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[There is a video that cannot be displayed in this feed. Visit the blog entry [...]]]> With only 40 days left to con, I decided to go with some tried and true music videos.  Sometimes, the classics are the best…

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… and one that isn’t JoCo…

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The good news for us is that he is coming back to Dragon*Con this year to talk about addons, [...]]]> If you’ve ever used an addon for World of Warcraft, chances are that you have used something written by ckknight.  If you’ve ever used Pitbull, FuBar, Ace or Cartographer, then you have DEFINITELY used something written by ckknight.

The good news for us is that he is coming back to Dragon*Con this year to talk about addons, he will also be participating in our World of Warcraft Q&A where we’ll give you some inside info on the upcoming release of Cataclysm!

If you’re into Warhammer Online or Runes of Magic, you’ll even have a chance to ask him about addons for those games.

However, something happened today that got my attention.  I am more excited about this change in World of Warcraft than I’ve been about any change in any video game ever.  Considering that I’ve been a gamer for nearly 30 years, that [...]]]> Ok, so I don’t do a whole lot of serious op-ed stuff outside of the SnarkCast…

However, something happened today that got my attention.  I am more excited about this change in World of Warcraft than I’ve been about any change in any video game ever.  Considering that I’ve been a gamer for nearly 30 years, that is no mean statement.

The first and most significant change is that in the near future, anyone posting or replying to a post on official Blizzard forums will be doing so using their Real ID — that is, their real-life first and last name — with the option to also display the name of their primary in-game character alongside it. These changes will go into effect on all StarCraft II forums with the launch of the new community site prior to the July 27 release of the game, with the World of Warcraft site and forums following suit near the launch of Cataclysm. Certain classic forums, including the classic Battle.net forums, will remain unchanged.

You can read the rest of the statement here.

Blizzard is making a ballsy move, and one that has been LONG overdue in online discussion forums.  You know as well as I do that Internet forums are a haven for trolls and other jacknuts who hide behind the anonymity that the Internet provides in order to act like 10-year-old asshats.  It’s darn near impossible for most forums to enforce any kind of meaningful identity check because it’s easy to lie about who you are and not get caught.  In theory, this is highly desirable because there are some fields of discussion where anonymity promotes freedom of expression.

World of Warcraft is a different beast.  Free speech rights are not an issue.  This is a close community of paying customers who interact with developers and other players in order to gain insight and information about the game they are paying for.  Why do you need anonymity for that?  You don’t.    Blizzard, the only party in this situation with any meaningful power whatsoever, already knows who you are.  They have the ability to link character names to account information, and all parties in the discussion are aware of this.   Now they are choosing to remove the cloak of anonymity in order to foster intelligent and more mature discussion, and I say BRAVO!

To be sure, there is much wailing and gnashing of teeth from those who want to continue to troll and act like jerks while hiding behind an anonymous facade.  In fact, if you will notice some of the complaints in the thread mentioned above, you’ll see some familiar guild tags to anyone who has any familiarity with online griefing and trolling. (<Goons> anyone?)

To those folks, let me propose an idea which might make everyone happier.  Leave the official forums alone.  Don’t post there anymore.  Start your own “Free for all” forums for World of Warcraft fans who want to engage in the kind of behavior that will be curbed by the lack of anonymity on the Blizzard forums.

This issue has been a pet peeve of mine for many years now.  As some of you may know, I’ve run an EverQuest online community for 8 years now.  While I allow users to select whatever name they like for posting on the forums, I verify contact information for every user who registers.  If someone logs in and starts making my forums an un-fun place to visit, I want to know who to go after in order to make them stop.  It’s not flawless, and I’ve had to play whack-a-mole with trolls, retards, and asshats on occasion, but for the most part users knowing that I know who they are cuts down on the jerk factor considerably.

Invariably, the issue that your garden-variety asshat brings up is “It’s a free country.  I have the right to speak my mind”.  Not on my forums, you don’t, and not on Blizzard’s either.  Rather than waste Blizzard’s time in tracking down and smacking down every jerk who wants to use his Internet connection as some kind of cathartic release at the expense of their fellow players, Blizzard has re-introduced the concept of community accountability.   If you want to be a jerk online then do what I did and start your own podcast/forum/blog.  You don’t have the right to trample someone else’s online garden.

In this episode, we discuss free-to-play games, games that are in trouble, and games that [...]]]> Ok, so not really, but it beats the constant references to deviant sexual practices in our previous SnarkCasts.  In fact, Hentai isn’t mentioned even ONCE! (I’m sorry.  I’ll mention it twice next time to keep up our ratio of “Hentai to Snarkcast”.)

In this episode, we discuss free-to-play games, games that are in trouble, and games that aren’t.  We give some props to the folks who are coming to Dragon*Con, and we HORRIBLY mangle the website for the D*C Digital Gaming track. (it is .ORG not .COM – I suck.)

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Hit up YouTube for more of their songs as L70ETC [...]]]> The problem with naming your band after the level cap in an MMO is that the level cap keeps changing.  But still…

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Hit up YouTube for more of their songs as L70ETC or L80ETC…

Some highlights from this week’s (sic) podcast…

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Earn Your Powers

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And now you MMO, and MMOing is half [...]]]> How to Win at PuGs and Gearscore

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Earn Your Powers

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And now you MMO, and MMOing is half the battle…

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[There is a video that cannot be displayed in [...]]]> If you don’t know who Gigi is, allow me to introduce you…

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You can check out more of her work on her website, PVPGurl.com.

It’s Monday, MMO-keteers! You know what that means!!

No, that doesn’t mean it’s Music Monday. Sheesh.

BTW…You’re awesome if you got that reference and don’t ever let anyone tell you differently.

Yet again I have combed through hundreds of RSS links to pick out the choicest fruit for you, the faithful snarky flock of [...]]]>

Image via ikayama on flickr

It’s Monday, MMO-keteers! You know what that means!!

No, that doesn’t mean it’s Music Monday. Sheesh.

BTW…You’re awesome if you got that reference and don’t ever let anyone tell you differently.

Yet again I have combed through hundreds of RSS links to pick out the choicest fruit for you, the faithful snarky flock of the Dragon*Con MMORPG community. Behind the cut below you’ll find the best geek news that’s fit to be transmitted in digital format. Well, ok…You’ll find the stuff that looked interesting to me before I hit the point where my eyes crossed and I clicked the “Mark All As Read” link.

Off we go!

• Ok, look. Japanese people are pretty kinky. We all know this, so let’s stop ignoring the elephant in the living room and acknowledge it. The latest addition to the Anime world is certainly doing so, and we might as well go along for the ride. A new animated series that’s going to be hitting the Japanese market is called Panty and Stocking, and the two main characters are crime fighting young girls named…wait for it…Panty and Stocking. Guess what you’re going to see a lot of in this one? Even better? One of them carries a gun with a barrel that is shaped like a pair of girls panties. I couldn’t make this stuff up if I tried, folks. [Source]
• Remember the Batman XXX porno parody I wrote about last week (oh, those were the good old days…how I miss them). The company behind that film has apparently decided that they aren’t going to draw the line at Batman. Apparently they are planning a whole series of super hero porno films. Me, personally? I wanna see what they do with The Fantastic Four. (No, I’m not filling in a joke about that…make your own…it’s easy enough). [Source]
• Heroes won’t be coming back for a fifth season. I wish I could say I was sad about this news, but I’m really not. Despite the fact that I watched the show every week, the fact of the matter is that after the fourth season they really didn’t deserve to come back for a fifth round. What started out as something truly amazing got ridiculous pretty damn fast. That being said, it looks like there is a possibility that there will be one last TV movie to “tie up the story line.” WHICH ONE??? Maybe the one where Peter left his girlfriend in an alternate hell future? Or…No…I’m gonna stop now before my head explodes. [Source]
• Apparently there are talks to bring Judge Dredd back to the big screen, and this time they are going to do it in 3-D. I’ve got kinda mixed feelings about this. I love Judge Dredd, and the absolute abomination that was the Sylvester Stallone film touched me in a no-no place and caused me to go into counseling for several years. Although I do have to admit it gave me great fodder for my Sly impersonation. Given the number of decent super hero movies we’ve seen come down the line recently I’ll hold on to hope that they might get it right this time, but I swear by all that is unholy in Mega City if he takes off his helmet in this one I’m walking out of the theater. [Source]
• There is, apparently, some serious talk out there about a Pac-Man Movie. I got nuttin’. [Source]
• Normally I try not to cover MMO related stuff, because I figure you guys get enough of that every other day of the week on this blog. This one was too good to pass up, though. Witness what happens when a very dedicated World of Warcraft player has his account password changed by his roommate. Oh, the profanities!! [Source]
• I love Dan Akroyd. I think he’s one of the most talented folks ever to come out of Saturday Night Live and many of his movies are fodder for my impressive arsenal of movie quotes (especially Ghostbusters…duh). Fact of the matter is, though, that the dude is kinda crazy. [Source]

OK kids. That’s all I’ve got for this week. Umm…insert some kind of pithy and witty end to the post here. I’m tired and can’t think of one.