Every week I have decided to honor the hard work and dedication that some bloggers put into making the most retarded posts that anyone could possibly write.
This week's Nub of the Week is Keen of Keen and Graev's gaming blog. Note that Graev is not included because he does not appear to exhibit any tard-like qualities.
Keen has really made a clean sweep across the board in the last week, beating out a lot of bloggers in a number of categories:
1) Talking about going back to play WoW.
2) Claiming that having 150 players or less in a zone is not "massively" multiplayer enough. I'd accuse him of being some kind of mindless zerg player, but the funny thing is that even with 10,000 players in a zone, you'll be interacting with no more than a couple of them at any particular time because
a) They don't know you
b) You're all on different levels and have different quests and you're the wrong class and your armor really doesn't look quite spiky enough and wtf skills are those anyway /kick.
How about a new definition of a "massively" multiplayer game: Thousands of people available available that I can actually play with at a time. Whoops, games like WoW are not massively multiplayer. Diablo is though. TF2 is. Guild Wars is. Ooh, speaking of which:
3) Insulting Guild Wars 2 for being too instanced and then realizing that it's actually going to be much more 'open world' this time around. His blind hating on games that he has already decided he doesn't like, and his ability to make up silly nonsense about them, really cements his place as this week's Nub of the Week.
Redeeming qualities
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So, why is Keen in my Google reader? Well, he does have his benefits. For instance, he plays a lot of upcoming new games that I am sometimes interested in (eg Aion), and if he says he doesn't like them, I know that I have to rush out and try them immediately.
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14 comments:
I thought Keen's best performance by far was on the "For the love of God don't innovate in any meaningful way!" post. Probably the least sensible post that can possibly be construed as serious--AND people back him up in the comments thread! Maybe I don't want to have big numbers if it involves putting up with that caliber of feedback.
Keen's greatest resource is that he plays a lot of games. I can at least get a gameplay video or two out of the site and perhaps some impressions of a game that aren't as mundane or ridiculous as most of the posts. Sometimes I wonder how he has the numbers he has.
I remember when he used to make videos on AoC back in the day...those were top quality imo.
However, blogging is all about opinions and what would life be like if everyone churned out reasonable and logical opinions? :P
I'm honored to receive such a high honor from a blog like Word of Shadow.
However, I would always question whether or not I deserved it if I didn't clarify a few things.
1) Ragging on me for wanting to play Cataclysm and level up in a game that I enjoyed playing again, to reignite nostalgia is classy.
2) You may want to actually read for comprehension. It's never been about the numbers, it's been about the contiguity and immersion. Preserving the illusion of a connected world vs. being slapped in the face with a list of just how chopped up a world is matters to me.
3) I never insulted Guild Wars 2. In fact, I simply said that "persistent world" and "extensive instancing" were conflicting terms for a MMORPG, unless they meant it to be persistent for the individual and not the world itself.
I went on to highly praise the game, and continued to do so for the rest of the entry. In fact, even if it were going to be instanced again (which it's not), I would still give them my money. If they went the extra mile (which they are), I said I would give them $15 a month because they would deserve it.
Your blog doesn't need traffic badly enough to have a segment on insulting people. Furthermore, if you feel it does, at least be accurate.
Hi Keen,
We aren't really big fans of WoW for many reasons (check backlog of posts on this blog). Usually people that have been playing MMOs for a long time can see from a distance why WoW is bad. I played it some time ago and understand the attraction, but I also understand that it's addictive grindy design is bad for the rest of the industry (and players). I guess in the end it's a personal preference, but I would much rather support games with an anti-grind design and quality business model like Guild Wars.
You clarify points 2 and 3 well, but I still get the feeling that you are completely against instancing in MMOs. I don't believe instancing is a bad thing as long as the immersion is moderately maintained. The fact that Guild Wars 2 has both 'persistent world' and 'instancing' tells me that they may have found the winning formula, although somehow you managed to put this into a negative light on your post.
Btw, this blog was never about the traffic, it was about opening peoples eyes to quality game design.
In regards to immersion, I find it immersion breaking to see a bunch of people running around doing the same story that I am, but in parallel. I find it jarring when there are 20 people clustered around the same NPC, who is magically talking to them all at once. I dislike the extremely unrealistic feature of the respawning monster, especially when they appear magically from thin air. I find it particularly immersion breaking standing around spamming LFG. Instanced games like Guild Wars eliminate or greatly reduce these problems, hence I find them far, far more immersing.
In general, every week with you it's the same old stuff, criticizing MMO's because you feel that they are not enough like WoW. I say to you, if you consider yourself a real gamer, broaden your horizons and get into some non-MMO games for a while. Hopefully you'll learn to recognize and love good gameplay elements, and look at games like WoW in a new light.
Also, as you have realised, we don't care much about traffic here. We don't make a large volume of low-substance posts, instead only blogging when we feel we have something to say. The beauty of it is that we don't have to worry about stepping on people's toes.
So I'm sure the next time you post some silly things you'll be in the running for another award. You've got some tough competition though - people like Tobold, Syncaine... so here's hoping for you that you keep yourself off that playing field.
Wow, Graev's write-up of his Champions impressions really seems to echo my points ^^
http://www.keenandgraev.com/?p=2878
At least I know you will not delete comments if they hurt your "wittle feewings" like Keen does.
He seems to have an issue with anyone stating he may be wrong, and cries about it constantly.
The fact is his recommendations include WAR and Darkfall at one point and time. I just decry "No tatste".
He is just a hype monger and hopes someone will get him a free account to play with depending on what game he plans to love...
And then when he gives opinions about games that are well received or liked, it usually is negative to build some traffic...
Poor Keen
Good post!!
Ugh...dang typos (that would be "Taste!!")
Anyways, what is funny is not two posts ago you were also down on the Keen...
What gives?
Is he purposely creating articles to rile the masses and attempting to go against the norm? (I.E: If people hate it, I love it, and if people love it, I will hate on it...)
OK..I digress...better run before I get in trouble here
Crimson and I have done extensive research into this bizarre disorder which has spread to epidemic levels across the gaming blogosphere.
It's called being a "WoW nub".
There is no known cure.
Openedge1, you've been banned from commenting on K&G.com because you're unable to control your tongue. Hopefully others will be mindful of the company they keep when you're around.
To address one final jab at me, I'd like to clarify that I do not need to post negatively to receive visitors/readers. I post how I feel without ever censoring my mood or my exact opinion about something. That is why I get my "numbers".
Anyway, I just wanted to stop by and make sure that you guys didn't make yourselves look bad by misrepresenting what I was saying in my blog entries. After all, a segment about someone else's blog entries and the way they choose to write on their own personal blog should at least be accurate.
While I've always believed that it's never good form to do these types of posts and be taken seriously, it is your blog after all and you're free to write what you wish.
Happy blogging, and good luck.
@Keen
you've been banned from commenting on K&G.com because you're unable to control your tongue.
Oh...did I swear? No. Did I say something negative against what Keen thinks? Yes.
Really sad when someone is banned for stating how they feel about someone elses post...
Kinda like you being upset here because someone said what they thought of your post.
Blogging means taking the hits, and you have shown that you cannot. And if you wished, you would delete this whole post.
Luckily you cannot, and it is pretty much on the mark.
Sorry it hurt your feelings.
Wow! I enjoyed the post. I liked the comments better. Keen is a very good writer. I don't agree with what he say sometimes but he writes very good. His game hopping does make me dizzy though. I'm a WoW player so I can understand Keen's excitement to play again. Did WoW ruin MMOs? Kind of but they opened the eyes to millions. With out WoW MMOs would be different. Good, bad I don't know. I just know Keen loves games and all the game hopping he does turnes me away from his blog. So I guess Keen is like WoW in a way. Somedays you like him some days you don't.
I liked the post though.
I smiled when I read the post :)
I do not read K&G regularly, but follow links there from time to time.
Regardless of the details of what was posted as discussed in the comments, Keen do seem to have preferences and opinions that differ quite a lot from my own many times.
That is fine, and I usually end going in the opposite direction if what is posted is something that affects me.
i loled
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