I was at the gym yesterday... you know... sculpting my Guns... oh wait, that's not how the story starts. So I'm a the gym and there are a pair of guys there who were dressed oddly for the gym. I'll start by explaining their appearance, and then several explanations I was able to come up with to justify their odd choices of attire.
The two gentlemen were probably in their mid twenties, both wearing unlaced basketball shoes, "wife-beater" tank tops, jewelery, both metal and what appeared upon visual inspection to be hemp. The jewelry was adorned with large (2 to 3 inches) symbols and shapes. They both wore stylish white sunglasses, and beanies.
I have come up with two explanations to justify their choices in attire; the first is as follows.
It is likely that the shoes are loose to facilitate either superior air flow, or reduce friction/pressure against an injury, or a muscular or skeletal defect in the foot or ankle. Given the cumbersome nature of the jewelry, it likely has ceremonial or spiritual meaning and it's removal would be considered unacceptable even under circumstances where it would reduce mobility and agility. As for the sunglasses, chemically induced mydriasis would explain the need to shield the retina from excess light which could damage their optic nerves. While a myriad of psychoactive chemicals can induce mydirasis, the ones that do are usually not conducive to a good workout (i.e. THC, LSD, MDMA, etc). It is therefore more likely that a chemical such as Tropicamide was introduced by an optometrist. Furthermore, it is likely that they both suffer from a defect of the hypothalamus which would explain the need to reduce heat lost through the scalp via the hat, and have perspiration problems with their extremities, necessitating the tank tops. This would also fall in line with the need for the unlaced shoes.
Given the similarities of symptoms and behaviors, the two specimens may be related. Hypothalamal dysfunction of such a specific type would point to a congenital defect, and the coinciding of their optometrist visits further indicates a close relationship.
The other theory is much simpler. They are douche-bags, sworn to defend all that is lame and played out in this world. They probably also like the show "The Jersey Shore" more than they do their own families.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Stress
Stress is a weird thing to me. It usually has two effects. The first is it drives me to want to take drugs or drink myself under the table. Recently however I've been very averse to such behavior as I've been getting in shape for the remainder of snowboard season and my wedding in May. The other effect it has is a sort of psychosis. I get filled with this strange energy that makes my emotions flit from anger to joy, excitement, productivity, depression, and really the whole gambit of human emotion.
I'll spare the gorey details, but suffice it to say, school is becoming quite overwhelming, and putting me under a metric shitload of stress. As a result, I often feel like my mind is unraveling, or that my sanity is being held by a thread and it's only the careful perseverance of my devotion to school work, eating healthy and working out that is keeping it from crashing down like the sword of Damocles.
But as with just about everything in the world, there are balancing points. When I feel motivated and excited, I find myself incredibly creative, energetic, happy and outgoing. It's these fleeting sensations of joy that I cling to as a source of hope when in inevitably cycle into a period of rage and depression.
life is a great wheel. Sometimes it grinds you down into the mud, and other times it lifts you up into the light. You just have to wait for the wheel.
I'll spare the gorey details, but suffice it to say, school is becoming quite overwhelming, and putting me under a metric shitload of stress. As a result, I often feel like my mind is unraveling, or that my sanity is being held by a thread and it's only the careful perseverance of my devotion to school work, eating healthy and working out that is keeping it from crashing down like the sword of Damocles.
But as with just about everything in the world, there are balancing points. When I feel motivated and excited, I find myself incredibly creative, energetic, happy and outgoing. It's these fleeting sensations of joy that I cling to as a source of hope when in inevitably cycle into a period of rage and depression.
life is a great wheel. Sometimes it grinds you down into the mud, and other times it lifts you up into the light. You just have to wait for the wheel.
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Freedom My Ass
I was driving 70mph in a 65mph zone, somewhat speeding but A) there was nobody around that it endangered, and B) driving 5 over is pretty much a norm in the USA. So then the speed limit drops to 55, and I start breaking accordingly. Then I see the radar gun, and the literally 20 cops ahead who already have about 9 cars pulled over in this speed trap.
Setting aside their obvious motivations to raise money in a time of economic hardship, this is complete and utter bullshit. Who's fucking business is it if yours what I do as long as I don't endanger or harm another living being? I'll answer that question with a quote from the infamous Bill Hicks "NONE of your fucking business". So now my completely safe driving delays my next appointment, drains 100 bucks from my bank account with about 80 bucks in it, and removes 2 points from my license. And this is supposed to be the American ideal of freedom?
Wouldn't the time of 20 pigs be better spent chasing down real criminals? Murders? Sex offenders? Domestic violence reports? ANYTHING other than fucking with our days? That's what police are supposed to do "Protect and Serve" as goes the slogan on countless police vehicles. Who the fuck are you serving when you issue a ticket to a broke college student for driving a car completely safely on a public highway? Well, maybe Boulder doesn't have enough violent crime for all the force to focus on, like in LA. THEN DOWNSIZE THE FUCKING POLICE FORCE! All you are doing is giving guns and authority to idiots with too much time on their hands with the vague instruction of "go make the state some money"
20 cops. TWENTY FUCKING POLICE doing nothing but screwing up the days of countless drivers, all of whom were probably driving fine, and never would have gotten into even a fender bender with their driving.
I've always disliked cops. When I skateboarded a lot, they would kick us out of places, ticket us, and generally harass us for pursuing our version of life liberty and the pursuit of happiness, but this is the first time I've felt true carnal hatred for the police. I would never do something like this (Because unlike what the police seem to assume we all are, I'm not a degenerate serial rapist out to kidnap old people and children to feed into my diabolical carbon spewing energy generator run on the forgotten souls of the abandoned) but FUCK I wouldn't mind if a ton of lead razorblades fell on top of each one of these power tripping smegheads.
By the way, there are a few nice cops out there. I've been let out of tickets before because I was a DD, or because he had a sense of humor. Those, I would be saddened if they died, because they are the key to producing a future generation of cops whos intention is to actual PROTECT AND SERVE society. But for the rest of these brainless shitheads, FUCK YOU.
And in case the FBI or whatever is reading this blog, this is just a story. I have no intention of causing any degradation to society whatsoever... unlike you and your bretheren.
Setting aside their obvious motivations to raise money in a time of economic hardship, this is complete and utter bullshit. Who's fucking business is it if yours what I do as long as I don't endanger or harm another living being? I'll answer that question with a quote from the infamous Bill Hicks "NONE of your fucking business". So now my completely safe driving delays my next appointment, drains 100 bucks from my bank account with about 80 bucks in it, and removes 2 points from my license. And this is supposed to be the American ideal of freedom?
Wouldn't the time of 20 pigs be better spent chasing down real criminals? Murders? Sex offenders? Domestic violence reports? ANYTHING other than fucking with our days? That's what police are supposed to do "Protect and Serve" as goes the slogan on countless police vehicles. Who the fuck are you serving when you issue a ticket to a broke college student for driving a car completely safely on a public highway? Well, maybe Boulder doesn't have enough violent crime for all the force to focus on, like in LA. THEN DOWNSIZE THE FUCKING POLICE FORCE! All you are doing is giving guns and authority to idiots with too much time on their hands with the vague instruction of "go make the state some money"
20 cops. TWENTY FUCKING POLICE doing nothing but screwing up the days of countless drivers, all of whom were probably driving fine, and never would have gotten into even a fender bender with their driving.
I've always disliked cops. When I skateboarded a lot, they would kick us out of places, ticket us, and generally harass us for pursuing our version of life liberty and the pursuit of happiness, but this is the first time I've felt true carnal hatred for the police. I would never do something like this (Because unlike what the police seem to assume we all are, I'm not a degenerate serial rapist out to kidnap old people and children to feed into my diabolical carbon spewing energy generator run on the forgotten souls of the abandoned) but FUCK I wouldn't mind if a ton of lead razorblades fell on top of each one of these power tripping smegheads.
By the way, there are a few nice cops out there. I've been let out of tickets before because I was a DD, or because he had a sense of humor. Those, I would be saddened if they died, because they are the key to producing a future generation of cops whos intention is to actual PROTECT AND SERVE society. But for the rest of these brainless shitheads, FUCK YOU.
And in case the FBI or whatever is reading this blog, this is just a story. I have no intention of causing any degradation to society whatsoever... unlike you and your bretheren.
Monday, February 15, 2010
Sennheiser CX380 II Headphones
Listening to music is essential to me, and I would assume many people, when exercising; specifically, listening to music while snowboarding. So frustrated with my old pair of headphones, I went on a search for a good pair for snowboarding. I'll tell you what I had before, what the problems were, and then compare those to the features of the CX380 II Sport headphones from Sennheiser.
First of all, I've never been a fan of over the head headphones for sports, especially ones where I fly through the air and occasionally smash into things. They get unseated easily, and are just that much more material that you can snap off if they hit something. So a few years ago, I tried some ear-canal headphones, and never looked back. It's difficult to get audiophile quality headphones with ear-canal headphones, but once you get past the sensation of something being "deep" in your ear, you can wear them for hours without even thinking about them. And as long as you don't get a pair of Skullcandy headphones, you can usually find ones good enough quality for most activities. In fact, since Skullcandy pretty much sucks across the board with their products (durability, sound quality, comfort, esthetics, price etc), lets just forget about them for the time being.
The model of Sony headphones I have are no longer produced as the same product, but these are probably the closest thing to the revised version of what I have. Comfortable, as is the case with most ear-canal headphones. Good sound quality, with a frequency response covering just about the whole range of sounds audible to humans. For the price, not bad headphones. There were however several issues which made them less than ideal for exercising.
1) Uneven heavy cord. While I like uneven headphone cords on earbuds, the cable was heavy and would slide around a lot, which in addition to causing a lot of cable noise, lead to my next problem.
2) Stability. The ear buds would unseat easily and often fall out under percussive movement (Running, jumps, etc). Having to stop every five minutes up on the slopes, take your glove off, reach inside your jacket and put an ear bud back in can get pretty old pretty fast.
3) Noise cancellation. Now this one is more of a personal preference. When on the slopes it can be actually safer to be able to hear some noise outside. Also, when you are with friends, good noise cancellation means that even at a low volume, you can't hear them through the ear buds. That said however, I like my music isolated. If I'm with friends, I usually don't listen to music, or just put one headphone in. But when I ride with both in, wind chopping against the ear bud gets obnoxious. But while sports were my main concern, I use the same headphones whether I'm at the gym, on the snowboard hill, in the cafeteria studying, or riding the bus. Noise cancellation is very important to me.
Those were my major complaints with the Sony headphones. They weren't bad, but they weren't great either. So after a long search, I opted to get a pair of Sennheiser CX380 II Sport Headphones. Since I'm still recovering from a broken collar bone I haven't had a chance to test them on the slopes, but I've used them in the gym running, at my computer and all around town.
Thus far they have addressed all the problems I had with the Sonys. I can't speak to longevity, but Sennheiser has a pretty decent reputation, so I'm not worried.
Somewhat to my dismay, the sound quality was only a slight improvement from the Sony headphones. I guess with a speaker that's 3mm in diameter, there is a limit to how much definition you can squeeze out of it. However, five minutes fiddling with the graphic equalizer on my MP3 player, and I had them sounding pretty damn good. But like I said earlier, I wasn't expecting audiophile headphones, so it's no biggie.
To address my three concerns with the Sonys, The cable is much lighter and thus pulls less on the ear buds themselves. There is still a bit of cable noise, but it's significantly less than with other ear buds I've tried, and the snugness and noise cancellation helps to muffle what little cable noise there is.
Along with the lighter cord tugging less, the ear buds fit more snugly, and are much more difficult to pull out accidentally. The earpiece has three features that contribute to the stability in the ear. First, the rubber piece catches a bit on the ear, so that if you try to pull it out, the first line of defense is the slight snag on the ear preventing it from coming out. By the way, "catching" and "snagging" were the only words I could think of to describe it accurately. It's not like snagging a toenail or something, it's just a little added pressure to block it from falling out. Secondly, the plastic piece and cord tuck under the ear lobe a bit, adding to the points of contact on the ear which create a source of resistance to it coming out. Essentially an average shock would have to hit in multiple directions to dislodge it easily, so they stay put. Lastly, supposedly the rubber is made from something which functions better to mitigate sweat lubricating the ear bud and sliding out. I don't know if that's any different from other headphones, but it's worth at least mentioning.
The CX380s have significantly better noise cancellation. They are not TRUE noise canceling headphones as in the ones which use Active Noise Control, but the fit very snugly and whatever they do with the rubber, its connection to the headphone and the seal between the headphone and the ear blocks out a lot of noise. Even with no music playing, ambient noise is reduced significantly.
Plus I found mine on Amazon for 38 bucks as opposed to the $75 they usually retail for, so yay me. Long story short, for everything except audiophile sound, these are pretty much great for any situation, and they aren't too expensive.
First of all, I've never been a fan of over the head headphones for sports, especially ones where I fly through the air and occasionally smash into things. They get unseated easily, and are just that much more material that you can snap off if they hit something. So a few years ago, I tried some ear-canal headphones, and never looked back. It's difficult to get audiophile quality headphones with ear-canal headphones, but once you get past the sensation of something being "deep" in your ear, you can wear them for hours without even thinking about them. And as long as you don't get a pair of Skullcandy headphones, you can usually find ones good enough quality for most activities. In fact, since Skullcandy pretty much sucks across the board with their products (durability, sound quality, comfort, esthetics, price etc), lets just forget about them for the time being.
The model of Sony headphones I have are no longer produced as the same product, but these are probably the closest thing to the revised version of what I have. Comfortable, as is the case with most ear-canal headphones. Good sound quality, with a frequency response covering just about the whole range of sounds audible to humans. For the price, not bad headphones. There were however several issues which made them less than ideal for exercising.
1) Uneven heavy cord. While I like uneven headphone cords on earbuds, the cable was heavy and would slide around a lot, which in addition to causing a lot of cable noise, lead to my next problem.
2) Stability. The ear buds would unseat easily and often fall out under percussive movement (Running, jumps, etc). Having to stop every five minutes up on the slopes, take your glove off, reach inside your jacket and put an ear bud back in can get pretty old pretty fast.
3) Noise cancellation. Now this one is more of a personal preference. When on the slopes it can be actually safer to be able to hear some noise outside. Also, when you are with friends, good noise cancellation means that even at a low volume, you can't hear them through the ear buds. That said however, I like my music isolated. If I'm with friends, I usually don't listen to music, or just put one headphone in. But when I ride with both in, wind chopping against the ear bud gets obnoxious. But while sports were my main concern, I use the same headphones whether I'm at the gym, on the snowboard hill, in the cafeteria studying, or riding the bus. Noise cancellation is very important to me.
Those were my major complaints with the Sony headphones. They weren't bad, but they weren't great either. So after a long search, I opted to get a pair of Sennheiser CX380 II Sport Headphones. Since I'm still recovering from a broken collar bone I haven't had a chance to test them on the slopes, but I've used them in the gym running, at my computer and all around town.
Thus far they have addressed all the problems I had with the Sonys. I can't speak to longevity, but Sennheiser has a pretty decent reputation, so I'm not worried.
Somewhat to my dismay, the sound quality was only a slight improvement from the Sony headphones. I guess with a speaker that's 3mm in diameter, there is a limit to how much definition you can squeeze out of it. However, five minutes fiddling with the graphic equalizer on my MP3 player, and I had them sounding pretty damn good. But like I said earlier, I wasn't expecting audiophile headphones, so it's no biggie.
To address my three concerns with the Sonys, The cable is much lighter and thus pulls less on the ear buds themselves. There is still a bit of cable noise, but it's significantly less than with other ear buds I've tried, and the snugness and noise cancellation helps to muffle what little cable noise there is.
Along with the lighter cord tugging less, the ear buds fit more snugly, and are much more difficult to pull out accidentally. The earpiece has three features that contribute to the stability in the ear. First, the rubber piece catches a bit on the ear, so that if you try to pull it out, the first line of defense is the slight snag on the ear preventing it from coming out. By the way, "catching" and "snagging" were the only words I could think of to describe it accurately. It's not like snagging a toenail or something, it's just a little added pressure to block it from falling out. Secondly, the plastic piece and cord tuck under the ear lobe a bit, adding to the points of contact on the ear which create a source of resistance to it coming out. Essentially an average shock would have to hit in multiple directions to dislodge it easily, so they stay put. Lastly, supposedly the rubber is made from something which functions better to mitigate sweat lubricating the ear bud and sliding out. I don't know if that's any different from other headphones, but it's worth at least mentioning.
The CX380s have significantly better noise cancellation. They are not TRUE noise canceling headphones as in the ones which use Active Noise Control, but the fit very snugly and whatever they do with the rubber, its connection to the headphone and the seal between the headphone and the ear blocks out a lot of noise. Even with no music playing, ambient noise is reduced significantly.
Plus I found mine on Amazon for 38 bucks as opposed to the $75 they usually retail for, so yay me. Long story short, for everything except audiophile sound, these are pretty much great for any situation, and they aren't too expensive.
Thursday, February 11, 2010
MMO's and Junk
After my last blog I got to thinking a lot about MMO's and the addictive syndrome associated there with. I think I have nailed it down to three crucial interactive components that drive it's addictive quality. If anyone else has a differering or augmenting perspecting, please comment.
1) Social.
MMO's allow interaction between friends without having to go out and see people. For introverted people such as myself, this is nice because I can talk with someone real without the awkward social interaction that I am somewhat inept at without a high blood content of amphetamines or alcohol. As I once described it, MMO's (specifically World of Warcraft) are a chat room with things to do.
2)Betterment
This was probably a crucial element with playing WoW. From acquiring new gear and leveling, it fulfilled a need to establish myself as a relevant figure among the masses of players, as a superior specimen. While being in the elite few of a simulation is hardly the same as say and Olympic athlete or a soldier, that is the emotions that are evoked in me from playing such a video game.
3)Leadership
From running guilds, raids or party groups, having an understanding of the game allows one to feel in control of the surroundings. Where in real life, the complexities of daily life, school or jobs can seem something of great stress (which I know in the course of graduating), in game, one feels a mastery of the elements pertaining to the game.
4) Substitute for boredom.
Near the end of my WoW career, WoW substituted as nothing more than "something to do" when I couldn't think of something else. But it went beyond that. If I had an urge to do something about my boredom, WoW presented a means of escaping that conundrum.
Again, this is just from my perspective, but this (and I would assume other MMO's) provided me an outlet for many primal necessity such as socialization, accomplishment, activity, and even power. Having broken the spell over me to play WoW, my life seems to be flooded with possibilities to fill the void of boredom in the form of school, snowboarding, and other activities. It hasn't been an easy transition, but ultimately I felt it has been for the best. I've been able to pursue not simply the autonomic impulses inspired by the drug of online gaming (and don't kid yourself, it IS a drug) but the elements which truly make me human such as TRUE social interaction, and love of life in general.
>>UPDATE<< This article sums up some of the points of MMOs and their addictive qualities quite well.
1) Social.
MMO's allow interaction between friends without having to go out and see people. For introverted people such as myself, this is nice because I can talk with someone real without the awkward social interaction that I am somewhat inept at without a high blood content of amphetamines or alcohol. As I once described it, MMO's (specifically World of Warcraft) are a chat room with things to do.
2)Betterment
This was probably a crucial element with playing WoW. From acquiring new gear and leveling, it fulfilled a need to establish myself as a relevant figure among the masses of players, as a superior specimen. While being in the elite few of a simulation is hardly the same as say and Olympic athlete or a soldier, that is the emotions that are evoked in me from playing such a video game.
3)Leadership
From running guilds, raids or party groups, having an understanding of the game allows one to feel in control of the surroundings. Where in real life, the complexities of daily life, school or jobs can seem something of great stress (which I know in the course of graduating), in game, one feels a mastery of the elements pertaining to the game.
4) Substitute for boredom.
Near the end of my WoW career, WoW substituted as nothing more than "something to do" when I couldn't think of something else. But it went beyond that. If I had an urge to do something about my boredom, WoW presented a means of escaping that conundrum.
Again, this is just from my perspective, but this (and I would assume other MMO's) provided me an outlet for many primal necessity such as socialization, accomplishment, activity, and even power. Having broken the spell over me to play WoW, my life seems to be flooded with possibilities to fill the void of boredom in the form of school, snowboarding, and other activities. It hasn't been an easy transition, but ultimately I felt it has been for the best. I've been able to pursue not simply the autonomic impulses inspired by the drug of online gaming (and don't kid yourself, it IS a drug) but the elements which truly make me human such as TRUE social interaction, and love of life in general.
>>UPDATE<< This article sums up some of the points of MMOs and their addictive qualities quite well.
Metaphors for Management
This is the first part of two parts of a lengthy blog I'm writing to reflect on the parallels between business management and running a guild in an online game; specifically World of Warcraft.
I won't get into the details of the psychological revelations I came to from being addicted to that game for over 4 years, but I actually gained something useful in real life from my experience with online gaming.
For a period of about a year, I ran a raiding guild. For those unfamiliar with the concept of Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games (MMO's as they are referred to often by gamers), let me explain what that meant. A guild is a collection of real life players who have a specialized chat function in game, frequently aid each other in in-game tasks, and ultimately team up in groups as large as 40 players at the same time, using VOIP and attempting to achieve certain objectives. Most commonly "raiding" against difficult enemies, requiring tactics, gear, and augmenting potions and what not. Some of you may be beginning to see how this could parallel a management position. If you don't see it yet, bare with me.
When I first proposed the idea to a few of my real life friends, we got very excited about the possibility of putting our expertise about the game into a new guild. We tossed around a few name ideas, and ultimately landed on "Born of Ashes", a reference to the Phoenix; a bird which at the end of it's life incinerates itself only to be reborn from the ashes of itself. We chose this metaphor because many of my real life friends were the remnants of other great guilds which had either fallen apart, or had become estranged for some reason. Getting the guild up was fairly easy, but it would increase in its complexity of management as it expanded.
Once established, we needed players. With raids having a minimum size of 10 players and a maximum of 40, the 4-5 players we had in the guild couldn't run anything by ourselves, not to mention getting everyone online at one time. For about a month we posted messages in general chat looking for warm bodies to fill raid slots. Then we caught a break. One of the random players we had recruited was friends with a somewhat large guild which was falling apart, and we managed to merge with them, infusing about 20 players to bolster our raid strength. Over the course of the guilds existence we did some light recruiting, but with the merger we had little need to grow more.
As the guild grew, it was clear I couldn't run everything by myself and a management structure had to be set up. The structure that emerged ended up being me and my closest friend at the time as the oligarchs with ultimate say in where the direction of the guild went. Below that we had class leaders, one for each class (there were 9 classes). These were our "upper management". They would keep me informed about problems, recruitment, and advise me on their take on the guilds activities and direction. These class leaders were players who had proven themselves to be talented players, but more importantly showed devotion to the guild and its success. Underneath those the two ranks were "raiders", rank and file players who were talented and showed up regularly, and then a rank for initiates or players who chose to be in Born of Ashes for a more social experience.
The next issue we had was scheduling. We set up a forum based site that players could register on so we could assign players to raid times and days. The biggest issue of scheduling was getting the exact right amount of players on and the right mix of classes when we needed them. If we overbooked a raid, many players wouldn't get in, or would have to start their own independent raid, or hope that someone would drop from an existing raid. Any of those options was rarely ideal for the players, and I knew it was undesirable. If we under booked a raid, or had a bunch of players not available, the raid couldn't go till we got enough guild members online, or we filled it out with Pick-up group members (PUGs). Eventually we sifted through some of the superfluous players and got a core group of players who would consistently show up, or at least give ample warning they wouldn't make it. Managing attendance became more an act of motivating people to come to raids since we didn't subscribe to a philosophy of "Wow > Life"
While the "back office" duties were crucial to our success, the most fun part for me was leading raids. Real time interaction with large groups of real players facing ever more difficult challenges became a source of great enjoyment for me. Having been in many guilds before mine, I tried to come up with a customized management strategy that was a compilation of the best traits I had seen, and devoid of the worst. Many of my best traits I adapted from a real life friend of my brothers, whose screen name was Artulean, or R2 for short. He would keep a calm demeanor, and make sure that everyone was clear on their roles for the fights. Unfortunately, like many raid leaders (him less so than others), when things went wrong he would often play the blame game, saying things over VOIP like "Healers, what the fuck was that?". It was my experience that comments like that were obnoxious, unhelpful and detrimental to group morale. As such I used a variety of observational techniques to gather useful information, and dispense helpful, constructive, and optimistic feedback on refining our techniques for encounters. The tools at my disposal were a series of mods for the game which could tell me players movements, actions, damage output and so on. I also relied on the feedback of my class leaders to apprise me of shortcomings among individual classes.
My job was to make sure that the raid worked in perfect symphony so that the healers, tanks and damage dealers were not just fighting on their own, but doing what was necessary to achieve success for the entire raid. Beyond providing positive criticism and feedback, I made sure to acknowledge individual players over VOIP for exceptional performance and improvement from previous attempts. I also made a note of not praising or criticizing the same person over and over, so that each player got attention from me personally at one point or another (If someone truly deserved praise or criticism however, I gave it, with minimal regard for frequency). Most of the time I tried to focus on groups of players rather than individuals. For example, if on a fight the Damage Per Second (DPS) was lacking in a certain area, I would calmly gather any information players had regarding the failure, and then address the problem as a whole, instead of fixing specific symptoms of the larger fault.
This proved a successful technique and we began to quickly progress through to harder content, but as the content became more difficult, so too did my job of managing it. We got to the point where specific "consumables" (Items to buff stats and combat abilities) were essential for encounters, but with a relaxed raiding attitude, we didn't want to force people to spend their free time collecting the materials for such items. So as a result, the duty fell to the officers and class leaders, with mild resentment. More complications to my duties arose, and eventually I was spending about three hours preparing for every 4 hours raid. Trying to balance the guild, my personal life, and my scholastic efforts was becoming impossible. About 9-10 months after starting the guild, I passed off leadership of the guild to one of my close friends, and demoted myself to more of a consultant rank, and I would raid when I had the time.
Once I stepped down as the guild leader, the cohesion began to splinter a bit. Core raiders had to adapt to different leadership styles, different scheduling, and some simply quit. While it would be presumptuous to say that I was the only thing holding the guild together, I do believe that my stepping down, began to unravel things. Had I have worked to instill my leadership values in my officers and class leaders, perhaps they could have carried over the culture on their own. Were it a real business situation, it's unlikely that I would have essentially abandoned the group without planning my succession, but at the time, it was an issue of balancing a game versus real life issues like grades and friends.
Ultimately over the course of the coming months, the guild dissolved with only a few remaining alternate characters in the guild to congregate under the flag on the empire we knew so intimately. Many of the players I led and raided with became real life friends of mine.
That's basically the course of the guild, and what happened. I'm going to post a follow up to this specifically pertaining to the business management. This was one of the longest lasting leadership positions I held, and I dealt with the most complexity and subordinates. While the stakes were almost non existent, I certainly took pride in what I did, and performed to the best of my abilities, and I feel I have gained a great deal of real life experience from the duties I performed for the video game.
I won't get into the details of the psychological revelations I came to from being addicted to that game for over 4 years, but I actually gained something useful in real life from my experience with online gaming.
For a period of about a year, I ran a raiding guild. For those unfamiliar with the concept of Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games (MMO's as they are referred to often by gamers), let me explain what that meant. A guild is a collection of real life players who have a specialized chat function in game, frequently aid each other in in-game tasks, and ultimately team up in groups as large as 40 players at the same time, using VOIP and attempting to achieve certain objectives. Most commonly "raiding" against difficult enemies, requiring tactics, gear, and augmenting potions and what not. Some of you may be beginning to see how this could parallel a management position. If you don't see it yet, bare with me.
When I first proposed the idea to a few of my real life friends, we got very excited about the possibility of putting our expertise about the game into a new guild. We tossed around a few name ideas, and ultimately landed on "Born of Ashes", a reference to the Phoenix; a bird which at the end of it's life incinerates itself only to be reborn from the ashes of itself. We chose this metaphor because many of my real life friends were the remnants of other great guilds which had either fallen apart, or had become estranged for some reason. Getting the guild up was fairly easy, but it would increase in its complexity of management as it expanded.
Once established, we needed players. With raids having a minimum size of 10 players and a maximum of 40, the 4-5 players we had in the guild couldn't run anything by ourselves, not to mention getting everyone online at one time. For about a month we posted messages in general chat looking for warm bodies to fill raid slots. Then we caught a break. One of the random players we had recruited was friends with a somewhat large guild which was falling apart, and we managed to merge with them, infusing about 20 players to bolster our raid strength. Over the course of the guilds existence we did some light recruiting, but with the merger we had little need to grow more.
As the guild grew, it was clear I couldn't run everything by myself and a management structure had to be set up. The structure that emerged ended up being me and my closest friend at the time as the oligarchs with ultimate say in where the direction of the guild went. Below that we had class leaders, one for each class (there were 9 classes). These were our "upper management". They would keep me informed about problems, recruitment, and advise me on their take on the guilds activities and direction. These class leaders were players who had proven themselves to be talented players, but more importantly showed devotion to the guild and its success. Underneath those the two ranks were "raiders", rank and file players who were talented and showed up regularly, and then a rank for initiates or players who chose to be in Born of Ashes for a more social experience.
The next issue we had was scheduling. We set up a forum based site that players could register on so we could assign players to raid times and days. The biggest issue of scheduling was getting the exact right amount of players on and the right mix of classes when we needed them. If we overbooked a raid, many players wouldn't get in, or would have to start their own independent raid, or hope that someone would drop from an existing raid. Any of those options was rarely ideal for the players, and I knew it was undesirable. If we under booked a raid, or had a bunch of players not available, the raid couldn't go till we got enough guild members online, or we filled it out with Pick-up group members (PUGs). Eventually we sifted through some of the superfluous players and got a core group of players who would consistently show up, or at least give ample warning they wouldn't make it. Managing attendance became more an act of motivating people to come to raids since we didn't subscribe to a philosophy of "Wow > Life"
While the "back office" duties were crucial to our success, the most fun part for me was leading raids. Real time interaction with large groups of real players facing ever more difficult challenges became a source of great enjoyment for me. Having been in many guilds before mine, I tried to come up with a customized management strategy that was a compilation of the best traits I had seen, and devoid of the worst. Many of my best traits I adapted from a real life friend of my brothers, whose screen name was Artulean, or R2 for short. He would keep a calm demeanor, and make sure that everyone was clear on their roles for the fights. Unfortunately, like many raid leaders (him less so than others), when things went wrong he would often play the blame game, saying things over VOIP like "Healers, what the fuck was that?". It was my experience that comments like that were obnoxious, unhelpful and detrimental to group morale. As such I used a variety of observational techniques to gather useful information, and dispense helpful, constructive, and optimistic feedback on refining our techniques for encounters. The tools at my disposal were a series of mods for the game which could tell me players movements, actions, damage output and so on. I also relied on the feedback of my class leaders to apprise me of shortcomings among individual classes.
My job was to make sure that the raid worked in perfect symphony so that the healers, tanks and damage dealers were not just fighting on their own, but doing what was necessary to achieve success for the entire raid. Beyond providing positive criticism and feedback, I made sure to acknowledge individual players over VOIP for exceptional performance and improvement from previous attempts. I also made a note of not praising or criticizing the same person over and over, so that each player got attention from me personally at one point or another (If someone truly deserved praise or criticism however, I gave it, with minimal regard for frequency). Most of the time I tried to focus on groups of players rather than individuals. For example, if on a fight the Damage Per Second (DPS) was lacking in a certain area, I would calmly gather any information players had regarding the failure, and then address the problem as a whole, instead of fixing specific symptoms of the larger fault.
This proved a successful technique and we began to quickly progress through to harder content, but as the content became more difficult, so too did my job of managing it. We got to the point where specific "consumables" (Items to buff stats and combat abilities) were essential for encounters, but with a relaxed raiding attitude, we didn't want to force people to spend their free time collecting the materials for such items. So as a result, the duty fell to the officers and class leaders, with mild resentment. More complications to my duties arose, and eventually I was spending about three hours preparing for every 4 hours raid. Trying to balance the guild, my personal life, and my scholastic efforts was becoming impossible. About 9-10 months after starting the guild, I passed off leadership of the guild to one of my close friends, and demoted myself to more of a consultant rank, and I would raid when I had the time.
Once I stepped down as the guild leader, the cohesion began to splinter a bit. Core raiders had to adapt to different leadership styles, different scheduling, and some simply quit. While it would be presumptuous to say that I was the only thing holding the guild together, I do believe that my stepping down, began to unravel things. Had I have worked to instill my leadership values in my officers and class leaders, perhaps they could have carried over the culture on their own. Were it a real business situation, it's unlikely that I would have essentially abandoned the group without planning my succession, but at the time, it was an issue of balancing a game versus real life issues like grades and friends.
Ultimately over the course of the coming months, the guild dissolved with only a few remaining alternate characters in the guild to congregate under the flag on the empire we knew so intimately. Many of the players I led and raided with became real life friends of mine.
That's basically the course of the guild, and what happened. I'm going to post a follow up to this specifically pertaining to the business management. This was one of the longest lasting leadership positions I held, and I dealt with the most complexity and subordinates. While the stakes were almost non existent, I certainly took pride in what I did, and performed to the best of my abilities, and I feel I have gained a great deal of real life experience from the duties I performed for the video game.
Monday, February 8, 2010
Purple Nurple
How to make the "Purple Nurple"
2 pt lemon vodka (Smirnoff or if you are a rich bastard, Absolut)
1 pt Raspberry liqueur (DeKuypers or if you are a rich bastard, Chambord)
Fill with Lemon-Lime carbonated soda (Sprite, or 7up if you are pretentious)
Serve over ice and enjoy.
Its Purple, and it fucks you up like a nipple twister
2 pt lemon vodka (Smirnoff or if you are a rich bastard, Absolut)
1 pt Raspberry liqueur (DeKuypers or if you are a rich bastard, Chambord)
Fill with Lemon-Lime carbonated soda (Sprite, or 7up if you are pretentious)
Serve over ice and enjoy.
Its Purple, and it fucks you up like a nipple twister
Friday, February 5, 2010
Snowboard Jumps
I bent over and lean my hands on my knees. For a moment, I forget where I am and I am focused only on my panting breath and a slight sting in my legs. I don’t even see the world around me, only a vague blur that is my surroundings in the background of my throbbing pulse. After a few moments, look up from the ground to view what is ahead of me. About fifty yards down the hill from me lies a sharp snowy incline which abruptly vanishes at the top. My brain does some rudimentary calculations of how big it is, how much speed I’ll need when I approach it, and how high it will fling me into the air. I then close my eyes and imagine the journey I am about to take. I focus on how I will need to contort myself before, during and after takeoff to spin and grab correctly and safely. I imagine it over and over and over, like a broken record playing the same clip again and again until my body almost twitches to perform the movement I am ingraining in my mind. Once satisfied, I open my eyes, take a deep breath and exhale. The world around me begins to fade out, and my only focus in life is the jump that lies ahead of me. I can feel individual snowflakes landing on my face, the pressure of a faint breeze against my clothes, and of course, gravity grasping the smooth base of my board, beckoning me to slide. Beyond these simple sensations, I think of nothing. I place trust in myself that I have planned my approach correctly. I take one last deep breath and sharply exhale, releasing a rush of adrenaline, and half a second later I turn my board to face down the hill.
I feel like I’m floating on thin air, falling down the hill in a smooth descent that gradually gets faster and faster. Without even thinking about it, my muscles twitch to move the board over the snow, keeping my pace just right. The smooth ramp that had seemed so small from my previous vantage point now grows larger and larger as I fly towards it. Suddenly, I’m no longer falling. The ground beneath me is pushing me upwards, exerting its force on my knees, defying the motion I’d grown accustomed to over the past few eternal seconds. I am pushed up further and further and my pulse matches the ascent. Briefly the image I had so meticulously envisioned flashes through my mind, and suddenly, the ground falls out from under my feet.
Time slows to a standstill as I become weightless, flying through the air. With my right arm, I reach across my body to grasp the heel edge of my snowboard near the nose, sending me into a corkscrew. I imagine this must be what a helicopter feels like when it’s spiraling to the ground, only without the sense of panic. For what seems like an eternity I am just flying and spinning. In this moment of sheer ecstasy, the whole world has disappeared around me, and I simply fly. Contemplating life’s problems, responsibilities, and troubles is as alien a concept to me as a blind man trying to contemplate color. It’s as if I’ve entered a parallel universe where time has no meaning, gravity is non-existent and mere concept of daily tribulations do not exist. So I float on, spiraling in this momentary nirvana I have found, ten feet above the earth.
But the time has come to return to reality. My eyes refocus on the world spinning around me, and I lock on to features to gain my bearings. I’m about to land, it’s time to let go of the board. As I release it, I focus on the snow conditions where I will land, and slowing my rotation to get me straight on the mountain when I land. Suddenly the ground, as if infuriated by my defiance of gravity slams into my feet and binds me once again to the earth as I glide away.
I feel like I’m floating on thin air, falling down the hill in a smooth descent that gradually gets faster and faster. Without even thinking about it, my muscles twitch to move the board over the snow, keeping my pace just right. The smooth ramp that had seemed so small from my previous vantage point now grows larger and larger as I fly towards it. Suddenly, I’m no longer falling. The ground beneath me is pushing me upwards, exerting its force on my knees, defying the motion I’d grown accustomed to over the past few eternal seconds. I am pushed up further and further and my pulse matches the ascent. Briefly the image I had so meticulously envisioned flashes through my mind, and suddenly, the ground falls out from under my feet.
Time slows to a standstill as I become weightless, flying through the air. With my right arm, I reach across my body to grasp the heel edge of my snowboard near the nose, sending me into a corkscrew. I imagine this must be what a helicopter feels like when it’s spiraling to the ground, only without the sense of panic. For what seems like an eternity I am just flying and spinning. In this moment of sheer ecstasy, the whole world has disappeared around me, and I simply fly. Contemplating life’s problems, responsibilities, and troubles is as alien a concept to me as a blind man trying to contemplate color. It’s as if I’ve entered a parallel universe where time has no meaning, gravity is non-existent and mere concept of daily tribulations do not exist. So I float on, spiraling in this momentary nirvana I have found, ten feet above the earth.
But the time has come to return to reality. My eyes refocus on the world spinning around me, and I lock on to features to gain my bearings. I’m about to land, it’s time to let go of the board. As I release it, I focus on the snow conditions where I will land, and slowing my rotation to get me straight on the mountain when I land. Suddenly the ground, as if infuriated by my defiance of gravity slams into my feet and binds me once again to the earth as I glide away.
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