Leveling Up: Why Being a "Noob" Can Be a Good Thing

Being called a "noob" in any game is embarrassing for countless gamers but why should it? We need to expand our understanding of the word. In game theory, there's the a concept called a metagame and metagame analysis that can help us understand why being a "noob" can be a good thing.

First, a metagame analysis is a practical approach used to maximize the utility value of a set of rules that govern any given system. Game theory is usually applied to mathematics or systems to study strategic decision making approaches. In order to understand how this can be applied by the every man you have to understand that life is a system in which it can be applied.

Life is like a game. Most people find hopes, dreams, and goals to work towards in their personal pursuit of life, liberty, and happiness. If you can work towards these goals then it can be viewed as a system that have rules that act like a boundary in which gamers can exist.

The secret to winning most games starts with understanding the rules. If you can do this then you can think your way through and succeed. A metagame analysis of your individual situations can help you achieve your goals. This simple shift in how we view our lives can be beneficial.

Websites like Lifehack collect tips and tricks that make life easier. It is a great site because it is an internet collection of knowledge generated by folks working toward a singular goal. Here's an article that gives tips to reusing old materials.

As an older gamer, I am insulted every time I am called a noob. Being a noob is a state in which the player is learning the rules of the game. In this state, the player is at the peak of their learning and mastery. If I argue that being a gamer is beneficial then it is in this state that I contend we should remain throughout our lives if we are to continue to grow and evolve.

When you don't grow and evolve, you become that asshole that turns to online griefing because the game doesn't provide the thrill for you anymore. These people find it hard to be a noob again, tend to stick to a game for a long period of time, even after it has ceased to be fun. They become internet assholes.

Don't be an internet asshole. Being a "noob" is cool. Gaming can be beneficial as long as there is a balance. Life Leveling through the use of a metagame analysis will make your offline character a level 68 in no time.

Graphic Cards, Gaming Performance, Next Generation Consoles?

Tech guy #1: What type of graphic card did you buy?
Tech guy #2: Well, since I own a heat treated, super enhanced, twinky infused HD 12910, I decided to go for higher rpms per monthly rotation of the sun.
Tech guy #1: Don't you think that each GPU might counter your electric gas powered performance boosted framed per second?
Tech guy #2: No, that's why I am tuned and used my Walmart gift card.

This is exactly how I felt when I stepped into a virtual room after I asked a simple question about video cards. Recently, my computer has been acting kind of funny. Laugh now please. I've certainly heard every joke from porn to some hacker attack.

Who knows? I don't. This brings me to the topic of today's blog entry, technology and gaming.

I bought a new computer last year after consulting a computer friend so that I could play PC games since my beloved computer of 10 years died. I share this with you so you understand at as a young man entering middle age, I've fallen behind the technology curve.

Relying on the Xbox 360 for the last few years made me forget everything about pc tech so now I am trying to figure out how to play PC games with better performance. In the midst of the launch of a generation of consoles I am tempted to jump on board and rely on games that I know will work (hopefully but not always due to bugs and patches but that's a topic for another day.)

Instead, I am going to employ the wait and see gaming strategy because of money concerns. I recently acquired a PS3 at a pawn shop for $50. I played 2 or 3 games that were exclusive to that system but felt greatly disappointed that I had played most of the available games for it on the Xbox 360.

For the next year, I will most likely pick up used games that I did not play in the bargain bin while others play the newest, latest, and greatest. I am hoping that by doing so I avoid the next big gaming console mistake. 

In the meantime, I will troubleshoot my PC and blame my video card every time I experience lag and poor performance. I will scream and be on the bottom of the leader board and be butt of jokes.

Urban's Complaint: Hacking in Online Games

Last night a few Geezers got together to play Red Dead Redemption and some of the expansions. I played this game for a year and half and even created project based learning templates around Red Dead Redemption and the American West. (Skip to next section if you don't care about teaching materials)

When I was teaching my students loved the connections we made to popular culture. Red Dead appeared the summer before I was about to teach American Literature to a bunch of 11th graders. (I'd be happy to send anyone interested in teaching sample project based files that are fully developed for use in a history or literature classroom. Send me an e-mail.) It is safe to say that I loved this game.

My problem was that when the game came out I didn't have a community to explore the online component. Over time I couldn't stand being bullied and cursed at by teens that I put the game aside after I milked every ounce out of the story and achievements.

Cheaters and Hackers

After a week of organizing and scheduling, a handful of Geezers embarked on a back to the past adventure tour of Red Dead Redemption's multiplayer. We quickly explored the shootouts, undead sieges, but when we tried to go into free roam we hit a wall that ruined the game.

We attempted to engage in battles against other groups but other players seemingly zipped across the map, disappeared, and then we were killed by invisible forces. A high pitched voice told us that the game had been hacked and was affecting game play for everyone (unconfirmed).

Regardless if this was due to hackers or poor server maintenance, the word hacker ruined the game night for a group of regular working class stiffs. The thing is that this isn't the first time our group has run into hackers in a game.

Last year I ventured to PC gaming after upgrading from a 10 year system. The lack of money kept me a console gamer happily where lack of community allowed me to avoid PVP and multiplayer games. In a way, I lived in the ignorant bliss of single-player.

Now almost every multiplayer online game has been ruined by cheaters. I mean, I understand why hackers create hacks. Here is an article discussing online security and hacking. It details the financial motivation to creating hacks.

In One Shot, One Kill, No Skill , a cheater, named John, explains why he feels the need to cheat. He says,

""Technically hacking does ruin games," John recently told me. "I do feel bad for doing it, ‘cause I know regular legit gamers—which I once was—just want to have fun and play the game with their friends. I basically go into servers and hack, because it's like releasing anger with my job. "

I'm not an expert at the law but something deep down inside tells me that there is something wrong in what their doing. I can't believe that hacking in someone else's software isn't illegal and thereby prosecutable by the law and by extension the use of hacks, that ruins the experience of people, should also be illegal.

From what I've seen, cheaters get banned. They buy another account and keep coming back. Really?

Our experience with the coop element of gaming seems to be the only aspect of online gaming that hasn't been completely marred from hacking and cheaters. I guess this is why I promote coop based games and stay away from PVP type games.

Since we're at the end of the life cycle of the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3, we're planning a bargain bin tour of older multiplayer games to explore together. I'd encourage your participation. It is sad that as of the time of this writing, I have only 6 people listed on my xbox 360 friend's list.

If' you're interesting in joining our rotation game tour on the PC, Xbox, or PS3 visit our site or add me to your steam, PS3, and xbox 360. My screen name is theurbanwatcher on all of those systems.

As for the hackers and cheaters, they will be around as long as they are allowed to operate and will continue to spend money to cheat. I'm happy to say while I may get angry when I encounter cheaters it happens infrequently.

Gaming Journal Entries

This is the portal for my game journal. In it I will blog about my nightly experiences with the Geezers, rants, raves, critiques about the gaming community at large, and more. I will try to keep it light so expect to see grown men being silly during our game nights mixed in with insightful (hopefully) observation, articles, and everything in between.

I want to establish a long term relationship with people, through my blog, so please feel free to leave a comment, critique, or recommendation.

Table of Contents

About Me

Newsletter #1

Upcoming Games

Rules to Surviving 7 Days to Die: Beginner's Guide

Alpha Release: 7 Days to Die Update #3

Alpha Release: 7 Days to Die Alpha Download Delays (Sunday) #2

Alpha Release: 7 Days to Die Alpha Download Delays #1

Alpha Release: 7 Days to Die Pre-release

Upcoming Games: 7 Days to Die

Game Articles (a little more on the serious side)

Think Tank: Are Gamers Lazy?

Leveling Up: Why Being a "Noob" Can Be a Good Thing

Felicia Day and My Photo Retake Quest

Graphic Cards, Gaming Performance, and Next Generation Consoles?

Urban's Complaint: Hackers and Cheaters

Boy and Girl Gamers

Game Night Journals

TheUrbanWatcher's Screaming (A Fair Warning)

 Screaming in War Z/ Infestation: Survivor Stories (Game Night Video Entry Included)

Screaming and Triumphs in Chivalry (Game Night Video Entry Included)

First Impression: Payday 2 Safehouse (Game Night Video Entry Included)

Other Geezer's on the Web

Many of the Geezers in Arms members promote gaming through Twitch, YouTube, Twitter, and blogs. Many of them are quite good. For this reason,  I'd like to share with you some of my favorites for your viewing pleasure. Here's a list.

Table of Contents

Geezers in Arms Main Page

Wortdog's Youtube Channel

Kaz's TheGameHuntah Youtube Channel

PermaDeath's Twitch

I'm still in the process of setting up this blog properly so be patient with me as I add content and share my resources. I really want to establish a long term reading relationship so please check back.

Film, Game, and Book Reviews

Table of Contents

Welcome! Over the years, I've shared my impressions of the weird, the absurd, and the entertaining with others through Facebook. The problem is that most of the people on my friends list are from school, work, teaching, and other professional settings. Mostly they were not interested in the same hobbies as me.

In this section, you will find my articles surrounding Film, Game, and Book Reviews. I invite a discussion that might lead to new insight into these works. Happy reading!

Film Review

• Introduction
• V/H/S Film Review
• Battle Royale Film Review

Game Reviews

• First Impression: Guacamelee! Gold Edition
• Sniper Elite: Nazi Zombie Army

Girl and Boy Gamers

Girl and Boy Gamers

The other day I ran into trouble with a group of gamer guys and one gamer girl. My gaming community has a TeamSpeak channel where I hang out and talk to people throughout the day. When I feel like picking up a game I can usually contact someone and get a group match in either Left 4 Dead 2, Killing Floor, Sniper Elite: Nazi Zombies, Payday, Team Fortress 2, or Infestation: Children Stories.

Here's the deal with girl and boy gamers. Anyone that knows anything about feminism can point to video games as being a male dominant median. This is unfortunate because there might be less people stressing out if there was more play going on. Here's an article where the writer details, from a male POV, what girl gamers hate about gaming.

The other day I walked into a chat channel and inadvertently insulted three people. I was challenged to see if I could insult a girl. In jest, I took the challenge and that's when the males closest to her attempted to stand up for her honor. It wasn't until days later that I realized why. It was because of a girl gamer. Don't get me wrong, I love girls just not girl gamers.

Now before you flood me with hate mail allow to explain a bit. When I was younger I was like every boy gamer, I was in love over the idea that there might be a beautiful girl out that might know me, the real me, and that we might be able to connect through a shared interest. It was a nice dream. (Think Felicia Day type)

However, its been a long time since I've gotten married and had to worry about dating nonsense. Recently, I've encountered several girl gamers on the Geezer's forum. Most of them were just like the "guys." I enjoyed playing with them but the fact that they were girls did not play into what they brought to the group. They revived me when I needed it and were good team members.

So why do I dislike playing with girl gamers? The main reason is that they tend to disrupt group dynamics. I've noticed that the moment I hear a woman's voice everything goes to hell. It's like going through puberty all over again. The other guys tend to get stupid. It is like someone flipped a switch and I get to see that prototypical comic book geek.

They fall over each other to give away hard earned loot and hit on the girl. Guys feel the need to behave in such a way that solidifies their masculinity when women are around. I get it, I think, except I keep wondering why. I've come to expect this reaction when it happens and I am pleased when the girl gamers shut down the flirty attempts and focus on gaming.

In rereading the above paragraph I realize it is incredibly unfair to blame girl gamers for this reaction. It's not their fault. Heck, if I were in their place I might take advantage of it. Truth be told I am filling a social need just as some of them might be filling the need to receive attention. Psychologists would have a field day with this for of subjugation. 

As an older gamer, the male/female dynamics are as equally perplexing as it is in the offline world. As I'm writing, I'm sitting in channel that listening to a single geezer hit on a single geezer girl. 

It is kind of nice to hear the honesty and vulnerability of this type of interaction. It's like seeing a private moment filled with possibility. Excuse me for yo-yoing around as I try to figure out my real feelings about this topic. 

It is fair to say that I have been annoyed by guys when girl gamers appear but now that I'm listening to these two talk I hope that they find what we all seek as some point in our life: love and happiness.

To the girl gamers of the world, join in on the fun and ignore the rants of a middle aged man. Never game alone. The more the merrier!

  

Popular Culture and the Game Connection

In the past, I've recognized that the same people that enjoy the games I play usually share similar interests in television, comics, books, and films. While our personalities may differ in as many ways as our disorders, it seems that I find more things to love by listening to the enjoyments of others. Recently, I discovered Star Trek: The Next Generation, a show I had ignorantly attributed to Geeks and Freaks in my childhood but have recently come to enjoy.

In a sense, there's no real direct connection to games and I do not wish to force a connection. My only minor observations about other things in popular culture that gamers enjoy is that sometimes there is a common theme that individual gamers tend to respond to over and over. In this, I'm not sure a broad generalization can or should be made about games or gaming culture.

Instead I'm curious to tear apart the inner workings of folks that I encounter in my everyday life. But what does that have to do with games and this blog?

Good question. I will  include other things from popular culture as they become relevant. I hope that you don't mind these interruptions to what will become our normal "programming." In fact, I welcome your feedback on these films and recommendations for further viewing.

Battle Royale Film Review

I've been meaning to post more foreign horror films. I don't see many posted on the Geezer's forum so here is one from the past. I have to warn viewers that some of these films come from cultures that have evolved outside American puritan beginnings and therefore can insult in some twisted narratives.

 

I am not an expert on how these cultures are reflected in their films but I'm more than happy to hear the internet collective give me some insight into the subject. With that having been said, I am happy to present you with BATTLE ROYALE. I put this on top of my must see horror film list because it captures the drama of "The Most Dangerous Game," a short story taught in public school about one man hunting another man.

This film puts 42 students from a horrible Japanese high school (if you've ever been a public school teacher and looked at some of degenerates you'll understand) and pits them in a battle to the death on an island. The gore reminds me of the Kill Bill series. The gore in this film makes the 80's King of Gore, Tom Savini, look like Mr. Rogers.

I am even more interested in seeing long established friendships fall apart as they have to make tough decisions in this life or death scenario. It is part Lord of the Flies meets Hunger Games. If this sounds interesting to you, check it out. You can find it on Netflix. There is a sequel but it doesn't make any sense at all.

I enjoyed this film and would recommend it to others.

V/H/S Film Review

I finally sat down and watched V/H/S and I expected to hate it but I LOVED IT.

It's basically a collection of VHS tapes that tell horror short stories that have some twist ending usually with the main characters meeting some type of supernatural death. 


My favorites include the creepy club girl (I like you), the friends in the woods, the couple on a road trip, and the girlfriend with a haunted house.


The framing of the film is piss poor, a bunch of kids decide to break into someone's basement to steal a collection of VHS tapes. They could have found them in the dump or a storage unit and achieved the same effect.

Follow Up Entry:

Each individual story was creative and creepy. This is refreshing since I rarely see films these days that take the time to be original. Whenever I've seen narrative stories collected it feels as if the producer wanted to release a single story and contacted film schools for the other bits. 

This has a similar feel in that the broader frame feels like an afterthought. However, the stories themselves play with modern day themes. When I think about the blog or video phone story I can't help but think that this story wouldn't have been told 10 years ago.

Since I'm a product of the 80's, horror films have a soft spot in my heart, I tend to look at whether newer films have what it takes to define their era or last the test of time. Alas, this film is an amusing diversion for now but not a classic. 

Those that are into film studies or cultural studies will find a good conference into what this film says about modern times. There's not much out there written about it but it could easily be linked back to earlier films that reflect the atomic age, the cold war, and civil rights. 

This collective is more a reflection of generation Y and all their angst. I can not easily define the alien feeling I get from watch the horror films of a younger generation. Its definitely captured in this movie. 

Geezers in Arms- Chivalry Nights

Geezers in Arms- Chivalry Nights

I have to admit something, something very embarrassing.  I am not a very good gamer.  Insert sad face here.  When I play games I do it because I enjoy them.  As a Geezer I play PvP type games with these guys because we usually have a crazy time.

In the following video, several of us were playing Chivalry: Medieval Warfare.  I would definitely recommend this game but only if you plan on joining a clan or gaming group.  Individual players are at a disadvantage since it can be hard to communicate with strangers in an online environment.

(At 13:25 you can hear what I'm most famous for in my gaming career, my scream.  The guys love putting me in situations where I have to beg for my life or be surprised)

The reason I wanted to share the following video is so people can see who I am as a gamer.  I am awkward, quirky, and I sound like a ten year old, Sigh.  I can't do anything about that last bit. Here you'll see me win the round and take out my teammates! I'll will be adding a review of this game.

About TheUrbanWatcher

My gamer-tag in all gaming formats (steam, xbox, playstation etc) is theurbanwatcher.  I am an academic gamer who has included gaming into every aspect of my life.  I was once a teacher and college adjunct when I decided to go into the private sector.

Games inform my personal and professional life.  This is hard to explain to folks but I'll try my best.  When I went to school I did it for the sake of knowledge with very little care to where it would take me, how I would earn money, or who I would become. 

I studied theater for the art form, the basics to be well rounded, and history to learn about mistakes. But several degrees later I yet to succeed as a professional, to fulfill a satisfying career, and unify myself as an autonomous individual. 

My love for games leads me to every aspect of gaming including theory, design, narrative, art, and instruction.  My brief career as a teacher lead me to learn about gamification, meaning I integrated games and the problem solving skills they teach into the lessons of the state mandated mundane.  As a student and amateur academic, I learned how to understand and publish theory.  As a gamer, I remembered how to play. 

This blog will be written from someone who loves games and wishes to share observations, opinions, reviews, and professional thoughts as I go through my gaming experiences.

I am currently a full time student finishing up my Masters in Human Resources Development.  During this time, I have become part of a community of older gamers called the Geezers In Arms.  My experiences with them allow me to play many different games and explore social aspects of gaming.

As I play games, I will write about them and share our videos. This is the story of one Geezer blogging about games and life.  Join me in my journey to explore the love of gaming.

Visit https://www.youtube.com/user/TheZombieProfessor
Visit theurbanwatcher.blogspot.com
Visit www.geezersinarms.com
E-mail theurbanwatcher@yahoo.com
TwitchTV: http://www.twitch.tv/theurbanwatcher