Saturday, July 25, 2009 @ 9:38 PM

Quiz

Quiz by G0dlySinN, done by RockOwnerXD.

Note that this quiz was done several days before, hence making this post overdue. Sorry!

Monday, July 20, 2009 @ 4:49 PM

Interview: G0dlySinN

Today, we are very honoured to have with us a guest. He is none other than G0dlySinN, GuildMaster of Vincitore! :)

I have also secured a chance to interview him. Below is our interview. Any grammatical or structural errors have been edited, whilst keeping true to what our interviewee meant to say.

Q. Would you consider yourself a "pro" in Maple?

A. Well , I don't think I'm a "pro" in Maple as there are people around with higher levels than me .

Q. Do you feel that the Maple community looks down on lower levels?

A. I would strongly say YES as I've been through it . When I was training my lower level character, training on part of the map (People would often kill those monsters with the higher experience.) Well, as for me, I did that too .

And you know , there's only a lane there which have the monsters there. Suddenly, another person came to snatch the map from me; he did that by killing the monsters which I was killing. I was irritated as I came first, well you know, there's the phrase ' First come first serve'. And the 'another person' started saying ' Oi don't ks la , i bring my main then you know '.

Well , I did not have a rather "pro" character so I feel that [the] Maple Community looks down on lower levels.

Q. Hmm, can you tell me more about your guild?

A. Hmm , my guild is rather un-active , but thats not the main point of creating a guild . : ) My guild would have some bonding sessions and Screen shot sessions. We will always have a great time chatting away.

And we have another way of communicating is through the blog - the chat box : ) We can use it when some of the members have difficulty entering the game due to problems or [lack of] permission.

Come Come Visit : www.vincitorex3.blogspot.com !

Q. How do you feel when your guildmembers do not talk to each other?

A. Hmm, i would feel rather upset . Well , for me , the main purpose of the creation of guild is to gather people together to communicate and make more friends. When they do not talk to each other , I would always encourage them talking to each other or when they have difficulties completing a quest or so , we could help one another by giving some advice or so.


I have come to the end of the interview; thank you G0dlySinN for your enthusiastic participation!

Sunday, July 19, 2009 @ 10:39 AM

The Pac Pinky Theory

The Pac Pinky Theory was thought of by ME! And proving it is going to be really tough. :P It sounds dumb, I know. The Pac Pinky Theory is unproven currently. A Google search reveals nothing about it.

There may be other similar theories, or ideas, but this one is really original.

The Pac Pinky Theory states that there can only be a given number of mobs in a certain map at any one point in time, provided that there is only one type of mob.

Sounds confusing, huh?

Well, it basically states that if there are only 10 Green Snails in one map, there will always be 10 Green Snails, regardless of what time it is.

This was discovered whilst I was training at GS1, at Pac Pinkies. I was trying to make a great spawn at the bottom lane (those who know the map will know that the map has two lanes: top and bottom), so I decided to just keep killing everything at the top lane. A lot of people do this so that they can mob and multi-attack the mobs later on.

I kept doing this, and started counting. But I realised that whenever I killed everything on the top, 3 more would spawn, and there would be 8 Pac Pinkies on the bottom lane. This number stayed constant for as long as I kept killing at the top lane.

However, when I shifted to the bottom lane instead, keeping the top lane empty, 4 Pac Pinkies would always spawn after I wiped out the entire bottom lane, and 7 would be on top. No matter how fast I killed, there would always be 7 on the top lane.

This numbers indicate something. That there is a limit as to how many monsters there can be in a certain given area.

There is a maximum number and there is a minimum number. But this only applies to maps with one type of monster. I am still currently investigating this, and would get back to this when I have any new findings.

Till then, HAPPY MOBBING!~
Cheers,
`ROCK[:

Labels: Rock

Monday, July 13, 2009 @ 7:24 PM

Rock's submission for event

I submitted an exactly 500-word long essay for the event "Voice Out Loud!".

Since I did not get shortlisted, I shall just post it here for the benefit of my readers. :) But the 500-word limit is too short D: I'm going to continue editing this, so watch out.

I just kind of complained. Blah. :P Sometimes I wonder WHY I even bother participating in all these competitions, when I am aware that I'll probably end up with a lower self esteem (for a few minutes) than before. -_-

Made up my mind, not going to participate in the Black Magician Fan Art Contest thing. I'll rather post the pictures here :)

Hehs, did not have much hope for the essay either. Rushed it out in 2 hours. D: Had to cut it down from 1000+ words, but lost a lot of content in the process. ):

Copied from the MapleSEA website, in case no one knows what I am talking about.

---

Dear Maplers,

We are inviting Maplers to give their thoughts and constructive suggestions for the MapleSEA Community. If you think you have what it takes to be the active voice of MapleSEA, step out and take the lead!

Event Name: Voice Out Loud! for MapleSEA

Starting Date: 7th July 2009

Ending Date: 12th July 2009

Prizes

5 winners will be selected. Each winner will walk away with the following prizes:

• 1 x Porcupine Pet

• 10,000 MaplePoints

Redemption codes for the prizes will be sent to the winners’ Qbox within 7 working days.

How to Participate

• Write an essay of 500 words that comprises of 3 parts:

1) An introduction of yourself.

2) Give a brief description on MapleStory and why you like the game.

3) Your thoughts and suggestions to improve MapleSEA gameplay and community.

• Please include your name, email address, mobile phone number and character IGN for contact records.

• Relevant screenshots may be added to the essay to capture the attention of the judges.

• The essay should be of good grammar and easy to follow.

• Send your essay to events.maple@asiasoftsea.net
with email subject “Voice Out Loud!“.

• Shortlisted winners will have their IGN and essays posted up in the forums for a final voting on the 13th and 14th July 2009.

Judging Criteria

• Content – 60%

• Forum voting – 40%

Availability

Contest is open to all Singapore and Malaysia gamers.

Terms and Conditions

Entries that do not follow the rules and regulations will not be eligible for this event:

• All personal details stated in your Asiasoft Passport must be valid. (e.g. national ID and address)

• The essay must be original creations. Plagiarizing of contents is not recommended and nor allowed.

• The essay must be suitably appropriate (i.e. no political, offensive, sexual, abusive representations etc.). Failure to adhere to the rules will result in disqualification.

- MapleSEA Administrator

---

And below is my essay, so prepare for lots of whining:

~START~

Hear! Hear! Gather around fellow Maplers! My IGN is RockOwnerXD and I am a Priest in Cassiopeia. I enjoy playing MapleStory!

MapleStory is a Free-to-Play 2D side-scrolling MMORPG. Gamers can opt to spend real life money in the Cash Shop for aesthetic purposes, or to enhance the gaming experience. MapleStory is an adventurous world where players can also choose to advance into distinctly different jobs, defeat monsters and make friends along the way.

I like MapleStory because the game graphics are exquisite and distinctly cute. From the detailed, breath-taking graphics, I can only imagine how much time and effort the creators took to produce such a wonderful masterpiece. There are also numerous social features, such as having an online “family”. While many who play Maple find it harder to level up as they progress, these features make Mapling more fun; it also shows that playing MapleStory is also about making friends.

I feel that the MapleSEA community can be improved by changing the mindsets of some; a misconception held is that lower levels cannot be trusted. A few Guilds have a level limit for the ranking of Jr. Master, whose role is second only to the Guild Master. In order to satiate the appetites of those power-hungry, some Guild Masters implement a level limit, so as to encourage members to level up faster. This rule is set on the premise that only a person of a usually higher level can attain that ranking; it discriminates against lower leveled players. A Jr. Master generally has to be trusted, but by setting this level limit, it is assumed that lower leveled players cannot be trusted.

I feel that GM events can be held to promote the fact that lower leveled players are not necessarily less trustworthy than their higher leveled counterparts. I feel that there is a growing need to solve this problem, as there are increasing numbers of people who feel this way. Whilst some may feel that this is simply an innocuous act to encourage members, I feel that it is also a rather discriminatory act.

I feel that gameplay can be improved by allowing the changing of the “Screenshot” Hotkey to a different key on the keyboard, instead of the current position on the Scroll Lock button. Like many laptop users, I find taking screenshots onerous. A combination is required to press the Scroll Lock button for many laptop models; more often than not, these screenshots are of scenes where players battle a boss monster. By pressing the combination keys, this leaves players susceptible to being killed, or being unable to help others in that split second of vulnerability.

Whilst I am aware of the technical difficulties involved in enabling this, I feel that it will certainly enhance gameplay for many laptop users. This change may even entice non-Maplers who are daunted by this to consider playing MapleStory. Thus, MapleStory can effectively appeal to both users of desktops and laptops.

On this note, I conclude my essay. Thank you!

~END~

Bleh. :P Heh, now I know why it did not get shortlisted.

But on the other hand, those are extremely pertinent points. I mean, the Screenshot hotkey is SO important! How else can we capture those wonderful memories of days long past?~

Ok, so I do sound a tad sarcastic, regarding the screenshot part as mentioned. But anyways, wish the contestants the best then. :)

Good luck! :D

P.S. Just realised I'm a sore loser too. Now let me link this back to the previous post on "The Art of Losing Gracefully". Unfortunately I have not mastered that art. ):

Now, let me state down here the symptoms of Sore Loserdom, since I myself had and am going through this currently. Luckily it's probably a five minute phase. Phew.

1. (If participating in a competition) You have lost, but you keep checking the results again and again every 10 seconds. Hopefully staring at it repetitively will help alter the names on the list. ("By using the power of Sight, let the names change!")

2. You keep convincing yourself that your submission is good, your submission is good, your submission is good, your submission is good, your submission is good...etc, etc.

3. You try to find faults in other people's submissions. If you are participating in an Art competition, you will start trying to find traces of water colour paint in other contestants' work if the stated contest medium is acrylic paint. Nit-picking grammatical or structural errors is common in essay-type competitions. ("Argh! It is 'I am', not 'I is!' Disqualify! Disqualify!")

4. You will keep re-reading the contest rules and regulations over and over again, and compare it to a contestant's work. E.g. if the rule states that it is a 1000 word essay, you may start screaming loudly and hollering at the top of your voice and jumping up and down and saying: "ahh! That person wrote 1001 words! 1001 words! One! Word! More!"

5. You tell yourself that the competition was not too important anyway. ("Oh, it was no big deal. What's all the fuss about?") LIVING IN SELF DENIAL DOES NOT HELP. If you have volunteerily participated, the contest IS important to you to some degree.

6. You try to find faults with the judging system. E.g. if the contest results are purely based on internal judging, you start to wonder whether they rigged the whole thing, or that it is a whole publicity ploy. OR if audience poll counts, you start to wonder how much the contestants paid to bribe people to vote for them; the list does not end. It is exhaustive.

7. You put off doing homework to write out long posts concerning sore loser-dom. (Applicable only if you just realised you did not win anything/lost a game) Absolutely! I agree with this point :))

If you are currently experiencing any of the aforementioned symptoms (note: applicable only after realising you did not win anything in a contest, or after losing a game), or suspect you may, kindly consult your inner soul. I strongly believe everybody has an inner soul, so kindly look deep into yourself, and think long and hard.

Pretty soon, the answer will come to you. Or hunger pangs will reach you first. :X

Well, regarding the homework part, I am experiencing that currently.

With that, I suppose I should stop refreshing the poll results every 10 seconds and better get on to doing my homework.

Once again, I wish to congratulate those who have been shortlisted on being shortlisted (okayy, weird phrasing. But you all get the point (: ).

I also wish to encourage those whose work has not been shortlisted (which, according to proportion, should be the majority) to keep up the good work, and not give up.

别灰心！(It basically means, "don't give up" in Chinese. Literal translation: Don't [have a] grey heart! But don't look at the literal meaning, look at the first one. -_-)

Word of advice:

Not being selected does not mean your work is no good. It just means that your work is not the one the judges are looking for. It really is up to them to choose, to decide. However, their decision should not affect how you react to it. How you react under certain circumstances cannot be controlled by anybody. Do not let their decision control you, control your emotions. Because only you have the right to do that. The right to control how you feel.

On this note, let me wish everybody a happy week ahead!

Cheers!

`ROCK[:

Labels: My 10 Mesos' Worth, Rock

Saturday, July 11, 2009 @ 10:14 PM

Scheduled Website Revamp

I am currently editing the header of this blog/website.

So be prepared to see a more interesting header in about a month or so! :D

Haha, it's a long wait I know. But I'm sort of busy currently, so the header would be edited slowly. :)

And I will also be editing the Terms and Conditions ("What?" There ARE T&Cs??" I hear you say. Yep, there are. But the good thing is, the stuff mentioned in the T&Cs are mainly STRONGLY ENCOURAGED. So do not worry! :D

I will be editing other sections too (:

Okay, look out for the new header soon! I'll inform everyone of the scheduled website revamp closer to the release date.

Cheers,
`ROCK[:

Labels: Website-related

Monday, July 6, 2009 @ 9:37 AM

The Art of Losing Gracefully

How many times have you seen this scenario:

"And...yay! Game!" Person A moves his counter to the finish point of the Snakes and Ladders Gameboard.

"No fair," Person B remarked. "You kept going up the ladders, and I kept going down the snakes. So unfair!"

"Err..and? I couldn't control what number the dice rolled." Person A rebutted.

Find this familiar? Or in other contexts...

Person C: "How come their party win us in MC?! (Monster Carnival)"

Person D, who is in the same party as C, remarks: "They higher level what, more pro."

Person C: "But that's unfair! Whose idea was it to compete with them? I demand rematch!"

Person D: "Err...yours."

The above are examples of winning and losing. Some people take defeat well and in stride. However, there are others who are just not that...

Well, I am certain everybody has a certain "Sore Loser" streak in them, including myself. :P (meheheh.)

But we all try our best to keep it within us, and try not to show it to the world.

However, while Sore Loserdom is prevalent enough in the real world, when it comes to online games, e.g. MapleSEA etc., it becomes even more apparent.

How many times have you innocently taken (not looted, mind you) Boss monster drops? Like in Kerning Party Quest (KPQ), where the King Slime drops Squashy Shoes which are untradeable?

Or Boss Monster Cards?

Well, actually this issue was reflected just recently, when my friend recounted a common experience.

My friend, let's call him Person E, was KPQ-ing with a bunch of fellow adventurers in Maple.

Ok, so E was the highest level in the party, and the one who dealt the most damage on King Slime. And E was a close-range attacker.

The other 3 party members were attacking from afar.

Of course, it was only AFTER King Slime died then did the real drama begin. E leveled, and...

The all-revered, much coveted SQUASHY SHOES dropped out!

Of course, like anybody would, E quickly picked it up.

The party members looked on, especially the leader, F. And another member, G. H watched on innocently.

So while G was saying something about noobs and all that, F was remarking something about "the party leader take first". Bear in mind that I rephrased F's original sentence (i.e. ldr taker) to fit the proper grammatical structure of this post. :)

At this point in time, just in case you were confused, let me quickly recap what has happened.

King Slime died, E leveled. E picked up the Squashy Shoes. F and G were scolding E. H congratulated E for leveling and picking up the shoe. (Way to go, H!)

Later on, F, the party leader, requested for everybody in the party to defame E. Of course, G was still busy muttering something about "noob", but that was as far as he went.

However, F, on the other hand, defamed E. E defamed back. H stayed well out of this.


From the above scenario, we can tell that this is probably a rather common experience. I mean, squashy shoes are rather RARE. And I believe that many KPQ-ers have probably experienced this first hand, or had been an innnocent bystander.

However, what I wish to talk about today, is not so the ohsorare Squashy Shoes, nor write a guide on KPQ.

While I am sure that many people would be saying: "Why is this person blabbering on about stupid shoes in a game?!" I would wish to highlight the fact that this reflects common scenarios in our daily life.

Another friend, J, recounted an incident in which she was playing Chinese Chess with a fellow friend, K.

K was quite a good Chinese Chess player. J was just playing for fun.

However, J won K. K was very upset and she did try to hide it. But K did not manage to hold back her upset-ness; she overturned the whole board and just sat there.

J picked up the pieces on the floor, kept the board into the box, and walked away silently.

Find it familiar?

Well, what I am trying to say is that even when we lose, let us lose gracefully.

Easier said than done, though. :P

But at least we try. Regarding the case of E and F, I personally feel that F is a little bit unreasonable, and maybe E could have justified himself better.

Afterall, who wants to argue over things like these, when we're bound to forget about it soon enough.

So, enough said; on this note I wish everybody a good day ahead.

Cheers,
`ROCK[:

Labels: My 10 Mesos' Worth