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This month for Corvus’ Blogs of the Roundtable (here,) he asked about “home,” and where, in what game, did we actually feel like we are at home. Ahhhh home. Remember home? I had a little trouble picking out my video game home. I almost blogged about the first time a pal of mine got a house in Ultima Online. That was amazing, and something that simply can’t be done in World of Warcraft (as it would serve no purpose.) But the more I thought about it, my in-game home wasn’t even in a game that was ‘amazing’, but just ‘pretty good’. Why? Because I felt comfy there, damn it. And that’s what home should be; the place where you always feel comfy. My video game home? Seyda Neen. Here, let me sell you on it.

Are you tired of people dropping in unannounced? Would you like privacy and seclusion while still being only one quick trip from major cities? Is variety in the homeplace important to you? Do you like ocean swimming and/or luxuriating in mudbaths? If you answered yes on one or more of these questions, then boy have I got the place for you!

Come visit Seyda Neen! Most recently known as ‘the first town’ in the excellent game Morrowind by Bethesda, Seyda Neen is one of few port cities in the land of Vvardenfell that is able to retaining that quaint small-town charm! Yes that’s right, this ‘out of the way’ gem has both a ship port AND a silt-strider port allowing for easy access to both Balmora and Vivec. Given proper instruments (a hefty graphics card,) the serene oceanside view is a great sight to behold, particularly coupled with a forest on the other side, and can be yours for the low low price of massacring a village!

That’s right, there’s no escrow to worry about with this baby. The only thing standing between you and complete ownership of the entire town is a little massmurder, and really, what’s so bad about that? Let’s compare the up and downsides to owning your own Seyda Neen. The upsides?

1. Ports. With both a silt-strider and a ship port, Seyda Neen is in a prime location for trading being so close to Vivec and just a silt-strider away from Balmora.
2. Luxury. There’s no need to confine yourself to the bad things in life. With just a little work some of these fixer-uppers can be first rate!
3. Grit. If you’ve watched too many episodes of Les Stroud’s Survivorman, go spend the week camping in a shanty in the swampy side of town.
4. Double Decker. Formerly an item store, once you take it, it’s yours to remodel as you please! Perfect welcoming area for guests and a spacious upstairs.
5. Fake treestump/safe. Everyone looks behind paintings for the safe, but who looks in tree stumps in the middle of bogs?!
6. A Keep. That’s right, a tower, just in case you ever need to store illicit materials or extra supplies.
7. Lighthouse. Seriously. A friggin’ light house!

And now let’s look at the downsides to taking Seyda Neen into your possession.

1. Residents. You will have to evict some tenants from their homes, but with a little force they soon learn that they would be better not only departing this town, but this plane completely as they shuffle off this mortal coil and head for bright lights in tunnels.

Now, I’m just a real estate agent, not a mathematician, but I don’t have to tell you that seven is a lot more than one. And even being a real estate agent, I don’t think of myself as selling land. No, I like to think of it as selling ‘dreams’. And to tell you the truth, I’m not even making enough commission off of this deal to make it worth my time; I’m just looking out for you, the consumer. I want to make your dream come true by helping you get this little slice of Heaven. Now if you like the hustle and bustle of the big city there may be other spots in Vvardenfell that you’d like, so steer clear of this one.

But if you’re looking for a place to call home, and actually fell like you’re at home, then this is the place for you. After all, something earned through your blood, sweat, and tears is always more meaningful to you than something given with no effort. So claim what’s yours today!

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Feel free to visit some of the kickass participants in this month’s Roundtable:
Please visit the Round Table’s Main Hall for links to all entries

Oh this is crazy, this tumultuous world of blogs we live parts of our lives in.

David Jaffe? I previously posted about how he quit blogging, and restarted blogging, on the same night. Well, he’s on an indefinite moratorium again, citing his drive to be known for what he creates rather than what he says. (Here.) That’s damn admirable. Of course I still like my conspiracy (here,) but that’s cool. :D Besides, I’m sure we’ll have a post from him when he wins a Game Developers Choice Award, having been nominated in five of the eight categories. (Here.) What can I say? David, his team, and his game kick ass. Good luck, you’ve got stiff competition.

And Jeff Freeman, who quit and deleted his blog recently, has answered an important question. “What happens when a good blog stops running?” As it turns out, it goes into reruns. He seemingly has no interest in blogging new topics but has decided to reprint old posts that, I must say, are as spiffy the second time as they were the first. Though he has quite a few up, the first reprinted post is the most interesting to me. It tells a story based around the idea of a MMO minigame that’s an abstract simulation of sex, and why players would/could use it. (Here.) It even rewards monogamy.

Raph Koster recently asked people what they wanted in an MMO. (Here.) Well, more accurately, what was the spirit of what they wanted? My answer to Raph was:

I want an MMO where:
(a)any single player can effect meaningful change in the world around him,
(b)player skill (items/effects excepted) is what matters and not time spent in the world doing any repetitive task.
(c)a world that would be interesting even with no players. If Days of Our Lives can go for this long and still have viewers interested, I fail to see why an MMO can’t change the story a tad bit every week/month in a player-participatory fashion. (Not just a static story with additional events tagged on with larger events happening in expansions.)

So, I want a system that’s fair to everyone, where everyone can completely change things, and where the world lives. Gee, that’s not too much, is it? (Note the sarcasm. I realize what I’m saying, but hey, he asked. I guess I could’ve asked for a better grasp of grammar as well.)

Reading Jeff’s reposts and seeing Raph’s ‘lessons of MMOs’ (Here.) has really got me thinking about what kind of MMO I would play. See, I’m not really an MMO kinda guy. So I think I owe it to myself to spend a post or two talking about ‘my’ dream MMO. (Do you know what yours is? I’m torn between a 1920s setting and feudal Japan.) And a few posts after that, I’ll get around to ending and restarting this blog.