I'm not doing an introduction post about who I am and what I'm going to talk about and ilk. I think honestly, while we all respect one another, there's a teensy part of us that, while reading those descriptions, is like "My god, why?" So I'll jump to it.

I finally got around to installing my copy of Team Fortress 2 today. If you are not a fan of M rated games, skip the portion of this blog that's in between the following lines, because it's a waste of your time.

----------------

It's the best multiplayer FPS I've played, hands down.

I know that's a very bold statement, but I want to elaborate on how much emphasis I must put on the multiplayer. This game will not function if you do not work as a team. In fact, your team is damn well guaranteed to lose if you don't communicate, associate, and destructivate. Yes, I just made the word up, and I will be using it from now on because it sounds stupendaweous.

So you've got your 9 classes that are "split" into Offensive, Defensive, and Support. I put quotation marks around split because these are very loose groups; for instance, the Heavy is in the defensive category, but he can make or break a push for a command point. That being said, without a medic, he's as good as dead, so someone on your team will want to be a medic.

The first thing you notice about TF2 is that there is no Deathmatch mode of play. This further puts emphasis on the fact that you need to work as a team, because suddenly your KDR means jack all. You get points based on kills and assists, sure, but for things like captures (which includes assisting the capturer), defenses, and revenges, you get more points. This encourages a very profound level of teamwork that I have yet to find in another game.

Complimenting TF2 is the fact that it has built in voice chat. This is not only nice, but near pivotal in the gameplay. Not necessarily having a mic, but listening to the people who do. It's faster for me to press the "v" key and tell you that the spy is disguised as a Pyro than type it into the text box, by which time you're dead. This brings up another point of how excellent people in this game are at communicating with one another; it's one of the most social games I've ever played.

The graphics are amazing. And I know now I'm getting some one-eyebrow looks of "WTFOMGITSNOTREALISTICBBQSAUCE", but you need to hear me out. "Good graphics" is not synonymous with "OH MY GOD I CAN SEE HIS NOSE HAIRS AND THEY'RE REAL". Good graphics means they look good. TF2...well, does. It looks like a Pixar film, in a FPS, and pulls it off (which is something I could never have really seen a FPS doing prior to this game). Not only that, but they still manage to maintain a level of realism. If someone near you get's blown up by a rocket or shot, and the blood spatters, and it hits you, the blood remains there until the round ends or you die. The entire time. I noticed this for the first time earlier today when a sniper had a weird red spot on his eye, and several more on his face. Closer inspection revealed that this was blood from a pyro he sniped close-range in the head 2 minutes prior.

So yeah..that's it. This isn't a review, this is my opinion, but you should all go buy it right now. NOW.

--------------

So yeah, moving on from TF2, Rokrin moves to his rant for the day...week...however long until my next entry. It's a shorter rant than I normally give, but I want to bring it up because I don't like whiners and it's irking me to see some of the people who are doing it. And yes, I'm going to sound like a complete jerk in it, and that's ok, because that's what rants are for. But before we start, let's emphasize that these are my opinions. My opinions. MY opinions.
...
MY opinions.

Good. Glad we got that cleared up. Now, to move into the rant.

Seriously, why are so many people complaining about VIP Membership? You're not losing anything. The loss of the chatbox has nothing to do with VIP Membership, it has to do with the fact that it seems that you guys (read: a small portion of the Wiispace demographic and Rokrin is just downright annoyed) have the discrepancy of 4 year olds with pixie sticks. I'm not going to bring up the specifics of what was said that GOT the chatbox closed, but needless to say....What the hell? You're on a public forum. Don't broadcast everything.

The fact of the matter remains that Wiispace is not changing. The only change is that people who pay are getting a little more. People who don't pay are not getting any less. Quite frankly, you're all damn lucky that Wiispace pulls the money out of his pocket to keep this site up and running, and should be happy to donate 20 bucks. Understand that this is not directed at people who aren't paying, because many people don't have Paypal accounts, credit cards, the money, etc, and some are tied to family restrictions. This is directed at the people who are climbing aboard the Whaaaaaaaambulance because they...don't have to pay 20 bucks.

See how much sense that makes in writing? Yeah. That's what I thought.

On an entirely different and closing note, you're also lucky Tyler is nice enough to continue running the forum. And I'm concerned for some of the users of the forum when they think he's going to take their money, close Wiispace, and run...because that means he'd probably recover 100 bucks, and it costs him $200-ish a year to run the site. Given that Wiispace opened in 2005...or 6...that means he's losing $300-$500. But yeah, that makes total business sense.

//endrant.


So yeah, that made me sound like a jerkweed, but whatever. I'd rather vent it on a blog than pent it up and end of flipping a wig at someone in Open Topic or a similar area.


SO

Moving on.

I often find myself thinking about various words and phrases in the english language, and where they came from. For instance, "by all means", is further described as "use whatever you need to to accomplish said task".

Yes, this is what I do with my time at work when I'm bored.

Needless to say, one word that continuously puzzles me is "watch". I would really like to know where this word comes from. And when I say "watch", I don't mean "look". I mean like...wristwatch. Why watch? Couldn't they have called it wristclock? Does it have to do with the fact that we're so obssessed with saving time that we'll continuously watch the thing? I dunno. So I challenge someone to go find where this came from. First person to do it makes me happy. YAY HAPPY ROKRINS!

Then maybe you'll get a chibi Rokrin as a pet and you can carry it around with you and show everyone how cool it is and then when they tell you it's stupid you can calmly hold it out a little further and it will bite their limbs off.

Pleasantries!

Rok