So in preparation for this year’s New Year’s Party (lovingly called “Tarts & Vicars: Denver) I am putting together some things from my life as a party host from Vegas, including –
The story of the original Tarts & Vicars in Las Vegas is one worth telling – it originally started out as a charity party for some friends, and was not my brainchild by any stretch. The brilliance of my friend Nathan was the power behind the “altar” as it were. The party grew over 10 years, and this past August had its last hurrah and was a fun time (I’ll leave the tales of that evening to an in person story).
So as requested, here’s a brief blog post about the rules of Jenga –
I used sharpies to put the name of the tile on one side and the rule on the other. Some of the tiles include –
There are some other I used, but I’ve forgotten. My inspiration for this game came from “Beer slut” a flash game on liquidgeneration.com we used to play at parties in college as well as this list – http://www.scribd.com/doc/96856152/Jenga-Drinking-Game-DIY
Here’s some pictures (I ended up painting the edges to give them more pizzazz.)
This is the first proper party I’ve thrown in Denver, and I’m anxious to see how it’s received!
Pointy Things
As most folks who read this know, I’m from Las Vegas and was out there last week to see friends and family. I managed to get to do a little bit of photography while I was out there, including the shot to the right out at Red Rock National Park. It’s an area worth seeing if you enjoy desert landscapes and hiking. I do however recommend going either in the morning during the summer or in the non “OMG why is this city on the surface of the sun” months. Also bring water.
The trip was a much needed break from work, and I managed to have a few adventures while I was out there as well as sit back and give some thought to my most recent upcomig video for the MES/Cam – Retention. I chatted with several friends here in Denver as well as in Vegas (and abroad) about retaining people to a gaming organization. Recruiting is arguably the easier part. Things are sexy, flashy, and there’s a lot of burying the dirty laundry of the group. I’m not talking about genuine skeletons, but more about the problems that all gaming organisations face :
This list isn’t exhaustive but I think it’s a good start for me. Bringing in a wet behind the ears newbie at a gaming convention isn’t too hard – they’re excited, they’re already engaged and really they bring a lot of energy. The problem comes when you’ve got a veteran of 10 years who has given their time, love and money to an organization and they’ve seen and done everything. How do you keep that person from staggering out into the proverbial sunset?
Pointy things and Rocks
If you’re looking for the silver bullet – I don’t have it. (Trust me if I did I’d be running a national LARP).
But that’s just it – it isn’t any ONE answer, it’s many answers. Some of us have this weird undying sense of commitment to the organizations we belong to because well – this is our family. The orgs (NERO, the Cam, RoC for me) have been there for us when we needed them. So I feel a sense of responsibility to be there for the org when it needs me.
Retention takes patience, commitment, and a willingness to try and turn the tide. So what did people say when I asked them “How do you retain players?” I got a lot of interesting responses, but here were the top things I and those I asked believed could make a difference :
A lot of these may sound obvious, but I think we get so ingrained in the rut of our own habits and behaviors that we forget about things like this. I know I had a revelation recently in my on gaming life that there was something very wrong, and I believe that my lack of action may have inadvertently adversely affected my own local game. Inaction is often more dangerous in the long term then action. However that’s an entirely different blog post.
So where does one start to change things. As with all my commentary on these communities - change can start with just one person. While recruitment is about smoke and mirrors and glam, retention is about trust, friendship, and investment. Sometimes saying thank you to your storytellers, hosts, and the people who actually produce your gaming environment goes a long way. Most gamers are long past the honeymoon period with their hobby so a little romance there can go a long way.
I’m not saying buy them flowers, but giving them a smile and a hand here and there makes a big difference. Is one of them moving? Lend a hand. Love people? Host a BBQ with plenty of advanced notice. Want to spice up the RP? Offer to help decorate the space you play in. Get creative, but most of all remember this hobby takes all kinds – not just hot chicks in leather.
Vegas from a distance, home of hot chicks in leather.
I’ll be posting the script from this upcoming video when it’s done, which should be shortly. Remember, you can always see all of the videos I’ve produced for my gaming communities by checking them out on YouTube. This video should be done in the next week or so, just in time for the MES/Cam Q2 newsletter.
I’m hanging out with the Alvians this evening on The Nar Shadaa Lounge on SI Radio.
I’ll be joining them on their podcast tonight. Drunken Vengeance indeed! Every Tuesday night at 9pm Eastern you can tune in for the latest from SW:TOR
So I was asked to do a magic fashion show video by Chris Beck, one of the cammies in Manhattan KS and this was the result. It’s intended to be short, and hopefully it fills the needs of that domain. The good news is that the CG I build I can reuse, relight and remaster fr other projects as needed.
Going to be working on a new video this weekend for one of my games. Hoping to do a blog post on “how to promote your game” this weekend in between rendering.
Sadly this means I won’t be playing as much SWTOR… Adobe products and SW:TOR are not friendly on my computer… clearly this means it’s time to build a new one!
I should note that I rarely get political. However, today is special.
For the first time since I left political radio in Las Vegas, I got involved with my representatives. I stood up today for the internet, which has given me so much and never asked for anything in return. While I tended to leave the politics to my amazing talent on KXNT back in the day (Casey and Heather – Casey has moved to a new station now and if you’re curious you can find out more here - he is in fact a rockstar.) I was determined today to make my voice heard about SOPA and PIPA. Serveral websites around the world are participating in a blackout today (Wikipedia, Reddit, and many others) and I took the time to find out who of my representatives supported the bill or stood against it. You too can see how your reps feel.
I personally feel very strongly about these bills, and encourage all users of the internet to find out more about the bill.
Okay so it’s not gaming related… BUT – I am participating in something my co-workers talked me into:
http://five5oclockfavorites.wordpress.com/
It’s a blog where you have to post 5 things you are thankful for 5 days a week (workdays) for I assume what is 5 weeks. I /really/ should simulpost my stuff here, and maybe I will… but for now they’re hanging out on the wordpress above.
I expect to do a gaming related post this weekend. fear not.
I am always amazed at how things seem to mirror the past, or simply just have a sense of cyclical symmetry in my life.
I got my start in Radio in College as an actual Journalism Major, however somehow I sidestepped being on air and
Apparently I've been a busy girl.
instead became administration (traffic specifically). Despite my best efforts my PD (Program director) at the time was determined to keep me out of the radio booth (Damn wide eyed college students). Instead I took to the internet like every other MMO player at the time and founded my own show with a buddy of mine. (His awesome blog where he reviews rum is RumDood.com and is well worth the visit.
So I got my real audio career start on Live365.com and continued to do a lot of podcasting until the light shined on me (thanks to going back to school with CSB) and I landed a real radio gig with CBS in Las Vegas.
I’ve provided a silly visual reference with silly pictures. Why bring this up? Well I’ve recently reconnected with my original co-broadcaster as well as the folks from that time in my life and we as a guild will likely be doing some podcasting. Feeling nostalgic I looked back at some of my podcasting history and thought that the symmetry was really pretty neat from the last decade. Maybe it’s a sense of – “wow look at all that stuff I worked on” or “Holy S*%# I’m getting old” but one thing is for sure – It’s not over yet. Having worked for NPR, CBS, and a variety of media outlets in the gaming community has given me a really sound sense of satisfaction and connection to a hobby that’s given me so so much.
While I’ve spent a lot more time working with video n the last year, I’m profoundly moved my my love of audio first, and am really looking forward to taking a look towards the future and whatever fun and shenanigans that might bring.
PS -
I was fortunate enough to be chosen to BETA test SW:TOR by BioWare/EA this weekend, and I wanted to give some feedback about my first 12 levels in the game. This is not intended to be a full game review, just some comments on things that stood out to me or struck me as amusing. These observations are based on my personal experiences during the Thanksgiving weekend Beta tests.
Some technical things to note – my computer does not have a new graphics card (It’s an NVIDEA 9800) and I’m running Vista 64 with 4 GB of RAM and a Dual Core processor that’s not terribly impressive these days. I prefer to run in windowed mode.
My Sith and her companion (The blue Twi'lek) in The Sith Stronghold
Before I even really get into this review let me say a few important things -
I’ve been keeping an eye on this game since it was announced and was overjoyed to find this week that I had a beta invite in my email. I had intended to wait until the launch (likening it to knowing your xmas gift before you open it), but my curiosity got the better of me. I rolled a Sith Warrior on the Cosmic Turbine server with my guild, The Church of Alvis and set out for blood, guts, and glory (and drinking).
Some TL;DR thoughts if you don’t have time to read the whole post -
Make the right choice... or your companion will judge you
Now I don’t normally play Melee DPS characters, but the allure of a light-saber combined with cinematic graceful combat couldn’t keep me away. I went with a human female toon, and was shocked how interested I was in the story. Something we’ve read a lot of (those of you who have also been fans of the game before it was even out) is that storytelling plays a huge part of the game. The questing system is engaging and makes you feel not only a part of the world, but pretty epic in the middle of it.
They really aren’t kidding when they say storytelling is centric to the game. Maybe it was the fact that it was star wars, maybe it’s the fact that it’s a modern looking world, but for whatever reason I actually cared about my characters choices and actions. Now I’m generally an RPG fan aready (Final Fantasy, etc) but in most MMOs I can’t be bothered to even read the NPC’s name. However I loved seeing what my character was gong to say. The Sith were snarky and spunky, and I loved it.
Every single conversation offers entertaining and clever comments that are clearly intended for a wide variety of audiences with a PG-13 slant. The characters you interact with are three dimensional and illicit emotional responses. Perhaps I was moved because of the good voice acting, or perhaps I just wanted to see what my toon was going to say based on my choice. Whatever the case, I dig the quest system which is a first for me.
However it’s not just questing that makes a game. Environment, UI, Combat, and “playability” factor in as well, making a whole experience. I took some shots of the various environments I encountered (around level 10) to try and show some of the flavor in the various environments.
More Light-sabers more often
A moment of peace watching the space traffic before I head back to evil--doing
This was while I was strolling along slaughtering rebel scum
Darth Baras loves twinkies
The game moves back and forth between on world assignments and on ship or more “base” oriented assignments offering a variety of colorss, lighting, creatures, and situations that keep things moving. I was happy to see that I didn’t feel like I wasn’t stuck in a noobie shelter zone for too long. There was a sense of advancement that was fairly constant and despite what I’d consider slow XP progression, I still felt like I was making progress. In fact, I rarely looked at my XP bar. (Shocking!)
One of the other things I really appreciated about this game was the variety in costuming, body types and voices. (The Sith are from the UK and the folks on Hutta appear to be from New York). The variety really shines in group instances.
In particular, I was struck by Darth Baras (pictured right) and one of the other earlier NPCs (the old woman). So often in MMOs we see perfect specimens of humanity (and other made up races). It’s nice to see some characters who do not fit into the modern model of fitness and sex appeal. Darth Baras over there, clearly likes his Melons and Sugar Dumplings and Cu-pa stew. He also seems to have a whiskey flask on his belt, but that’s probably just my interpretation. You’ll also notice that he has a sort of steampunk mask on. His voice actor reflects that as well. I just really liked the attention to these sorts of details in the game – not everything is cookie0cut. The character himself is overconfident but still engaging.
I haven’t completed my time as his apprentice, but I’m looking forward to see what other horrible things he will ask my Sith to do.
Either way – I applaud the fact that Bioware was willing to use more realistic body types, even if it means tubby villains. At least I know I can have a toon model that’s got “a little junk in the trunk”. (Can’t take credit for that quote, my guildie noted that first).
One of the other things that struck me is how damn useful my companion is. You get your first companion around level 10 or so (give or take, each class is different). She’s pictured above (the blue Twi’lek). Companions serve a variety of functions -
The holo-trees were a nice touch
When you get your first companion through the story you may be struck with how mouthy they are (which makes me smile) but I loved how useful they are as well. They will sell your useless (gray) gear as well as do your crafting for you. This really speaks to my micro-management needs in an MMO. You can have up to 5 companions all filling various functions in combat – but you can only bring one of them with you at a time. The others remain on your ship (which I haven’t gotten yet) to fulfill “crew” duties (Like making me rum and cokes). They can be geared individually, and you can have relationships with them beyond just making them suffer occasionally. Though that really is it’s own reward.
You can train up your crafting skills just like any other MMO, but you don’t have to slave in front of a console for hours, instead you have crew to do that for you! They wander off when sent on missions and come back to you after an allotted amount of time. Just don’t send them off before you get into combat…
Some of the other features I’ve enjoyed are the instanced dungeons. I got to do what they call a “Flashpoint” today, and was pleased to find that depending on what your group chooses to do will determine the course of the event. This makes instances interesting and replayable. We did ours twice, and there was some different loot for both choices. The flashpoint was actually a lot of fun and the story was interesting both times.
Add a friend (as long as they didn't wipe your party)
One of the other neat features was the ability to add group members as friends at the end of the instance. I thought this was a really smart touch. Sometimes you meet good people in PUGs (Pick up groups) that you may want to group with later. This feature is just plain handy.
I love thoughtful implementations like this. It’s smart in a world where PUGs are a reality for most group events.
One of the other features I found handy included the map that became see through as soon as you moved, and the fact that the map would tell you if your quest hand-in was upstairs or on that level. In a modern world, stairs are a huge part of the layout… so this was a thoughtful touch. (This is not pictured in this post.)
I also liked the binding system. Instead of binding in one place you are bound at all of the locations that you have clicked in that zone. Quick Transportation is available (on a cool down) to any of them in that zone. There are also Taxis that will move you from one point to another which was similar to most of the other transpo systems common in MMOs.
OMG, where am I going?
One of the other things I enjoyed was the helpful mini map which not only told me my local time, but it also let me know how bad the lag was, and where my quest objectives were. This just made things a little less painful for me. Plus it was again – just convenient and smart. Now don’t get me wrong the UI is not perfect – I want to be able to customize my bars and move things around till my hearts content, but for a beta I was pretty satisfied with the additions they had put in. I’m really hoping that there are opportunities for add ons (via curse) because I have really had a hard time determining what my DPS is.
There’s also a lot of room for macros and things like that (for instance when I send off my companion on an errand). The game is still clearly in BETA but it seems like the amount of feedback bioware has gathered through the course of the betas will be valuable. Overall though, it’s probably the most polished pre=launch games I’ve played.
Joun and Clam helping with the the Flashpoint
While I tried to take some videos of combat, I wasn’t really happy with how my computer rendered it – but what I can say is that it feels epic, and that the moves (for the Sith at least) are fluid and graceful, and everything feels exciting. It was however, pretty hard to keep track of the 4 characters in the Flashpoint, but that may have more to do with my graphics card then anything else. It’s clear I need to learn more about my class and how to effectively dish out the damage.
Yes, there's a guy in carbonite back there
For those looking at playing the game come launch – there are things in the game that some seasoned MMO fans will question at first, but my advice si to give it 5-10 levels at least, the game has a lot to offer both old and new players to the genre. Bioware has clearly made some strides that I think will make a difference for MMOs to come. All in all I’m really excited to play the actual game, as well as get to see the stories for the light side. Plus it helps that I have an awesome guild to look forward to playing with!
I’m really glad I got my two days of PTO off for launch (Which is December 20th). Special thanks to – The Church of Alvis, Jounville, Gandalfini, HappyClam, Furiel, and the rest of the Cosmic Turbine server!
This post is thanks to the lifted NDA from Star Wars: The Old Republic.
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