Verted versus Inverted the Eternal Battle

I play inverted. Notice the period there, as this is an unchanging statement. Pyramids could be constructed upon the rock hard base upon which this statement is founded.

What I mean is that in the console based first person shooter gaming genre, I play interveted. Doing it on a CPU just seems silly. Which is the problem. This is atopic on which there is no sympathy for the other side. Thankfully most games now come with a simple options menu which can quickly be accessed in-game to perform a switch in under 5 seconds. Modern Warfare 2 is a good example of this, it is quickly visible under the options.

This is necessary because gamers do have friends IRL (in real life), despite what XBox Live might insinuate. And I spent a fair amount of the holiday season "controller swapping." The understood circular rotation which must be obeyed in single player gaming. During this the basic elements of gaming were uncovered.

There are 3 fundamental rules of Controller Jockeying:
1. You play Vert or Invert, there are no ambi-players
2. Once you have learned your style, it cannot be changed.
3. If a change is attempted dire consequences will follow.

The best origin that has been given for the despairityin play styles is initial exposure to console gaming. Did you play flight simulators? I.E. Pilot Wings on the SNES. If so you are likely to be inverted. Likewise those who played Goldeneye of the N64 seem to be more likely to play inverted.

The truth though may forevere be shrouded in mystery.

World of Warcraft as a Means of Communication

If any video game genre could qualify as a hobby it is Massively Multiplayer Online gaming (MMO's.) Because of my academic and personal pursuits I have lived on 2 continents and bounced between 3 states for the last several years. This makes conversation with friends difficult. Luckily I belong to a fraternity of dorks, and we are never out of touch for long. We have one bond that unites us all - We all grew up playing video games.

I am one of the 14 million people worldwide that plays World of Warcraft. It has a higher population and Domestic Gross than many small countries. I was given the game 4 years ago back in the "Vanilla" days (the original game before expansions, think of it like the Original Star Wars Trilogy before more movies were added on.) My friends in high school wanted me to play with them and so I got a free copy and a month to try it out. I use W.O.W. to socialize to this day. Living several hours from my childhood friends, who became my adult friends, who became my groomsmen its tough to stay in touch with any kind of meaningful relationship. If nothing else, the game provides a way of "hanging out" a shared experience which we do together and then talk about. Akin to a night at the bowling alley or going to a baseball games. We are all there, if in a different form of attendance.

A Shot fired into the Dark of the Internet

This is another blog. It is among the millions if not billions in existence, and as such it is unlikely to contain anything original. But despite my inherent anthropological pessimism I have things to say. Welcome. Expect posts on the movies, documentaries, video games, and particularly bad days at work. Sprinkled with a healthy amount of historical anecdote and example. Why? Because I can. The goal is to post a topic and by the end of if you should know - Why You Should Care.