Roleplaying on World of Warcraft

Roleplaying on World of Warcraft is a messy affair. Many people that play on a Roleplay Server do not understand the seperation of imagination from the real. This is one of the lessons I learned this week. So, lets talk about Roleplaying on World of Warcraft, and what it means.

Roleplaying in a fantasy world means that the life you roleplay in that world is just that -- Fantasy! In World of Warcraft, when you RP, you can be anyone, at any time, at any place. Its a fantasy, this means that it isn't REAL! Nothing that happens on World of Warcraft is meant to be real when you roleplay.

So here is my Rant for roleplaying on World of Warcraft. It either doesn't exist, it's frustrating, and its something that can cost you friendships if you aren't careful. People who play on the many World of Warcraft Roleplaying Servers are not Roleplayers at all! They play World of Warcraft for the fun of it and when you do RP, they think you are projecting your real self all the time.

It makes me sick that people confuse romance on an RP server in World of Warcraft to be the real thing. Although I had many opportunities to build a romance, I bungled them all. This is because people can't discern what is fantasy with what is real. So, if you want to play in World of Warcraft, I suggest buying the World of Warcraft pencil and paper RPG. Then you get a group of friends and have a grand time of free entertainment.

The idea to create a living novel, or story, is very appealing to creative types. It also is very fun and very exciting. The dynamic that World of Warcaft actually presents is strong and powerful, if everyone roleplayed their roles and understood that what happens in World of Warcraft, under a RP server, does not have a bearing on the real world.

So keep this in mind when playing World of Warcraft. Roleplaying in World of Warcraft does not usually exist, and when it does, becareful because most people have a tendency to blend the real world with the fantasy world.

Jules Verne

Before I talk about the Journey to the Center of the Earth film I saw yesterday, I should probably talk about the Grandfather of all Science Fiction: Jules Verne. Jules Verne is an inspiration to me in various ways. although more indirectly through movies produced based on his works than with his works themselves.

Jules Verne is responsible for my journey into Atlanteology. More so than Ignatius Donnelly, which I will talk about later. Jules Verne, when he wrote his Exploration Imaginares, was a visionary man. He also inspired many people to build on his ideas. These people are called Vernians, since they take Jules Verne's writings as fact.

At present, my favorite novels of his are: A Journey to the Center of the Earth, Paris in the Twentieth Century, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, and Around the World in Eighty Days. The last of which inspired a Forgotten Realms novel -- Around the Realms in Eighty Days.

Jules Verne is the Author who wrote memorable impressions of Atlantis. Atlantis was first introduced in Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea as a group of ruins. Something that stayed in my mind.

Many authors of Adventure and Science Fiction look to Jules Verne for inspiration. Aside from Sir H. Rider Haggard's King Solomon's Mines and his adventures of Alan Quartermain, Jules Verne is directly responsible for today's Adventure and Science Fiction. Aside from Plato, which started the Fantasy and Science Fiction Genre (if you read the Timaeus and Critas, which I have) Jules Verne has helped many bring their imaginations to life. And George Lucas is right, there are people without imaginations.

Dreamweaver

Working with Dreamweaver is a little more involved than I had anticipated. I'm not sure where to start working with Dreamweaver since I had first worked with Dreamweaver before. Using Dreamweaver to work on my new webpage has brought me some consternation. Taking a beginning web authoring class should help.

As you can see, I'm still planning my "Journey to Atlantis" website. One of the stock photos I'm collecting for the site is this Temple of Karnak photo. All the photos will come from Stock Exchange; and will be selected for non-profit website use.

This is going to be an awesome web page. Not much flash content, since I can't get the hang of it without someone teaching me step by step some of the stuff I can do with it. But since it's about campaign options, not much flash will be needed.

Meanwhile, enjoy this cult classic song.

A New Friend

I have met and made a new friend in Vicki Layne. Everyone else, as far as her conversion to Nudism goes, I have little in the way to worry about it. I don't think she's even a clothist. She skinnydips, sunbathes naked, and everything else. She's also not an exhibitionist, since she doesn't even exhibit her WoW avatar for the kinks of others.

I believe she's a "secret nudist." She'll be naked, but only in secret; without anyone watching. In otherwords, she's a nudist in a tortoise shell waiting for a good reason to burst out. She just needs the right social circumstance to try social nudity, and then I think she will try it like a fish to water. As it stands, I think she will only get naked for me.

I'll see how it goes with her, to see if she is open to trying it later. If she is, I'll invite her down here and try to see if we can get in on some nude Karaoke or a social skinnydip somewhere where we won't get in trouble. Maybe Diamond Fork.

Journey to Atlantis

Rather than make up an entire book devoted to Atlantis, I think I shall make up a webpage instead. The web page, called "Journey to Atlantis" will focus on gaming in Atlantis and will provide options on how you can roleplay in Atlantis with a variety of Game Systems.

The web page will also explore Atlantean themes, and use stock photos as well as illustrations to deal with Atlantis: the tale, the Archaeology of Atlantis, Atlantis in Myth and Legend; and so forth to help you have a good background on Atlantis to produce a powerful game for your players.

The website is designed to give you options, and is pretty much system generic. It's going to be a fun web page about Roleplaying in the one city that captured man's imagination since Plato.

Confessions #5

Hi,

Apparently, I'm teasing myself.

Months ago, my Mom felt that I was actually going to get married and have children. I believe her in principle. However, I see little of how I'm actually going to have a happy marriage with the usual Latter-Day Saint woman. I've changed so much that I felt that I can't have a marriage without a dimension of nudism, naturism, or skinnydipping in it.
The last LDS girl I've dated hated nudity, she thought that the body was ugly, and a wicked thing.

That was before I was talking seriously about getting together with another woman, with two kids as part of the package. She hated nudity, but worse of all, she couldn't see how our relationship would work, so she broke up with me. Then I met a girl through the same medium: WoW.

She's a full nudist, 19, and probably has an attractive body. I'll never know since she quit WoW; good for her. Really. So I left my email address with her brother -- who is trying to prevent us from communicating. He believes that on-line relationships eventually end up in heart break.

I told him that I've been proven wrong thrice, meaning I also believed such. Three of my cousins met their mates through on-line relationships. Daniel, Melinda, and Angie (last names removed). Daniel got married and has a happy relationship with his wife, even though a terrible car crash took his life. Melinda met Andreas (whomever) through Everquest. She flew to Norway to marry and be with him. Angie met Mojosam (the guy's real name I do not know) on WoW, and she recently moved in and is currently co-habitating with him.

(if you are going to demonize her in your heart, please stop now. I've been communicating with her enough to know that she and Mojosam happy with the arrangement. )

With this last girl, I think I messed up big time. I never fully intended to do anything; just have fun and act out the fantasy of being a nudist. However, I desire to be with this girl. She's fully the manifestation of my desires, and I desire to communicate with her more thoroughly.

However, it is clear to me that a normal, dyed in the Wool, LDS marriage with the regular LDS girl from Utah is probably going to cause a problem. I can't be with a woman who thinks her body and my body are ugly; and that nudity is only for sex. It's not going to happen. The marriage will have an element of lust built into it (since she won't want to see me without the temple garment, often). If she's hardnosed, she may complain about my nudism to the Bishop, which could cause a complication.

I can't have a normal, dyed in the wool -- I'm the bishop's or relief society President's daughter -- LDS marriage. I am not Peter Priesthood. I never can be. I never wanted to be cookie cut in that role. I just wanted to be myself.

Journey To The Center of The Earth Flip Side Widget

My New Advenure

Even after the rise of Dungeons and Dragons 4th Edition; I still haven't gotten myself a copy of the books. My gaming group isn't in love with it, so I don't see how I can update and keep them happy.

What is interesting in the release of the Game System License. Although the STL still contained the same language you didn't have to use it. But with the Game System License, you have to use it if you want to produce stuff for 4e. That being said, being a single guy with something to lose; I've decided to write a Dungeons and Dragons 3 1/2 adventure. That being said, the freedom of the OGL is really great and wonderful.

They can't retire it, it's there for perpetuity. The new Game System License is only for the really determined. I can't handle the restrictions of the new Game System License, as it is very hostile to use for a free license. So on with the Adventure.

I'm on the third rough draft of my adventure. The setting is in my Home Region of the Salt Lake Valley and surrounding area. I had to use a satellite photo for my map, since the National Atlas has gotten a little complex. With the nuances of my own home set down for use, I know basically every nook and cranny, I can successfully create a fantasy adventure built around the frame work of my own region. Quite fun actually.

And its a Dark Fantasy adventure. I just finished writing down the scarier part of the adventure. It has werewolves (who can infect you with Lycanthropy with a bite), ghasts, ghouls, and ghosts. Nasty dire animals. Necromancers, assassins, and terrible things that go bump in the night.

Desire is the Key to Success

Most papers on the subject of the divide between the rich and the poor will be arguments of the same nature. They probably lament on the situation of the poor and destitute and provide some arguments on how to solve the problem of poverty in America. However, I am not going to go that route. I am going to argue that desire is the key to defeating poverty in America. Understanding how desire is the key to winning the war on poverty is to visit Erwin Schrodinger and Schrodinger’s Cat.

Quantum Mechanics is the theory of the very small: it is a theory that tries to describe the nature and the world of the Atom. While Doctor Einstein changed the world with his theory of Relativity: both the Special Theory and the General Theory; Erwin changed the world with his thought experiment. Erwin Schrodinger didn’t think that the Copenhagen Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics actually described what happened. He though that the Copenhagen Interpretation left out the importance of Man’s own nature and Man’s interaction with nature. So he proposed a thought experiment.

The thought experiment went like this: your cat is penned up in a steel chamber, along with the a device that includes a Geiger counter, an atom of a radioactive substance that perhaps in the course of an hour it decays. But also with equal propability, it does not decay. If it does decay, the device discharges and through a relay shatters a small flask of hydrocyanic acid. If one left this entire system to itself for an hour, one would say that the cat still lives and no atom has decayed. The function of this system would express itself by having in it the living and the dead cat mixed or smeared out in equal parts.

Erwin also proposed that these cases that an indeterminacy originally restricted to the atomic domain is transformed into macroscopic indeterminacy, and can be resolved by direct observation. In short, Erwin was proposing that the state of the cat: alive or dead, was dependent on our beliefs. When Erwin Schrodinger presented this publicly, he was treated as a pariah and was eventually forced to recant his thought experiment because it proposed that one’s beliefs is a key factor in determining one’s own world. But whether Schrodinger recanted or not, the evidence still stands. Our beliefs and our desires affect our own world in ways that we cannot imagine.

To fight poverty in America, we need to understand how desire and our beliefs actually create our world and how we can consciously create what we desire. According to Schrodinger, a sapient and sentient being is fully capable of shaping his or her world according to his or her desires and beliefs. A sentient and sapient being is effectively someone who is a vibrational being, able to alter the vibrations around him or her to produce a desired result. In fact, a human being or some other sapient is a three part being consisting of the Mind: or Consciousness, the Spirit: or the Subconcious, and the Body: or the Experiencer. Our consciousness creates a desire through a thought, our subconscious brings this into being, and our body experiences this through our five senses. Then we do it all over again, in a never ending cycle of mostly unconscious creation. So, how does this combat poverty?

In America, poverty is treated as a disease or a drug addiction. Many solutions have been proposed to stamp out poverty in the country. Not all of them work because they don’t work from the inside out: they work from the outside in. The solutions include taking the homeless and putting them in shelters. Providing food for them, and making sure they are well fed. So far, no attempt has been made to change their beliefs or their desires for success. They are still impoverished and homeless. After all, he that does not desire wealth will not have wealth.

To actually solve the problem, one needs to realize that desire is the true key to success and one needs to combat poverty on a conscious level. Several key beliefs about money needs to be knocked down among the poor and replaced with new key beliefs. The belief that money is an evil, wicked thing; and that people who have all the money are wicked evil people must be one of the beliefs that has to be replaced by the direct opposite. The belief that money is good, and that the wealthy use their money for good purposes must be held dear in the hearts of America’s poor and destitute.

It is the mission of many success writers to do just this. They combat poverty in America by publishing success books on how to look at money from the angle of the wealthy and thus they are available for everyone to read if they so desire.

Poverty is a problem in America. This is not to be contested, a lot of people see poverty here in America. Putting up homeless shelters, providing debt counseling, and putting up low cost housing will not work in the long run. They are only short term solutions. But if one can change his or her beliefs and desires about money the problem of poverty in America can be and will be solved and everyone will be able to partake of the abundance our land will yield up to us.

Skink

So I bought The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion by Bethesda Softworks the other day and had some fun with it this week. Let me tell you something, it's graphics are amazing. The game's graphics is a lot better than World of Warcraft's. Seriously.

The game has trees swaying in the breeze, rain, wind. . . it's an awesome game. So, I am going to talk to you about Skink.

Skink is my character in TES: Oblivion. As you can probably tell, he is a Lizard Man, or in Wizards' circles -- Lizardfolk ("man" is out of vogue for some reason in academic circles). Anyway, he is a reptoid known as an Argonian in the Elder Scrolls' world of Tamriel.

He is the son of Skink-in-Tree's-Shade: the famous Argonian steward of the Mages' Guild Chapter in Sadirith Mora (in the Imperial Provence of Morrowind). Skink is a 16 year old Argonian who has recently escaped from the Imperial Dungeons, following in the wake of the hero that forged the Staff of Chaos. He also happens to be a spellsword, combining knowledge of fighting with knowledge of magic.

Skink was born in Morrowind, or rather hatched in Morrowind. He has six brothers and sisters from two different creche layings. He was one of twelve, but five had become dead by the pressure of living as an Argonian. Argonians have the same lifespan as Man, living to about 70 years of age (or perhaps longer, living to a maximum of 130 years of age).

Skink grew up, however, away from Morrowind in Cyrodiil, the Imperial Province. His father would tell him stories of the Neverarine, the hero that restored Morrowind to it's proper glory by defeating the evil of Dagoth Ur. How the reborn Neverar would use magic and the sword to defeat his enemies. Inspired by the tale, the eight year old Skink wished for adventures of fame and glory while he was younger, desiring them with all of his heart. He wanted to be like the Neverarine and the Hero of Daggerfall that saved King Lysandus and allowed the Underking to finally die.

Eventually, he went to mage school to train as a spellsword. Skink was a rowdy lot with a lot of talents but no outlet. He tried to show everyone his abilities and what he could do. He eventually turned twelve and entered puberty while on his studies. He also discovered masturbation and would often rub his penis for the good feelings.

When Skink was fourteen, he had made a lot of enemies and even found romance for a time in an argonian teen named Cee-ja. Skink was not very popular growing up. As penalty for being too smart, Skink would be the brunt of bullying. One of the bullies that picked on him was a Breton boy named Jasper. Jasper and his cronies would often tease and bully Skink, driving his self confidence down into the ground (Skink has a low Personality rating: 30 [that roughly corresponds to a Charisma of 8]).

empowering to Skink. Skink effectively turned hOne day, while Skink was swimming, Jasper and the gang stole his clothes. Skink was forced to walk back to the Mages Guild completely naked. Although everyone laughed at him, and the humiliation was supposed to result -- Skink didn't have any trouble at all taking it. He walked naked in stride. He enjoyed his own nakedness, even though it caused many a jeer or even a threat. What was supposed to be an exercise in power by Jasper and his group turned out to beis ideas around about nudity. Skink from then on did not think about nudity as "bad" or "humiliating." But ultimately as a symbol of freedom and power is what nudity became for him.

The bullying stopped, for a while. Jasper and Skink even became good friends. Eventually, Jasper converted to skink's nudism and became a nudist. However, the both of them had their fortunes change.

Both Jasper and Skink were involved in a bar fight. The fight had turned into a royal brawl. Who knows what started it, just that both Jasper and Skink were involved. The ruckus had turned so disorderly that the Imperial City Watch was called in and everyone was arrested and eventually tried and jailed.

Skink hated the jail, he hated his cell, he hated his neighbor who would always tease him, and he hated everything for a period of two years. Eventually, Jasper was found innocent and let go. Jasper hoped for a reunion, but he left the prison. Skink was left, being tormented by his Dark Elf prison mate across the way. Skink also hated his clothes. He hated wearing them and he hated not seeing the sun.

Until that fateful day.

Roleplaying Skink: I'm roleplaying Skink as a Hoplite in the grand tradition of the Athenian hoplites during the Golden Age of the Greek City State. He fights naked except for his sword and his shield and his helmet. He also adventures naked, like Herakles, Iason, Theseus, and Perseus did in the Greek Mythological cycle. Skink enjoys masturbating his penis, though. Mostly because he can't find a companion - wife? - that would like him.

He is also, mostly by accident, the Lord Earl of Battlehorn Castle. Boy, do I have a tale to tell about that one! :D Skink is a Greek Hero, but mostly by accident. Looking over the Oblivion Walkthru, however, it seems that ultimately Skink's tale will have a bit of tragedy in it.

An Atlantis in Eberron?

Well, its not impossible, actually. A city under the sea is a staple of the Genre. Keith and Wizards describe such a sunken city under the Aventi Isles near Sarlona. Called Aventi, it's Eberron's answer to Atlantis.

Not that anyone would try to go there, but it's there. Under the waves. Just waiting for a couple of intrepid explorers from Khorvaire to explore. It's nothing personal, just a way to spend a good couple of weekends looking around for an ancient civilization. After all, what will you expect to find? A stargate? :D

National Association of Photoshop Professionals

I joined the National Association of Photoshop Professionals today. Call me crazy, call me anything you want, I just joined them. I joined them to get a discount on Matt Kloskowski's book on layers. Layers: The Complete Guide to Photoshop's Most Powerful Feature, which you can get for $23.99 as a member of the National Association of Photoshop Professionals. For the price of signing up, I've got some nice benefits. Like watching back episodes of Photshop User T.V. at any time I like. I even get issues of Photoshop User Magazine (YAY!).

Next Time: Schrodinger's Cat -- Doing a report on the Thought Experiment that changed Quantum Physics.