Mandingo, err Zardov's back

With the latest WoW update, it's a whole lot easier to level characters via dungeoning. With the matchmaking features in the Dungeon Finder which essentially turn WoW into a glorified Halo-like multiplayer experience, I've chewed through levels on the first character I ever made in World of Warcraft, a gnome rogue.

Zardov is on some random, throw-away realm I put him on during a free realm transfer a while back. There he sat for months, until a week ago I decided to unearth him, actually give him a talent spec, read up on how to play a rogue, then go to it.

Against what I feel rogues should be about in WoW, I went to combat mainly for easier leveling, and it hasn't been so bad. I just feel like a tool wielding a mace and a sword around vs. daggers. I'll probably go back to daggers, perhaps even dual-spec into it later if I stick with this, but for now I'm happy. I do some minor questing then just queue up for random dungeons. It takes awhile, given the low population of the realms in our battleground, and that I'm a dps class, but it's tolerable.

The Armory also released some new features, like RSS feeds to spy on your friends, and this 3d model viewer thing. So here's Zardov:

EDIT: I removed the embed of the nifty character viewer because you guessed it, the Armory is broken, again. The only web application in beta longer than GMail has to be WoW's Armory.

Special Games for Special People

My daughter's latest fixation is the Nintendo Wii, mainly Super Mario Bros Wii, which I learned today is the current best-selling video game. We try to limit her playtime, and she's getting better and being able to stop and do other things. In a way, I don't mind so much that she plays. It makes her happy, and gives her content to talk about and even play out with her brother.

As a gaming platform, I think the Wii does a great job at being accessible to a wide range of audiences. The input devices are fairly intuitive and feel like an extension of your body. In seeing my daughter play games like Wii Sports Resort, Wii Music, even Mario, I wonder if any game developers are spending any time thinking about how they could leverage this powerful gaming platform to create games designed for children and young adults with special needs? With the growing number of children with various learning disabilities, including autism/PDD/aspergers, ADD/ADHD, speech/language delays, I'm curious if any attention is being paid to those that might not be able to handle the typical gaming formula put forth in most games.

Most games follow a win/loss type formula. Take the Super Mario Bros. of old. You ran around, avoided mushrooms, and eventually if you were a good player, you'd complete all the levels and win the game. Along the way you would lose lives by falling holes, getting hit by fireballs, drowning, etc. This was followed by a hard stop to the game, a negative sound being played, and the player having to start over again. For most people, this isn't a big deal, since they understand this gaming formula. For someone with autism, this could be a nightmare.

My daughter used to play Super Mario Bros. a bit, I have some old videos online of her playing. She enjoyed it for a period, until she would get to an area that should could not complete, like a big pit she had to run/jump over, or a the 'swimming level'. The 'death' sequence really started to frustrate and infuriate her to the point where she didn't want to play anymore. She would either shut off the game and play another when the challenge level was reached, or tantrum.

Super Mario Wii actually does a good job of handling 'failure' on the part of the player as well as giving them an out if they don't want to continue. When a player loses a life in SMBWii, the sound still plays, the action does stop so nothing has changed there, but the player has the option to "Exit Course" if it's getting too tough. Some levels have this disabled for whatever reason, but most allow you to just quit out, go back to the maps and do something else. This works for my daughter and she uses it a lot. To someone like me, this could be seen as quitting, but to her it's exiting a frustrating situation and doing something else that may be more accessible/fun.

Multi-play is where the game really shines. When a teammate loses a life, they come back in a bubble, which the other live player will pop to return them to play. Also, players can bubble themselves if the going gets tough and float over tough challenges. Emily hasn't mastered this yet, but this is a cool feature for those that just want to avoid the hard stuff and let their experienced Dad (I have the Nintendo thumb to prove it) handle the hard stuff.

I wish more games had more...

1. ways to gracefully exit a level if it gets too difficult
   
2. less negative loss-off-life cutscenes (play a funny sound vs. the fail-noise that's been around since SMB 1)
   
3. less hard-stop in play when life is lost. I like the model Wii Sports Resort uses on the airplane and bike mini-games. If you crash, this ridiculous sound plays, and you parachute out. With the bike, the sound plays, and you quickly return to where you left off, with no hard stop in play.
   
4. 'helper' options, like the bubble in SMBWii and even the Super Guide where Luigi comes and shows you how to complete a level after so many failed attempts.
   
5. more open-ended sandbox types games. Wii Music does a good job at this.
   
6. more encouragement, positive reinforcement. Wii Music again tries this by having the Mii instructors say things like "Nice job!" as you attempt to mimic a note pattern.
   

Emily is a gamer, albeit a gamer with autism and it would be great to see some game developers emerge that take advantage of great gaming hardware, like the Wii and it's perhipherals to create even more accessible gaming experiences.

Reflection

With the end of every year, I often reflect on events of the past and look to the future. Who doesn't do this really?

2009 had many happenings. Most notably was the formal diagnosis of my daughter Emily with autism. While it was a significant moment, it didn't turn our world as upside down as I thought it might. I continue to view this information as positive. It gives Kerri and I a better understanding of the signs we noticed for a few years now, and helps us better identify who we can reach out to get help. I no longer look back, but ahead to what we can learn about and put into action to help us all as a family in enabling Emily.

Since the diagnosis, we've seen great strides in Emily mainly because she's in kindergarten with 'normal' children and that has made all the difference. The children see her as their peer, albeit a slightly different one, but it is evident that they love her and include her. Just this morning they wrangled Emily into their line with a firm hug as she had a bit of confusion in her return to school after a long vacation.

Jack has had a bust out year as well. He really has grown up a lot and I can see how much he loves his sister. They play off each other and help each other out. Now that he has his own bed he can get out of, his favorite thing to do in the morning is get up, get his sister and start their ritual of watching morning kid's shows. If only I could get Jack to start taking an interest in the toilet vs. his diaper..in time.

This year also will likely be the end of my tenure at my current company. Shortly, we'll know for certain if our department is to be outsourced, and I will have to find something else. I see this as an opportunity to hopefully find a role elsewhere which will allow me to be recognized as a good leader and mentor. My search has been slow, mainly following some leads and gathering information. I'm hopeful I'll be able to find something prior to spring when it's all supposed to go down.

There's a few things I'd like to try and accomplish next year.
1.) Take better care of myself. It's cliche, but I really am not nearly as active as I once was and it's showing. I really should just start getting a physical.
2.) Read more. I have lots of books, including some good autism resources I'd really like to read. I'm just horrible at focusing on reading with all the other distractions.
3.) See my family up north. Perhaps with the layoff I'll have a good chunk of time where I can do that.
4.) Find a job. I'm working on it.

Super Excitement

I'm tired of seeing the "Day of Fail" post up on the top, so I felt I needed to bump it down a bit.

My daughter Emily likes playing video games. Much like her Dad, she could probably spend hours just making Mario jump around, or flying planes around in Wii Sports Resort. Emily expressed interest in receiving a video game this year, Super Mario Brothers Wii, which she asked Santa for.

I purchased the 2nd to last copy at Fry's last week. I was hesitant to get it because of the demand it would place on her; it's a tough game to play, and I was worried she would get too frustrated and neglect other fun things she likes to do.

This is her reaction when she opened the gift.



A 'normal', excited, little kid reaction to receiving something great that you always wanted. It was great to see her have that kind of reaction. It's really the first time she has been so expressive in her exuberance for something.

I think we all had a nice Christmas. I told Kerri that I really enjoyed how we made gifts for people this year. It was very rewarding, fun and kept the kids busy. I'll be putting up more pictures on Flickr this evening once I have had a chance to go through them.

I think I'll post again with some reflections from 2009. Until then, I'll leave you with Jack's special Holiday message.

My Day of Fail

Yesterday, I took matters into my own hands and removed a fallen tree I had cut up from my front yard. The tree had been there for a week+ and I was tired of looking at it. Due to failed attempts to get Waste Management, the organization that picks up our trash, to come do it, it was my turn. I rented a pick-up from Uhaul in the morning, and Kerri and Jack drove me up to get the fun started. Here's what happened on that foggy, rain soaked morning.

I brought Jack in the U-Haul store with me. This was a BAD idea because they had just painted a sealed concrete floor which Jack was eyeing intently. One false move and he was nearly out of my grasp and onto the floor. The guy that ran the place kept giving me the eye.

I load the truck, it takes about 10 minutes if that

I lose the keys to the truck.

After much cussing, I realize the keys have to be in the truck, under all the leaves and logs.

I find the keys with minimal re-loading (lucky) and head out.

I pull into the landfill, after missing the exit once.

I pull up to the 'office' if you want to call it that, behind some large garbage trucks, and garbage men that actually know what they are doing.

I proceed to press the "Talk" button on the speaker thing, however I'm told there was no need to do that. Rookie.

I present my water bill and license (no problems), but was told I need to cover my load next time otherwise it's a $30 'tarp fee' (what?)

I drive through mud to the residential dumping area. This consists of sunken dumpsters which you pull up to and start dumping down into. Don't fall in.

The stench is bad. The air is thick with it. Every few seconds a thing that sounds like a gun shot rings out. Still no clue what that was. It was like a warzone out there.

I'm done and make my way back to U-Haul. I call Kerri and she's going to meet me there.

Prior to going to U-Haul, I note the huge amounts of mud all over the nice white truck. I smile as the U-Haul guy says "You might want to run that through a car wash".

Kerri is behind me now, we find a car wash. I insert $2.00. The car wash doesn't work. I press the nice electronic buttons. Nothing. I cuss and Kerri gets lunch.

Now back at home, racking up the miles, I attempt to spray the truck with a typical garden hose. Very fail against this landfill mud.

I run to QuickTrip, purchase a Coke, to get change for the carwash across the street.

This car wash works great. The thing is now cleaner than when I got it.

I eat a Burrito from Chipotle.

I gas up the truck, all the while being cut-off by various idiots in the QuickTrip.

I drop the truck off, the guy inspecting it doesn't even bother to walk around the entire truck. I could've just washed one side.

The rental costs nearly $60 largely due to all the miles driving all over the place (see above).

I take a vacation day from work, because by this time, it's 1pm and it would make no sense.

One bit I failed to mention...

As we headed to U-Haul, a black cat was on the side of the road. Staring at us.

"That's no big deal." I said, "It never crossed our path."

How wrong I was.

Moral of the story is always pay someone $130 to just do all this for you and don't discount the power of the black cat, regardless of his crossing your path or not.