2016

An Age of Games

stargrace February 9, 2016 1Comment

These days there is not only choice about what sort of games we want to play, but also where we want to play those games. “Gamers” are no longer designated to just two locations, the couch (console gamers) or the PC. Now we can play games on our tablets, phones, and even our watches. How do you know what game you want to play? How do you decide what to try out next?

A lot of it comes from word of mouth. Other games we learn about on various platforms like the AppStore or Google Play. Sometimes you stumble into a hidden gem while exploring the various options available. A lot of games are free to play, making it easy to “try before you buy” and the only thing you have to invest from the outset is a bit of your time.

RTS, (known as real time strategy games) have only grown in popularity as gaming has become mainstream. In one such game you play as Lord of Stormfall and you have to raise your castle by gathering resources. As you grow stronger in power, you battle other rivals and defeat them. You can spend real life money on sapphires to purchase in-game perks like boosting resource production. There are even tutorials and guides so that you don’t get lost along the way, and a helpful wiki. You learn how to be flexible with your resources so that you’re able to adapt to each of the situations on the battlefield. In this way your army continues to evolve, and that’s how you rise in power.

When you start the tutorial you’re instantly brought into the game by the voice over explaining the basics through the tutorial. You’re told to start farming so that you can produce food for your army, and as you complete each task you’ll earn sapphires and other resources like gold and iron. Exploring around as your farm and mine are being built will show you that there are also daily login rewards. After you’ve got a few buildings you’ll be headed to your first battle, and if you’ve been paying attention to the tutorial you’ll emerge victorious! If not, don’t worry, you can keep building up your castle and try again.

The game has a lot to it and was quite a bit more involved than what I was expecting, which was a fantastic surprise. If you’re interested in trying it out or just want more information, you can find it here.

As always, happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself!

Gaming

Collecting (steam) Games

This post is motivated from a conversation I had on twitter yesterday where one person was surprised that collecting games on steam was a thing. Sometimes I forget that we’re not all steam game players – there’s also the Origin game client, battlenet client, other clients I haven’t named, and then of course there’s console games. Even though I own 233 steam games I don’t consider myself a ‘collector’ of them because I don’t actively seek games out. They tend to be simple humble bundles, or games from good sales. At what point would I consider myself a collector? I’m not sure. If I went just by sheer number of games then sure, I suppose 233 is more than enough to qualify – but I don’t *feel* like a collector of steam games.

Looking over my stats was a bit of a surprise. 60% of the games I own I’ve never played. I think a lot of people who acquire steam games can probably say the same thing. We buy them and we either never play them or we play them for incredibly limited amounts of time. Why does this happen? Well, lets face it, our time is precious. If we’re not completely sold on a game and we bought it on a whim or it came bundled with another game, we may not have that urge and motivation to log in when we only have an hour here and there. Why would we want to play something we’ve barely even heard of when our comfort game is waiting just over there.

It’s much harder to get me to try something I’ve never heard of before or that I’m uncertain about. That’s not to say that these games are not also amazing to play, I have no doubt that they are, but convincing me takes some time. Then there’s the obligation we may feel to play MMOs that currently require a subscription. What about all of those early access games that we buy thinking “I’ll play it when it fully releases, this game looks awesome and has so much potential!” only that game never gets out of the early access stage and years later it’s still sitting in your steam library. Yep. I have a few of those sitting around too.

One thing I don’t do is feel bad about collecting games, even games I’ve never played. I think collecting things is human nature. Comic books, baseball cards, art, rocks, whatever. These are our hobbies, and we invest in them. Some hobbies grow in value over time – and some don’t. I don’t expect that my steam account will be “worth” anything if I were to pass on but I do know that getting a neat game makes me smile, and playing those games and discovering them can take me away from a pretty crummy day and brighten things up. Berating ourselves for getting a treat of any sort is a common practice. I think these treats are essential to our well being. Of course I do mean in realistic terms here, obviously if you have no source of income and you’re spending food money on video games there’s a problem – but if you’re working hard and want a game – even a game you may not play for long – that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

Of course I do have a goal to try to play more of my steam games, especially those I’ve never played before. Just need more hours in a day.

Knitting Yarn

Sock Madness Forever

stargrace February 4, 2016 0Comment

One of the most satisfying things I ever knit was my first pair of socks. Then the second pair of socks, and the first sock to my third pair. They can be customized so many ways, with so many different parts, it’s a great way to learn new techniques. Once you’ve made one sock the “parts” of a sock rarely change. How you decide to knit them will. There’s a cuff, a leg, a heel, sometimes a gusset, a foot, and a toe. You can knit them cuff down, toe up, two at a time, add beads, zippers, lace.. the sky really is the limit to these versatile items.

That’s how I found myself looking into the ‘Sock Madness Forever‘ group on Ravelry. Their group details read:

Sock Madness is an international sock knitting competition based loosely on the basketball competition known as March Madness. There are 7 rounds of patterns. The first pattern is reasonably straightforward and as the rounds progress the socks become increasingly more complex in design.

Every registered competitor who completes a pair of socks in round 1 will be placed on a team with approximately 40 players per team. It is announced ahead of each round how many will proceed to the next pattern/round. By the 7th pattern there will be one member from each team left to battle it out.

I decided to sign up – and I’m incredibly excited. I know I’m still a new knitter, and I may not be as fast as others on the team, but I’ve put those details into my registration email and hopefully I get sorted appropriately. There are so many members that it can be hard to catch a lot of the chatter, but I am not going to let that deter me. I believe this is the 10th year that the competition has taken place, and that is pretty amazing. There’s already a ‘warm up sock’ pattern posted, a sock called ‘Mad Mix‘ and it’s supposed to look like a hot mess, using up bits and pieces of other sock yarns. I haven’t decided if I’ll warm up using this sock pattern yet, as I do have a few other WIP I’d like to complete, but we’ll see. The group also has quite a few rules, but they really help out when it comes to the competition.

This week I’ve also started my first adventures into spinning yarn from fiber, but that’s a post for another day!

Gaming

Lets Play

stargrace February 2, 2016 0Comment

My gaming these days has been restricted to wandering through the lands of World of Warcraft, completing achievements and leveling characters to 100. Last week I managed to ding 100 on my hunter, and then I decided to swap over to my alliance characters for a bit and did the same on my shaman. That brings my total characters at 100 to only 4 so far, but I’m hoping to get a few more up there too.

There has been a lot of talk this week about WildStar headed to steam, and whether or not it will be enough change to have an impact on the game and the number of people playing. I know there was also some controversy about the Madame Fay’s Fortunes changes in the recent past, but honestly I enjoy these casino-like games of chance. In Madame Fay’s Fortunes you use your currency to select three cards and flip them over to see what rewards you’ve obtained. You have to use fortune coin that is only available from the in-game store, and you can purchase it in singles or bundles. The discussion surrounding lockboxes certainly isn’t a new one in MMORPGs, it has been around for years now, and no matter your personal feeling on the matter, these games are popular. They remind of us casino games like those found at netbet.co.uk, and they’re a relaxing way to spend some downtime in between the typical MMORPG fare.

In EQ2 I’ve spent a fair amount of Daybreak cash (or whatever the term is these days) on mercenary lockboxes in order to try to get the ‘rare’ ones (they are randomly found in mercenary crates) and then sold the extras off in order to level up the guild. I’m glad that these lockboxes have a secondary use, since having a whole bunch of lower quality mercenary is not something I’m keen on collecting. I just also wish that there was a way to trade them between your own characters, or that mercenary were account wide rather than bound to the character who claims them. It makes keeping track of who has what a bit annoying.

In any case, real life has been incredibly difficult as of late, and that’s why more often than not you’ll find me playing WoW. It’s a game I can pop into no matter how much time I have left in my day and feel as though I’ve accomplished a few things even if it’s just garrison chores. Having these types of games available has meant a great deal to me over the years, and I’m thankful that as a gamer we have such a fantastic selection to delve into.

As always, happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself.

Knitting Yarn

Getting Started With Spinning

stargrace January 28, 2016 0Comment

This week I have taken a little break from knitting and swapped over to crochet. I’m not very good at crochet, but I know that takes practice. I’m working on a small amigurumi baby unicorn that you can find on Ravelry, and while I’ve been working on it I’ve also been reading up on spinning and everything that’s entailed with that.

Ever since I started knitting I have envied the yarns I saw spun up and hand dyed. Beautiful skeins with a homemade quality to them. Some obviously better than others, but that comes from time and practice in your craft, like any other.

When I first started getting interested in crochet I purchased a top whirl drop spindle, but I have yet to use it. With my new found love of knitting and all things fibre I decided to pick it up again. If I enjoy it as much as I think I might, my “end goal” is to save up for a spinning wheel. My LYS (local yarn store) sells a few models, and I’ve been looking into what I may potentially want in a wheel. I will probably stay away from second hand wheels as I’m not versed enough on what to look for in a smooth working spinning wheel.

They can be quite pricey. The one I’m looking at ranges at around $450 and it’s a beginner model. Then you have to figure out whether you want single or double treadle. This article here went into a lot of the particulars and gave me a better idea of what was involved.

Before I even think of buying a wheel I want to try out the drop spindle, and so that’s how I ended up buying a few things of roving combed top. The first one I purchased is corriedale (that’s the sheep it comes from), which is supposed to be a good starting wool because of the long draft. Draft is the section of yarn you pull out away from the bunch to spin. The braid is not dyed, and is a combination of grey / white.

I also bought a second type, this one merino dyed in a crab apple red. Merino is much harder to spin for a beginner, and even more so on a drop spindle. The draft is very short. That being said it’s also an incredibly nice fiber and I’m really looking forward to experimenting and practicing with both.

A lot of people think that spinning your own yarn is cheaper than buying yarn – but it comes down to around the same price or even more. One thing to keep in mind is that it takes a lot more ‘hobby time’ to prepare / spin / knit yarn rather than just knitting it, so you may be getting more “value” out of your money if you do the whole process yourself. That’s what I’m hoping to do. If you have any good fibre suppliers that you want to share (especially those in Canada) please don’t hesitate to let me know! For now I’m still stumbling around getting myself familiar with the price ranges and terms.

An Age of Games

Collecting (steam) Games

Sock Madness Forever

Lets Play

Getting Started With Spinning

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Expensive (To Me) Skills

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