Going away for a couple of weeks.

There will be no internet there.

Don't worry. I'm not dead and I'll be back.

Have fun.

-W

TREOS is finished. EO-Plus is where it's at.

Sad news.

Lucian's decided to shut down the TREOS forums. In some ways that's not a bad thing. It's become a bit repetitive of late and the trolls are the trolls.

Fortunately - there are some fresh forums and a freaking awesome game over at http://www.eo-plus.com/ so all is not lost. So troops - regather there.

If you were wondering about why eo-plus was down these past two days: the game was too successful. So to make things better for players Arglon decided to hunt down a more powerful and stable server.

So - there's that bit of awesomeness for you to cheer you up.

Goodbye TREOS! Thanks for holding us together for so long. To Luke: you've been awesome - a trooper - I hope you find happiness in everything. Don't be a stranger!

-W

Drop the Hate

I want to be a little bit serious in this post. Gender and sexual identity is a polarizer and it's one of those things that people take way too far on the hate cycle. I saw a post circulating about boycotting a company because they allow transgendered folk to us the washroom of the gender to which they identify.

The fuck. Really.

Not that they would allow this - but that folks would get pissed off about it.

1. Women's washrooms aren't like men's washrooms. They have stalls. Just like women's shower rooms in gyms. Not like the men's room. There are stalls. I know that we all dream about the 80s movie shower scene with women showering together. It doesn't happen. Those films are shot in the men's room because T&A and softcore implied lesbian shower scenes sell to boys between the age of balls dropping and balls hitting the floor. There is literally nothing to see here. So if you're railing against people being exposed to something - the only thing that you see in a women's washroom are four walls and a fucking mess because women's bathrooms are filthy.

2. Gender is not as black and white as you may like to think it is. There is a spectrum of gender identity and sexual identity that has been scientifically observed and verified. (BECAUSE FUCKING SCIENCE!). Me - I don't understand it because I'm a heterosexual male with parts that line up with how I understand myself in the social order that we have. I know what it's like to be me - and I don't know what it's like to be someone else. So who the fuck am I to say what someone else is or should be experiencing if it is biologically determined (again BECAUSE FUCKING SCIENCE!)

3. Theologically - and I'm a theologically conservative Christian guy - the Bible doesn't anticipate the situation that we're dealing with now. Pull out the 7 hammer texts - they deal with gang rape, cultic sexuality in a tribal society, temple prostitution, and a promiscuous culture that is based on a hedonistic perspective on life (idolatry). They do not address biological sexual identity (BECAUSE FUCKING SCIENCE!), gender identity, or anything resembling the lives being lived by those who are LGBTQ. God doesn't hate them. Though God does tend to hate pompous Pharisees who miss the point of the Law.

4. Which is to love. Why the fuck are you wasting your time hating on people who really don't affect you.

Here's a thought - you do you.

If you don't think a particular thing is kosher according to your beliefs - don't do them. Don't impose that on other folks. If you value freedom then our systems of laws shouldn't be about limiting people in what they do except for in instances where it causes actual harm to others. So don't kill - don't steal - don't play Justin Bieber songs loud enough for other people to hear. That's reasonable restriction on human activity. But if someone identifies as a woman and wants to pee in a place where she feels safe - in the confines of four walls where nobody can see - and where idiot men aren't going to harass and harm her - then let her. And if two women want to break down the walls of a shower stall by the power of their love and express in a healthy way the sexuality that we pervert in our fantasies - then all that really does is add love to the world.

Isn't that a good thing?

There's enough hate in the world.

Stop adding to it.

-W

Life, the Universe, Everything

Not really going into that much detail. Just scratching the surface mostly of what I'm up to. I don't blog much anymore but I think I'll be doing some over the next few months as I have a little bit of spare time that I can devote to this sort of thing.

A few questions to answer:

1. Why are you still blogging? Nobody reads this shit.

Statistically not true. Even then that's not the point. I blog, record video games, play music, etc. for me. I throw it online as a bit of a journal and a bit of a cathartic exercise. I'm knocking on the universe and seeing what happens.

There's no money in it. No fame. No reward beyond just doing it. I just like to.

I think that's really the point of anything. I have no delusions of grandeur here. I have analytics and I know that this isn't important. So if you think I'm one of these folks who dreams of making it big or that people actually care what I write, say, sing or play. I'm not.

But if you've read this - like it - enjoy me - or somehow find your life enhanced, views challenged, been mildly entertained, or feel less alone. That's totally gravy.

The universe sometimes knocks back.

2. EO Plus?

Yeah - it's a lot of fun. It's got me hooked on 2d isometrics again.

http://www.eo-plus.com/

Download the client.

Play.

3. What do you do?

Primarily I'm a writer. Everything else I do in life centers around that. I love to communicate whether by page or word. I'm built for it.

Sometimes it's poetry, song, literature, articles, technical writing, teaching, presentations - it doesn't matter to me. I love how people connect and I am fascinated by the ways in which we do that through language, art, expression, comedy, body language...whatever.

I study it all the time. New ways of writing. Old ways done well. The internet. Social media. Parchment, tablets, and scrolls. It doesn't matter. I love it all.

In what I do I really aim to do 2 things. The first is to bring people together because ultimately I think life is better when we are connected with one another. The second is to help people. That's generally tied into the first because I think the biggest problem most people have is that we feel alone. Connecting people helps that. So I like to communicate and help people communicate.

And I get paid to do it which is freaking amazing.

4. Will you keep going?

Yeah.

I enjoy this. The anonymity of being WickedFrost - while still having met so many people and connected beyond my usual spheres through being WickedFrost.

That's the amazing part. As WickedFrost I can be both someone I'm not and who I really am - and without some of the social cues that bind us to certain segments of the population - I get to connect with people from all sorts of places where I might not normally go - or where you might not normally go.

That's the beauty. And I've met great, interesting, wild, amazing people on this journey.

Young people. Old people. All nationalities. People with everything together. People who are a hot mess. Smart people. Art people. Military folk. Singers. Gamers. Programmers.

Cruise.

I'll just leave that there on its own. Cruise is a fucking force of nature.

And I love you all. I might fucking hate you too. Jimmy. But I love you all nonetheless.

Which brings us back to question 1. Why am I still doing this?

Because it's fucking awesome and I love it.

-W

EO-Plus!

Hey all,

It's been a while. Figured I'd blog it up for a few minutes to announce a new Endless-Online project that is currently up and running.

Endless-Online Plus. http://www.eo-plus.com/

The server has been a long time coming from Arglon and I can tell you that it's fantastic. I'm slumming it in the low levels right now because of my recording schedule but I'm having a blast with it. This is Endless-Online how it could have been.

The great thing about this server is that it retains the old EO feel while tweaking the balancing issues, adding over 150 new quests, and having a place to go when you've finished off with the original maps.

Three things that make this server a must-play?

1. Everything has its place. This was the one thing that Vult-R never did - he never had a purpose or progression for maps. He just got some graphics together, slapped a road down, and there was a new map. Arglon has created a character progression arc that brings you from one map to the next through quests and leveling. You always have the feeling of moving forward while not rushing to fast or grinding too slow.

2. The same, but different. Arglon wasn't afraid to tinker with the maps so rather than being an Endless-Online clone you get an Endless-Online experience that is evolved and evolving. He's reworked the maps to make sense from a storytelling perspective which is fucking amazing.

3. PLUS! New graphics. New maps. A whole new adventure beyond the original tileset. Arglon has captured the spirit of Endless-Online by giving it that feeling of being truly Endless by adding all new content beyond the original experience. The thing that makes me want to play is that Arglon is paying attention to storytelling and plot arcs so we're not dealing with a clusterfuck of mashed content. The maps and the equipment make sense in the context of game play. (BU - you know I <3 you because you get community right but this is what you lack.)

So seriously - if you're reading this post - get your pixelated ass over to EO Plus. You'll be glad you did.

-W

We Won't Be Giants