On Anticipations

I think it's obvious that I'm a gamer.  Those categorized as such will often succumb to a very maddening shortcoming: impatience.  Impatience  has many ways of manifesting especially in gaming.  While most end up annoying the heck out of those around you, there is at least one that really only affects oneself.

Waiting for a game to come out in stores is painfully annoying.  I had to think for a while to see if "painfully" was the right choice of words to describe it.  What is the symptom of anticipation?  A constant reminder that one has the time to play said game despite being unavailable and, at the same time, one doesn't feel like playing anything else during the wait.  It's painful because the time wasted thinking about it or reading about it could've been spent on either playing another game or doing something else (and possibly more productive) and the person in question is AWARE OF IT.  It's disrupting and I think we've all been there.

I consider myself lucky because that feeling is very new to me.  When growing up, I played the games that were available to me and those games were rarely new.  In fact, I don't recall receiving video games as presents or going to a store to see rows of games on the shelves.  All I know is that I had games and I played them.  They were just there.  It wasn't until I was in my teens that I was introduced to the concept of going to a store to get games.

Marathon and Warcraft comes to mind; and then I discovered sequels.  The thing is, I was so "late in the game" (get it?) that I didn't have to wait for the sequels to come out.  They had already come out one or two years prior.

A very good example of this is Diablo.  After playing the game for two years, I happen to come across Diablo II in stores.  So I bought it and started to discuss the awesomeness of the game to my new friends in college who, to my surprise, informed me of Lord of Destruction (Diablo II's expansion pack).  I was still playing through Act 1 at that time and I already had new features and more content.  While I secretly hoped for a Diablo 3, it never was a game that I was anticipating until Blizzard Entertainment announced it back in 2008.

The Elder Scrolls is a mystery to me because it was one of those games that people always told me about back when Morrowind was the new thing in RPGs but I just shrugged it off thinking I wouldn't be interested.  Can you blame me?  I had my Diablos; TWO of them!   Then  World of Warcraft showed up.  While I knew WoW was coming, it didn't think I'd be willing to pay a monthly fee so I didn't wait for it (in fact I was playing Neverwinter Nights in online persistent realms).  When I decided to play WoW (after trying the beta), the game was out.

I bought Oblivion on launch day (in 2006) including a DVD player for an old PC that was donated to me by a friend.  That was the biggest video game related purchase I've ever done even to this day... It's also my first PC game purchase.  That's the real big mystery for me.  How does a Mac user just go out and buy not only a PC game (and a single-player game at that; I'm a multi-player guy), but PC hardware for a machine that was barely making the minimum requirements to play said game... On launch day?  The E3 demo did it.  It had completely sold me on the concept and while the video looked too good to be true, I figured that if I could experience a fraction of what I saw in the demo, I'd be satisfied.

Since then I've bought GuildWars, Dungeon Siege II-III (the original being available on the mac) and Magicka.  And now I find myself "caught up" and for the first time in my life, I'm eagerly waiting for my games to come out in stores.  It's a strange feeling and I laugh every time I think about it.  What's stranger still is the shift of priorities in my games.  I find myself anticipating Skyrim much more than Diablo III (a game I've been wanting to play for 10 years now).  It's almost embarrassing, actually, but it really illustrates the quality and magic of The Elder Scrolls.  Maybe it's because I don't really notice the wait for Diablo III as much anymore......

Not only that, I've been writing these blogs on the go with my iPad 2.  I've had it since it came out and, like The Elder Scrolls, it has also shifted my habits.  Other than doing my 3D work and record Let's Play videos, I don't really use my laptop anymore.  The iPad completely took over my lifestyle.  As a Mac user, that sort of shift is not uncommon.  But the strange part is that I'm now considering buying a PC to play Skyrim.  I hate the Windows platform with a passion.  I sound like a grumpy old guy at work when I have to use my PC machine (I also work with a Mac).

Skyrim is a "killer app" for a platform I despise.  The idea would be to "live" with my iPad and play a select few games on the PC.  The thought of buying a console has crossed my mind.  They're decently priced, having no mods never bothered me and it would do the things I'd want it to do save for the awkward controllers.  Perhaps I could even get into the Halo games if I got an Xbox.  I've been wanting to try out firefight for a while now... Then again, I'd be missing out on GuildWars 2.  Its funny to consider that, despite being very good, the other games don't have the same effect as The Elder Scrolls.

Regardless, The Elder Scrolls might be my biggest video game related purchase once more and I know it'll be worth every penny.

Here's my list of anticipated games:
- Skyrim.
- Diablo 3.
- GuildWars 2.

Now I have to find the time to play them all as they're all coming out around the same time-frame.

See yah starside!

I realize that a lot of people come to me to hear my thoughts about gaming in general.  How do I play games?  What makes a particular game better than another?  What do I do when I'm not playing games?  How much time do I spend on a particular game?  What do I do for a living?  Does gaming affect my social and/or romantic life?  etc.

I have my doubts that an average joe would give a crap about what I do or think, but a lot of people have shown genuine interest in my past time.  WHY?  I not really sure.  Perhaps they can associate with me.  I like to think it's because I know and truly understand the reasoning behind my opinions... or better yet, I know how to express them.  Theoretically speaking, of course.  And they, in turn, understand that.  Maybe it's a perspective they haven't seen yet or maybe they finally found a like-minded soul and are curious to see how much further that connection goes.

The longer I observe society, the fewer people seem to be capable of sharing opinions and/or ideas.  It's not necessarily a bad thing.  You're not a bad person for not knowing why you like something.  Indecisiveness is a pet-peve of mine, however.  It's a double-edged sword really because those that do share their opinions turn out to be tools that really don't have an opinion for themselves or they're merely full of themselves.  A least a lot of folks seem that way.  I hate those kind of people but who said I wasn't one of them?  How do I justify my self-claimed seclusion from that kind of people?  I like to believe that I'm not a hypocrite; oblivious to my potential flaw.

Some say I'm cocky.  To them, I say: "I'm just confident in what I do.  Be ready to put your beliefs in the line or get out of my way."  If you can't handle an argument, don't start one.  "Prove me wrong and you'll see how humble I am."

I got my hands full making videos already but there's a lot of potential downtime that can be utilized productively (mainly while I'm in the commute).  It seems there's so much more than I can share I could almost picture my mind exploding and broadcast my thoughts to everyone as each pieces of my brain reaches them.

I'm not alone, I'm sure.  The trick is to reach people individually and not as a group.  You know what they say: "A person is smart, but people are stupid."

Is this the next step?  A blog?  I'm honestly not sure yet.  It seems very wishy-washy "hello journal" type of thing to do which is typically not something I do.  However, like my Lets Play of Morrowind, it might turn out being something far greater than I imagined.  The biggest difference being one medium has a potential audience other than myself.  Maybe then I'll be able to answer my question in the 2nd paragraph.

I'll just write and see if I really am an asshole or not.