Geek with a Motorcycle

thegwam.com

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Last fuel stop before the Long 15. #byevegas #primm

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#packing

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Lifting one rock at a time.

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Technique VS Aggression

Every player has different playstyles. It’s a part of our gaming that makes us unique. Everyone has different tastes, different thoughts, different priorities. The most robust games are those that allow for multiple approaches to achieving goals within the game without creating the “best” way to play. There may be more dominant strategies, ways that seem easier to win for some, but in a game of…

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Running Solo

How much does an avatar say about a player’s personality?

Recently, I’ve been playing Borderlands 2 in between bouts of League during my free time. (Not that I often have a lot of that, but those are the two games that seem to garner my attentions when I do have a few hours here or there.) On Borderlands, I play as Axton, the Commando. He’s not the toughest character, not the most powerful, and…

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Modern Warfare 2 - Offline Multiplayer Party Games

Modern Warfare 2 – Offline Multiplayer Party Games

My friends and I, a few years back, used to play Modern Warfare 2 offline in split-screen. Unfortunately, the robust offline play of that game was removed in Black Ops, and never really came back in lieu of how complex the rendering of the game has become. Even so, these matches are still some of the most fun that I’ve ever had in Call of Duty. Originally written January 1st, 2010.

I’ve been…

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MAG, Teamwork, and Social Gaming

MAG, Teamwork, and Social Gaming

As many regular visitors know, I have a great fondness for the massive multiplayer shooter, MAG. I wrote this article as a kind of introduction to the game just as the beta was ending, and never knew how big of an influence it was going to be to me down the road. (It’s still my favorite gaming experience – I haven’t yet had anything come close.) Originally written January 19th, 2010.

I’ve been…

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Entitlement, Arcades, and the Lack of Consequences

Entitlement, Arcades, and the Lack of Consequences

Oh, the old days of being waytoo opinionated with a distinct lack of care for how words could be interpreted. I put together this post as a random rant on the lack of social consequence in modern online gaming. (Also, I say “modern” with this article written over three years ago.) I still think there are some valid points in here, but were I to rewrite this, I may be a little more… “polite” about…

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Dragon Age: Origins - The Power of Immersion

Dragon Age: Origins – The Power of Immersion

Dragon Age: Origins was the first western RPG that I’d ever been really pulled into. I had dabbled in Morrowind and Oblivion before that, but they had never really grabbed me. The loose story just never really caught my attention, and so I had kind of turned my mind off to the RPG genre. It wasn’t until I came across an excellent review by Kevin VanOrd of Gamespot that I decided to give the game…

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Changing the Costume, Changing the Self

Changing the Costume, Changing the Self

Everyone around us is constantly telling us who we are, what we can do, how we’re supposed to do it. Screw that. We get to decide who we are, and if we don’t like the way things are going, we can change it.

I have a bit of an obsession with superheroes. And not necessarily about individual heroes themselves, but about how they carry themselves, how they act, how they present themselves and their…

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I am the Alien Collaborator! - Risk: Legacy Adventures

I am the Alien Collaborator! – Risk: Legacy Adventures

(Expect some Risk: Legacy spoilers in this one. I’ll probably be making a review later about the game itself, but for now, if you don’t know Legacy, you probably won’t appreciate the impact here. But I highly recommend the game. It’s pretty awesome.)

Risk has been one of those games that, for a long time, I had very little love for. That’s not to say that I didn’t wantto love it. I remember…

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Confessions of a GameDev Podcast

Confessions of a GameDev Podcast

For the past few months, I’ve been a regular on the “Confessions of a GameDev” Podcast, with Spencer Buchanan and Trent Baird, along with various special guests. How I ended up involved was pretty funny:

Spencer and Trent had originally been just meeting once a week to go over some game dev ideas, and settled on every Wednesday night. One night, I happened to be in the MGS North Lab, and Spencer…

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My Introduction to the League

My Introduction to the League

So, today I finished up my last application to Riot Games, and one of the questions asked about my experience with League of Legends. I’m really not sure if it was too long, or not long enough, but this is the answer I gave, and it seemed like a story that I should put up on my blog. Enjoy!

- – – – -

I came upon League of Legends when a couple friends of mine in my grad school program introduced…

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GDC - Thoughts and Takeaways

GDC – Thoughts and Takeaways

[NOTE: So, I was a little sick last week – Not sure what happened, but GDC really wiped me out. (I blame the lack of sleep, lack of nutrition, and over-hyped days and nights of being busy for 28 hours per day.) So, here’s my thoughts and notes and whatnot from that experience now that I’ve drank a few dozen gallons of orange juice and am pretty much out of that funk. So, enjoy! – K]

Ah, Game…

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Are you the Protagonist? Or just an NPC?

Are you the Protagonist? Or just an NPC? New Blog Post -

[Alright, I’ve got these thoughts in my head, and I need a chance to ramble. I wanted to go over a few talking points, and as I read through this after the fact, I realize that I’m all over the place. Sorry if this is a little unfocused, but it’s been driving me crazy thinking about it all, so I just wanted to get it onto the post. My blog, my show. Here we go! – K]

Back during my “film days,” I…

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The Deafening Silence

“If you’ve ever seen the look on somebody’s face the day they finally get a job, I’ve had some experience with this, they look like they could fly. And its not about the paycheck, it’s about respect, it’s about looking in the mirror and knowing that you’ve done something valuable with your day. And if one person could start to feel this way, and then another person, and then another person, soon…

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Gamer Psychology - The Achiever: I Must Win at All Costs

New Post! Gamer Psychology - The Achiever: Win at All Costs

“Champions are made and not born. Champion’s feats are acquired and not inherited, earned and not transferred, attained and not deposited.” ― Ikechukwu Joseph

Achievers are probably the most common player types in gaming, and for good reason – Games are meant to be won, in a quantitative and (usually) undisputeable way. Games, which revolve around challenges, goals, and the completion of those…

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