It’s been a while since I’ve written a one-week review. It’s also been a while since I’ve gotten into playing games since I finished my Masters. I started and finished Limbo back in June and the only thing I’ve played since then is Mass Effect and I didn’t get very far before Guild Wars 2 (GW2) was released. GW2 is the last game on my list of long-awaited games. Two of the games I have been waiting years for were released this year and I don’t see myself investing a lot of time in any other MMOs (or games for a while).

The rest of this post will be similar to a one-week review given I’m out of the game until my box arrives, but I’m also aiming to open up to writing a series of GW2 posts.

Just rolled out an update with a new feature I started to work on months ago but finally got around to completing this week and a design bug fix I didn’t notice until now.
-Feature: Older entries can now be accessed (link is at the bottom).
-Bug fix: added missing closing article tag – posts further down the page should not be gaining extra white spacing.

I have a gmail that I check once a month. If there is a bug from this update, send it to triaernet. Or if you have other methods of contacting me, just ping me there. I already fixed a couple of issues involving a rollback and re-release, but I also know nothing is perfect with coding.

Skip past the cut to get to the tutorial. I will first ramble a little bit on how I came to start using Instantbird…

Meebo, my one reliable instant messenger compilation service and one that I’ve used since it’s early days (2006?), has been acquired by Google. This would normally be a cause to celebrate, except that they’re shutting down the instant messenger service. A big shame. Not to mention, every other service that Google acquires ends up being tortured and made worse before it gets any better. Writely was another service I used during my undergrad days. Collaborating with a friend on taking notes during class was a lot smoother than Google Docs.

So, without rambling on my irritation of the loss of Meebo, I spent some time checking out other cloud-like browser-based compilation instant messenger services but was disappointed in the alternatives. I used to use Trillian before switching to Meebo. Trillian’s web service unfortunately relies on Flash for its UI. I use a lot of my keyboard to navigate websites instead of my mouse (mainly backspace, shift-backspace, page down, page up, ctrl-tab, ctrl-shift-tab, ..) and keyboard shortcuts + Flash is just horrible. So, that was a no go, although I was quite tempted to fork over $12/yr for the cloud logs. I eventually gave up on the browser-based IM and settled down with Instantbird. I just needed something simple, clean, and easy to use.

I wasn’t expecting to want to customize it as well. Instantbird is built on the same framework as Firefox, so much of the UI options are very similar. As I have been reluctant to use Chrome other than for my Gmail, it seemed the perfect fit. Instantbird also shares a lot of organization as Adium, the Mac-only IM compilation similar to Trillian/Miranda/Pidgin. As I don’t use a Mac, I can’t say much on the similarity. However, I did notice a distinct lack of straightforward instructions on how to make your own message themes. I hope this tutorial will help.
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During the past week and a half, I started to play Limbo mainly because it didn’t require an internet connection. Being at my parents’ house, their DSL connection is much slower than the cable connection at my apartment. My mom also watches copious amounts of YouTube videos, essentially eating up all of the available bandwidth. So, I installed Limbo obtained from the last Humble Bundle and finished it.

I successfully defended my masters thesis on June 7th, 2012. Originally, I was a PhD student. Drama ensued (nothing new there) and I decided to end my journey with a Masters. It’s been a roller coaster ride with a lot more downs than ups, but I wanted to document my thoughts and maybe provide some tips to my future self or to others.

I went to the midnight launch for D3 amidst a tumultuous time in my life. The last midnight launch I went to was for the Wrath of the Lich King event and I decided the only one I’d go to again would be D3. It has come and gone. I’ve played the game. Let me share some thoughts.

It’s been a busy few weeks. I’m getting off of my TV high and back into gaming. The past 2-3 weeks or so, I’ve been playing a couple of games, Mystery of Mortlake Mansion (MMM) and Botanicula. MMM I got from game.giveawayoftheday.com for free and Botanicula was from Humble Bundle. These are two completely different games, related simply by the concept of puzzle-solving and mouse-action, but I wanted to combine them into one post than write two separate ones.

Still on my TV series analyzing high, I realized over the weekend something that applies to my research and academic writing. Possibly personal growth as well, but I think that might be best as another post.

More specifically, I’ve been watching a lot of police drama-type shows that deal specifically with the homicide unit. It seems to be all the craze. But, despite this similar theme, I watch the shows I watch for different reasons, either for the characters or for the story, but they’re never balanced–I watch a show either more for the characters or more for the story.

I’ve been watching TV more than playing games lately. It’s a cycle. If I’m not watching TV during the down-cycle, then I’m writing or drawing or reading. Granted, I’d much rather be writing or drawing since they are more productive than consuming TV or books, but I think I exhausted that route last quarter. So, it’s TV’s turn. It’s also a time for reflection.

I’ve been working on my advancement paper and it’s trudging along. Okay, maybe limping, but it’s moving forward nonetheless. Even if it’s at a snail’s pace. I’ve been hesitant to announce, “This is what I’m doing!” (for my dissertation/rest of my PhD) because the last few times I’ve tried that, I ended up changing my mind entirely. I suppose I’m close to the “mid-life crisis” point of my PhD and I finally have something I’m genuinely interested in, but I still have that lingering fear that it’s just an illusion. But what really gets me excited about it is it has valid broader impacts, something that is difficult when I tell people I’m researching video games and the response is like, “Cool! So, you play games all day, right?” (I have a feeling I should do one of those What I do/What others think I do/What I really do memes that was recently credited to one of the guys in our department.)

When I first started, I was interested in the more abstract concept of play and saw video games as a medium for channeling play. I was also interested in game design and that took me on a bit of a tangent where I was really stubborn about studying the trinity in MMOGs but it didn’t have enough of a significance to write a publishable paper on. I tried writing one nonetheless for a class. I have recently made an appearance outside of my hole and trying to reintegrate myself back into society. When colleagues ask what I’m doing, I respond that I’m studying player discipline in video games.