Uncharted Waters Online announced its CBT

Yipee! Uncharted Waters Online just announced its Closed Beta Testing on August 25th @3pm (GMT+9)

I'll be posting updates regularly.^^

And also, you can also check their site for more information: http://global.netmarble.com/uwo/main.asp

Princess Peach: Time for some Ocean FUN!!!!

I.O.U. big time! Thank you so much!^^

I'll keep it simple. Thank you so much for those who have visited this site. I'm new to blogging (obviously due to the noob blog design) and I'm grateful that it has been well received.

Thanks to my brother who helped me gain many views. *claps*

And also to the LGBTs who visited this site as well, thank you very much!^^

And from now on, I'll be making this blog more personal. Its focus will be broader. So it will be anything under the sun, I mean literally.^^

Princess Peach: Oohhh new topics!^^

Knowing When to Stop: MMO Addiction

For this entry, I'll skip the usual feature article about games and game updates. I'll share an experience I had last weekend. Let me ask you these questions first:

Have you ever experienced paying for either a monthly or yearly subscription but only consumed not more than 50% of the purchased gaming time? Maybe only 40% ? 30%? 20%? And probably for the busy gamer, only 10% of the purchased gaming will be used.

Moreover, have you purchased something from the Item Mall that you regret buying? And eventually became a piece of junk in your storage?

Last weekend, I was experiencing a bit of budget crisis. Being a part-timer and a graduate school student, I had to spend wisely the money that I have left.

Moreover, I have experienced all of the questions I asked. I invested on memberships that I wasn't really able to enjoy (due to my busy schedule)^^ And I've also experienced running out of money just to be able to buy something from the Item Mall which eventually became junk in my storage.

Then last weekend came, an announcement from the game publisher of the MMO that I'm playing announced that they will remove a certain item in their Item Mall. Definitely, the ingame value of that item will go sky-high. I had to think of a plan so that I can have that item before it disappears. Eventually, I ended up having to ask my friend to share half of the amount and we'll just share the item.

Did I feel happy afterwards? Not really, I felt that I was no longer playing the game. I'm the one now being played. Right after, I realized that I needed the money for my research work. Then I felt terrible.

I felt terrible because I've done that mistake a lot of times in the past and always promised to myself that I would stop. And once again, I promise myself that I would cut the spending on games and focus on my studies and work.

What I'm trying to say is that even though that the stop signs are all around you, let's face the fact that gaming is an expensive addiction. The cost of it is not much that different from alcohol addiction and drug addiction. So on a final thought, why isn't there a gaming addiction rehab?^^

Take care everyone!

Mother Peach: Spend wisely.

It's back. Ragnarok 2: Legend of the Second

I have been playing Ragnarok Online for ages now. And with the upcoming Renewal, things will be unpredictable. It's either going to be a hit or a flop.

But if it's a flop then what happens to their loyal customers?

Fear not fellow Ragnarok players. There's still hope!

Recently Gravity Corp. announced that Ragnarok Online 2: Gate of the World will be overhauled. Thus giving birth to a remake called Ragnarok Online 2: Legend of the Second. It returns with the original mechanics and game system of Ragnarok Online and keeping it 3D.

From this:

To this:

Ragnarok Online 2: Gate of the World didn't make much of an impact to the Ragnarok community due to its complete innovation from Ragnarok Online. (IMO)^^

On the other hand, the remake shows much potential to be really a sequel of the said MMO.

Returnees are the following:

Swordsman

Thief

Priest

Wizard

Some of the "cute" monsters will be back as well:

Poring

Lunatic

Roda Frog

Fur Seal

Closed Beta Test will start on August 31st and the current Ragnarok Online 2 servers will shut down on August 2nd.

Beta Testers of the Ragnarok Online 2: Gate of the World will be compensated upon request. Testers will be given 1,000 RO Cash, automatically enrolled in the Closed Beta Testing on August 31st and a special themed outlook that'll be given on CBT.

Princess Peach: Valkyrie Peach? Not a bad idea.^^

Alter Ego: ME and me Revised

One definition of Alter Ego is a "another side of oneself; a second self". The question is when and how does an individual creates an alter ego.

Here are some information I've gathered: (from healthguidance.org)

• Usually, people who have been deprived or who haven’t been able to do what they always wanted to do in life have an alter ego. They seem to live in their dreams and have a life of what they had always wanted.

• They imagine themselves in the world of their dreams and reach their goals with the help of this alter ego. Most of the times the interest of the person and his/ her alter ego are the same and they try to develop it in their own manner.

• There are many people who are unaware of them having an alter ego and there are some who might be aware of the fact. If you know someone who has an alter ego, then you need to observe the person very carefully as distinguishing them can be close to impossible.

With those information, I'm thinking that isn't that MMORPGs are one of the ideal places that a person could create his/her alter ego (consciously or unconsciously). Online games cater people's need to get away from their own identities.

With RPG games, in general, people have the freedom to choose who they ideally want to be. It's like filling the holes that you have on yourself by creating a better you through the character creation that games offer.

Moreover with online games, with the creation of the 'PERFECT' image of oneself, a gamer now develops self-confidence to interact with other gamers thus living the alter ego. Through this, a gamer can get acquainted with a lot of people and can/may develop good friendship with other people (with or without his true identity). Moreover, those friendships can lead to more personal relationships. (again, with or without revealing their own identity)

But with the issue of Real ID on the horizon, identity issues will be hit. It may be work- related, gender-related, physical appearance issues, etc. Though the real purpose of would be beneficial to the forums but it will affect a bigger problem regarding privacy.

I know that it is a fact the as company can't please all its customers and will try to cater as many as possible but the problems that the fix (REAL ID) will be giving to the minorities would really be threatening.

I hope things like this should always be reconsidered especially if it involves personal information.

Some people would love to be in the limelight but some would only want half of them in it.

Note: I would like to thank other bloggers for inspiring me to do this entry.

ME & me