Frontier’s Horizon

An interesting story from the New York Times concerning psychotherapy and virtual environments for therapeutic techniqes.

Standing in Someone Else’s Shoes

I’ve always wondered about this when you start thinking about the way the mind processes information and tally it with the hours spent looking at beautiful avatars that can fly, leap, and shoot things from their hands.  Also, in Second Life where it tends to be an ever changing dream environment.  I know we’ve been hearing about the negative effects of sitting for hours and being engaged in a virtual environment. There is negative effects to everything.  The inverse is that there are positives and I like to hear more about them.

Ultimately, though, I feel it’s about balance.

As you may know, there’s a player note feature in City of Heroes.  You can right click on a player, select Note, and make whatever annotations you wish about different players you encounter.  This is a great feature for those memory impaired folks like myself.  Enjoy someone’s company while you ran through the sewers?  Make a note. Got fed up with someone saying “people who RP r dumb.”  Make a note.  However, did you know you could do more with it than that?

It’s possible to create your own notes about anything you need to remember in-world.  Need to remember what you are going to do next in the market?  Want to keep a listing of where your character is in a specific plot line?  Questions or actions to take in the next RP encounter with that wise-cracking Coyote Kid?   It’s easy.

It’s a simple command typed into your chat line.  The command is /playernote (filename).  (filename) is the name you want to give to the note like marketdata or Sam_grocerylist.   When you type that, the note will come up and you can enter whatever you please.  Rank it with a certain number of stars if you wish.  Close it when you are finished.  When it comes time for you to want it again, just type the same command and up it pops.

The notes section is actually a text file kept on your hard drive located in the COH folder in a subfolder named after your login name.   The note assigns itself to a global or the filename that you give it that it THINKS is a global.  So, you might run into a player with the global “marketdata_bob” but I REALLY doubt it.  Just make sure you keep a list of all your filenames for easy reference should you forget.  I went ahead and created a note called “playernote_master” which listed all the file names.

Also, for those that might want to have notes in a more transferable format, you can set the game to open in a Window and then open up the Notepad and type away there.  Under Options look for the graphics tab.  Click on that and look at Resolution.  It’s a drop down list.  Choose “Windowed” and then Apply.  You’ll have to restart and when you do, the game will be running in a scalable window.  Then, either before you load COH or afterward, open up Notepad.

Notepad uses so little extra that it can run alongside COH easily on most machines.  Then, you have your notes in a .txt document and already somewhat formatted.  The format for the “notes” feature that you find in your COH folder  is a little wonky and does not work well for a long, extended note.

When you are done with the .txt file, you just save it and it can be easily cut n’ pasted elsewhere.  I use Notepad for good chunks of my writing because it’s so good at capturing data quickly without worrying about formatting.    Matter of fact, I frequently take time in-world to sit somewhere peaceful and compose blog posts or character journals.  Like the entries for Jack Drake, for instance.

Hope this helps.  And speaking of Jack Drake, there’s more on the way!

To get Jack Drake started, I decided to log on during a peak time.  I figured there would be good traffic around Atlas Park and plenty of folks to talk to so he could get directions, etc.  What I did not count on was for there to be a Rikti attack within five seconds of coming in-world.  Here is the event in Jack’s own words.  Where it helps, my OOC commentary is in brackets.  (As it should be…)

Sorry for the day delay.  This odd ritual called Thanksgiving got a bit in the way.  Enjoy the left-overs and the post!

~~~

Wouldn’t you know it?  As if my week couldn’t get any worse?  In trouble with the law because I took a baseball bat to a few Hellion’s thick skulls, losing my apartment, and now, while walking to fill out some “paperwork”, the Rikti decide its a good time to have an attack.

It’s all beautiful isn’t it?  Life is great!  Not sure which God I ticked off last weekend.

I’ve always avoided City Hall.  That’s where the capes hang out and where a normal Jack like myself tends to get ignored at best, run over at worst.  They gather and socialize and take breaks from saving the city or the world or, well, whatever the hell it is they do.  It can be impressive at times and, well, it can be scary most of the times.  So, I stay away.

But now, because I clunked a few Hellions, they want me to fill out paperwork.  Paperwork that lives in City Hall with some bureaucrat called Susan Davies.  And, as is par for my week, just as I get to City Hall, the war walls go down and the sirens go off, and everyone gets that sinking feeling in their gut that the Rikti are coming.  Again.

A large group of them are around Ms. Liberty as always.  More are coming since they typically make their stand right at this point.  Its right there, up the main steps, and I have to go around them.  I must have looked completely out of place because some huge beetle thing walking around on two legs steps away from the group, towards me, and says, “Beat it.”  Some hero. (This was a hero by the name of Rhino Beetle who, I’m sure, was just trying to get a citizen out of harm’s way.)

I see the first Rikti warships cruising low between the buildings and that’s what cinches it for me.  I realize I don’t want to be out here and I take off for City Hall hoping to be safe inside.  At the main steps, I catch myself.  What am I thinking?  Sure, the Rikti are going to be coming in droves soon enough but who gets a chance like this?  A chance to see a full scale battle.  I stop at the City Hall steps and watch.

Read the rest of this entry »

So, I’ve been talking about story left and right. I’ve been pointing to a bunch of cool news stories as well.  I took a very serious, educational, and somber tone with things.  You’ll be happy to hear (I hope) that I’ve given myself a bit of a shake-up and have decided a couple of things.  First, I’ll be getting on a posting schedule.  From here on out, I’ll be making story related posts at least every Monday and Thursday (We’ll go with that for now and see how it goes) and posting news stories as I find them.

Secondly, I’m taking all of this a whole lot less seriously.  What does this mean?  It means that I’m going to focus on those things  I not only love the most but also enjoy writing about the most.  Characters, stories, and, you guessed it, roleplaying.  I realized it was high time I got off my duff and did some storytelling of my own.  That’s sort of the main reason why I’m here, right?

City of Heroes offers up an amazing engine in which to tell your own character’s stories.  That is, if you’re into superheroes or the genre known as modern fantasy.  If you’re more wired to fly spaceships then try out Eve.  If you’re poison is the type only powered by magic, barbarians, rangers, and elves then there are tons of choices out there.  World of Warcraft, Warhammer Online, or Age of Conan.   But, for me, City of Heroes does it.  (Age of Conan sounds great but my system would probably meltdown if I tried it.)

I have quite a few characters on the City of Hereos Virtue server.  In time, I’ll start introducing you to them.  For now, I want to move toward a brand new character and a brand new experiment.  Whoo-hoo!  Experiments!

It helps if you can roleplay with a group of friends while your character progresses along.  It’s nice but, surprising as it may sound, you don’t need it.  Sometimes real life schedules get in the way as well.   Being a very busy full time dad of three kids, I have this problem constantly.  My focus is to show you how I do my playing and storytelling through a series of posts surrounding a new character I’ve just created.  Whether this comes from being an only child or just incredibly desperate, I’ll leave to you.  I’m going to build the character, launch him, and I’m going to document wherever things take us.

I did something similar to this with a character called Ren Paradox in the earlier incarnation of this blog.  You can find the beginning of those posts here.  Ren was a real joy to play and, fortunately, he was too much of a joy.  So much I received a very real and intense blast of inspiration for the character idea and decided to pull him from the servers.  He may be around again in slightly different form down the road.  Again, this is one of the things this blog is about, having these joyous and creative moments based on an experience with what some call a “game.”  If this happens again with this character then I may have to admit I’m onto something!

This time around the character is going to have a full backstory.  Ren, who was suffering from complete amnesia, did not.  The new character will have a bit more focus.  Ren sort of wandered around Paragon City until things happened to him.  I will keep the character’s background, like Ren’s, short.  For most of this process, the focus is not on where the character has been but where he is going!

The rules for running him will be as follows -
1.) Stay in character as much as possible.  This means reacting to the environment around him and not falling into the trap of ignoring things like cars, pedestrians, and other environmental items that sometimes blur into the background.  This also means making choices that are based on his character, not on what I, the player, want for him.
2.) Build his story from the real time encounters he has within the game environment.  This includes player interactions as well as environmental ones.
3.) If ever stuck, I will turn to one of two processes to find his path.  A.) Allow you the readers to vote as to which way he should go  B.) Perform what is called a “matrix argument” for him and go with the results.  (More on Matrix Arguments down the road.)
4.) Ignore any OOC banter that flies around him in Local or Team chat.  If someone is discussing a game related subject he will simply, in character, not be able to hear it.
5.) Converse in OOC only in private tells but never in Local or Team chat.

Without further ado, allow me to introduce you to Jack Drake.

Jack Drake is a normal guy in a world of superheroes.  He’s one of those background pedestrians you run past when you’re going to your mission.  You know, the one that might stick up a hand and wave at you?  The one that might tell you what time it is if you click on him?  Just a normal, hard working guy.

Jack had a bad week.  Jack worked for Image, Inc. in Steel Canyon and lived in small apartment in Atlas Park.  He lived a struggling but routine life.  Went to his job, worked out, played some baseball, and went to a few bars on the weekend with a handful of friends. He did his best to keep his bills up to date and was a bit late in rent. He did some freelance physical training on the side for some clients.  Nothing big.  About a month ago a small pack of Hellions moved into an abandoned office building a block away from his apartment.  Normally, a hero would come by and clean them up.  This time, however, the Hellions were smart and kept a low profile.  With the constant Rikti attacks and constant barrage from other threats they were able to lie low.  The locals did what they always did, they laid low themselves and tried not to become a Hellion target.  For the most part, it worked.

Two weeks ago, due to the economic pressures from the Rikti invasions, Jack lost his job.  Yesterday, he lost his electricity, his phone was disconnected due to a billing error, and the landlord hit him with an eviction notice.  All before Noon.   Two hours later, Ms. Kirby on the first floor started screaming about her daughter, Kaylee, being missing.  Jack went to see if he could help.  He couldn’t but he could listen.  Then, another tenant mentioned he had seen some Hellions talking to the little girl from across the street as they walked by and another said they had seen some Hellions running by and carrying “something with a coat thrown over it.”

The police were called and they said “someone would be by to investigate shortly.”  Heroes flew or ran by and although some tenants tried to flag them down, they were unsuccessful.  One did stop but was unable to help because he had to “deal with a situation in Perez Park.”  He promised to let his supergroup know as soon as possible and then he flew on.

At that point, as the hero ran down the street away from the group of desperate tenants, something inside Jack popped.   Perhaps it was the stress of the day?  Perhaps it was the intensity of living in a city dealing with alien invasions and zombies coming out of the shadows?  Whatever it was it caused Jack Drake to completely disregard any rational thought of his safety.

He went upstairs.  He put on his leather jacket, his gloves, and grabbed his old high school baseball bat.  Walking past the small crowd of tenants outside the apartment building, he crossed the street and disappeared around the corner.  He had seen where the Hellion’s entrance was beside an old dumpster.  Casually walking up to the Hellion guards outside they never registered him as a threat.  He dropped them in two hits a piece.  He kicked the door open and methodically began taking out every Hellion he could find until he located little Kaylee Kirby.  Taking the last Hellion out with a vicious swing that splintered his bat in two, he then picked up the little girl and walked the small distance back to her mother’s apartment.

Unfortunately, for him, the Paragon Police Department had arrived just before him and, at first, mistook him as one of the kidnappers.  After the confusion was cleared up and he had delivered Kaylee to her mother, he led them back to the Hellion nest.  Though no Hellions were dead several were in bad shape.  Thinking of the Vigilante Bill and trying to save Drake from more trouble should one of the Hellions die before making it to the hospital, the field officer instructed Jake to go fill out paperwork with Susan Davies over in City Hall.  He did not, however, tell Jack that it would make him a registered hero in the city.

“Once you do that,” instructed the Lieutenant, “everything should be just fine.”

And that is where our story starts…

(Continued in On The Path, Part One)

A cool little read from Forbes magazine focused on the growing trend of  virtual worlds to turn toward browser based platforms.

Making Virtual Worlds Portable

First off, let’s get this out of the way.  I had a blast at Herocon!  I was able to sit in on a panel to discuss the upcoming Mission Builder at the beginning of next year which, from what I can tell, will set a precedent for user content in MMO’s.

I attended another session on making movies with City of Heroes (which only served to make me a bit more frustrated with my current four year old system.)  Check out Samuraiko Productions to see some cool videos featuring COH and more.  Just click on Multimedia and then Videos.

I ran through the Live Mission with The Defuser of reality television fame.   I got to meet a nice handful of people and have a slew of cool discussions.  I came out of the event with a new found appreciation of the City of Heroes game as well as it’s wonderful community.

Why then, on the plane home and the days that followed, was I a bit grumpy?

Because I didn’t grab the opportunity I had to really talk to people about their stories!  I should have been interviewing with a whole set of questions!  I should have been really diving in to see what drove folks to create things like long detailed character descriptions.  I could have dug further to look for new resources, new ways of looking at things.  Talking to the groups that were there about how or why they had come to gather here instead of anywhere else?  I could have sat down with the one fellow who traveled from New Zealand to attend the conference and ask him about his experiences.

So, my apologies for not doing a better job.  Did I mention I had a blast?

That all being said do you know what I found to be the most interesting aspect?   400 people all came together to celebrate their participation in something that was, simply, more then a “game.”   I’ve been to a lot of game conventions.  For many years, GenCon was my con of choice.   I’ve swam against the currents of hardcore fans streaming into and out of the main exhibitor hall.  I’ve been to science fiction and fantasy conventions.  Heck, I’ve done security at them.  You haven’t lived until you’ve stopped a fifteen year old dressed as Baron Samedi from coming into a convention because he thought he was slick with his non assuming sword cane.

HeroCon attendees had come to share in their love of an environment.  Total strangers who, for the most part, had never met one another in person but who had shared space in a virtual world.  They  knew the same virtual topography and had the same super heroic experience in a city that doesn’t really exist.  Or does it?

If I heard it once, I heard it several times.  “It’s so nice to be someplace where everyone around you ‘gets it!’”  It was the knowledge that everyone around you had shared in the same experience.  Or, better stated, that they had shared in the same ARENA with similar experiences.  Stories that would have  confused the attendees to the Knitting Convention going on concurrently with Herocon or the family in the next door booth at the IHOP.  Tales about derring-do, missions, jokes, tactics, close calls, supervillians, and superpowers.

For one brief day, that city existed in a hotel in Santa Clara, California.

And that was pretty cool.

I just need to remember to take better notes next time.

Still trying to get caught up after my trip to Herocon but when I saw this pop up on my news feed, I had to give it a mention.  As far as I know, this is the first time the word “murder” or “killing the avatar” has been used in association with deleting a character.  Strong words, I think for deleting a data file.

Woman Jailed for Virtual Murder of Husband’s Avatar

But, doesn’t it imply that the data file is, perhaps, something a bit more? This is nothing new to us that play heavily and have hours of attachment to these characters and avatars.

However, would any of us use the word “kill?”  I thought we said, “Delete?”

I had a nice surprise waiting for me in my inbox last week.  A friend informed me that one of our group members on City of Heroes had surprised everyone with a bit of machima or, in plain real world speak, a video.  Machinima is where players of a MMO or a Virtual World use software to capture images and to put together a video of things in-world.  Then, with the use of game emotes, voice-acting, music, and edits present a video story on Youtube.  They create a story that usually features a character and a storyline.  Some of them can be quite intense and surprising in the effort and talent put towards their production.   Its been quite the phenomena lately around the web and a few places to look and learn more are   HERE, HERE, And HERE.

What our group member had done was a little different.  With a small group of folks he designed a nine minute video as a secret and then not only announced it’s location on YouTube but also used it as a launching point in a continuing roleplaying story which had been taking place on the forum boards.    Perfectly timing it to release just before the evening everyone gathered in-world to play, members could watch the video and then come into game.  In my opinion, the full effect was wonderfully immersive and engaging.  Not only did I just watch a video but was able to immediately go in-world and enter into the aftermath which was occuring from the video.

As the members were gathered in our base, the story unfolded as to what happened.  Through storytelling and RP, one character was able to access the security cameras of the facility where the video event had occured.  This was then imagined as being played for all the characters gathered to watch without, of course, color and sound.  Do you see the clever trick that occurred there?  Make a movie, have the players watch the movie to give them an introduction for their character and then reference the same bit again as part of the play for their characters in-game to react to.  Whoooo!  High five!

I wanted to mention all of it because, obviously, I think it’s a very fresh way to kick off a virtual story in-game.  One more way to think outside the box!

The Youtube video can be found here - False Hero: Chapter IV: The Dark Merger

The resulting storyline can be found in the forum board - HERE .

Once I get back from Herocon, I plan on interviewing the creator of the video and the storyline to see what went into its production and how everything has turned out so far.

I’m happy to announce that it looks like I will be attending Herocon next week.  What is Herocon, you ask?  Well, it’s a one day convention to celebrate the City of Heroes game and for all of us hardcore fans to gather, goof around, and geek out.  When I first heard of the event I dismissed it quickly due to cost and the fact I am located currently in the Midwest.  Luckily, for me, I work a real world job that requires me to travel.  Imagine my surprise when I happened to notice that Herocon would be occuring the day after a business trip in the San Jose area.  Add to that surprise my delight at finding out that it was taking place only ten minutes away from where I would be staying.  Needless to say, I don’t get to the west coast very often.  To realize this event was, against all odds, occuring perfectly to fit my schedule has made me wonder what I am supposed to be doing there?  Meet someone cool?  Save the world?  Convert more to the way of storytelling, RP, and Virtual Worlds?   Guess there is only way to find out, right?

I’m looking forward to meeting tons of new folks as well as discussing the direction our little superpowered world will be taking in the near future.  Of course, one of my main foci will be to look at how any future changes will effect this thing we’re calling virtual storytelling.  The other thing will be getting all the cool swag!

I’ll be reporting here about my experiences at the event so stay tuned.

Here is a lengthy article titled “Legislating the Virtual World” that continues a trend we’ve been seeing lately of how the Real World and the virtual one(s) seem to be blending together.  It also goes over how governments are responding to the increase of time, and more importantly, dollars spent there by their citizens.

Legislating the Virtual World

My question to all of you and I’d love a discussion on this - How blurry is all this going to get or are we going to see some very clear legislation and government in the next year from either companies, governments, or users themselves?