A Brief Return to Suffolk
I popped back to Suffolk for the day, for the first time since Mum's house sold a couple of months ago. I visited the grave, made sure all was ready for the return of the headstone and got my car serviced and MOTed while I was at it.
Oh, and I got very wet and muddy… But that's fodder for a different post.
Recreational Social Gaming for Beginners
Here's a thing: I barely watch any TV any more. And since we picked up a BT Vision box, that TV I do watch I record and watch at my own convenience.
Now, I wish I could claim that I used the time I reclaimed that way in working for world peace or the betterment of mankind. But I don't. On the whole, I use it playing World of Warcraft. And there's a reason I find this online game so very compelling - levels of interactivity.
TV is essentially a passive experience. You watch what someone else has produced. And while it can be a communal experience, you normally have to be in the same room as the people you're watching TV with. In WoW, the same restrictions do not apply. You're interacting with the content. It's designed so that you have to do stuff to get the most enjoyment out of it. You are the protagonist. And, more than that, you're online with thousands of other people at the same time, often working together to achieve the objectives within the game. And I've managed to stack things such that most of the people I play with are my real life friends. Indeed 90% of the guys on the stag night last weekend were also my guildmates in WoW, including the groom. (The bride's a player, too...)
That combination of the social and the interactive is what makes the game very compelling - and all but the best TV rather insipid by comparison.
Don't believe me? OK: ask Ozzy:
Now, I wish I could claim that I used the time I reclaimed that way in working for world peace or the betterment of mankind. But I don't. On the whole, I use it playing World of Warcraft. And there's a reason I find this online game so very compelling - levels of interactivity.
TV is essentially a passive experience. You watch what someone else has produced. And while it can be a communal experience, you normally have to be in the same room as the people you're watching TV with. In WoW, the same restrictions do not apply. You're interacting with the content. It's designed so that you have to do stuff to get the most enjoyment out of it. You are the protagonist. And, more than that, you're online with thousands of other people at the same time, often working together to achieve the objectives within the game. And I've managed to stack things such that most of the people I play with are my real life friends. Indeed 90% of the guys on the stag night last weekend were also my guildmates in WoW, including the groom. (The bride's a player, too...)
That combination of the social and the interactive is what makes the game very compelling - and all but the best TV rather insipid by comparison.
Don't believe me? OK: ask Ozzy:
Of Stags and Baths
So, what have I been up to in recent weeks?
Well, last weekend I headed off to Brighton for Martyn's stag weekend. And I can't really talk about it as it was very much a "what happens in Brighton, stays in Brighton" sort of weekend. (Although, I apparently have a big dose of beginners' luck when it comes to cards). Instead, I give you this lovely picture of Brighton Pier, from my hotel room, showing the beautiful light of a cold autumn morning.
My hotel itself, the Royal Albion, was... interesting. It was very shabby chic, with high emphasis on the shabby, and low emphasis on the chic. Breakfast was of the "bucket buffet" style, and it's obviously popular with the hen nights. (Either that, or the policewomen of Brighton are wearing indecently skimpy outfits these days.) Oh, and the first room they gave me had no bedding on the bed. I eventually found it in the bath, along with two lights and the coffee making stuff. I moved rooms pretty swiftly.
Oh, and it was good to catch up with AndyB after I invited him along to gatecrash the Friday night for a while.