Computer Gaming Concerns

Recent events have caused me to have “video games” front and center in my attention – and by that, of course, I mean computer games (and gaming). I play games on my computer: chess and spider solitaire (and occasionally mah jong) daily (I like to think it keeps my mind sharp); but I also – being a big kid at heart, I guess – also sometimes play those “violent video games” you hear about.

Because computer gaming has been on my mind, I decided to go back and look at what I have written on the subject. Below is the very first article I wrote on this topic. Written 4 years ago, I think it is just as appropriate for today (maybe.. more so?) and I suspect you may have missed it, so …

Gaming: a confession, a warning

When I first started writing Tech–for Everyone way back on the 8th of June (56 1,461 articles ago), I wondered how long I could go before I talked about computer gaming. I think I did fairly well at delaying the inevitable. Two things triggered this post: a user with a pre-teen boy, and my mood. I’ll look at the latter first.

This week I got into a foul mood. I became short-tempered, irritated, antsy. I was definitely ‘out of sorts’. I was not a Happy Camper. Part of this was due to the fact that I had several back-to-back days of too-much-to-do/too-little-time (can anyone relate?). I felt a bit less than “in control”.
I managed to keep up with demands, and my time-spent was successful. I not only kept afloat, but I succeeded. However, this didn’t lighten my mood.
Finally, by staying up a little longer than I should, I was able to take a break and play a conquest map of Age of Empires III, The Warchiefs (naturally, I won). Amazingly, I was calm, refreshed, and happy. I was a Happy Camper again.
Why? I realized that it had been several days since I had played a game, and I had subconsciously “missed it”, like a smoker during a long flight, or a dieter walking past the bakery. And that once I got my “fix”, I was returned to a normal psychological state. This realization has caused me to wonder if I (me! myself!) wasn’t developing a gaming “addiction”. Wow.

There have been several news stories about computer gaming; ranging from the couple who suffered financial ruin by devoting their lives completely to the online game World of Warcraft (a couple of nut-jobs, if you ask me), to the medical ramifications (carpal-tunnel) of too much controller/mouse/keyboard use … especially in children.

There is a real belief in “gaming addiction”, and there’s a doctor who’s gone so far as publicly stating that as much as 40% of all WoW players are clinically addicted to it. (Read the article) Consider that there’s at least six and-a half 11.4 million people subscribing, and you realize that that’s a LOT of people … and that’s just one game. It is my belief that these news stories will only increase in number; that as our society becomes more and more of a shut-in society, and more of our interactions take place online, topics along this line will only grow. Google “World of Warcraft+divorce” and you’ll see 747,000 6,450,000 results. WoW!
If your friends are telling you you’re an addict, please … don’t take it as a compliment. Take a serious look at yourself, before you lose everything.
[Update: I understand the ‘hot new thing’ is a yet-to-be-released Guild Wars 2..]

That said, I do play computer games; and if you’re curious, I like the WW II FPS titles (Call of Duty, Medal of Honor), air combat simulators (Lock On, Il-2, Microsoft), and civilization games  [update: for some reason, I haven’t played any of those last in years] And good-old Solitaire. I play a couple of games a day, to “unwind”. I think I’m alright… I haven’t, as yet, spent real money on ‘magic armor’.

The second topic I mentioned was the lady with the pre-teen son. She keeps having “weird pop ups”, and her machine is “always so slow.” I had installed a security suite, and the full gamut of protections onto her machine, and yet she keeps having these issues. She asked me, “why does this keep happening?”
I asked her several questions and looked over her logs and histories. She told me she has a 12 year-old son, and that as soon as he gets home from school he goes straight to the computer to “do homework” … that he spends quit a bit of time on the PC. Well! I was once a 12 year-old boy, and I remember well how much time in the afternoon — freshly released from scholarly confinement — I spent on homework. None. Zero. Nada. (At least, not willingly.)
Sure enough, a look at IE’s browsing history (read how to do this here) did not reveal any instances of National Geographic, The History Explorer, Encyclopedia Brittanica, or “math help” (or anything else even vaguely homework-related), but revealed endless explorations of Flash games, online games, and “cheat codes”.
I looked at his download history and found plenty of “demo games”, magic swords and shields, and other “bonuses” he’d earned playing his online games. Could one of those ‘magic swords’ (or demo-games) have contained spyware??? Does spyware slow down your machine? Cause pop ups? Well … (duh) YES!

Tip of the day: Here’s the thing most folks fail to fully grasp — when you let your child run under your User Account, he’s running with full administrator privileges and can install programs unrestricted and when you click on “download this file”, you’re bypassing your protection. (It has to be this way, or you’d never get anything done) You are telling your anti-malware apps, “it’s OK. I know what I’m doing.” A 12 year-old boy, caught up in the excitement at having just “triumphed” and earning himself a +2 Sword of Sharpness, probably doesn’t know what he’s doing, and he will click “download your prize now!”
98% of the time, it’s harmless fun. How can you tell which demo game or ‘magic shield’ is safe, and which one’s contain spyware? You can’t. Sorry. Like I said, 98% of them are safe.

If you missed my series on protecting your kids on the Internet, you can learn how to remedy this — creating a Limited User Account, and cranking up IE’s security, etc. — by clicking here.

Internet News: Massive Phishing Attack Hits Tumblr

Users of the Tumblr microblogging service have been hit hard over the last few days with a phishing attack that steals user credentials.

Other gaming news: If you have a Steam account, you can now get Team Fortress for free.

And, oh, yeah. There is a $1,000,000 Call of Duty tournament …

Copyright 2007-2011 © “Tech Paul” (Paul Eckstrom). All Rights Reserved.

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How To Play Your Steam Games Offline

This tutorial is for those folks who, like me, have no interest in online ‘deathmatches’, but prefer to play their games against the computer in Single-player mode. Or .. otherwise do not like Steam. I have not had time to try this yet myself, but a reliable source told me it works. Source ~ It is posted on the Call of Duty Black Ops forum.

[note: this applies to games you own.. and are in your Steam “library”.]

“Offline Mode allows you to play games through Steam without reconnecting to the Steam Network every time you wish to play – this is particularly useful if you do not plan on playing over the internet and would prefer not to download new updates for your single-player games.

1) Start Steam online – make sure the Remember my password box on the login window is checked.

2) Verify that all game files are completely updated – you can see the update status for a game under the Library section (when the game shows as 100% – Ready it is ready to be played in Offline Mode).

3) Launch the game you would like to play offline to verify that there are no further updates to download – shut down the game and return to Steam once you have confirmed that the game can be played.

[NOTE: Mine never showed “100% Ready”, and I had to download an 8012.4 MB file (which I believe is the entire DVD contents) to complete the update process referenced in Step 3.]

4) Go to Steam > Library then right click on Call of Duty: Black Ops and select Properties. In the Updates tab, choose Do not automatically update this game under Automatic updates.

5) Go to Steam > Settings to ensure the Don’t save account credentials on this computer option is not selected.

6) From the main Steam window, go to the Steam menu and select Go Offline.

7) Click Restart in Offline Mode to restart Steam in Offline Mode.”

And, yes, I am going to implement this mucho muy mas pronto. I am not a fan of Steam, and successfully managed to avoid it for years — until my favorite game title, Call of Duty, required Steam to install.

Call me an old dinosaur if you want, but I do not enjoy running around arenas, getting knifed in gun battles and sniped by campers — and trying to guess if what just killed me was a hack, a bot, or a lucky/good player. I leave online gaming (and Steam tracking everything I do..) to the teenagers-of-all-ages, gladly!

My sincere and profound thanks and regards to the person who alerted me to this. (You know who you are.)

Copyright 2007-2011 © “Tech Paul” (Paul Eckstrom). All Rights Reserved.

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A Parents Guide For Video Games

I came across a resource for parents that I think you should know about.. if your kids like to play video games, that is.

Fellow tech blogger Jason, at 404techsupport.com, wrote an interesting review – which is how I came to learn of it (thanks, Jason!).

“If you’re a parent concerned about the video games that your kids are playing and would like some help making sure they’re playing appropriate games, be sure to check out the What They Play website.

What They Play is a site with the intent to make parents a little less clueless about the video games their kids are playing or are begging to play. Utilizing but going well beyond the ESRB ratings that you may already be familiar with, What They Play is a great resource for parents that explains without demeaning them.”

I not only agree with his statement, I think you will enjoy his whole article, so I am providing the direct link: What They Play – A Site Explaining Video Games to Parents.

I encourage parents to read it. And then click the link he provides and visit this website.I give them both two thumbs up!

Copyright 2007-2010 © “Tech Paul” (Paul Eckstrom). All Rights Reserved.

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Harry Potter Movie Is Going To Fail

$100,000,000 cash

It would appear that the latest”Harry Potter” movie, “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince,” has earned $107 million in its first three days in U.S. theaters; and judging by the fact that people are still waiting to see it due to sold-out showings, it will probably make some more $$$ before its 15 minutes in the spotlight have passed.

It would also appear that the movie is being mentioned on the Internet just a tiny bit, too…

.. All this in spite of the lame poster..

I have, here in my hands, eyewitness reports of movie theater parking lots being “jam packed”. I understand also that there’s an IMAX version waiting to be released, though those reports I would have to label as “unsubstantiated”.

With a production budget of a quarter BILLION dollars (sheeze, that’s a lot of tacos), and another $155,000,000 spent on marketing (that’s $355,000,000 total) this film is going to lose money in a big way. Sure as I’m sitting here.

Now, I will grant you that the other films did okay. They must have, as this is number 6. And I suppose one should add in the video game sales (yes, EA has made a game for each of the movies..) and other “memorabilia” sales… No. I changed my mind. Not the game sales. Those are a separate thing, and I don’t think they sell.

And.. yes. The film has been praised for its cinematography, visual effects, production design and art direction, improved acting, as well as the darker theme.

But I think six is stretching too far, and the Law Of Diminishing Returns Hollywood Style (known as “One Sequel Too Many”) will catch up with Master Potter just as it did Death Wish, Dirty Harry, Predator, and the Halloween series. (To name just a few.) Hollywood always does that – milk it ’till the well runs dry – and it’s we who suffer (can you say Weekend At Bernie’s II ?).

Nah. They have to make $248 million more just to break even, and that’s not going to happen. We Americans are fickle and have short attention spans, and we’ll be on to other things/fads by Tuesday.

[note: I usually post my humor pieces on Fridays.]

Today’s free link: Surf Safely This Summer – PandaLabs’ Safe Summer Web Guide

Today’s free download: Backup your e-mail (called “archiving”) with MailStore Home. “MailStore Home is a solution for people who have a need to backup their e-mails in a straightforward and simple fashion. It works with all POP3 and IMAP accounts, as well as Thunderbird, Outlook, Exchange Server, and Windows Mail.”

Copyright 2007-9 © Tech Paul. All rights reserved. post to jaanix

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CoD 5 Now On Sale

Some of us are just great big kids at heart, and I have to confess to you that I have a little bit of that syndrome too. Besides being a World Renown Tech Journalist and Ace Computer Support Technician and all that other grown-up stuff– I am also a gamer.

Yes, it’s true: looking at a the insides of an “UG rig” (high-performance computer specially built for 3D video game excellence) makes my pulse quicken.

No, I have not ever attended a LAN Party (or convention) and generally never play “multiplayer” games online… and no, I did not spend more on my rig than I did on my car. But I have been a gamer since.. well, let’s just call it “the beginning”.

“Hail to the king, baby.”

Everybody has their favorite game, or at least, a favorite genre. Whether that be cards– like Solitaire, Texas Holdem, and Pinochle, or puzzles– like Sudoku, Mah Jong, and Scrabble, or simulators– like Need for Speed, The Sims, and Combat Flight Simulator 2 or Sports, or Strategy, or Arcade.. or Fantasy/Adventure.. (am I forgetting any?)

Mine happens to be the Call of Duty series, which is a combat simulator of the “first-person shooter” ‘genre’, and is affectionately known as “CoD”.
Infinity Ward rocks.

The latest release of Call of Duty was CoD 4 — Modern Warfare, which if I remember correctly, was released in time for Christmas last year. I think it did pretty good in sales… (over 7 million units in 2007).

This year, Activision is again releasing its big title in time for the Holiday shopping season, and CoD 5 — World At War is set to hit the shelves November 11th. But you can “pre-buy” it now.

That’s right, I said pre-buy. Pay now, and get the actual game later.

Some of you might find that concept a little odd, but us gamers know that this ensures that we won’t have to stand in line or face an empty shelf, and that we sometimes get a special bonus for pre-ordering (and, it gives us something to talk about to our gamer friends/rivals).

I was determined not to let myself get too excited about a game that isn’t even out yet.. especially when I had read that CoD 5 was not a Infinity Ward title, but a Treyarch (they were the authors of CoD 3, which was never ported to the PC, and generally received bad reviews). But I have seen the trailer and YouTube videos of gameplay, and I’m hooked.

I know what I’m gonna ask Santa for this year.

Today’s free link: for those of you who prefer arcade style games, download Mega Mario. Featuring the Mario Brothers — first introduced in Donkey Kong — this classic arcade game works on all versions of Windows.

Copyright 2007-8 © Tech Paul. All rights reserved. post to jaanix

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