My father and I disagree on a great many things. In what is perhaps an inversion of the typical elder-youth conflict, I am usually taking the more conservative disapassionate approach than my father’s deeply compassionate and socialist political leanings. This provides for me a strong litmus test as far as how half-baked my ideas on various topics might be. If I can articulate them in such a way that my dad agrees in principle, they are certainly more likely to be viable - if not correct.

My father and I are certainly not experts in matters political - but we view them through such drastically different lenses and bring almost diametrically opposed information to bear on events that our discussions, I hope, provide us both with a fresh exchange of ideas we would otherwise shut-out.

The Afghanistan Mission, is an example where I find myself in the minority, as far as my social circle goes. Those people that I’ve talked to about it and believe at least moderately informed as to the circumstances generally believe the action to be a bad idea, ill-conceived and even more poorly executed. I can’t help but suspect that they believe the primary flaw with the idea was that it came from and was executed by a Tory - Stephen Harper nonetheless.

When pressed as to why they think it a bad idea I get a number of responses - none of them have served to change my mind.

The first and most common is that Democracy simply cannot and will not work for these people. That, as a concept, it is incompatible with their deeply rooted theological fundamentalism. When I point out Pakistan, Turkey and to a lesser extent Iran as functioning or semi-functioning Muslim democracies with another fourteen worldwide it doesn’t seem to change their mind. The usual reaction is to elaborate that it goes beyond religion extended to their greater culture, that they’ve never been a democracy and therefore never can be. On more than one occasion there is distinction that since they are Arab they are predisposed to despotism and tyranny or some other vague reference to some connection with race and oppression. I can’t help but feel that generalizations such as “as a people” or “a culture” cannot become democratic are thinly veiled racism.

They go on to say that Democracy cannot maintain itself if it is artificially imposed, that historically externally (especially through force of arms) established democracies have proven un-successful. To this I have disagree as well - the two most totalitarian and genocidal nations (both of which had visions of total global domination and destruction/subjugation of all other nations) are now exemplars of the power of a democratic free-market state bringing about peacen and prosperity to their people. I speak of course of Germany and Japan. Japan particularly has a very short but highly successful history of democracy.

They go on to say that Canada shouldn’t shoulder the burden on its own. This to me doesn’t suggest that the mission is a bad idea, that it is in fact a good idea that should garner greater international support. The statement begs the question however, do you think that support will come if Canada leaves or threatens to leave? If we cannot morally support our own mission, how can other nations support it logistically?

They also say that there is little reason why Canada should be motivated to help Afghanistan. What would we have to gain by establishing a autonomous republic that is comprised mainly of land-mines and barren dirt? Some also believe that democracy would bring about an increase in organized crime via the poppy trade. The fact that it would be private businesses running it rather than the state military is somehow worse in those people’s imaginations. To answer what would be gained is reasonably straight forward - a model. I believe that the primary reason that democracy is reviled by Muslim fundamentalists is because their enemies HAVE democracy - not that democracy IS (conceptually) part and parcel with their enemies.

My final observation is thus, if Canadian soldiers aren’t fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan, if men and women trained and willing to fight, armed with the best weaponry we can give them aren’t on enemy soil killing them there, tying up their resources in defending themselves, what would the Taliban be doing now? What would these insurgent groups be doing? I don’t think it too far fetched to presume they would be finding and executing ways to massacre us - without the benefit of targeting those voluntarily engaged.

That to me, is the reconciliation of violence. War is digusting, deplorable and tragic by its very nature. But if we live in a world where one group measures success by how few civilians are harmed in a conflict and every soldier killed results in huge media criticism, and the other group measures success by how many women and children were killed and despise the very concept of freedom - there is going to be a lot of fighting.

What is wrong with saying better the ravening, murderous militant-extremists than you or me?

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Last night I went with my family to go see Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, which was an entertaining if uninspiring film. It reminded me of my first question after the initial Harry Potter flick was released to massive popularity - where are the good HP games?

There have been many games based off of the HP IP - one for each movie, a quidditch based one and a CCG (a modified Magic: The Gathering).

However the two most obvious choices for games based off of the Harry Potter universe haven’t been made - an RPG, a table top game and an MMO.

The RPG would be relatively trivial to develop - especially if an existing game engine were used. The character design process is more or less taken care of, as are the basic story frameworks, characters and the like.

Using the NWN2 engine you could even have a party including Harry, Hermione and Ron going on various adventures in and about Hogwarts, which could be meticulously recreated room by room, chamber by chamber with the NWN2 tile-set system without a great deal of difficulty.

Adapting the game engine for use in the HP universe would also aid in the development of an equally lucrative venture - Harry Potter d20. To adapt the d20 ruleset to the Harry Potter universe would be ridiculously simple and could easily follow the conventions established in D&D. In addition to the core book, a grimoire, bestiary, guide to Hogwarts (including mini-compatible maps, charts, descriptions etc), a book of artifacts and magical items, a Quidditch mini-game, adventure modules for each book in the series, antagonists guide, a Muggle adventure expansion, guides to each of the houses, expansion guides for the other schools (with perhaps DM guides on creating a school / house), a guide to the Ministry, maps of the magical aspects of major cities… the list goes on and on.

It would have to blend the over-the-top fantastical elements of d20, the story focused, combat shy / vulnerable protagonist aspects of Call of Cthulhu, the parallel world aspects of the World of Darkness with a modern setting while still keeping the adventurous tone of the books.

Very little strictly creative work would need to be done - a majority of the development time could be devoted to simply quantifying the phenomena described in the books.

Finally - the MMO, which from a business perspective seems like a no-brainer. Players would create a student at Hogwarts with a class, wand and house. They would earn XP and move up in the grades as they earned levels (characters could even visibly age as they go up in levels). Quests could be handed out by the various characters from the films. Characters could discover/make magical items. Spells could be purchased/trained/mastered.

The game would reflect the spirit of the books almost by its very nature. Teamwork, bravery, service to a cause, respect for proper authority, adventure, friendship are part-and-parcel with the positive aspects of an MMO. PvP could be addressed easily through interschool competitions and of course, Quidditch would have to be a deeply developed mini-game. Expansions would simply increase the geography available to players, starting out initially at Hogwarts and maybe London and branching out to include the other schools.

It just seems like the design choices in this game have been made - all you need is a team of dedicated artists and programmers to churn out the content and a bevvy of testers to insure game balance. The focus of the game, the kind of experience once is trying to create is EXTREMELY well defined - you’ve got a pile of literature to the effect.

Unlike say Lord of the Rings, however, the experience described in the books doesn’t run contrary to how MMOs are played, things are very episodic - although there is a singular plot it doesn’t have the whole world focused on it - people go on about their lives in HP, whereas in LoTR Middle Earth waited with baited breath as Frodo delivered the ring.

Most importantly however, the experience of Harry and his friends doesn’t preclude OTHER students from having adventures of their own - perhaps not ones so glamorous or spectacular but still exciting.

Creating a game mechanic that seemed to fit-in with LoTR was very difficult for Turbine, and I think they succeeded as best as one could hope without totally throwing out MMO conventions. Harry Potter, however, slots so neatly into established and successful MMO conventions yet allows ample room for deviation (no MMO to date as innovated - simply deviated by borrowing other genre conventions).

There’s my two cents - maybe someone from WB Interactive is listening. JK Rowling I think could reach a lot of kids, and hold them longer than her books could ever hope to - from her perspective I can’t see how that’s a bad thing, assuming her motives are truly altruistic. If they aren’t, then she can wear her hat made of money, curl up next to her money-fire place in her palace made of money to comfort her on those cold English winter nights as she counts her money.

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Rare is the game that truly excites me. I get bored of games so readily, the interest exhausting like an after-dinner mint.

I find I’m fascinated with game systems - the more complex, the more compelling. Few and far between are those games that grip me for more than 20 minutes, seriously.

I think this stems from poor motivation. Mastery, as an end to itself, is not worthwhile to me. I am not willing or able to repeatedly play a game simply to become better at it, as some are. Some players have those games that they just grind into the ground - Tetris being a very common one, chess being another. They get very very good at the games, at least relative to their ability at others.

I sit down with a game, tinker with it, and once I figure out how to “beat” it, whether I can or not, I’m bored with it. When it’s just a matter of repetition to perfection I become easily fed up.

Those few games that hold me are those that are so infinitely varied as to never have a dependable and repeatable strategy, are so complex as to require vast amounts of time to figure out or ingeniously compel me to keep at them. For most games, this means narrative. I like stories, I am also an impatient reader - my ability to consume a book is never near as fast as I’d want it to be. So a game that tells me a story, even if I don’t make it myself, is infinitely more compelling than some fantasy simulator (I’m looking at you Animal Crossing).

There are other games though, even rarer, that actually compel me to get better at them because I fell rewarded for my increase in skill. I actually feel like I’ve accomplished something when I get better at the game. I think I can list those games without it being ridiculous:

Metal Gear Solid (the PlayStation original), Duck Hunt, Civilizations, Gran Tourismo and Tourist Trophy.

Metal Gear Solid became a sort of therapy for me. I would enter a no mind state and simply obliterate the game. My familiarity with the game was such that I would often pay no attention to the screen at all while I feverishly tapped the correct sequences to complete the VR missions perfectly - often besting the top computer time by whole seconds (which is seemingly impossible for some levels). They became video kata - I would do them over and over as a form of meditation - odd but true.

Duck Hunt is probably the only game that I’ve shown true innate skill at. I’m not particularly good at most other light-gun games - Area 51 still poses are pretty steep challenge for me though I got pretty good at Time Crisis. I have beaten all three modes of Duck Hunt. I have even beaten the clay shooting whilst laying on my back as far away from the TV as cabling would allow. This is with the original zapper - so I honestly have no idea how I would fare with the Wii controller. I was pretty good at it naturally so I decided to push myself a little further - and thus I played Duck Hunt well into the early morning for many a moon.

Civilization holds a special place in my heart. It is the only game where you can in the course of a session invent the alphabet, destroy the huns AND vote in the UN. Although less so now than in the past, I play this game reverently - as if I am performing some rite for the spirit of Sid Meier. Whether I intend to play it or not, I feel compelled purchase each iteration of the game - if only to do my part to ensure it’s still around for future generations. Civilization is an important game - it stands STILL, this many years later, as really the only successful comingling of educational content and entertainment - the game is FUN, seriously fun and it really is educational.

Polyphony Digital somehow got me. I don’t really know why I’m so obsessed with these games - it just doesn’t fit with anything else I do as a gamer. I like games that use dice and hit points. I don’t drive a REAL car and I really know very little about how automobiles work. Does this stop me from agonizing over gear ratios, torque values and weight distribution on my braking assists for my Lotus Elise? No. What I know about cars comes solely from this game - so I hope to god this thing is as accurate as it seems. The reason I play this game repeatedly is probably because the first time I played GT I totally blew. It was probably the most embarrassing experience I’ve had as a gamer - next to my foray into Einhander (more on that next article). I missed corners, fishtailed all over the road and crawled across the finish line (if I made it at all.) I still think I suck horribly at the game - and I do, but I had my come uppance when I demoed GT4 HD at EB ahead of what can only be described as a SuperAsian (he wore a god damn Dirge of Cerberus baseball cap and a Mike Forza T-shirt).

I ran the course, twice, very poorly compared to how I usually fare (I chalked it up to lack of familiarity with the route car and changes in physics - but could’ve also been the building pressure of 6 spectators) SuperAsian chuckled at me as I handed off the controller. He switched out from my Mitsubishi Lancer GT (I wanted something with good handling for the highly technical course, top-end speed is useless if you can’t get there) to a Ferrari. He runs the course 4 times and comes behind my lap times by nearly a full minute. The grudging nod of a frustrated SuperAsian made my agonizing months of sliding around courses and generally sucking at GT worthwhile.

This brings me to my prediction - the next game likely to be on this list. There’s a lot of obvious choices: the company of heroes expansion, Medieval II total war kingdoms, Age of Conan, Oblivion, and of course StrarCraft II. Although these are all venerable titles worth of obsessive perfectionist gameplay - I really think the next game that I’ll grind to death will be the gem from Turtle Rock Left 4 Dead.

It’s a first person shooter - not a usual choice for me. Marathon, Unreal Tournament and Rainbow Six are the only FPS series that I got into. Rainbow Six, of those three, is probably my favourite - if only because of my juvenile excitement at paramilitary stuff. Though my favourite part of R6 was being part of a team - a group of guys who worked efficiently together and got shit done. Unlike the chaotic UT/Q3A teams R6 teams had purpose, a laserlike focus to meet an objective and you HAD to work as a team - rare was the player skilled enough to carry a game (unlike, say, Counter Strike)

Left 4 Dead, strangely, reminds me more of R6 than Counter-Strike (even though Turtle Rock CREATED Counter-Strike) It’s the coherent focus and role based play that really hook me.

There is of course, the other amazing half of the game - ZOMBIES. My prediliction to zombie films is unhealthy, to say the least and my love for the shambling dead guys is actually what turned me off Resident Evil after Resident Evil 2 - they made the weird mutagenic enemies the focus of the game, rather than distractions to the masses of flesh eating corpses. L4D has LOTS of zombies. Moreover, you get to play AS a Zombie…now THAT is pretty awesome.

So, in review truly cohesive coopertive play + zombies = JeremySwoon.

I like games that hate the players - in a good way. I like games with hideously steep learning curves (MechWarrior series), disgustingly complex systems (I LIKED Master of Orion III, Pax Imperia) or controller chuckingly difficult gameplay (Mortal Kombat Anthology).

Left 4 Dead is probably the first game in a long time that excites me more when I see it than when I think about it what it COULD be.

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It seems that I haven’t entered in here, for official purposes, the plan for the near future for one Jeremy Vernon.

This fall I head eastward to the venerable institution of the University of Toronto. It has been a long time coming and I look forward to the new challenges ahead.

I’m a proud member of St. Michael’s College and currently enrolled in a Political Science / Economics Degree. However, it is my explicit intent to apply for acceptance into the joint International Relations / Peace and Conflict Studies program offered at UofT via Trinity and University colleges.

After that? Who knows? I’ve got a while to decide but the most compelling idea is to keep going and get a law degree. If I can swing it I’d love to go through a combined JD/MBA program.

I am well aware of the daunting tasks ahead of me, but I believe I am up to it. The IR / P&C is a very competitive program the criteria for entrance beyond academic performance is a bit of a mystery to me.

In this blog I hope to record my ponderings on the subject material I cover as well as the frivolities that I’ve been writing about for quite some time now.

I shan’t make any false promises about frequency or quality of missives but this is not the end of the blog - though the format and execution may change a bit over time.

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