Many books, typically fantasy genres, have dream sequences. The reasoning behind the dreams can be used for different purposes, such as a premonition of what is to come. Others show the deeper feelings someone may have about a situation going on in the book. Sometimes, these dream sequences can push a reader out of what is believable given the setting of the story. Each person has their own view on what dreams really mean, whether they be the random firings of your brain during REM, the ability to tell the future, or some meaningful analysis of how you really feel. Someone who sees dreams as a way for the brain to keep you occupied while you sleep using jumbled together memories to create an environment may only accept the idea of dreams being clairvoyant in a fantasy setting. An author who sees memories as being clairvoyant may have that kind of dream sequence in a "normal" setting.
For the author, thinking about the reader may be difficult. While it it not assumed that an author should please anyone but himself, the very point of the dream sequence has ruin a reader's experience. There must be a point to the dream sequence, and if there is not a strong enough case, an author must consider removing it from the story, or conveying what may be important in another way. So far, I have only used a dream sequence once, in "Survival Tautology" to show the mental impact of what a person has gone through after living in a world full of zombies for so long.
Friday, August 31, 2012
Monday, August 27, 2012
Tyranny Creeps Into Small Town USA
I began to see things take a worse for the small town of Hornell, NY when the local police purchased surveillance cameras to place around the town, allowing Big Brother to rear its ugly head. Now it has gone from bad to worse with a new law that would create unconstitutional "Free Speech Zones." This is in response to a local man, Gilbert Carlton, who, for the past eight years, has been preaching and singing on Main St. The new law would prevent him and anyone who wishes to "gather, remain, walk or stand upon any street or sidewalk in the City of Hornell to protest, support or exercise free speech by voice, sign or any other means."
A federal judge back in 2004 already struck down "Free Speech Zones" as unconstitutional, when a law student at Texas Tech University wanted to make a speech and was denied. Our rights are being taken away in Hornell, and it is up to the citizens to stand up and say "no" to what is a blatant violation of our natural rights as human beings to express our free speech rights of protesting, and for Gilbert Carlton, our right to free expression of our religion.
That is why there will be a protest held Saturday, September 1st, from Noon-3pm at 138 Main Street, in Hornell, NY. All who love freedom, who are outraged at this unconstitutional law, and wish to do voice this travesty should show up in support. Joe Pelych, a city attorney should promptly return to law school to know what is and is not unconstitutional, of which "Free Speech Zones" are unconstitutional.
Feel free to contact Mayor, Shawn Hogan, and city attorney, Joe Pelych to voice your outrage.
Shawn Hogan
Phone: 607-324-7421
E-mail: shogan@cityofhornell.com
Joe Pelych
Phone: 607-324-6111
The local rock band Transparent will be at the protest to perform live in support of our freedom. So come out for some great information, great music, and let all of Hornell hear your voice.
A federal judge back in 2004 already struck down "Free Speech Zones" as unconstitutional, when a law student at Texas Tech University wanted to make a speech and was denied. Our rights are being taken away in Hornell, and it is up to the citizens to stand up and say "no" to what is a blatant violation of our natural rights as human beings to express our free speech rights of protesting, and for Gilbert Carlton, our right to free expression of our religion.
That is why there will be a protest held Saturday, September 1st, from Noon-3pm at 138 Main Street, in Hornell, NY. All who love freedom, who are outraged at this unconstitutional law, and wish to do voice this travesty should show up in support. Joe Pelych, a city attorney should promptly return to law school to know what is and is not unconstitutional, of which "Free Speech Zones" are unconstitutional.
Feel free to contact Mayor, Shawn Hogan, and city attorney, Joe Pelych to voice your outrage.
Shawn Hogan
Phone: 607-324-7421
E-mail: shogan@cityofhornell.com
Joe Pelych
Phone: 607-324-6111
The local rock band Transparent will be at the protest to perform live in support of our freedom. So come out for some great information, great music, and let all of Hornell hear your voice.
Thursday, August 16, 2012
Are MMORPGs Really RPGs?
I was not the one who grew up playing Dungeons and Dragons, but when I was a young teenager, I started playing Palladium Fantasy. I did not start playing Massively Multiplayer Online games until a few years later. So I have a history of pen and paper role playing games, but I had a history of MMOs. When a game is called an MMORPG, to me it is as far from an RPG as you could get. The very basis of an RPG is that you are playing a role, or a character in a game. In an MMO, you control the movements of a character in a game. Every other aspect of an RPG is tossed out from free thinking, restrictions on actions based on moral values, and variations on a character's attributes.
For the case of this analysis, we will focus on Final Fantasy 11 (FFXI) and compared it to Palladium Fantasy Role Playing Game (PFRPG). From the very beginning, you are limited as to what your character is among all the others. I'm not a statistician, but with humans, the possibility of having a different attribute number for eight attributes between 3-30 is huge. Compound that with the various kinds of races you can play, and you will unlikely ever roll two characters exactly the same. One can be super smart, while the other is strong, or beautiful, or just a fast runner. With FFXI, there are differences in attributes, but it is only between races. One race might be better at magic, while the other is better at taking lots of damage. Apart from the facial and hair features, there is no difference between my Elvaan and someone else's Elvaan.
One of the major points of playing an RPG is playing your character. How would your character react to a situation. Now, there are more recent games (which are not MMOs) like Mass Effect, or Tell Tale's The Walking Dead, which gives the player the option of choosing a certain response either in dialogue or reacting to a situation. This is a big step up from FFXI, where Cutscenes involve your character listening to a conversation, and having little to no response. There can be options for how you respond, but all roads lead to the same end result.
Compare this to PFRPG using the example of an annoying NPC. You come across an NPC who is obnoxious, irritating, and you would sooner strangle them then help them with whatever request they have. Depending on your disposition, and your moral alignment, you would have a pretty endless choice of action when it comes to this NPC. If you were on the evil side, you could kill the NPC. Games like The Elder Scrolls series are a bit more open ended on what you can do, including killing the NPC, but unlike Mass Effect and more like FFXI, all choices pretty much lead to the same result. The only thing that changes is the NPC's response to you.
In fact, most of the time in FFXI when it comes to missions and quests you are eaves dropping on someone else's conversation. If you are not eaves dropping, you are a wall flower. Anything done in game does not have any effect on the game as a whole. You may say "Well, that would ruin everything for everyone else." Given that another game tried this, and the game has since failed, you can take the example however you wish. The Matrix Online game was changeable by the players. Events would allow you to change how the game was. I never played the game, but I read about it, so I cannot say how this effected gameplay. A major character in the first expansion pack of FFXI dies in the second expansion pack. It had been so long since I finished those storylines that when I went back to finish the first expansion pack, the person was still alive. It is just a game, but on a subconscious level, there is a paradox of sorts.
So in a game that you have no real effect over, your ability to choose is almost non existent, and your character, apart from facial features and its name, is nothing special. Compared to an actual pen and paper RPG, these MMOs are nothing close to an RPG. Why call an MMORPG an RPG at all? Probably to get people to buy their product. The Elder Scrolls from the very beginning tried to make a game as close to an RPG as they could get. Since then with Skyrim, they have distanced themselves from that, making the game extremely easy to play. But there is one thing that has yet to be adapted to a video game, and that is the unpredictability of a human being. Perhaps Neverwinter Nights came close with its ability to build scenarios, but on almost every metric, MMORPGs, and even games like Mass Effect are not role playing games. If I ran a game of PFRPG, and made it to your experience playing an MMORPG like FFXI, it would be just terrible. This is not meant to bash FFXI as a game because it can be very enjoyable to play. But as far as an RPG, it is a terrible game, and FFXI and any other game claiming to be an MMORPG or just an RPG should not be called. MMOs can simply be called that: MMO. RPG games are becoming more like "First Person Adventure" games, even if it allows a third person view. Because really you are just having an adventure in the game, and you play no unique role.
For the case of this analysis, we will focus on Final Fantasy 11 (FFXI) and compared it to Palladium Fantasy Role Playing Game (PFRPG). From the very beginning, you are limited as to what your character is among all the others. I'm not a statistician, but with humans, the possibility of having a different attribute number for eight attributes between 3-30 is huge. Compound that with the various kinds of races you can play, and you will unlikely ever roll two characters exactly the same. One can be super smart, while the other is strong, or beautiful, or just a fast runner. With FFXI, there are differences in attributes, but it is only between races. One race might be better at magic, while the other is better at taking lots of damage. Apart from the facial and hair features, there is no difference between my Elvaan and someone else's Elvaan.
One of the major points of playing an RPG is playing your character. How would your character react to a situation. Now, there are more recent games (which are not MMOs) like Mass Effect, or Tell Tale's The Walking Dead, which gives the player the option of choosing a certain response either in dialogue or reacting to a situation. This is a big step up from FFXI, where Cutscenes involve your character listening to a conversation, and having little to no response. There can be options for how you respond, but all roads lead to the same end result.
Compare this to PFRPG using the example of an annoying NPC. You come across an NPC who is obnoxious, irritating, and you would sooner strangle them then help them with whatever request they have. Depending on your disposition, and your moral alignment, you would have a pretty endless choice of action when it comes to this NPC. If you were on the evil side, you could kill the NPC. Games like The Elder Scrolls series are a bit more open ended on what you can do, including killing the NPC, but unlike Mass Effect and more like FFXI, all choices pretty much lead to the same result. The only thing that changes is the NPC's response to you.
In fact, most of the time in FFXI when it comes to missions and quests you are eaves dropping on someone else's conversation. If you are not eaves dropping, you are a wall flower. Anything done in game does not have any effect on the game as a whole. You may say "Well, that would ruin everything for everyone else." Given that another game tried this, and the game has since failed, you can take the example however you wish. The Matrix Online game was changeable by the players. Events would allow you to change how the game was. I never played the game, but I read about it, so I cannot say how this effected gameplay. A major character in the first expansion pack of FFXI dies in the second expansion pack. It had been so long since I finished those storylines that when I went back to finish the first expansion pack, the person was still alive. It is just a game, but on a subconscious level, there is a paradox of sorts.
So in a game that you have no real effect over, your ability to choose is almost non existent, and your character, apart from facial features and its name, is nothing special. Compared to an actual pen and paper RPG, these MMOs are nothing close to an RPG. Why call an MMORPG an RPG at all? Probably to get people to buy their product. The Elder Scrolls from the very beginning tried to make a game as close to an RPG as they could get. Since then with Skyrim, they have distanced themselves from that, making the game extremely easy to play. But there is one thing that has yet to be adapted to a video game, and that is the unpredictability of a human being. Perhaps Neverwinter Nights came close with its ability to build scenarios, but on almost every metric, MMORPGs, and even games like Mass Effect are not role playing games. If I ran a game of PFRPG, and made it to your experience playing an MMORPG like FFXI, it would be just terrible. This is not meant to bash FFXI as a game because it can be very enjoyable to play. But as far as an RPG, it is a terrible game, and FFXI and any other game claiming to be an MMORPG or just an RPG should not be called. MMOs can simply be called that: MMO. RPG games are becoming more like "First Person Adventure" games, even if it allows a third person view. Because really you are just having an adventure in the game, and you play no unique role.
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