It seems to be computer problem day. My desktop crashed and won’t reboot, my laptop won’t connect to my wireless network, and I just made a payment on a massively multiplayer game which I now cannot play because my desktop gaming machine is out of service.
I’m not going to say “things could be worse,” because I just filled up my truck with gas, updated my iPod to iOS 5.0 and left my work vehicle at a local shop for an oil change and tire rotation… I don’t want to jinx myself.
Not that I believe in jinxes, but it’s always better to be safe than sorry. Statistical Clustering occurs frequently, but always in statistical clusters… I wonder why. Maybe it’s just my luck.
Other than this cluster of technological misfortune, I found a new massively multiplayer game, called Vendetta Online. It’s a space-based combat/trade/mining game, somewhat like EVE Online or the old game Earth and Beyond, which was one of my favorite MMOs of all time.
Earth and Beyond was simple, straightforward and almost cartoony in its graphics. However, it was immensely fun to play. EVE Online was also fun, but it seems to have been designed for people who have less time to play than most gamers. With EVE, in order to “train” your character up to the point of being able to use more advanced equipment and better ships, you have to “train” in real-time, one skill at a time, in order to advance. You might have to train for a few days (real-time) to use a better weapon, but if I recall correctly, you have to train for 30 days real time in order to be able to use a destroyer. That’s just using it, not necessarily being able to afford it or find a shipyard which sells it. Though those are relatively easy problems to deal with, just spend your 30 days mining and trading with whatever ship you currently use, and most likely you’ll be able to afford the destroyer at the end of the duration of your “training.”
Vendetta Online takes a slightly different tactic in that you train by doing, not by spending time doing something else. If you want your mining skill to go up, you need to mine. If you want your trade skill to go up, you mine.
The scenery is spectacular and the game play is simple and easily understood. The game isn’t choked with people who just want to go out and kill “n00bz” and the players are fairly friendly and willing to help even someone like me who tends to make stupid mistakes and misunderstand simple directions.
The game itself is also free to download. You just go to their website and download the game, and you get 8 hours (real time), of game-play in order to see if you like it. If you decide that it’s not your cup of tea, you just don’t play any more. If you do like it, it costs $10 a month to play. Still, that’s pretty much worth it in my opinion.
Of course, with my computer down, I can’t play at all. I had to use my notebook to update my blog, and since I couldn’t connect the wireless, I had to plug into the wall socket….
So that’s my life today. Tomorrow should be just as bad, but at least I have a Halloween party to go to tonight.
Now, for a costume…
