The Adult RolePlay 2012

For those interested in more mature and adult-oriented roleplay groups on the Grid, Nikira Naimarc has a chance for residents to find one or get the word out about theirs. She is organizing the "Adult Role Play 2012," an inworld convention "to provide an exhibition/conference for the large community of adult roleplayers in Second Life."

In a press-release notecard, Nikira explained she got the idea while going about the Second Life Ninth Birthday event, "The idea for the "Adult Roleplay 2012" was born. A meeting with fair, lectures, discussions and also chill out in parties. The fair is designed to serve and inform our community without any profits for us, the organizers. Our aim is a non or only a low cost participation for the exhibitors." There would be a forum for presentations and discussions on the topics of role-plays, and a party area either for exhibitors events or for "come together parties." The date planned for the event is November 2012, for "about 7 to 10 days."

Talking to Nikira, she expressed hope that the inworld con would be attended by a variety of role-play groups from across Second Life. Besides the Gorean role-plays, she hoped the event would attract those with modern urban and historical settings, in addition to bondage groups. She also planned for store areas for content creators to sell their wares, "RP equipment, clothes, weapons … swords as (an) example."

Nikira did say this wouldn't be like a real-life con, but "its a fair, where all kinds of RPs can be offered. … like a sex fair in real life … It will be a Adult sim, so only adults can go to the fair." Of how much, or how little, people could wear, she explained that it wasn't expected for people to dress any differently here than elsewhere in public, "It's not a RP. If someone wants to come naked, we won't ban him, but it's not standard."

For more information about the convention, one can contact Nikira Naimarc via IM or notecard, or drop by her "inforcenter" in Seedy City at Mystical Darkwood (158, 24, 23).

Bixyl Shuftan

Game Review: Herzog Zwei and Airmech

When gamers think of good real time strategy games computer games like StarCraft or Warcraft 2 or perhaps other various games come to mind. Many people think of Dune 2 as one of the first strategy games, but there’s another game that’s vague but still an excellent first game for a strategy game against your friend or a computer AI.

 

When Sega Genesis came out, everyone thought of arcade games like Altered Beast and Golden Axe. One of the lesser known games is Herzog Zwei created by Technosoft. My brother and I in real life played this game like crazy and we had the saying “Look at your base power”! It plays like a strategy game where you manage resources to buy and build units to destroy the opposing player. What makes Herzog Zwei different though is that you control a plane that picks up your units like tanks and stationary cannons. Also this plane can blast enemy units and the other player with a gun in air or on the ground. You’re not invincible though take enough hits and you die to respawn at your main base after a short period of time. The main goal of Herzog Zwei is to destroy not the opposing player’s plane/robot. But instead to destroy the player’s main base through your units attacking it.

 

To gain resources you gain to buy units come from what me and brother called “mini bases”. You capture a mini base by sending four infantry with a command “Capture mini base”. Infantry have lousy hit points so it’s best to deliver the infantry yourself to the mini base. You can see how many infantry are in the mini base by dots shown on the mini base. When it reaches four in your color you gain control of the base. The two colors are an orange and dark blue. Don’t get lazy though just because you gain control of a mini base doesn’t mean the other player can’t capture it.

 

Your main base and mini bases allow you to build and pick up units recharge your plane’s ammo and fuel and hit points. The same goes for units if you are carrying one of your tanks they get recharged too. Mini bases also give you more resources to buy units. When you order a unit it takes a set amount of time for it to be built. You’ll see a signal when it’s ready.

 

You also assign commands to your troops. One was called the dizzy command where your unit went in a circle. The other commands were capture mini base or attack main base. When you think you have enough firepower start sending your tanks, motorcycles etc. to attack the other’s player’s main base. Commands for your units cost resources too.

 

Once you destroy the enemy’s main base you win! The focus of the game is balancing capturing and keeping control of mini bases and attacking the other player’s main base. No mini bases means you barely get any resources to fund your army. So get control of those ASAP.

 

Airmech made by Carbon Games follows the same game style you control the same jetplane and order units. However there are enough differences from the original that Airmech is a whole new game by itself.For example you can pick different planes like a flying saucer that allows you to gain control of enemy units when you float over them. Eventually they change to your color and it’s yours as if you built it in the first place. Also a cargo plane can heal your own units. Many actions during the game give you experience. Each level you gain gives you a skill point that you can use to give yourself more firepower or higher armor, each plane is different.

 

Also in Herzog Zwei you could only order and build one unit at a time. In Airmech you have a build list and can order up to five at once. If the units are small enough infantry for example you can carry three at a time. Instead of being stuck with the same units from Herzog Zwei, players have the option to customize your army from tanks to HUGE tanks to probes that are very fast that can capture mini bases or cannons or as my brother and I called them “grims” From Herzog Zwei when the cannons had a skull on top.

 

The game is original and addicting. Gameplay is rewarded with experience and kudos and using kudos you can buy the right to use certain units and pilots. The flying saucer I bought with kudos wanting to brainwash enemy units and let them go their merry way on their command against the enemy.

 

How do you play Airmech? It’s pretty easy get an email account from Google and go to the game store and "buy" Airmech. It’s free to play. It’s possible to play against human players in Airmech but beware it tends to lag. There’s a tutorial to get you used to the game play. So even if you never played a strategy game or Herzog Zwei, you’ll get used to it.

 

When you feel like trying out something new and you’re not in the mood for Second Life upload Airmech and give it a shot. You might even yell out “Look at your base power!”

 

Grease Coakes

Zynga and "The Sims Social"

Most anyone who has a computer has been on or at least heard about Facebook. The website where you connect with friends online or locally around your geographical area. Besides keeping in touch with your friends by posting on their walls, there are lots of mini games to get involved in like Farmville or Mafia Wars. There’s no real end to these games, or goals as you keep gaining levels in any of the Zynga games. The games are just a way to connect with friends and end up eating up a lot of your free time.

 

Right now EA is suing Zynga for violating copyright laws for ripping off their popular game, The Sims and making their own version “The Ville.” Playing the original sims when it first came out, I had a good idea what to expect from the sims. “The Sims Social” made by EA is their Facebook version of their very own Sims. Like the Sims series, you create your own person and interact with people throughout the Facebook network with various requests for more energy or items to complete sets of items. You use energy to do actions like the Sims like being social with your neighbor or eating some pie. Also you get to pick out clothes and a characteristic for your sim. I picked out a charming personality. Just like original Sims you have to keep an eye on the needs gauges making sure your sim makes it to the bathroom and gets enough sleep.

Playing The Ville seemed very much like playing EA’s the social Sims. You do the same actions and the ville offered the same personality types and similar clothes and goals. It seemed confusing whether I was playing either EA’s “The Sims Social” or Zynga’s “The Ville.” The Sims animations when talking to other Sims seemed identical. Also the gag of your sim eating a tiny or big bite from the pie is in both versions. When you sim has a tiny bite, he or she shrinks. A big bite will make your character bigger. The music also seems the same the easy breezy music style of the Sims as the game loads up seems identical when you play Zynga’s version. 

 

It seems very clear that Zynga wanted to ride the popularity of the widely successful Sims from EA and create their own version. My question was it worth it for Zynga to carbon copy the Sims and put themselves in a bad position to be sued? Zynga already has popular games like Farmville on Facebook and many others. Seemed like an unnecessary risk to take over a single game.

 

I wonder how the lawsuit will turn out? Zynga’s future seems cloudy now when before it had a strong standing with Facebook making endless games that tend to be addictive. Sometimes you have to leave a classic idea alone and move on to make your own classics hopefully Zynga will learn that lesson.

 

For more information, check out the article from CNN. 

 

Grease Coakes

A Resident Looks Back at City of Heroes

For fans of the Superhero MMO "City of Heroes," there was some sad news recently. Paragon Studios, the makers of the game, announced their company, NCsoft, had decided to close them down. A short article in Massively stated the reasons were "realignment of company focus and publishing support."

To our Community, Thank you. Thank you for your years of support. You've been with us every step of the way, sharing in our challenges, encouraging us to make City of Heroes better, more than everyone else thought it could be. We couldn't have come this far without you. I implore you all, focus on the good things of CoH and Paragon Studios. Don't dwell on the "how" or the "why", but rather join us in celebrating the legacy of an amazing partnership between the players and the development team. 

Among the players of the game was Second Life resident Alexandra "Lexi" Tymets, also known as "DJ Sexy Lexi." She had a few things to say about her time at Paragon City. Of her characters, "I had a bunch actutally. Over the years I've played both sides, hero and villain. Have maxed out characters on both. ... CoH was really fun. You get to feel heroic as your little super hero,or super villian, (who) beats, blasts, or sends summoned creations after your enemies. It's really fun when you get a group, and you've got an Area of Effect Attack, like my Water Blast/Dark Miasma Corrupter did. She'd drop an AoE Debuff then slam the enemies with AoE attacks. There's nothing like watching a horde of enemies just fall over at once."

Of the gameplay, "Well you of course fought enemies, starting from street thugs, who will come at you with guns and baseball bats, and work your way up the villain chain. There were trainers you would see so you could level up your heroes powers. You chose two sets, which depended on your archtype. Like Corrupters, which was a Villain archtype, got to chose a ranged attack, and a ranged support set. ... As you got higher in levels, you'd face things that could throw nasty powers right back at you."

Describing the quests, "In the early days the quests were pretty repetitve, though they did give you some story to link them to help out. Go here... smack that around. Come talk to me again, typical MMO fare. As the game progressed they created new parts of the city with their own enveloping story. You could stay in one zone... and do the arcs from different contacts there, and it would all be all one continuing story as you worked your way to whatever was menacing that zone. That's really when City of Heroes got it's own flavor, and really started to shine.

"There was a zone called Croatoa. It dealt with Fae and supernatural things. Witches, Redcaps, Werewolves, Ghosts, and Plant monsters with Jack 'o lanterns for heads. It inspired me to make more than one character with roots in magic or connections to the Fae. There was even a Nessie-like monster in the lake called Sally."

"My Storm/Elec Defender ... I remade her as an Ice/Storm Corrupter. She's level 32, and still hasn't gotten her first debt badge. She still exists. When the Servers Close down on Nov 30th, I'll be on her, standing next to Miss Liberty. Probably bawling my little mousie eyes out."

As to why the game was closing, "Rumors run from. 'NCSoft is a bunch of asshats,' to 'They wanted to cut CoH and Paragon before it went into the red,' and 'They couldn't renew the CoH License.' "

"I've been with City of Heroes, on and off admittedly, since Issue 1. They're in Issue 23 right now, and were gearing to Issue 24. I played for 5 years. It was the best Super Hero MMO they ever released, and it pains me to see it go. I've cried twice now, all the friends I made, all the stories I told with my characters, and some that were just beginning to tell their stories. It was an amazing run, and I thank Paragon Studios for the years they put into it. The Love, the devotion, and the time. No other MMO I've ever played had that sense of family."

Lexi wasn't the only resident whom played the game. Ranchen Weidman explained she did too, "CoH was fun, still is. But I doubt I'll be playing any more of it (now) that it's closing."

Top image from cityofheroes.com 

Bixyl Shuftan

Minecraft: Scenes from Angels' Village

Last month, I wrote a little about the place in Minecraft for my virtual neighbors: Angels' Village. A few weeks later, for the Sunweavers/Angels' Estates residents looking for a short break from Second Life, the place is still getting traffic, and being worked on.

 Seeing an entrance to underground while looking just outside the walls, I went in and came across this: an underground arena.

The place had quite a bit of detail, and must've taken quite some time to build. Whomever did it was most likely expecting few others to see it, let alone getting images of it publicized.

While down there, I found this snow golem moving about, one with a jack o' lantern head.  Guess one can call it the "Headless Snowman."

Not sure who did this: a tiny cage with a piggy inside, with torches on all sides. The porker was franticaly twisting and turning, as if trying to break out of it's prison that was slowly roasting it alive. Cruel, but creative.

Back on the surface, I found this roaming the village. I thought someone had created some kind of flesh golem, but looking it up, I found it's a zombie pigman. Not hostile unless attacked, they're almost always found in the Nether, or near a Nether portal. While they can be created when lightning strikes near a pig, it's supposedly very rare.

Around the village, players are making builds of their own. One was a smaller village of sand, which I forgot to get pictures of. Another was some kind of enclosure with a three story building with glass windows, and a flaming front gate, making it visible from a long distance away. Inside were a number of cows. They were probably being used just for milk, but that gate, I kept thinking "Burger King."

And this certainly took some creativity, as well as lots of work. This highway in the sky leads to who-knows-where beyond the horizon, accessible by ladder from a ground station. I haven't used it, yet. Something to do next time.

And that's it for now from Angels' Village in Minecraft. A place to go and build for my neighbors when they're not in Second Life.

Bixyl Shuftan

Facebook Game Review: Campaign Story

One computer game I remember from my youth was "President Elect," which allowed the player to take on the role of a political candidate for the White House. Since then, election games have continued to come up every four years, though I never did buy another. Recently, one came out for Facebook: "Campaign Story," billed as "the first political Facebook game where you run your own political campaign." It is made by Five One Nine Games.


The selling point of the game is the chance to run for office with the option of "Play Clean or Play Dirty." Indeed when your candidate starts his/her first election, you're greeted by a pol from your party whom expresses hope you'll be a refreshing change from the politician you're up against who's known for his dirty tricks.

Starting out, you're given a selection of several appearances to choose from, male and female. You're also asked your candidate's name, the symbol he/she will be using (Democrat, Republican, or one of several others), and the slogan. You'll also be asked if you'll be playing as a liberal, conservative, or moderate, though I have yet to see how this affects gameplay.

Your first election is one for mayor of a city. You're given some guidance for the first several moves. The map shows your appeal in various places, from welcoming to hostile. Canvassers from your staff can be placed on the map to speak directly to the people about your candidate and make some gains in the polls. Fundraisers can be placed to raise money.

The news board shows events that have an effect on the election, such as reports of declining industry or rising crime rates, as well as statements (lies) by your opponent against you. By spending Influence points, you can act on an issue. You can then have your staff promote your efforts for votes. But your opponent will usually make some response, more often than not by using cheap shots. You can respond by either defending your move, or by going negative yourself. Positive moves are shown as white angel wings while attacks are shown as red devil horns.

Different staff have different roles. Press Secretaries issue press releases and hold press conferences. Researchers dig up facts and figures to fight off attacks from your opponent, or dig up dirt for attacks of your own. Speech writers can help make  your candidate sound more intelligent on issues. Image consultants can help polish an image after an opponents smear campaign, or set up photo-ops to promote your candidate.

Gameplay has your candidate starting out low in the polls, with your actions making the numbers swing to your favor. Once your approval rating reaches 51%, the game declares you the winner on election day. Following your victory as mayor, your next campaign is for state senate. This election is a bit more detailed, taking place across four maps, and four regions of news issues and opponent's responses. As you win, you'll go up the political ladder, with elections for Governor, US Senator, and eventually the Presidency.

Campaign Story is a new game to Facebook, launched only last week, so there may be some changes to it as time goes on. As the real-life election makes the news, it's an interesting way to make gamers think a little about what goes on in winning races in the real world, and what it takes.

Unlike certain Facebook games, it doesn't ask to make posts to your friends (yet). So Facebook has done what to some would seem impossible: make politics a subject less annoying than many others, at least with games.

Bixyl Shuftan

Game Review: Diablo 3

 

After Diablo 2 came out in the year 2000 along with its expansion, Blizzard the same company that created World of Warcraft kept promising that would create a sequel to Diablo 2. Year after year, Blizzard put it off until this year in May 2012 when they finally released it. My brother bought himself and me a copy to test it out.

 

Is it a good game? I’d say so yes, but it gets repetitive sometimes. For those not familiar with the Diablo series I can offer a quick synopsis for the third game in the series. The main goal is to defeat the Lord of Hell called Diablo. You choose from five character classes. A barbarian is a slashing warrior with high health and uses heavy armor. Another class is the wizard casting magical attacks. There’s an African witchdoctor shooting blow darts and summoning the undead to fight for him. A demon hunter who fights with a bow and arrow and uses nifty traps. The fifth character class is a monk who fights with marital arts and super natural physical attacks. 

 

This time around in the series, you are now able to choose the gender of your character. In the first and second game if you played a wizard, that character could only be one set gender. A man in the first game and a woman in the second game. In both the first and second Diablo a barbarian was always a man. Seemed kind of silly that if you wanted to play a wizard you could only play as a woman in the second game. Now both genders are available for every class in the third game. 

 

The game play is simple using your mouse you left click as your main attack and right as a secondary attack. To move your character around just left click and your character will move there. Your character gets to click and kill lots of zombies and horrible monsters in your way to gain experience and gold. Over time your character levels from one to a maximum level of sixty to become stronger. 

 

One nifty thing about Diablo 3, as you come across a new enemy you see a pop up on your screen saying "new lore." Click it and you’ll hear an actor’s voice describing the enemy monster to you. For example imps within the game are described to be small, but capable of tearing apart flesh with their needle teeth. Blizzard wanted to accomplish fantasy with a touch of horror and they do a good job of it.

 

When you pick a character you start out on your adventure going from town to dungeon progressing through the game in four acts each act taking you to a separate location. The fourth and final act you fight Diablo himself, beating the game ... or do you?

 

In Diablo one and two, there are three levels of difficulty Normal, Nightmare and Hell. When you defeat normal difficulty defeating Diablo at the end of the fourth act you are able to progress to the next difficulty level Nightmare, then Hell. Luckily you have the option of joining your fight against the demon Diablo with fellow players with a limit of four per group. The game gets harder the more people that are in a game or group together. So you can’t make the game easier by ganging up on the game. 

 

In Diablo 3 there’s a new difficulty called Inferno. In act 3 Hell I was killed a lot, later learning that you needed all resist gear to give you resistance to all elements. If you didn’t have gear like that, well I already knew what would happen. The elements you needed resistance to were fire, arcane, poison, and cold and electricity. Luckily a lady barbarian was nice enough to give me some gear that boosted my resist all. I finally got through to inferno with the correct gear. I was very happy when I defeated the end boss of the first act of Inferno called the butcher. When I defeated the butcher, a giant demon using hooks and floors of fire killing adventuring heroes, I unlocked a banner I wanted: a griffin icon for my banner.  (Yes I like griffins very much.) Something new in the Diablo series is that you get to create your own banner with various colors and sigils. Like a banner you would see with a medieval clan or house or king or queen. As you progress through the game earning achievements you earn various designs for your banner.

 

 However when I tried act two in Inferno I died fairly quickly despite the fair amount of all resist gear I had on my barbarian character. Blizzard did a good job of making Inferno beyond hard. Instead of blowing gold on repair bills I went back to act one in Inferno to earn gold to buy better equipment.

For those who played World of Warcraft, Blizzard carried over the auction house (called AH for short) over to Diablo 3. Compared to EBay, you can bid on new armor pieces for your character or a new shiny weapon to smite the demons of Hell. Like any RPG or Massively multiplayer online role-playing game or for short MMORPG. The player becomes more powerful by looking for or buying new equipment for his or her character in the game world. The game wouldn’t be much fun if you could only use the same equipment you started with throughout the whole game.

 

Diablo 3 does have an amazing amount of gear for each character to equip. For example a helmet or helm name could be something like a "masked aurora or a knight’s hunger." A dagger could be called a "grisly point" or a "death abyss." Or the dagger I currently have is a shiv revenge. One neat thing about weaponry is sometimes they come with element damage like poison or fire that add to the graphics and add to the damage you inflict per attack. Another neat thing is that sometimes when your character kills an enemy you see the enemy’s dead body fly across the screen as your character forces it back with the power of your attack. Also if you attack with a certain element it adds to the death of the enemy. Attacking with a poisoned weapon leaves the enemy as a diseased husk with a green sickly aura and poison cloud. Or a fire weapon leaves the enemy as a burning blackened husk.

The gear itself comes as a few colors. White is plain ordinary gear blue is step up offering some boosts. Yellow is a lot better than blue. Green is a set item that comes with 2 or more other items in the set. When you complete or add to the set you get additional bonuses. Orange is legendary and rarely found.

 

Some enemies by themselves die with graphical bravado. A demon in the fourth act burns dying and leaves behind a skeleton that blackens and turns to black ash. Another demon dies with its head and body erupting with its inner organs bursting through a large tear. The graphics are pretty amazing to the environments you fight in, or as explained before, the enemies dying. Also the magical attacks are neat to look at too. The wizard can blast away demons with a bright beam of magical doom on your screen. The witch doctor can attack with frogs or balls of fire.

 

For another challenging aspect within the game is the option of hardcore characters available when you reach level 10 of any character class. In the regular gameplay when you die you lose 10% or your gear’s durability which costs gold to repair at npc vendors. When you play as a hardcore character and you die you die like a real life death. No coming back end of your character game over. Before I wrote this article I tried a hardcore character for kicks. Poor Bubbles only made it to level 7 and is now unplayable as she died a horrible death by skeletons.

 

All in all I’d say Diablo 3 is a fun game to play. It can get repetitive fighting in the same dungeons again and again. The gameplay is fun though and with pretty graphics it’s still fun to play. What’s lacking though, and Blizzard might be working on this, is a pvp option (player vs. player). So you can test your might against fellow players instead of just the demons of Hell. Either way players new to Diablo and those who played Diablo 1 and 2 will still find this an entertaining and challenging game to play.

Grease Coakes

The Agapeo Roleplay Sim

Second Life is indeed a vast realm and recently I found a neat treasure as the roleplay sim Agepeo Seas. It was certainly a new experience. For starters, furry avatars are not allowed. Luckily I invested in a human avatar for my brahma yoga class for a certain class during the week.

When I talked with Agenor Resident, he talked about his sim being a very real role play environment. For example if there was a dispute within the game, it would not be handled by a moderator. Instead the person who felt he or she got the short of the end of the stick can go appeal to the king, which happens to be Agenor Resident. Also to add to the realism IM/s are blocked within the sim. For example when I tried to IM Bixyl, the owner of the SL Newser, from within Agenor’s sim it was blocked by the sim. That way people inside the sim aren’t turned into avatar stiffs standing still in an IM.

The backstory is that a king named Agenor sends his two sons as scouts to search for his daughter Europa. When they do not return, the king and his army discover an island named Agapeo as they search through South Africa. When staying at the island, the king and his men discover there are many different women  of different races living there on the Island, teasing them in their dreams at night.

What do you roleplay in this sim? Basically it is a Gorean environment where women are treated as property and be captured by men. But don’t be fooled. Women have the ability to fight as well the men. One of the times I was knocked out, it was done by women. Also to balance the role play environment: men can be killed, women cannot. However women can become pregnant. But capturing a woman doesn’t mean you automatically get her. She could easily roleplay breaking the leash and run away making the hunter or bull chase her again. I used the example of "Fox and the Hound," the Disney movie, to Agenor and he said that’s a good analogy to describe his sim. But beware the fox can hunt the hound back as I learned in exploring the Agapeo sim.

When you arrive at the sim there’s a large shopping area various adult skins and sex related poseballs and weapon vendors. Being new there was a lot to absorb. Following some steps like buying a HUD and clicking to a free rp meter. Also you have to be using an RLV viewer like Singularity, or else you will not be able to teleport to the main sim.

When I finally got the correct HUD and everything together. One of the steps was joining the group and loading an rp meter. Joining the group itself was free. I was able to teleport down and I thought it would be a bright idea to teleport down without clothes or a weapon. Luckily some women who were ooc (out of character) advised me this was a bad idea as I would get shot down right away. I looked around at the vendors and found an eagle bow package for the price of 600L or so. Next I bought a HUD that I would need to involve myself for sexual roleplay for any woman that I captured via knocking her out with stone arrows for 125L.

When I got my bow and HUD together playing around with it then I teleported down now that I was able to do battle with the bulls and hunters of the sim also to knock out any woman. When you teleport down it looks like a wild forest area with wildflowers and trees the graphics were great adding to the realistic feel of the environment. The men and women were scantily clad or some cases fully nude. I played along wearing pants with my bow but no shirt.

The bow HUD had a radar system that allowed me to track down women which I was having with in this roleplay environment. Later I was chided however for shooting down two women at once and being selfish I got the woman’s meaning. I was new to this so any help was welcome. Eventually I ran into a pair of women equipped with bows and they knocked me out. When you are knocked out you are unable to move and anything you type just comes out in dots like “…” A minute or so later you receive a message that you feel groggy and get back up, but not with full health.

For men only, if a person knocks you out and then attacks you while you’re unconscious, you end up dead. Which has the consequence of being banned from the sim for a half hour. Not like the ban of being banned from a club. Also you lose any women you may have obtained by hunting them. Kind of hard for someone to own something or someone when you no longer live. Also someone could be branded for breaking one of the king’s laws, so the king places a bounty on someone’s head so everyone would want to hunt down the now infamous “Sam resident” for the linden reward. When Sam would be killed he is then banned for a full three days not the usual ½ hour. Everyone could see Sam is branded by a certain tattoo on his body.

Agenor explained the difference between hunters and bulls. Bulls just want to impregnate women; Hunters are more interested in gaining women as property. Another interesting thing about the sim was there was a board offering selling a hunter’s woman for a linden price. I remember seeing one at around 6k. That’s a steep price in my opinion like a tail sale when bidding on a furry.

Agenor’s sim overall is a very unique experience as a whole new world within Second Life. What’s a plus too is when I started people were there to give a hand helping me get started. Agenor also mentioned when his first land owner in SL bankrupted the people who supported him donated 100,000L to get a sim back up so his fellow roleplayers could play in their fave sim once again.

Anyone is welcome to give Agenor’s sim a try, with lots of people to help you get lost. Just don’t get upset if you shoot the wrong person and next thing you know your character is banned for a ½ hour. It’s all part of the roleplaying experience.

Grease Coakes

Editors Note: Hat tip to YT Recreant of Mama Allpa.

Reader Submitted: The Return of DWRT

DWRT recently returned to the airwaves and I sat down with its producer and creator, Ranma Yoshiro for a brief chat.

 

"Welcome back to the air," I say as I sit back at the large table at the DWRT studios. "Thank you", Ranma smiles as he sits opposite me.

 

"How does it feel to be bringing DWRT back to the airwaves?"

 

"It feels great. After a year and a half, it was something that needed to be done."

 

"So, why now? What inspired you to bring it back at this time?" I can tell this is going to be a well-thought out response, and I look forward to Ranma's answer...

 

"When I originally started DWRT back in December of 2010, it was meant to find a way to bring all the different federations in Second Life together. At the time, some of the federations were out to set their own standard in SL wrestling. I wanted to bring them together in a sort or community type of setting. After running the first season, we hit a bit of a snag with someone more or less flat out bashing everyone, and I decided to put the show on hiatus because it seemed to cause a bigger rift between the federations. Bringing it back was an easy decision though. A few months ago, we all started talking about doing a big show for charity, and it lead to the different feds to combine their efforts and do Give Back 2012 for Relay for Life for the American Cancer Society. When I saw that a once fractured relationship between the feds can lead to something so huge, I knew it was time to bring the show back."

 

"Very good response and nothing better than raising money for a worthwhile cause to bond the community. So, for the uninitiated as in, those outside of the SL wrestling community, what is DWRT?" One thing any outsider needs to understand - there are a lot of abbreviations in the SL wrestling world!

 

"DWRT stands for Digital Wrestling Round Table. It is a show dedicated to showcasing wrestling in Second Life" DWRT held its return show on Friday July 20 and received very positive feedback. Their second show (and the one I was lucky enough to tune into!) was aired on Friday July 27.

 

"Will you have regular segments? Can you tell us what some of those will be?"

 

"We are still working on what segments that will be aired. We started one this past show called, 'Mike's Mad Minute.' One of the wrestlers, MadMikeFreeman Straaf, is being given one minute to rant about anything he wants. It's quite entertaining hearing him go off on a tangent. We have some more ideas, but I don't want to spoil it."

 

"Oohh sounds exciting. Of course, every SL wrestling show needs a crazy man ranting!" The thought of Mike's last 'Mad Minute' is enough to produce a couple of laughs. "If someone wanted to get involved with DWRT, how can they?"

 

"We have a sponsorship package that we've introduced for anyone that would like to get a small ad about their place of business out on the airwaves. The sponsorship package entails us making a small 'commercial' that will be aired during the show, and placement of the business location on our website as well."

 

"That sounds like a great idea!"

 

"I'm all about helping the businesses in Second Life get their product out there." Ranma informs me that anyone is welcome to go to the in-world location of the DWRT Studio to place a donation as well. Check out all the essential info at the end of this article.

 

"And that's a fantastic way to be. I am sure that a lot of businesses in SL would appreciate any opportunity to promote their products, especially the not-so-famous ones."

 

"By spreading the word for them, they can also help us benefit too. It's a win-win!!"

 

"We at the show have just about everything covered as for production. Our main focus is to bring in fans of wrestling, and the best way to support us is to check out the many different feds in Second Life. Of course, and there are so many to check out and with all different kinds of wrestlers from all around the world. There is really something for everyone! We all have our favourite wrestlers, of course I am a little biased!"

"Yes there is. Just because your husband is one of our hosts I bet!!"

 

I can't help but laugh at this. Of course, my husband is none other than Curt Bombastic, a well-known heel in the SL wrestling world and also part of the team at DWRT, "On a personal level, what are you hoping to achieve with the return of DWRT?"

 

"Just to bring SL wrestling into a more prominent spotlight in SL itself. There are so many people that don't even know that it exists."

 

"Yeah that is true. I know before I met my husband I had never heard of it! In regards to what you said earlier, about the community being 'fractured' due to some people involved, how do you think the community is able to become strong again, in what ways can they achieve this?"

 

"I won't mention any names, but some of the people that caused the friction between the feds are no longer involved with the management side of wrestling, and with new leadership, people started communicating. It has led to the Federations to being able to work together, like with Giveback 2012, and built a stronger bond.

"That is great and it gives the community somewhere positive to go in the future as well"

Ranma nods, "I agree wholeheartedly."

 

"So please tell the readers who makes up the team here at DWRT and what do they do?"

 

"Myself as the producer of the show. I handle streaming and recording the show. Celtdan McMahon is our lead host for the show. Curt Bombastic, Maxine Darkwatch, and recently, Derrick Zane, are our other co-hosts that represent a mix of the different feds in SL wrestling."

"Sounds like a great team! Thank you for your time today Ranma, one more question, and this is the all important one...how do we tune into the show?"

 

"We stream the show into Second Life live every Friday at 3pm SLT. There are a few places that stream the show and you can listen from the player on the website at http://dwrt.webs.com or in your Windows based player at this link: http://66.45.227.195:5002"

 

"Once again, thank you for your time today Ranma, and good luck with next week's show."

 

So, in case you didn't catch all the important details, here they are again!

Tune into the live DWRT show every Friday from 3pm SLT on the website at http://dwrt.webs.com or in your Windows based player at this link: http://66.45.227.195:5002. Many SL wrestling federations in SL also stream the show live. You can also visit the studio in SL at: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Tustin/112/54/23. If you'd like to join the fan group on Facebook, here is the link: https://www.facebook.com/pages/DWRT/341147855963542. 

Feel free to contact Ranma Yoshiro, Curt Bombastic, Celtdan McMahon, Maxine Darkwatch or Derrick Zane in-world for more information about DWRT.

Charlotte Bombastic

Tank Club

Some of my neighbors on Syzygy, along with a few more SL residents, have started a Tank Club on Vacit (62, 164, 73).   No special skills are required.  The Tank Club is open to any resident who has a fondness for tanks and wants to have some fun.   I first hitched a ride on Elric Anatine’s tank and went on a convoy led by Samantha Glume.   On another night I drove one of the club tanks, with a lot of help from my friends.  Both times were great fun!     
 

      The Tank Club was started earlier this year when Samantha Glume, Motoko “Moto” Henusaki, and B.W. Jinxing were updating things and saw Linden Road, Route 9, among their items.     Samantha said, “Hey, I know something fun to do...”   “I rezzed my pink panda tank,” she said, “and Moto rezzed her cat face tank and we went for a little convoy.”   Soon they were joined by Elric Anatine, who describes the club as a “happy accident” that evolved from the fun they had that day. 

     “Everybody had a lot of fun,” Samantha said, “so we had a second convoy. That one was with eight tanks.” 

       Elric remembered that they picked up some hitchhikers, too.  “They saw our tanks,” he said, “and joined in the fun.  For myself, it was a spectacular way to explore the wilds of mainland.”

      The group soon decided they needed a permanent place.  They started with the idea of having a clubhouse, which Samantha said, “evolved into wanting a garage, a parking lot and play space.”   Elizabeth Rechter pointed out that it was very helpful “to have a reliable starting point where we could rally the tanks ahead of the trip.”

     They studied all of the different continents and chose Jeogeot for its vast network of roads, Samantha said. It is also next to a rez zone.    The group divided up the work based upon their various interests and skills.  For example, Motoko “Moto” Henusaki worked on mesh items while Elric Anatine re-textured.   Elizabeth Rechter did trees and landscaping, and BW Jinxing prepared the parking lot and driveways that connect to the road. 

     The tanks are purchased from Spyker Enterprise, who makes mesh tanks.   Spyker has allowed the group to modify and make their own skins and textures for each individual tank.   As a result, the tanks are customized and personal to each owner.   “For some reason,” Elric remarked, “this particular tank has brought so many of us together in a variety of events. I think in large part because it can be modified and therefore personalized.  The moment you personalize your vehicle, it truly becomes yours and something to be proud of.”

      In addition to being modifiable and easy to drive, the Spyker tank is fun and electric.  Because it has to be recharged, repaired and rearmed, Samantha says, “it fits perfectly with our fun.”   They built a fully functional garage with working bay doors, a mesh tank lift, and a console to help with repairs and rearmament.  Power cells that she first used on her space station are available and can be refilled at the recharging station.   She hopes to expand the number of recharging stations to eventually cover the entire continent.  Club members receive a custom texture for their tank, a tank only parking sign and toolboxes for making repairs.   However, anyone who already owns a tank is welcome to bring it.  No one is required to purchase a particular tank.

        We chatted about the fun of touring.  Samantha Glume said you can open the hatch while driving and drive in the standing position.   “You can wave at people as you slowly rumble by,” she grinned.  

       I asked how they had been received since I had heard the mainland can be a wild place.   Samantha said, “We haven't had any problems at all.”  Though she joked that the psychological impact of a tank rolling by might have kept people nice. 

        Elric said the people have been really great. 

       “Even the hitchhikers,” Elizabeth added, smiling.

         “Some have wanted to join in,” Elric said.  “Others just take the "gunner position" and ride along with us.” 

        Elizabeth and Moto have toured a lot of different sims.  “Anytime I'm in a new place,” Elizabeth laughed, “I get an urge to rez a tank.”    Moto even made a HUD that they use to identify unmarked rez zones.   Many of the photos can be seen at http://www.flickr.com/groups/syzygytankclub.   The club has a webpage, too, at http://www.syzygycommunity.com/community/syzygy-tank-club.

        But the Tank Club doesn’t limit itself to simple touring.   Recently Elizabeth and Moto organized a “death match” on Syzygy between the Reds and the Blues.  BW Jinxing created a video of it that can be seen at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FB1POssFjwg&feature=youtu.be    The battle takes place right in front of my house!    My friends claimed they did their best to avoid blasting it, but I’m not convinced. 

      This past Sunday, the group met for a “Get Well Soon” convoy for Samantha Glume.   Some RL surgery is going to keep her out of SL for a few weeks, and her friends wanted her to have some fun before she left.   In addition to Samantha, Tank Club members Anarchy “Pandora Le Fay” Tigerpaw,  117 “Mohandar”  Dirval, Elizabeth Rechter, Elric Anatine, Stacy Bluxome,  Motoko “Moto” Henusaki, and possibly one or two others met at the clubhouse  before dawn.    

       “Everybody form up on the road behind me,” Samantha said.  “And it's dark, so I suggest you turn on your headlights.”  She patiently gave instructions to new drivers on how to turn on their lights, which gear to use, and other valuable information.   “Everybody should be in low gear with a speed of three,” she said.  “Watch your spacing.” 

     “Try not to press the self-destruct button,”  117 “Mohandar” Dirval joked. 

      When everyone was lined up, with lights on and armament off, the tanks began rumbling down the road.    Earlier, Elric Anatine had told me that of all the vehicles he had driven in Second Life, he has never had as much fun as he does now when he drives and tours in the tank.  “And the more the merrier,” he said.  “It's really impressive to have a convoy of tanks and friends for exploration.”

Grey Lupindo

Troubled Waters at the Blake Sea

As many of my readers know, the Blake Sea is the most widely used water area in all of Second Life. It was created a few years ago, with support from the community, to be a "sailing first" area of mainland, where races and pleasure sailing can occur without interference from other residents. The Blake Sea is Linden-owned, and therefore is supposedly open to everyone to use as they wish.

 

There have been many problems in the Blake Sea over the years. Almost as soon as it was created, the aviation community in Second Life saw the opportunity to use the 30 sim estate, and surrounding sailing estates that total over 100 sims. After some debate, an established set of guidelines for the aviation community in the Blake Sea was determined. Namely this meant that pilots could not fly close to the water (unless they were landing or taking off from an airfield), they need to remain clear of sailboats, and they must avoid areas that sailing races can occur.

 

Eventually, a third group joined the Blake Sea. The Pirates and Navy roleplay battles in century vessels, and have an established leadership. An area of the Blake Sea was set aside for their battles, the "Contested Waters" - a four sim block of open water, with rezzing enabled and a short autoreturn. The sailing community debated for a while, but with approval from Linden Labs, the pirates and navy were welcome into the Blake Sea, with the caveat that they remain in their own contested waters.

 

About a month ago, a new group has been gaining ground in the Blake Sea. They have been sailing around in WW2 era boats, which are rather large and visible from a great distance (depending on your draw distance). Some have been combative between each other, but most have been peacefully sailing in the public waters. In addition, this group (after gaining approval from the community liaison, MarkTwain White) has placed an aircraft carrier in the Southwest corner of the Blake Sea, in an area that is rarely used by the sailing community.

 

There has been mixed reaction to this new entity in the Blake Sea, for the most part split between the established sailing and aviation groups. At first, the new group has been using the entire public Blake Sea estate, but after discussions the group has agreed to remain in a small area away from everyone else - just like the Pirates and Navy. This area, in the southwest corner of the Blake Sea, is the least used by the sailing community, and does not contain any racing lines.

 

For a majority of the sailing community, this was not well accepted, and has culminated with a rather large protest on June 17th, 2012. Participants were asked to silently protest the new group's activities, waiving white flags and floating next to the aircraft carrier. In response, the aviation and pirate communities, for the most part, started protesting their protest - waiving green flags and lining up in helicopters and aircraft. It was a sight to behold! According to one protester, Gwenetha Juliesse, who was waiving a green flag and is an avid aviation enthusiast, "We already have established air traffic routes over the Blake Sea area for people's convenience. There must be some way of establishing battle zones for ships or so on."

 

A proposal has been submitted to Linden Lab regarding this issue, but they have yet to make an official decision as of this time of writing. This proposal, which involves setting aside a four sim block in the southwest corner for their use, which mirrors what was approved for the pirates group.

 

Marianne McCann recently stated the "situation in the Blake Sea is getting worse." She told of a group notice from Tig Spijkers on the SL Aviation group, "Effective and immediately all military style or combat boats, planes, helicopters, etc are now banned from the Saliors Cove regions. Only current exception to this rule are the aircraft and vessels of the SL Coast Guard."  

 

Gemma Cleanslate and Howdy Colter, pictures by Marianne McCann

Vivid Animations and the New BAY

I met with Leopard Adored, the new owner of the Bondage and Yiff club, which he bought from Entangled, and had some words with him. A fellow bartender mentioned that he owned something called Vivid Animations, so I wondered what that was. I asked him and he answered, "Animations, furnishing, etc., but animated with furs in mind so our avatars line up better than humans during certain activities."

And what he likes to do with his animations is maintain many clubs across the massive realm of Second Life. The Lindens that he gets from selling his designs and animations is what allows him to Establish community's across Second life. He took credit with gounding the IYC from 2008, which was sold to Primal in 2010, and currently also owns/founded YIFF, SL's current No1 trafficing  furry club.

What he is doing with Bay, that he recently bought, is test out new bar tending animations for the bartenders. And I happen to be one of them. When I cycled through the animations, they were very realistic. For example one was my foxy self wiping down the bar table or leaning in towards the patrons listening in to their conversation. Amazingly there are also yiff animations in the bartender pose program as well. Another animation new to BAY that Leopard is innovating is on a barstool. Two people can sit together in a cuddle pose as if hugging each other.

What’s new to BAY as well is the new bathhouse. That afternoon when I happened to bump into him, he had just installed a new bar table, and there were massage  tables with his animations. What you may notice is when you walk in is on a door that says in silver letters, “The VIVID bathhouse &  massage spa.”

In addition to the new bathhouse and new animations all over, Leopard drastically changed the design of BAY making the environment look darker. The new design adds to the BDSM element of the club with hanging chandeliers and dragons hugging pillars. There are also pictures of furries hanging on the wall in BDSM poses adding more to the atmosphere. Fear not if bdsm is not your thing but you want to check out the new bay. Everyone is welcome just to grab a drink, or more if you like.

Off the subject, Leopard admitted to building and designing 39 clubs, and amazingly he has built more human clubs than furry despite his avatar being a black feline fursona. "We built about 90% of the human hip-hop venues," he told me, adding, "it only gets easier now." He said that in reference to buying and building up the clubs, "with the right training, tools and staff they just look after themselves in time. End result is creating a purpose to be on SL and a warmer chance of meeting a friend or partner."

It’s amazing when you think about it where Second Life is almost like real-life, where you could own and operate a club or perhaps many clubs so long as you maintain it keeping the right staff as he said.

Leo said later down the line he will add in a Yiff's vendors, as right now bay is a new marketplace for his new animations which is testing out through vivid animations with the new bar tending and massage table AOs. For patrons old and new there’s still the greedy greedy table on a second level easily accessible by climbing the stairs.

The new Bay in short is an amazing club to hang at with many DJs playing many genres of music for everyone’s tastes with a brand new look. So if you have been to BAY before as a regular or you just heard of one of SL’s most popular furry clubs stop on by and ask for a drink and or shake that tail on the dance floor.

Grease Coakes

Yoga in Second Life

In the vast universe of the virtual world of Second Life, there’s more to it than a myriad of clubs to fight for your patronage. Gemma reported on a theatre sim for MST3K fans for example. Take another odd step and you can find a sim devoted to Brahma holding meditation classes in Brahma yoga a few times a week. Who is Brahma you ask? Brahma is the Hindu version of god who is the universe that we are all a part of.

Wait what? A meditation class here in Second Life? As odd as that sounds there is a teacher or as his title states “Guru” which is a Sanskrit word meaning teacher or master. I know him first hand as Pramiil Magne and he is my Guru in Second Life.

For almost 5 years now Pramiil has been a guru here in Second Life and a real life guru for over 30 years. He has said a few times that he wanted to expand his teaching. So he takes advantage of Second Life to hold classes for people all over the world. For example one of my classmates is from Germany. As well holding classes in real life in Australia, he holds them in various ashrams on his sim. For example the Tuesday class at 4pm SL time is always held at the Shiva temple.

Pramiil’s role as Guru is to impart spiritual knowledge along with to be shortcut for people like you and me to jump directly to Brahma. How does he do that? Pramiil generates Shakti like an electrical generator which makes it much easier for the average Joe or Jane to meditate.

In Hinduism there is the chakra system like a spiral within the soul of the human body. Humans have 7 chakras, animals only have four chakras. A chakra is an energy center that holds life force or kundalini. Fox animal totems trigger the awakening of the kundalini.

The base chakra is the lowest chakra at the base of the spine. The sacral chakra is next as the sex organs for both men and women. Next is the navel chakra around you guessed right your navel. A chakra that represents love which seems obvious is the heart chakra.

Next which represents commutation is the throat chakra, which is at your throat for speech. Next at your forehead is the third eye which allows if strong enough allows you to see and hear spirits. Finally the seventh chakra is the crown chakra at your forehead or crown of your head. A good way to know that all your chakras are filled is if your hands are warm.

The goal of his classes is for everyone to reach liberation and to rejoin with Brahma. As he states within class we are souls that yearn to be back with Brahma and feel his eternal love. Liberation only happens when you have burned away all your karma. Karma is generated through action and reaction. For example bullying kids for lunch money makes bad karma and supporting a nonprofit makes good karma. Nobody wants bad karma, but even good karma should be burned away to reach Liberation faster. Pramiil states this is the goal of all human souls to rejoin with Brahma.

How do you burn away karma? With fire of course! When anyone meditates karma is like cotton wool is the example Pramiil used to describe how easily karma burns away. Meditation burns away a great deal of it.

So if you have a burning desire to get closer to God or you’re at least curious check out one of his classes during the week here are his class times.


Sunday 4am SL time
Tuesday 4pm SL time
Wednesday 4am SL time
Friday tantric dance 4:30am SL time
Saturday two classes: 5am SL time dance class, 4pm SL time

Airtol Hill (12, 241, 61)

By Grease Coakes

Castawave Cove's Comeback

Among the clubs at the FCA club alliance, Castaway Cove hasn't been used much lately. Cutlass, Club Zero Gravity, The Cocktail Lounge, and the Happy Vixen all have regularly scheduled events. But with a number of DJs getting caught up in real life, one club, Castawave Cove, despite it's unique design of a beach club between two halves of a shipwreck, was getting only occasional events. People came by to hang out to play it's games, or shop at the vendors there. But parties there were irregular.


Finally on the evening of May 14th, Nydia Tungsten, the owner of Castaway Cove, made an announcement. The club would be closing. But there would be one last party there. DJ "Purple Puppy" L'sai would be playing the music. And true to her nickname "Naughty Nydia," the vixen decided to give everyone a chance to let their hair down with a nude party with a huge prize on it's "Last Hurrah."


Castaway cove is having it's final party tonight, come dance the night away as the original purple puppy DJ L'sai spins her tunes for us, but we aren't going out with a whimper but with a BANG! $3000 L's will be up for grabs at this final Naked nite. Your'e all invited. Starts at 6 pm SLT. SEE YA HERE!!

And as 6PM approached, people headed over to the Kalmeere Paradise sim and dropped in at the club, a collection of over two dozen human, neko, and furry avatars. Many went "au natural" for a chance at the Lindens. But others kept on a swimsuit, not really competing for the prize but just coming for a good time and to see the club one last time. People sent requests to L'sai, both popular tunes and some parodies by Second Life musicians SonicBlu Darkfold, and a few riskee tunes from Corsi Mousehold.

During the party, Nydia gave an explanation for the club's closure, "Many have asked why we are closing. Well here it is. Castaway Cove was created to create a draw to a new sim, to generate interest. Well it has done its job. the Sim owner needs to start renting this land, so we will be closing. But not forever who know what lies over the horizon. I just hope you have all enjoyed our run, and if your'e interested in the land, just send me an IM. Just remember to party as if it is your last, because some day it just might be 'Eat drink and be merry for tomorow we lose our club!' "

For two hours, the party went on. Then the 3,000 prize was voted on, and then given out. But this wasn't the final word on the club. The following day, Nydia had the following announcement:


We're Back! … We had a blast last night, and we partied into the night. Every one was sad to see the club go but not as much as Skylark Lefavre. Due to her most generous offer, Castaway Cove will be around for quite some time. So if you see her, thank her for being our clubs benefactor.


And so, the pirate club continues. Word is, there will be some Primtionary game events at the sim again soon. For anyone interested in managing or DJing at the club, contact Nydia Tungsten.

Bixyl Shuftan

MMO Review: Tera

So seeing there was a new MMO flavor of the month and I had a few extra dollars to spend, I thought "why not, it'll give me something to do while waiting for Torchlight 2 to come out." So I went and got the game "Tera", by some Korean company that, according to their wikipedia entry for the game, saw a touch of legal action before release of the game (but won).

So after picking the game up and playing through the first 25 levels... 

The artwork is very attractive. If it's something this company knows how to do, it's graphics. If your computer can handle the powerful graphics, turn the settings all the way up and you won't be disappointed. If you like breathtaking vistas, you'll like Tera; the graphics are better than both WoW and Rift. I won't say better than both combined because the background is kinda "comical" and maybe just a little bit cartoony (lack of better words); Rift has it beat on realism. The general premise of the game is different than most: no factions like the Horde vs the Alliance of WoW, or the Guardians vs the Defiant for Rift. Here, it's harmony. Well almost, there IS PvP elsewhere. The idea is that two titans dreamed up the world and everything on it. Now some creatures called "argons" (mechs? robots? I'm not sure) are hell bent on wrecking the place and making griefers of themselves.

Combat is interesting in that attacks have weight and visible power behind them, if you miss with a big slam and they move out of the way you leave yourself open as you recover and could get knocked down or one-shot. If you don't time your attacks and just mash buttons (as I am used to doing), you are not going to get very far at all.

While the premise of the game is good, the interface is crap. I'm used to clicking and dragging the view around, the same way as most other games out there. Not so with Tera; either the mouse controls the camera (leaving it unable to click buttons for special attacks because moving the mouse moves the camera) or right click buttons, leaving it impossible to change the view quickly if you have enemies attacking from several sides at once. This does mean you have to actually have some skill to play, though. It's not a point and click game by any means. I chose a "tank" class (the kind of player that stands there and keeps the enemy busy while others shoot them down), and tanking is -very- hard if you don't get the timing just right (due to the whole "all actions have weight to them" mechanic).

The outfits are mostly T&A --- some of these waif girls should either be toppling over paralyzed or have their own gravitational field coming from their chests that is powerful enough to snag Jupiter. Most of the outfits look exactly the same and are divided up into "tiers" (all armor and weapons of the same tier look alike) that can be "dyed" (which is both expensive and temporary) in order to customize them. I haven't bothered with that, as armor's armor and weapons are weapons... as long as they get the job done, who cares what they look like. Function over form, as it were.

The crafting is very very "overdone" --- many many things need to be crafted in order to make even the most basic of items. This has led me to not even bother with doing crafting, despite the fact that the game says crafted items are more powerful --- I've gotten by just fine on what I have and I'm almost half way to the level cap as it is. Questing seems like it's the standard fetch/kill x of y type, so nothing new there. No clicking or running over to pick up fallen treasures either; that's also all keyboard based. At least you can't pick up stuff that "doesn't belong to you" though I am unclear if things "revert" to a free for all after X minutes of no pickup.

The classes seem to be a mishmash of strange things. I think the company that created this tried a little too hard in order to seem "unique", and created a congealed mess, class-wise. Warriors are leather-wearing dualwielders and the game's "tank" class (the Lancer) wields a lance and shield -without- being mounted (wouldn't that be, I dunno, really unwieldy?). I haven't tried anything with the caster classes. I think the game company may have felt threatened by the upcoming Diablo release and wanted to get their game out.

The races are cute; everything from a resistant-to-everything (up to and including the heat death of the universe) warrior to a cute little "enlightened animal" (whose race is "all males animals, all females cat-or-bunny girls"), give something new to the table.

Overall, aside from the artwork being worthy of being better than god, I am still kind of unimpressed. At $60 + a subscription fee + middling customer support after three days of waiting about something, I am going to say unless you like shiny anime-ish artwork and an interface that makes you want to rip your fur out while trying to figure it out, give this one a pass unless you have the loose change and the time to spend on it. The game has good intentions and somewhat good ideas in spite of there being no real unique ideas on the planet anymore, but has a Linden-level ability of execution in that UI until people learn it and get used to it, which is something I am still trying to do twenty five experience levels into the game. I'm going to give this one three dragon hoards out of five, and that's being nice. It's growing on me just a little, but not enough to give it any more than three hoards.

Torchlight 2, on the other hand, when that comes out? THAT will be worth every penny and more of the $20 it will cost...

Xymbers Slade