Some excellent points were raised—most importantly, just imagine what a troll would do with your real name—I must admit that I hadn’t considered that angle.

I still think that the WoW forums are a cesspool of the nastiest sorts of trollish behaviour. But perhaps making everyone reveal their secret identities is not the way to go. At least, not yet.

Unless you wrote a complaint to the ESRB—in which case, everyone already knows who you are.

Well, then, let’s look at this missive from the World of Warcraft forums:

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.

I heard a million trolls cry out in suffering and, then, silence. Well, silence—with the sound of a billion keystrokes—as they flipped out on the WoW forums.

How brilliant.

The World of Warcraft forums are scenes of some of the worst sexist, homophobic, and just downright nasty crap that I have ever seen. They are a cesspool of every stereotype known to gaming—and a few new ones that you hadn’t thought of yet.

The women whom I play Warcraft with don’t post there. The few men who will admit to me that they have posted there say that it’s a dark and scary place. I think that it’s a brilliant idea to unmask the trolls—especially in a game where one measures their worth on their gear score.

I do suspect that the Real ID system is open to tampering—already, players are discussing how to register with fake names. But I hope that it stops most of the anonymous, sexist, homophobic vitriol that’s posted there.

I’m going to put in a little stereotype of my own—$50 says that every dude who writes “your a fag” in the forums would never say that in real life—and probably has a gay friend or two. Time to own up to it, and let go of your inner douchebag.

In January, a bunch of Toronto-based gaming bloggers and well-wishers (in that they don’t wish us any specific harm) got together for our first-ever Blogamoke. Hands were shaken, songs were sung, and drinks were consumed in varying quantities.

What followed was a long month of, well, not getting together.

Recently, however, Dave and I happened to run into Dillon Andrews and Paul Hunter at a Hand Eye Society social, and we got to talking about what our next social experiment should be. Interestingly enough, Eric Brazier was there as well. Why is this interesting, you may ask? Well, Eric happens to run a monthly event that perfectly coincides with our love of video games, karaoke, and drinking.

So this time, we’re trading in our microphones for guitars and drums and… uh… microphones. Okay, so we’re not trading in our microphones. Okay, well, some of us are. But I digress.

On Saturday, March 6, there will be a Rock Band Video Game Jam Session at Rockie Raccoons Eatery (their spelling, not mine), located at 2579 Yonge Street in Toronto. Check out the Facebook event page for more details and to RSVP.

We will be there. You should be, too.

(Oh, and in case you were wondering why I didn’t think of a clever name for this shindig, it’s because I’m lazy. So there.)

Update: Shaun Hatton, EP’s newest correspondent (congrats, Shaun!), is planning to attend the night’s festivities. Epic.

On Friday, January 29, Dave and I (as well as Paul Hunter from NextGenPlayer.com and Dillon Andrews from vE3tro.com) will be descending upon the Fox and Fiddle at 280 Bloor Street West in Toronto for our first-ever Blogamoke, a night of mayhem and music for gaming bloggers, blogging gamers, and the people who love them.

So whether you want to hook up with your fellow gaming enthusiasts, meet the people who write about your favourte pastime, drink mad amounts of alcohol, sing bad ’80s hits, laugh at those who do, or a combination of any of the aforementioned activities, feel free to RSVP to the event on Facebook…we’d love to see you there!

Update: Shaun Hatton from TorontoThumbs.com will be singing “Long Cool Woman in a Black Dress”…not to be missed!

I’ve been shot through the heart—and Ubisoft’s to blame.

I was really excited about the fact that the release date for Splinter Cell: Conviction fell on the eighth anniversary of my first date with Dave—so much so that not only was I willing to play a game that totally goes against my own playing style (read: I suck at stealth and shooting) because it looks cool, but I was also considering filming our gameplay for a possible video review. Nothing fancy (or saucy)—just a little something I’d been thinking about for a while and, since the game recently announced split-screen co-op play, it seemed like an excellent candidate for our inaugural vodcast (or whatever it is the kids are calling it these days).

Yesterday, however, my anniversary plans were ruined. A press release from Ubisoft, announcing its third-quarter performance and targets, broke the news that the release date of Splinter Cell: Conviction was to be delayed until April. The release said other stuff, but my vision was blurred with tears after I saw those words that broke my heart.

(Actually, I did read the whole thing and, personally, I think that if Ubi focused more on titles like Might and Magic: Clash of Heroes and less time on the Imagine and Petz franchises, they could take their place as a strong contender in the DS market and wouldn’t have to scale back on their tentative grasp on this platform. But that’s just me…)

So yes, I now have to make other plans for my anniversary. I may even have to use some…shudder…creativity. But what are we going to do for our first video review? We can’t wait until April. Any suggestions?

Because nothing says “lovin’” like some hot shared ass-kicking action, Ubisoft has announced that Splinter Cell: Conviction will, indeed, offer split-screen co-op play.

Sure, I thought the game looked cool, and we were thinking of picking it up but, like many games that came before Splinter Cell: Conviction, I figured that it would fall under one of three categories:

a) The game contains elements that allow for two players to pass the controller back and forth (like UC2 and ACII).
b) The game is cool-looking enough that one person doesn’t mind watching the other person play (like Bioshock).
c) The game is super fun, and you really want to play together in the same room, but you can’t (I’m looking at you and shaking my fist, Crackdown).

However, when I woke up this morning, I was greeted by a tweet from fellow COG writer Andrew Carreiro informing me of this interesting development; oddly enough, the announcement was reserved for Ubisoft’s Splinter Cell Facebook page.

The awesome thing is that the release date for Splinter Cell: Conviction is February 13th, which happens to be the eighth anniversary of the first time Dave and I met. What better way to celebrate than to test my husband’s patience whilst I exhibit my complete lack of stealth and aiming skills? I guess I should probably buy him dinner first…

When Dave and I were at Gamercamp a few weeks ago, we had a chance to chat briefly with Derek (otherwise known as Employee #1) at the 1UP party following the event. One of the things we discussed was the almost creepy stalker-like tendencies of his followers in discerning locations from the photos and videos he uploaded to his Facebook page. It’s understandable, I countered—after all, Ubisoft’s been teasing us with their soon-to-be-released Toronto studio location for months and, really, part of his job is to create buzz surrounding it.

So when he posted a photo of the building yesterday, I had to laugh. It was a thoroughly nondescript pic of a brick wall. It actually kind of looked like the wall beside the bathroom window of our apartment. However, addresses began to pour in, despite the fact that it was a photo of a frigging brick wall.

The second photo in the series, showing the corner of a street sign, was a bit more promising. The commenters were getting closer to an educated guess, and one of them actually hit the nail on the head.

It was only when the YouTube video was uploaded that the location was confirmed. A single frame at the 37-second mark shows a water tower in a parking lot, and one enterprising Facebook user took it upon himself to travel to the location and take some photos. It’s at 224 Wallace Avenue. Mystery solved…?

The awesome thing is that it’s a fifteen-minute walk from our house. This may be the impetus I need to actually stop working from home…

(I was going to make the requisite American Pie allusion, but Calhoun beat me to it last Thursday…)

On Saturday morning, I awoke with the usual amount of weekend meh. I had been writing, tweeting, and writing about Gamercamp all week but, when it came time to actually get up and take the 10-minute bus ride to the Lower Ossington Theatre, I was about as motivated as, well, an adult gamer on Saturday morning could be. Thank goodness for Dave—he wiped the crud from my eyes, took me out to breakfast, and reminded me of the fun date we were about to have (which you are about to experience vicariously through this post…).

Though I thought we were going to be late, we arrived just in time to be filed from the reception area into the main theatre were the micro-conference was to take place. Cookies, coffee and, of course, game-themed cupcakes from SWEETMEAT more than made up for the early start time (1 p.m.? Really?) the kids had to endure and, after catching up with Jaime Woo (the cute guy on the right in the baby-blue t-shirt), finally meeting Imaginary Thomas (the cute guy on the left in the hat—whom you might remember from my imaginary interview with him earlier this month), and getting some brief face time with Shaun Hatton from Toronto Thumbs (not pictured here, but pictured here), the festivities began.

Lori: There was originally a paragraph here about the first two speakers but, due to multiple requests to change the content of said paragraph, I have removed it.

Next up was Michael Todd of Spyeart who regaled us with heroic tales of how he made a game in a week. In fact, he made multiple games in multiple weeks. But, oddly enough, the games of which he’s most proud (and the ones he touted most highly, like Broken Brothers Deluxe) are the ones that took longer. Go figure. Seriously, though—the game-a-week concept is, indeed, an intriguing one. Just not one that could be practised by one who has to deal with a significant other. If I’m wrong. Michael, please correct me (with details on how you achieved said superhuman feats without pissing off said significant other)…

Last, but certainly not least, my favourite Toronto developer, Nathan (can’t get enough of that Critter Crunch) Vella of Capybara Games talked about making indy art for indy games. The short version of his talk was that, if you have too many cooks in the kitchen, it’s harder to create cheap-and-cheerful game art. Or that you need to be passionate about what you do when you make it. Or that it’s better to hire people you know because the people you know are more likely to recommend people who know what they’re doing. I don’t know—I had a Red Bull and got lost in his eyes. And I heart Critter Crunch. For the love of god, isn’t that enough?

]]> http://www.coupleofgamers.com/2009/11/gamercamp-was-like-regular-camp-only-fun-and-slightly-more-co-ed/feed/ 6 http://www.coupleofgamers.com/2009/11/gamercamp-yes-please/ http://www.coupleofgamers.com/2009/11/gamercamp-yes-please/#comments Mon, 16 Nov 2009 17:28:16 +0000 Lori http://www.coupleofgamers.com/?p=771 Want a great first-date idea for this Saturday? Want to make your significant other shiver in antici…pation? Just lean over and whisper the one word that will turn knees to jelly and cause hearts to flutter…

Gamercamp…mmm, baby…Gamercamp…

Okay—so it may not be every couple’s bag—but if unlimited old-school arcade freeplay and listening to Nathan Vella speak turns you on (and why shouldn’t it?), you might want to venture out to the ironic wilds of Ossington Avenue this weekend…

When I first heard about Gamercamp (was it from NextGen Player? Toronto Thumbs? I think it was both), I filed it away in the back of my head as something Dave and I might want to check out. But when co-organizer Jaime Woo contacted me directly to discuss the details, I took a bit more time to check out the Gamercamp site—and the more I saw, the more interested I was—so I decided to ask him and his co-organizer, Mark Rabo, for a bit more info about the event…

***

Mark: Both Jaime and I are pretty big gamers and we saw a lot of events that were on the technical or business side of the video game industry. This city has some great talent that is definitely getting notice. Nathan Vella of Capybara Games will be speaking, and the company’s Critter Crunch was a phenomenal critical and commercial success.

Jaime: What inspired Gamercamp.ca was finding a new way to tell the story of Toronto’s gaming community: we wanted to show the creative process of developers, to get into the brains of the people who made these games and discover what clicked to make their games so addictive and fun.

Mark: And so, for example, Mare and Raigan of Metanet are talking about how they approach making videos like a rock band rather than as a movie studio. We think the topic is interesting and relatable to anyone who does creative things.

Jaime: We think there’s something for everyone at Gamercamp.ca. In addition to speakers [including Michael Todd of Spyeart as well], we also have demos for some very cool projects coming out soon, and people can see the Torontron, the indie arcade cabinet created by the gamer enthusiast association Hand Eye Society. People can also learn about the Replay Arcade Museum, which is set to be Canada’s first gaming museum—and it’s about time Canada got one.

Mark: We also have 1UP, our after-party, which we are throwing with Replay. We’ll have our own onsite arcade made up of over 20 legendary arcade games like Simpsons, Ninja Turtles, Mortal Kombat II, which attendees will have unlimited free play of for the night. It’s gonna be awesome.

***

Awesome, indeed. I know of one couple who will be there with bells on.

So if you want to spend this Saturday hanging out with myriad gamers (including Dave and me), snacking on snacks and hearing Toronto-based indie developers talk about their projects—and let’s not forget the freeplay-fest to follow—check out GamerCamp.ca for more info and tickets or, if you’re still not convinced, watch this extremely hip trailer below (or gaze indefinitely at the gratuitous crotch-shot thumbnail…whatever floats your boat).

All photos courtesy of Jaime Woo from Gamercamp.ca.