Well, I promised to do something lighter after the last two weeks, so here we go:
Over the course of the last year I really got into Minecraft. Now obviously the thoughts "took you long enough" and "who doesn't love Minecraft?" are probably the first things you're going to think, but stick with me. I had played Minecraft before, back in the earlier days when the game was new, and it never really grabbed me. Sure, the game was fun to play around in with friends, but once you've built your house you quickly start to run out of things to do. It was during this past year that I discovered modded Minecraft, which is a whole different animal.
Adding mods to Minecraft opens up a whole new world. Mods for Minecraft can do anything from add weapons and armor to totally change the way you create tools and build things. Some are just quality of life improvements, to fix annoying things about the vanilla Minecraft game, while others add whole new mechanics like electricity management and dynamic storage. The big draw of these kinds of mods are to be put together into a "modpack", which can be downloaded all at once, and played on a server running the same modpack. There are several launchers that allow you to create, distribute, and download modpacks, including Technic Launcher and FTB.
These modpacks are where the "game" of modded Minecraft really shines. Numerous mod authors have designed their mods to be compatible with other mods, which means you can have numerous mods in place, which can all interact with each other, and allow you to build crazy contraptions that wouldn't otherwise be possible. Let me try to give you an example:
The primary method of "power" that many mods use is called Redstone Flux (or RF for short), which is measured in how much is produced each in game tick (RF/t). This power can be generated by machines using a variety of fuel sources from coal to steam to uranium, and is used to power a variety of machines. A mod called Minefactory Reloaded has a number of machines that run on RF, including ones that can run a farm for you automatically, breed animals, kill hostile mobs, and even automatically mine resources. The usual goal is to create systems that are not only automatic, but also self-sustaining, so once you start them off they will just continue to run for you and produce resources on their own. This is where much of the entertainment of modded Minecraft comes from, being given a certain set of tools, and trying to make your resource gathering and processing as fast and efficient as possible. It's obviously not for everyone, but it scratches my engineering/building itch nicely.
If you ever find yourself asking why someone would drop hundreds of hours on (modded) Minecraft, that's the basic answer. There's something relaxing and cathartic about designing and developing your own controlled systems. Coming up with ideas, testing them, finding what does and does not work, correcting, and then trying again is very relaxing, and creating a finished product is affirming and rewarding. It triggers that dopamine release in my brain just right when everything clicks into place and works properly. If you like to build things, or you like figuring out how things work I highly recommend a tech Minecraft modpack as a great way to unwind.
Next week is a pretty big week for people in my circles. We're getting the final Smash 4 Direct on Tuesday, Star Wars VII on Friday, and the Forge update for Halo 5 at some point as well. I'm going to be quite busy, and that's even before holiday plans. I'll probably have next week's blog post be a (spoiler free!) Star Wars review, since I'll be taking the day off to see it.
Friday, December 11, 2015
Friday, December 4, 2015
Make Sure You Have Time For Everything.
This week's blog post has a little bit of required reading. Why? You'll see.
I'd like to introduce you to one of my favorite authors, David Wong. In addition to writing the twistedly funny "John Dies at the End" and it's sequel "This Book is Full of Spiders", his primary writing job is to be the lead editor of Cracked. Despite the fact that his articles follow the same "5 Amazing Things YOU Didn't Know About _____" clickbait-title scheme as other posts on the site, this is merely a disguise. In reality most of his articles dispense life lessons and harsh truths of reality, which is why I encourage everyone to read them. David Wong is a huge writing influence for me, but more importantly he manages to put a lot of what I see as my life's Philosophy into words, something which I'm going to try to do myself here. So before continuing, please read the following:
Most importantly, read: 6 Harsh Truths That Will Make You a Better Person. This article should frankly be required reading for everyone, everywhere. I know a lot of people who would benefit greatly from the advice here, and it is the exact article that got me writing in the first place (he reposts it every year with updated dates, because it continues to be true every year).
Additionally, 5 Harsh Truths That Will Make You Less Of A Jerk will teach you about the hidden elements of empathy. 5 Helpful Answers To Society's Most Uncomfortable Questions will explain social issues and "privilege" without the ulterior motive of trying to guilt you into something. 6 Ways to Keep Terrorists From Ruining the World will show how manipulation of fear is something to always be wary of. 7 Reasons the World Looks Worse Than It Really Is will prove to you that negativity is relative, and to always consider the bigger picture. 6 Things Rich People Need to Stop Saying (mostly #1) will introduce you to the idea that we all exist as a conjoined world, and that "no man is an island".
Have you read all of them? Good. Now I can continue with my explanation. I see a lot of people around me ask me (or silently wonder) how it is that I do all I do. I work a full time job, run a national level Smash 4 region (I'm driving to New Jersey in like 5 hours!), live and spend time with a fiancée, hang out with numerous friend circles, write this blog, have my own hobbies, maintain a house, and still find time to sleep at night. This isn't meant to be some kind of "humble-brag" post, and while it's true that I do keep myself busy, I honestly don't consider myself to be burdened by any aspect of my life currently. I'm very lucky to have everything that I have, and I try my best to not take anything for granted, but the way I maintain my energy, my humor, my optimism, and my passion for everything in my life through one thing; my personal Philosophy on life.
This isn't about religion, your religion and your Philosophy are two totally different things, although they can be related. Your personal Philosophy is, basically, how you would answer the question "What's the meaning of life? Why are we/you here?". Sure, the answer to that question could be something you read in the Bible, or something your parents told you, but to truly know what your Philosophy of life is, you have to ask the question of yourself.
So what's mine?
The easiest way I can explain it is this: I am a piece, you are a piece, every person on earth, alive or dead is a piece, in a giant puzzle called "The History of Human Existence". Just like a real puzzle, every piece is unique, it won't fit in just anywhere, but the places it can fit are shaped by the pieces that were laid before them. Any piece, on it's own, is useless, because puzzle pieces are made to join together and create something bigger than themselves, but that doesn't mean that an individual piece doesn't matter (have you ever finished a 1000 piece puzzle and found one piece to be missing? Suddenly that one piece becomes very important). It's this balance, between importance of the self and importance of the whole that forms the foundation of my life's Philosophy.
We are only important because we represent a piece of something much bigger than ourselves, but because we are a part of something so big, old, and important, we ourselves become important simply by joining up to become it. Your personal worth and the value of the human race are intimately intertwined, the more you do to advance humanity as a species, the more valuable you become to yourself and others, but the inverse is true as well. If you retract from other people, not only does your inner value decrease, but the world is a worse off place for your absence (remember: that last piece is very important).
You don't have to be the president, the pope, or the prime minister to change the world, sometimes just being yourself is enough. The lives of every past human, from the greatest of leaders to the worst criminals have led us to where we are today, every single one of them was important in crafting the world we see around us right now. In much the same way, you, me, and everyone alive today is in the process of shaping this world for future generations. Maybe you won't change the world, maybe you won't ever find the one thing, or the one person you're looking for, but someone you influenced might, or someone who descends from you might. Do you think that Abraham Lincoln's parents knew they were raising someone who would change the world? What about his childhood friends, or his distant relatives? Don't you think it's possible that they, and many others, had an impact on his life which led him to make the choices he did, and become the person he was? Even someone as important as our 16th president was built from his experiences with the world around him, which means that the people he interacted with played a huge role in shaping the world, even though they probably didn't realize it.
This is why I find the view of "pulling yourself up by your bootstraps" so reprehensible. No one alive today is where they are because of their own hard work alone. Everyone on Earth is where they are and has the things they have because of the foundation that the people who came before us laid down. Is the world perfectly fair and even? No, but to pretend that you or anyone else is where they are through completely independent means is asinine.
This puzzle of life isn't finished, not by a long-shot, but it has been steadily built over the course of the last several hundred thousand years. It'll continue, long after you or I is gone, which may cause you to view the whole thing as futile. "What purpose could a small piece such as I have in a puzzle so gigantic?" Remember, as the puzzle is completed, every missing piece becomes more and more important. The longer you deny your interaction and impact on the world around you, the more you will start to feel like you don't belong at all, which couldn't be further from the truth.
So what's your life's Philosophy?
I'd like to introduce you to one of my favorite authors, David Wong. In addition to writing the twistedly funny "John Dies at the End" and it's sequel "This Book is Full of Spiders", his primary writing job is to be the lead editor of Cracked. Despite the fact that his articles follow the same "5 Amazing Things YOU Didn't Know About _____" clickbait-title scheme as other posts on the site, this is merely a disguise. In reality most of his articles dispense life lessons and harsh truths of reality, which is why I encourage everyone to read them. David Wong is a huge writing influence for me, but more importantly he manages to put a lot of what I see as my life's Philosophy into words, something which I'm going to try to do myself here. So before continuing, please read the following:
Most importantly, read: 6 Harsh Truths That Will Make You a Better Person. This article should frankly be required reading for everyone, everywhere. I know a lot of people who would benefit greatly from the advice here, and it is the exact article that got me writing in the first place (he reposts it every year with updated dates, because it continues to be true every year).
Additionally, 5 Harsh Truths That Will Make You Less Of A Jerk will teach you about the hidden elements of empathy. 5 Helpful Answers To Society's Most Uncomfortable Questions will explain social issues and "privilege" without the ulterior motive of trying to guilt you into something. 6 Ways to Keep Terrorists From Ruining the World will show how manipulation of fear is something to always be wary of. 7 Reasons the World Looks Worse Than It Really Is will prove to you that negativity is relative, and to always consider the bigger picture. 6 Things Rich People Need to Stop Saying (mostly #1) will introduce you to the idea that we all exist as a conjoined world, and that "no man is an island".
Have you read all of them? Good. Now I can continue with my explanation. I see a lot of people around me ask me (or silently wonder) how it is that I do all I do. I work a full time job, run a national level Smash 4 region (I'm driving to New Jersey in like 5 hours!), live and spend time with a fiancée, hang out with numerous friend circles, write this blog, have my own hobbies, maintain a house, and still find time to sleep at night. This isn't meant to be some kind of "humble-brag" post, and while it's true that I do keep myself busy, I honestly don't consider myself to be burdened by any aspect of my life currently. I'm very lucky to have everything that I have, and I try my best to not take anything for granted, but the way I maintain my energy, my humor, my optimism, and my passion for everything in my life through one thing; my personal Philosophy on life.
This isn't about religion, your religion and your Philosophy are two totally different things, although they can be related. Your personal Philosophy is, basically, how you would answer the question "What's the meaning of life? Why are we/you here?". Sure, the answer to that question could be something you read in the Bible, or something your parents told you, but to truly know what your Philosophy of life is, you have to ask the question of yourself.
So what's mine?
The easiest way I can explain it is this: I am a piece, you are a piece, every person on earth, alive or dead is a piece, in a giant puzzle called "The History of Human Existence". Just like a real puzzle, every piece is unique, it won't fit in just anywhere, but the places it can fit are shaped by the pieces that were laid before them. Any piece, on it's own, is useless, because puzzle pieces are made to join together and create something bigger than themselves, but that doesn't mean that an individual piece doesn't matter (have you ever finished a 1000 piece puzzle and found one piece to be missing? Suddenly that one piece becomes very important). It's this balance, between importance of the self and importance of the whole that forms the foundation of my life's Philosophy.
We are only important because we represent a piece of something much bigger than ourselves, but because we are a part of something so big, old, and important, we ourselves become important simply by joining up to become it. Your personal worth and the value of the human race are intimately intertwined, the more you do to advance humanity as a species, the more valuable you become to yourself and others, but the inverse is true as well. If you retract from other people, not only does your inner value decrease, but the world is a worse off place for your absence (remember: that last piece is very important).
You don't have to be the president, the pope, or the prime minister to change the world, sometimes just being yourself is enough. The lives of every past human, from the greatest of leaders to the worst criminals have led us to where we are today, every single one of them was important in crafting the world we see around us right now. In much the same way, you, me, and everyone alive today is in the process of shaping this world for future generations. Maybe you won't change the world, maybe you won't ever find the one thing, or the one person you're looking for, but someone you influenced might, or someone who descends from you might. Do you think that Abraham Lincoln's parents knew they were raising someone who would change the world? What about his childhood friends, or his distant relatives? Don't you think it's possible that they, and many others, had an impact on his life which led him to make the choices he did, and become the person he was? Even someone as important as our 16th president was built from his experiences with the world around him, which means that the people he interacted with played a huge role in shaping the world, even though they probably didn't realize it.
This is why I find the view of "pulling yourself up by your bootstraps" so reprehensible. No one alive today is where they are because of their own hard work alone. Everyone on Earth is where they are and has the things they have because of the foundation that the people who came before us laid down. Is the world perfectly fair and even? No, but to pretend that you or anyone else is where they are through completely independent means is asinine.
This puzzle of life isn't finished, not by a long-shot, but it has been steadily built over the course of the last several hundred thousand years. It'll continue, long after you or I is gone, which may cause you to view the whole thing as futile. "What purpose could a small piece such as I have in a puzzle so gigantic?" Remember, as the puzzle is completed, every missing piece becomes more and more important. The longer you deny your interaction and impact on the world around you, the more you will start to feel like you don't belong at all, which couldn't be further from the truth.
So what's your life's Philosophy?
Friday, November 27, 2015
It's Like Herding Cats, and I'm Thankful for it.
Oh boy event coordination. I suppose since it's the day after Thanksgiving, I should be talking about what I'm thankful for. If there's one skill I have, that I'm most thankful for, it's the ability to coordinate and lead groups and events. It probably sounds self-centered, but trust me when I say organizing people is not easy. Having the ability to organize and coordinate things like parties, tournaments, game nights, and road trips is just as much of an art as it is a skill, and many aspects of it are things that can't be learned, only experienced and practiced.
I've been creating, running, and organizing events for over a decade at this point, and while it's tiring work, a lot of it is second nature to me now. My first major events that I hosted we're Gamestop Pokemon tournaments, back when I worked there. It was only a yearly event, to coincide with the release of new games, and our attendance varied wildly. The first year we only had fifteen or so people, most of which were friends of mine. The second year we had 120, which I ran as a single elimination bracket, with nothing but a pen and paper. After that I made sure to use computerized bracket making software for tournaments, but I also moved on to hosting school events, charity events, and holiday parties.
You're probably not here for my history though, you're here for my secret. Pretty much everyone tries to host an event at some point, whether it be an online meetup for games or in person events like parties. If you've tried to host an event at any point in your life you probably got struck by just how hard it is. Sure, having some friends over to hang out isn't the hardest event to plan, but you also get to take a lot for granted in that scenario. You and your friends know each other, and are already comfortable communicating. You all probably have a similar idea of what a successful and unsuccessful event look like, and you aren't super invested in anything beyond hanging out with your friends, but hosting an event with public attendance, or that is welcoming to newcomers is totally different.
There are a lot of things necessary to run events smoothly; backup plans, well tested equipment, proper setup time, marketing and outreach, etc. The number one thing you need though, as an event host, is confidence.
It sounds cheesy, sure, but when running or hosting an event where you need people to follow directions or achieve a common goal, the best way to get them to treat you like a leader is to act like one. There's lots of evolutionary reasons why people are more inclined to follow someone who speaks and acts with confidence, I won't go into them here, but the basic idea is that who the leader is doesn't really matter, what matters is what they're doing and if people agree with it. In some social circumstances, independent thought and creativity are key when it comes to getting successful results, but for events a more organized and coordinated, even military-like discipline is more effective. The way you have to think about it is this; even for a competitive event, like a tournament or a sports game, all of the participating parties have the same overall goal, to have the event run smoothly in a way they can all agree on. Just because players are competitive with each other doesn't mean they are also trying to fight the event itself, it's usually just the opposite.
This turned out to be a bit more of a ramble than I had initially planned. A lot of what goes into making a successful community leader is patience and experience. Even if I wanted to, I couldn't explain everything there is to know about running successful events. So much of it is just trial by fire, and learning to adapt and recover under pressure. It isn't easy, but somebody's got to do it, and I'm thankful for the opportunity to do so.
I've been creating, running, and organizing events for over a decade at this point, and while it's tiring work, a lot of it is second nature to me now. My first major events that I hosted we're Gamestop Pokemon tournaments, back when I worked there. It was only a yearly event, to coincide with the release of new games, and our attendance varied wildly. The first year we only had fifteen or so people, most of which were friends of mine. The second year we had 120, which I ran as a single elimination bracket, with nothing but a pen and paper. After that I made sure to use computerized bracket making software for tournaments, but I also moved on to hosting school events, charity events, and holiday parties.
You're probably not here for my history though, you're here for my secret. Pretty much everyone tries to host an event at some point, whether it be an online meetup for games or in person events like parties. If you've tried to host an event at any point in your life you probably got struck by just how hard it is. Sure, having some friends over to hang out isn't the hardest event to plan, but you also get to take a lot for granted in that scenario. You and your friends know each other, and are already comfortable communicating. You all probably have a similar idea of what a successful and unsuccessful event look like, and you aren't super invested in anything beyond hanging out with your friends, but hosting an event with public attendance, or that is welcoming to newcomers is totally different.
There are a lot of things necessary to run events smoothly; backup plans, well tested equipment, proper setup time, marketing and outreach, etc. The number one thing you need though, as an event host, is confidence.
It sounds cheesy, sure, but when running or hosting an event where you need people to follow directions or achieve a common goal, the best way to get them to treat you like a leader is to act like one. There's lots of evolutionary reasons why people are more inclined to follow someone who speaks and acts with confidence, I won't go into them here, but the basic idea is that who the leader is doesn't really matter, what matters is what they're doing and if people agree with it. In some social circumstances, independent thought and creativity are key when it comes to getting successful results, but for events a more organized and coordinated, even military-like discipline is more effective. The way you have to think about it is this; even for a competitive event, like a tournament or a sports game, all of the participating parties have the same overall goal, to have the event run smoothly in a way they can all agree on. Just because players are competitive with each other doesn't mean they are also trying to fight the event itself, it's usually just the opposite.
This turned out to be a bit more of a ramble than I had initially planned. A lot of what goes into making a successful community leader is patience and experience. Even if I wanted to, I couldn't explain everything there is to know about running successful events. So much of it is just trial by fire, and learning to adapt and recover under pressure. It isn't easy, but somebody's got to do it, and I'm thankful for the opportunity to do so.
Wednesday, November 25, 2015
I'm Back Baby
Due to a combination of interest from people, and my own itch to be more creative, I'm going to be posting here again! The schedule will be every Friday, but I'll do a quick one today as a catch up on where I've been.
It's been almost two years to the day since my last post here. In that time I've been to lots of conventions, made lots of new friends, and played lots of games. Some of my opinions from earlier posts have changed, a lot of the world has changed, but it's amazing how many things stay the same. Going back and reading over my old posts, I find myself agreeing with almost everything still, but nearly all of my older posts are about games, the games industry, or conventions. With this "re-boot" of the blog, I'm going to expand my topics a little. I want to write more about relationships, life, social issues, and overall trends of global activity. This may lead to some people realizing that they butt heads with me on some topics, that's okay! I want to start a dialogue, you can always leave a comment here and I'll do my best to respond. If you feel like I'm out of line or that my opinions are dumb please tell me why! I want to be able to have healthy discussion with people about controversial topics like politics.
Additionally, here's a short list of things that have changed about me in the last two years (which I may or may not write more about):
While I figure out what I want to write about for Friday, take some time to read over my old blog posts if you're new here. They'll give you an idea on the structure of these things, and give you some insight into how I tick. Alternatively, if you're in the mood to watch quick videos featuring a fast talking British teacher, check out CGPGrey's YouTube channel. He has five minute videos on a number of topics ranging from "What challenges are robots and automation going to bring to the global economy?" to "Why does the United States have a two-party political system? (hint: it's math)", and I find him to be an excellent jumping off point for learning about a topic. Seriously though, watch this video of his, it's really eye-opening:
It's been almost two years to the day since my last post here. In that time I've been to lots of conventions, made lots of new friends, and played lots of games. Some of my opinions from earlier posts have changed, a lot of the world has changed, but it's amazing how many things stay the same. Going back and reading over my old posts, I find myself agreeing with almost everything still, but nearly all of my older posts are about games, the games industry, or conventions. With this "re-boot" of the blog, I'm going to expand my topics a little. I want to write more about relationships, life, social issues, and overall trends of global activity. This may lead to some people realizing that they butt heads with me on some topics, that's okay! I want to start a dialogue, you can always leave a comment here and I'll do my best to respond. If you feel like I'm out of line or that my opinions are dumb please tell me why! I want to be able to have healthy discussion with people about controversial topics like politics.
Additionally, here's a short list of things that have changed about me in the last two years (which I may or may not write more about):
- I'm now the Tournament Organizer for the largest Smash 4 scene in New England (and leadership is hard)
- I discovered that Minecraft is super fun (but only if you mod it)
- It turns out that I'm a massive sucker for consumerism, despite earlier rantings to the contrary (the allure of Halo 5 was too strong)
- Getting engaged taught me that feelings are just one part of a successful relationship (love is a choice, whether you make that choice is up to you)
- I'm very excited for the new Star Wars movie (and it's a struggle every day to not cave and buy Star Wars Battlefront)
While I figure out what I want to write about for Friday, take some time to read over my old blog posts if you're new here. They'll give you an idea on the structure of these things, and give you some insight into how I tick. Alternatively, if you're in the mood to watch quick videos featuring a fast talking British teacher, check out CGPGrey's YouTube channel. He has five minute videos on a number of topics ranging from "What challenges are robots and automation going to bring to the global economy?" to "Why does the United States have a two-party political system? (hint: it's math)", and I find him to be an excellent jumping off point for learning about a topic. Seriously though, watch this video of his, it's really eye-opening:
That's all for now, check back Friday afternoons for more.
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