I've not always agreed with GW, but President Obama has sure made me miss the former president.
Say what one might about the man, but I truly believe that September 11th, 2001 forever changed him.

"Happy Green Weak, kids!"

Bwahahaha!

I almost missed the misspelling.

Great message, but creepy!

Obama's policys are creepy, that is.

I'd had a feeling ofr years that there was a certain wrongness to liberalism, yet I still tended to think that way. Then my father's death in 2003 made me reflect on life a lot and see the light.

Thanks for sharing, AB!

If we limited our federal government's size we wouldn't even have these issues.

Nice roundup, AB.

A "special Hell", indeed.

Keep up the good work, AB. BTW, nice quote from Obama's speech. Can't argue with that.

I actually wondered if the way he exited House was a good analogy to his career; it's starting to indeed look like career suicide.

If parents don't like any parts of the message, perhaps it's a good opportunity to teach the children why he is wrong on any of those points?

I'm all for innovation. I think Blizzard tried innovation with the last expansion and the Ulduaar patch. As a player I found myself both intrigued and unhappy. What good is honing my virtual skill and avatar items if hey are going to be rendered moot by driving a tank or dragon?

I think you're right about serious games, though. Definitely some possibilities with cue-based "quests" rather than the traditional quest givers. I think a fallback approach might be nice, even if it's not realistic. If the player takes too long to be making positive motions toward a site, he may need some help.

Hmm... Intriguing thoughts.

The popularity of quest helpers which lead the player to the point (and sometimes give critical information), as well as books and websites might suggest that people actually do generally want to just conquer the game as quickly and effectively as possible. Oh, the "high end" guilds may want to tackle content on their own, but that's usually for bragging rights and/or the game rewards. I'm not sure a living or random world would placate the average Joe who just wants to reach milestones (Better abilities, mounts for faster movement, high-level content, etc.).

On the flip side, the basic food groups of questing does indeed get old. It might be great fun to slay boars and hobgoblins from level one through five, but by level sixty it's old hat and boring; same mechanics, different models.

While it's possible that "natural mechanisms" is a feature that players don't yet know they need, not being able to find where a person, animal or item might be can lead to frustration. Frustrated players don't tend to stay long.

A living environment would be very interesting. Players can get this to an extent with player-vs-player, where an enemy can suddenly be active and chase him across lands, because both are real players. It would be intriguing to play a "living" world, where everything changes based on events. Player-bought homes change the landscapes; the ground becomes discolored if orcs own the area rather than the elves; rogues move to vulnerable points to work their craft.

I've also found it strange that a play can kill wolves in the same area all day long and there's no increase in rabbits, or that the animals have level-based zones. Level ten rogues lounging about huts next to a human city? Yeah, there's criminal genius for you.

-Eric