Everlight

Some time ago I published three posts about "Simon the Sorcerer 4." Now I'm playing the next adventure by the same game company: "Everlight."

"Everlight" tells the story of Melvin, a dreamer who happens to walk into a candle shop one day during a heavy rain. There he learns that he's actually got some magical abilities and could learn how to use them by passing five trials in a fantasy world. Melvin agrees and is sent to the town of Tallen, a nice fairy-tale-like township with a host of rather shrewd characters. The town suffers from a curse which turns all the adults into their opposites during the night. Among the things Melvin needs to do to pass his tests is getting rid of the curse.

The whole story of the adventure isn't exactly new or very imaginative, but well told. (And if you feel reminded of "Harry Potter" a bit, it's no wonder, Melvin and Harry even share the same German voice. But most of the story is very different.) The humour is a bit rough sometimes, but on the whole very good (it's basically the same as in "Simon the Sorcerer 4"). Especially Melvin's discussions with the fairy Fenny (who is his spiritual guide throughout the trials) are extremely funny, because the fairy is anything but nice or friendly. And the whole day/night business adds to the story as well.

The graphics suffer a bit when it comes to showing characters up close. Although that's not really a problem these days, there's not much of a movement in the faces. Apart from that everything looks quite nice though.

"Everlight" surely is not the most inventive new adventure, but in a time when only very few good adventures are produced anyway, one can't be too choosy.

Ruling the world

No, I'm not going to tell you about my plan of world domination here - that plan is kept secret and I would have to kill you after you've read this post otherwise. But there's perfectly legal ways of ruling the world - provided you keep to a virtual world, made up of bits and bytes. "Civilisation" has always been a way to do it.

I do have to admit that I never played the first "Civilisation" game. The second one - the CD-version - was the first of the series I bought. Number three (actually, there's various number threes, because the name lay with the company and not the inventor) wasn't as good as number two (which still runs, even on modern computers). For quite some time - and with two add-ons - number four has been out now.

The moment I was through the tutorial, the old "Civilisation"-fever was back. To me, "Civilisation" is one of the few games with a "just another five minutes"-factor. Like "The Settlers", "The Sims" or some other games of the "Sim"-series, it's a game where it's hard to stop playing. There's always something happening, you're always waiting for something to be finished, for a new unit to be produced - or a new building to be ready.

"Civilisation" is especially addictive, I think, if you're interested in history, because it encompasses the whole history of mankind, from early humans to the future when you'll be sending star ships to colonize Alpha Centauri (which is another game by the same publisher). There's a lot of different civilisations you can play, there's a lot of different ways to win. And, as it is round-based and not real-time, it's relaxing to play.

I like real-time strategy, but the complexity of "Civilisation" would make it impossible to win, were it real-time and not round-based. There's so much to do, so many cities to manage, so many units to steer. (I won't say real-time strategy games aren't complex, but they're not that complex.)

So the moment I installed "Civilisation IV Complete" (the main program plus the add-ons), I was caught again. And I like it, because where else do you get the chance to rule the world and steer the development of mankind?

What about my crusades?

Currently there isn't much moving with either of my crusades. "Size 00" still exists, but there haven't been any special things happening. And, of course, the politicians still debate about "Killerspiele," but with no lasting success.

That doesn't mean I have forgotten about them. But there's no point in writing long posts about them as long as nothing moves.

But nevertheless here's a short update on both topics:

"Killerspiele" are not the major issue at the moment, but the politicians still have no idea what they are talking about, that much is obvious. There has been a discussion as to whether or not put more games into the category of "18+," but that's rather stupid: most games they are talking about are already "18+." The problem is not how the games are categorized, the problem is whether or not the games are only sold to people of the right age.

Just as with alcohol or cigarettes, vendors usually do not ask for the age of the person buying computer games. That's not a problem when it comes to "6+" or "12+" games. But there's games "16+" and "18+," games that should not be sold to people beneath those ages.

Currently, there's actually a huge discussion about the government sending in children to buy alcohol - to check whether the vendors actually sell alcohol to people beneath 18 (which is the new limit for buying any alcohol in Germany). But where was that discussion when TV-stations sent out children to buy computer games - to show how easy a child could get "Killerspiele?" It's one thing when the government lets children buy alcohol (which, of course, they don't get to keep, but is taken from them immediately). It's another thing when a company that's at least nominally not part of the government does the same thing with computer games (as they only do it for a documentary or a report). Not to the media, obviously. Maybe the editors and reporters always sent out their own children to buy them alcohol and don't want that to stop... But I can't prove that, so it's just a theory.

"Size 0" and "Size 00" still exist, too. And there's still loads of women out there who either really thin down to wear those sizes or at least try everything to make it. I personally rather find it scaring, to be honest.

It's one thing to go for a healthy weight, to keep in shape and do sports moderately in order to keep fit. But thinning down to a weight normally associated with girl much younger, hardly eating anything and looking like a refugee from a third world country, that's not what I would call healthy.

And as long as there's still women's magazines (though I can hardly understand what's so great about them...) out there who show a thin model on the cover - and a diet to reach the same weight the model has on page 3 -, women will still try everything possible and impossible to reach that weight. Because, ultimately, those magazines suggest that "all will be perfect" the moment you reach that weight and can wear those clothes (provided you can afford them). You'll find the perfect guy, get the perfect job and live happily ever after. At least it was much easier for the princess once upon a time: the prince was doing all the work, after all. And she didn't have to be that thin either.

So you see, I'm still following my crusades, but there's an armistice right now, so I'll regroup and wait for the next battle.

Happy Anniversary

This it is, the post to my first anniversary as a blogger. Precisely one year ago I started blogging, inspired by a now-defunct blog called, if I remember it right, "Diary of Barbie's worst enemy." This blog introduced me to two things: the wonderful world of blogging and "The F-Word", one of the best feminist web-sites I've found so far.

Honestly, I had no idea what I was getting into. I just wanted to try it out and thought - as it didn't cost anything - it would be fun for a while. I expected to stop writing my blog after a couple of weeks or months. It didn't happen.

In the beginning I wanted a 'serious' blog, only filled with stuff about politics, society and stuff like that. Nothing personal, nothing funny, nothing that was not 'serious.' The change came with my "no bitching between Christmas and New Year"-solution. As I had decided not to write anything scathing between the 24th of December and the first of January, I started answering challenges from other blogs - like "Sex Ed in Higher Ed", which unfortunately isn't updated much these days - and writing more personal and less serious stuff. Around New Year I also got my connection to Sitemeter - and ever since then I've been getting my weekly statistics, telling me that somebody out there actually reads my ranting. After New Year, I decided that the seriousness of my ideas would not be destroyed by some fun every now and then - like a post with a little game in it or with the results of a test I did. I still think I'm right.

By now, I think, I've found a good combination of serious issues (mostly politics, feminism, society, "Killerspiele" and "Size 0") and far less serious ones - including even some personal things (a lot of them, judging from the number of "about me"-labels on the left of this blog).

What to expect from the next year? I have no idea. I had no idea last year - at least none that was right.

Weekend update

Okay, so it's weekend again. Time for an update.

This weekend I'm going to write something about one year of blogging - as my first anniversary is coming up next week.

On this weekend's booklist: "Skulduggery Pleasant."

In my DVD-drive: "The future is wild."

(Yesterday I watched "Hot Fuzz" and I nearly laughed my head of. Great story, great characters and hilarious gags. Definitely my kind of movie.)

Reading the human mind

This post made me think about the reasons for sadistic or masochistic interests (as one hardly works without the other). Warning: I'm not a psychologist, so I have not studied psychology and am purely acting on my practical knowledge of the human mind.

The basic question for most people seems to be: why would somebody want to injure someone else (and, even more pressing a question, why would somebody want to be injured by someone else)?

The basic question for me is: why should they not?

I might be a bit biased on this, as I was mobbed in school and thus have seen the sadism that resides within teenagers, but as far as I see it, both sadism and masochism - in a weak form - are embedded in the human nature. But why am I thinking this?

Both the will to lead and to be led are part of human nature, too. If we didn't have the will to lead, there wouldn't be anybody around who could tell others what to do. If we didn't have the will to be led, nobody would listen to the leader. (And what about SM? We'll come back to that later, don't worry.)

Now, "leading" means taking control of a situation. That's what a sadist does: taking over complete control, including the control over the well-being, possible pain and even possible death of others.

And "being led" is nothing else than giving over control of a situation to someone else. That's what a masochist does - and that's why there has to be a lot of trust between sadist and masochist in such a relationship. (If you don't understand that statement, try to combine this paragraph and the one above.)

Humans like being in control - well, most of them. It makes us feel powerful and important to be asked for guidance - or even orders - by others. It makes us feel good. Having control equals having power over others. That's the sadist-part in us, I should say. Of course, that doesn't necessarily mean we all would like to really hurt someone. But the idea alone of being able to ... it's interesting and a little tempting.

But on the other hand, always being in control is also very tiring. People depend on you, they do not act or work without you supervising them. In business life, the working life - and thus security - of hundreds or thousands of people might depend on the decisions of one person. That is a heavy burden to shoulder. Giving over the control of your life to somebody else, can be very relieving, therefore.

For somebody who has been controlled by others - even mistreated or even abused by a person more powerful, being in control must be a great thing. It will make them more secure in a relationship to be the one in control, instead of being under control. That, I think, is why people with such a past tend towards being sadists. There might also be some revenge mixed in.

And somebody who thinks they've made great mistakes in their past, might see a masochistic position (including pain and humiliation) as some sort of atonement. But that's just a theory I have come up with.

Especially reading Bitchy Jones' blog has helped a lot with those insights, apart from my own looks into the darkness of the human soul (my own and that of others).

On the whole, I wonder more about people wondering about sexual or other preferences than over the preferences themselves. As long as it's consent between both partners, I don't see anything pathological or otherwise wrong with something two adults to with - and to - each other.

Happy Birthday To Me!

Yes, today it's my 33rd birthday - meaning I was inflicted on this world 33 years ago.

I've no big plans for today - I haven't been celebrating my birthday for a long time, not the 'real way' with party and so on. I'm celebrating with my parents a little bit, otherwise it's just a normal day and that's okay for me.

As usual, ever since I stopped wanting to throw parties outdoors, the weather is nice, some dark clouds, but also a lot of sun. Figures...

So, just once more: Happy Birthday To Me!