island tales #26

it's tuesday!

this week is turning out to be busier than expected. the malacca trip thingie is off for now, as everyone here is running around getting stuff done, so this weekend is definitely going to be a welcome relief for everyone at work...

had a nice hotel buffet dinner last night for a grand total of RM4 (for the parking). it was held at evergreen laurel along gurney drive, which coincidentally was one of the places where we visited way back in first year, with the gals in my batch. actually, i would've totally forgotten about the place if it wasn't for the fact that chen was there the last time as well.. :P i found it nice, but was kinda full driving back. *burp* so decided to skip the monday post, hope nobody missed me.. ;)

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and let's talk about dota! yes that's right, again. i'm well aware that there are plenty of unhealthily fanatical people out there whose lives revolve around this game. and i'm also well aware that, on occasion, i'm one of them! haha. trawl through the net and you'll probably find lots of fanboy rants and an equally vocal amount of anti-dota sentiments hammering the dota lunatics and their obsession with the game.

hm. quick background then for those who are lost: dota (defence of the ancients, and more often than not refers to the dota all stars version) is one of the many many custom maps available for warcraft III, and it happens to be the most popular by far in malaysia. it pits 2 teams of 5 players each (or maybe less) against each other, backed by a neverending stream of disposable soldiers controlled by the computer. there are three lanes between the 2 teams, and first one to wipe out the enemy's Big Building wins. simple, isn't it? :P

as to WHY it's such an addictive game: i really have no idea, but i would hazard that it's because the game rewards teamwork as much as individual skill, and so it appeals to quite a wide spread of its audience. prefer to support? be a healer. love sneaking around? bone. or be a spellcaster, close-range fighter, or even the guy who has so much hp, he just sits there and gets hammered by the opponents while grinning (the term is 'tank').

in this sense, it's got plenty in common with superhero comics (a small team of individuals with diverse skills and abilities... naruto, anyone?), sports games (5 on 5 basketball demands tactics, teamwork and skill as well), and warcraft III's production qualities are so high that the various special effects feel incredibly satisfying even on low end computers.

so why are there people complaining (mostly girls, as far as i know) that guys prefer this stupid game to their companionship? and for the record, carol does feel that i spent way too much time on this game last semester (the root cause of a few of my reddened ears)...

i haven't the faintest clue, except for the assumption that it's because a single bloody dota game usually takes 30 minutes to 1 and a half hours to complete, averaging just over one hour. this means that once you start the game, you wont be able to walk away until an hour later (on average!). and guy, notoriously enough, have the self preservation tendencies of a suicidal lemming, so even with half an hour left before something happens (i.e. the gf pops up online, gf shows up at the door or gf wants to go shopping) they would STILL decide that they have ample time to finish a game. and since you are heavily discouraged to leave halfway through a game (penalty is usually some kind of ban from future games), guys will stay glued to the monitor throughout the game, screaming at whoever is beckoning in the real world to "wait just one second im about to pawn these guys!!", and this leads to flare ups and a sense of extreme annoyance on whoever is waiting for these baboons to get back to their real life.

and yes, on occasion, i have done it all. guilty as charged! not so much on friends (since almost all of them play the damn game as well), but definitely on my mum and on carol, lol. oh, and once i was (ever so slightly) late for a lab session in uni because of dota. but (importantly), not always... more often than not, i'd choose to do SOMETHING ELSE now if i realise there are people waiting for me, or simply if i can't afford to spend the time to finish that one game.

so girls (and parents)! here's a friendly piece of advice. there really is no need to stop anyone from the game, but there sure as hell is a need to make sure they don't get so absorbed in it that they lose all sense of the real world. freely admitting that i am a gaming geek, i still try to get most of my work in the real world done (studies, projects, tutorials, housework) before relaxing in a game. of course, i wish you the best of luck in changing the attitude of a guy (it's unbelievably difficult, isnt it? ;P), but if i were you, the best solution would be to (jeng jeng jeng) introduce him to some other EVEN MORE ADDICTIVE game that allows you to quit any time you like (haha..), so he would at least have something to play while waiting for you, you won't need a crowbar to pry him from the computer, and you can save everyone involved a lot of grief. if this still doesnt work, then i suggest you turn off the computer's power supply the next time it happens, and then cackle in glee as he leaps screaming and spitting back into the real world... :P

i'm only writing this because carol referred me to some of the dota victims' exasperated cries for justice on the web, and i thought i'd offer my own views on it.

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well that was a pretty long post. i'd better get back to work, it's gonna be a long day. do leave your comments as usual, there is the usual chicken-or-beef choices of the comment box below or the shoutbox to the left. take your pick. would probably only be able to reply by tonight... until then, im off!