Pretending I'm Cultured in Second Life

Someone who only knows Second Life as a land of ugly people and Youtube troll videos might be surprised that it has a pretty robust art scene. I've enjoyed going through various exhibitions and artistic builds- some of which take advantage of the nature of the platform to offer an experience impossible in the physical world. I've stood in a desolate plain filled with figures prostrating themselves before an overhead UFO; another time, I was carted along in a miniature train through a world of floating, colorful child-like drawings.

One of my favorite places, though, takes the complete opposite approach. The Vordun Museum and Gallery creates an experience as close as possible to its physical counterparts. From the grounds outside, to the gallery itself, and even to the gift shop. 

I'd say the only thing missing is the loud tour groups blocking the view and snapping flash photos.

I'm impressed by the attention to detail in the whole thing- you can tell The Vordun is a labor of love. Besides the build itself, the exhibits I've seen have been high-quality. There's a variety on display- historical and contemporary alike. I feel this can be a bit disorienting as you move between exhibits- suddenly going from the European Masters to a modern solo exhibition based on psychological horror gives me something like artistic whiplash. On the other hand, I can understand that it's just not practical for the proprietors to keep the space purely in one theme or another.

One particular feature of this museum that I quite like is the audio tour provided for the main exhibit. For those unfamiliar with such in RL, these typically come in the form of small headsets that one can dial for voiced commentary on a particular piece or portion of the exhibit. This functions much the same at The Vordun, with the headset provided in the form of a HUD. It's quite charming and informative in a more immersive way than notecards or the like.

I feel that The Vordun is more than just a facsimile of a real museum; it stands on its own as a worthwhile experience. I'd go so far as to say that if it is not completely comparable to a physical gallery, it is very close in terms of artistic enrichment- and the self-satisfaction about how cultured you are.

Cozy Fall Feelings in Second Life

Exploring in Second Life has something of the feel of an archaeological expedition. Though the platform still has tens of thousands of people logging in regularly, the fact is that SL is far fallen from its heyday of popularity. The remaining userbase is spread out over a vast quantity of land- quite often when I'm exploring I don't see a single other person. You get the feeling that you're exploring some ancient lost civilization, one filled with strip malls and kinky sex dungeons.

Yet for all that it looks desolate and abandoned, there are still people out there creating things in Second Life. Today I went to a little place called Botanica that advertised a Thanksgiving-themed Hunt  (essentially a scavenger hunt type deal for those unfamiliar, usually with the goal of obtaining free or very cheap prizes).

The landing is in a festive little avenue bedecked with fall colors. There's a cafe, where the hunt takes place, as well as a handful of shops including a fortune-teller, working musical instruments, and gifts and sundries. I'm a sucker for the kitsch-y look, and this place was like the inside of a Hallmark store.

And I mean that in the nicest way.

Before doing the hunt I strolled around for a while, checking the various sights and shops. The turkeys running about gobbling away were a cute touch. We had turkeys around near the house I grew up in, so it was a nice bit of nostalgia for me (though funnily enough, they always seemed to go into hiding around Thanksgiving...).

The Fortune-teller's shop was fun. The magic mirror on the wall wanted to hear a yes or no question, and was kind enough to answer an honest "No" when I asked if it could really see my future. The Tarot reader was also interesting, having specific interactions in cutting the deck and revealing the cards. The cool things you can accomplish with scripting in SL are always surprising to me.

After this I headed back for the Hunt itself, located entirely in the small Americana Cafe. I searched for various objects which, when clicked, linked to websites and Wikipedia articles giving information on Thanksgiving traditions and Pilgrim culture. Thanksgiving goodies were the reward- though I also noticed a number of goodies about the cafe which were free and not tied to the hunt completion, mostly foodstuffs.

All in all, it was a very charming experience and a fun little diversion for an hour or so. The whole thing was very G-rated, and very kitschy and whimsical. It's things like this that I feel would be great for children to experience, if it weren't an incredibly bad idea for a child to be on Second Life. But for the childlike at heart (or at brain, like me), it's worth seeing nonetheless.

Morrowind and The Breaking Point

So I've been playing a bit of Morrowind lately. This is my first runthrough of the main quest- after a few flailing attempts and short-lived characters, I finally feel like I've got the hang of the more old-school mechanics and feel of the game. Where I was mostly frustrated before, now I can actually enjoy the experience for what it is- a rich atmosphere and story, an alien world that truly feels unique with its own culture and customs. Harsh, unforgiving, but still strangely beautiful.

For a 15-year-old game, at least.

For this playthrough I've been keeping it all vanilla. I'm a firm believer in not modding a game before you've experienced the original first. You should know what exactly you want to change before you go changing it. Even someone's bare-minimum "must-have mods" list is going to be subject to personal opinion. Form your own opinions, first.

Now, there are a bunch of things I want to change, based off my current experience with the game. But I'd resisted the urge thus far, strolling around enjoying the blocky faces, the infohub NPCs, and those lovely, lovely cliffracers.

But everyone has their limit, and I found mine. What was my breaking point? Vanity, of course.

Morrowind has a surprising variety of clothing, from the familiar Imperial styles to the native Dunmeri fashions. As someone who likes to ogle their character in third-person, I was having a good time trying out various items.

But then I decided to spring for an enchanted robe from a vendor, and encountered the hideous white saran-wrap shader Morrowind uses for enchanted items. After mere minutes of walking around looking like I'd been abducted by Dexter, I broke.

Correctly guessing that I wasn't the only one who couldn't stand the effect, I settled on Pluginless NoGlow as my solution of choice. I prefer the simple replacer solution, with the least impact possible on my game. Now my character can strut her stuff in style and continue her almost!vanilla adventure.

Stunning.

Well-Diving in Oblivion

So I've been back to Oblivion again- testing mods, experimenting with my own additions, and actually getting to play the damn game sometimes. I have a long-running "test" character who mostly goes around murderhoboing her way through various content mods.

Haela Long-Strider, mod-tester and grumpyface extraordinaire.

Currently I've been exploring a dungeon mod called The Well Diver. As you might imagine, it adds dungeons accessible through various wells from the vanilla game. I'm enjoying the mod a lot so far-even though there's no grand quest or storyline here, it's still a lot of fun as a good ol' dungeon romp. The new cells are well-designed (heh); they're unique-looking with some great use of modder's resources, but still fitting to the game's world. There's environmental storytelling, some secrets and a few neat rewards. Plenty to keep the spelunker occupied.

There's an ingame book you can find which will mention the location of a couple wells, but others must be found on your own. I haven't found all the dungeons yet, but I'm having a blast so far. If you're in the mood for some new dungeons to stumble on during a playthrough, I definitely recommend checking out The Well Diver. 

Minecraft Mods I Think Are Pretty Neat

So, as mentioned in my last post, I wanted to point to some cool Minecraft mods I'm considering for my 1.12 mixtape modlist.

Better With Mods

There's an old, famous/notorious, surly beast of a mod called Better Than Wolves. Its creator offers it as a sharp criticism of the direction Minecraft development took, and as a vision of what he sees as better content (hence the title). A lot of vanilla mechanics are altered, and the early-game especially is more challenging. While the mod has a lot of cool ideas and interesting mechanics, it's incompatible with the majority of mods for Minecraft and has been kept on a version of the game from 2012. Better Than Mods is a "re-imagining" of the original's content that is designed with a mind for compatibility, and updated to the latest game versions. I'm excited to try it out- I steered clear of the original mod for, ah, various reasons.

Rustic

This rather charming mod adds some more low-tech and agrarian content to the game. New crops and building materials, an alcohol brewing system, pottery, and more. It reminds me of an older mod, Growthcraft, which I love.

Minecraft Comes Alive

Minecraft Comes Alive makes the boring, ugly flesh-Squidward villagers into something more resembling actual people. Aside from giving them a nose job and a face lift, villagers now have moods, personalities, and relationships between each other and with the player. You can chat with villagers, exchange gifts- even potentially marry a villager and raise a family. Even if you're not into the latter, I think the mod does much to make villagers more interesting and developed- more than empty shells to be bartered with (or stuffed into horrifying contraptions to be bred and slaughtered en masse).

Nomadic Tents

These tents are a great help for the explorer. The inside of a tent is a dimension unto itself, so that you can have a safe place to rest your head at night. But I feel it's "balanced" in a good and mechanically interesting way- after placing your tent, you have to erect it by whacking the various blocks with a mallet. This means the tents aren't just an instant escape-you still have to be careful and have a plan to set up camp as night falls.

EDIT: Unfortunately, on further inspection, this is not yet available for 1.12. My mistake!

Totemic

I love the themeing of this mod, and the way it implements magic seems interesting and unique. In the Great War of Magic and Tech Mods, one sometimes hears the critique that magic mods are merely tech mods with a different skin. So mods like this that present a more mysterious, even spiritual approach are exciting.

There are a lot more mods that I'm interested in trying out for 1.12, and others that I sigh wistfully at and hope they soon will be updated. But hopefully you can get a sense of the pack I'm working towards here- an experience not so focused on technological marvels, or world-shattering arcane power, or an intense RPG experience. Something more down-to-earth, more focused on the early game- the part of the game I most enjoy, when you're doing things by hand and "survival" is actually a meaningful struggle. Maybe in a fit of uncharacteristic un-laziness I'll put the pack up somewhere to share it- but I wouldn't hold my breath if I were you.

I Don't Even Like Minecraft, And Yet I Keep Playing It

Minecraft. Every time I think I'm out, eventually I come crawling back. It's like a drug addiction, or a rocky relationship.

Minecraft's stupendous popularity seems mystifying at first for some observers, but I think it just comes down to the incredible potential that the game seems to offer as a creative platform. From in-game builds, to user skins, resource packs and mods, there's so many aspects that are open to the user for creative expression. The bare-bones graphics and gameplay seem like a blocky canvas that one can paint their blocky vision on.

Or so it feels to me, for about a week. Then stagnation, frustration and boredom set in. I lose inspiration and will to continue a playthrough, with half-finished builds, aborted expeditions, personal goals left hanging. I quit, swearing that this time I have learned the error of my ways, that Minecraft is just not the game for me. Then some time passes, memories fade, and I start feeling the pull. The sense of freedom, the creative inspiration. The cycle starts anew.

When I do come back, most times I want a fresh start. A new adventure, a new modlist. The Minecraft modding community is large and prolific, with new and exciting creations popping up all the time.

It's also a giant burning tire fire of rumors, drama, politics, and terrible fragmentation. I've never seen a community so split between different versions of the same game. Since Minecraft is still being updated, and each update tends to break compatibility between mods, a cycle has developed where many people stay on the old version while authors update their mods; at some point, a critical mass is reached where enough mods are ported that a large chunk of users adopt the new version. By this point, the next official update is in development, and just when everyone's getting comfortable the update is released, and here we go again.

For every update there are some mods that never get ported and new ones making their debut. Authors appear and disappear, or pass the mod along to a succession of maintainers. Some people never bother to upgrade, not wanting to lose their current playthroughs and favorite mods. The majority, though, move on, and some really innovative, fun mods get left in the dust.

So the first question facing me as I look into building a new modlist is- what version am I going to be playing? In this case, I'm thinking about the current update, 1.12. As it is- for now- the bleeding edge, a lot of mods I'm interested in aren't ported yet. But there are others I've never used before, and am eager to try out. I'm still feeling out the theme of the modlist; I prefer more focused playthroughs over giant "kitchen sink" packs that attempt to fit in as many mods as possible. But, in the next post, I'll try and spotlight some of the ones I've currently got my eye on.

Oblivion, Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Potato

Out of all the games I've played, my favorite, the one that has stolen the most hours of my life, is... TES IV: Oblivion.

Elder Scrolls aficionados and people of good taste are probably laughing and/or shaking their heads. Oblivion is something of the red-headed stepchild of the series. From the three "modern" TES games, you have Morrowind, the beloved classic, Skyrim, the stupendously popular latest entry, and then you have... the potatoes.

Pictured: A screenshot of an Oblivion NPC.

I've seen Oblivion described as "the worst of both worlds" between Morrowind and Skyrim, an awkward stepping stone between the more traditional RPG of the previous game and the more action-oriented experience the series was trending towards. It suffers from an incredibly un-fun levelling system, an overuse of random- and procedurally-generated content in a bland setting (made even more so in contrast to the alien environment of Morrowind), a laughably small cast of voice actors, and of course, the infamously ugly characters of the FaceGen system.

Of course, you can mod most of these problems away, and end up with a much improved game experience. But a common opinion is that even considering mods, Oblivion comes up short- that, while you might want to smooth out the wrinkles of Morrowind and Skyrim with mods, you need an industrial-strength hot iron to mash Oblivion into something good.

I don't agree with all of these opinions. I think Oblivion does genuinely have its own strong points compared to the other games in the series. I think it is still a game worth experiencing. But honestly, I find it hard to disagree that Oblivion is a deeply flawed game. So why is it my favorite?

Well, the honest answer is that it was my first Elder Scrolls game, and so my nostalgia goggles probably warp my perception of the game's true quality.

But I think I also really do enjoy the game for what it is. I love the atmosphere, the coziness of the countryside, the beautiful score complementing the game's ambiance perfectly as I stroll along the roads. I love the writing; I genuinely believe that many questlines are among the strongest in the series. I even love some of the sillier bits, like the random conversations NPCs have that seem inexplicably focused on mudcrabs. They make for a nice background chatter, in a more realistic way than the same scripted conversations of Skyrim cycled over and over. 

I love this dumb game. And modding makes it even better.