Q. How do you feel about selling virtual items for real money? (Do NOT advertise RMT services!) (Answer!)
A. I don't have a problem with it if it's between two people. Once you start seeing massive trade empires based on this system, supported by a brigade of item-farmers who forcibly outdamage casual players just so that they can get a paycheck, you need to notify whatever passes as an authority figure.
Q. Other than your console or PC, what is the piece of hardware you can't live without? (Answer!)
A. I'm pretty sure I could live without quite a few things, but if I had to pick something I'd pick my phone. Some of my friends just can't be bothered to sign in to their computers. Then again, I think I'd like to keep my fridge more.
Q. Do your quiz results on GamerDNA reflect your personality, and if not, what did it get wrong? (Answer!)
A. I think they reflect it fine. They're testing me, not the other way around.
Q. Are you interested in working within the game industry? (Answer!)
A. Yes and no. If I did, it'd be in marketing or PR, because I can't STAND math.
Q. What music do you like to play games to? (Answer!)
A. Judas Priest. No one can stop them; they're like a human dynamo!
Q. What question would you add to the Attitudes system? (Answer!)
A. What do you think when you see people camping an item?
Q. When do you play, including timezone? (Answer!)
A. Generally I get on at about 5:30 to 6:00 Eastern Time and get off around 9:30 or 10.
Q. What sort of players annoy you the most? (Answer!)
A. The kind that doesn't even dignify you with a response when they do something indicating a douchebag nature. I.E., the guy that singlehandedly kills the boss mob you've been waiting for since 3 hours ago, after just arriving, AND looting items that he or she can't use just to keep you from getting to them. At least send a message back like "no speak english" or something.
Q. What sort of tools (calculators, builders, spreadsheets, etc.) do you use to plan your characters? (Answer!)
A. Tools? I ask people who have played that class before what I should do, write it down, and go on about my business.
Q. What do your characters and avatars usually look like? (Answer!)
A. They look as cool as they can, following a theme, without being to underequipped or expensive. For example, my Anarchy Online Bureaucrat wears a "Clans Administration Suit," which is a brown overcoat with long sleeve shirt and tie underneath it, and he carries two revolvers; one black, one white.
A. None, really. I downloaded a Halo mod for Soldat once and I don't see what the buzz is all about. If the other players could see how I had decked my character and gear out, sure, I'd use em' more. These new online mods of other games sound promising, though. One thought that comes to mind is Multi-Theft Auto, a multiplayer online GTA mod...
A. Yes, and I have a microphone
Q. Have you ever had a romantic encounter with someone you met in a game? (Answer!)
A. No. It'd feel impersonal unless we REALLY had a lot in common, AND had extensive out-of-game contact with the person, AND proof that my significant other wasn't a 34 year old man in his mother's basement screaming "MOM! Where's the f@#$ing meatloaf? GAHD!"
Q. What is the most memorable flamewar you can remember? (Answer!)
A. Well, I used to play this little game called RPGWorld. Sometimes I still download it just to see if they've made any new servers or anything else interesting. We only had one "flamewar," and that lasted all of 2 or 3 seconds, but God, it was funny.
Some new guy comes in with the name THIS GAME SUX. That's a red flag. Then, he says, "MY STUPID F@$!ING MOM DIDN'T BUY ME CITY OF HEROES" followed by "THIS GMAE SUCKS D@#$ I HATE IT." After more evidence that he was a 12 year old throwing a temper tantrum, a merciful(but probably guffawing) admin kicked and banned him.
Q. If you made your own game, what would it be like? (Answer!)
A. It would be in MODERN times. Not 3000 years in the future OR past. It'd have machine guns, heavy weapons, pistols, SMGs, shotguns, and rifles, but also melee weapons like crowbars, bats, or brass knuckles. Maybe players could shop in antique stores and get longswords, katanas, bows, etc. Armor could be anything from a biohazard suit to riot armor to chain mail. For professions, you'd have three branches: civilians, mafia, and the law.All three sides could use magic, but it'd be different kinds for different professions. There would be class specific items. The mafia might have kevlar reinforced suits for enforcers(the guy who breaks your legs) or soldiers. Civilians would be neutral. Eh...I'm gonna have to make a word document to get all of this in. Thanks for asking.
Q. How do you feel about playing characters of the opposite sex? (Answer!)
A. Never tried it, but the I bet the view from behind is better.
Q. If you could meet any game developer, who would it be? (Answer!)
A. I'm not that familiar with folks on the dev side, really. Sometimes, though, when I feel like something stupid or obviously inflammatory towards a certain class/race/level group is put in, I feel like I need to talk to a developer one on one and see what the reasoning was.
Q. What are your thoughts on roleplaying in games? (Answer!)
A. I'm all for it if the other guys in the team/org/clan are. I'm not gonna put my heart into something just to get ignored or asked HEAL pl0x, or both. To you folks who never talk except for "run" and "heal," try RP some time. It can be very rewarding, especially in games with many classes, that lend themselves to roleplay.
Q. Beside GamerDNA, what are your favorite websites? (Answer!)
A. There's a private site I go to that I was invited to by a friend of mine. That's my homepage.
Then, I have my "cycle." My day isn't complete unless I check:
myspace, nationstates.net, aofroobs.com, nexuswar.com, popomundo.com, and finally wikipedia, in case I need to know who sings a certain song or who the lead role in Pulp Fiction was.
Q. What is the most overlooked or misunderstood game? (Answer!)
A. Browser-based games get the shaft a lot. games like popumundo, Nexus War, and Urban Dead get overlooked because the general idea among this generation is that "reading is for pansies and girls."
I hate that, too. There are kids in the world who have never even seen a book, yet here in the states, you might actually hear "I don't like reading. X-box is better. Reading is dumb. What's internet? Don't use such big words!"
Q. If you could cancel any online game, which would it be? (Answer!)
A. I wouldn't want to do that. That's taking something away from people I don't know, just because I don't like it. Now, if I could make all games free, I would. Why do we need money, anyway? People want something in return for what they did; the undying gratitude and awe of the masses isn't worth it, I guess.
Q. What are the proper uses of tank guns and bubblegum? (Answer!)
A. What? Tanks are for killing, bubblegum is for chewing. If you go someplace to chew bubblegum and kick ass, you should bring plenty of bubblegum.
Q. What are your thoughts on player-made mods/addons for games? (Answer!)
A. As long as it isn't giving someone an unfair advantage or making someone else do something wrong, it's fine.
Q. Have you ever had a memorable real-life meeting with other gamers? (Answer!)
A. No, but when I get my driver's license I could meet up with someone I know. he lives a short drive away from me.
Q. When you are not playing games, what do you do for fun? (Answer!)
A. I watch TV, I read, I write. Yes, I write. I can't draw naughty pictures of your two favorite anime girls, but I can write a very good description of it. Chances are, you won't read it, though, because most people think reading is for pansies and girls.
Q. What is a feature you would like added to GamerDNA? (Answer!)
A. I dunno. I'm still new to the site.
Q. Why do you join guilds or clans? (Answer!)
A. Mostly so I can always have someone online to do team related things like dungeons or boss hunting with me. or so that I can chat. I never joined a PvP/war guild, but I still do PvP from time to time.
Q. What are the specs on your gaming rig? (Answer!)
A. Hell, I don't know. Ask the guy who built it. I'm not a total moron when it comes to the internet and computer, but I can't do techie stuff like building computers or coding, though. Once I start seeing random lines of capital letters, slashes, colons, and whatnot, I just look at it like a non-English speaking man looks at an English/American tourist yelling at his or her kids.
Q. What experience do you have beta-testing games? (Answer!)
A. None. I'd love to, though. Some games give you pretty sweet stuff later on in the game for being a tester. The keep the score, all right.
Q. What are your most memorable achievements in a game? (Answer!)
A. When a friend and I located a hiding and obviously bored person in Anarchy Online, he rewarded us with an obscenely large(at least for us) amount of money, 7-8 million credits each. We used those credits to buy one Yalmaha each. For those not aware of what this is, it is essentially a flying limo capable of breaking the sound barrier.
Also, beating people with Wario in Super Smash Brothers Brawl is a very fun experience. I'm sure it's not very fun for people who play "cool" characters like Ike, Sonic, and Snake to get beaten by a fat, lazy, immature, ill-tempered motorcycle enthusiast with a crazy mustache.
Q. What are your favorite tabletop (RPG, board, miniatures, etc.) games? (Answer!)
A. I've always wanted to play one, but they seem so dang complicated. Any game with a hierarchy of rules that I can't memorize in one sitting is too much for me(funny, considering what a STICKLER for order I am). I want to make a class, get my gear, and get going.
Q. What is your first computer or video gaming memory? (Answer!)
A. Watching my cousin Brian play Legend of Mana. He and his SNES system are what got me into gaming, much to the dread of my parents. I still look up to him, too.
Q. Where did you get your gaming names from? (Answer!)
A. Mostly from popular culture and the media. I also like to do a little research. For example, my AO Bureaucrat(look it up) is named Wolfowitz, after the former, scandalous head of the World Bank. My Adventurer in the same game is named Saddleup, a reference to John Wayne.
Q. In real life, are you male or female? (Answer!)
Q. If you could bring any book, movie or comic to life in a game, which would you choose? (Answer!)
A. The Godfather. The freakin' Godfather. WITH the option to play either in a family or in the law, AND you could be corrupt on either side(a crooked cop or a rat in the family.) No, you wouldn't play AS the Corleones, the Straccis, the Tattaglias, the Barzinis, or the Cuneos, but you could work as an individual or with a group doing odd jobs for any of them, and increase your standings with them in a sort of faction system. You could also choose to make your own group or join someone else's (a family for the gangsters, a special investigations unit/FBI squad for the law) or continue to work on your own(gangster individuals would be associates, law individuals would be private investigators). Also, there would be a mod-run committee that decide which family or SIU names are too stupid, so you wouldn't have "ORJINUL GANKSTAZz" for a mob name or "ELITE FISTS OF DEATHHAMMER JUSTICE" for a Special Investigations Unit. I haven't even STARTED on the skill system it'd have.
Q. Do you feel relationships within games are meaningful? (Answer!)
A. You make it meaningful. If you only have a guy in your friends list so that you know when your buff totem is online, then no, that isn't meaningful. If you have him in there so that the two of you can chat and make a team or clan, then I'd say that IS meaningful.
Q. What do you love or hate about PVP? (Answer!)
A. What do I hate? The fact that because a guy knows how to ladder implants/twinking items or has items that increase a particular skill better than mine do, he will kick me into the curb if I fight him. The fact that people only challenge me to a duel just so they can see how many fractions of a second it takes for me to die. It's like they have noob-radar.
I do like that there might be someone worse at PvP than me, but I know I wouldn't feel gratified about it if I kilt them in combat. Players don't want a fair fight; they want instant win and reputation points. Ugh.
Q. How many hours a week do you play? (Answer!)
America's Army (PC-MAC)
Anarchy Online (PC)
Gunbound
Hellgate: London (PC)
