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Thing's like this, I'm looking for good reading material related to MMORPG's-any, real or non-existant- in an attempt to lure some gamer friends of mine into reading for pleasure -wells, anything more challenging than comic books and short stories >:3
So, if perchance, somebody in here could provide some sugestions/recomendations I would highly appreciate it.. >,<
The best of things is to learn. Money can be lost or stolen, health and strength may fail, but what you have committed to your mind is yours forever.
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Now that I've looked up and found what you mean by MMORPG ... I know this one book that involves massive multi-player role playing. Most of them however are off-line and a bit .. erm .. traditional. They want you to register and some of the regional chapters have some very strange initiation rites, lol. There are a number of heavily competitive factions, the COEs for example, or the more methodologically-orientated baptysmal groups and some of them even refuse to go on-line altogether. But they wear some great costumes and keep strictly to the rules. A bit other-worldly are those RCs, with their - slightly weird - head honcho Joe R., whose Avatar is B XVI. They work mainly through incantations and even by spreading smells all over their meeting places but they claim to have a direct link to their three-pronged ancestorship. Yet, they all play by that one book, which has the advantage that you can read anything into it, or out of it. Anyway, there is an alternative version in the making, that allows, even encourages, on-line participation, that might be more in your line of thinking. But before registering with any of those groups make sure to keep a tight hold on your wallet. They have a tendency to take your last shirt, and what fun would that be? I mean, seriously, massively multi-player off-line role playing games? In the nude? Not with that lot.
"Before I speak, I have something important to say."Groucho Marx
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What could I possibly say, many thanks for a fun moment; though I'd have to apologize for not showing this to the intended targets since they're not only atheists, but also contumacious anti-Catholicism.. So~ very sorry for that ^^; but thanks anyways~ >:3
The best of things is to learn. Money can be lost or stolen, health and strength may fail, but what you have committed to your mind is yours forever.
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"No dog in this fight", please -I should say.
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I'm more the cat type, so I tend to avoid dog fights.. for my own sake :3
The best of things is to learn. Money can be lost or stolen, health and strength may fail, but what you have committed to your mind is yours forever.
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Sorry, I DO get carried away at times.
I just felt a little challenged
a) by the term MMORPG, which I had never heard of before and, once I HAD looked it up, I found extremely ridiculous. But that is probably due to my age.
Don't get me wrong. I have nothing against role-playing games (although I couldn't for the life of me abbreviate them to RPGs). Together with good friends on a rainy day this can actually be a wonderful pastime.
But on-line ...?
b) by the question for "anything more challenging than comic books and short stories ...".
Apart from the fact that there are many very challenging Short Stories, and some very intelligently-made comic books, there is such a lot of good literature 'out there', no matter whether you prefer 'serious' novels, fantasy or conspiracy stories, detective stories or science fiction.
Yet, I still think that one of the most interesting and challenging books of them all is indeed the Bible.
You find all of the genres mentioned above in there.
I am not a registered member of any church and I still remember my friend's rants at the Catholic church he had been brought up in, about their success in planting feelings of guilt in their sheep and the hypocrisy he came across there.
In fact, I abhor religious zealots and fundamentalists of all persuasions as much as those political ones.
But this book is literally and historically speaking a very important and entertaining one.
Of course, you also have to be aware of the fact that you cannot transfer all these 2000 and more year-old ideas, wisdoms and rules into the 21st Century without severely questioning their validity.
We really live in different and interesting times.
Before I forget. Here are a number of authors, whose books I find interesting, challenging, amusing, providing food for thought, sometimes even depressing or enraging, but definitely entertaining amd worth reading.
John Updike, Philip Roth, Paul Auster, Paul Bowles, Stephen King, Dan Brown, Raymond Chandler, Robert Heinlein, Piers Anthony, Stanislav Lem, Raymond Carver ......
I'll go back to playing fish. You cats and dogs stop raining already! :)
"Before I speak, I have something important to say."Groucho Marx
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For what's worth, everything was quite ok from the very beggining since I've read many of your comments throughout this forum so I like the idea of me being already aware of your particular sense of humor. Hence, I took your response as nothing more than a very smart and fun joke for everybody to laugh at (at least I did) x3 Furthermore, I was amazed at how easily my choice of words and lack of explanations left the thread haplessly open to such a friendly prank ^^; So~ in the end it's my own fault-sorry~ ;3
Now, addressing the specific points you cited earlier:
a) MMORPG's. Wells, it's my mistake really. I should have added a detail of what the acronym stands for. For, although this is a very widespread slang, it's far from being literally worldwide ^^;
Then, focusing on the role-playing games vs MMORPG's contrast you seem to have in mind. I stubbornly doubt any present or future videogame would ever be as good as old-school pen-and-paper role-playing games. For a reason that's as simple as it is determinant, videogames [apparently] cannot free themselves from the severe limitations restricting players' critical thinking and use of their imagination.
Yet, the on-line trait takes role-playing games into a whole new level of entertainment and more importantly, learning. For instance, if you play a game of, lets say, Dungeons and Dragons in your living room with your IRL (in real life) friends, whom you already know and feel confortable with; most likely, you're not being exposed to different languages, cultures, habits, standards, etc. While, on the other hand, when immersed into, say, World of Warcraft (some MMORPG), you're exposed to these things and way more. In my humble opinion, through this exposure teens and young adults experience when playing MMORPG's-or any social game for that matter- they acquire high levels of respect, tolerance and fairness toward others, and also hone their social skill up to the point of being able to interact -within the boundaries of friendship- with people from different countries, cultures, religions and races.
But I'm not trying to convince you of anything, just wanted to answer your question as to how it would be fun to play it on-line, and since I have no actual facts at my dispossal I have to rely solely on my personal experience :3
b) Anything more challenging than comic books and short stories. Yet another mistake of mine, and I sincerely apologize for it ^^; What I failed to explain here is the following, these friends of mine do not read anything that would require a constant effort to get all the way through the finish line; so, when I said challenging, please consider it as meaning the patience and perseverance demanded to read and enjoy, for example, Dante's Divine Comedy.
There's this "Dot Hack" Saga which is set within a fictional MMORPG named "The World" and most of us are big fans of this imaginary universe that includes a bunch of role-playing games, many Manga and Anime series, a handfull of short stories and a couple of books. And taking into account that they liked these books so much they couldn't stop reading them, maybe, if they were to read other good fiction books somehow related to MMORPG's maybe they'll like these as much as they enjoyed the Dot Hack ones.
I am currently researching through Amazon (and a couple other sites where I get my books in Romance Languages) but so far I found almost absolutely no reviews on the few books available which address the targeted subject T__T so I thought maaaybe somebody in here had read one or two books that would make the cut and, perhaps, they'd be willing to share their experience regarding these books. And these are the reasons which led me into bugging you all :3
PS: just in case my words didn't successfully convey what I intended to, my thanks on a previous post had 0% of trans fat as well as sarcasm. I had a very tiresome day and right when I was finally going home I've read your witty lines and couldn't help but to leave with a big smile on my face -I almost bit my ears.. x3
The best of things is to learn. Money can be lost or stolen, health and strength may fail, but what you have committed to your mind is yours forever.
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Let's agree to stop apologizing towards each other. I think there is no need. Nobody wants to insult anybody. I guess we just live in different worlds - game-wise speaking. I have heard of some of those games you mention but I have the feeling I'm about twenty years too old for them.
But I know my adult kids enjoy them and your explanation made a lot of sense to me.
So, enjoy them and good luck in getting some response to your request.
"Before I speak, I have something important to say."Groucho Marx
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Are you familiar with Laura and Tracy Hickman's and Margaret Weis' Dragonlance Saga?
I don't know half of you half as well as I should like; and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve.
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Shironeko wrote:Thing's like this, I'm looking for good reading material related to MMORPG's-any, real or non-existant- in an attempt to lure some gamer friends of mine into reading for pleasure -wells, anything more challenging than comic books and short stories >:3
So, if perchance, somebody in here could provide some sugestions/recomendations I would highly appreciate it.. >,< I don't know if there are any specifically dedicated to MMORPGs, but aren't there are a lot of crossover materials between things like the Spiderman movies and video games? I know there's a Star Wars: Clone Wars game, and there are any number of books dedicated to that franchise. Star Trek has a similar thing going on. I've not really played those games much, but I understand there are a lot of connections (or, at least, references) to the books and vice-versa in such products. I think there are several games for The Lord of the Rings. I've never played it, but I remember a Conan the Barbarian game being launched a couple of years ago. IIRC, that was a MMORPG, and there are lots of books by various authors based on Howard's work. For something with a little more classical significance, you might suggest they look at the mythology that is the basis of so much fantasy literature. The Greek mythology is probably the most accessible. Ulyseus escape from the cave of the cyclops works as an example of how the cyclops entered storytelling. The Argonauts is a nice example of a "party of adventurers" type adventure story.
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@IMcRout
Surething! I agree.. and thanks for the good vibes~ :3
@Jyrkkä Jätkä
Yes, I've read the Fifth Age trilogy a long time ago. But thanks to R. A. Salvatore's "Forgotten Realms" novels I didn't remember them until now ^^; nevertheless this all can be fixed. Thanks to your kind reminder I now know I better look for all these books-they must be still in my house, somewhere.. =_=U but, above all, many thankies for that link you provided earlier. 'Cause through it, I found there's A LOT more works related to Dragonlance out there D: "gotta catch 'em all" xD
@Geeman
I remember having read many of the comic books of Conan the Barbarian when I was a kid! And, although I knew there was a Role-playing Game based on Conan's Hyborea I never thought of looking for books on the subject -now that's a severe "epic fail" of mine T__T As soon as I get home tonight I'm sooo gonna search the web for these! xD Also, thanks for citing these crossovers! I asked a friend of mine who collects pretty much everything that's printed on his favorite comic books (though the ones he has are not in english). He pointed out to me some Spiderman, Batman, Superman and Wolverine crossovers he believes the rest of the group will enjoy, so I'm also going to look around the net for these ^^ But, above all, I really really really appreciate your mentioning of "The Argonauts" for it is almost 'tailor-made' for helping me with another quest I'm about to embark into. So, thanks a bunch! >:3
I kept researching and reading as many reviews as I could during the weekend, and I decided to try a couple of the books I found for sale through Amazon -Ender's Game, and, Verotopia- perhaps I could post here how everything goes along with them.. anyways, I found this site that might not surprise many people in here but it really amazed me -www.goodreads.com- who knows, maybe it could be of use to some others :3
Anyways, thanks to all of you who had the patience to read my request as well as those who kindly pointed me in the right direction! For now, I'll focus on [proof] reading the materials I got, and also, getting the books I was recommended here ^^ yet, if there's anyone else who would like to contribute with her/his own thoughts or experience, I'll keep an eye on this thread.. In advance, my warmest thanks :3
The best of things is to learn. Money can be lost or stolen, health and strength may fail, but what you have committed to your mind is yours forever.
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Shironeko wrote:I remember having read many of the comic books of Conan the Barbarian when I was a kid! And, although I knew there was a Role-playing Game based on Conan's Hyborea I never thought of looking for books on the subject -now that's a severe "epic fail" of mine T__T As soon as I get home tonight I'm sooo gonna search the web for these! xD Also, thanks for citing these crossovers! I asked a friend of mine who collects pretty much everything that's printed on his favorite comic books (though the ones he has are not in english). He pointed out to me some Spiderman, Batman, Superman and Wolverine crossovers he believes the rest of the group will enjoy, so I'm also going to look around the net for these ^^ But, above all, I really really really appreciate your mentioning of "The Argonauts" for it is almost 'tailor-made' for helping me with another quest I'm about to embark into. So, thanks a bunch! >:3 You're welcome. A quick search came up with the Conan game: www.ageofconan.com. It seems to me there was something about a Hyborean Age, but I could be remembering incorrectly. Honestly--and a little embarrassing to admit--all I really know of it is the soundtrack, which was based on the Basil Poledouris film soundtrack from Arnold's version. It's good music to lift weights to for some reason involving steroid-filled actors wearing furs and brass instruments blairing away at full lung capacity....
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