Jumping Someone Else's Train

Mojang caused a certain amount of sage head-nodding in mmodom a few days ago with a pronouncement that all forms of NFT and Blockchain-related activity would be banned from Minecraft because the fad "creates digital ownership based on scarcity and exclusion." Amen to that, right?

I mean, who would argue against anyone who says online gaming ought to be about "creative inclusion and playing together", right? Certainly not me.

And it makes perfect sense for the kind of game Minecraft is. It's all about the creativity and the community. Mmorpgs, though, for all they like to foster an image of social harmony, they're kind of built on the concept of "scarcity and exclusion", aren't they?

As far back as the days of classic EverQuest (Or just "EverQuest", as we knew it then.) it's all been about the haves and the have-nots. What were all those endless camps for, if not to put your hands on something that was really hard to get? Something most people didn't have.

Seriously, who'd have spent days, weeks, sometimes months, wishing, hoping, praying for the Ancient Cyclops to pop or Quillmane to fly past, if it hadn't been because those creatures were so damn difficult to find but so worth it if you did?

Scarcity and exclusion is what those spawns and their even rarer rare drops were all about. Even needing a credit card to pay a subscription before you could play at all reeks of exclusivity. For every player who buckled down and powered through there must have been scores, hundreds who just couldn't bring themselves to make the effort and millions who refused to pony up at all.

Almost no-one I ever ran with successfully camped either the AC or Quill and those were some of the more accessible of the hard-to-hit targets. A few tried then gave up. Most never even started. When you know something's been made that hard to get on purpose, it feels like a trick you shouldn't fall for.

That's how I felt, anyway, which is possibly why, although I find NFTs to be laughably transparent as the con trick they are, my blood doesn't begin to boil at the thought of them inveigling their way into our games. For sure, they'll make things even worse than they already are, in the way there's stuff most of us will never see or own, for whatever value of "ownership" you care to apply, but that ship sailed before I even reached the dock.

So, NFTs are bad and Blockchain sucks but as usual that's not what I'm here to talk about. No, what that Mojang quote made me wonder was whether there might be too many mmorpgs.

It's not something that's ever really occured to me before. I've always been very much a maximalist when it comes to all forms of entertainent and popular culture. It's not as if music or movies or comics or tv are some kind of zero sum game. Having more options doesn't mean we get less out of each of them.

Or does it? When it comes to mmorpgs maybe it might. Is that the reason we all go through phases of finding the genre moribund, claiming "MMOs are dying", even as we scramble to download the latest seven-day wonder the moment it tumbles off the assembly line?

I was pondering all this while I was staring at the login screen for Noah's Heart, the new all-systems mmorpg that finally got its PC launch today. At 9AM. Or so I thought. Apparently I can no longer tell time. I learned to read an analog clock when I was five years old but it seems that's not enough any more.  

Archosaur Games kindly sent me an email yesterday to let me know they'd be opening the servers at "9:00 UTC-5) on July 28th". They told me I could download the game right away, so I did. 

They also mentioned something called "Preset Customization", saying "Preset customization is also available for you to share with your friends in advance. The character data will be saved in the game system. Explorers who finished preset customization could enter the game with their characters while the server opens."  

I didn't have any friends who'd be interested (Outside of the blog, that is.) but I fancied the idea of being able to get into the game immediately when it opened and anyway who can resist making a character in a new game, even if you can't actually log them in yet?

I stayed up half an hour later than usual making a character. There were a lot of options although most of them might as well have been labelled "Will never be seen in game". I mean, how often do you check the slant of a character's eyebrows during a firefight? Also, no nods to the zeitgeist with any "Body Type A and B" on the "Select Gender" screen; just plain, old vanilla Male and Female.

Eventually I had something I was happy with, namely the usual generic anime girl I always end up playing in these games, unless there's an anthropmorphic option. Noah's Heart is no Chimeraland in that respect. You'll be human and you'll like it although you can have pointy ears if you want to pretend you're an elf. (You can show yourself out over there, if that sounds like a good idea to you.).

I did try to make her short and round but you can see how that went. Archosaur's idea of "plump" is quite different to mine. The balloon pants pretty much make up for it, though.

This morning I was very keen, excited almost, to get back from walking Beryl and see how the game played. At eleven in the morning I thought the servers would have been up for a while. They weren't, of course. 

It took me an embarassingly long time to work out why, and while I was fiddling about I somehow managed to delete my saved character appearance. Never mind. Turns out I had three hours to work on another.

Four hours, actually. Even after I reminded myself how UTC works, I forgot to allow for British Summer Time. The servers finally came up at 3PM my time, either one or six hours later than I expected, depending where you stand.

As I was sitting around, messing about with sliders and mithering about the delay, it occured to me how very, very many times I'd done the same thing over the years. I used to know how many mmorpgs I'd played but I lost count long ago. Still, I'm pretty sure it has to be well over two hundred by now. 

"Scarcity and exclusion" may still drive mmorpg gameplay but the days when it also applied to how many there were and how difficult they were to access are long, long gone. For many years now, there's been an absolute glut of mmos to choose from, more than any rational person could ever try, let alone really play.

As for the monetary gatekeepers that once had offline gamers shaking their heads in disgust and disbelief, not only do most games no longer ask for a monthly subscription, many of them have waived the entrance fee altogether, handing out the whole game for free to anyone with an email address and sometimes not even asking for that.

If we're all a little cynical about the process it's hardly surprising. If we find ourselves gobbling down games like candy and feeling just about as satisified after, whose fault is that? 

Well, everyone's I suppose. The companies for piling games onto the ever growing pile without much intention of curating the experience for longer than it takes to get away with the cash and us for falling over ourselves to grab each new toy as it appears, only to throw it aside a hot moment later to play with the next.

Alright, maybe that's just me. I really can't resist a new mmorpg, especially if it comes with a flashy promo and some great scenery. If I ever had any genuine wish to find a new virtual home where I could settle down for more than five minutes, it long ago evaporated. Now I just want to get in, see the sights, take a few photos and get out. And if I can finesse a few juicy posts out of it all, so much the better.

Once in a while something comes along that sticks for a while, like Chimeraland or New World, but not very often. For all the money and time they take to make and the supposed longevity they enjoy, most mmorpgs entertain me for a handful of sessions at most. It does make me want to ask if a bit more "scarcity and exclusion" wouldn't sweeten the pot.

Forget about the cultural, technological and moral dead-end represented by NFTs. If mmorpg developers made fewer games and made those they did more exclusive to play, would that re-kindle interest in the genre from sated, satiated vets like me?

Nah. Shouldn't think so for a moment. It'd just be very annoying. I'm with Mojang on this one. Let's stick with "plenty and inclusion" at least for a while longer. I'm not bored yet!

Oh, Noah's Heart? Yes, I did get in, eventually. I logged in at two minutes past three and played for an hour and a half before I had to stop so I could write this post. First impressions to follow, although if you're a regular here you can probably guess what I'm going to say and save yourself the suspense.

Smashed Blocked

I wasn't expecting to mention Block By Blockwest again but since I was hyping it I guess I should also post an update about what happened. In a scenario woefully familiar to anyone who ever tried to play a hot new MMO on launch day, the servers managed to stay up for twenty minutes before bursting into flame.

The organizers attempted to salvage the event by whitelisting everyone logged in at the time then closing the doors to newcomers. More controversially, they continued to accept $15.00 payments for V.I.P. tickets, adding those people to the whitelist. Unfortunately for everyone that wasn't enough to mitigate the exceptional demand and the event had to be cancelled before it had really started. The Twitter feed tells the tale as does this NME report.

The organizers aren't giving up. The event has been re-scheduled for May 16th, by which time they hope to have scaffolded their infrastructure sufficiently to withstand the onslaught.

Given that Minecraft has already hosted successful events during April, featuring artists with major-league followings and international reputations (American Football, Charlie XCX) it's very clear that virtual festivals are a viable proposition but unless you have Epic Games' resources, maybe setting up a bill that looks like an actual festival, featuring headliners with a global reputation plus nearly forty support acts, many with very strong fanbases of their own, all performing on three seperate stages in the game and livestreaming on several socia media platforms simultaneously, does smack a little of hubris.

Easy to be wise after the event, I guess. Let's hope the people behind BXBW can get the show up and running in a few weeks' time.

I'm pleased to report that I did manage to catch the first twenty minutes before everything crashed and burned and what I heard and saw was very enjoyable. I had the website up as I was playing EverQuest II. At 3pm Eastern Standard Time, eight in the evening where I am, I clicked on Stage One to hear the opening act, Cannibal Kids.

They were new to me. They have a light, dance-inflected indie sound that made a fine backdrop to my latest run through the Corral.

There was a live feed on the website showing the stages in game. I watched the little blocky figures running around and dancing. It looked like a lot of fun. I wished I was "there". I watched for a minute or tow, then I flipped back and carried on playing EQII with the music in the background.

I was somewhere between the first and second named when Cannibal Kids' short set ended and someone astonishingly foul-mouthed began to hype up the crowd. It was obviously intended to get people's attention. It certainly got mine. Someone at the controls noticed pretty quickly too and the stream was cut after about twenty seconds of "colorful language" to be replaced by two people doing what I guess was a parody of the kind of announcers you hear on American sports radio.

They introduced the second act on Stage One, Dangerboy, who sounded pretty good from the half a song I heard before the stream cut out again. This time it didn't come back.

I tabbed out and checked the website. I closed it and restarted it. I tried the YouTube channel directly through YouTube. Nothing.

Mrs Bhagpuss popped her head round the door and asked if I wanted cheese on toast. I did. We had that and a cup of tea while we watched two episodes of series 45 of University Challenge on YouTube. It's one of our lockdown rituals. We have quite a lot of them by now.

When I came back about an hour later there was a notice up on the website explaining what had happened. My hour's absence had dumped me from whatever whitelist they were keeping. I couldn't get back onto the livestream so I forgot about it, finished my instance, went to bed and played Animal Crossing Pocket Edition.

This morning I checked the site again to see if there were recorded highlights to watch, which is when I found the whole thing had been abandoned.

All in all it was pretty entertaining and quite memorable. I learned a few things. I discovered some new bands. I'll go through the running order before the rescheduled event so I have a better idea who I want to watch next time.

The event raised $5000 in its truncated form, which according to the website, meets their goal. If they were only expecting to make $5k I'd have to wonder a) why they invited such an impressive line-up of performers and b) if they had any realistic idea of what would happen at all.

Oh well. As someone pointed out on Twitter, nobody risked their lives and everyone still has food and shelter.

We fail, we learn, we rise.

Block Rockin' Beats

Yesterday I wasn't sure what I was going to write about.
Not much seemed to be happening.
We've fallen into a comfortable routine under lockdown.
One day is much like another.

I did my dailies in Guild Wars 2.
I set my Overseer missions in EverQuest II. 
I went into the back garden and did some gardening.
I came back in and set my EverQuest Overseer quests.
I wrote four paragraphs of a post and saved it.
I had lunch in the front garden with Mrs Bhagpuss.
We did a quiz my mother had scanned and copied and sent us in the mail.
I came back upstairs and played EQII for a couple of hours; public craft quests and weeklies.
Mrs Bhagpuss and I went out for our daily, government-sanctioned walk.
We came back and sat in the back garden, drinking tea and playing a quiz game on my Kindle.
We came inside and talked for a while about our childhoods.
Mrs Bhagpuss started making an apple and date crumble.
I came upstairs and checked my Feedly.

Then I saw this.

My immediate thought was "Maybe I should install Minecraft".
I had an idea it was free.
It seemed like a reasonable plan.
Then I thought "How do you go to a gig inside an online game, anyway? I mean, how does that actually work?".
I went back to Pitchfork and read the piece again.
I saw a link to the Block by Blockwest website.
I clicked on it.
I didn't see a whole lot of information but I saw a big button marked "Tutorial".
I clicked on it.
It took me to a YouTube page.
There was a video.
I watched it.

It looked simple enough.
It specifically said you should have the Java edition.
I googled it.
On the U.S. site it costs $26.95.
It doesn't say whether it's available or playable outside the United States.
I checked Amazon.co.uk.
They have it for £17.19.
I stopped for a moment and thought "What about my Kindle?".
Amazon had the Pocket edition for £4.99.
Would that work?
I went and watched the tutorial video again only this time I paid more attention.
It says the Java edition "will run you about the price of a concert ticket".
I'd missed that part.
In the comments someone asks if the iOS version will work.
No, only Java on PC or Mac.

I looked at the poster. Closely, this time.
Massive Attack, Cherry Glazerr, IDLES.
Pussy Riot.
I never think of them as a musical group.
I guess they are, though.
A lot of interesting names I don't recognize.
Wicca Phase Springs Eternal, Hunny, Argonaut and Wasp.
Names are important. And powerful.

I watched the tutorial video again.
Specifically the end part.
"If you don't have access to a Minecraft account, don't worry. 
You can still stream each stage, audio included, via the Block by Blockwest website.
Or any of these platforms"
Which seem to be Facebook and YouTube.
Also, presumably, Discord, since that's how you listen to the audio stream in game.

I think it would be really fun to walk around a virtual festival for a while.
For how long, though?
Half an hour?
An hour?
Would it be more fun than streaming the show?
Or watching the bands on YouTube later?
Probably.
£17.19 more fun?
Probably not.
Although since it's for charity that seems to be missing the point.
Somewhat.

I do want to go to a gig in a video game, though.
There seem to be a lot of them right now.
There was the one I posted about before.
And Travis Scott just broke the record for concurrent players with a performance in Fortnite.
12.3 million people!
Fortnite is free.
Maybe I should go watch something there next time.
Except won't we all die?
Or do they turn PvP and the storm off for concerts?

I decided not to buy Minecraft.
I probably will watch some of the gig on the website though.
And now I have something to write about.
Win!

Block By Blockwest is today, by the way.
If you're reading this the day I posted it.
April 25 2020.
I bet you all have Minecraft too.
What are you waiting for?

Be There Or Be... Somewhere Else, I Guess.

This just popped up on my Pitchfork feed. Why don't these things happen in games I play? Don't answer that. I know.

Game concerts have been happening for years, of course. Decades, almost. With no-one touring right now and perhaps not likely to be for a lot longer than anyone's really prepared to admit, the atractions of a virtual stage must be obvious even to the most flannel-shirted troubador.

Come to think of it, why is it mostly EDM, emo, pop-punk and metal acts that play the game stages? Wouldn't some of these fantasy settings be better suited to people who already seem to think they're following in the bardic tradition? Yeah, ok, point. Maybe let's not encourage them.

Anyway, since I'm not likely to be attending 100 gecs' Square Garden party, I thought I'd have a little dance-off of my own right here, featuring some of the headline acts. Any excuse to put up another Charlie XCX video...

Since it's where the whole thing's going to be happening (Friday 24 April, mark your calendars), let's open with Parry Gripp and "Tortoise Playing Minecraft". Hey, it could happen!

Continuing the animal theme, here's Cashmere Cat. Or should I say Princess Catgirl?

Fantasy's fantasy but things just turned real. I never realised Halsey was an anagram of Ashley until I saw this benny blanco video. 

Was that too serious? Maybe just a tad. Let's lift the mood. This is a party, right? Kero Kero Bonito's so good, too, we really ought to double up!

And now... the headliners.  Charli XCX is at home right now but she's still making magic, if this track she premiered a week ago is any guide. Love that distortion.

It's a festival set, though, so we need some crowd-pleasers alongside the new stuff.

Aaaaaand now, the act you've all been waiting for - although I confess I'd never heard of them until today - here they are - 100 gecs! First with Charli XCX and Kero Kero Bonito, then on their own.

Phew! I'm about all partied out. I think I might just go and have a lie down. If you play Minecraft I guess you can see the real thing go down next Friday. If not, it's going to be livestreamed here. and the charity they're doing all this for is Feeding America, if that's your kind of thing.

Thanks you, Blapril, and goodnight!