a license for it and because there's nothing governing this trade, the government cannot set rules for safety among other things. Thus it's rather dangerous to be adventurous here in Singapore. I've personally known friends who have gotten Aids because of several seemingly simple trysts with some foreign sex workers that were transiting Singapore. And as for other STD, the rate is much higher as well.
I'm not suggesting that the sex trade is something that any country be proud of. But it's something that is always in demand and it exists no matter if the country legalizes it or not. It's better to legalize it and ensure the safety of their own country's citizens who are tempted to try it than leaving it to the often unscrupulous illegal vendors that ignore most medical safety issues. If you want to control Aids, you will have to start making the sex trade in your own country safer. If you don't, then there will always be people who will get Aids. It's that simple. Education can only shed light on Aids and its infection methods. It will not discourage people who want to have sex. And if you make people NOT want to have sex, then you have just effectively created the end of your country.
Who in the world thought of such a moronic way of countering STD and Aids? By educating people that you shouldn't have more sex because your going to have Aids and STD because the sex trade here in Singapore isn't regulated? Congratulations Singapore! You have just worsened your shrinking population problem! And also created a generation of people who have a phobia of sex. Don't tell me it isn't happening, because it is. The fact is, Singaporeans have been having less and less sex every year. The only people who have more sex are foreigners who come to Singapore and weren't brainwashed by the government yet. Overall sex figures are misleading because they include foreign born PRs and people who weren't affected by the propaganda.
First step however, is to legalize the sex trade. And that would bring down our STD rates among the foreigners who will eventually have sex with our citizens. Thus preventing such tragedy will be of the highest priority for our beloved country. The second step to solving our dropping birth rate would of course to start re-education of sex. And encouraging it between couples instead of chiding public affection. If the WHOLE society seemingly frowns upon fornication, then HOW can you expect the birth rate to rise? Without sex, there will be no babies. It's a cold hard fact that's being ignored here.
If we can instill a normalized culture of sex back into our society, I'm quite confident that our next generation at least will have a healthier life and have more children that this wasted generation that's ruined by a country that doesn't seem to recognize consequences of their own actions. I mean people here are having sex with people OTHER than their partners BECAUSE sex is frowned upon in society. It's because they have been taught that sex is shameful, thus they want to avoid bringing shame to their partners and thus have transgressions with others. TRUST me, that's what most Chinese Singaporean guys think when they have sex behind their loved one's back. They are ashamed to have sex with them. They are afraid that their partner will think less of them because they constantly want more sex.
It's like inhibiting a natural reaction. In trying to put up a false front so that their partners would have more respect for them, they hide their addiction to sex by seeking partners in the sex trade. They DON'T feel comfortable having sex with the people they LOVE because they have been EDUCATED that sex is a DIRTY and BAD thing. I mean WHAT THE FUCK?! This is exactly why marriages are failing. I'm sure women don't understand this fact. But Asian guys who have been brought up in this manner WILL do as I have described. How do I know all this? Nah, I've always been an odd ball with regards to fitting into society so I sorta don't fit this mold. But I've had countless friends in the army and Polytechnic that gave me the answer.
It was the very people around me that showed me thru example and anecdotes. By talking to them and understanding their emotional problems I slowly understood why so many guys out there are making these relationship mistakes. As most guys who confide in me, the number one thing that bugs me the most is that sex is okay with a person you don't love. But it's taboo with the person you love UNTIL marriage. EVEN after marriage, sex is considered bad to have with your partner because it's dirty. Among let's say 15 guys that have confided in me during my National Service, 15 of them had this mind set. I'm not saying 100% of the guys here in Singapore are like that, I'm already one such exception. But it's still a very very high percentage which would explain what drives our illegal sex trade here in Singapore.
I seek the root of the problems I see around me. I look deep into the fundamentals for the true causes. What I find out usually sickens me. Sometimes it's something so seemingly innocent that it couldn't be the cause of the problem, but it usually the most stupidest of things that causes the most problems. I mean seriously, which RETARD would classify sex as a BAD thing. Even in the bible, sex is something sacred given by god. Even God told us that it is here for us to enjoy between our partner. So like why are people saying that it's bad? Especially the stupid churches. Pre-marital sex is bad? So you chide sex on the whole? Don't do that, your causing an unprecedented amount of grief among the Christians. Your making sex look so bad that people will turn away from their loved ones to have sex because YOU said that it was bad.
What's My Problem
Damn I rant longer and longer. Am I done yet? Oh man. Yeah I do talk to myself at times, I'm a Gemini and I'm constantly pulled from one side to another. If I don't try and come to terms with myself, I'd literally tear myself apart. And so I reveal in certain aspects I'm like most shy guys whose gotten bitten once. I don't just go out and have sex with anyone and everyone just because I have the urge to. I go do it myself because I'm so damn conflicted over who I could do it with. Why? Well, I just ain't ready for my heart to be broken into a million pieces again because it's still pieces on the floor. I truly believe that sex should be between partners that love each other. I'm simply not ready for a bond so deep, I have this feeling that I might never be ready for that bond ever again. But who cares ha! Have a fantastic weekend! Alauz Out!
Idiots of today, Geniuses of tomorrow
Friday, April 27, 2007
Thursday, April 26, 2007
Dragons of the Dungeons
And so here I am today, with a thought in my head. I used to play Dungeon and Dragons with a bunch of friends I made back in the day when I joined Khabal. Of course the times I played it I almost always played an average statistic spread human Spear/Lance fighter. Sometimes if the campaign allowed for it, I'd be a mounted warrior. Otherwise I usually go for the spear. The biggest flaw of my character as a fighter? I love having high intelligence and only slightly above average strength, such as 13-14 strength. It may sound wacky, but I prefer at least 13 intelligence and at least 16 dexterity over an 18 strength fighter.
Why? Because of the feats and skill points required to create my unique style of play. I am a "ranged" melee. Here's my spear man build if your interested in how I eventually become a force to be feared on the battle field. At level 1 I go Dodge and Combat Reflexes so that I can Pin an enemy down at 10 feet if he's a single opponent and I can face multiple opponents as long as I keep moving back 5 feet at a time as a free action so I get plenty of attacks of opportunity. With a spear being a more damaging weapon than a standard 1 handed weapon and having a larger range than a standard weapon, I can effectively nullify anything from a raging barbarian to a mounted warrior on coming for a charge.
When my character gets to level up, he slowly works up towards Whirlwind attack by getting combat expertise and then mobility at levels 2 and 3. Once I hit level 4, my fighter becomes a scary god of the battle field with spring attack and once I hit level 6 I will get whirlwind attack and improved whirlwind attack that allows this melee character have 1 attack at every creature in a 10 feet radius at my full attack bonus along with 1 more attack at an enemy of my choosing with my base attack bonus -5.
I have a 10 feet radius of attack and it also because I have a high dexterity for combat reflexes and some intelligence for combat expertise, I go for combat expertise which allows me to have a high AC while I waltz in and out of bunches of monsters while spinning my spear around every few rounds. Even if I do not land all my blows, I usually only suffer light wounds after the battles are done. I love multiple enemy encounters and if the DM likes having a single powerful encounter, I am just as effective with hit and run tactics. You got to love the 10 feet reach of a 2 handed pole arm coupled with spring attack. Not to mention the x3 critical range of a spear.
That's it for my spear wielding battle monger. Funny thing is that he's reaches the apex of power at level 6 and quite unplayable at the higher levels because he just simply overwhelms most opponents with a flurry of blows right outside of their reach. Once he touches level 11, he's usually outlawed by my DM because he's just uncontrollable with the additional feats I pump into his weapon handling, improved combat expertise and improved combat reflexes. Coupled with my favourite permanent enchantment of a 9 feet silence on the head of my spear. Who ever thought that a single spear man would be able to rip through 9 battle hardened berserkers single-handedly or skewering a sorceror with a spear of silence before he has a chance to finish his first incantation with nary a scratch?
Normally, people would shoot me a funny glance when I first announce my character. They always believed that high dexterity and intelligence only makes for a good dual wielding character. Perhaps it's just the mindset of the people here in Singapore. No defense is a better substitute than not getting hit at all. The best offense is a good range and heavy penalty for the opponents who dare venture closer. Of course you may say that ranged attackers would typically be my bane. I normally just charge them and let them kill themselves with my attacks of opportunity while they remain in range. But when all else fails, my comrades enjoy the clean up of what little is left on the battlefield. That's all for the recollection of a chaotic neutral fighter that loved to break the molds of tradition. Alauz Out!
Idiots of today, Geniuses of tomorrow
And so here I am today, with a thought in my head. I used to play Dungeon and Dragons with a bunch of friends I made back in the day when I joined Khabal. Of course the times I played it I almost always played an average statistic spread human Spear/Lance fighter. Sometimes if the campaign allowed for it, I'd be a mounted warrior. Otherwise I usually go for the spear. The biggest flaw of my character as a fighter? I love having high intelligence and only slightly above average strength, such as 13-14 strength. It may sound wacky, but I prefer at least 13 intelligence and at least 16 dexterity over an 18 strength fighter.
Why? Because of the feats and skill points required to create my unique style of play. I am a "ranged" melee. Here's my spear man build if your interested in how I eventually become a force to be feared on the battle field. At level 1 I go Dodge and Combat Reflexes so that I can Pin an enemy down at 10 feet if he's a single opponent and I can face multiple opponents as long as I keep moving back 5 feet at a time as a free action so I get plenty of attacks of opportunity. With a spear being a more damaging weapon than a standard 1 handed weapon and having a larger range than a standard weapon, I can effectively nullify anything from a raging barbarian to a mounted warrior on coming for a charge.
When my character gets to level up, he slowly works up towards Whirlwind attack by getting combat expertise and then mobility at levels 2 and 3. Once I hit level 4, my fighter becomes a scary god of the battle field with spring attack and once I hit level 6 I will get whirlwind attack and improved whirlwind attack that allows this melee character have 1 attack at every creature in a 10 feet radius at my full attack bonus along with 1 more attack at an enemy of my choosing with my base attack bonus -5.
I have a 10 feet radius of attack and it also because I have a high dexterity for combat reflexes and some intelligence for combat expertise, I go for combat expertise which allows me to have a high AC while I waltz in and out of bunches of monsters while spinning my spear around every few rounds. Even if I do not land all my blows, I usually only suffer light wounds after the battles are done. I love multiple enemy encounters and if the DM likes having a single powerful encounter, I am just as effective with hit and run tactics. You got to love the 10 feet reach of a 2 handed pole arm coupled with spring attack. Not to mention the x3 critical range of a spear.
That's it for my spear wielding battle monger. Funny thing is that he's reaches the apex of power at level 6 and quite unplayable at the higher levels because he just simply overwhelms most opponents with a flurry of blows right outside of their reach. Once he touches level 11, he's usually outlawed by my DM because he's just uncontrollable with the additional feats I pump into his weapon handling, improved combat expertise and improved combat reflexes. Coupled with my favourite permanent enchantment of a 9 feet silence on the head of my spear. Who ever thought that a single spear man would be able to rip through 9 battle hardened berserkers single-handedly or skewering a sorceror with a spear of silence before he has a chance to finish his first incantation with nary a scratch?
Normally, people would shoot me a funny glance when I first announce my character. They always believed that high dexterity and intelligence only makes for a good dual wielding character. Perhaps it's just the mindset of the people here in Singapore. No defense is a better substitute than not getting hit at all. The best offense is a good range and heavy penalty for the opponents who dare venture closer. Of course you may say that ranged attackers would typically be my bane. I normally just charge them and let them kill themselves with my attacks of opportunity while they remain in range. But when all else fails, my comrades enjoy the clean up of what little is left on the battlefield. That's all for the recollection of a chaotic neutral fighter that loved to break the molds of tradition. Alauz Out!
Idiots of today, Geniuses of tomorrow
Whoop Dee Doo
Second post for the day. Well if it wasn't already past 12 midnight. Oh well, but it's a nice thing to do anyways. Having about 2 posts a day on an average schooling day would be something I could do. At least when school starts in about 2 weeks. You guys ever wondered how do some people pick up typing? I picked up typing by playing countless hours of MMORPGs such as Ultima Online and Everquest. Those two were the very games that trained me to type fast enough so I can type and play at the same time. Without looking at the keyboard, ever.
You simply do not have the time to look at the keyboard while the monsters are putting the beat down on your party members. You just simply have to type and the concentrate on the action on the screen while making split second decisions that could wipe the group. Of course while I was usually the main Tank of the group, I had the arduous task of maintaining aggro. People of course say that maintaining aggro is simple. Of course maintaining aggro for ONE monster per fight is simple. But as you know EQ, the later fights required that you maintain aggro on multiple monsters while the group tries to do some crowd control such as disabling them or killing them out right.
While I was not one of the best equipped warriors in the game. My skill in holding aggro was second to none. The biggest thing was, that I was always a leader in EQ. I was a warrior and thus a tank. I had no way to save myself if the situations get ugly when the group gets more monsters per pull than they can handle. Thus I had to do the planning on the pulls and more often than not, I save the group lots of grief in down time and experience loss.
I for one, KNOW the difference between a carefully planned group pulling strategy AND a poorly planned group strategy. This is especially true in the tougher zones where your character dies faster than a blink of an eye. I know this sounds crazy but before EQ became newbiefied, it was a place of unrelenting nightmares. A single monster is usually cake. That's IF you can get just a single monster everytime. But the cold hard fact was, you tend to get at least 2-6 monsters per pull especially in the zones where the rewards are high. Thus as a group leader, I had to plan to hunt in a spot where the rewards were relatively balanced and the pulls were not unmanagable for a group that I was forming.
The biggest trick in aggro maintainance is, experience. Nothing and I mean NOTHING beats getting killed multiple times over and over again in a multitude of different ugly situations. My warrior in EQ has died more times than I can count. In the first 6 weeks probably I've gotten kill at least 200 times. After that, you learn from experience. You need to make mistakes. And usually the more mistakes you make, the faster you learn. To learn the aggro style of the new zones I ventured into, I actually strip my character naked and run there solo first. Then I check how the monsters come and beat the pulp out of me.
Sure I've lost so much exp that I drop a level sometimes. I make up for it by picking up the techniques required to successfully establish a presence in the area. By knowing how the monsters move and understanding how many monsters exactly will come everytime you grab one. Is the key to having a successful experience in the area. Over the course of 3 years in EQ, my character has probably died more than 10000 times. Most likely it should be in the 30 thousand range. But among my peers back then, I was also the one leveling up the the fastest and also the one that has picked up the hunting styles of the new zones faster than anyone around me.
It also matters that my american peers were clocking 40 hour weeks on EQ while I had only 12-14 hours a week. When I out level and out maneuver them in every zone I visit, I earned alot of respect in the guilds I've joined. My warrior would probably be known by his namesake and incidentally I named him "Reklous". Which was rather fitting because he learnt things the "hard" way. And probably because I learnt through that method, I picked things up so much quicker than my peers who were afraid of "failing". When you understand the method of learning, only 12 hours a week can bring you 80 hours worth of experience.
And when that 12 hours eventually becomes 20 hours, I leveled up so fast that it shocks even me. 5 levels a day at level 60-65 is in fact unheard of back when the level cap was first released. But I did it anyways with 3 hours of dying non-stop and another 9 hours of non-stop grinding. It's quite a feat to level up faster than others YET your playing far less hours than the others were. For those times, I was always switching around the different groups when they were looking for me and forming groups to hunt when there weren't any available.
In EQ, I believe in pro-activity. I actively seek out the challenges that laid out in the game. Constantly striving to be stronger and better. But of course when I found out at the end of the game that it will never end, it kind of reminded me of Real Life and I got too turned off to continue playing it. In EQ, I did not have a routine in grinding. I went anywhere and EVERYWHERE to learn and conquer. When I left the game, the only places I have not been too, were the ultra time intensive zones such as the Planes of Time where you had to spend alot of time gathering the pieces for the key to enter the zone. And each piece of the key would require hundreds of players to gather and accomplish the goal required.
One thing I couldn't do in EQ was join the uber raiding guilds. Sure I had friends in those guilds who used to level up with me. But as they constantly urged me to join them, I simply couldn't due to the time limitations I had. I have my own life here in Singapore and the time of their raids were simply too impossible for me to partake. The raids are not short and sweet things you often encounter as a group in EQ. An hour or two won't cut it. A raid lasts a bare minimum of 6 hours and can stretch to a mind blowing 2 weeks for the Plane of Sky. That includes gathering time, grouping distribution, buffing time, fighting time, looting distribution, honor listings and the list goes on. The honor listings were converted to a new medium as time went on. It turned into the Dragon Kill Point system or the DKP. It's widely used in most MMOrpgs with raiding systems nowadays.
I was one of the people involved in the creation of it's concept. We all felt that the loot was so hard earned of people's time and effort, that we should have a point system for those people who were constantly par-taking in the raids but had nothing to show for it. While people in the guilds resisted this change for the longest time. Everybody finally relented because they had an "unlucky" draw once too many times. Thus the DKP was born. Why Dragon you ask? Because the first raids in EQ involved killing nasty Nagafen and Vox. They were the nasty dragons that had the most uber loot in the game at the very beginning.
No one guild can be responsible for the DKP. I was in several of the raiding guilds and had absolutely nothing to show for it for 1 1/2 years so I actively suggested this medium to the various guild leaders. Eventually, the raiding guilds such as Afterlife and the eventual split off into Drinal, Cats in Hats was to be the premier raiding guild for the split server. I almost joined Afterlife before I split into Drinal and I knew the founding guild leader of Cats in Hats because we used to level up alot together. Both guilds took up the DKP system eventually and each guild had it's own version of DKP. Things such as raid time, character used and even dps were sometimes calculated to make sure that people got their fair share of credit and claim to the loot that lies at the end of the raids.
The moral of the story? I learnt so much from my time in Everquest and I am just beginning to find out that everything I've experienced and learnt in that video game, is coming to life in Reality. All the things that applied in the game in terms of human to human interaction and mechanics are actually reflecting itself in the interactions of the people around me. Now when I see an event happening, I can actually tell how people will start to react. It's because I've seen such unpredictability of situations and how people reacted to them in real time and pressure. So in project groups, real working environments where stress starts to mount, I see people reacting the same way they do in the game. Blaming the people around them, freezing up in fear, totally losing morale, standing up to the challenge, rallying those around them and so on and so forth.
Things that happened in the game are coming true right as I am living my life. Situations where I had to work in a big group such as my orientation leadership camp and my part in Voice Out 1 and 2 actually were like playbacks of raids I had in Everquest. It had too much similarity to the game to say that Everquest was just a game. It was a literal extension of how human group mechanics worked. It was better than doing actual research on people who are forced to work together. It was the experience of doing it yourself.
Things that the game had conditioned me to be attuned to are actually showing up more and more often in real life. Perhaps in life that is how I've been truly learning. Making mistake after mistake. If I've only learnt one thing from EQ, is that you should never fear to make a mistake but you should absolutely fear not learning from one. Do NOT fear failure, it is but the mother of success. If you never made a single mistake in your life, your whole life is a mistake. So instead of trying to succeed in life without first learning what is right and wrong, let's all sit down and reconsider what we truly understand about ourselves. Are we stupid? We're only stupid if we are scared to find out what is right or wrong. Make the call, take the step. If you turn out to be wrong, just admit it and learn from it. That is what life is, although I played a game that taught me all that. Alauz Out!
Idiots of today, Geniuses of tomorrow
Second post for the day. Well if it wasn't already past 12 midnight. Oh well, but it's a nice thing to do anyways. Having about 2 posts a day on an average schooling day would be something I could do. At least when school starts in about 2 weeks. You guys ever wondered how do some people pick up typing? I picked up typing by playing countless hours of MMORPGs such as Ultima Online and Everquest. Those two were the very games that trained me to type fast enough so I can type and play at the same time. Without looking at the keyboard, ever.
You simply do not have the time to look at the keyboard while the monsters are putting the beat down on your party members. You just simply have to type and the concentrate on the action on the screen while making split second decisions that could wipe the group. Of course while I was usually the main Tank of the group, I had the arduous task of maintaining aggro. People of course say that maintaining aggro is simple. Of course maintaining aggro for ONE monster per fight is simple. But as you know EQ, the later fights required that you maintain aggro on multiple monsters while the group tries to do some crowd control such as disabling them or killing them out right.
While I was not one of the best equipped warriors in the game. My skill in holding aggro was second to none. The biggest thing was, that I was always a leader in EQ. I was a warrior and thus a tank. I had no way to save myself if the situations get ugly when the group gets more monsters per pull than they can handle. Thus I had to do the planning on the pulls and more often than not, I save the group lots of grief in down time and experience loss.
I for one, KNOW the difference between a carefully planned group pulling strategy AND a poorly planned group strategy. This is especially true in the tougher zones where your character dies faster than a blink of an eye. I know this sounds crazy but before EQ became newbiefied, it was a place of unrelenting nightmares. A single monster is usually cake. That's IF you can get just a single monster everytime. But the cold hard fact was, you tend to get at least 2-6 monsters per pull especially in the zones where the rewards are high. Thus as a group leader, I had to plan to hunt in a spot where the rewards were relatively balanced and the pulls were not unmanagable for a group that I was forming.
The biggest trick in aggro maintainance is, experience. Nothing and I mean NOTHING beats getting killed multiple times over and over again in a multitude of different ugly situations. My warrior in EQ has died more times than I can count. In the first 6 weeks probably I've gotten kill at least 200 times. After that, you learn from experience. You need to make mistakes. And usually the more mistakes you make, the faster you learn. To learn the aggro style of the new zones I ventured into, I actually strip my character naked and run there solo first. Then I check how the monsters come and beat the pulp out of me.
Sure I've lost so much exp that I drop a level sometimes. I make up for it by picking up the techniques required to successfully establish a presence in the area. By knowing how the monsters move and understanding how many monsters exactly will come everytime you grab one. Is the key to having a successful experience in the area. Over the course of 3 years in EQ, my character has probably died more than 10000 times. Most likely it should be in the 30 thousand range. But among my peers back then, I was also the one leveling up the the fastest and also the one that has picked up the hunting styles of the new zones faster than anyone around me.
It also matters that my american peers were clocking 40 hour weeks on EQ while I had only 12-14 hours a week. When I out level and out maneuver them in every zone I visit, I earned alot of respect in the guilds I've joined. My warrior would probably be known by his namesake and incidentally I named him "Reklous". Which was rather fitting because he learnt things the "hard" way. And probably because I learnt through that method, I picked things up so much quicker than my peers who were afraid of "failing". When you understand the method of learning, only 12 hours a week can bring you 80 hours worth of experience.
And when that 12 hours eventually becomes 20 hours, I leveled up so fast that it shocks even me. 5 levels a day at level 60-65 is in fact unheard of back when the level cap was first released. But I did it anyways with 3 hours of dying non-stop and another 9 hours of non-stop grinding. It's quite a feat to level up faster than others YET your playing far less hours than the others were. For those times, I was always switching around the different groups when they were looking for me and forming groups to hunt when there weren't any available.
In EQ, I believe in pro-activity. I actively seek out the challenges that laid out in the game. Constantly striving to be stronger and better. But of course when I found out at the end of the game that it will never end, it kind of reminded me of Real Life and I got too turned off to continue playing it. In EQ, I did not have a routine in grinding. I went anywhere and EVERYWHERE to learn and conquer. When I left the game, the only places I have not been too, were the ultra time intensive zones such as the Planes of Time where you had to spend alot of time gathering the pieces for the key to enter the zone. And each piece of the key would require hundreds of players to gather and accomplish the goal required.
One thing I couldn't do in EQ was join the uber raiding guilds. Sure I had friends in those guilds who used to level up with me. But as they constantly urged me to join them, I simply couldn't due to the time limitations I had. I have my own life here in Singapore and the time of their raids were simply too impossible for me to partake. The raids are not short and sweet things you often encounter as a group in EQ. An hour or two won't cut it. A raid lasts a bare minimum of 6 hours and can stretch to a mind blowing 2 weeks for the Plane of Sky. That includes gathering time, grouping distribution, buffing time, fighting time, looting distribution, honor listings and the list goes on. The honor listings were converted to a new medium as time went on. It turned into the Dragon Kill Point system or the DKP. It's widely used in most MMOrpgs with raiding systems nowadays.
I was one of the people involved in the creation of it's concept. We all felt that the loot was so hard earned of people's time and effort, that we should have a point system for those people who were constantly par-taking in the raids but had nothing to show for it. While people in the guilds resisted this change for the longest time. Everybody finally relented because they had an "unlucky" draw once too many times. Thus the DKP was born. Why Dragon you ask? Because the first raids in EQ involved killing nasty Nagafen and Vox. They were the nasty dragons that had the most uber loot in the game at the very beginning.
No one guild can be responsible for the DKP. I was in several of the raiding guilds and had absolutely nothing to show for it for 1 1/2 years so I actively suggested this medium to the various guild leaders. Eventually, the raiding guilds such as Afterlife and the eventual split off into Drinal, Cats in Hats was to be the premier raiding guild for the split server. I almost joined Afterlife before I split into Drinal and I knew the founding guild leader of Cats in Hats because we used to level up alot together. Both guilds took up the DKP system eventually and each guild had it's own version of DKP. Things such as raid time, character used and even dps were sometimes calculated to make sure that people got their fair share of credit and claim to the loot that lies at the end of the raids.
The moral of the story? I learnt so much from my time in Everquest and I am just beginning to find out that everything I've experienced and learnt in that video game, is coming to life in Reality. All the things that applied in the game in terms of human to human interaction and mechanics are actually reflecting itself in the interactions of the people around me. Now when I see an event happening, I can actually tell how people will start to react. It's because I've seen such unpredictability of situations and how people reacted to them in real time and pressure. So in project groups, real working environments where stress starts to mount, I see people reacting the same way they do in the game. Blaming the people around them, freezing up in fear, totally losing morale, standing up to the challenge, rallying those around them and so on and so forth.
Things that happened in the game are coming true right as I am living my life. Situations where I had to work in a big group such as my orientation leadership camp and my part in Voice Out 1 and 2 actually were like playbacks of raids I had in Everquest. It had too much similarity to the game to say that Everquest was just a game. It was a literal extension of how human group mechanics worked. It was better than doing actual research on people who are forced to work together. It was the experience of doing it yourself.
Things that the game had conditioned me to be attuned to are actually showing up more and more often in real life. Perhaps in life that is how I've been truly learning. Making mistake after mistake. If I've only learnt one thing from EQ, is that you should never fear to make a mistake but you should absolutely fear not learning from one. Do NOT fear failure, it is but the mother of success. If you never made a single mistake in your life, your whole life is a mistake. So instead of trying to succeed in life without first learning what is right and wrong, let's all sit down and reconsider what we truly understand about ourselves. Are we stupid? We're only stupid if we are scared to find out what is right or wrong. Make the call, take the step. If you turn out to be wrong, just admit it and learn from it. That is what life is, although I played a game that taught me all that. Alauz Out!
Idiots of today, Geniuses of tomorrow
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Mind Fog
For those of you who played Baldur's Gate 2, its expansion the Throne of Bhaal or even the Ice Wind Dale series, you'd know exactly what I'm talking about. It's the blue fog that comes out of the dastardy Brain Golem that wanders the halls of the Illithid. It's the fog that drains one will save regardless if they were completely immune to magic and the like. The tricky thing about mind fog, is that it's not something that's rather fun to be in while the damn Illithid are ripping through my character's brains. Thus I always sought to clear out the brain golems before the party engages any of the Illithid that wander the damnable hive.
I send Imoen equipped with that wonderful staff of golem slaying and seek these golems out while I project image and beat the crap out of them with that beat stick I bought with a ton of gold. Incidentally, she is one of the cutest goddesses of murder you can know. Quite unlike the murderous father that she had. I suppose that's what you get when you have a baby with a positive bimbo. I seriously wonder what Bhaal was thinking by having a child with a bimbo like that. Maybe he was just "distracted" heh...
But back to this blog entry, what is mind fog? I suppose it even exists in Real Life. In whatever form it takes, it definitely saps the will of the people engulfed in it. However, unlike the mind fog in the game, it doesn't wear off when the cloud dissipates. Quite ironic that the mind fog in the real world is really much scarier than the fog that's in a fantasy world where the impossible seems like nothing. If you look around, there's actually lots of more things in Real Life that are much more frightening than in the fantasy world. It maybe made up of people's imagination, I suppose that it's quite babyish in that manner. Anyone who knows the true horror of human nature will say that Dungeon and Dragons and all it's other incarnations, regardless it's Sci-fi or Fantasy, pales in comparison of serial killers who literally etch terror into their victims.
Or war crimes committed during the World wars, in Africa's civil wars and even the war in Vietnam have crimes that will sicken and frighten those possessing hardest of stomachs. I for one was quite appalled by the things that have been done. But it will never end, the pain and the suffering will continue as long as humanity exists. Without such brutality, we will lose our moral compass and eventually sink into depravity. Our laws will twist and our minds will warp. Until one day, the very acts thought to be vanquished return into society and become accepted as a common practice.
Such an occurrence shall happen IF we get rid of all that is evil and bad in the world. I'm not saying that it should run rampant. But I'm just saying that these "evil" people give us our moral direction. Without people like them to reflect upon, we will be unable to see beyond our own judgements. Without a greater evil, we literally become it. So in order to maintain some semblance of good at least, we have to tolerate some evil. To have the greatest good, would also mean you've have to have the greatest evil. Which will lead humanity into countless wars and conflicts. So to prevent that, we need moderate good and evil which can remain in a stalemate for a long time to come.
For a stalemate in good and evil means peace and usually much more prosperity compared to the conflicts between the greater good and evil. As long as a balance is maintained between the two, human kind shall live long and be enlightened. But as long as one side keeps getting stronger unabated, human kind shall suffer endless depravity. We all know the problems of evil getting too strong, but what the good getting too strong? Let us take a simple game like Diablo 2. It talks about the 3 prime evils, Hate a.k.a. Mephisto, Destruction a.k.a. Bhaal and Terror a.k.a. Diablo. It talks about how Diablo corrupted and took over a brave hero who had come to vanquish him. It also tells of how Bhaal corrupted Tal Rasha who was a great mage of great principal and morals. And lastly, it also mentions how Mephisto corrupted Lazarus and the head of the monastic order.
IF this is how evil starts destroying the world, then good will destroy the world in a similar manner. Without Mephisto leading the fanatical cult of the Zakarum. Their pious leader with absolute power and absolute goodness will not have anyone morally capable of opposing them. Thus any action taken by their leader and their whole religion will be taken as what's right. Thus Mephisto is only but a symbol of which the religion eventually falls and becomes a cult. Too much power and the leaders become corrupted. In this case a demon was truly behind the problems. But in Real Life, great religious leaders have caused so much deaths as well. They have so much power over people who believe in them, that they are almost like God.
By listening to them, people believe that they will receive salvation. And one of the most prolific religious leaders of our day and age is no other than Osama Bin Laden. This is proof that too much good can destroy this world. In the eyes of his believers, he is definitely good. Thus there was no balance. People would not be swayed by the words of others because he has instilled the very essence of what is "good" into people's hearts. Any such pure "goodness" that is so absolute, shall rip the world asunder faster, harder and into smaller pieces than pure evil. I do believe that in our governments, our politicians should not be squeaky clean. So that when they start doing unethical things, people will start rejecting him because he isn't of a pure repute.
If our political leaders were completely clean of misdeeds. Then the people will have no reason to doubt and question them. Thus IF the leader decides to oppose the world by acquiring nuclear warheads and bio-weapons, the country can do nothing but judge that action upon his sterling reputation in the country. One such example is the Leader of North Korea Kim Jung Ill the 2nd. In his country, he is regarded to have done nothing wrong despite his international reputation. IF he wasn't so clean in his country's eyes, he would have fallen a long time ago and replaced with a different politician the moment he started the nuclear project.
Revolutions are only done when people are motivated enough to start one. Thus if people do not have a reason to oppose the current leadership, the world shall continue to suffer the rule of a despot that will eventually become a tyrant. It doesn't take too long for absolute power to corrupt an individual. And it's proven true that power warps your judgements. Perhaps in time, people will understand that a chaotic political system where there's no true victor, shall be what will enable peace in the long term. With no one single power to corrupt a country, then no matter what the damage is, it will be minimal. So you know, there's no such thing as true good and true evil. Its all a matter of perspective. Alauz Out.
Idiots of today, Geniuses of tomorrow
For those of you who played Baldur's Gate 2, its expansion the Throne of Bhaal or even the Ice Wind Dale series, you'd know exactly what I'm talking about. It's the blue fog that comes out of the dastardy Brain Golem that wanders the halls of the Illithid. It's the fog that drains one will save regardless if they were completely immune to magic and the like. The tricky thing about mind fog, is that it's not something that's rather fun to be in while the damn Illithid are ripping through my character's brains. Thus I always sought to clear out the brain golems before the party engages any of the Illithid that wander the damnable hive.
I send Imoen equipped with that wonderful staff of golem slaying and seek these golems out while I project image and beat the crap out of them with that beat stick I bought with a ton of gold. Incidentally, she is one of the cutest goddesses of murder you can know. Quite unlike the murderous father that she had. I suppose that's what you get when you have a baby with a positive bimbo. I seriously wonder what Bhaal was thinking by having a child with a bimbo like that. Maybe he was just "distracted" heh...
But back to this blog entry, what is mind fog? I suppose it even exists in Real Life. In whatever form it takes, it definitely saps the will of the people engulfed in it. However, unlike the mind fog in the game, it doesn't wear off when the cloud dissipates. Quite ironic that the mind fog in the real world is really much scarier than the fog that's in a fantasy world where the impossible seems like nothing. If you look around, there's actually lots of more things in Real Life that are much more frightening than in the fantasy world. It maybe made up of people's imagination, I suppose that it's quite babyish in that manner. Anyone who knows the true horror of human nature will say that Dungeon and Dragons and all it's other incarnations, regardless it's Sci-fi or Fantasy, pales in comparison of serial killers who literally etch terror into their victims.
Or war crimes committed during the World wars, in Africa's civil wars and even the war in Vietnam have crimes that will sicken and frighten those possessing hardest of stomachs. I for one was quite appalled by the things that have been done. But it will never end, the pain and the suffering will continue as long as humanity exists. Without such brutality, we will lose our moral compass and eventually sink into depravity. Our laws will twist and our minds will warp. Until one day, the very acts thought to be vanquished return into society and become accepted as a common practice.
Such an occurrence shall happen IF we get rid of all that is evil and bad in the world. I'm not saying that it should run rampant. But I'm just saying that these "evil" people give us our moral direction. Without people like them to reflect upon, we will be unable to see beyond our own judgements. Without a greater evil, we literally become it. So in order to maintain some semblance of good at least, we have to tolerate some evil. To have the greatest good, would also mean you've have to have the greatest evil. Which will lead humanity into countless wars and conflicts. So to prevent that, we need moderate good and evil which can remain in a stalemate for a long time to come.
For a stalemate in good and evil means peace and usually much more prosperity compared to the conflicts between the greater good and evil. As long as a balance is maintained between the two, human kind shall live long and be enlightened. But as long as one side keeps getting stronger unabated, human kind shall suffer endless depravity. We all know the problems of evil getting too strong, but what the good getting too strong? Let us take a simple game like Diablo 2. It talks about the 3 prime evils, Hate a.k.a. Mephisto, Destruction a.k.a. Bhaal and Terror a.k.a. Diablo. It talks about how Diablo corrupted and took over a brave hero who had come to vanquish him. It also tells of how Bhaal corrupted Tal Rasha who was a great mage of great principal and morals. And lastly, it also mentions how Mephisto corrupted Lazarus and the head of the monastic order.
IF this is how evil starts destroying the world, then good will destroy the world in a similar manner. Without Mephisto leading the fanatical cult of the Zakarum. Their pious leader with absolute power and absolute goodness will not have anyone morally capable of opposing them. Thus any action taken by their leader and their whole religion will be taken as what's right. Thus Mephisto is only but a symbol of which the religion eventually falls and becomes a cult. Too much power and the leaders become corrupted. In this case a demon was truly behind the problems. But in Real Life, great religious leaders have caused so much deaths as well. They have so much power over people who believe in them, that they are almost like God.
By listening to them, people believe that they will receive salvation. And one of the most prolific religious leaders of our day and age is no other than Osama Bin Laden. This is proof that too much good can destroy this world. In the eyes of his believers, he is definitely good. Thus there was no balance. People would not be swayed by the words of others because he has instilled the very essence of what is "good" into people's hearts. Any such pure "goodness" that is so absolute, shall rip the world asunder faster, harder and into smaller pieces than pure evil. I do believe that in our governments, our politicians should not be squeaky clean. So that when they start doing unethical things, people will start rejecting him because he isn't of a pure repute.
If our political leaders were completely clean of misdeeds. Then the people will have no reason to doubt and question them. Thus IF the leader decides to oppose the world by acquiring nuclear warheads and bio-weapons, the country can do nothing but judge that action upon his sterling reputation in the country. One such example is the Leader of North Korea Kim Jung Ill the 2nd. In his country, he is regarded to have done nothing wrong despite his international reputation. IF he wasn't so clean in his country's eyes, he would have fallen a long time ago and replaced with a different politician the moment he started the nuclear project.
Revolutions are only done when people are motivated enough to start one. Thus if people do not have a reason to oppose the current leadership, the world shall continue to suffer the rule of a despot that will eventually become a tyrant. It doesn't take too long for absolute power to corrupt an individual. And it's proven true that power warps your judgements. Perhaps in time, people will understand that a chaotic political system where there's no true victor, shall be what will enable peace in the long term. With no one single power to corrupt a country, then no matter what the damage is, it will be minimal. So you know, there's no such thing as true good and true evil. Its all a matter of perspective. Alauz Out.
Idiots of today, Geniuses of tomorrow
Sunday, April 22, 2007
Change
And of course, if you noticed a change in my blog. I decided to do a minor overhaul and change the template. It was a simple upgrade and to tell you the truth, I like the new minimalist look. Not that the previous look wasn't minimalist enough, but I felt that the color was kind of distracting.
To further dull the senses of the people who actually dare to read my blog, I'm also setting all the words to be as boring as possible. No doubt, you might think that this is an attempt to be more professional. Fear not, as this is just a mild side effect of an experiment on my blog. I'm going to see if this template would be more discouraging to read. Or was the previous one more appealing.
If you read my previous post. Then you'd know what exactly why I'm talking like this. Then again, it's not an attempt to get you to read my posts. In fact, I want you not to read them ever. Once again I bid all of you a neutral weekend. Alauz Out!
Idiots of today, Geniuses of tomorrow
And of course, if you noticed a change in my blog. I decided to do a minor overhaul and change the template. It was a simple upgrade and to tell you the truth, I like the new minimalist look. Not that the previous look wasn't minimalist enough, but I felt that the color was kind of distracting.
To further dull the senses of the people who actually dare to read my blog, I'm also setting all the words to be as boring as possible. No doubt, you might think that this is an attempt to be more professional. Fear not, as this is just a mild side effect of an experiment on my blog. I'm going to see if this template would be more discouraging to read. Or was the previous one more appealing.
If you read my previous post. Then you'd know what exactly why I'm talking like this. Then again, it's not an attempt to get you to read my posts. In fact, I want you not to read them ever. Once again I bid all of you a neutral weekend. Alauz Out!
Idiots of today, Geniuses of tomorrow
World Revolution
And so as I mentioned countless times to myself, "The world doesn't revolve around you.". I am like most humans, tend to think astray with regards on my skewed view of the world around us. It's really quite fun to think that the world revolves around ya, but it comes to an abrupt end oh too often. More often than not, those who bring my head down from the clouds aren't very grounded themselves. It's more like a battle of opinion to those who view my descent. But it's actually more like looking in a mirror for me.
When I see first hand, what I have become in the face of another. I fall rapidly back to reality. It's quite a nice and shocking revelation. And of course I do welcome it with open arms. Reason? Well the reason is, you never know how you look like from another person's point of view until you look in a mirror. In most circumstances, a REAL mirror hanging on the wall won't cut it. Why? Because when your doing the things that are hurting others, the mirror ain't there to show you what your doing. Until someone acts as the mirror and does what your doing in front of you.
So I guess, I did some waking up. It was like in a nightmare, except that I wanted it to continue. I don't know but I suppose everyone has their fair share of turning to the darker side of humanity. I for one, embrace it because it's part of humanity. Before you call me a hypocrite, consider what I stand for. Balance and humanity. Without Good, there is no Evil. Without Evil, there is no Good. Without a Dark side of humanity, there is no humanity. We are but pawns if we let others decide the path that we tread. We are truly players in the game of life if we tread where we please.
Please take note that treading where others have tread, don't make you a copy cat. But if you forget where you stand while following others, then you truly are lost. How will you survive without your individuality? While we all agree that society is crucial to humanity, how many of us can truly say that they believe that individuality is just as important without sacrificing society? In order to maintain sanity and order of our very minds. We need to understand that one cannot survive without the other. If your truly an individual, then you are truly part of society. And if you want to be part of society, you've got to be your own person.
Make sense? Or have I lost you? To be one of the extremes is to be balanced in both. To be balanced, you've got to tip towards one side of the scales. Humanity thrives on diversity, without diverse cultures and differences our world will end in very short order. Common interests are never truly the same and our differences aren't truly a problem. If two nations have differences, then they will be motivated to have stronger bilateral ties. Reason? Because they want to understand one another more. But if two nations understand each other absolutely, chances are that war is about to break out between the two. Disharmony breeds harmony and harmony breeds discontent.
Hopefully, your so lost in what I'm saying that you finally understand what the world truly is. It is CHAOS. If you say your confused and lost about how this world works. And how everything doesn't seem to connect at all. Then I shall say that you have understanding of how this planet works. However, if you say that you understand how this world works, then I shall say that you don't know a thing about our world.
What is Chaos Theory BUT an attempt to bring order to a chaotic set of behavior? In actuality, Chaos Theory is ORDER and the total opposite of true Chaos. So to understand the world, is to have total misunderstanding and to have no idea how the world works, complete ignorance is true enlightenment. If you understood what I'm saying, then you will also know by now that everything I said is vice-versa. The Truth is also The Lie. I hope that perhaps one day, a person without intellect, will read my work and suddenly become genius-san. Alauz Out!
Human Nature
What is Intelligence,
It is what we do that defines us.
True Intelligence can unbind us,
From the chains that trap us.
What is Stupidity,
Learning not from our mistakes.
Making not a single mistake,
Will you become truly stupid.
What is Courage,
Falling down is not courage,
Getting up is not courage,
Moving forward is true courage.
Idiots of today, Geniuses of tomorrow
And so as I mentioned countless times to myself, "The world doesn't revolve around you.". I am like most humans, tend to think astray with regards on my skewed view of the world around us. It's really quite fun to think that the world revolves around ya, but it comes to an abrupt end oh too often. More often than not, those who bring my head down from the clouds aren't very grounded themselves. It's more like a battle of opinion to those who view my descent. But it's actually more like looking in a mirror for me.
When I see first hand, what I have become in the face of another. I fall rapidly back to reality. It's quite a nice and shocking revelation. And of course I do welcome it with open arms. Reason? Well the reason is, you never know how you look like from another person's point of view until you look in a mirror. In most circumstances, a REAL mirror hanging on the wall won't cut it. Why? Because when your doing the things that are hurting others, the mirror ain't there to show you what your doing. Until someone acts as the mirror and does what your doing in front of you.
So I guess, I did some waking up. It was like in a nightmare, except that I wanted it to continue. I don't know but I suppose everyone has their fair share of turning to the darker side of humanity. I for one, embrace it because it's part of humanity. Before you call me a hypocrite, consider what I stand for. Balance and humanity. Without Good, there is no Evil. Without Evil, there is no Good. Without a Dark side of humanity, there is no humanity. We are but pawns if we let others decide the path that we tread. We are truly players in the game of life if we tread where we please.
Please take note that treading where others have tread, don't make you a copy cat. But if you forget where you stand while following others, then you truly are lost. How will you survive without your individuality? While we all agree that society is crucial to humanity, how many of us can truly say that they believe that individuality is just as important without sacrificing society? In order to maintain sanity and order of our very minds. We need to understand that one cannot survive without the other. If your truly an individual, then you are truly part of society. And if you want to be part of society, you've got to be your own person.
Make sense? Or have I lost you? To be one of the extremes is to be balanced in both. To be balanced, you've got to tip towards one side of the scales. Humanity thrives on diversity, without diverse cultures and differences our world will end in very short order. Common interests are never truly the same and our differences aren't truly a problem. If two nations have differences, then they will be motivated to have stronger bilateral ties. Reason? Because they want to understand one another more. But if two nations understand each other absolutely, chances are that war is about to break out between the two. Disharmony breeds harmony and harmony breeds discontent.
Hopefully, your so lost in what I'm saying that you finally understand what the world truly is. It is CHAOS. If you say your confused and lost about how this world works. And how everything doesn't seem to connect at all. Then I shall say that you have understanding of how this planet works. However, if you say that you understand how this world works, then I shall say that you don't know a thing about our world.
What is Chaos Theory BUT an attempt to bring order to a chaotic set of behavior? In actuality, Chaos Theory is ORDER and the total opposite of true Chaos. So to understand the world, is to have total misunderstanding and to have no idea how the world works, complete ignorance is true enlightenment. If you understood what I'm saying, then you will also know by now that everything I said is vice-versa. The Truth is also The Lie. I hope that perhaps one day, a person without intellect, will read my work and suddenly become genius-san. Alauz Out!
Human Nature
What is Intelligence,
It is what we do that defines us.
True Intelligence can unbind us,
From the chains that trap us.
What is Stupidity,
Learning not from our mistakes.
Making not a single mistake,
Will you become truly stupid.
What is Courage,
Falling down is not courage,
Getting up is not courage,
Moving forward is true courage.
Idiots of today, Geniuses of tomorrow
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