A Gamer's Guide to Playing Twitter

Okay, so a few weeks ago, my husband and one of his friends got me to try out an awesome new game. It's called Twitter. They tricked me into playing by saying that it'd be good for our little indie studio, Frogdice, but I digress. There's several objects to this new game, and I'm enjoying it immensely. Casual and hardcore gamers can both enjoy this game, but I'll warn you that many aspects of the game can be extremely addicting and even downright dangerous. Here, I'll break it down for my faithful readers.

Create a Character

Okay, so you create a character first. That's pretty standard. Character creation is simple, and a player can customize his or her character page easily. I made mine brown and green. I have no idea why since I pretty much hate the color brown. Next, you write a few blurbs about your character. Get as creative as you want. I fashioned my character after my real life self. Not too inspired there.

Learn the UI

The UI for the game is relatively simple. You start off with a little egg for an avatar. (I think that it's because you're supposed to be a baby bird.) You can change this to something that suits you more, but the egg's pretty cute. Next, you have a little bird's nest for your "home" button. (So clever!) You use these buttons to navigate through the game as you send out little "tweets". Tweets are just things you type in under 140 characters or less, and this can be extremely daunting. So many times you'll be at 141 characters, and then you'll have to choose how you want to mangle your use of the English language. (Or whatever language you may be Tweeting in. I'm thinking of trying Thai next when I beat the next boss).

Object of the Game

I'm just kidding. Bosses don't really exist in this game. At least I haven't encountered them yet. There's multiple ways to level up in this game, and I love systems like that. You can count the stats for each of your "tweets". Other characters can "re-tweet" you, and that gets added to your tweet score. They can also favorite your tweet, and that also gets added, too. So many pretty numbers going up and up and up! You can also look at your number of "followers", and that's another thing that you can level up via your "tweets".

Obstacles

Like any good game, I found many, many obstacles in my path. For example, you can run into doors or get run over by cars if you tweet carelessly. I found this out while I was tweeting from my phone. (Did I tell you that this game can be played on your phone, PC, or even your TV? Wow! Talk about multi-platform.) I even read about someone falling off a cliff while tweeting. Or maybe it was texting. The games are pretty similar. So, be careful while you're playing. Play responsibly, and remember to take breaks!

Some characters on the game can be very difficult to conquer as well. You can tweet and tweet and tweet and tweet, and they never respond. Other characters add a lot to the game, so make sure that you keep track of those by "following" them. This will also add to their "followers" score, and they may add to yours.

Re-playability and Retention

I'm still pretty new at this game, so I don't have the answer to this yet. You're welcome to add to my follower score by finding me, @dalaena. (The @ and the # signs will be your best tools while playing this game.)

Grumpy with no Twitter!

PAX East: Cosplay and Getting Along

Ray in a cube

One of the things I love most about going to any convention is the cosplay. Our players at Threshold RPG have been cosplaying since before cosplay was a thing. We started having our conventions in 1997, and the very first players to dress up in costume did so in 2001. We had an entire costume competition with people dressing up as dryads (including a VERY brave guy in a weenie bikini and doing the beaver dance), salamaes, and even a gelantinous cube. You can see these at Threshold RPG's Facebook page, and oh, why don't you like us while you're over there?

PAX East had plenty of cosplay, and boy, people get completely creative and original with how they build these costumes. You can't just order a costume from a Hollywood set when you're wanting to cosplay these video game characters. Each piece is lovingly designed and created by the people who wear the costumes. Sure, you can buy a few pieces here and there, but you're not buying a complete Caitlyn outfit. Nope, that has to be put together by a dedicated fan with an attention to detail. Most comic book characters must be created in the same way, though, with Disney buying Marvel and the success of the Avengers, I expect to see lots of costumes sold over the next few years. (Don't get me wrong. I love anyone who's willing to dress up. The handmade costumes just impress me more.)

Me and Caitlyn - calling bot!

Over the last few years, I've noticed people putting each others' hobbies down more and more. I've got a friend who loves the cosplay at DragonCon yet mocks the people who go to DragonCon to game. I've seen sports fans who make fun of the "video game" nerds, and that just drives me up the wall. How is watching TV for two full days any more "cool" than playing video games for two full days? The sports fans vs. video gamer dichotomy has always confused me. We're so incredibly similar.

Georgia cosplayers

Sports fans are the biggest group of cosplayers that I know. Those jerseys that they'll buy for $200 a pop? Total cosplay. They're dressing up as the player they love so much. How about all the guys and gals you see with painted faces, hair, and color-coordinated costumes? Wait, am I talking about football fans or cosplayers? I could be talking about either! Go team!



Football and video games, at heart, are both GAMES. One game we watch and play rarely. The other one we play a lot and watch rarely. (Though with the emergence of eSports, that's changed. I watch several games a week.) There's no real point in mocking one or the other, right?

We won't even get into how many fantasy sports teams is so very much like making an avatar in a video game and watching the stats go up through various actions. You have an awesome spreadsheet for your fantasy football team that you go to the office to brag about? Well, the person next door may have an awesome DKP spreadsheet for his or her raiding guild. What makes one more acceptable than the other?

Anyway, there's a lot of common ground that we're missing simply by talking past each other. Cosplay is awesome whether it's happening at PAX East or at a Georgia Bulldogs game.

I'm gonna wreck it!

PAX East: Swag Hag with a Bag

I absolutely love swag. I don't know what exactly I love about swag, but I adore it. Make it video game swag, and I can hardly control myself. Last night, during a reunion with several old friends and my husband, I made my shameful confession: I'd actually contemplated committing assault and battery to get the swag I wanted off of other PAX East attendees.

As an exhibitor, I had to weigh what I wanted more- swag or a chance to reach out and literally touch some new customers. (But not in a dirty way.) Of course, I had to choose customers over swag, so I spent most of my time confined in a 10 x 20 space. Don't get me wrong. I absolutely cherished our chance to be an exhibitor at PAX East especially since we were in the Indie Mega Booth.

Still, I could hear the swag calling to me. It sang a siren's song, and I had no wax for my ears. Thankfully, I met some of the most amazing people ever. First, through Twitter, I met Brock. Yes, THE Brock. The one from Pokemon. This Brock tracked me down at my booth, traded me a HAND MADE gym badge for my daughter for a box of Girl Scout cookies and some our swag. One of the best trades I'd ever made. Ever! I still can't believe I'm bringing home a gym badge for my daughters.

Now, remember LoL Couple? They brought me the Lulu cupcake that I mistakenly identified as the Caitlyn cupcake in a previous blog. Well, they actually go by Colleen and Ben. How did I find out? Because Colleen and Ben came back, and they had gotten me a Ziggs bomb, a Gangplank orange, a Soraka banana, and an honor pin. I'd talked to them on Friday about how I was incredibly thankful to be able to attend PAX East but that I possessed fears that I wouldn't be able to go get the swag I really wanted to get. They went and got it for me. I can't even express how incredibly touched I was by their gesture. People I didn't know more than two days previous went out and got swag for me.

The swag came from the Riot Games booth, easily the largest the booth at PAX East. The crowds that gather there are quite intimidating, and these fine people braved it to get swag for me. Let me tell you, though, that the people working at the Riot booth are also some of the most awesome people I got to meet. Colleen and Ben told them exactly what they were doing (getting swag for another exhibitor who is a total LoL fangirl), and the Riot people gave them swag to give to me. As swamped as we were, I can guarantee you that they were far more destroyed by their crowd and all the people who wanted their swag as badly (if not more so) than I did. I can't wait to be able to give my girls their LoL swag. They'll be crazy excited. The Ziggs bomb is mine, though!

I also took a "bathroom break" and visited the PopCap booth. We took a bunch of our swag over to them, and we had a wee bit of a swag trade. I think I came out on top. They got collapsible water bottles to fill with the "water" of their choice, and I got sunshrooms, walnuts, and zombies. Yay!

So, I'll take a picture of my swag and send it out soon. They're all tucked away in my bag, ready for their fourteen hour trip home. I'm going to take them out and cuddle with all of it on my way home.

PAX East: Serendipity and Media Sluts

I promised an amazing PAX East story, so here it is. On Friday, a guy stopped by our booth to introduce himself. He wore a badge that identified himself as media and introduced himself as John from Frankfort. He wanted to let us know that he worked in video gaming media and that he, too, was representing Kentucky at PAX East. We talked for a while, exchanged cards, and went on our merry way with the promise that he would come back and chat with us later. I went back to yakking about our games to everyone who would listen, selling Girl Scout cookies, and hyping up our awesome company, Frogdice.

On Saturday about midday, John shows back up to chat. I see that media badge, and I start going into my whole speech about how our company is awesome, how we believe in the strength of women in gaming, how we made the decision that I would lead our design because I am our only woman designer. I yakked and yakked and yakked some more. I talked about how 34 years ago I immigrated to Boston, MA and then how we moved to Kentucky. Finally, John looked at me and said, "I'm going to ask you a really personal question. You don't have to answer if you don't want to."

That gave me pause. Was John a pervert? Was I going to have to deck him? Was I going to have to call security? Whatever. He could be the biggest pervert in the world. HE WORE A MEDIA BADGE. I processed that all in about 2 seconds and said, "Oh, sure. Go ahead."

"What's your maiden name?" Huh? That has got to be the weirdest question I've ever gotten from a media person. Maybe he just thought I was Thai and was waiting to hear confirmation by hearing my last name.

So, I told him. The weirdness got worse. His response to my answer? "You don't remember me, do you?"

CRAP! He must be someone important, and I had no idea who he was. He always appeared strangely familiar to me, so I thought that my husband (the President and CEO of our company) must have told me who he was and that John must be an incredibly important person. Doh! I sat for a second trying to figure out how to bullcrap my way into convincing this press guy that I DID remember him when, all of a sudden, I realized that his name might NOT be John.

I asked him again where he grew up in Kentucky, and when he responded, I knew only one person from the area he named. I just hadn't seen that person since 1992, over twenty-one years ago. He had been my very best friend from a six week summer camp that we both attended, but what were the chances that we'd meet again after all this time at PAX East hundreds of miles from home? How likely were the chances that we'd end up in the same industry? Still, it couldn't be anyone else, yet I didn't want to risk looking like an idiot just in case he was just a press guy I should know.

So I asked him his last name, and he turned out to be that friend from camp. Only his name was Ron, not John, and I knew him as Ronnie. (Yep, just drop the -nie from a name, and I'm completely stumped.) Though honestly, how many 4'11" Asian women named Pang could there be from Kentucky? He should have remembered me instantly! (I've got to thank my husband for this argument since he created it.) Ron had gone home on Friday night to look through the cards he received, and that's when he realized who I might be.

We spent the rest of the night just marveling about the serendipitous nature of our reunion AND how much of a media slut I must be to actually answer his creepy and weird questions. I'm still boggling over how far we had to go from home to find each other again.

I already thought of PAX East as one of the most amazing experiences I've ever had. This pushed it one step further and gave me back a friend with whom I'd completely lost contact.

PAX East: Super Derp! (Day 2)

I got back to my home away from home super late tonight due to an awesome series of events. Unfortunately, it means I don't have a ton of time to blog tonight.

Photo-bombing Wreck-It-Ralph

We saw two of our Threshold RPG players today, Abdalan and Xar. Abdalan has been playing Threshold for over 14 years, and Xar has been there for over 16 years. (Yep! Threshold turns 17 this June. Absolutely crazy, right?)

I didn't think that PAX East could get more awesome, but today blew yesterday out of the water. We saw more cool people, played more cool games, and sold tons more copies of our own game. The best part of the day, and the most ridiculously serendipitous event to happen to me at Pax, consists of a series of bizarre events that re-united me with one of my best friends from high school. I hadn't seem him since 1992, and where do we meet again? Yep, right on the Expo Floor of PAX East.

So, I will apologize in advance for my short, detail-less blog post tonight. I got selfish and stayed out late to catch up with my old friend. Then while we were catching up, we ran into one of our old players that I hadn't seen in over 6 years. More details to come. For now, I've got to log out before I pass out.

PAX East: Derpin' along... (Day 1)

The first full day of PAX held a lot of surprises and challenges for me. The people of PAX surprised me the most. I expected a whole lot less than what I got. The people, especially the Indie Mega Booth people, are some of the nicest, most helpful human beings I've ever met. PAX East, to put it simply, is ABSOLUTELY AMAZING. We've been really lucky to be able to attend.

1. Mr. Nash lost his gaming virginity today when he sat down and played Dungeon of Elements, the game we debuted at PAX East. This may seem mundane, but it's actually an extremely amazing detail. See, Warren isn't a gamer, but he's primarily responsible for sending us to PAX East. The ICC sent three gaming companies from Lexington to PAX East and helped us be able to afford to attend. How cool is that? I don't know if I would have had the guts to tackle this on my own for our very first time. I'll say it a million times over the next year, "I love Lexington!"

2. A new gaming media company called Game Skinny took a moment to hear our story which then turned into an interesting angle on families and gaming, parenting and gaming, and women in games. It's nice to see the gaming media look into new angles. I'm pretty impressed with their angles, savvy questions, and ability to bring up interesting topics during their interviews. As always, I relish the chance to talk about Frogdice to anyone who will listen.

3. SWAG!!! I GOT SWAG!!! I'm way, way, way behind on swag because I really didn't have the chance to leave our booth at all except to do an interview or two. This is a good thing, but being the swag hag that I am, I can't help but be a little bit sad. I have to say, though, that the people at PopCap and Riot Games understood my absolute love for their games and slipped a fellow exhibitor some swag. I would have stood in the lines, but I couldn't do so. Thankfully, I got a few pieces for my girls, and that's really what I wanted.

4. To continue my swag story, a couple stopped by our booth. We got to talking about different games, and the discussion turned to LoL and PvZ, my two current favorite games. I was lamenting that I hadn't been able to check out what was going on at the Riot booth during the day or to get any swag, and they reached into their swag bag and gave me a Caitlyn cupcake. Now, I've never played Caitlyn. I've only laned with her a handful of times, but I will NEVER give up this cupcake. It means a ton to me that fellow gamers have so much heart and generosity. (It turns out that it's a Lulu cupcake from one of her skins, I think, so forget Caitlyn! I actually play Lulu a bit, and her polymorph/shield combo is awesome.)

5. I must have said about 400 times today that our oldest game, Threshold RPG, turns 17 this June. Every time I said it, it tickled my soul. It's so hard to imagine that we've known several of our players for this long. It's also hard to imagine that the world of Threshold has been continuously developed by us AND by the stories that our players tell for so many years. How absolutely amazing!

6. We sold over 100 copies of our game today and had countless people come to play. I'd say that at least half of the people who sat down to demo our new game and Tower of Elements were women. I'm pretty excited by the reception that Dungeon of Elements had, and I can't wait until it's released next month. Woo!

So, these are a few highlights of my first day ever at PAX East. Have I been a little bit too optimistic? The only negatives I can really think of for today was that I didn't have time to eat lunch and my feet feel like two hippos sat on each of them. Remember when I said I was going to party like I hadn't since college? Well, I never even made it to the party. Just scrape me off the floor and pour me in bed, please.

PAX East: Moving Towards Derp

We set up our booth today at PAX East, and it went much more seamlessly than I expected. That might have come from years of experience running our own small convention for our Threshold RPG players. We brought extra supplies so that the other indie companies that came with us from Lexington were able to set up relatively painlessly as well. I'm happy with how it all turned out in the end.

Since we spent most of our time at our own booth, I didn't get to tour the floor as much as I would have liked to do so. I did hit the Nintendo booth to check out any Pokemon swag for my girls. I tried really hard to hit the PopCap booth, but they hadn't set up yet. Sadly, I couldn't get my bid in for swag early. I might have to wait with everyone else. SADFACE!!

I stopped by the Riot Games booth, and my favorite AP character was there. Ziggs had a bajllion bombs ready to toss around for fun. KABLOOEY! (Ziggs, I had no idea you were taller than me. I'm a little jealous.) I love the Riot booth, but I didn't get to talk to any of the people. I just took a bunch of pictures with some of the really awesome booth statues that they had. I don't really even know what to call these models. They're gorgeous, and it's like seeing my favorite characters come to life. I got a great picture with Katerina and her... erm... double Phantom Dancers. Such big, lovely weapons, too! I also got a wonderful picture with Tryndamere and his insanely huge sword. (I really hate your ult, sir.)

I did meet a ton of really awesome indie developers and discovered that most of the people at PAX, and especially the Indie Mega Booth people, are extremely friendly, helpful, and ready to share. I met a group making a little game called Cupcakes and Critters. It's a modified tower defense game that caught my eye because the art was RIDICULOUSLY cute. And. They. Had. Cupcake. Stuffies. I hugged one. Maybe I'll win one!! I can only hope. What cracks me up most about this absolutely adorable (and really fun) game is the fact that three guys created it. How did they manage to get the perfect recipe for cuteness for me? (Guys, I wrote about you in the blog. Surely I get a cupcake?)

About fifteen people in Lexington came in addition to the indie companies that actually make up our booth. I'm amazed by their support, enthusiasm, and boundless optimism for our developing gaming community. Want to know something really amazing about Lexington? The guy who heads up the ICC, someone who knows actually knows absolutely nothing about gaming, is here supporting us and representing Lexington. Mr. W. Nash, you really make my heart happy.

All in all, PAX has been pretty awesome so far. We meet with the press tomorrow, and I can't wait to talk about our plans, our players, and our games. Time for bed. Big day coming up! Peace out, Girl Scouts. (Did I remember to tell you guys we have Girl Scout cookies? If you're here at PAX East, make sure you stop by and support an awesome group of little gamers. Yep, one of our troops just earned a badge for game development. Guess who spoke at that meeting?)