Just another unauthorised virtual world fansite
I’ll be embarking on a few posts regarding MadPea games latest venture today. The new game is entitled Buried and launches tomorrow, February 1st at 12 noon SLT. I attended a bloggers preview last night and MadPea games have provided me with an excellent press pack, which means I don’t have to do that much work!
In my other posts I’ll look at the game concept and my own early experiences.
Continue reading “Buried From MadPea Games – The Press Release”
I’ve talked about Rod Humble’s Chaphat more than once, most recently a week before Christmas when I noted that their game, Cults & Daggers was scheduled for a January release.
As January comes to a close, official news about Cults & Daggers has started to be unveiled. A press release on Steam has appeared :
As the Old Gods plot to destroy a planet they can no longer rule, you are tasked with creating your own religious faith to fight a secret war for the soul of the world. Recruit loyal disciples throughout the Mediterranean in order to spread your faith by preaching to the masses and converting noble families. Along the way, you’ll have to deal with spies, assassinations, martyrs, occult forces, prophets and blasphemers, all while battling the Old Gods and other rising cults for the hearts and minds of the world.
The press release also includes a quote from Rodvik himself :
“With Cults & Daggers, I sought to explore beyond the traditional strategy game model of ‘build and fight’, and offer up a more cerebral experience,” said Humble, CEO of Chaphat. “At the same time, I wanted players to challenge themselves by navigating the chaotic web created by corruption, religious avarice and betrayal as rival factions vie for power.”
Rod Humble’s name still carries quite a lot of weight in the gaming community and this can be seen via some articles that have appeared about the game.
Continue reading “Rod Humble’s Chaphat Reveal Details Behind Cult & Daggers Game”
Episode 26 of The Drax Files : World Makers takes a dip into the world of Second Life fashion, more notably the world of a Second Life fashion model, in this case, one who goes by the name of Absinthe.
Now regular readers of this blog may well be aware that fashion in Second Life is not my comfort zone, but this is part of the beauty of Draxtor Despres’ excellent series, it breaks down barriers in a simple fashion by letting the person being interviewed do most of the talking.
In this case we also see someone who plays a role in Second Life that is not a direct representation of their RL self. Absinthe in Second Life is a white female. The person behind the avatar is an African American female. An interesting point to note here is that the person behind the avatar admits that she doesn’t really see colour when it comes to people and she puts this down to growing up with a father who was in the armed forces. This meant that she grew up with different cultures and different races.
This even extends to the point whereby the RL person behind Absinthe doesn’t really view her as white, more of an extension of her inner self.
We also get an insight into what being a Second Life fashion model entails. The Second Life fashion scene is huge and plays a major role in the economy and therefore plays a large part with regards to the content users create. However being a model entails a bit more than some may think, you need to know about animation overrides, poses and Absinthe even admits that she gets performance anxiety when performing at a show, even though she’s only pushing arrow keys.
re/code recently reported : AOL Likely to Shutter Gaming Site Joystiq in Larger Content Cleanup. This has not been confirmed yet, but Joystiq themselves responded to the rumour :
Sources tell Joystiq that the staff is aware of the closure, but corporate hasn’t officially told them, so they are unable to acknowledge anything out of concern that it will cause immediate shutdown. We’ve reached out for more information. We will update, as we always have, when we know more.
This post may start to sound like an obituary, so let’s get some things cleared up here near the start. The rumours about Joystiq closing remain simply that, rumours. However they look like bloody well informed rumours. There have been no comments regarding what this all means for Massively. The talk is of a restructure.
You may be wondering “Who cares”, but the simple fact of the matter is that Joystiq has been a good friend of Second Life in the past. Largely due to sites such as Second Life Insider that then got merged into Massively. There are plenty of posts from the Second Life category over at Massively. The output certainly slowed down over the years, especially once Tateru Nino moved on. However Beau Hindman did keep up the good fight and Moo Money and Eloise Pasteur, who blogged about Second Life earlier also deserve a mention.
You can go all the way back to 2006 for a history of Second Life Insider. Back then the site was part of Weblogs, which was part of the same network as Joystiq. The bloggers back then were people such as Akela Talamasca, Callandris Pendragon, Aimee Weber, Master Penguin and Local Jezebel. The site had a more fansite appeal.
Back in October 2008 Massively interviewed Tateru Nino : Meet the Team: Tateru Nino, who explained what she did at Massively :
I’m a general writer, though I act as the team specialist for collaborative virtual worlds (particularly Second Life), and legal analysis. I help brainstorm and do some proofreading, and examine the philosophy of MMOs and virtual environments.
Eventually Second Life Insider would become part of the main Massively site, but even before that happened Massively were covering Second Life. On a site more about games and MMO’s in particular, this wasn’t always popular, as a post from November 2007 addresses : Why Second Life belongs at Massively :
Or: Why gamers and virtual worlders should care about each other.
We’re shy of a month in to Massively’s existence, and one of the more persistent bits of feedback we continue to receive regards the inclusion of Second Life content on a site about MMOs. There are really two questions to answer here:
- Does Second Life coverage belong on Massively at all?
- Is the amount of Second Life content disproportionate to its mindshare?
I will herein state a claim for a definitive yes on point 1, and readily admit that point 2 is arguably a matter of taste. Maintaining editorial balance surrounding all of the many, varied games we cover is an ongoing process, and we’ve selected a suite of “core games” based on many factors including subscriber/member numbers, overall buzz and mindshare in the industry, and input from a secret algorithm I would love to call “interestingness” if it weren’t already taken. We are proud to offer in-depth Second Life coverage as one of those core current titles.
Those sort of discussions would rage on whenever Second Life was talked about, it still happens today.
I’m talking to Marsha Wawillow, Editor in chief of SL Goth Magazine, an inworld publication which I covered in a part 1 of the interview. In this part of the interview Marsha gets a little more personal, although she readily admits she’s generally shy. However we start with location, the SL Goth HQ sits in a corner of the home of Morphe Inc. Abel Dreamscape’s wares are readily available around here and they are very pleasing on the eye.
I ask Marsha, how she got here :
“I’ve known Abel Dreamscape for a long time. In the earlier days of the magazine he made gifts for readers as well as did the special event buildings for SL7B. When I left, and returned, I contacted him because I just think he’s so talented, and reliable, and genuine – I trust him. He is our patron here and we are ever grateful for his hospitality.”
Marsha took a break from Second Life for around three years but on her return she quickly got back into the swing of things and relaunched SL Goth Magazine with a HP Lovecraft special, so how big a fan of HP Lovecraft is Marsha? Marsha squirms, a little uncomfortably and then answers, somewhat sheepishly :
“I actually do not know very much about Lovecraft, although I did have a big dose with the Special issue and learned a lot. It’s interesting – there’s a HUGE Lovecraft following in Second Life. Very dedicated, and creative fans, who have a strong community. The people in that community are just top notch – storytellers, role players, creators, sim builders, you name it. I’m just always blown away by what comes out of Innsmouth.”