Sipwell asked me if I could think of a forum for publishing a note on the subject of “people adding people they don’t to their buddy list”. Or maybe the phenomenon from a wider perspective. Why are we so eager to get to know, or pretend to know, people who are no way near close to us?

Anyway, what better place to discuss this than on the blog?!

I’ve done some thinking about this myself. People have added me as buddy, they ask how I am, want my opinion and generally seem to care. People that don’t know much about me and probably never will.

We try our hardest to gain as much acceptance, comments, photos, stars, remarks, posts or what have you from others in this digital universe we spend so much time in. Strangers. Still, through the wery wide web, distance seem to disappear and people move closer to eachother. Or is it the distance that makes some kind of closeness matter even more?

Or is it just another way of standing out in a crowd? “look at me - I have 3 759 friends. you’ve only got 59. haha”

Anyway, this is Sipwells reflections and thoughts, in his very own words:

I have been fairly active in the game for 1.5 years now and I am still loving it. It is great to see a community evolve and expand and for me personally it is even greater as I can participate in that endeavour. Suggesting things to Powdersnow directly or via his “right hand” Hogweed, managing Forum Admins in a specific way to make the community even stronger… it has become part of my daily life and a ‘hobby gone mad’. Do I mind? Not at all. I believe that every person is entitled to his or her bit of insanity, on the condition it is used in a positive way…

My activity in the game has lead to a certain respect or even prestige within the community. My name is often on the lips of users (as you can see in the forum) and many people seem honoured if I talk to them. You are considered a great personality based on your reputation and the actual position you have in that community. That is in every society or community no different. Football stars are equally respected, as is your local politician. Did you ever sit in a restaurant when a local/regional/national/international pop star entered it? All faces turn to that person and everybody starts whispering “have you seen him/her?”. It is part of our community system and there is nothing wrong with it.

Yet something in this game strikes me as odd. It is one thing to engage with me in the forum and to take me into the wider network you are active in. Some people do need to contact me often and some people do need my help when they are in trouble. Some people appreciate my posts or appreciate the tings I do in general and want to have me on their buddylist. But why do so many ‘unknown’ people add me to their buddylist? Each morning when I enter the Powersoccer site, I have new users adding me to their buddylist, users I never heard of, never replied to something they wrote in the forum or have had any contact with. How does that come? What is the trigger here?

You could say that they want to have a MA in their buddylist to contact him – unfortunately until now as women hardly discover this game in my experience – in cases of need. But why does a Brazilian user or a Pakistani user pick me? Why does an American click on my name and “add buddy”? What makes me – and I suppose many of my colleagues – so different, so ‘important’? Will the person who has an answer on this puzzle please rise?

So the latest news is out (btw - would you say “news” in this context is plural or singular? tricky.) Power Challenge has a new CEO.

Frank Sagnier, previously with Double Fusion and EA amongst others, comes into the company with great experience from the games industry.

“I’m very excited with the Power Challenge opportunity,” said Mr. Sagnier. “We have a very unique, high-quality in browser soccer game, a number of amazing partnerships such FOX Sports, Miniclip and Spill Group, all contributing to a fast growing consumer base and revenues coming from a mix of subscriptions, item sales and advertising.”

this is Frank —–>

We’ve only known him for a couple of weeks, but everyone at Power Challenge feel that he’s the right person to bring the company forward. With Frank in charge we’re getting closer by the minute to making the dream come true… complete and utter world domination!

Kidding (?) aside, we’re all very happy about Frank joining us. These are very exciting times and we’re looking forward to being guided by Frank’s wisdom, absorbing some of his great knowledge of the online gaming universe we call home.

Have we seen the end of wildlife friendly thinking? Where did eco living go? Are we entering the age of the hunter? It used to be “look mum - there’s Bambi! watch out so you don’t run him over!”, now we’re gonna hear more of “floor it and give me my rifle - there’s dinner!”

I’m kind of referring to a couple of hunting MMO’s: Avalanche’s The Hunter and Monumental Games Hunter’s World. Maybe this has been a long time coming, maybe I’ve just missed the signs. But I had no idea there was a market for shooting deer while chatting to your friends.

Then again, maybe this IS the new and improved eco wildlife friendly age, that’s why we’re only killing polygons…

Everyone knows casual games make sense. And now we’re soon going to see this universe opening up to some of the worlds most well known super heroes. Marvel tied the knot with Gazillion and big things are expected to happen.

So apparently they won’t step right into the puddle of “do it yourselfness”, they might make their own movies nowadays but someone else is still making their games.

Watched a genuinly interesting documentary yesterday, you should too. Inside the meltdown.

// L

If you’re the slightest bit interested in cars, engines, vehicles or just modern man’s existential dilemma - you’re probably familiar with Top Gear. The legendary tv show where equally legendary front figure Jeremy Clarkson.

I used to watch the show while living in England, hundreds of years ago, before my interest in cars was even  born. But I totally fell in love with it. The energy, the wittiness, the speed, the insanity…

I said the other week: “we should get some kind of deal with Top Gear, wouldn’t it be great to have Jeremy and the other guys somehow connected to Power Racing? we should be able to do something really cool together” Well, I guess someone beat me to it. Typical. Look at this game!

And finally, I let Jeremy’s own words of wisdom wrap this post up.

Speed has never killed anyone, suddenly becoming stationary… That’s what gets you.

Oh I can’t help it, have to give you another one. He’s just SO cool.

I’d like to consider Ferrari as a scaled down version of God.

/ Linda

So, have to say something so I don’t leave the office post-less. How about this quote by Jeff Sutherland:

“Every line of code costs money to write and more money to support. It is better for the developers to be surfing than writing code that won’t be needed. If they write code that ultimately is not used, I will be paying for that code for the life of the system, which is typically longer than my professional life. If they went surfing, they would have fun, and I would have a less expensive system and fewer headaches to maintain.”

I went to talk to Magnus Z this morning (nothing unusual there, happens a few hundred times a day) and read something about BioShock 2 on his screen. Got into a conversation about the game, and System Shock 2 and atmosphere, graphics, aesthetics… I played BioShock for like 30 minutes and I completely love the context, the entire background story, the feeling of it all.

But. I don’t like games that are too hard, that takes too long. Or at least I want the option to “jump ahead” if I get bored or don’t have the time. Give me a Fast Forward button please!

If I read a book, it’s given to me to do what I like with it. I might read the last chapter first. I might read some pages less careful than others. Maybe I want to know who the murderer is before I’m supposed to. It’s all up to me. I like that freedom.

Why are games still so linear? Why are we forcing the players to have the exact experience we want them to have, in that particular order? Can’t we just give them a universe and say “go play now”?

I discovered a game yesterday that I really like, it’s called Women’s Murder Club: Death in Scarlet. Haven’t tried the full version yet, just the 60 minute free trial. But I could definetely see myself paying for spending more time with that game. It’s like picking up a good book, it’s a world you lose yourself in, no rush, take your time, you won’t get punished/killed/game over-ized for not reacting quick enough.

Agatha Christie: Peril at End House —->

Ok so maybe “Death in Scarlet” isn’t all that fun every day. I’ll probably be in the mood for something slightly more energetic at times. But isn’t that the thing with all kinds of media? You’re not always in the mood for a comedy or Dostojevskij or Prince or CNN. It varies. And so far there hasn’t been enough games of this slow yet intriguing kind. Or maybe I just haven’t looked close enough.

<—- large upset non-human, Resident Evil style

There must be other ways of challenging the user than trying to avoid being torn to pieces by yet another flesh eating alien. And surely it’s possible to design a game that lets it’s users act individually, making completely different kinds of decisions, wanting different things, being irrational?

The high speed adrenaline boosting gaming experiences that I like is of the fighting kind, not so much the more strategic war kind. I just don’t have the patience. I know there’s no way for me to get ahead without taking the long road. There are no short cuts. That annoys me to the point that I don’t even try it out - I already know that I won’t find the time to finish it anyway.

The one game I’ve ever put more than 10 hours into. Ico.

(and that was only because the kids were away for two weeks…)

Is it a gender thing? An age thing? A personality thing? Or a combination of all three. I work all day, the kids apparently want to eat and have clean clothes (cheeky!) and I need a few hours sleep. This leaves virtually no time for gaming. Meaning that the games I do play have to be forgiving, easy to access, and generally low maintance.

But don’t mistake “easy” for shallow. I want depth. I want a challenge. I want to be immersed. And I want the freedom to play the game any way I want (sort of).

Is that too much to ask for?

Miracles still do happen in the world. Ibra deliveres the most incredible goals - and I was genuinly excited about a football match - in the Spanish “La Liga”! I guess you’d find Zlatan’s performance being somewhat more remarkable than me watching Spanish football (I won’t say soccer, it’s just not Swedish. English. Whatever.) but trust me, it isn’t.

Watched the game where Athletic Bilbao didn’t kick Real Madrid’s behind. Plenty of yellow - and red! - cards though and lots of action. I think I’ve found myself a new favourite team. I like the air of anarchy surrounding the team and the refusal to adapt and take the easy way out. Consistency is nice. And rare.

Found an article at aftonbladet.se, lining up Zlatan’s best goals… What can one say? It’s art. I’m not a particular Zlatan fan, but any nice looking goal deserves some attention.

Nice huh?

Ok, so I shouldn’t read too much into this, I mean, I’m fundamentally crap at PS, I never fix any bugs, I don’t produce any hot graphics, I’ve never created, started or killed a demon, never once programmed a game server… so basically I’m not essential to this game at all.

Still…some people consider me being their favourite crew… ME!?

look how shocked I am:

I knew you wouldn’t believe me. But look for yourself, the truth is out there. In the forum.