Nuggetty Goodness

The truth is most firms, at least those I've worked at, don't really care about security. They just want to appear that they care. Security is hard, and you have to be vigilant. Pretending to care means you buy some overpriced appliances and software that no one manages. When the sh*t hits the fan, you can say "well we did X, Y, and Z but hackers are evil people". The take away story for most people in the biz and the public is not HBGary got hacked and so their security stuff must suck; it's that hackers are a true menace and wild and crazy and won't someone think of the children? So then business people yell at the government and say "hey OMG! We need lots of money to protect your systems and our systems because hackers are crazy". They do this via media so it becomes news stories. Then the public starts asking "what are you going to do about it, government" and the government says "we'll fund the security people to protect your credit cards!" and in flows the money. It's a part of security theater. There are always "new" threats so you can never stop paying for security.

I just now realized this. There was always something... off about Rift. Even in the betas I saw it, but I could never place my finger on it. Now that I've played endgame some (and gotten a chance to play the game a lot more), I've finally realized what exactly is wrong with Rift: it has no soul.

Rift is what would happen if you told a robot to make an MMO. Technically speaking, it would be near flawless with extraordinary amounts of polish, but it would lack this certain human touch. The places are environments; not landscapes or worlds. The people of Telara are "NPCs"; not characters. Nothing feels like it's wonderful or enchanting or captivating. It's just a stock fantasy story with stock MMO mechanics with no human touches.

Rift is fun and well made, but it doesn't feel human. It feels plastic... like the people who made it were following some kind of MMO textbook to the letter without trying to create art. The game just doesn't have soul... it doesn't have that wonderfully, witty spark that draws you in. I'm not saying Rift is a bad game, but it doesn't have an identity or anything. It's like oil on water... it's just kind of... there.

 

So I downloaded the Rift perpetual trial last night, and after playing for roughly 5 hours I noticed something... odd.

For example, when playing Witcher 2, it's all 'Waoooh - this is a beautiful game!'

In Rift's case, what kept niggling in the background was, 'How come this isn't as beautiful as Guild Wars, despite how recently it was launched?'

Personality! Personality is the problem. While I no longer play WoW, it definitely has a ton of personality.

In fact, I'd say WoW, Forsaken World, GW, and Allods all benefit from art direction that renders them equally unique and charming - just handled differently (though GW is the only overtly realistic one in that list).

Rift is just... bland. It's like cardboard. In all those other games I mentioned, having played it, you'd know where you were. Rift... Rift could be anywhere.

There's nothing wrong with the rendering quality; it's more of the lack of quality in what's being rendered.

Gameplay wise, it's fine - standard rat pellet MMO, and a very polished dispenser at that - so I'll probably get my two trial characters to 20 and sate my pellet cravings in the process.

...I just wish the pellets weren't made from cardboard.

P.S.: I'm reading ALL the quest text, which is not usual for me, in an effort to give it a chance. It's not wooooorkiiiiiing.

People turn to software to learn the meaning of words, learn which countries were bombed today, and learn to cook a paella. They decide which music to play, which photos to print, and what to do tonight, tomorrow, and Tuesday at 2:00. They keep track of a dozen simultaneous conversations in private correspondence, and maybe hundreds in public arenas. They browse for a book for Mom, a coat for Dad, and a car for Junior. They look for an apartment to live in, and a bed for that apartment, and perhaps a companion for the bed. They ask when the movie is playing, and how to drive to the theater, and where to eat before the movie, and where to get cash before they eat. They ask for numbers, from simple sums to financial projections. They ask about money, from stock quote histories to bank account balances. They ask why their car isn’t working and how to fix it, why their child is sick and how to fix her. They no longer sit on the porch speculating about the weather—they ask software.

Fascinating reading, you can almost feel it poking new (but good!) holes in your zmobie brain as you read.

Anyone who's involved with software design or production should read this.

Not sure it's practical - 'forces the user to interact with Siri'? Ugh. It is still very beautiful though.

Cupcake Ipsum - Sugar-coated Lorem Ipsum Generator

TIRED OF HOW BORING LOREM IPSUM GOT?

How about using auto-generated text that will actually
make people love your project even more?

Pretty sweet, right?

While I try to avoid lorem ipsum whenever possible (content is not ONLY a graphic element! grr!), because lorem ipsum everywhere makes it much harder to visualise, and design for, the real content...

...this is just so kyooooot!

Also see veggy version (features linnaen names!):
http://veganipsum.com/

And BACON!
http://baconipsum.com/

But really, the cupcakes look the cutest.