I'm halfway through my second week of training for the PMS clan...and I'm loving it! I can tell I'm getting better; I don't just run into the firefight all willy-nilly as I usually do, I tend to hide more and strategize, and I take the time to breathe and aim...and thanks to this, I've come out on top in many of my gaming sessions :-) The girls I'm training with are amazing, not only at playing Modern Warfare 2, but as women who do incredible things with their lives. I've met mothers, tattoo artists, business women, make-up artists, animal refugee founders...the list goes on. As an added bonus, the H20 guys are also a lot of fun to play MW2 with - they're very nice and respectful, and always defend the PMS girls if some of the other guys in the game start bad-mouthing them (which happens a lot, sadly).
In training, we don't just go into public games and play - we'll do private matches with just the PMS girls (members and recruits) to do specialized training, such as Duck Hunt for sniper training (4 girls snipe while the rest just run around and try to dodge the bullets) or one-on-one knife fights (knifing only) or Micheal Myers (one person can knife only, all others must hide/run but cannot shoot or knife back). Many of these sound like fun practices, but they actually hone in on different skills (Duck Hunt for sniping fast-moving targets, Micheal Myers for learning to use cover and really discovering all those "hidden" places in the maps). We've even done a free-for-all practice where we could only use sniper rifles, but we weren't allowed to camp (meaning we HAD to run around and practice something call "quick zoom"...which is really hard!). Just with these few practice games, my sniping and knifing skills have gotten so much better. I can't wait to practice more tonight!
One hot topic that is going around all the forums (and was even mentioned on the radio station 99.5) is this new website called GameCrush.com. I read this article, and I have a few thoughts of my own...
- To all the girl gamers out there: Is any self-respecting girl gamer really going to sign up as a "PlayDate" for this? Or even like the idea? I suppose the keyword here is "self-respecting"...
- The article likens the elite PlayDates (known as "JaneCrush") to the FragDolls...please don't. The Frag Dolls have been here for years, have proven their worth and skill time and time again in legitimate tournaments, and work closely with Ubisoft (a formidable player in the gaming industry). Perhaps GameCrush would like these girls of "JaneCrush" to become as famous as the Frag Dolls...but they are not, and will not, be the same.
- Guys - if you want to play games with girls, it's a lot easier than you think. Just go to Google and run a search for "Girl Gaming Clans" - there are many out there, all full of women who love to play games and are always willing to play with guys who treat them with respect. Plus, you don't have to pay.
- Is this a good business idea? Yeah, sure. But there are some flaws in the business logic (one that stands out the most in my mind is the xbox live portion - so a guy gets a girl's gamertag...and now he has that, forever. He could message her all the time, what's stopping him? I suppose the girl could block a user, but then she's cutting out a potential "client"....just silly, as xbox live is already poorly designed).
- "...from what we can tell, most of the girls on the service genuinely like to play games and are simply interested in getting paid for it. " ........I beg to differ. These girls aren't getting paid to play games. They're getting played to be "flirty" and "dirty." Would they still get their 60% cut of the sale if they just video-chatted the entire time and didn't play the game? My guess is yes. Will they earn money if they just play games on the site and don't get guys to pay money to play with them? No. So technically they're not getting paid to play games - it all depends on how appealing they can be to the guys searching the site.
- Your thoughts? Comments are always welcome :D
Now, onto something much cooler: I was visiting one of my favorite sites the other day (The Awesomer) when I came across this! In the same vein as the Blind Gamer who beat Zelda, this is a game specifically made for the vision impaired - meaning the entire game is played through sound cues and no visuals. Pretty neat, if you ask me!
I'll be writing more in a few days - too much to do in too little time!
you rock. love, your big. but which one?
ReplyDeleteMy guess is...the big from DSP! :D
ReplyDelete[I'm going to start posting the comments people leave me on Google Buzz here, so I can keep track of them all]
ReplyDeleteFrom Dirune:
Yea. If there is money involved people tend to throw self respect to the wayside. They probably will make some sort of immediate profit. Probably a lot of lonely gamers out there willing to shell out some coin for some feigned interest. I like how they liken their pricing structure to buying drinks at a bar.
"GameCrush says it modeled its pricing structure after the cost of buying a girl a drink at a bar. In a bar, you're basically buying the opportunity to chat a girl up. GameCrush is hoping players will look at their service the same way."
...Nice.
All that Clan training makes me jealous. I need to get back into MW2 since that new map pack is dropping next Tuesday. Even though it's $15, I kinda have to buy it since it features "Crash" from the first MW. Le sigh