Download/Listen here!

We talk about popular stuff that we like and that we all Twitter to each other, the great and glorious iPad and children that do stuff like “Hey, stranger, here’s my number and home address since I think you are cool.”

We are happy in this episode, I promise.

Have a rainbow day!

Beau and Leala

It helps that the game is already running on a device that feels like pure techno-joy. The iPad is great for this kind of thing, and I’m excited to see the device in a year or two. Yes, you can probably do more with a 300 dollar netbook, but the iPad is not trying to be a netbook or anything like it. It’s a surprisingly easy-to-hold (yet a little weighty) device that does all that stuff that I spend 70 percent of my time doing online: searching the web, watching videos, writing emails and blogs and playing tiny games like this.

At the end of each night and the beginning of each morning, me and Leala retire to the bedroom to watch T.V., check emails and catch up on news. I get up earlier than her and always go check on her to find her checking her emails and researching on the tiny screen of her iPhone.

Not anymore. Now, she can do all the PC tiny work that normally chewed up a lot of her time, right there from bed. It’s magnificent.

The browser game is due for huge successes, namely because of games like Castle Craft and others that allow players to actually chat in real time and to participate in “groups” or alliances. Right now, I am playing another one in between writing this blog that has animated avatars and armies, as well as an in-depth tutorial. Browser games are becoming more and more advanced and there are plenty that do not require Flash to run!

Castle Craft’s hand-drawn maps and icons are fun to view, and little touches like moving clouds and flashing icons make it feel like something more than just an app. It has the usual click-and-wait depth, but with the added benefit of simplicity that is closer to We Rule.

I would suggest nabbing it, if you have an iPad. I am looking forward to more MMORPGs like this. The device and the games are so neat, that they tempt me to do everything in my life from the iPad: write, play and chat. It does it all. In a few more years, these devices will be insanely fun.

Beau

Not so long ago I returned to Dark Age of Camelot, but need to make a return visit AGAIN. Right now, though, I am looking at Horizons, or what is now called “Istaria.” Granted, I have a test/press account and so I am finally getting to see some of the high-level stuff, but I am enjoying visiting a brand new character as well. I never gave that game enough of a chance, so now would be a great time (I am going to use it in our group review soon.)

Graphically speaking, many of these games turn people off. But I would ask that a small bit of time is given with the game, a chance for the game to grow on you. I’m not so sure that graphics really turn people off as much as the thought that they might be taking a step back into time does, to a time before some of the “higher quality” games appeared. But let’s be honest: many of the “AAA” games that have been released over the last 5 or 7 years have been near duds, or at least not as successful as their budgets might have demanded.

After all, we enjoy games that look like butt already, or games that are barely MUDs. Facebook style games, iPad and iPhone games…all are doing really, really well right now and many of them even act just like a “real” MMORPG. Gameplay is always king, that’s what I am trying to say. I like the fact that some of these indie studios are still around and still kicking, and now I am in a position to bring some attention to many of them.

It’s a little odd, though, being contacted by developers that want me to try their game, or that disagree with what I find. It’s flattering above all, though. The idea of Rise and Shiny is to let the website, but mainly the game, do all the explaining. I have to essentially act just like a newbie would, if not worse. And now it might start being impossible to do that. Mainly, I have already tried, at some point, almost any game you can think of. The only advantage is that a lot of them were played years ago, so trying them now seems fresh and fun again. But one of the other strange things is verifying that people are reading and paying attention, so my opinion is even tainted a bit by that.

I guess I need to just review and play like I am going to be read, and enjoy the fact that there are many writers out there that are much better than me, that do not have the audience. It is a nice feeling, to have a paying job doing this.

And to be really honest: I love press accounts and access to high-level characters that I would never achieve normally. It’s exciting and shows me sides of the game that I would probably never experience. I’m not going to lie, my passion doesn’t lie in things anymore, unless they are made of pixels.

I hope to keep this up for a long, long time. I also hope to grow an audience so I can help bring independent developers art to a wider audience!

Beau

I think my wife knew immediately what I meant by telling her how it bothered me. Living with me must be a little bit aggravating at times, so my wife must have an amazing amount of patience. I imagine it’s like living with some sort of man-child, one that skips from channel to channel, hobby to hobby, and tiny useless fact to tiny useless fact. Still, she knows that I am honestly intrigued by a lot of things, and that the word that my friend used to describe me was not only off-the-mark, but shocking because it showed that my very specific intentions were being misunderstood.

“Honey,” I told my wife, “she called me a tourist.”

Now, before we go any further, I want to clarify that her definition could have been different than my definition. I am going to go so far as to say that it was different than mine. So, what did she mean by it? I can’t say that I honestly remember all of the conversation now, namely because that word leaped out at me and smothered the rest. From my experience, though, the word meant a very particular thing.

I first saw the word used when a Darkfall blogger used it in every single post for months, ranting about players that came to his favorite game and dared to have issues with the “hardcore” nature of Agon. I am guessing that it might be what you call a “meme”: a word, phrase, term or Double Rainbow video that is magically transferred from human to human. Soon, another blogger, who swore Darkfall was the end-all-be-all of games, used the term to represent these same soft, bermuda short wearing pudgy gamers that infected his ultimate world. “Go back to rainbow land!“ they were told by these bloggers. “We don’t need WoW tourists here!”

So, for the longest time I felt that the term generally meant “someone that cannot handle the deepest, dark depths of Darkfall and the horrors within. Usually, a former player of WoW.” Despite the fact that the bloggers seemed to be transferring their own dislike for the most popular subscription based MMORPG in North America, one that they formerly played for years and years, onto these alleged “tourists,” I still took it to mean that being called a tourist was like being called a baby.

Later, I saw the word being used to describe something else, though. Something more sinister: someone that is not dedicated to one game. Someone that is a promiscuous gamer. Someone that cannot do the “work” necessary to reach the maximum of anything.

Someone who doesn’t grind.

Grinding to me has always meant “the repetition of the same activity, not for the love of the activity, but for the love of the end result.” Your job is a grind, doing homework can be a grind, and reaching max level or end-game can definitely be a grind. I would have to argue against anyone that says that free-to-play games are generally “grindier,” mainly because it’s not the opposite case for subscription-based games. It might seem as though there are more free-to-play games that require a grind, but again I would argue that there are simply more free-to-play games. This is a case of proportion. Still, it is true that many free-to-play games can be stripped down, void of much story or interactions with NPCs other than to gather quests, but the amount of grind for both types of game can be the same. Ask any subscription-based rep-grinder, dungeon-grinder or skill-grinder about the term.

I also take issue with the term because, while a tourist might quickly skim the “culture” of a particular area of the world, this is not what I do. What I do is explore the levels of a culture in as much depth as anyone, but at a much slower pace. After all, what good would I be as “the guy that talks about silly little games that no one has heard of” if I spent all weekend killing flower monsters for rep? A tourist in real life does not repeatedly return to an area, either. Or, if they do, they do it in the same fashion, unlike someone like me that explores some new aspect of the game/area almost every time I log in.

For example, I become obsessed with a game, usually for weeks at a time, and then take off for another land. While I do this, though, I maintain all the games that I am exploring for columns or for fun. Two months ago I was obsessed with Mabinogi. Then, I tried out other games and hooked into WURM Online. Next, I am looking at games like Allods and Earth Eternal. Then, I will repeat the cycle. And, of course, I am playing other games in between.

This does not make me some kind of non-dedicated tourist, or someone that will never experience all that a game has to offer. If anything, I will experience even more since the pace of my gaming allows for better absorption.

Don’t get me wrong, grinding or repeating the same activity can be quite fun, especially with the right people. Whether grinding is a result of “lazy” development or of gamers who demand the activity by repeatedly taking part in it, I do not know. But it’s something that I generally do not do. Free-to-play games allow my lifestyle to become something that isn’t much like other types. It’s allowed me to become something that is the opposite of a tourist: a world traveler.

Understand that Steve, the co-host, is an amazingly patient fellow, and I am glad that I have met him. If you want to meet the exact polar opposite of Steve, listen to David, the guy that is ranting. I’m not kidding, I am scared for this guy’s safety, because he is so distraught and messed up by something that did not happen.

http://insideazeroth.libsyn.com/_55_inside_azeroth_rage_id_quit_

I could have let this go, but I want people to convince him to go to therapy. I think he might be suffering from some kind of mental issue, and it’s sad. I am not up on the terms, but I think he is suffering from delusions of grandeur and possibly depression. It’s hard to see it pop up in a public way, that I am familiar with. If you hear this kind of talk from someone, tell them to seek help, and then get away from them.

On a side note, developers (especially Blizzard) hear this kind of madness after every patch. By thousands of people. If you wonder why a calm, clear and constructive email gets through to a developer, it’s because they have tuned out this kind of insanity.

Beau

Download/Listen HERE

BLEEPED, BUT EXPLICIT ALL THE SAME

Today we rant and rant about LiveID. Blizzard’s attempt to put real life first and last names on message boards. Optional message boards.

Optional.

Warning, while we bleepped the naughtiest (and LOUD) stuff in the show, you will hear the S word. Still, bleeps are funny. Let me use these show notes to finalize a few points:

There is a difference between caution and paranoia.

Cautious Bob: “Maybe I should not give Billy my real life address, just yet. After all, he is new to the scene, uses no real life photo and I have never heard his voice. He provides very little real life information, and is a little creepy anyway.”

Paranoid Billy: “If Blizzard were to have it’s way, posting on the technical support forums would lead to some crazy guy showing up to my house. Oh, wait a second, I need to post new baby pics on Facebook and update my Foursquare!”

Also, I want to challenge the listeners, or the person that is reading this now: Using your real life first and last name, go find your name, address and phone number online. It’s out there, but you try to find it. Use Google to find services that locate people. Search until you either find your real life information or until you find nothing.

Then, take stock of your online security. Go look at all of the sites you have signed up for; the forums, the websites, the services, the game accounts. Keep digging.

Then, take stock of your real life security. Do you know your neighbors? Is your phone number listed? Is your address known? When was the last time you talked to your neighbors?

After all this, you will more-than-likely have a better idea as to how secure you really are, and how or why you have avoided any issues so far.

Remember, caution is smart. Paranoia is unrealistic, paralyzing and often makes your forget that you are probably already making poor security decisions, like continuing to be in a guild full of crazy people, or telling us all where you are using Twitter.

Beau

But, as you can see, it takes but one fellow to shit on the coats.

One screenshot shows how he filled almost every forum with the same link. The next shot shows the message he posted, along with a link that (once clicked) brings the reader to pornography. Bear in mind that they shut the posts down, as is normal for any moderator, even on the infamous WoW forums.

Now, the question is: would having a real name associated with his account stopped his postings? What if he had the real name of his intended “victim?” Also, is it possible that he could have simply become friendly with the “victim”, and learned his real life details that way, without ever needing the real name of the fellow on the forums? Think about how many guildmates you have given your information to, without ever really knowing them.

In the end, these screenshots are mild compared to some of the stuff that has been posted on forums in the past. We all know this. There are two “hacker” groups (essentially a group of smelly dudes) that come to mind in particular, and some of the things that they have posted on forums for children’s games and others would make your head spin.

The guy that did this is just some pissed off 17 year old, I’m sure. The point is that this kind of thing is not the result of real names being published, but the result of no accountability for forum posters. Guys like this will do much, much worse if they want, and groups of guys like this will not wait (and have not waited) for your real name to do any kind of damage. They don’t need your real name to find out your real name.

(This happened today by the way, a few hours ago.)

Remember, this is so so so so so mild compared to what players can do to one another. This ability to cause trouble has existed since the beginning of the internet. If anything, security on the internet is less guaranteed now because so many people are so naive about it. If there was more accountability online, and if trouble makers had their real life identity connected with the trouble they wanted to cause, would it stop the behavior?

Remember, your real information is already out there. Do some research. But, they are the ones that benefit from taking the time to mask most of theirs, and will continue to mask their identities because the “good people” are more scared of their real name on a forum somewhere then driving in their car.

Remember, those screenies show one player harassing another. That’s the least of what everyone knows can happen. Well, it can happen without any access to your real name. When you have a large guild or are part of a community, the sting of harassment has nothing to do with your real name. Having your real name displayed online will not be THE catalyst for poor behavior…poor behavior has been happening since the beginning, as well as finding out your real name.

Beau

It started out as a pretty enough night, running around doing favors and enjoying the sights of Telon. Then I noticed a note in my journal about some unfinished wizard business. Turns out I was in the middle of a list for some kind of insane magic user, named Galron or Javon…something similar.

Wizards have a damn good memory, so it would be a good idea to finish the task. The giant stone warriors outside of his keep still hated me, so I took my time in sneaking in. Last time we chatted he handed me a bag and asked me to fetch him a dead dwarf. Sure thing, I thought, no big deal.

At this point it would be good to note that I’ve died before, was kicked back to life by a giant gray woman named Grin, and felt generally more gloomy after. Friends tell me I used to laugh all the time, and I’m sure I did, but I just don’t feel as much like giggling as it seems I used to. So now I don’t think too much about destroying other mortals, as long as the victims are far from good people, and the payout is decent. I need money, and money comes from these kind of favors.

So I found the dwarf and told him that the wizard wanted him folded neatly into a bag. Generally, this kind of talk will force the victim to draw his blade. Then, in self defense, I draw mine. Bette sneaks up behind them and I walk off with 150 extra pounds slung on my back.

Turns out that the wizard had many of these victims in mind, and some of them had taken to living under a bridge. Perhaps to hide from the wizard, I don’t know, but providing them with the standard “your body goes in my bag” warning set them into a rage. To be honest, these are no ordinary people. There’s something about them that makes bagging them easier on my shoulders, literally and emotionally. There’s a smell around this part of the countryside, too.

After being sent back to the bridge to dump off the remains of the experiments that the wizard did with these people, I was informed that he found no use for the results. He sent me out for more flesh, and again back to the bridge to dump the evidence. He claimed there was something about the water, something that was interfering with his experiments.

Turns out he was duping me into seeding the bags of flesh in the water, and allowing the magical effects to transform them into some kind of, well, something less pretty than before.

Leftovers, he called them.

Several times I did this, and to be honest I do not know why. To be even more honest, I felt no pains while doing it, I felt fine actually. At one point I was tossing over an arm and caught myself thinking about what I would have for dinner that night. I decided that, after collecting my reward, I would ask the magician about this.

He claimed to have fixed all issues with his experiments, and sent me one last time to fetch three of the bodies. Under the bridge I went, and was attacked immediately.

He giggled when I returned with a full bag. All my actions had primed the flesh, and now it was wholly animated. Somehow he had tricked me into gathering and creating him a batch of bony servants. I felt horrible, but still thought of dinner. He had spun some sort of spell over me, made me his puppet for an afternoon. He snuffed the tiny candle of my emotions for the entire process, and honestly I was glad.

Later, over dinner, I could still smell that smell on my hands.

Oh well, that was CLOSE. To think that we were *this close* to living in a world that allowed forums to become mean and nasty! Thank god, now stalkers and trolls will have no way to do any damage. At all.

Schhwwoo!

Beau

Essentially, gamers tend to think that being the most profitable NA MMORPG makes Blizzard licensed to print their own money.

No, I am serious. People really think that Blizzard can afford anything, and can do anything. Because, after all, gaming is like, the biggest business in the entire country. Forget Boeing and those other massive companies, we are talking subscriptions here, people. Also, it is obvious that people tend to think that Blizzard is filled with over 2,000 heartless employees, not a single one of them that give a flying pee about customer service. After all, who else are they referring to when they say “Blizzard”?

You know what? Here’s my gut feeling after a day (or has it been two?) of hearing from about 10,000 people concerning Blizzard:

Some gamers really have had their feelings hurt by Blizzard. Some of these wackos are literally saying that they wish some thing bad would happen, so that Blizzard could “learn a lesson.” Many of these clueless dorks are literally saying that this is proof that Blizzard gives absolutely no poo whatsoever about customers, despite the fact that Blizzard has even allowed a forum to even exist. People, of course, are not giving any credit whatsoever to a company that has probably spent more than any other NA gaming company on customer service, simply because they are angry at a game that they once loved, or because they think “big evil corporations” like Blizzard are evil monsters that are made of of robots. Yes, I’m serious. Some of these people truly have on these selective and time-release blinders, that allow them to get oh-so-angry at Blizzard, while shopping at Wal-Mart and using such services as Facebook.

Now, let’s process this for just a second. Let me sum up the idea:

“Blizzard is a huge, evil corporation that is like, super mean to their customers. Warning people ahead of time that if they post on the forums that their account name (whatever it is, fake or not) will be used on the post is like, really mean. They have so much money that they should just hire one thousand more people to police their forums. I mean, after all, there are some games that do not even have an official forum, or some games that really (and I mean REALLY) do not police their forums, yet Blizzard is the most evil and this must be some kind of attempt from them to control people’s minds or to kill off many of their players because they hate them so much for being mad about nerfing raiding years ago.”

I am going to bet, say a million internet dollars, that this is not really about privacy or about a bigger picture. This is about angry people that are angry at developers. They always are. Frankly, the loudest critics of this have been people that do not play WoW, or at the very least have never or will never post on the Blizzard forums, because of the state they have always been in.  A state that Blizzard is finally getting the guts to fix by using extreme measures.

This isn’t about some evil corporation trying to screw their playerbase. This is about a bunch of extremely weird people (many of them that are secure enough to post their locations on Twitter using Foursquare or that tell all 1,000 of their followers where and when they will be) that have never raised an eyebrow about internet security before now. These are people that already use their real names, or that already list their real life locations.

These are people with websites, web personalities and blogs.

As if pulling information from those is impossible.

As though it has not always been the easiest of tasks to simply do what psychos have always been able to do: befriend the person in game, join their guild, give it a week and gather their address through conversation.  I mean, where are these protests over the fact that the player servers are displayed right there under their names, or that there is nothing stopping players from putting their character name and information in their signature (no one does that right?) Wait a second, there is also a clickable link to that persons Guild as well, that lists all the players in the guild?

This is about all these bloggers, podcasters and writers that wake up everyday, looking for something to claim as evidence that developers, especially the big fish that is Blizzard, are evil or corrupt groups of soulless monsters. This is about overblown paranoia from people that need to consider how unsafe driving is, and that are 100 percent ignoring the years and amazing amounts of cash that Blizzard HAS spent on trying to fight those bad, bad, internet meanies. None of that matters now, to these people, because Blizzard suddenly wants players to be accountable no matter what they post, on a forum that is completely an option and was ignored by all of these writers, podcasters and bloggers in the first place.

Oh well, if there’s one thing that angry geeks are good at, it’s forgetting their anger once a new expansion is released.

Beau

1) The name that you set as your “account name” will still be what is displayed. In my case, it is not my real name. I can post and be a jerk and no one can find me and beat me up or steal my credit card.Well, you can, because Beau Turkey in Google brings up my entire life story, but you get the idea.

2) We all know, as of right now. IF YOU POST ON THE WOW OFFICIAL FORUMS, THE NAME YOU CHOSE TO REPRESENT YOUR ACCOUNT WILL BE DISPLAYED. There, now be careful, both you GOOD and EVIL people.

3) None of us posted on those pieces of shit anyway. Be honest.

4) No website, forum, or any single area of the internet is hidden, private or under the “free speech” rule. If you want free speech, step away from your PC. You are allowed to speak on the internet, it is not your right. The cables and energy to power those servers is not free. You might pay for it, but the cable company does not have to allow you to be their customer. PLEASE stop disillusioning yourself that the internet will ever be “private.”

5) Point number 4 is simply the truth, not an attempt to say that it is fair or good or nice or pretty or rainbows. But, it IS the truth. Blizzard’s forums are something that you can easily avoid, and probably already do. If you do not like the fact that the name you signed up with is displayed, do not post there. Go on and post somewhere else, like Massively.com! (TM) DING!

6) We all must be more responsible with our information. Whether or not it is a good idea, or good practice, to do what Blizzard has done does not matter. JUST BE AWARE. Where ever you go on the internet, it is on someone elses server and someone else could be watching you.

Look, we all take chances online. All of us. Some of us, like me, take even more chances by having to use our real names online AND by liking FTP! (Luckily, raiders are generally too busy to come get me.) But, this is not a case that is more far-reaching than the WoW forums. Yes, a lot of people play the game, but I assure you that most people online do not. Even if this were to spread throughout the entire internet, then so be it.

The only way to show your displeasure is to stop using the services that do not meet your criteria.

Beau

Listen/Download HERE!

EXPLICIT-ISH

This week, we review your favorite movie: TWILIGHT. Yes, I, Beau Turkey, had to sit through two hours of incredibly bad vampire chatter and makeup, with plenty gothy vamps with their chins on their chest and perfect hair. There was so much that was so disturbing about this movie, and we talk about it. You know, I am also inserting as many “twilight” tags and keywords so that I can draw in one hundred thousand angry teenagers to leave comments.

OK, not one will listen, but you got me.

If you have seen the movie, check it out. There is always something deeper behind these type of movies. Always.

Beau and Leala

I never thought about my life much, until now. Now, I think about it constantly. They say that something happens in your 30’s that makes you start thinking about the rest of your life, and what it means, and all that sort of gloomy stuff. So, I do. All the time. But I don’t sit and think sad thoughts or think about the end of all days, I simply think about the fact that my life is one big amazingly happy accident, as far as I can tell.

After all, why didn’t I end up in one of the poorest parts of the world?

Why didn’t I wind up being the tortured victim of some psychopath?

And, why did I wind up in the United States of America, at this time in history, at this wonderful point of developing technology, and inside this body?

I don’t know. But, I do know that I am thankful for where I am. I am also thankful for those that created this country, that saw a need for something better, and despite many of their horrible flaws, set up some kind of wonderful set of options that created this beautiful accident called North America.

But, they didn’t do it by asking politely. They did it by using the barrel of a gun.

I think of the hardest times in my life, of which there are not many, and think about how sad I was then or how tough it was to go through that. Then, I think of the troops overseas that are busily avoiding bullets, while trying to maintain some sort of sanity. Many of them are also supporting a family, or have found themselves in a situation that they never dreamed of. Many of them are, almost literally, kids. 18 and 19 year old men and women, living through something I never have.

I salute those in uniform. This is without assumption of their flaws, and without passing judgment on the situation that led them there. However they landed there, it has no bearing on the fact that they are there now.

Be careful, troops. Come home safe. Use your training and your head to come home safe.

When it gets down to it, I could never do what you do, physically and probably mentally.

So, on this 4th I am thankful for them, and thankful for those that were brave enough to make that impossible decision to draw a line. Without them, who knows where I might be now?

Beau

We bought the cheapest model, but again it will work for what we need it to work for: a datapad type device that is useful mainly because of it’s portability. A netbook would be the same, if not a little better, but again the savings we received made it too good of an offer to pass up.

I already know of a lot of browser-based non Flash games that I will be able to play, as well as many app-store games, so I am set. But, if any of you have any recommendations for games that you have successfully played and enjoyed, let me know. Also, and nice apps!

Anyway, we’re very excited. Like I said, the decision was based on the fact that we LIVE on the iPhones, without really even using them for calling. I’m wondering if the bulkier size of the iPad will make it less useful than the iPhone?

We’ll see. In the meanwhile, we need to find a good case for it. I drop stuff.

A lot.

Beau

I know quite a few people that would tell me that it was her own fault, being that she decided to take the trip, and that her parents bear none of the responsibility. After all, there are kids in the world that are doing very adult things at 16, so why doesn’t this poor little kid count as an adult?

I cannot answer this, but with a question or three:

1) Have her parents gone through the process to declare her an adult? I haven’t researched it thoroughly, but I think not. This means that they are telling the world “This is a child that cannot make these decisions.” If they thought she was able to make her solo trip around the world (which she did not make,) then they should have let her be her own adult. Each state has unique laws for this, I am guessing. Still, it doesn’t matter if they have never taken those steps. They essentially own her, and everything that she does, just like a dog. Of course, like a dog, they have to treat her with care and respect, and have to take responsibility for the trouble she gets into. Remember, IF they are still claiming them as “their child,” then they have made the decision to be responsible for her actions. (And please, no comments or re-tweets that say that I think kids should be kept like a dog.)

2) If they were allowing their 16 year old daughter to have sex with an older man, who would be responsible for the outcome? What if the girl was abused, hooked onto drugs, or otherwise treated horribly? Again, this all depends on IF the parents have claimed that “this is our child.” When you do that, you are saying “She cannot make certain decisions herself, and we make them for her.” If you believe that 16 is “generally old enough” to have sex, to party, or to make otherwise adult decisions, then at what age do you cut it off? You know that some adults consider a 13 year to be perfectly OK to pursue sexually, but many do not. So, we rely on law. Why? Because there has to be a constant. And, remember, we all vote on these laws.

3) Who is paying for her rescue? Is the daughter going to pay for the time, fuel and other expenses the fishermen took care of? My bet is that the fishermen will shrug it off, and will go on their way. That’s very admirable. But, it did cost them money. Everything costs something:

“French authorities called it a “delicate operation,” and said at one point the fishing boat’s captain fell into the ocean and had to be rescued. Laurence Sunderland said the crew used its dinghy in the transfer.”

Will the daughter pay it off with her allowance? With her endorsement deals? The answer will more-than-likely shine light on who is responsible for her actions. If the parents control her money, then what makes them think that they do not bear responsibility for what happened to her?

Think about this: what would have happened if she not only died, but was captured and tortured, left to die alone, starved to death or sexually assaulted?

Would any of us truthfully just shrug and go “Oh well, that 16 year old made her choice.”

I would hope not.

This is not about the abilities of a very “mature for her age” 16 year old. This is about the decision of the parents to continually maintain “guardian” status. If they have maintained that, then they would bear all of the responsibility, just like if they let their dog run loose or their 13 year old out at night to party.

If not, who do we think bears the responsibility?

Remember, when that 16 year old was alone and thinking that she might not make it out, who came to her rescue? Her parents certainly did not. If they knew she was going into a situation that they might not be able to control, they should have stepped their asses into a court and declared her her own person. They would have been more uncomfortable dropping her off in the scarier side of town then in sending her alone in a boat, around the world.

Beau

Leala wants to get into the industry, something that she can do. She has a ton of ability and a lot of experience in her field and can soak up skills and information like no one I have ever known.

Me? I wanna’ keep writing. I absolutely love having the ability to talk to people from all different walks of life, from all over the globe, and I enjoy the fact that my writing might actually shape, or help shape, someones opinion. Of course, there is my creative writing, something I want to pursue as well. Writing has filled in some of the creative gaps that art cannot. Unless I am doing my super-duper-fast-sketches, art just takes too much time. My brain doesn’t sit still long enough to work on the same piece for months at a time and writing is art that changes with each word. I love it.

So, wish us luck. I plan on starting to use this blog as a general diary, as well, being that my professional writing takes care of the gaming part. See ya in Austin!

Beau

Let me know what you think, and if you will be in the Dallas area this Wed, let me know! Let’s have a beer!

Beau

Listen/Download HERE!

NSFW-ish

This week we chat about E3 coverage, Beau’s adventures in WURM Online, Leala and her adventures in Earth Eternal, and what might be right or wrong with APB.

The music comes from the very cool Tommy Hernandez, and is a very rough mix for his upcoming album. He’s smart and stuff, and all the girls think he is hot. http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/tommyhernandezmusic

THANKKSSS!

Still, reviewing games has always been one of the most boring things I could be asked to do. I generally hate reading reviews, being that most of them consist of a list of abilities and details, and are often devoid of any feeling or soul. Most reviews are essentially a cheat sheet and nothing more. But now that I write at least one review per week, I am starting to really enjoy it. I have to get better, though, and want to get better at it. There are some writers that I am in awe of, but I know that I can get there in time.

There are a few things that I will never change, though. I will never just make a list of complaints without also listing what could be right or is right about the game. I have never met a game that was 100 percent crap. I will never accuse my readers of being stupid, or use such insults to gain comments. And I will always report just as I experience the game, not as I have heard I should experience the game. (Remember that this blog is not held to these same rules. Just sayin’.)

If, for example, I cannot even get the game to load, I will report that. If I cannot get above level 5 or aout of the newbie zone by the deadline, I will report that. I don’t care if the chat font bothers me the most, I will report on any small detail as long as it is true to my experience. I will not list class crit chances or game mechanics if I do not experience them. That would actually be more dishonest than if I left out huge chunks of what the game might offer.

So what do you like to read? Do you need to hear details about classes and gameplay, or do you want to hear about the exact experience of the reviewer?A combination of both? Reviews puzzle, but they seem to be popular. Like I said, I want to get better at them.

Also, as someone that cannot stand spoilers or leaks, isn’t a review listing such details about a yet-to-be-enjoyed-by-you game basically a leak to you?

Beau