Internet spaceships

Ok. Thoroughly admitting the dorky nature of this - I am by most standards, a horrible MMO addict. I went to Iceland in November to hang out with nerds, see the new and shiny stuff, engage in politics, geek out with likeminded peoples (and of course, drink heavily as well). The game itself, however gets some neat props from unexpected places for most online games - Wired just wrote something on our politics, and the New York Times, Forbes, and even Der Spiegel had written about the economics and scope of said game.

Game is called Eve-Online. In terms of difficulty, this is (to use a board game reference) the difference in difficulty on par with Twilight Imperium to the old Golden 'SolarQuest' (space monopoly, which I admittedly love.) The tutorial takes 6 hours. When I encountered them at GenCon a couple years ago, I asked around work about people's impressions of the game... the fact that Kevin W. rolled his eyes and said it was stupidly complex made me want to play it all the more...

But other than pimping my MMO, just thought I would share a little YouTube thing recorded last week. I (among other things, like join the SomethingAwful.com corp in war against the forces of respect and order) fight in tournaments. (In internet spaceship slang terms, I'm a Goon). An Aussie friend of mine recorded me kicking butt. I died horribly in my next fight, but that is less to show off. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6kcYnCBRiDg
Props to anyone who can watch to the end without closing the video.

Oh, and weird board game trivia - CCP (makes the game, just bought White Wolf) started their game company by printing a board game. I'm still trying to get a hold of a copy of it, it was small run and printed only in Icelandic...

Friends have been trying to get me interested in Eve for a few years now. It appears to be an odd cross between Firefly and eBay. And it also appears to be so time-consuming that playing would be like an unpaid part-time job. I already work full-time, so I will continue to pass. Besides, I expect that i won't be able to resist the inevitable World of Darkness MMORPG that White Wolf and their new owners (the Eve people) are working on right now.

I do appreciate the legitimate open market, no enforced property rights nature of EVE... I tried it once and couldn't get into it.

The tutorial takes 6 hours.

WHAT?!?!?!

Thank god Skippy was commentating - I had no idea what was going on in that video. Are the spaceships moving or do they just float there in space?
BTW was he pronouncing "Thaadd" right?

Mr Skeletor wrote:

The tutorial takes 6 hours.

WHAT?!?!?!

Thank god Skippy was commentating - I had no idea what was going on in that video. Are the spaceships moving or do they just float there in space?
BTW was he pronouncing "Thaadd" right?

The interface is why the tutorials take so long. This is a (deliberate askew, to not show the character's name) view of what a full non-tourney fight looks like. http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2055/2237699331_64d41c4e97.jpg That's me dying...

Uh, he was pronouncing it close to right... he's got a funky accent (Japanese Australian!) I think to Aussies in general. Or I could be full of shit. He's from Brisbane, not sure what a local accent to there sounds like. I rhyme it with 'bad', if it helps. When I answer the phone at work, I get anything from Bev to Deb, to Beth. I shrug it off and answer to 'Hey You' if need be.

Yes, the spaceships were moving. He was using the Point of View lock, while recording. Space is big, ships are small, most times people use an iconic view, which is even less accessible than dark ships in space - you would be looking at blue, red, green squares of variable size (I can look at a square and tell a ship class, cruiser to dreadnaught to carrier or mothership... useful skill). I imagine it would look alot like stuff on old school radar...

So he had the view fixed on my ship (A Thorax class cruiser, which due to its errm, iconic similaries to other things I name 'Girls Best Friend') that allowed him to track me through the fight, sort of like a spotlight operator on an ice skater...

You can strip off the overview settings, and see just pretty ships http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2050/2162987123_1934e8e222.jpg (that is several hundreds in a fleet about to go to war...)

Um. K'Bye.

Yeah, I always thought it rhymed with "rad".

You description of that game makes it sound about as much fun as magic realm 1st edition.

It is fun. I just am a crappy sales person...

The drama and politics aspect can be the most riveting aspect... the people I hang out with are largely hailing from Something Awful (remember that whole boxing thing with the Uwe guy?) - so some of the social skills can be pretty laughable.

I am also secretly trying to convert the local players to board gamers. It would be pretty fun to try to get them to play non-internet spaceships. Not sure if the attention span is there. I have one of the players as a set Tannhauser buddy now too.

I watched it all - it was only 4 minutes,
I couldn't tell what was going on though, seemed like the ship was just spining on the spot with missles flying out of it's arse or something.

How can these people not have the attention span for boardgames when they SPEND 5 HOURS ON A TUTORIAL?!?!?!

Me and my buds have been enjoying some games of EVE the CCG-- which isn't half bad, but we quickly came to the conclusion that getting involved in EVE Online wouldn't be worth the ensuing divorce.

Hey Thaadd, there's something I've always wanting to ask you: Is your nickname a derivative of the character Thaddeus Zho from Jyhad?

Nickname....

hehehe

What you laughing at boneface? She hasn't gone and legally changed her name to Thaadd yet and it's more than just her handle-- so what the fuck else am I supposed to call it?


Ya antipodean goof.

Nope, not named after Jyhad character.

So, story time. Once upon a time, right about the same time I discovered gaming (1:E Vampire the Masquerade, only got into board games, when people were too flaky to keep the same line up each week for rpg group) I was a theater geek. I was in a locally written play that has a character named Thaddios. Since my real name is I think second only to Muhammad in commonality, my little 15 year old friends decided that it would be my nickname. I had no idea at the time it was a) a boys name or b) really common in Eastern Europe.

A bit later I moved away, got into BBSes (where I met my estwhile bluehaired coworker 433, aka Jeremy) and needed a handle. It was the first thing that popped into brain. It went from Thaddios Trevor O'Neil (I figured out early on, the internet trolls are alot less irritating if people think you are a boy) to Thaadd in a few years of typos, new boards, and a MUD. I honestly have had more'n half the people I interact with call me Thaadd for 15 years or so, and the last 5 or so, perhaps 80%. Bossman calls me Thaadd. My sister does, when she is not calling me Babysis. I would legally change my name but I can't be arsed to, and it's a bit weird having a 'real' name that is completely, 100% Googleable.

It's also fun to flush out people who have been working in US military, because the only other Thaad out there is a missile system that sorta flopped after costing large amounts. (Mostly on Eve, which is heavily populated by ex and current military of assorted nationalities)

Techically it was a Handle, and now is a nickname. I tend to stonewall people who refuse to call me it, by pretending I don't hear them

What about you kids? If someone called you 'Skellie', would you respond, or shoot them dirty looks and make nerd jokes?

Thaadd wrote:

Since my real name is I think second only to Muhammad in commonality

So your real name is Jesus?

What about you kids? If someone called you 'Skellie', would you respond, or shoot them dirty looks and make nerd jokes?

Mr Skeletor is 100% internet handle, I don't think anyone outside of the internet even knows it. I don't know what "Skelly" is, I wouldn't even think people were talking to me.

billyz wrote:

What you laughing at boneface? She hasn't gone and legally changed her name to Thaadd yet and it's more than just her handle-- so what the fuck else am I supposed to call it?


Ya antipodean goof.

It's her scotchtape name, you clod.