msmoon | My tiger loves to break dance (Reply)

Yo. Today was a game day for me. From 11 o’clock in the morning to roughly 6 o’clock in the evening, I did nothing save sit on my tuckis in front of my PC, playing Black & White. *blinks* My eyes still hurt. It’s one of those games (not a MMORPG) that once you start playing it; you get wrapped up in it. My Mom had to use that not-quite-scolding-yet tone to get me off. I then noticed that it was 6 o’clock, I was tired, I needed to use the bathroom, and my head was aching. So I went and took a shower.

Oh! But I would like to say that my little, fat Tiger was confronted by Lethes little, lanky wolf. Yeah! The wolf challenged my tiger to a duel or challenge or whatever the game refers to them as. And my little, fat tiger kicked that wolf’s small, lanky ass! Yeah! I have to say it was one of the most fulfilling moments I’ve ever experienced. In fact, it almost made me forget how upset I was with my creature for being so small and fat.

...Perhaps I should explain...Black & White, for those who don’t know, is a computer game where you are a god. You can choose to be good or evil, either way it doesn’t matter. The only way to win the game is to get the three parts of the ‘Creed’ and beet Nemesis, another god who’s trying to become all-powerful (don’t you hate the type?). So, you can be evil and kill villagers and cause havoc and terror, or you can be good, and take care of villagers and tend to their needs. Either way, it doesn’t matter. It’s all in how you want to play the game. /nod Probably why I enjoy it so much. God knows if any of my Christian friends knew, they’d probably raise a few eyebrows and talk about me behind my back. Then again, I don’t really care if they do...they probably already do... /grin

Anyway. You’re a god, and you have this village that worships you. The more they worship and believe in you, the more powers you have. You have to complete various tasks through the game, and one involves getting a ‘creature’. You can choose from the Cow, Ape, and Tiger for starters. They’re really small, but with exercise and care they grow to enormous lengths. You also have to teach your creature to be either good or evil. Like, for instance, when my creature picks up a villager and throws them just for fun, I slap him, because I don’t want him to do that. I want him to be nice to my villagers. I also slap him if he eats one of the villagers. I teach him to eat cattle instead. You’re supposed to teach him a whole bunch of things, or have the villagers do it. For some reason it’s imperative that he learn to dance...although I don’t know why. He’s a much better dancer than I am. It was so funny. I caught him dancing along-side a bunch of villagers (they inspire him to dance, I suppose) and he was doing all these fancy pop-ish moves, then it went into a robot, then it was the worm backwards and then he started break dancing which ended with him laying on his side all ‘I’m so cool’ and junk. /chuckles damn creature.

Moving on...In the village you have to keep a good store of grain and wood for the people. You can make ‘disciples’ for yourself out of your villagers. For instance, if I pick up a villager and drop him/her next to a tree, an axe will appear above them and a voice will say “Disciple Forester” and that villager will happily chop down trees and take them to the village store till he/she croaks. You can also make farmers, fishermen, craftsmen, builders, missionary, traders, and breeders...The guide book says to make your breeders male, so that you can have a soaring population without said breeder having to wait nine months (which in game-time is about, oh, ten minutes), but I like to make most of my breeders women...it just seems more polite.

I used to tend to every village whim when I first started, but then I realized the pattern of the game. You start on one island, tending to one village. You’re then informed that there’s another village on the other side of the island that doesn’t believe in you. So you convert them, and tend to two villages. Then you’re attacked by Nemesis and another god, Kazar...I think...helps by making a portal to the other island. So you dump all yours stuff – people, wood, grain, cattle, horses, pigs, sheep, even rocks and miracles – into the portal and come out the other side. Then you have to rebuild your village and you’re given the power to actually show your villagers how you want the village built through scaffolds. Kazar tells you that he and Lethes(sp?), an ally of Nemesis, both have territory on this island. In order to win, you have to convert Lethes villages. So now, you’re actually fighting against another god; as opposed to just fighting public opinion. You have to manage every town that comes under your control, you have to keep an eye on your creature, and you have to conquer all of Lethes villages. Then! Lethes kills Kazar (don’t ask me how, I don’t remember), and you have to fight to get his people. Then Lethes captures your creature and takes him through a portal to another island. Then you have to put all your stuff and people in that portal, to start all over again on another island (seeing the pattern here?). So it’s craziness to just try and cater to each village as if it were special. Now, it’s more like, ‘Here’s your food, here’s your wood, I’m expanding, keep worshiping, here’s more people, I got other stuff to do!’

And once again I’ve rambled on...about mostly nothing. I have this po-boy sitting next to me, or as you damn Yankees call it, a hoagie. Has anyone tried eating a po-boy whilst trying to do something else? It’s damn near impossible. Honestly, the only thing I could possibly see doing while eating a po-boy is watching TV...It’s that all-encompassing.

Well, I suppose that’s all for tonight. My po-boy’s callin’ my name, and I just can’t resist anymo’. Goodnight.