VonGeekenstein » Miscellaneous

New Website Launched – Space Game Junkie

Brian Rubin — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 16:03:41 +0000

A couple of weeks ago, I was introduced to a site called The CRPG Addict, in which one man chronicled his journey through playing every computer role playing game ever. I loved and was inspired by the site, so I decided to do my own take on it involving computer space games — which are my favorite type of video games — and thus, Space Game Junkie was born.

On Space Game Junkie, I’ll be talking about every space game ever made for a computer, and will usually be going in chronological order unless a new game is released, such as Space Pirates and Zombies. This will take a long time, as the list of games — which is currently still being completed and can be viewed here — is very extensive, but I’m damned excited about it.

This is why my “300 Word Review” project has been a bit delayed, but I still plan on accomplishing that task as well. So please, head over to Space Sim Junkie and enjoy the new site. Thanks for reading.

What Brought Me Back to Twitter? Comic-Con

Brian Rubin — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 07:09:54 +0000

So it’s no secret that…I’m just not that fond of Twitter. Rather than the order and structure of threaded conversations on other social networks, Twitter, to me, is just like one big chat room where everyone screams into the dark, hoping to be heard and replied to. I try to keep up with it a bit because I have several awesome friends who only use Twitter (why? I dunno…), but one big event brought me back to Twitter in a big way recently: Comic-Con.

I’ve not been to SDCC in two years, due to a combination of “It’s too god damned big”ness and finances (being underemployed sucks). So, in order to keep up with all of my friends’ con adventures, I found myself monitoring Twitter maybe 40-70% more a day during the con than I had been previously, and it kinda clicked. While it’s still mostly a stream of narcissistic gobbledygook (yeah, I said it), it made it a lot easier for me to follow how my friends were doing during the con.

It was during that time, especially after installing Tweetdeck, that Twitter kinda clicked. What was before just a mass of people shouting, now wherein I could at least add some order to. While lists never really helped Twitter click with me (it was just a smaller version of the stream of consciousness), but being able to arrange things in columns DID help, and now I find myself more drawn more to Twitter each day.

I’m still not wholly fond of Twitter due its lack of structure, which I seem to need. I think, however, that I can at least come to a peace with it and just use an app like Tweetdeck to keep an eye on those I care about most, while checking in on everything else now and again.

Ultimately though, I’m kinda hoping Twitter get usurped by Google Plus. It’s got the simplicity of Twitter, I feel, along with the structure of threaded conversations I so desperately prefer. In just a few weeks alone, GP has passed over twenty million users, something that took a great deal longer for either Facebook or Twitter to accomplish.

So yeah, y’all will likely see me on Twitter a good deal more often nowadays (especially with the increased time on my hands :/). What was the point of this rant? I dunno, just felt the need to say it is all. It IS my blog after all. Have a great night/day folks.

I Freaking Hate Spoilers – A Rant

Brian Rubin — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 18:45:06 +0000

On a forum I frequent, there’s a thread entitled “Game of Thrones (no spoilers)”, which I thought would be perfect for me because I’ve only seen the show and haven’t read the books. However, upon entering the thread, I found that it’s rife with people spoiling the shit out of the thread by posting stuff from the books. I had to skip various posts because they nudged in spoiler territory. When people complained — myself included — folks who posted spoilers said “What’s the big deal? It’s only a minor detail blah blah blah…” Yes, a minor detail I’d not have known and didn’t want to know before seeing it on the show or reading it for myself.

See, I’m a complete spoilerphobe. I hate them. Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaate with the fiery passion of a billion suns. I like to experience the ups and downs, the twists and turns of a story on my own, naturally as they happen in front of me. I don’t want to be “blessed” with some foreknowledge of what will happen. Now, if folks are into spoilers, I have no problem with that…as long as they keep those damned spoilers to themselves and their fellow spoiler-following friends. Leave me out of it, clearly mark your email/discussion/chat/thread as spoilery so folks like me can avoid it.

However, it REALLY vexes me when people don’t even show common courtesy for others and avoid posting spoilers for those who want nothing to do with them. I get it that you’re excited that you know what’s going to happen, and I’m happy for you, spoiler lover, but I want no part of it, and I’d like it if you would respect my wishes. Just keep your mouth shut. Do you get a little rush at ruining my fun with your super-wonderful foreknowledge? Some sort of “I’m better than you are” mentality? Sigh.

Anyway, this sort of things just really burns my bottom, and I needed to rant about it. Thanks for reading.

What Geeky Things do You Collect?

Brian Rubin — Sat, 21 May 2011 21:09:46 +0000

Ever since I was a little kid, I collected stuff. Toys, coins, gadgets, you name it. As I’ve gotten older I’ve narrowed my focus on the geeky stuff I’ve collected to maybe one or two types of things. As geeks we have whole treasure troves of different types of stuff we can collect…signatures, photos, books, movies, games, shirts, hats, pins, cards, you name it. I used to collect much of those things, but times have totally changed.

I didn’t even really realize I was a collector until I started cataloging things (for when I get a job and get renter’s insurance again). In cataloging all of my games, for example (mostly PC with some Dreamcast and PS3 games) I found I had…possibly too many. Hundreds too many? It’s funny, while there are a lot in my collection, I honestly don’t feel it’s too many. In fact I want more. More of what, exactly? Space simulations, really. I’ve played almost all of them, at some point I want to own all of them. Or just about any game with a spaceship in it, really (yeah, I kind of love space games, like, a lot…). All told I have around fifty space simulation games, and that’s not even all of them. If you count other sci-fi type simulation games (mecha games and such), I have about seventy five. Yeesh.

Now why is this? I think it’s a comfort thing, honestly, like a security blanket of some sort. I enjoy the fact that I could load up Freespace 2 one moment, Millennia: Altered Destinies the next and then TIE Fighter after that. As they’re my favorite type of game ever, it makes sense that I’d want them around. However I don’t display them or anything, I just play them as the mood strikes me.

Now I won’t mention exactly how many games I have — because it’s embarrassing — let’s just say even I was surprised by the number. Yet again, that doesn’t deter me. Over the years I’ll collect more of them, even if I don’t have the time to finish them all (I don’t think I ever will, honestly). I guess we all have objects we cling to that help define us, and mine are video games I suppose.

What about you? What geeky things do you collect, and do you have an embarrassing amount of whatever it is? I’d love to discuss it with you in the comments. Thanks for reading.

How Do You Communicate With So Much Technology?

Brian Rubin — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 22:42:49 +0000

I talk to a lot of people on any given day, whether in person at work, or through various technological implementations. While back in my day — which was a Tuesday — there were only a couple of methods to communicate with people not in the same room with you…namely the telephone or a written (gasp!) letter, these days we have so many more options. Email, IM, text messaging, Skype, Twitter, Facebook, chat rooms and so much more. I’m finding that, for example, I’m using the actual phone part of my phone so much less and less than texting, instant messaging, email and so on.

This isn’t just a matter of convenience, but actual preference for many. While these new methods of communication allow us to reach out and talk to people easier than ever before, I’ve been thinking about what we lose in these new methods of communication. Do we just lose the nuances of actually talking to a person when using a purely textual method for communication, or is there more we’re losing? I mean besides my concerns over oversharing I’ve already talked about, there are other things I’m worrying about.

I’m concerned that, with more and more of us talking online more often, will we lose the skill of actual conversation in the process? Status updates and blog posts aren’t a conversation, and IM and email are an odd form of conversation that would sound really, really weird if emulated in real life:

Me: Hey buddy…
5 second pause
My Friend: Hey, how are you?
10 second pause
Me: I’m great, how have you been? Haven’t talked to you in ages.
15 second pause
My Friend: I’ve been good. Busy with life and work and everything, but I can’t complain…

And so on. I’m worried that we’re losing verbal communication and conversation skills along the way, which especially becomes apparent when you talk to anyone under twenty these days.

I find that, in my own case, I’ve been using texting and email more than any other form of communication. This isn’t just my choice, though. I know a lot of people who prefer to only talk that way, and don’t like talking on the actual phone.

I can understand this. On IM or email, you can take a second to think about your response before you actually respond, or if you’re feeling particularly dickish, pretend you didn’t see the communique and don’t respond at all. Being on the phone, in “real-time”, puts one more on the spot. While this doesn’t bug me at all, I’ve noticed it seems to bug more and more people lately.

So I wanted to ask all of my (five) readers what they thought, and how they communicated with people these days. Do you also find yourself primarily using textual methods of communication these days, or do you still use vocal communication a lot? Which method of communication do you prefer, and which do your friends seem to prefer? I can’t wait to discuss this with you in the comments and elsewhere.

We’re Back!

Brian Rubin — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 20:49:50 +0000

Once again, my site was hit with malware, but I’ve uninstalled and reinstalled WordPress AGAIN. Hopefully it won’t happen again. Sadly I think I lost a story in the process. Boo.

Social Networks: Keeping Up the Conversation

Brian Rubin — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 19:31:32 +0000

So as you may know, I’m something of a social network whore. I’m somewhat addicted to them, because they make it easy to have conversations (or snippets thereof) with many of my closest friends. However, the more I’ve used them, the more I noticed my habits have changed in their use, and I’ve developed a preference. Whereas once I used to be on Twitter most of the time, now I’m on Facebook much more often. Why is that? Well, I’ll tell you…

I’m focusing on Facebook and Twitter because, let’s face it, they’re the two big players. While Twitter is much more simplistic and easier to deal with, Facebook (at the cost of some privacy) has more features and, at times, more complications. However, I have found that it’s easier to have a conversation on Facebook than it is on Twitter, and also easier to keep up with what my friends are doing. Why? The main thing, I think, that makes Facebook easier to deal with is threaded conversations (yes, I know Plurk has this, but I’m not a fan of Plurk’s horizontal nature…yes, I’m weird…).

See, I’m blessed with lots of people on Twitter, people who I want to follow. However, since Twitter seems to move by at the speed of a rushing torrent, it makes it more difficult — for me, at least — to keep up with folks. Even the advent of lists only helped a little bit. Sure, they have mentions, which lets you see who replied to you and have a conversation that way, but this seems inelegant and a tad chaotic. By keeping things in threads, Facebook helps keep conversations much, much more organized.

Another issue I have with Twitter is the lack of notifications. To keep up with conversations, either yours or others, you have to constantly monitor the stream, which takes focus away from other things. Facebook does a much better job here with email alerts of replies and so on, making it easy to do other things then come back to the conversation when needed.

Maybe this is the crux of the matter here. With Facebook, I can pop in, check on people, leave messages, go do other things, come back and reply to those messages and so on. With Twitter, if one wants to be truly connected to folks, one has to constantly monitor it, unless you want to lose hours worth of tweets and conversations in the ether. I’d rather spend that energy elsewhere.

So, for me at least, I think Facebook is a much better conversational tool than Twitter, though I know folks who either prefer Twitter or use it exclusively…sadly, I don’t talk to them as much. What do you think about all of this? Am I way wrong? Why do you prefer one social network to another, or do you use both equally? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments. Thanks for reading.

The Brouhaha Over Real Names vs. Pseudonyms

Brian Rubin — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 18:29:16 +0000

Recently, Blizzard entertainment announced plans to make real names mandatory on their Starcraft 2 forums, with other forums like World of Warcraft to follow. This was met with a wide array of opinions, both positive and negative. While I’m in the positive camp, I know many, many people who prefer pseudonyms over their real names when online. Well, giving into an overwhelmingly negative response, Blizzard has rescinded this rule today, allowing people to hide behind their pseudonyms at their leisure. Now, as someone who uses my real name on everything I do online, I personally don’t understand the big deal, but I seem to be in the minority.

I personally see pseudonyms as something to hide behind, rather than something to be proud of. However, I know many, many people who will only use pseudonyms online (and hell, some who use them in real life) and I just personally don’t get it. I can see using a pseudonym in terms of, like, a callsign within a video game, like the way pilots and so on use them in the military. However, I don’t get why one would use them exclusively on forums, social networking sites, and so on. So I wanted to ask y’all…if you use a pseudonym, online or otherwise…why? Is it a privacy thing? Is it an identity thing? Is it just a cool name you like to use? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments. Thanks for reading!

Sheeeeeeeeeesh!

Brian Rubin — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 04:49:54 +0000

So I had to uninstall and reinstall WordPress to make it right, but it all seems okay now. Gotta do some tweaking to make the site back to where she was, but things are okay now…I hope. Thanks for your patience!

Edit: I’m not insanely fond of this theme, but it’s the best I have for now until I can find/remember the name of the one I was previously using.

Where Have I Been?

Brian Rubin — Mon, 24 May 2010 21:23:20 +0000

Hey kids, just wanna apologize for not posting much of late. Been a crazy month with work and sickness and all manner of distractions, but I’ll be back on the horse soon. I’ll be posting a review of the almost-complete version of Metropolis soon, for example, plus some other fun tidbits. I hope y’all are well, and thanks for visiting.