First let me apologize for the generic and totally uncreative title, but I couldn't think of anything more appropriate to sum up the feel of what I'm trying to do with this post.
You see, recently I went through a pretty significant change in World of Warcraft. My old guild, Royal Apothecary Society, run by my wife and I, had become pretty much defunct. When the holidays rolled around, a lot of folks went on hiatus. We stopped raiding, lots of people stopped logging on, and things slowed down considerably. Then, I spent some time in the hospital, an incident which you reading this may or may not know about (it's been resolved, I won't revisit it). Long story short, when everyone started to come back from the holidays, fewer and fewer people were online at any given time, and those that were rarely did anything as a group. Holly and I were left to make the hard decision: we packed up and left.
A good number of our close friends and allies came with us, but we decided we'd had enough with the Horde guild on the Winterhoof server. Instead deciding to join a few friends before us who had migrated to Azgalor, on the Alliance side, we resolved to bite the bullet and pay for the faction/server changes. Since the migration, I've noticed a few things. First, we're enjoying the game again. The people on the new server are mainly new friends, with a few old familiar faces peppered in there. It seems that most of them, however, share the same philosophy and sense of humor regarding the game and life as my wife and I do, and it's been a very welcoming environment. There were bumps here and there, with a few of my friends who made the trip with us, but aside from the initial culture shock, I'm happy to say it finally feels like a fit.
Another thing I've noticed, is how much fun PvP servers can actually be. I had always dreaded leveling on a PvP server, hearing the horror stories of the maxed out characters who patrol the lower level areas, looking for fresh, easy targets, sitting on their corpses, and making it impossible to progress at all. While I've only run into that instance once, I find it exhillarating. You never know when a high level player may swoop down on you, or when there's a rogue lurking around, waiting for the right time to strike while you're minding your own business. It adds tension and frustration, sure, but it makes the game more exciting. Plus, when you get tired of getting killed over and over, you just hop over to your higher level character(s) and give those players a run for their money. It adds a dynamic to the gameplay I never knew was there.
All in all, I'm glad I made the change. Along with the fresh new content that Cataclysm has added, coupled with a new, well-suited group of friends to enjoy the game with, and a familiar entorage of old companions to share these new experiences with, the game has become like new again. It's fun, it's engaging, and it makes me feel better about dropping almost two hundred dollars of my tax refund to move all four of my level 85 characters.
Stupid alt addiction.
-TehKnuck out.
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Fourty Thousand Kinds of Awesome.
So it's been a while--quite a while, but I think it's good that I'm writing again. Quite a bit has gone on in the past month or so since my last post. Things have changed at work, things have changed at home, but since I'm a gamer, and I blog about gaming, I think what I'll talk about here is what's changed in game.
So I recently started really getting back into the Warhammer series. Warhammer - Age of Reckoning was always fun, and the 40K Dawn of War games were great fun, but I'm discovering a passion for the actual tabletop miniature game. I'm not sure if I'll ever actually play the game in a real setting, but there's something therapeutic and relaxing about sitting down, putting the miniatures together, painting them, and watching the army come together. Maybe it's the part of me that loves being creative, maybe it's the part of me that enjoys methodical repetition of creative pursuit, but I'm at peace when I'm working on my miniatures.
Ironic, then, that a hobby that revolves around an intellectual property that thrives on combat and war, can bring so much peace and tranquility. Is it the creative outlet of assembling and painting the miniatures that I find so relaxing, or is it some part of me that never truly made peace with the fact that I am not in a combat zone anymore. Maybe on some subconscious level, I need that sense of conflict and warfare, no matter how artificial, to truly allow myself to feel any kind of peace. Before I go off on some introspective existentialism, I'll bring this back to where it should be, as are all my posts: video games.
The true draw of Dawn of War to me, is how it's not only a mixture of two things I love; the Warhammer mythos and video games, but it's also just another thing I can share with people I share these interests with. Both avid fans of the Warhammer series, I've played Dawn of War 2 cooperatively with both James and Shawn, two of my closest friends. Something about being able to log in from our home computers, in James' case several states away, and communicate effectively and quickly enough to establish and enact strategies that push us through even the most difficult of the game's encounters. It's amazing to me, that we can command our respective squads, operating so differently and with their own unique abilities and strengths, to balance our assaults and overcome the challenges the game sets before us. It's being able to take that adaptability, experience, tactical knowledge, and calm-under-pressure that was tempered in a real-world combat zone, and channel it in a fictional, recreational environment.
Now that Retribution, the most recent expansion pack has been released, I'm excited to rekindle that camaraderie. With James engulfed in RIFT, something I'll tackle in a later journal entry, I look to Shawn to help me take on enemy hordes and stand side by side against the onslaught of attacks. One of us will have to make a sacrifice, though, you see. He prefers the undisciplined fury of the Orks, and I have a sacred obligation to my Emperor and fellow Space Marines.
Ah, who am I kidding? I'm a sucker for a good WAAAAAAGGGH!
-TehKnuck out.
So I recently started really getting back into the Warhammer series. Warhammer - Age of Reckoning was always fun, and the 40K Dawn of War games were great fun, but I'm discovering a passion for the actual tabletop miniature game. I'm not sure if I'll ever actually play the game in a real setting, but there's something therapeutic and relaxing about sitting down, putting the miniatures together, painting them, and watching the army come together. Maybe it's the part of me that loves being creative, maybe it's the part of me that enjoys methodical repetition of creative pursuit, but I'm at peace when I'm working on my miniatures.
Ironic, then, that a hobby that revolves around an intellectual property that thrives on combat and war, can bring so much peace and tranquility. Is it the creative outlet of assembling and painting the miniatures that I find so relaxing, or is it some part of me that never truly made peace with the fact that I am not in a combat zone anymore. Maybe on some subconscious level, I need that sense of conflict and warfare, no matter how artificial, to truly allow myself to feel any kind of peace. Before I go off on some introspective existentialism, I'll bring this back to where it should be, as are all my posts: video games.
The true draw of Dawn of War to me, is how it's not only a mixture of two things I love; the Warhammer mythos and video games, but it's also just another thing I can share with people I share these interests with. Both avid fans of the Warhammer series, I've played Dawn of War 2 cooperatively with both James and Shawn, two of my closest friends. Something about being able to log in from our home computers, in James' case several states away, and communicate effectively and quickly enough to establish and enact strategies that push us through even the most difficult of the game's encounters. It's amazing to me, that we can command our respective squads, operating so differently and with their own unique abilities and strengths, to balance our assaults and overcome the challenges the game sets before us. It's being able to take that adaptability, experience, tactical knowledge, and calm-under-pressure that was tempered in a real-world combat zone, and channel it in a fictional, recreational environment.
Now that Retribution, the most recent expansion pack has been released, I'm excited to rekindle that camaraderie. With James engulfed in RIFT, something I'll tackle in a later journal entry, I look to Shawn to help me take on enemy hordes and stand side by side against the onslaught of attacks. One of us will have to make a sacrifice, though, you see. He prefers the undisciplined fury of the Orks, and I have a sacred obligation to my Emperor and fellow Space Marines.
Ah, who am I kidding? I'm a sucker for a good WAAAAAAGGGH!
-TehKnuck out.
Saturday, January 15, 2011
Combat Tours and War(Craft) - Part 1: Origins
It's been a while, I know, I know, but consistency has never been one of my great strengths. Anyway, I'm back now, and I think I've finally nailed down what I want to talk about this week.
You're probably already feeling soreness in your eyes from the rolling that most likely involuntarily began when you read the title of this blog. Yes, I'm blogging about World of Warcraft. No single gaming entity that I am personally aware of has become more integrated and powerful in every day life as this role playing giant. Love it or hate it, World of Warcraft is huge--and it's not going anywhere.
There's generally three types of people that have a response to "Do you play World of Warcraft?" The first type, and by far the rarest and endangered, are those that shrug, look confused, and have no idea what you're talking about. Seriously, folks, it's been out for over six years, has over 13 million subscribers last I checked, and appears in magazines, television, movies, and even in partnered products like the Mountain Dew Game Fuel promotion. Get with the program. The second type, are those that excitedly nod, lighten up, and eagerly ask if you play Alliance or Horde, what class and level your main is, and what server you play on. (incidentally, I have realized it's nearly impossible to randomly approach a WoW player, ask them what server they're on, and have that be YOUR server) The third, and bless you if you're in this category and still reading, are those that roll their eyes, sneer, grunt, or have something negative and derogatory about a game that steals lives, provides 'no real challenge or substance,' and has the audacity to charge you 15 dollars a month even after purchasing the software in the first place.
I'll get to my more in depth opinions and analysis of World of Warcraft in a later post, but for this one, I'll just touch on a bit of why I think it's so successful, and my first experience with the game.
World of Warcraft is not a revolutionary new frontier of online gaming. Warcraft didn't do anything that Everquest, Eve, Dark Ages of Camelot, or Ultima didn't already know how to do. They didn't carve a brand new experience out of the Massively Multiplayer Online model, and they really didn't come out of the gate with a lot of innovation. What made it so crazy popular then? Accessibility. Warcraft was easier than most MMOs. Everquest was unforgiving, taking hours to raid, with dozens and dozens of players that would have to swap out, head to town, heal, repair, and return to relieve their friends. Death penalties were all the rage, you could lose experience, hours of gameplay, all thanks to a bad decision, or worse, a bad connection. Warcraft simplified all of that, and folks that weren't necessarily in the hardcore group flourished because of it.
I was a soldier in Giessen, Germany in late November of 2004. Assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 3rd Field Artillery Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, I had just returned a year prior from my first tour in Iraq, and my combat injuries had all but healed. I was, for lack of a better term, bored. Sure, going out and drinking with the guys was fun, but even that gets old. I had played out a lot of the games I owned, and was scouring the web and magazines for something new. My experience with MMOs was limited to City of Heroes, and while I enjoyed the style, I had always been a fan of my beloved Warcraft series. So, the marriage of Warcraft and the MMO gametype I'd learned to enjoy seemed only natural. I called my dad, told him about the game, asked if he'd mind getting my Christmas present a little early that year, and described the box I saw on the website. "A brown box with some kind of face, a purple lady or a green orc thing." About a week later, my package arrived. I had to admit the package looked large for just one game, but my dad has a habit of sending snacks and books and stuff, so I disregarded then suspicion. Upon opening it, however, my jaw hit the floor. In the box, brand new, was my huge Collector's Edition packaging. I was elated.
I happened to be on 24 hour duty that night, the day I received the box, with my laptop and an internet connection. It seemed meant to be. I installed the game, connected, patched, logged in, and started creating my first character. I created an Orc Warlock to play with the controls and check out the universe. After about thirty seconds, I logged out and tried again. Not even a minute into the game and I'd experienced alt-itis. Judge me how you will, but I was a fan of the Night Elf race in Warcraft 3, so my first real character past level 10 was a Night Elf Druid. That's when I learned I hated Druids. Alt after alt later, (an alt is an 'alternate character,' for the unenlightened, meaning a character you do not play as often or attentively as your main character (toon), or 'main.') I settled on a toon I enjoyed. My Human Paladin.
A few of my friends in that unit, some of which I still play with today, formed a guild that I was invited into. On the PvP server of Kel'Thuzad, we hacked, slashed, and carved our adventures into the world of Azeroth, defending the people, bolstering the Alliance, and wielding formidable weapons and powerful magic against those that would do them harm. The world was vibrant, brilliant, full of live and lush scenery. There are many who complain of the fantastic and almost cartoonish art style of the game, but I think it fits perfectly. Say what you will, naysayers, but it's still a beautiful, beautiful game.
Something happened, though, while playing that game. Something more than just a video game ended up resulting from those adventures in that virtual world. More than just a set of items or a bounty of gold. I made friends in that game, real people across the world. Fellow adventurers, sometimes fierce adversaries, but living, breathing, players that acted and thought on their own. The experience was so dynamic, and though the game still existed within its own framework, it was as if we'd broken some wall of limitation that gaming wasn't supposed to allow. Far more than anything I'd gotten from City of Heroes, there was true camaraderie here. Perhaps it was because the majority of us were soldiers, and already had that, or perhaps because we'd all started the game at the same time together, and we were all we knew in that hostile, alien place. However it happened, it created an experience like no other I've ever had in a gaming platform or environment, and to this day I treasure it.
This is only the first post on what I'm probably going to make an ongoing series about this game, and games like it. I've even started making videos to augment the blogs, to add a bit of flavor and life to what I'm trying to portray. Here's one now!
Now, if you'll excuse me, there's some cultists in Deepholm that have insulted my honor and must be dealt with.
-TehKnuck out.
You're probably already feeling soreness in your eyes from the rolling that most likely involuntarily began when you read the title of this blog. Yes, I'm blogging about World of Warcraft. No single gaming entity that I am personally aware of has become more integrated and powerful in every day life as this role playing giant. Love it or hate it, World of Warcraft is huge--and it's not going anywhere.
There's generally three types of people that have a response to "Do you play World of Warcraft?" The first type, and by far the rarest and endangered, are those that shrug, look confused, and have no idea what you're talking about. Seriously, folks, it's been out for over six years, has over 13 million subscribers last I checked, and appears in magazines, television, movies, and even in partnered products like the Mountain Dew Game Fuel promotion. Get with the program. The second type, are those that excitedly nod, lighten up, and eagerly ask if you play Alliance or Horde, what class and level your main is, and what server you play on. (incidentally, I have realized it's nearly impossible to randomly approach a WoW player, ask them what server they're on, and have that be YOUR server) The third, and bless you if you're in this category and still reading, are those that roll their eyes, sneer, grunt, or have something negative and derogatory about a game that steals lives, provides 'no real challenge or substance,' and has the audacity to charge you 15 dollars a month even after purchasing the software in the first place.
I'll get to my more in depth opinions and analysis of World of Warcraft in a later post, but for this one, I'll just touch on a bit of why I think it's so successful, and my first experience with the game.
World of Warcraft is not a revolutionary new frontier of online gaming. Warcraft didn't do anything that Everquest, Eve, Dark Ages of Camelot, or Ultima didn't already know how to do. They didn't carve a brand new experience out of the Massively Multiplayer Online model, and they really didn't come out of the gate with a lot of innovation. What made it so crazy popular then? Accessibility. Warcraft was easier than most MMOs. Everquest was unforgiving, taking hours to raid, with dozens and dozens of players that would have to swap out, head to town, heal, repair, and return to relieve their friends. Death penalties were all the rage, you could lose experience, hours of gameplay, all thanks to a bad decision, or worse, a bad connection. Warcraft simplified all of that, and folks that weren't necessarily in the hardcore group flourished because of it.
I was a soldier in Giessen, Germany in late November of 2004. Assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 3rd Field Artillery Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, I had just returned a year prior from my first tour in Iraq, and my combat injuries had all but healed. I was, for lack of a better term, bored. Sure, going out and drinking with the guys was fun, but even that gets old. I had played out a lot of the games I owned, and was scouring the web and magazines for something new. My experience with MMOs was limited to City of Heroes, and while I enjoyed the style, I had always been a fan of my beloved Warcraft series. So, the marriage of Warcraft and the MMO gametype I'd learned to enjoy seemed only natural. I called my dad, told him about the game, asked if he'd mind getting my Christmas present a little early that year, and described the box I saw on the website. "A brown box with some kind of face, a purple lady or a green orc thing." About a week later, my package arrived. I had to admit the package looked large for just one game, but my dad has a habit of sending snacks and books and stuff, so I disregarded then suspicion. Upon opening it, however, my jaw hit the floor. In the box, brand new, was my huge Collector's Edition packaging. I was elated.
I happened to be on 24 hour duty that night, the day I received the box, with my laptop and an internet connection. It seemed meant to be. I installed the game, connected, patched, logged in, and started creating my first character. I created an Orc Warlock to play with the controls and check out the universe. After about thirty seconds, I logged out and tried again. Not even a minute into the game and I'd experienced alt-itis. Judge me how you will, but I was a fan of the Night Elf race in Warcraft 3, so my first real character past level 10 was a Night Elf Druid. That's when I learned I hated Druids. Alt after alt later, (an alt is an 'alternate character,' for the unenlightened, meaning a character you do not play as often or attentively as your main character (toon), or 'main.') I settled on a toon I enjoyed. My Human Paladin.
A few of my friends in that unit, some of which I still play with today, formed a guild that I was invited into. On the PvP server of Kel'Thuzad, we hacked, slashed, and carved our adventures into the world of Azeroth, defending the people, bolstering the Alliance, and wielding formidable weapons and powerful magic against those that would do them harm. The world was vibrant, brilliant, full of live and lush scenery. There are many who complain of the fantastic and almost cartoonish art style of the game, but I think it fits perfectly. Say what you will, naysayers, but it's still a beautiful, beautiful game.
Something happened, though, while playing that game. Something more than just a video game ended up resulting from those adventures in that virtual world. More than just a set of items or a bounty of gold. I made friends in that game, real people across the world. Fellow adventurers, sometimes fierce adversaries, but living, breathing, players that acted and thought on their own. The experience was so dynamic, and though the game still existed within its own framework, it was as if we'd broken some wall of limitation that gaming wasn't supposed to allow. Far more than anything I'd gotten from City of Heroes, there was true camaraderie here. Perhaps it was because the majority of us were soldiers, and already had that, or perhaps because we'd all started the game at the same time together, and we were all we knew in that hostile, alien place. However it happened, it created an experience like no other I've ever had in a gaming platform or environment, and to this day I treasure it.
This is only the first post on what I'm probably going to make an ongoing series about this game, and games like it. I've even started making videos to augment the blogs, to add a bit of flavor and life to what I'm trying to portray. Here's one now!
Now, if you'll excuse me, there's some cultists in Deepholm that have insulted my honor and must be dealt with.
-TehKnuck out.
Thursday, December 30, 2010
Playing a Role
You can call me a big geek, you can call me a nerd, and I'll wear the monikers proudly. I love video games, I love comics, I love the internet, but what I truly have a passion for, is role playing. Role playing games have gotten a myriad of opinions associated with them, both positive and negative, and largely misunderstood. Let me start where I've been making a habit of starting in these posts, as far from the point as possible and gradually work my way to the idea I'm trying to convey. It's worked so far.
See, I'm Norwegian by descent. I'm actually a few mixes of nationalities and heritages, but the most prominent and identifiable in my family tree is the blood from Norway. The Norse were a strong, hardy, stocky people, much like myself in a few ways (more the stocky than the others...) I'm not ashamed to admit. One aspect of the people that I have truly identified with, however, is storytelling. A good, thrilling, engrossing story is the most powerful thing in the universe. You can take words, or images, and turn them into emotions, memories, feelings and ideas that can inspire, reshape, or even influence hearts and minds. The Norwegian people embraced this, and it became one of the staples of their society, much like the ancient Greeks, Egyptians, Romans, and many of the world's strongest and most prosperous societies. I reiterate, nothing on Earth is more powerful than a story.
So stories are fantastic, that's not the point I'm trying to make. What I adore, is the interactivity of role playing. The storyteller, dungeon master, game master, whatever title you give the person spinning the tale, designs a campaign or story. They are creating a rich, vivid universe in which you can freely act and interact within. This is escapism in its highest form, the ability to truly step aside from oneself, assume the identity of a fantasy persona, and experience a completely different world, with completely different rules, with no purpose other than freedom. To play a role playing game is fun, but to run one... that is simply magical.
One of my closest friends, an avid (and far superior to me) writer and storyteller, also of Norwegian descent, put into the most beautiful of words (see? It's what we do!) to analogize the concept:
"When you write a story, it's as if you're laying the framework for a tapestry, and giving the threads to your players. You know what happens behind the weave, so you can see the designs. The players however, only know their own thread, and intertwine with the cords and colors you have provided them with, only seeing the simplest design they weave as it's woven. As the storyteller, you can step back, watch this majestic piece unfold, and marvel at the masterpiece that has created itself."
- James Davey
Sure, I embellished the quotation a bit, but trust me, James talks just as pretty.
He's absolutely right. The thrill of watching a story you've written evolve and unfold is like no other thrill you can experience. The story becomes a being of its own, living, changing, reacting and surviving. There's an old joke among role players, in that it's the storyteller's job to create a thriving world wrought with challenge, mystery, excitement and intrigue. And it's the player's job to destroy it within the first five minutes. But this is what role playing is! It is the ability TO destroy it within five minutes! No limitations, no rules, only a set of guidelines that may or may not be followed, at the discretion of the storyteller.
Freedom at its finest.
Tonight, for a New Year's Eve... Eve party we've gathered, I'm going to playtest the new Hunter: The Vigil campaign I have been writing for a few weeks now. Four close friends are coming over, and we're going to have a blast. Regardless of the troubles we deal with every day, regardless of the stresses of daily life, regardless of what happens tomorrow... tonight we will be five friends. We will be in the World of Darkness, facing terrors from beyond, banding together to stand watch over humanity from the forces of darkness, and somehow survive the night. Hopefully. We'll see how the dice fall.
-TehKnuck out.
See, I'm Norwegian by descent. I'm actually a few mixes of nationalities and heritages, but the most prominent and identifiable in my family tree is the blood from Norway. The Norse were a strong, hardy, stocky people, much like myself in a few ways (more the stocky than the others...) I'm not ashamed to admit. One aspect of the people that I have truly identified with, however, is storytelling. A good, thrilling, engrossing story is the most powerful thing in the universe. You can take words, or images, and turn them into emotions, memories, feelings and ideas that can inspire, reshape, or even influence hearts and minds. The Norwegian people embraced this, and it became one of the staples of their society, much like the ancient Greeks, Egyptians, Romans, and many of the world's strongest and most prosperous societies. I reiterate, nothing on Earth is more powerful than a story.
So stories are fantastic, that's not the point I'm trying to make. What I adore, is the interactivity of role playing. The storyteller, dungeon master, game master, whatever title you give the person spinning the tale, designs a campaign or story. They are creating a rich, vivid universe in which you can freely act and interact within. This is escapism in its highest form, the ability to truly step aside from oneself, assume the identity of a fantasy persona, and experience a completely different world, with completely different rules, with no purpose other than freedom. To play a role playing game is fun, but to run one... that is simply magical.
One of my closest friends, an avid (and far superior to me) writer and storyteller, also of Norwegian descent, put into the most beautiful of words (see? It's what we do!) to analogize the concept:
"When you write a story, it's as if you're laying the framework for a tapestry, and giving the threads to your players. You know what happens behind the weave, so you can see the designs. The players however, only know their own thread, and intertwine with the cords and colors you have provided them with, only seeing the simplest design they weave as it's woven. As the storyteller, you can step back, watch this majestic piece unfold, and marvel at the masterpiece that has created itself."
- James Davey
Sure, I embellished the quotation a bit, but trust me, James talks just as pretty.
He's absolutely right. The thrill of watching a story you've written evolve and unfold is like no other thrill you can experience. The story becomes a being of its own, living, changing, reacting and surviving. There's an old joke among role players, in that it's the storyteller's job to create a thriving world wrought with challenge, mystery, excitement and intrigue. And it's the player's job to destroy it within the first five minutes. But this is what role playing is! It is the ability TO destroy it within five minutes! No limitations, no rules, only a set of guidelines that may or may not be followed, at the discretion of the storyteller.
Freedom at its finest.
Tonight, for a New Year's Eve... Eve party we've gathered, I'm going to playtest the new Hunter: The Vigil campaign I have been writing for a few weeks now. Four close friends are coming over, and we're going to have a blast. Regardless of the troubles we deal with every day, regardless of the stresses of daily life, regardless of what happens tomorrow... tonight we will be five friends. We will be in the World of Darkness, facing terrors from beyond, banding together to stand watch over humanity from the forces of darkness, and somehow survive the night. Hopefully. We'll see how the dice fall.
-TehKnuck out.
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Virtually a Warrior
One of the questions I'm most commonly asked is: "If you're in the military, and you've gone to combat, how can you enjoy war-based video games so much?"
I've read a lot of blogs and letters written by both civilian and military patrons of the gaming arts, in which the contrasts between life and art in the realm of war are well presented and debated. This has always been an interesting field to me, which has provoked another double entendre in my title. (I'm going to try to keep those up) I consider myself a virtual warrior not only in the sense that I play many war-based video games, but that my position in the Army has fallen to a support role, a far cry from the combat I experienced in my first few years; I've become a trained warrior without a warrior's role: a virtual warrior.
The main argument I've heard on the negative side, is that war-based video games, though they are improving all the time in realism, can never truly portray the nature of war. It's true, they romanticize it. In a video game, war is an adventure. It's a rush of adrenaline, far removed from the emotions and terrors that truly manifest in the depths of its darkest hours. As a veteran of the War in Iraq myself, I can see why this is a very valid and justified fact. I agree that a young generation playing these games will adapt a misconception about war.
What I do not believe, however, is that this will create a generation of soulless, murderous automatons. We, as a species, have an uncanny ability to learn and adapt to not only our environment, but also separate logic from instinct and emotion. A competent human will be able to play a video game based on war, and realize that it is a work of fantasy, romanticizing the nobler aspects of such a terrible thing.
So what makes a competent human?
Parenting, of course. Environment, education, and in some part, community. Monetary status can definitely have an impact, but I believe it's tertiary at best to many of the other aforementioned factors. I'm digressing, this blog post isn't about parenting or my opinions about the lack thereof, it's about video games, so let me reel this back in.
I've been to war. I've walked the streets of Baghdad, I've survived vehicle combat, numerous house raids, a number of firefights, and came to a close on the wrong side of a hand grenade's 'bad' radius. I was an artilleryman, a surveyor. A 'combat support' occupation that 'isn't supposed' to be on the front lines. Every day in Baghdad I was on the front lines. There is a lot of trauma and fallout from the experiences I had during that deployment that challenge my daily life. Oddly enough, what do I do for escapism?
I play Battlefield: Bad Company 2.
You see, those experiences in war have ingrained themselves in my mind and personality. The comrades I fought alongside were my brothers. I'd die for every one of those men, and I still keep in touch with many of them to this day, seven years after we parted ways. That bond is something I treasure, something that keeps me going every day. I'm alive because they took care of me, they're alive because I took care of them. How does this relate to video games, you ask? Thanks for hanging in there, this is the meat of my point:
Games DO romanticize the noble aspects of war. THOSE are the aspects I choose to hold on to. To remember. When I revive a squadmate in Bad Company 2, I relive the moment I helped patch up a friend who was thrown into a wall by a mortar. When I drive a humvee into a base to capture the point, I relive the heroic incident in which I chased an insurgent truck over 6 miles of Baghdad traffic to save a 14 year old hostage, which we accomplished with no harm to the boy. Those memories of war will never go away, but I can choose how they manifest. By channeling my experiences in a fantasy setting, with close friends, completing a mutual objective and watching out for each other on a virtual medium, I can focus on the positive emotions I carried out of that experience.
-TehKnuck out.
I've read a lot of blogs and letters written by both civilian and military patrons of the gaming arts, in which the contrasts between life and art in the realm of war are well presented and debated. This has always been an interesting field to me, which has provoked another double entendre in my title. (I'm going to try to keep those up) I consider myself a virtual warrior not only in the sense that I play many war-based video games, but that my position in the Army has fallen to a support role, a far cry from the combat I experienced in my first few years; I've become a trained warrior without a warrior's role: a virtual warrior.
The main argument I've heard on the negative side, is that war-based video games, though they are improving all the time in realism, can never truly portray the nature of war. It's true, they romanticize it. In a video game, war is an adventure. It's a rush of adrenaline, far removed from the emotions and terrors that truly manifest in the depths of its darkest hours. As a veteran of the War in Iraq myself, I can see why this is a very valid and justified fact. I agree that a young generation playing these games will adapt a misconception about war.
What I do not believe, however, is that this will create a generation of soulless, murderous automatons. We, as a species, have an uncanny ability to learn and adapt to not only our environment, but also separate logic from instinct and emotion. A competent human will be able to play a video game based on war, and realize that it is a work of fantasy, romanticizing the nobler aspects of such a terrible thing.
So what makes a competent human?
Parenting, of course. Environment, education, and in some part, community. Monetary status can definitely have an impact, but I believe it's tertiary at best to many of the other aforementioned factors. I'm digressing, this blog post isn't about parenting or my opinions about the lack thereof, it's about video games, so let me reel this back in.
I've been to war. I've walked the streets of Baghdad, I've survived vehicle combat, numerous house raids, a number of firefights, and came to a close on the wrong side of a hand grenade's 'bad' radius. I was an artilleryman, a surveyor. A 'combat support' occupation that 'isn't supposed' to be on the front lines. Every day in Baghdad I was on the front lines. There is a lot of trauma and fallout from the experiences I had during that deployment that challenge my daily life. Oddly enough, what do I do for escapism?
I play Battlefield: Bad Company 2.
You see, those experiences in war have ingrained themselves in my mind and personality. The comrades I fought alongside were my brothers. I'd die for every one of those men, and I still keep in touch with many of them to this day, seven years after we parted ways. That bond is something I treasure, something that keeps me going every day. I'm alive because they took care of me, they're alive because I took care of them. How does this relate to video games, you ask? Thanks for hanging in there, this is the meat of my point:
Games DO romanticize the noble aspects of war. THOSE are the aspects I choose to hold on to. To remember. When I revive a squadmate in Bad Company 2, I relive the moment I helped patch up a friend who was thrown into a wall by a mortar. When I drive a humvee into a base to capture the point, I relive the heroic incident in which I chased an insurgent truck over 6 miles of Baghdad traffic to save a 14 year old hostage, which we accomplished with no harm to the boy. Those memories of war will never go away, but I can choose how they manifest. By channeling my experiences in a fantasy setting, with close friends, completing a mutual objective and watching out for each other on a virtual medium, I can focus on the positive emotions I carried out of that experience.
-TehKnuck out.
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Maiden Voyage
First thing's first. TehKnuck is my gamertag. It's a handle I've gone by online and in video games for years, so if it's the first time you're seeing it, it's probably because you know me by some other medium than video games or the internet. /end confusion.
So, if you're reading this, you're probably falling into two categories. I've either sent this to you in an IM and hassled you relentlessly until you finally caved in and clicked the link, or you curiously followed a URL that was posted in a social networking site I tend to frequent and stumbled across this page. In either scenario, I suspect only a dozen or so sets of eyes will actually fall upon these articles, but maybe, in time, it'll grow. The title is a double entendre, (that means it means two things!) meaning I have been playing video games practically my whole life, and am a veteran of the medium, and also because I am a veteran of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Both of those aspects tend to mesh in me, and will manifest frequently in this blog, if not lying at the center of the topics most of the time.
Let me say this first: This is not going to be a politically correct blog. There will be harsh language, opinions, and honest declaration. I'm not going to say anything obscene or racist or anything, but I'm also prone to using what I like to call 'flavor text.' It's a collection of words I've accumulated over the years that seem to enhance the emotion of what I'm trying to convey, most of which being comprised of four letters or so. If this offends you, you should probably not be reading much further.
Now that the obligatory "my family has stumbled across this blog" disclaimer has been provided, please continue. To those of you that still ARE reading: Thank you for your patience.
The idea of this blog is so that I can channel some of the thoughts and opinions I have into a constructive medium. You see, some few years ago I was wounded by a hand grenade in Baghdad. This, with a series of other traumatic events during deployments, has resulted in what today's generation calls Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD. One of the treatments that was suggested to me was journaling, so here we are. My goal is to keep things focused on my interests and whatever the topic of the moment is, but I have to admit, opinions on current events will probably worm their way in there. I figure it's just courtesy to give you fair warning.
Anyway, that's the first post. It's introductory, so the following posts I hope to make less boring, more philosophical, and I might even include comics here and there. I do that sometimes.
-TehKnuck out.
So, if you're reading this, you're probably falling into two categories. I've either sent this to you in an IM and hassled you relentlessly until you finally caved in and clicked the link, or you curiously followed a URL that was posted in a social networking site I tend to frequent and stumbled across this page. In either scenario, I suspect only a dozen or so sets of eyes will actually fall upon these articles, but maybe, in time, it'll grow. The title is a double entendre, (that means it means two things!) meaning I have been playing video games practically my whole life, and am a veteran of the medium, and also because I am a veteran of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Both of those aspects tend to mesh in me, and will manifest frequently in this blog, if not lying at the center of the topics most of the time.
Let me say this first: This is not going to be a politically correct blog. There will be harsh language, opinions, and honest declaration. I'm not going to say anything obscene or racist or anything, but I'm also prone to using what I like to call 'flavor text.' It's a collection of words I've accumulated over the years that seem to enhance the emotion of what I'm trying to convey, most of which being comprised of four letters or so. If this offends you, you should probably not be reading much further.
Now that the obligatory "my family has stumbled across this blog" disclaimer has been provided, please continue. To those of you that still ARE reading: Thank you for your patience.
The idea of this blog is so that I can channel some of the thoughts and opinions I have into a constructive medium. You see, some few years ago I was wounded by a hand grenade in Baghdad. This, with a series of other traumatic events during deployments, has resulted in what today's generation calls Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD. One of the treatments that was suggested to me was journaling, so here we are. My goal is to keep things focused on my interests and whatever the topic of the moment is, but I have to admit, opinions on current events will probably worm their way in there. I figure it's just courtesy to give you fair warning.
Anyway, that's the first post. It's introductory, so the following posts I hope to make less boring, more philosophical, and I might even include comics here and there. I do that sometimes.
-TehKnuck out.
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