Modesty Studios

Last night I was having an interesting reflection about how I got into gaming and what sort of gamer I consider myself. What Am I? There really isn't a term or catch-phrase that encompasses what I am. On the one hand I consider myself a casual gamer, I enjoy many 'brain-dead' online games like Bejeweled, Diner Dash, Ponystars, the Sims and other games that don't require me to put in much of my time. I also play a lot of handheld games on my DS. I'm not quite a hard-core player but I'm also a console gamer and enjoy several hours of fun playing RPG, Action/Adventure, and Platformer games. (And the occasional arcade fighter). However, I don't have the same dedication to a game that I see other players have. I know that I will never be the best so I don't even try. I'm just having a good time. But I do play for long hours when I do. So I guess I would call myself an Active Gamer. A casual gamer seems to be the type who will play games on occasion, an a...

This is purely an opinionated piece that I just felt I had to get out of my system. Late last night I had this thought bubble while writing down the details of geography for the world in Brind Songs and trying to set up a wiki. I've drawn maps of my "worlds" and looked at other maps. Middle Earth, wherever the funk Eragon took place, Narnia etc. And even lots of online fantasy that I've read...the world is always incomplete on the map. It's always just a coast like Europe. Just a jut of land or a coast line, that's all you get to see. I've been guilty of this myself when I finally mapped out Gauland for my MSK novel and a few RP maps. It's not very annoying actually so much as it is a common trend I've noticed. Of course the map is only going to show what matters to the story. That's all you need really. The rest is no man's land and no one knows what happens out there. No one. "What's over that nearly impassible mountain range?...