Site Outage - Sorry!

So, I was all set to write a series of absolutely brilliant, thought-provoking, ground-breaking posts today but my hosting service went down this morning. Ack!

And then I forgot what I was going to say.

Vacation

I'm tired. I'm tired of being online. Tired of comments about my personal and professional life from people who have never met me. I need a vacation from morons like this fellow, who writes in that "Your website is misleading":

"what the fuck my friend linked me to gamegirladvance and i was expecting
naked chicks

you fuken fags don't make a website with "girl" in the url unless it's porn
because that's the only use for girls on the internet you assholes"

- Robert Morgan [smeg_in_the_head@hotmail.com]

Yeah, okay. Thanks for the tip, buddy. Sigh.

I'm tired of the spam. Spam in my mailbox, in the comments. It seriously makes me almost cry. When there's something you've built up, it breaks your heart to have idiots piss all over it.

I'm going to France for five weeks. During that time, GGA will be on vacation, sort of, until I decide what to do with it. I'll still post when I can and when I'm inspired; Justin and Clockwork and Bowler and you guys will all post too, as you feel like it.

But we'll take it easy this summer and relaunch in September, probably with a different format. I may take away comments, or force registration. I hate to close down the dialogue, but it's driving me insane.

If any of you have good ideas about how to handle comment spam better, I'd love to hear them.

Thanks, and see you all in August. Have a lovely July.

GGA Policy

Hey all, I've been thinking about this a lot lately - what to do about irrelevant comments. Bascially I'd like to keep the conversations at a certain standard, and to do that sometimes we have to weed out the threads that go nowhere. Up until now I've just done this by hand, where I thought it was necessary. I hate to eliminate comments - part of the goal of the site is to have intelligent conversations, and that takes a diversity of voices.

But I'm getting pretty tired of willful sniping, personal attacks, and trolling, not to mention the damn spamming. So I've set down an experimental policy, on which I place the burden of responsibility on the editors! Thanks, guys!

This is also reprinted in the "About" section.

Terms of Use

The editors of GameGirlAdvance collectively determine the tone and tenor of the conversations we have here. While we are commited to a diversity of voices here, we strive to uphold certain standards. Therefore, please be aware that your post may be deleted and your IP banned at the editor's discretion should you post one or more of the following:

1. Off-topic or otherwise irrelevant commentary which is malicious or cruel in nature, or which comprises a personal attack against one or several other commentators.

2. Maliciously racist, homophopic, misogynist, or otherwise willfully offensive language.

3. Solicitations for off-topic websites or ventures, or spam of any nature.

4. Intentionally inflammatory remarks calculated to prolong off-topic debate, and which ceases to add new information or thoughtful critique to the dialogue.

All cases will be decided on an individual basis, by the editor who posted the story. If you feel your post has been deleted in error, you may email the editor in question in a direct appeal.

In addition, all editors will have the right to close comments on a story at any time, for any reason.

Thank you for joining us!

Times are Tough (Sigh)

You've probably noticed that things are a bit disorganized around here at GGA. Posts are slow to go up, I'm not responding promptly to emails, I haven't published a feature or dealt with the zine in a while. Part of the reason for all that is the recent traveling, which has deprived me of a decent internet connection; but there's a lot going on in my personal life, too, which affects the site.

So without going into the melodramatic and gory details, I'll just say that I'm working things out, and all your contributions to GGA are important to me. It'll just take me a little while to deal with it all. I have a big backlog of great stuff you've written that I'm itching to publish. Also I've been thinking about a print edition. But while I have the spirit, I don't have the physical energy to expend in those longer term projects right now. I ask for your patience, Gentle Reader.

Okay, enough blabbling about boring sad stuff. On with the games!

you must gather your party before venturing forth

It's been weeks since I have played a game. Well, just over two weeks. The last game I tried to play was SimCity 4. Someone left me a copy but it won't run on my laptop. I had access to a working power jack during the NYC blackout, but even rare juice wouldn't power Maxis 3D graphics on a 2001 machine.

So I had to be content with writing, and experiencing. I went to Finland, and then there was a family emergency. It was shocking! And totally immersive, involving. Dealing with the enormity of loss and groping for normalcy, games were the furthest thing from my mind, except that I kept checking GGA when I had a few moments on my computer, hoping the conversation was continuing.

The comments here continued. Search engine results likely fueled that - we could stop posting new entries on Game Girl Advance and there would still be discussions about Halo, Rez, GTAGBA and gender in games. That's nice to see. But curiosity continues.

It was entirely overwhelming, stunning and sad to have to deal with a surprise demise. What free time I had, I spent checking my email, keeping up with my paying deadlines, corresponding with kind friends, or installing SpamAssassin. Now that the family affairs are settled, and the housekeeping chores are done, I was happy to have a Sunday afternoon free. I took my place on the bed, turned on the TV, and punched on the XBox. There was my KOTOR game, just as I'd left it. Actually, two. I was playing good and evil, two characters. I reloaded my evil character and headed into the valley of the Sith lords. The sun slowly crawled across the wall as I swung my double-bladed yellow lightsaber. Jane retreated to the couch downstairs to sleep, away from the sound of persistent blasters from the tomb of Marko Ragnos. I was alone, in a finite electronic universe and I was on my way to nefarious successes.

Playing an evil character in Knights of the Old Republic is a provocative experience. Games make me think! So I'm eager to rejoin the discussion online.

A Personal Note

I wondered about whether or not to post this, as this is a focused weblog; but I think I will, because I'd still like to preserve the sense of community that has built around this little website.

Since Wednesday morning Justin and I have been wrestling with a very serious family emergency. I don't feel that now is the time to go into details, but I wanted to let all of you know that while GGA remains the work I love, my family must have priority for the time being. Therefore Justin and I will be going on hiatus for a few days. I encourage the other posters to continue, because I don't believe life shuts down during difficult times; but I'm afraid that Justin and I will be very distracted with other concerns.

Thank you all for your understanding. We will return, soon enough. I can't stay away.

Have a good weekend, think good thoughts, and I'll check in with all of you shortly. Take care.

Ad Sense

After reading a bit about Steven Johnson's successful experiment with low-profile advertising, I put up a Google Ad Words experiment here on GGA. Basically, each page has a few small text ads in the sidebar, ads ideally matching the content of that page. If people click on a link, we stand to make a few cents.

So far, an unusual number of the ads on this site seem to be tending towards non-profits. I wonder "Not Yet You Fools!" came to be linked with Habitat for Humanity, the American Cancer Society and the National PTA?

Either way, we're looking for feedback on this - we've had some Slashdot links that have increased our hosting bills, so maybe this can help us keep GGA in the pink! Let us know if you find any odd ad words appearing with any of the articles here.

Playing Out

I filed this under "About GGA" but it's not really about GGA - except in so far as I'm involved with the site. I'm going on a short West Coast tour with my band, dealership. Anyway, if you're in the area, it would be fun to meet up! I've posted the dates we've arranged so far below. There'll be more details up at the band site. Do come by if you can, introduce yourself, and we can talk games and music and independent comics!

Also, the Penny Arcade kids are having a Lanwerx lan party on the 23rd; we're supposed to play in Tacoma that day. Is Tacoma far from Bellevue? It would be fun to go check out the lan party.

MORE...

The Printable GGA

Thanks to some very helpful advice in the MT forums, we were able to rig up a printable version of each of the individual pages. Now, if you see a long post and comments that you want to read on paper, you can follow the link up top to a clean version that should print out dandy. Here's an example: Not Yet you Fools! by Richard Bartle: regular and print-positive.

Playgirl

Apparently the very brief interview I did with David Kushner has now appeared in September's Playboy, although I have yet to go pick up a copy.

(Unrelated but disturbing: this month's issue of the venerable men's magazine celebrates "the women of Starbucks." The cover features a heavily made-up brunette in a Starbucks apron and nothing else. How.... glamorous. I guess hard times have hit everybody)

GGA Newsletter Today we are going to send out the first issue of a GGA newsletter, covering our latest articles and future plans. Sure, you're reading this web site now, keeping up on links and things. But there's an overview to this web site, a sense of history and potential. If you sign up for the GGA newsletter, you'll never have to worry that you'll miss the big picture.

Name: E-mail:

Don't sweat spam - so far, we've only emailed one newsletter in three months. Your address will remain secret in our database, which was coded by a level 6 tech.

Gaming Application

Jane and I are independent workers. If we wanted Health Insurance, it was up to Jane and Justin to get it for us. A friend recommended "EHealthInsurance.com" - sounds like a permanent remnant of the e-glory days of yore.

On the site, I found a plan for $50 a month - I get two doctors visits a year, and coverage after I spend $3500 on my next catastrophic accident. I had a mile of forms to fill out on the web. Have you ever been an inpatient or an outpatient? You mean, have I ever been to a hospital? Sure. What were you there for? Uh, appendix removal. What was the name of your operating physician?

Huh? I'm supposed to remember the name of the guy who pulled out a wad of puss that was my appendix? In 1995? Har har - I barely remember the painkillers.

So I backtracked through my application one or two steps, and looked over the forms I'd already filled out. Which option had I chosen that had resulted in the difficult question? Ahh - "have you been an inpatient or outpatient." Let's try changing my answer to that question and seeing what happens with the next form. Ahah! No nagging request for the name of my appendix remover.

I realized two things from this experience - either health care insurers are cracked, or other people keep piles of paperwork about each of their injuries that I have never bothered with. And, games helped train me to understand these web forms as systems that can be manipulated, rigged to provide insurance faster. I can track the options I chose, and experiment with other variables; much like the dense array of color-coded doors you have to unlock at the end of BattleTech I: Crescent Hawk's Inception, for example.

MORE...

Appy Polly Logies

Sorry for the server outage this weekend - should be all fixed now.

Jane and I have been in Japan for a week now. We're on a 33k bps wireless connection, so it's not much for websurfing or multimedia exploration.

It's a warm and wet July, I'm not so comfortable in my jeans. But it's been wildly stimulating - since friends from Tokion introduced us to the young men behind Continue Magazine we've had hours of good conversation about worldwide game culture here in Tokyo. We had a videocamera along for all of it. After we return to the states later this week, we will begin to edit and digest it for articles and posts to GGA.

A Mascot for GGA

I've long been an admirer of Penny-Arcade. Tycho's writing is deft and Gabriel's art has a fluidity that blends the fantastic with the every day in a way all gamers instantly recognize. Last month's "Cardboard and Steel" story in particular is a masterpiece, proving how much range Krahulik and Hollkins have. I can't remember when I've seen richer grayscale images outside of classic film - they fairly glow off the page.

We love Penny-Arcade because they tell our stories - they laugh at us, certainly, as they laugh at their own expense, but their love of games and sympathy for gamers is always evident. We admire them for doing it all themselves, from the ground up. All along they've maintained a deep commitment to their sometimes rabidly loyal fans. They have integrity. And they've consistently been an important source of news, commentary, and critique of games and the game industry.

Having had a crush on the boys behind the strip for quite a while (one of those crushes sustained without ever actually, you know, meeting them), I finally mustered up the guts to ask Gabriel to design a mascot for GameGirlAdvance.

And he did.

This weekend I'll be redesigning to fit the new mascot in, but Justin and I are going to Nebraska, so we probably won't be able to implement until Monday night or Tuesday morning.

Gamers Read Books, too!

Call for Contributers!

I'm thinking of starting a book reviews section. I haven't figured out what the format will be so anything goes, at this point. Anything vaguely game-related is up for grabs - including Science Fiction, anthropological studies, technical manuals, discussions of narrative structure, history of board games, etc.

Any books out there you'd like to share your thoughts about? Alternatively, are there books you'd like to see reviewed here?