Virtually sweaty

There's a new page available at the Character Development blog.

One of the oddest little online games I'm addicted to is a Football 'roleplaying' game. The RP elements are minimal, but you do get to guide the development of your character in terms of their stats. You also get to play the games in real-time, on a virtual pitch, with other players.

I have two characters. They started out in New Zealand, but were soon snapped up by East European sides. So twice a week now I get to conference call on Skype with the players for a Romanian virtual soccer team.

There's a lot of chat in ... well, I'm guessing Romanian ... that I don't understand, but we communicate well enough to organize an effective off-side trap.

The other day my wife sneezed nearby and several accented voices said "Bless You".

My wee daughter was watching me play once and loudly announced that "This game is boring!" Peels of laughter from Romainia, Brazil and Scotland could be heard (It is a international squad).

The world really is getting t be a smaller place.

Now excuse me, I have to virtually run my arse off defending one side of a virtual football pitch.

Real feelings for virtual people

One of the oddest, yet most compelling, blogs I've found is the Alice and Kev blog by Robin Burkinshaw. It is a daily illustrated story of two homeless people, a father and daughter, but the story is being played by Burkinshaw in the Sims 3 game. Some clever editing and a feel for pathos makes the story seem far more than two game characters. I find myself actually feeling for these virtual creations.

Burkinshaw is a student of games design, and has a history of trying to subvert the intentions of games and push their limits. There's a very funny related blog about the game Space Rangers 2. The aim of the game is to become the best Space Ranger in the galaxy ... but Robin's method was a little unorthodox, and very funny in the telling. There's also a downloadable collection of Spore creatures that push the limits of reality.

Alice and Kev have a large online following, and my wife and I are addicted enough to check for the daily update every day. Because Burkinshaw lets the game decide much of what happens there is a real degree of not knowing what will happen next. Will Alice escape the clutches of her abusive father? Can she form meaningful relationships with the other Sims when she seems incapable of trust? Will Kev go too far in his outlandish behaviour? Are there consequences in the game for actions we would find abhorrent in real life?

It's a geek soap opera for the post-modern age. Check it out and get hooked.

Mr Blobby

I'm still carrying a bit of pregnancy weight. Yes, I know ... I'm male ... I didn't have a baby inside me. But I did gain weight during my wife's pregnancy, and it turns out not to be that uncommon. (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/8063004.stm) I'm pleased that I'm not alone in my pregnatory gluttonacity but I am still a little embarrassed by it.

The reasons aren't to hard to work out ... my wife's diet changed during pregnancy, and so mine did as well. But in my case it wasn't all food related, exercise was less frequent than before ... all kinds of exercise.

Don't get me wrong, though. I had, and still have, the easy part of the whole child-rearing experience. The morning sickness, the wriggling parasite growing inside, kicking, clawing, growing. The hormones that made her suddenly cry at chick flicks ... which at least meant I wasn't crying alone. The feeling that your body is no longer under your own control. A feeling that continues for months afterwards thanks to breast-feeding ... I swear our wee boy sees his mother and thinks, "Cor! Look at the food on that one!"

My part is much less strenuous. Perhaps that's another reason why I'm still carrying that pregnancy weight? So I'm trying to lose some flab ... although not as much as my Wii tells me I should. The Wii Fit game informs me in its perky little voice that I'm dead already. Obese! The greatest of all modern lifestyle sins. Maybe I need to travel back in time ... to the dim distant days of 1934 ... when being 'naturally skinny' was a bad thing. Somehow inventing a time machine seems like an easier task than losing weight.