Hurt Galveraxe

Galveraxe has this notorious habit of hacking this site and changing some little subtle thing on it. Can you all please notify me when he does this. There will be rewards for informants and punishments for the silent.

Call of Duty Showdown

Happy Easter

oh so much chocolate.. yumm

A Legitimate Strategy

So only a couple of days after my previous rant, I see this avatar show up in the forums. I didn't really say it in a clear, unambiguous, full directive, but I sure as hell implied it.

Nobody is questioning the legitimateness of camping or sniping. If it wasn't legitimate, you wouldn't be able to do it. You are 100% entitled to camp, and you are completely allowed to use the vast selection of sniper rifles in games. But lets get something clear - if you are on the top of the scoreboard and you were camping. You're not hardcore and you're sure as hell not even "good".

Camping, and for the best of times, sniping, as a means to increase your kills/points is nothing less than typical stats whoring, no more honourable that playing World of Warcraft. I can't stand the person who goes as far as to brag about their score when they've been holding an AWP or camping for the entire match. But it's legitimate, right? Why not? Well, I'll summarise:

1. It's not even fun. It's boring. Just sitting there in a corner waiting for someone to come past only gratifies the n00b that can't score any other way.
2. It's low. If you're watching a race and see another driver pull an unsportsmanlike move, nobody applauds. Camp, you're just the same. Achieving victory like a coward, not a man. Why do we complain? not because you're scoring nor even because you just killed us, but because you're reducing the game to unsportsmanlike behaviour.

So, to conclude my second little rant here, let me make it perfectly clear that camping and sniping are legitimate, and in some cases a good move. It also is unsportsmanlike to camp or to consistently snipe. It does not imply any form of skill, anyone can camp and anyone can snipe, most just choose not to. Campers and persistent snipers only do so because they have POOR skills, and these low, dirty tricks are their only way to get their name on the scoreboard.

I think really I've just wasted 10 minutes writing this, everyone who reads it is either going to agree with obviousness or just bitch some more. I suppose though, if you have a small flame inside your n00by little heart, you might take my advice to banish the thought of camping from your list of tricks and pull out an assault rifle until you actually start achieving a kill the honest way. Like a man. With balls. Be a man camper, come out of your pathetic little tent.

Hardcore Gaming

When I was first attracted to gaming I was lured by innovative games that required intelligence to play. Hell, I remember pulling out a calculator once to time a re-entry pattern on my Commodore 64. You can't say it was a hard game, I was 7 at the time.

I suppose you can't blame the industry, games that require the use of more than 5 brain cells will only be played by a small populace. I don't know what the definitive attribute is that separates people who play MMO's to those who play more intellectually stimulating games, but I often pitch it somewhere between intelligence and openness to experience.

Whether you play games for the gratification of achievement or meaningless statistics I don't care, that is not my quarrel. My argument is with people who call themselves "Hardcore Gamers". The term I always pitched at what was the majority of gamers at the time, and back then the people who played games the most. They were good at games, not one or two games, all games. They didn't need to "train" all day long and make it a sport, they had jobs or a school to go to.

Somewhere today the term 'hardcore gamer' became brutalised when what I would, when I'm feeling polite at least, call an 'enduring gamer'. Playing World of Warcraft, Counter-Strike, Battlefield 2 or Call of Duty all day doesn't make you hardcore. Training 10 hours a day doesn't make you hardcore. And being the best player in Australia for a single game means only you have no life, not that you are hardcore. A camper is not hardcore, a sniper is not hardcore and someone who uses lame or dirty tactics (aka n00b), IS NOT HARDCORE.

An enduring gamer and a hardcore gamer can always be told apart by a simple test. Put them both in a game that is not based on protraction and outside their typical genre. The enduring gamer will say "this game sucks" or "I'm no good at this game" and go back to their usual pseudo-gratifying game. The hardcore gamer will learn it, figure it out and conquer it.

If you want to call yourself a hardcore gamer, then grow some balls and buy a game that isn't perpetually tedious. Expect to lose, stick with it and learn it. Stop killing PC gaming and reversing human development.

The Next Step

Language is an evolution. Any gamer knows that. I think it's time to make the next step in the English evolution. I'm declaring that the word "own" is now a typo of the word "pwn". "Pwn" is officially the term used to imply pwnzorship of an item:

pwn [phn] –verb (used with object)
to acknowledge as one's pwn; recognize as having full claim, authority, power, dominion, etc.:
    He pwned his child before the entire assembly.
    They pwned the king as their lord.

I do this with the power invested in me as King. Well, future King at least.

Pwnzor Christmas and a l33t New Year

Have a good one all. stay safe and enjoy yourselves. Thanks to everyone who has contributed to the clan this year, either administering or being frag bait.

Congratulations to Wombycat

I like to think that BlitZ and myself are a deadly combo in the clan when it comes to Forged Alliance, but tonight a skirmish says otherwise. In a four-player free-for-all Womby put BlitZ on his arse before dealing his final blow, then proceeded to gather an army to come and attack myself.

When I felt I was getting on my feet, preparing to come and put Womby back in his place, a large T3 air raid was deployed to assassinate my commander, which, unfortunately succeeded, marking a major victory for Womby and the first time I've seen both BlitZ and myself fall.

ALL HAIL WOMBY, PWNZOR OF THE MONTH.

World Ending - Sign up to live!

Yes, that's right. The world is going to end in the near future.

Do you want to live and are you not stupid? Yes? Then sign up here to for a full detail of how and why the world is going to end and to be taken to safety when it all goes down.

Unreal Tournament 3 Challenge

To spark interest in the rebirth of the best Deathmatch game in the history of the PC, Unreal Tournament, I'm offering a challenge to anyone who thinks they can defeat me in a dual.

The rules are simple:

• Agreed map preference
• 5 minute warmup on map of choice
• You must be a clan member
• First to 20 frags in Deathmatch mode
• $20 if you win

No catches, you get one shot. Challenge ends when (if) someone wins. If enough interest is raised I'm thinking of a tournament.