Grunge, glorious grunge

 

Bella:  It’s your fault Narcissa.

Cissy: No it’s not – and don’t call me Narcissa. Besides the Amoveo Magiatus curse is better than a trip to Azkaban isn’t it?

Bella: Well this isn’t exactly Malfoy Manor is it?

Cissy: We’ll get by…

Bella: Without magic?

Cissy: Shut up and throw another tire on the fire…I’m cold.

 

Every now and then while I am “out and about” with my co-host Fran we will drive by those symbols of freedom, those who dare to place nothing but leather and bone between themselves and the pavement…motorcyclists.  To me they always summon up images of Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper in Easy Rider.  Ah for the life of the open road, living free, riding your metal steed with the wind in your hair as “Born to be wild” by Steppenwolf plays somewhere in the background.

But what, you might ask, has that got to do with Bellatrix Lestrange and Narcissa Malfoy in the dialogue above?

Eating Crow

 

Time for me to eat a bit of crow…those who are regularly listeners to the No Prisoners, No Mercy show know that I have on occasion voiced my ire at software that isn’t backwardly compatible, with special emphasis on that unassailable bastion of the Electronic Arts stand alone games, The Sims.  A friend of ours who is a devout follower of the series first got me interested.  It all started with Sims 1, which rapidly became Sims 2. Then of course there were all the expansion packs.  Got to have them all of course…don’t you want all the features?  One edition followed after the other as Electronic art doled out the features slow enough to keep that carrot on a stick dangling in front of the players.

Then came Sims 3….

Yes, it got rave reviews.  For the first time it was one continuous world. No instancing, problems solved, full featured game all in one.  Still, I felt burned to a crackly crunch by the fact that all the work I had done as a virtual architect for Sims 2 couldn’t be used for Sims 3. It felt like EA had told me “bend over baby” hot poker in hand.

The Doldrums

 

Summer is usually the time for the release of all the big budget blockbuster movies.  The same cannot be said, however, for the mmo industry – at least not this particular summer.  All the big budget, blockbuster, “triple A” mmos seem due out this fall and beyond.  And so sets in the doldrums of summer.  You know the feeling – When all those mmos that were bright and shiny now seem to lack their luster as your characters all reach the level cap and your interest wanes.   It is at that point where the talent of developers is tested to the full….how do you keep your audience interested? What is your endgame like? Is it a system of inventory management catering to the bank sitters of the virtual world? Do you try and convince your customers, but more yourself, that you really can continue to put out content faster than players can consume it? (Turbine once claimed they could do it and we know how well they succeeded).   And so it was that as I played my gnome warrior that somewhere in the distance a siren call sounded.  It was the promise of creating a virtual world without the programming necessary to do it in Fallout 3.

Back again, back again

 

And so as I munch on my bit of crow I find myself once again indulging in the virtual world of the Sims.  The most pleasant discovery was revealed when at the end of a pleasant evening when I attempted to take the Sims disc out of the drive only to discover it missing. I had just spent an entire session without it!  A quick re-check of the instruction booklet revealed that apparently EA had indeed learned the lesson taught by Spore and reconsidered their DRM (digital rights management). Now it only requires on line validation.  New tools have also been provided made easy tasks that once took innovation – like the basement tool that opened the world of subterranean development without disturbing the surface above.

Hook Line and Sinker

So I seem to have once again grabbed at the virtual carrot dangled by EA, even if it was only the result of the “dull-drums” of summer mmo play.  Thanks to the good graces of our friend and frequent guest Saylah I have also been able to discover the talents of artists who bring a new aspect to the world of Sims…grunge living.

Grunge is something we have discussed on past show.  Most recently Tipa of West Karana fame told us how she enjoyed EQ2’s Freeport precisely because of its grunge.  It seems the tinge of foul air emanating from the City of Freeport provided Tipa with a bit of fresh air simply by being different.  One particular artist that has seemly devoted a great deal of time to bringing an urban air to the world of the Sims is called Cyclonesue. When I found that my poor starting sim (my own version of Bellatrix Lestrange) couldn’t even afford the starter homes in my virtual Paris I decided to take a clue from Cyclonesue and provide a real starter home…

You have seen them I am sure.  If you have ever traveled country back roads you will occasionally come upon small roadside rest stops out in the middle of nowhere. Usually they are little more than a place to eat your lunch and rest your butt.  So I decided to bring a touch of realism to Sims and make a true starter home that would have fit right in to Easy Rider…a road side rest stop.  It is those wonderful touches that Cyclonesue’s work made possible:  The heap of burning tires, the faded fabric on the mattress put up on cinder blocks, the bathroom with the broken toilet, filthy soap dispenser, and even a puddle on the floor. And thanks to an artist whose name I don’t have at the moment, there is even a Harley Davidson motorcycle in the drive way to zoom around the virtual world of the Sims with “Born to be Wild” playing in the background.

Sadly, the one thing that is missing is any sort of a magic system – something that many a Sims aficionado has longed for. So my virtual Bellatrix Lestrange will have to settle for a new life as a muggle as she works her way up from roadside thug to evil crime boss.

See you online,

Julie Whitefeather