It struck me, looking through the Power Soccer forum like I always do a couple of times a day. Found a thread started by Powdersnow called “Presentation thread” where he encouraged everyone to write about themselves, age, occupation, favourite food and tv-series and colour, name and whatever else that anyone might want to know.

And I started reading through the answers, page up and down with people gathering, communicating. There was a 10 year old from Hong Kong, someone named George from Greece, Sipwell of course, a 12 year old from Tirana and hundreds of others. Seven pages, 340 replies. Everyone so eager to share, to get the chance to learn more about the friends and co-players of PS.

I got to think about my son Lewis and how he, the other day, with great pride in his voice shouted that his post was “post of the day” on his favourite forum. Needless to say he’s an active member and this forum is like the centre of his universe. “Everyone will read this! It’s the top post!”

The topic of the thread itself might not be that important, but the look on his face, his self esteem boost… not to mention his improved social skills and English vocabulary… that matters a lot.

Imagine that. Being able to write something you care about and innumerous people around the entire world will be able to read it within seconds. Everywhere. Suddenly it doesn’t matter where you live, how old you are, what you look like, how fast you run 100 meters, if you bother to cut your hair or not, what sneakers you wear…

That was when it struck me. Internet sometimes has the ability to make real life matter less.

In a good way. You can be whoever you want to be.

It lets you find friends who share your interests. It lets you be the person you really are. It patiently waits until you got the time. If you’re shy no one will see you blushing. If you want to write you write - and get published! If you like flamingos you’ll find others just like you and you can start a flamingo club.

To me that’s what online gaming and communities are really about. Friendship. Communication. Mutual understanding and support. Finding friends no matter what happens in school, at work or at home.

So besides all the great lol cat pictures and cookie dough recipes, there are other ways in which the internet is fundamentally cool.

Making people grow. Making the friendless socialise. Letting the quiet speak up. Allowing the wannabe to BE.

God save the internet.

Lewis just phoned me, to complain about having to go on the bus for half an hour to get home from school… about how much it sucks having to walk a kilometer from the bus to our house…and about the fact that he missed the last bus today and has to go home with me. In the car. After I’ve finished working. Poor poor industrialized country children of today. The horrors. The dreadful circumstances they have to put up with! (major irony taking place here)

While on the phone he asked if he could borrow my laptop once he gets here. “No, cause I’m working”. Oh, but the other one? (spoiled! - there’s always another computer lurking around the corner) “Yes fine, you can use that” Have you released that racing game yet? “No, it’s not out yet” But you could play it on the internet? “Yes, but it’s not OUT yet. It’s just for us, it’s not for everyone. It’s still being developed” Right, you need like a code or something. “Sort of, yeah”. It was fun, I want to play it…

And that’s when I get a sort of warm fuzzy feeling inside… My gaming child likes our game. He wants to play it. He’s not into sports of any kind - he doesn’t play PS at all - he just really likes games. And he really liked PR… That’s a good sign. And right now, looking out, I definetely need a good warm fuzzy feeling.

Imagine “Great Britain Grey” as if there was such a colour. Then add drizzling rain. Then through in a bit of snow, nicely blending with the rain. And ta-taaa! That’s Linköping today. (update: now it’s actually snowing, like Santa is coming to town…what happened to spring and birds singing and those daffodils finding their way through the frozen ground?)

Looking forward to that lit fire that will be burning in our living room later this evening…

So - if Santa only brings you ONE thing this year - what would it be? And yes, I know you all wish for peace on earth more than anything, but apart from that. If we stay true to that material soul of ours…what game/thing/gadget/car/jewellery/clothes/ is on top of your list this merry season?

And what is your favourite give-away-gift this year? Have you managed to come up with that totally awesome, perfect present for someone? I love it when that happens. Personally, I’m still very much behind on my Christmas shopping. I was clever enough to order as much as possible from t-h-e- I-n-t-e-r-n-e-t which saves me some time and mental health.

And as the year is almost ending, we have to contemplate, look back, review the past 12 months. Some game critic/reviewer/journalist came up with her top three list for 2008:

1. Metal Gear Solid 4
2. Grand Theft Auto 4
3. Fallout 3

Do you agree? Do you consider her being a simpleton? What would YOUR top three list look like, games or otherwise?

What was the (three) coolest thing(s) to hit you in 2008?

We have daily drink-coffe-catch-up-talk-about-anything-get-togethers at 10. And at 15. (that’s 3 p.m. for those of you who speak a.m./p.m. language). I don’t always have coffee and I don’t always make it to the kitchen at all, but when I do there’s always a conversation taking place that fits nicely on the blog. And mostly that’s the case with the lunch discussions as well.

Most people here might be programmers, tech dudes and men - but they sure offer a great variety of hanging-by-the-coffee-machine-talk topics. You never know it you’re gonna spend the next half an hour learning about sharks, corduroy pants or sheep. Or maybe just some random ramblings on the upside of goldfish, dangers of daffodils and potential joy of getting a new haircut. A-n-y-t-h-i-n-g.

Of course, a lot of times it has something to do with games. Computers. Pixels. Resolution. Graphics. Technology. Bandwidth. Internet. Movies. Tv series. Avatars. Music. Gender.

Aaaah. There’s an interesting topic, let’s focus on that for a minute. It all started with Anders showing us a picture in his phone, taken at a game shop the other day. How about this for gender neutrality?

Well I don’t know about you guys, but I sure feel like we treat our kids equally and really do our best to eliminate that prejudiced gender burden…right?

At this 10 o’ clock gender-around-the-coffe-discussion we came to the conclusion that it’s all about the money. Surprise. Share holders and boards want to improve account balances, they care less for making the world a better (more genderly equal) place. Game studios will do basically any game in order to be the “next big thing” or basically just pay the rent. Noone takes the chance of breaking the habit and be brave enough to go where hardly anyone has gone before.

But seriously oh dear God almighty - how many versions of World War II are we gonna have to endure? How many shades of grey is there? How many oversized killing machines stuck in a dystopian city is gonna look down on me from the shelves at the game store?

I wish money didn’t rule. I wish independent developers got loads of money for making those innovative and cool games that, today, most people miss out on ’cause they don’t know they exist. I wish game developers weren’t such cowards. I wish more people took bigger interest in finding out what the key elements of difference in “male” and “female” gaming is really all about. I wish there were no such thing as a “boys” or “girls” section in the clothes, or toy, store. I wish my only clothing option in Test Drive Unlimited wasn’t “miniskirt” and “sexy top”.

Well well, I can sit here all day, keep wishing for things to change. I guess I have to start with doing everything in my power to stop crap like that entering the Power Racing zone. And keep telling Ruben there’s no such thing as a girl’s color… and buy him pink socks.

Soon it’s you-know-what… FREDAGSFIKA! Have to pop out for some drink. As in Coke. Not vodka, no no no…

Take care, have a good one.

/ L

I read an interesting post in the Power Soccer forum about how much time people spend here, playing the game or just hanging around, talking to friends, posting in the forum…  After that quick look I’d say the average is somewhere around 1-2 hours a day. Most of our players seem to have a limit on school days and play more in the weekend.

And I’m thinking… is this an issue at home, for those of you still living with your parents? Do you have to fight for your right to play Power Soccer, or any other online game? Do you pay for it yourself? Are they at all concerned with your Internet habits, are they involved, do they want to know what you’re up to..?

Just curious what the adult, parental view of Power Soccer might be like.

// Linda