Some of you may remember my post about Clear Skies, the machinima creation of Ian Chisholm that combined the Eve-Online and Source engines to create a “space western.” For those who don’t remember, you may want to read it to get yourself in the machinima mood.

Why, you may ask? Just click on the image below:

That’s right, for all of you creative types addicted to World of Warcraft, today is the start of the World of Warcraft Machinima Contest! Here’s your chance to put your talents to the test in a contest against other talented machinima artists. Top prize of an XPS M1730 World of Warcraft Edition laptop! 

Machinima has come a long way in the past few years, so I’m definitely looking forward to seeing what gets submitted. With an XPS M1730 and an Alienware Area-51 up for grabs, the competition should prove to be pretty fierce. Drop by the Web site, check out the forum, and craft your winning entry!

To get you even more into the mood, I bring you The Ballad of the Noob:

(A word of warning: some of the pages linked in this blog post may contain coarse language. Unfortunately, it’s part of the gaming culture.)

Amid the buzz of my trip to Dallas for QuakeCon two weeks ago, I received an e-mail from my colleague Jay Pinkert, who was wondering if I would be interested in blogging about the “troll culture.” The e-mail contained a link to a very interesting New York Times article entitled “The Trolls Among Us.”

For the uninitiated, a “troll” on the Internet is defined as “a user of a newsgroup, forum or message board that posts messages with the intent of inciting an argument or flame-war” (http://www.studiodog.com/web-jargon.html). Reading this well-written article by Mattathias Schwartz reminded me that “troll culture” and “gaming griefer” culture were one in the same. I have admittedly taken part in both, as have many of my past “griefing buddies.” Granted, my online shenanigans were mild in comparison to the activities illuminated in the article.

Before I get flamed in the comments (much like the comments in Virginia Heffernan’s editorial about Schwarz’ article) for being one of these so-called sociopathic malcontents who enjoy tormenting others online for sport, I feel a little background and an explanation may be in order. The best background I can give comes from my recent online griefing experiences.

I have been playing Eve-Online for two years now, and when signing up for the game, I knew exactly what role I wanted to fulfill: I wanted to be a veritable terror. I wanted to find those within the game who felt they were safe by virtue of the sheer amount of virtual property they had attained within the game, and then dramatically remind them that they could fall from the pedestal they had placed themselves upon. I aimed to grief, plain and simple. The game admittedly attracts people like me in droves, as can be seen from their forum board “Crime and Punishment,” which is an online gathering place in the Eve-Online community for those of my ilk. The learning curve in Eve is a fairly steep one, and I prepared for almost a year to embark upon my campaign of virtual destruction.

A year ago, I ran across the blog of a man known in Eve as Nexa Necis, who is the CEO of a fairly hated corporate pirate group known as The Really Awesome Players (TRAPS). Those who know of the corporation in game either respect them for their prowess in guerrilla warfare or loath them for their “cowardly griefing tactics.” I contacted Nexa, applied to the corporation, and started a year-long rampage with the pilots of TRAPS. An interview with Eve-Radio Nexa can be found here.

In TRAPS, our methodology and philosophy was simple: violently interact with other people in game to evoke a response, and if the response was unreasonable, we would commence with griefing. Favorite targets were always those who demonstrated obvious bravado. We would declare war upon our targets, stalk them in game, destroy them at every opportunity, and try to inflict as much damage as possible upon them. Our ultimate goal was to get an apology from them for their rude behavior and to have them pay us a token surrender fee as a show of good faith.

The corporation’s rules were simple:

1)      No smack talk.

2)      No lying, cheating or scamming.

3)      Always honor your word.

4)      See rule #1

Objectively, what TRAPS does could be seen as an in-game racketeering ring. Subjectively, we thought it was fun, especially if we could elicit a meltdown from our victims in public chat for posterity. After all, it was just a game, and this kind of business model is all but encouraged by the developers. Our sarcastic battle cries (common in Eve) were “INTERNET SPACESHIPS ARE SERIOUS BUSINESS” and “TRAPS is SERIOUS BUSINESS”.

From the above description, the link to the trolling culture should be obvious. For those who need a little more help, consider an excerpt from Jason Fortuny’s response to Virgina Heffington’s editorial linked above (#7):

“… it’s true that there’s nothing funnier than watching an emotionally or intellectually unstable person have a dramatic, public meltdown to a few pokes & prods. It only gets better when the target escalates the situation with even more drama.”

He then goes on to say:

“You know how on your favorite basic cable reality shows the camera captures some crazy person’s meltdown? You squeal with delight at the sheer entertainment value of it.”

Further evidence of this link can be seen in another comment to that article, this time by prominent Second Life entrepreneur and favorite “troll” and “griefer” target Prokofy Neva (#28):

“… the only way civilization will stop this destructive force is by not trivializing it, not thinking “it’s only online and doesn’t count” and “the victims should get over themselves” etc. and view this behaviour for what it is: immoral and wrong…”

She then comes out and says that “trolling” and “griefing” are synonymous, and have been going on for a long time:

“There’s one curious thing that goes on in this more popular treatment of a long-known phenomenon, and that is characterizing these activities as “trolling” and not “griefing” which is the term I think is more familiar to those who play MMORGPs or are in virtual worlds like Second Life…”

What’s my personal opinion? Many of the comments in the editorial cry out against the “perpetrators,” characterizing their actions as immoral and illegal. While it is true that many of the acts in the original Schwartz article ARE illegal, such as throwing bricks through people’s windows and making death threats, those acts are admittedly over the line and have little to do with an artful “trolling” or “griefing.”

It appears to me that Schwartz’ article unwittingly paints all members of the trolling community with a broad brush, and could be construed by the community as inflammatory. At the very least, it breaks the first rule of dealing with trolls: DON’T FEED THEM. It’s very similar to rule #4 in my earlier blog about dealing with griefers, giving them negative attention only feeds the demon.

Honestly, as someone who has “trolled” and “griefed,” Fortuny’s advice in the comment linked seems sound, even if it sounds argumentative and insulting, so I will paraphrase:

1. Don’t reply at all, even privately, and don’t publicly acknowledge the troll’s comments. Don’t even do it on another blog or forum, because the troll will probably follow you there. You’re just “feeding the troll”. This will eliminate further posts from the majority of trolls.
2. If you MUST reply, reassess your post or comment and honestly evaluate it to see if there is a leap in logic in it that could possibly set the troll off. Skilled trolls generally only attack people presenting arguments with glaring flaws in them. Don’t post again until you’ve found the flaw, or have found a better argument by which to defend your point.
3. If the troll continues to assail you after you’ve followed steps 1 and 2, the remaining trolls can usually be appeased if you demonstrate that you don’t take what they say seriously, or even play along. Doing so may make an ally of the troll, and he may then even use “his powers” to staunchly defend you. (Yes, I have seen this happen many times).

Admittedly, the above steps will only help against the average troll who does what they do just to expose what they consider “unwarranted self-importance.” For those who are over the line, they’re probably breaking the law anyway. If so, and if you have real reason to feel threatened by your troll, you should definitely contact the authorities in your area. Most places have laws against activity that constitutes a real threat against a person’s property or health.

Most trolls thankfully “only do it for the lulz.”

I woke-up early last Friday, keen to travel to the M Festival and the WCG UK Nationals, the International competitive gaming event. I left my house around 7 a.m. and arrived at the venue for 9 a.m. Having tackled security and dropped my greetings to a few people, I set up and waited for the rest of the team to arrive and prepared myself for a good weekend.

Team Dignitas, which is sponsored by Dell, arrived in staggered stages throughout the day, coming from five different countries and all over the UK. After we said our hellos, I settled down and watched the results of the Command and Conquer tournament come in as I mentally prepared for my own matches, which would be played on Saturday.

In between matches, I found myself on the EA stand meeting Gemma Atkinson, who has a part in their new video game Command and Conquer: Red Alert 3. She will be playing a Military Officer Lt Eva McKenna. I had a photo taken with her and a poster signed!

Luckily for me I was able to get in there before the masses came to follow my footsteps. I then sat down, with the EA staff, watching her sign poster after poster. Then to my surprise, I have a tap on my shoulder asking if I could move my stuff so he could sit down… It was Marcus Bent — last season’s English Premier League football player. So, I’ve been hanging out with the superstars!

Saturday was a really busy day. In the morning had to play the winner bracket Semi-Final and then the winner bracket Final and then the Grand Final in the afternoon. I practiced for a bit and awaited my opponents to message me. The Semi-Finals I won 2-0 and the Final 2-0 and I was on course to the Grand Final to defend my UK championship for the second year running. I had two interviews before the final, one with xleague.tv and the 2nd with Radio1.

I got on stage, confident, willing and hungry to win. I had come from the winners bracket so I only had to win one map, which was completed within 8 minutes and another trip to WCG was secured! That evening, I chilled out, and caught up with lots of different people and enjoyed myself as my job was complete.

On Sunday I was feeling reasonably confident, having just won the UK championships for the second year running. I was looking forward to be playing on the EA stand where they had set-up “Play Apollo @ Red Alert3.” I had about an hour there, playing two different four-player fight for alls! Basically, I was being tag-teamed by three people at once! Luckily for me, I had worked on this game in the Alpha stages in Los Angeles RTS Studios and therefore knew what I was doing and took down both games as the winner. It was great fun and we had a good handful of players and crowd watching us play.

Later on I took the stage once again for the World Cyber Games winners presentation and the “Team UK” picture. I had the honour to hold our European Cyber Games championship trophy, which we won earlier in the year!

Overall I had a fantastic weekend at the M Festival, glad that the gaming industry in the UK is growing support and improving all the time. I went there on a mission and came back a winner.

While I was at QuakeCon I spent a fair bit of my time in the Extreme Gaming Tour truck sponsored by Dell and Intel, hanging out with the ladies from PMS and checking out all of the cool equipment loaded with the latest games while the DJ pumped out the tunes. Midway through the conference, Amber “Athena Twin” Dalton from PMS took me on a tour of the truck for the camera, and I wanted to share the video with all of you.

A word of warning, though: I shot this video without the benefit of a noise cancelling microphone, and the DJ was pumping out tunes at loud volumes. It may be hard at times to hear her, but on the plus side, you can really get a feel for what it was like to actually be there!

Dell Extreme Gaming Tour Bus Walkthrough

This video only gives a quick glimpse at what’s in this truck, so be sure to check it out in person if you can!

The bus will be at GenCon in Indianapolis today through Sunday, then will travel to the Pacific National Exhibition in Vancouver on Aug. 23-24, and will hit the Penny Arcade Expo in Seattle after that. For more tour dates, check the schedule here!

Earlier today, Winnie Wong wrote a wonderful post about the upsurge of women in the gaming world. It’s true: men in games are finding more and more often that the uber opponent who has their number in the gaming arena just happens to be a member of the Cyber Sisterhood. The appeal of games has now reached a point where people from all walks of life can enjoy virtually slaying each other. It certainly is a welcome change!

While at QuakeCon this year, Ryan B from Dell Sales Chat and I caught up with some of the most notorious ladies in the online arena: Clan PMS. They graciously agreed to talk to us on camera about gaming, women in gaming, their clan, and the reaction of gamers to getting pwned by a lady. (For the curious, yes, this interview was filmed in the Extreme Gaming Tour truck.)

PMS CLAN Interview “Pro Girl Gaming”

If you’re interested in joining PMS or their brother clan, H2O, you can apply here:

http://www.pmsclan.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=1233

If not, remember that when you see a PMS or H2O tag online, you’re meeting someone from one of the most formidable gaming clans online! It was truly a pleasure having the chance to work with these ladies and gentlemen. They truly impress!

I’d like to once again thank the ladies from PMS for graciously agreeing to the interview!

The next time you get fragged playing Crysis or sniped in Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, you might want to check the culprit dishing out the kills. You can no longer assume it’s the stereotypical 24-year-old male you’re used to dominating. With usernames like Teknogurl212 and AthenaXOXO, the girls next door have closed their bedroom blinds and are treading on a predominantly male landscape: PC gaming.

Reports show that 38 percent of PC and console gamers are female. While women often bare the “casual gamer” label, there’s an uprising of hardcore female gamers that would love to take that label, strategically place some C4 on it and detonate the lame tag. Women are immersing themselves into MMOs, action games and first-person shooters, and PC, console and game designers are changing their marketing strategies to include this trend.

Recently, Alienware teamed with the PMS Clan - the planet’s largest multi-player, online female gaming group - to help sponsor its gaming efforts. PMS Clan members join other female gamers at professional gaming tournaments to show the boys that playing like a girl doesn’t mean you have to play nice.

Members of the PMS Clan … a.k.a. Pandora’s Mighty Soldiers

Women love a good challenge. Some find solace in Tetris, Bejeweled and Spades, while others prefer the strategy of BioShock and social interaction in World of Warcraft. Either way, women have male gamers everywhere looking over their shoulders. Sisters are becoming formidable online opponents against brothers. Husbands and wives are solving their differences in the gaming arena.

Whatever the gender and whatever the game’s outcome, the movement can only unite gaming enthusiasts.

I still remember the conversation with my husband the day we drove home with our new Wii: “I am soooo going to kick your butt. Just try to beat me. You might as well surrender now.”  A ridiculously competitive couple we surely are, having both played NCAA D1 sports in college,

Wii Sports has become a good channel for our need to beat each other to a pulp. But the smack talking went to waste that night. We were Mii’ed! I created his. He created mine. We  then created them for family members. And given all of the Web sites out there to download Mii’s, we were clearly not alone.

So what’s behind the fascination of creating graphical representations of ourselves? Maybe it’s a way for our alter ego to shine through or a chance for us to show a more idealistic image of ourselves. Maybe it’s because it’s just plain fun. Whatever the reason, they’re becoming popular outside the traditional walls of gaming and creaping into the realm of the Chic Geek. Here’s a couple girly usages of avatars that are quite clever.

Pose Prints, a cool find by Popgadet, allows you to create avatars to place in invitations for weddings, graduations or whatever the occasion. I wouldn’t dare put an actual photo of myself on my own personal stationary, but an avatar of me? Now, we’re talking! For fun I even created one of my very own:

Not too bad and I do love the scarf!

Another photo-avatar I am jazzed about will be available in late November for the Chic Geeks of Japan and then hopefully the rest of the world. As reported by Trend Hunter, Nintendo will be releasing “Project Beauty,” a game developed by Sega in collaboration with cosmetics company Shiseido. Ladies will be able to scan in their photo and apply makeup to it or their avatar based on elements, like atmosphere (i.e. work, play, dating).

There are also instructions on how to apply the makeup, once you lock on that special look you are shooting for. For only 6,090 yen (about $55 USD), I will be jumping at the chance to buy this when it hits U.S. shelves. What a fun and engaging way to use an avatar and your photo to define your beauty. I’m not sure if I am more excited about applying the makeup to my photo or creating another avatar and seeing how the makeup looks on it. Regardless, I know this one is going to lead to some good times with my friends and may even reign over Wii Sports in my house. Well, maybe not that far. Attempting to beat my husband in any of the Wii Sports Games will always take precedence!

How have avatars crept into your world? Do you enjoy making them of yourself as much as I have? Looking forward to your thoughts and comments.

Tomorrow I will be attending the Multiplay i34 LAN, or as it is now also known the M Festival, at Stoneleigh Park near Coventry. This will be my first event since returning home to the UK from Los Angeles after winning the Championship Gaming Series World Final with my Birmingham Salvo team. Looking out of the window now I wish we had the LA weather for this event but I am not staying in a tent unlike some of the 2,000 participants.

Seven of my Birmingham Salvo team will be at this event competing and 24 of my Team Dignitas players will also be there competing. The Dell-sponsored Team Dignitas will be competing in several tournaments including Call of Duty 4, Unreal Tournament and a few others. This is also a World Cyber Games qualifying event so several Dignitas players will be trying to grab a spot in the UK National team for the final in Germany this November.

Team Dignitas will be competing in Counter Strike 1.6, Warcraft III, Command & Conquer and on console Virtual Fighter and Halo 3. Defending UK and World Champion Shaun Clark will start the defense of his world title in Command & Conquer also. The team will have a live webcam on during the event and this can be viewed on the team’s Web site.

I am looking forward to this event as it will be the largest in the UK ever and there will be lots of things to do including exhibitors, tournaments, paintball and off-road driving.

Now that I’ve returned from the field, I’ve had a chance to look through all of the footage I gathered at this year’s QuakeCon. As promised, this will be one of several posts over the next few days where I show some of the highlights. There was just so much to see and do at the conference it was difficult to tear myself away to do anything more than empty my camera and answer a few e-mails. It was that jam packed!

The first video I’d like to drop is a quick three-minute interview with Mike Pasley, the director of Frag. I had run into him on the walkway between the exhibition hall and the hotel on Thursday when he briefly told me about the movie. A movie about the professionals in the gaming world and the counter-culture that spawned them intrigued me greatly, being a hardcore gamer myself. I had to drop by his booth in the exhibition hall and talk to him for a bit.

The following was caught on camera:

I had a chance to speak with Mike a couple of days later, and it was evident that he was knowledgeable and passionate about the professional gaming industry, and that this movie was a labor of love. He admitted that as the filming progressed, the story unfolded from what the team initially had in mind into a brutally honest portrayal of the professional gaming industry as a whole. The end result is a dynamic look into a world that most people don’t even know exists, and the injustices that remain so prevalent there.

Thank you, Mike, for spending the time to share your experiences with me both on and off the camera. It was truly an eye opener, and I can’t recommend the movie enough to anyone who wants to know what’s really going on in the world of professional gaming.

Those of you in Toronto have a chance to catch Mike and crew at the Fan Expo later this month.

QuakeCon 2008 has finally ended. After the dust has settled, the tournaments have finished, and the prizes have been distributed (go here for the tourney results), all the digital warriors I’ve spied earlier today were literally ambling about like the walking dead. Even I find myself feeling worn down by the event (having fun IS hard work sometimes), and I didn’t even compete.

Last night, the convention went out in rock-star style with free libations, free food, and exhibition matches from some of the top teams in the tournaments.  The event lasted a full six hours, and managed to keep the crowd entertained the entire time. The QuakeCon girls threw prizes and T-shirts to the crowd as the event unfolded, the main event being the giveaway of a brand new Corvette supplied by Ventrilo (see below).

I wasn’t able to catch up with the lucky person who won it. If it was you, feel free to chime in with a comment! (Why do I get the feeling I’m going to get false positives?)

Once the event in the main auditorium died down, the closing party spread itself throughout the Dallas Anatole Hilton hotel, and was just barely dying out when I finally stumbled away with exhaustion at nearly 5 a.m. I was able to get Daniel “Sephi” Serna on camera during the party, and will post it later.

I walked away from this year’s event with loads of video. I’ll be peppering the blog with tidbits over the next week or so as I sift slowly through everything I captured. The event was so packed with things to see and do that I’ve been crunching through video for hours, and have only seen the tip of the iceberg.

More to come after I’ve had a good night’s sleep!