On the Paper Trail: Masters of Doom

This is a sample taken from Coldguy's other project The Paper Trail where he review books on Video Games.

Howdy partners welcome back to the trail, in this stop we have ourselves a geek classic here. Masters of Doom tells the tale of John Carmack and John Romero, how they once started as lowly programmers trying to push the edge of technology and somehow changed the entire culture of gaming for better or worse.

This story is madly fascinating by being brutally honest about the Johns and their rise to power. Carmack is a self motivated nerd who just wants to hammer out the code to get the job done, Romero is an experimental jackass that takes no solace in anyone else's emotions. These people are in essences uncaring pompous pricks that are really good at computers, they do the things their way and everyone hates them because of it. However at the end of the day there is still a passion that you can not deny from them.

This book is blunt, in the same manner as the Johns and pulls no punches with foul language and tells it like it was. It includes great mini biops on various people you know (American McGee and the ID Mom were among my favorites) as well as incorporate the culture at the time as well. One fact that I found hilarious was that one day after the US government forced the ESRB to come into existence Doom was released to the public via shareware.

It also tells you that both together managed a rise and fall for the glory that was Doom and Quake I, and how they were apart made Ion Storm and Id crash from its mighty perch. The various business dealings would make you head tilt upon how Eidos managed to put up with all the nonsense that Romero was cooking, or how in the world no one thought Carmack was a terrible business owner and not just a hard worker.

This book is a time capsule about early computer gaming, the excitement of having two people and a bastion of friends pushing computer hardware to the absolute maximum and creating the games that they wanted to have created and making a boat load of money using unorthodox methods. The book does not sugar coat anything it simply tells it like it was and excepts you to be mature enough to think it is awesome or just question why Microsoft would allow a Giant Vaginal door to take place with the members of Gwar hitting people with dildos (yes that actually happened).

If you grew up in the 90s this will be a blast from the past that you will love to revisit, if you are wondering where trolling started it also tells you that as well, or if you wondered how two people with no business skills managed to finance an empire based around video game it talks about that as well. A must read if you are a gamer to find the zenith into FPS that is still tried and true to this day.

Public Reading

I often get this to the point where it is not even funny anymore. When I go to read I am a cheap bastard, I go to the library, I go to a book store, hell I read a novella in a used book swap. I read in public and find that there is nothing wrong with it unless the owner of the place is a jerk and makes a rule to not allow you to read a book prior to purchasing.

Think about it, why the hell WOULDN'T you read a book prior to adding it to your collection?

If you wanted to buy a video game you want to make sure that the game is good, there is a demo where it gives you a sample of the game play and if you like it, in theory you would buy it. Unless you are shareware but that is another story in of itself. Everyone has the buyer beware gene in some form or another and wants to make sure they get a good product.

So I was at my local (surviving) Borders I checked out Zombie v Unicorn and the final result was I did not like it. I read several stories in a chair and kept to myself. However I got SEVERAL glances from various people looking at me read in public. I was even questioned about the book I was reading and WHY I was reading it and not just outright buying it.

It could be me but being a reader doesn't constitute me supporting everything blindly, I look for reviews, demos, other opinions, and any information to make an informed decision on buying things like a car, a computer, a cell phone, but why are books excluded with that?

Should I as a fan of reading blindly support an author without knowing his or her work to support the industry? If that was the case why the hell am I buying it outside of a meet and greet with the author self publishing the book themselves. Every industry from movies to music and books have the end game of the consumer wants more then they are willing to have and decisions need to determine what goes on top and what does not.

All in all, I am not afraid to say I do not buy every book I read and there should be nothing wrong with that, the fact that I am trying to get people together to encourage reading on a blogspot blog with other people should be adequate enough. I buy kick ass books only, why waste money on things you do not like and regret the purchase, buy only the good stuff and vote the your dollars on who should get more support.

WRA Episode 20- Troy

Well, three weeks late, but finally here. This week I'm digging into Troy, Wolfgang Peterson's cinematic shitstorm that dares to ask "What happens if we took the Iliad, ripped out all mythological connotations, and then completely fucked it up?"

So with that said...yeah I really don't have anything else to say about this thing. It speaks for itself.

On The Paper Trail: Gamers...in the Library?!

Note: this was taken by Coldguy's side project On the Paper Trail which goes and reviews book based on video games. For more up to dates notes check out On the Paper Trail.

Howdy gamers, welcome to the first stop on the trail and in this installment we are going to talk about video games and libraries. Sure you may think that these two things would not go hand in hand with one another however recently studies have shown that this can be a power house mix to attract teenagers and children to the hallowed book hall.

So the goal of this book is simple: get more people to the library and have video games to be one of those "services" that are made available to the patrons. Eli Neiburger is both a librarian and a gamer and has seen his hobby become a major success in his district and has the plan to make it a success for your own.

Now as you might imagination the core of this book is not for "gamers" but rather librarians who may or may not know about video games. Therefore several parts of this book address things like which games you should look into, what consoles you may want to get, what cabling is required to set up an event and the logistics of the event to attract people into coming.

As a facilitator it does an amazing job into breaking down the various aspects of planning of the tournament season at your library, from convincing a person who does not think video games belong in the library to using your budget to get the most bang for your buck. It breaks things done into simple terms and tells even the non technologist how to pull an event like this off and keep the gamers coming in.

As a gamer the biggest takeaway from this is the tournament system they use to ensure that no one would be bored at the event. As well as how the rules need to be both structured enough to be understood and flexible enough to change on the fly in case an issue arises. This in combination with how to set up a room for a tourney comes into play if you were wanting to set up one at a convention, your basement, or in another public space. This is a great guide to ensure you get the maximum amount of fun from the experienced player to the novice.

All in all this book was made for librarians, as it was published by the ALA directly. Yes the American Library Association has published a book on how to create video game tournaments at your local library to encourage gamers to come. If that alone does not tell you that libraries are not cool I am not sure what will. If you are an adult that wants to run a tournament to attract people to come and keep coming back to your public venue this is right up your alley.

As for a gamer this is something you may want to skip since it deals with more of an open venue management rather then the nuts and bolts on setting up ways to get the clan structure set. Plus since it is an ALA book the price point of this one is $50. Which in my opinion is way too much for you to go and purchase this title, my best suggestion is to check this out at your local library (heck my library had it on its shelves for me to go and check out) take some notes and return when finished. You can check out the book on Amazon which provides you with a nice Kindle version for those reading on the electronic device.

WRA Episode 19- Orphans of Chaos (part 2)

Warning! Readers Advisory! returns this week with a special treat for all.

The second half of the Orphans of Chaos two-parter sees the Bard facing off in a duel against the fiendish Dorian Grey (played by Reuben David), as well as digging into the madness and perversity of this book in a last ditch effort to escape the In-Between Place, the Place Which Is In-Between.

There is something about Mogworld

Hello everyone, for those who have not seen it yet, I will link you to the book club where I talked about the latest novel from Yahzee Crowshaw, Mogworld.



So after this review post posted to the masses, one can say I received a lot of hate mail. I know I was going to be in the minority when it came to this book. There are certain things that really rubbed me the wrong way with it and instead of sending dozens of messages to people about it, I will lump them here for your enjoyment.

1) They never went to the real world only to a cyber vision of the real world since the admin tools were there.

Well to be honest this was something I got wrong, however the reason I got this wrong was in part due to the author. Throughout the entire book when it came to locations and setting up areas for the characters to explore, describing the atmosphere was nothing more then an after thought.

Case in point when they went and talked to the king it was described a Salvador Dali castle. How much time were they there for? Maybe a half of a chapter before being sent to a dungeon of the castle which one would assume is the same, but was never specified. He goes from one action scene to another action scene with only a passing mention on the environment.

So yes they were actually in an office like cyber environment where the admin tools were and yes the programmers disappeared when they "logged out" however it was so awkwardly worded you could imagine why I would be confused.

2) Why did you think this was a fantasy book when it was supposed to be a sci-fi one from the start?

Again, when I go and pick up books I tend to not read the back covers nor the amazon description which SPOILED PART OF THE BOOK. I knew that it takes place in an MMO environment, but to have it LITERALLY in an MMO was something I did not see coming. Once that hits you so abruptly it makes everything that was built up including the motivation of the NPC moot and then makes further actions a confusing mess since we already know the twist of the book about a quarter of the way into the book. Plus I checked again the genre it is listed under is indeed a graphic novel, when there is no graphics in this novel.

3) You are so stupid the characters were SUPPOSED to be assholes.

Really? You are going to say that since I do not care for people who were willing to not bond with each other to the point that they would often get on their nerves that makes them good characters? I am sorry they are assholes, and characters that I clearly would not give a shit about and get pissed when character motivation change on the drop of a hat negating EVERY action they did prior.

4) You suck for not liking the book

That's fine, I am not saying that the book is terrible all I said was that after the first act it took such a nose dive to bad that I was pissed off that he could not keep the same level of writing through the entire story. Plus I do not like books that others do, I am a reader of many books you can enjoy it, I just didn't.

5) Yahzee was a competent writer you asshole

Ok I see where your frustration is at meaning I think he did bad overall. My competent argument was referring to having a story start in one tone and end it in another. It was like if he gave up on character development, conflict resolution, and well plot elements went from really well done to very lazily hasted. In a word it was the disappointment factor, to simply downgrade your writing the further you went in a book is something which I can not call competent, it is more lazy then anything else.

6) Yahzee is the shit how dare you say bad things about him

This is where my famous writer line was supposed to save me, when I read a book I take no consideration on who actually wrote the book. Sure a famous celebrity may have written it but the name on the cover does not a good book make (see Steven King). I hold the merit of the book based upon the story in which it presents to me, not on the writer personally. You can have someone that has written bad books suddenly turn out an awesome story, again it is the do not judge a book by its cover principle.

As for my views of Yahzee; I think he is ok. Not my cup of tea, but can understand the appeal of watching his reviews. Something things turn me off about him like the constant use of dick jokes and the mentioning of Peter Molyneux (seriously he is a used car salesman the less you listen to him the better you will actually see the faults of the used car). I do know people that have met the guy and they told me he is a cool dude. I was not attacking the person, I was attacking the writing.

7) Why did you spoil the book I didn't read it yet

Have you ever seen a prior episode? Heck have you ever been to a book club before? Yes it assumes that you have read the entire book and already know the ending of it. Plus it took me over an hour to spoil the ending, and I placed 2 spoiler warnings (and midrolls) to warn you about this.

8) Sadpanda is going to htee you forever now

He may htae me, but I will still loe him.

9) Why so seriously critical when you go and read a book?

Why do people point out inconstancies in the background of a movie when it does not effect the overall scene? Critics need to be nit picky, some do it better then others.

I hope that answers most of your questions please feel free to post a comment if you feel there is something I left out. Take care.

WRA Episode 18- Orphans of Chaos (part 1)

Warning! Readers Advisory! returns once again, giving you the first episode of a two parter. John C. Wright's Orphans of Chaos is a morass of fetishism and bugfuck diatribes on the nature of reality. So crazy, it took two parts!

Enjoy.