Tag Archives: star wars galaxies

Let’s Talk About Exploits, Shall We?

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Let’s talk about what is and what isn’t.

Back in Star Wars Galaxies, my guildleader wanted to compile a list of definitive game exploits (a list, not a how-to, ffs) so he could point to the list and say “don’t do these.” Ya, like we have 195 hours to write up every little thing … it just can’t be done. So, we settled on making a short list of activities that were FOR SURE exploits: duping credits, double-slicing weapons or armor, yadda yadda. All the “gee, ya think?” type exploits.

On the surface, this seems like something you shouldn’t have to write down for people, but you really do. The Stupid, they live among us.

Anyways, I have my own internal system for deciding if I’m exploiting or if I’m just being incredibly clever. I have made a VISUAL AID for the discussion.

visual-aid

It’s all so simple when it involves professional graphics.

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The Regular Crowd Shuffles In

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You know that song “Piano Man” by Billy Joel?

It’s 9 o’clock on a Saturday,
The regular crowd shuffles in.
There’s an old man, sitting next to me,
Makin’ love to his tonic and gin.

My intent in mentioning it here is twofold: stick with me now.

When I was growing up in Middle America, my mother forced piano lessons on all us kids … several years of piano lessons … until she let us throw off the shackles of piano slavery and take up the instruments we really wanted to learn, like electric guitar and drums.

Weren’t we glad then that she made us stick with lessons so long? (Not really, but hell if I’m gonna say that now.)

Anyways, every holiday season, each of us are pressured in turn to play the piano (not having a drum set handy), and the first request is always “Piano Man.” Because it’s so Christmas-y. Or something.

So, on the plane home, it occurs to me that MMOGs are very similar to the regular crowd in that odious song: almost everyone is on their way to somewhere else.

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Class Wars

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The class wars in World of Warcraft have begun in earnest now. The Have Nots calling for nerfs and begging for more power; the Haves telling everyone to shaddup.

These type of skirmishes have been going on since time began in the virtual world, and they will continue until the last mole has been whacked, looted and skinned.

I can always tell which classes are the Haves — here’s a tip on how to quickly ID them in any game: it’s the class that remains curiously quiet, for the most part, in public forums. The Haves try not to make eye contact with the developers; they study their shoes, examine their fingernails, whistle idly while trying to appear casual and uninterested.

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