ENGL 1117 Reflection

Whew! Finally done with English 1117! Overall, I did quite well in the class. I was very much engaged right from the beginning, but that may be due to English being one of my favorite topics in school. Overall, the class was very engaging. However, there were some issues I struggled with. I’ve mentioned them in my “Finale Ultimo” blog post, but for those that didn’t read it, they are timing, myself not doing too well in online school, and how I view homework. I’ve never done too well in online school, primarily due to motivation. I just can’t get motivated enough to actually do online school, which made homework a pain in regards to the COVID-19 pandemic.  I also view homework and schoolwork as two separate things, schoolwork being done at school, and homework being done at home. So, when I am assigned an assignment in class, my mind automatically thinks it is schoolwork. Lastly, the timing just wasn’t exactly the greatest. Between everything that’s happened in the world, it just didn’t feel like I had enough time to get all my work in. I put in the effort, of course, but it also didn’t help that I started up a job online that also has weekly tasks that I must get done on a week-by-week basis. Now, with these challenges, it required me to approach things differently. For example, I had to have a forced lesson in prioritization, as I had to decide what needed to get done first, then focus on my other subjects in order of importance. However, performance-wise, overall, I did well.

While I did have strong reading and writing skills before starting this class, since I always have, the class did help me socialize more through our workshops in class, as I’m normally an introvert.

An area I feel more confident about at the end of this class is, without a doubt, writing in more detail. Before starting this class, I struggled writing out a paragraph beyond 5-6 sentences. I think the biggest example of this was in my “Mentor Blogs” post, especially in the section regarding PCGamer. Here is a small snippet: “Lastly, we have PC Gamer. I used them a lot for mod listings to one of my favorite video games, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, specifically, their top ten listings. In fact, I’ve even installed mods that I normally wouldn’t install just because PCGamer made them sound cool! For example, the mod “Oscuro’s Oblivion Overhaul” overhauls the game to make it more challenging and deadly”( https://gamersuinte.game.blog/2020/04/07/mentor-blogs/).

My proudest moment was when writing my Blogosphere assignment, especially since I got to explore both sides of the “video games are bad for you” argument. Yes, there are bad video games out there, but there are also good ones as well. Here is a couple of paragraphs that I feel best show this. According to an article posted to the website Atlanta Blackstar by Ricky Riley, there are a multitude of video games that portray offensive stereotypes. One of the examples Riley gives is Grand Theft Auto, which we all have seen. This stereotype is that African Americans are more criminally inclined than white people. According to Riley, “For example, Grand Theft Auto has many gangsters, thugs, and hookers. White video gamers may see that white characters are doing the same exact thing as Black ones, but they still hold the white ones in higher regard.”

However, not all video games are bad. In fact, there are some video games that encourage more positive traits, traits such as kindness, love, and friendship. A key example of this is the Kingdom Hearts series. One of the recurrent themes is that our friends help us be who we are. One of the most commonly spoken lines is “My friends are my power.” It goes even beyond that. The first video games series I truly got into was Kingdom Hearts and I have learned far more about friendships from the series than I have in real life(https://gamersuinte.game.blog/2020/02/18/imagining-the-blogosphere-assignment/).

Overall, I’ve learned quite a bit from English 1117. These include, being myself while writing, learning to lean on others for help, and, how to structure my paragraphs and word choice to have a better impact on the reader. Through being myself, I can show a side of myself that not many people would see normally. Through leaning on others for help, I can ask for guidance when I need it. And by structuring my paragraphs and choice of words properly, I can instill a more emotional response in the reader, all while showing them who I am. I will continue to use these lessons throughout my life, even in my job as a quest writer, something that is already starting to show. I wanted to thank everyone for being with me throughout this course, including Bonnie, for putting up with my endless questions and emails, haha. It’s been fun, and I will miss all of my classmates and new friends that I’ve made. Thank you everyone, it’s been quite the journey.

Well, here we are – the “finale ultimo” in musical terms. My final blog post. When I first started this blog, not once did I even begin to imagine how much fun I would have. I simply thought that it would be another part of the daily grind. You know, just another part of college. And while that is partly true, it was just so much fun to write that it didn’t feel like a grind. Yes, some parts were genuinely challenging, and yes, I have spent literal days trying to figure out what to type. But overall, it’s been a pleasant experience. I do apologize, but today’s blog post will be on the short side. So if you were expecting one of my longer posts, I am sorry.

So, let’s begin with the origins. Yes, this was indeed a college project. And other than staring at this one sentence for well over 24 hours because I literally have no idea what to type, it’s been going well. It was like any other day. I walked into English class, found out that we had a blog to maintain. I sat down in the lab, typed up a good first blog post and overall was jammin’. Then the coronavirus hit and the world went to shit. Suddenly, classes went online. Shocking! And, I had more time on my hands! le gasp!

But, being perfectly honest, I don’t do too well with online school. I just don’t nearly have as much motivation online as I do in person. Whereas some people thrive online, can do their entire business on the interwebs, I struggle with just getting an assignment in on time. A large part of that, I think, is simply due to how I view homework. I view homework as schoolwork, i.e. I do it at school. By moving entirely online, it’s changed how I have to view schoolwork. Now, I’m stuck between my job, which is all entirely online, and college coursework, again, all online. However, as with all things, motivation is key.

The final reason is due to overall timing. If it were done slowly and gradually, I would probably have had less issues. But since we went on Spring Break and then never came back to the campus, due to the outbreak of COVID-19, it was a hard adjustment period. Overall, it was still fun, but a huge adjustment nonetheless.

Alright, and there you have it! My final blog post! ;( Stay tuned for my reflection, and if I do decide to get my own domain, I will post a link to it. As they say in Italy, buono fortuna e arrivderci, good luck and goodbye.

Woohoo! One day more! One day more till revolution/we will nip it in the bud.

Alright, the most popular song from Les Miserables aside, second to last post, almost done! While I don’t have much to talk about today, I would like to discuss the overall purpose of this blog, and next week will be the wrap up. This blog… man, it’s been quite the journey. I remember upon starting it thinking “How on earth am I going to maintain this blog? I can barely keep my own life together!”. And while life has been unexpectedly crazy these past few months due to the outbreak of the coronavirus, and the seeming inability of our President to acknowledge it as a threat (sorry President Trump, but drinking bleach is not a way to kill the virus. That kills people, as if 60,000+ Americans already dead isn’t enough), working on this blog has been quite a relaxing experience. Yes, I’ve had to meet deadlines, and yes, there have been stressful moments. But that’s part of life. As Frank Sinatra once sang, That’s life/ That’s what all the people say/ You’ll be riding high in April, shot down in May. We can’t let it get to us.
While this blog started out in my mind as being required, I legitimately fell in love with writing it, so much so that I am considering purchasing my own domain or applying for different blogging sites once my life settles down.

So, my overall purpose for this blog? To share my life as a gamer, to connect with others, and to have fun doing so! I also wanted to share some of my personality, and a side of me that many others don’t get to see, since I don’t really to get show my nerdy side all that often. It’s something I tend to keep hidden unless I really trust a person. I may be many things, but an open book I am not, as I tend to close myself off from others.
Another purpose of this blog was to hopefully fight that. It was my hope that by opening myself up to others online, it would allow me to move past all of the trauma in my life that had caused me to close myself off from other people. And while it is still most certainly a struggle, there being a lot of trauma that I’ve had, and continue, to fight through, this blog has helped a bit.
So that’s the end of that blog post! I really do hope you’ve enjoyed me going on about my life as a gamer, and look forward to that final post! It’s been a fun one, it truly has.

Why hello there blog reader. I’m so glad you could join me today. Today, I’ll be talking about my dream job. Do you have a dream job? I’m sure almost everyone does. Mine is being a writer, but specifically a writer for a video game company.
So what sparked this passion of mine – this passion for writing? Well, it grew out of being bullied, believe it or not. I am mildly autistic, and have been diagnosed since I was 18 months old. However, back in the early 2000s, there was nowhere near as much support for autism as there is now. As a result, people didn’t know how to react around me and excluded me from activities and whatnot. They also didn’t treat me well at all. So, I started writing poetry. What started as an escape evolved over time into a passion. As my skills grew, so did my passion.

However, as I grew older, my passion went away. It’s not that writing became boring, my life had changed, and thus, I didn’t have time to write nearly as much. Even now, I don’t write nearly as much as I used to. However, with my new job, and my passion for writing growing, I have decided on pursing my degree in creative writing at the University of Oregon.

Who would I want to work for, you may be asking? Well, I do have a few options in mind, and I will explain each of them, but do keep in mind that even working for one of these companies would be amazing.
The first company would be Bethesda Softworks Inc. I actually really do enjoy their most popular video game franchise, “The Elder Scrolls”. A lot of their quests are very well-written, their characters are humorous, and from what interviews I’ve read, their staff seems to be relatively laid-back.

Another company is Obsidian Entertainment. They’re a smaller company, but they’re my top choice. While Bethesda has some overall good games, Obsidian has made a variety of games. Arguably, their most popular game is in a series created by Bethesda, Fallout: New Vegas, set in post-apocalyptic Mojave Desert. However, they have made other games, including South Park: The Stick of Truth, based on, you guessed it, the ever popular, vulgar, and offensive South Park, complete with Nazi zombies, aliens, and other shenanigans.

And there you have it! That is my dream job, what I want to do, who I want to work for, and most importantly, why I want to. While there are other companies I want to work for, they’re all overseas and would require me to have to learn to read and write Japanese, which, at this time, would be a bit too much, but it’s something I would love to do in my free time.

Ah, the Star Wars fandom. Used to be nothing united us, not the new movies, tie in books, or even the Star Wars video games – until “Jedi: Fallen Order”. This video game, arguably the best Star Wars video game since 2003’s “Knights of the Old Republic” is a masterpiece, a work of art, and proves that EA doesn’t always know what’s right for the Star Wars license. After a string of cancelled projects, mediocre games, and blatant pay-to-win schemes, this was it. Star Wars done right. Be warned: spoilers follow.
In “Fallen Order”, you follow the adventures of Jedi Padawan Cal Kestis and the ragtag crew of the Mantis as they go on a journey to rebuild the Jedi Order after the Jedi were nearly annihilated during Order 66 in 2003’s “Star Wars Episode 3: Revenge of the Sith”. This timeline, where the Jedi are all but extinct, is an integral part of the Star Wars mythos. The remaining Jedi, branded traitors by the newly-formed Galactic Empire, have gone into hiding across the galaxy. Cal, a young man hiding out on the industrial planet Bracca is recruited by Cere Junda who takes him under her wing, eventually completing his training and deeming him a Knight of the Republic.
Along the way, Cal will adventure to far-off planets, including some iconic ones, such as Kashyyyk, the Wookie homeworld, and Dathomir, home of the Sith Darth Maul and the Nightsisters. You will also meet iconic characters, such as the freedom fighter Saw Gerrera, from “Rouge One: A Star Wars Story” and the iconic Darth Vader who serves as the final boss.
Gameplay-wise, “Fallen Order” finds that right balance of difficulty and fun. While I died several times on Jedi Knight, the normal difficulty level, it was still overall a very enjoyable experience. New gamers however, may want to stick with Story Mode, which tones down the difficulty significantly, allowing causal players to focus on the story and spend less time dying.
As for pacing, the game is very short by today’s standards, as a lot of the playtime comes from exploring the different locales. There is no New Game+ either, which, in other games, allow you to play through the game with all unlocked upgrades, which is a bit of a bummer.
All in all, “Fallen Order” is a very enjoyable experience, and a very worthy addition to a video game franchise that has struggled to find its footing since EA took the reigns. Hopefully, that’s all a long time ago, in a galaxy far far away.

name: ‘Entering the Realm’
unique-id: 999
repeatable: false
side-quest: true
speech:
– ‘Ah, hello there blog reader! I do apologize for the format! You see, I”m here to talk about my job with the Minecraft server, Runic Realms.’
– ‘Runic Realms is an old-school-styled MMORPG server for Minecraft. For those of you who grew up playing 80”s and 90”s PC games, such as Diablo, this is your server.’
– ‘I joined the team in March 2020 and over this past month and a half, I have learned quite a bit. Everything from formatting quests to writing quest overviews, to learning the ins-and-outs testing aspects on our dev server, it”s be enjoyable.’
– ‘In fact, you don’t know it yet, but this is actually a taste of the format we use when formatting our quests! Except, ours is a file extension that goes directly into the quest plugin. Resuming normal text below!’

Whew! Sorry about that, I just wanted to give a bit of a taste of my daily tasks regarding quest writing.
Now, some of you may be wondering, how did get this job? The answer is very simple – the way any (in)sane person does. I did a quick Google search (although, mine was more like “minecraft mmorpg servers” and less like “minecraft mmorpg server jobs”), saw an ad, and applied. While I’m afraid I can’t go into specifics of the interview process, I can say that I found it surprisingly easy, the easiest interview I’ve ever been in, actually. That may stem from the fact that it was done over Discord’s voice chat system so it wasn’t face-to-face. However, I did have to write a quest myself, following an example. That’s all I’ll say on that. All that was over the span of about a school week. I had applied that Sunday, and ended up scoring the job the following Thursday.

My job has been very fun. It hasn’t been without its challenges, though. My first few weeks, I made a ton of mistakes. A tooooooooon! Over time I learned how to catch them, but it was not easy. Another aspect of it is the stress. While most times, it’s pretty relaxing, working on a quest, we do need certain people to work on overall projects. For example, I have 5 quests due by Saturday, and I only have one done. It’s definitely stressful! Still fun , however.

Overall, working for RR has been an absolute joy, and I am eager to see where I’ll go from here.

“Witchcraft and Wizardry” Minecraft Map: A Magical First Impression

Ah, Hogwarts. I can’t tell you how disappointed I was when, at the age of eleven, I did not receive my letter from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. But now, in the “Harry Potter” themed Minecraft map appropriately titled “Witchcraft and Wizardry”, I can! Only took me a decade extra. In this map, you are a Hogwarts student who receives your letter on your doorstep, and are whisked off to the magical world of the Wizarding World. Along the way, you attend classes, learn spells, and can explore the castle.

But before we can even get to Hogwarts, we need our school supplies! So, we go from our humble home in Little Whinging (Privet Drive, to be specific), hop on the Knight Bus, and go to Diagon Alley. Of course, our Muggle money is no good, so we go to Gringotts Bank and exchange our money for Wizarding money, the main currency being Galleons, Sickles, and Knuts (though in the map, it’s just Galleons). After getting our money, we can get our school supplies, mainly our wand, robes, and school books. Upon gaining our supplies, we can finally go to Hogwarts!

But to get there, we first need to get on the Hogwarts Express. So, we walk through London (complete with the London Eye on the River Thames), to Kings Cross Station. Walk through the wall between Platforms Nine and Ten, and we arrive on Platform 9 and 3/4, go on the Hogwarts Express, and arrive at Hogsmeade Station. Upon arriving, you will walk with Rubeus Hagrid, the Keeper of Keys and Grounds, go down to the docks, and take an enchanted boat to the castle proper. There, you will be Sorted into your House. They are; Gryffindor, the brave and chivalrous, Ravenclaw, the wise, Hufflepuff, the kind, and Slytherin, the cunning and ambitious. From there, the map truly opens up, and you can go to classes, explore the castle, and do side quests!

So let’s talk classes! In the map, there is Charms, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Transfiguration, and Potions. Each class typically involves some kind of minigame. For example, in the first Charms class (and the first class of the map) you learn Lumos, the Wand-Lighting Charm, which allows you to produce light from your wand. The developers cleverly added in a maze that you have to traverse using Lumos to get 5 gold stars and return to the Professor, Flitwick.

In Defense Against the Dark Arts, you learn defensive spells, such as Stupefy, a spell that damages enemies in front of you. Again here, there is a minigame, this time involving an obstacle course, where you have to hit targets using Stupefy, as well as an enemy gauntlet, where you have to fight waves of enemies to round out the class.

Transfiguration is a class I have not gotten to yet, so I cannot for certain say what it entails, but in the books and movie series, it involves learning spells that can Transfigure or change objects, such as Reparifarge, which un-Transfigures an object.

Lastly, we have Potions, with Professor Severus Snape, which we all love to hate. This class, you guessed it, involves making potions. Some potions restore your health, such as Essence of Murtlap, whereas some allow you to breathe underwater for a limited time, such as Essence of Gillyweed.

Finally, we have the castle itself. Hogwarts is as you’ve probably imagined it; confusing, big, and oh so magical. Within the castle’s walls, you can; do side quests; explore and find secrets relating to places within the books and movies, or go outside of Hogwarts and explore the magical and non-magical worlds.

If I were to describe the map in a single word, it would be magic. The love and detail that went into it is amazing, and I highly recommend checking it out here:https://gumroad.com/l/floomap. It is free, but there is an optional donation as well. I do hope you enjoy reading this first impressions and do hope you check out this amazing map.

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What Genres I Play- and Most Importantly, WHY I Play Them

My Gaming Journey Part III

Obi-Wan “Hello there!” General Grevious: “General Kenobi. You are a bold one” (George Lucas, Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith, 2003). Alright, Star Wars jokes aside, today’s blog post is the gaming genres I play, but more importantly, why I play them. Since I added in a classic internet meme/ Star Wars joke, let’s begin with the MMORPG genre, and the game, “Star Wars: The Old Republic”. But first, for the uninitiated, an MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Roleplaying Game, commonly shortened to MMO), is type of role-playing game where thousands of players from different parts of the world can play an online (hence the Massively Multiplayer Online) RPG. They can play with their friends, family, and countless people from around the world. One of the most popular is “Star Wars: The Old Republic”, the one I mentioned. I play it because I love to role-player, and I’m in quite a few role-player guilds, guilds being like clubs in the MMO genre. I also play “The Lord of the Rings Online”, another MMO, this time set in Tolkien’s Middle-earth during and after the events of “The Lord of the Rings”. I don’t really play any other MMOs, but when I do pick one up, I do for its community and story. Those are the top two traits I look for in an MMO.

Up next is the RPG genre. Basically, these are offline RPGs. One RPG which I am playing right now is “Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic”, which takes place a hundred years or so before the events of “The Old Republic” and four thousand before the events of the Star Wars movies. While I don’t play it that often, due to me having played it so many times, it has a phenomenal story, and a plot twist that shocked even me. Another RPG I play quite a bit is “The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion”. I play it for its class system, rather than its story. It’s the fourth game in the Elder Scrolls series, which is known for its “play your way” methodology. Want to make a heavily armored mage? You can do that. Want to make a Thief that can go fisticuffs when things turn sour? You can do that, as well. Heck, I’ve been meaning to do a run not using any potions, just relying on my own survival skills and equipment. The possibilities are endless.

One final genre that I admittedly don’t play enough of is sports. I am big into sports games. My  all-time favorite sports video game series is the “MLB The Show” series, more specifically, Road to the Show, which is where you create a player and then have them go through the Minor Leagues to the Major Leagues, and even possibly into the Hall of Fame. I also play “Madden NFL” and am trying to get into “Out of the Park Baseball,” a baseball simulator. I do enjoy “Madden” and “The Show”, but “Out of the Park Baseball” is something that takes a bit to get into, mainly due to how different it is from “The Show”. I’m sure I’ll enjoy it, though.

Cool beans, that’s the end of this blog post! Man, already? Wow time flies! Well everyone, I will see you all next week for some more blog posts! Hasta luego!

“My Friends Are My Power”
Life Lessons Taught to Me By Kingdom Hearts

Welcome back to my blog! For those of you who missed it, last week I covered my mentor blogs and games that were an escape for me. You also may have recalled me mentioned Kingdom Hearts, one of the games that got me into gaming. Today, I will cover life lessons it has taught me. So, without further ado, let’s begin!

“My friends are my power!” Ah, one of the most common quotes in the series. This saying is usually mentioned whenever friendship is. The very first instance of it being used however, is in 2002’s “Kingdom Hearts”, which was the original. Towards the end of the game, Sora, the main protagonist is talking to his friend Riku who was manipulated by the Disney villain Maleficent (the series cleverly combines Disney’s lightheartedness with the more serious Final Fantasy series of games) into believing Sora didn’t care for him anymore. The dialogue is: “My heart may be weak, but it’s not alone. It’s grown with each new experience it’s found a home with all the friends I’ve made. I’ve become a part of their heart just as they’ve become a part of mine. And if they think of me now and again… if they don’t forget me… then our hearts will be one! I don’t need a weapon! My friends are my power!” (Square-Enix, 2002) Even just typing that brings a tear to my eye. It is a very powerful message, and one that has stayed with me. Each one of us is shaped by our friends, and our bonds can become our power.

Up next is the power of the heart. The heart in Kingdom Hearts is more so the soul of a person than an actual, physical, beating heart. Just like in the real world, the two forces constantly at war are light and darkness. And if the darkness overcomes a person’s heart, they become a Heartless, a being with no heart that is drawn to other hearts, seeking to take them. But while there is darkness in every heart, there is also light. This is best shown through Terra, an important character. Terra was possessed by Master Xehanort, the series antagonist, who overcame his heart. But to the end, the power of his light and his Master, Eraqus, fought Xehanort’s influence for over a decade before, through the actions of Sora and Terra’s best friends, Aqua and Ventus, his heart was restored. The heart is a marvelous thing, indeed.

One final life lesson that I’ve been taught from Kingdom Hearts is strength to overcome any trials. This is what Aqua went through. She was stuck in the Realm of Darkness, the realm of the Heartless, for over a decade before she was finally rescued by Sora. Throughout all that time, she didn’t succumb to the power of darkness, even though another very well could have. Her bonds kept her going, gave her strength.

And there’s that! If I had to pick a most important life lesson, I’d say it’s the first one. My friends have shaped me into who I am now. They were my power, and they gave me the power to change myself for the better. I hoped you all learned something, and maybe even check out Kingdom Hearts. Just be warned that the lore is very confusing, even to us long-time fans.

My Gaming Journey Part I: What Started Me on the Path of Gaming

Why hello there, blog reader. I’m so glad you could join me today. Today, I’m going to talk to you about what got me started on the path of gaming Let’s a-go, like Mario!

Speaking of Mario, the Super Mario Bros. is what got me started on the gaming path. Indeed, Super Mario did just that. So, you may be asking yourself, what about the Super Mario Bros. series of games got me into gaming? It’s simple. When you’re a kid who is in elementary school and you are being bullied like I was, you’d want an escape. Something to get you away from all the drama and such. For me, the Mushroom Kingdom, ruled by Princess Toadstool Peach, was that escape. Here, in this Kingdom surrounded by blocks that I could jump and break to get powerups, to the lovable and easily excited Toads, I could run, jump, climb, and have fun with Mario, all why escaping from my bullies.

Another game that got me started gaming was Kingdom Hearts, which is essentially a story about friendship and the cliché of light defeating darkness, or at least, the first. To explain the story of the next games would be way too confusing and convoluted for non-gamers (I mean, come on, it even confuses me sometimes!), so I’ll just leave it at that. The gameplay has improved over the years, and I find myself coming back to the series all the time. It’s also what got me into ARPGs (Action Role-playing Games).

Finally, we have the Final Fantasy series of games, specifically, Final Fantasy X (10, for those of you who can’t read Roman numerals.) This is what truly got me into JRPGs (Japanese Roleplay Games). This game, to this day I have yet to beat it, is truly adored and it will always have a special place in my heart. The love story between the two main protagonist, Yuna and Tidus (I pronounce it Tee-duhs, but most people pronounce it Tie-duhs) is, from what I’ve heard, very bittersweet. The plot basically follows like this: Tidus is taken from his home of Zanarkand by a force called Sin. Sin transports Tidus to Spira, but it turns out, somehow, he jumped 1000 years into the future. He joins Yuna and her guardians, Wakka, Lulu, Kimahri, and eventually, Rikku and Auron, on her quest to defeat Sin. Along the way, Tidus and Yuna fall in love. And that’s the plot without spoiling too much. I highly recommend checking it out, even if you aren’t into gaming. You can get it on Xbox One, Playstations 2, 3, and 4, as well as on PC (I used to own it on PS2, before it stopped working).

And there you have it! Those are the games that got me into gaming. If you’re a non-gamer, I recommend playing some Super Mario games. If you’re already a gamer, like me, I recommend the other games I have listed. As always, thank you for reading my blogs! See you all in the next blog!