Zomg teh Link Bloggy!

I don't usually link blog because, well, link blogging's for pussies. This here blog be straight hardcore. I'd much rather try to say something myself and link back to previous posts of my own than try to ride someone else's coattails. But, well, I read this over at Mr. O'Brien's other place (Great site. Glad he's decided to update more frequently. Go read it.). And, you know, I don't have trouble putting up content daily for the most part but I do have a ghostfile littered with links and half-finished posts that get less and less relevant as time goes by and more and more difficult to polish into something to share with the class. Because I, too, tend to write in essays and, yeah, those can take a while. And, generally speaking, there's a lot more that I'd like to talk about than I have the time to talk about it in. So, I'm going to try and make a habit of passing along the stuff I'd like to write about if I had the time. Maybe I'll come back and expand on these things later, maybe I won't but maybe, just maybe, getting them out there will help me to get better at writing faster and shorter.

Linden Labs has finally taken that next first step and released Second Life's source code under the GPL. Second Life's one of those games that interests me although I'd probably have an awful time playing it. I like, you know, actually doing things and the social aspect of these sorts of games is usually what drags them down for me – I like a light dusting of multiplayer on my hack n' slash, basically. And, of course, in MMOs the social game is about all they have going for them. But it's an interesting move and one, I hope, that will lead to good things for an innovative and captivating game.

I mentioned the fascist (like fastballs) Strunk and White the other day so let me just pass along a link to the revolution. Poke around there and you'll find plenty of reasons why not to listen to your old grammar teacher.

This is something that everyone who considers themselves a designer should read. And I really hope a few game designers have it tattooed on their foreheads so they have to look at in the mirror every day. I mean, I'll listen to anyone who coins the phrase “time to cock” (Having been around when drawing on the mini-map was first implemented in Guild Wars, I think picoseconds is too large a time frame to accurately measure this, by the way.). The gist: complexity is the hallmark of bad design.

Nerdcore is rising. That is all.

I so want to savage people over the whole Jamil Hussein fiasco but, honestly, I'm just too stunned watching it to muster anything more than a guttural “Whaaaaaa” or two. But I think this piece by Mr. Schwartz over at A Tiny Revolution hammers about a dozen more nails than I ever could so go read that because, I agree, this sort of willful ignorance is incredibly dangerous. I'll also add that if it had been liberal bloggers making these sorts of claims we'd being seeing this hashed out as a repeat of Rathergate. But, somehow, conservative commentators get a free pass on making baseless accusations and inflammatory rhetoric.

Speaking of how the media abrogates its responsibilities as the 4^th estate... Read this and try not to slit your wrists. This whole idea of waging war as a photo op is just really disheartening. Mr. Blair makes a request for help at the end and I hope I've held up my end of the bargain.