Wow–this article somehow manages to capture all the wonder and horror of online FPS gaming. Great read.
Online gaming–particular gaming of the first-person shooter variety–is a fascinating and bizarre little world of its own, one that is just waiting to be the subject of somebody’s doctoral dissertation (if it hasn’t already been). It gives rise to a lot of interesting behavior of the sort referenced in the above article, ranging from racist taunting to player-enforced rules of “fair play” to extremely strong-held beliefs about what is and isn’t a “legitimate” strategy. UT2k4 is my poison of choice these days, and I’ve found that the quality of the online gaming experience depends rather heavily on the willingness of other players to abide by the unspoken rules of “fair gaming,” especially in team games.
I’d write more, but it’s dinnertime. Maybe more later.
(While you’re at it, the most recent episode–#39–of Red vs Blue contains a pretty hilarious parody of a typical online deathmatch, starting 5:45 minutes in.)

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I learned today that one of my college friends is designing a strategy game called Empires of Steel. It looks very cool!

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I am most pleased to see that a new version of Red Orchestra is out. Red Orchestra is a fan-mode mod for Unreal Tournament 2004 set on the Russian front of World War 2. Among its features are a high level of realism and massive battlefields. I played an earlier version some months ago and greatly enjoyed it (although it was still pretty glitchy at that point). I have fond memories of multiplayer battles in a huge Stalingrad map. Can’t wait to check out this new version.
Another game that I’m really looking forward to is The Political Machine, a presidential election sim. It involves creating a candidate and then managing the different aspects of the election campaign. Looks to be pretty fun. Hopefully it will be out soon, so I can glean some enjoyment from it before endless election-year news coverage and third-grade-name-calling candidate back-and-forths cause my brain to shut down all sensory input in a desperate act of self-defense.
What was I talking about? Oh yeah–games. You should check ’em out.

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