Dreams, News, Free Magazines
Yesterday, apparently, the ragweed count was the highest in Utah's history. Unable to take it anymore, last night I took some allergy medicine, while working on my game and listening to the podcast interview with Cliff Harris, and at the same time debating RPG design with a friend in chat.

This was apparently a dangerous combination for my delicate psyche.

So in my dream last night, I was visiting the new Aveyond area at Disneyland. Mostly it was a tour of a ship. Why a ship, I don't know... I think a dragon ride would be more appropriate. But I remember thinking, "Wow, Amanda's scored big time on this one." There was more to it, of course - I was anxious to see the gift shop, where they were selling the game on CD-ROM and of course the usual T-Shirts and weaponry from the game. But before I could check it out, there were legal matters to attend to.

See, Aveyond and an RPG written by OJ Simpson were being sued over I.P. violation for having a piece of terrain in the world map that resembled that of some major big-name RPG. Aveyond was dismissed from the lawsuit because the judge wisely decided that simply having a waterfall, mountains, and an ocean in your game did NOT constitute any kind of copyright violation with another game also having mountains, a waterfall, and the ocean. Simpson's game was not so lucky, as that one piece of terrain did bear more than a passing resemblance to the other game.

I was on the jury, which was meeting in my high school algebra classroom. Everyone else was arguing that OJ must be guilty of the copyright violation, because he was guilty of that OTHER crime and got off, so nobody wanted him to get away with anything again. Me, I was worried about the chilling effect it would have on other indie games, getting bullied by larger publishers, particularly when only that one piece of terrain bore any resemblance to the mainstream game. So it was Twelve Angry Men being played out in my high school classroom, but I woke up before the verdict could be reached.

Hmm.... did I just overshare, there? I probably revealed something very dangerous about myself that I shouldn't have. But mainly, I'm blaming Cliffski and the allergy medicine.

Okay, if that bizarre little dream sequence wasn't surreal enough, I discovered this morning that likely presidential candidate Mark Warner is hitting the MMO "Second Life" on his campaign trail. Gamepolitics.com is heralding this as a wonderful example of how mainstream Massively Multiplayer Online Games have become. Me? I'm just imagining how very, very WRONG this could go. I mean, really, unbelievably wrong. Way worse than Lord British being killed during the Ultima Online beta. Second Life allows player-created and controlled content to a degree unprecedented since the day of text-only Multi-User games, and has thus gained a reputation for having the most colorful, bizarre, and downright perverted population on the Internet - complete with full graphical accoutrements. Among other things, it's got the reputation for being the cybersex capital of the Internet (or at least of the MMO worlds). While I'm sure Mr. Warner will be pounding the stump in a "family safe" area, I'm unsure how many people might be happy to risk their accounts by turning the whole thing into an embarassing spectacle. I guess we'll find out.

I imagine it'll make my Aveyond / Disneyland / OJ Simpson dream look positively mundane by comparison.

In other news - how about a free indie gaming magazine? Okay, so it's a digital PDF download, but GameTunnel.com is now producing a quarterly downloadable magazine. After the incredibly bizarre content of this blog post today, I'm sure you are dying for something a little more sane. So HERE YOU GO. Enjoy.

Do not read under the influence of allergy medicine. You Have Been Warned.
- posted by The Rampant Coyote @ 9:10 AM (Permalink)