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Games and Sports

1st Alt Or 2nd Main?

Losira started as my main character in Phantasy Star Online 2, little over a year ago. She was named for Losira, last of the Kalandans from the Star Trek original series episode, That Which Survives. And she was part of a larger project of mine to project more of my own characteristics, race, gender, etc., onto my game avatars. This was something I had avoided in the past so as not to be a target of harassment in the games I played.

From PSO2, Losira was reborn on the Island of Kalanda in Animal Crossing New Horizons and then later catching them all in Temtem. Most recently, Losira has found a home in Eorzea in Final Fantasy XIV. It is here in FFXIV that Losira has been having the most fun of late. She came to be here because I wanted to experience the party scene in the Primal data center, but my main character is in Aether. So the only option was to start a new character in Primal and level her enough to attend the parties.

Losira loves to dance!

So am I a party girl yet? Hmm depends on who you ask I guess. My Free Company mates probably think a resounding Yes! Leveling Losira has been so much fun and I’ve learned so much! I feel like there’s a lot of me as I am, and as I would like to be inside of her too. So I guess The Losira Project has been something of a success! I’ve had a lot of fun with the parties and it’s brightened the whole leveling process giving me even more motivation to play the game better and better.

Losira knows how to party!

She’s not just an alt, she’s 2nd Main. Her big sister, Loressa, and I go way back though, all the way to Vanadiel, and will always be 1st Main. But that’s a tale for another time.

Categories
Games and Sports General

Stayin’ Alive

It’s been quite a while since my last post! Since that time, I am not only still alive, I think I might in some way be thriving! There’s been plenty of trouble to lose sleep over, but I found more refuge than I had expected to weather the storm.

In particular, I’ve been spending a lot more time in the online game, Final Fantasy XIV. Progressing through the story, placing in the top 100 on my server for the Ishgardian Restoration rankings, and even attending in game dance parties! Eorzea has truly been a refuge for me.

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Games and Sports

PSO2 Yeeted Itself!

I thought I was pretty lucky to avoid the installation hell that many experienced with the North American launch of Phantasy Star Online 2 on the PC. I guess you can run, but you cannot hide! The game yeeted itself right off my PC while I was looking dead at it! Wow!

So I manually uninstalled it following the instructions here, and am now reinstalling it using the PSO2 Tweaker. Sega and Microsoft really dropped the ball on this launch. I’ve never had any game just uninstall itself like this one did.

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General

A Phantasy Star Online Universe Escape

I just finished maybe a couple of hours playing Phantasy Star Online 2 on my PC. Sega released the game in Japan back in 2012 and it has just now been released in North America, first on Xbox One and then on PC a few weeks ago. I started playing on Xbox One during the closed beta and now mostly play on my PC to enjoy higher resolution graphics.

I’ve been having a lot of fun with the game. I was amazed how much it drew me in during the beta, maybe because I needed a new distraction from the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. It was a ready escape that I was all too willing to take. Even after moving to PC, I still use my Xbox One controller because it just feels right to me.

But current events again have given me pause. The murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police and the explosive protests that have erupted in the United States are a stark reminder that the world can be an ugly place beyond the actions of an impersonal virus.

As a Black American, I feel deep sadness and rage that my life doesn’t seem to matter in this country. And while playing a game gives the relief of a temporary escape, returning to life often brings guilt and depression. I need to do more, but what? Despite the protests, worldwide no less (thank you International brothers and sisters!), I still fear that little will change.

I will press on. I will level up this character, and level up this world so that maybe my grandchildren’s lives will matter.

Categories
Games and Sports

Drive By Fleet/Guild Invites

I never really get the random fleet or guild invites I get in MMOs. I usually ignore those, not really offended, just puzzled why someone would invite a total stranger into their group.

At least in Final Fantasy XIV, if I get a Free Company invite, I can look up some info on the FC before I decide. But Star Trek Online has no apparent function for that, at least that I know of and could easily use. But following me around after I’ve rejected your fleet invite 3 times will definitely not win me over!

Categories
Games and Sports Tech

Kings, Queens, and Children of a Virtual God

Awhile back, I read  on Gamasutra that Apple’s Game Center was now revealing players’ real names during the initial friend request. After that initial request, only gamer nicknames would be visible. The new policy is supposed to stop players from impersonating other people, but isn’t that the whole point of playing a game in the first place? Who plays a game to just be their real world selves?

This and the whole push to real names online, such as in Google Plus to give one example, feels like the old guard, the kings and queens of “Real Life” (RL) trying to extend their dominion into the online world. I suppose that’s okay if you’re one of them, but the geeks and nerdy folks who built the net and make up much of its most active population are decidedly not.

These children of a virtual god tend to get the short end of the stick in RL. There we are often bullied, mocked, and despised. This despite the fact that much of the science and technology upon which modern life depends was discovered, designed, and built by us! On the net, we are the kings and queens (sometimes both at the same time), and the oppressive rules of the real world are not applied. The net has become a space of the mind, where the human spirit is laid bare. It’s not always pretty, but I think that’s where real human progress comes from, which ultimately leads to greater beauty.

Unfortunately, the freedom and wildness of the net is seem as a threat by those who don’t understand. And in the name of “protecting the children” they push to impose the same broken structures on the virtual world as we do such a great job of imposing on the real one. But it may be too late for that. From Arab Spring, Lulzsec, and the London Riots to the BART protest, the virtual world is pushing back on the real one. The unfettered meeting of the minds online is having real world consequences that cannot be easily suppressed without a coordinated, global trampling of the human freedoms that many of us profess to believe in. That could still happen, but now I’m sure it won’t come without a fight.