Links
So yeah, here’s a few links.
My Job where I work for an online CCG. It’s actually kinda fun, and I get paid to play children’s card games.
Yu-Gi-Oh The Abridged Series. For those of you who hate Yu-Gi-Oh as much as I do.
An AMV I helped make. Yay for more writing. Except in video form.
Awesome Webcomics that you probably didn’t know existed. Fair warning the first three are about transgendered characters, but awesome reads. So if that sort of thing makes you uneasy, don’t read em. Freefall, is just fun. A Wish For Wings is by the same artist who does Closetspace. However it’s a totally different story, and really IMHO her better work. Give it a read. With From Then On Forth don’t be put off by the early artwork. The artist improves a LOT very quickly.
Games
Wonderland
It’s a cute, but sometimes tedious MMORPG that I play, or keep running in the background. somedays I can’t tell the difference. It’s got a lot of unique features, one of which is the manufacturing system. Everyone has a tent they carry around which is more like a small flat. Inside you can build things from materials from the game world. Sort of like CoH’s bases. except the bits are generally easier to find.
The second is the compounding system. With this you take two or more items you’ve acquired, throw them together and produce an entirely new item. Like everything else in the gaming world there’s a system and a bit of randomness. You will know for example that a fur + a flower will make armor type x. But the rank values of those two items will give you the range of item rank values. Until your compound rank gets higher the range is 4 +/- the rank of the lowest item. So a lvl 10 Fur and a lvl 6 Flower could produce anywhere from a rank 4 to a rank 8. Later as your skill rises it could produce a rank 12 if you’re really lucky.
The compounding feature is one of the two reasons I often say the game plays itself. The other is the automated combat feature via the remote control item. The when the remote control is active and your character enters the 2-d combat sequence (think FFVI except the monsters are animated), the programmed attacks you have set (based on the last attacks you made) are then activated. Now the problem with this is that healing during battle is not one of the options. You can set it to heal you after battle but this does you no good if the monsters decide that you look more tasty than that tank of a pet standing in front of you. The remote that does that is in the item mall.
Item gathering is made simpler through the use of the Vacuum Cleaner. Yes this lack of logical reality type device (hey we left logical reality back when you could build stairs and an air conditioner in your portable flat) will allow you to stand near a collection site (Bush, Tree Stump, Ore Deposit, Clay deposit) and collect an item once every 5 minutes. Now this is slower than if you clicked on it yourself to get the item as the recharge time seems to be about 2-2/5 minutes. However it’s less annoying and you can leave it running overnight. There are of course Mining and Collection Skills, that allow you to get the more rare items the more you go from suck to blow (*giggles* Sorry I had to).
Finally there’s pets. Nothing unique to MMORPGs, though in this case everyone is a hunter. You can catch monsters as pets. No pokeballs required. You also get human pets. No they do not wear collars or like to be lead around on a leash. (*hides from her fans who will now rabidly attack her for bad jokes and less than subtle innuendo*) That aside, you can ride them or have them fight for you. Yes you can ride the humans, they sit you on their shoulders and carry you around, despite the fact you’re as big as they are.
Aside from the logical flaws, it’s a pretty fun game, once you get past the tedium of the first 30 levels or so. They also have daily sponsored mini-games where you can win neat prizes. And of course the item mall, which at this time is hideously overpriced.
\Urban Rivals
That place I work for. Urban Rivals
It’s an online CCG (Collectable Card Game) that I personally have found very easy to learn but no less challenging and a lot less confusing than Magic, or most other CCGs. The gimmick here is you have a deck of 8 cards. The system randomly choses 4 of them, and you battle with other players. There’s Pillz which are what you use to boost your character’s attack multiplied by their power.
Character have Abilities and Bonuses. Abilities are what the character can do. Such as Damage +1. They’re always there. Bonuses activate when you have two members of the same clan. Such as two of Montana. The bonuses vary by clan. There’s all sorts of fun pop culture references as well. They host daily tournaments every 2 hours, just be in the room to play, and weekly special format tournaments which allow you to win cards and credits. Credits are what you use to buy packs.