The other day I was conversing with my wife and she told me about a Christian speaker who was called out as a false prophet because he suggested that some Christians need to deal with their issues by going to counseling. The fellow who called him out did so on the basis that "all we need is Jesus".
I used to often think this way growing up. "I don't need that, I only need Jesus. I can get on without those people, all I need is Jesus." And you know what, in many contexts this is true. Who will ultimately fix our problems in the end? Jesus. Who is providing us with everything we need? Jesus. Who can do the impossible for us? Jesus. But at what point does this line of thinking become absurd?
What is the proper relationship between our needs and Jesus? Clearly if we have needs God provides for them through Jesus. When the ancient Israelites were in the desert God provided mana and quail for them to eat and when the prophets had to flee because of persecution God sent ravens to bring them food or an angel, or a widow who God also provided for. Jesus said, "ask it will be given, knock and the door will be opened to you, seek and you will find." However, every one of these people had to actually take the food that was provided, put it in the mouths, chew it, and swallow it. The prophets had to leg it, often, so as to make sure their head did not garnish a spike in the king's palace. And we as Christians today don't rely on God so strongly that we refuse to eat because "all we need is Jesus." The relationship between our needs and Jesus is not like an umbilical cord where we do nothing and God providentially fixes absolutely everything, providing literal nourishment to those who refuse to feed themselves.
But I need to make an immediate qualification. God can do this and has done this for various people. I think specifically of Jesus' fast for forty days or the Chinese pastor 'Brother Yung' or other Christians who have suffered incredible situations. There are times and places where God's providence does mean providing literal nourishment to people who could not eat or drink. But this is the exception, not the rule, at least in physical nourishment.
In the normal day to day life, Christians need to feed themselves because that's how God designed us. God provides the food. We eat the food. The food does what the food was meant to do. Jesus is not an automatic replacement for eating and drinking.
The same goes for community. Christians need community, we need other people, we need the Body of Christ because we are part of the Body of Christ and each part needs the other parts else we suffer and fail in our tasks. Jesus is not a substitute for other people. He created us to work together, he created us as social communal beings who need fellowship and friendship. Yes, God provides these things but always to share with others. Just as every person has need to eat and drink so too every person has need of community. I believe that Jesus specifically does not nourish us to the point where we do not have to eat because eating is good and he wants us to eat. I also believe that Jesus specifically does not meet our needs for community to the point where we have no community because fellowship is good and he wants us to live in community.
So Jesus could provide for all of our needs to the point where we just sit content under a bonsai tree neither eating nor participating in the lives of others, but that isn't what he had in mind when he said "I will provide for you." I believe that God uses our needs to guide us to where we are needed which allows others the blessing of providing for our needs.
So, to sum it all up, if you have issues in your life that you can't seem to conquer there is nothing wrong with going to see a Christian counselor. Sure, they are not Jesus but maybe they are the food that he has provided and you are just refusing to eat it.
Sunday, April 14, 2013
Wednesday, April 10, 2013
The Long Winter
This has been a long winter. It's April 10 and we are still buried in snow with more on the way. It's also been a long spiritual winter I think; for me at least. Life hasn't exactly gone the way I wanted it to. There have been lots of adjustments, both good and bad, but not a whole lot of time to adjust or process what has all happened. When I look back I think I can say that I have had an abnormally hard season.
Getting married was good. Really good actually. People say that you should 'ease into' your marriage in the first year. Tori and I just kinda dove right in and hit the ground running. We had people over to our house almost every day at the start. Visitors, family, friends, no honeymoon. Then my wife went in for surgery to get rid of nasty gall-stone attacks that had been giving her incredible pain. The surgery was a success but people with EDS heal slowly so we knew that it would take a while to fully recover.
I got to make all the meals and clean the kitchen, bathroom, living room, everything. But she never did fully recover. Not entirely. You see, it shouldn't have been medically possible but we are now expecting a child, and Victoria managed to get every possible negative symptom of pregnancy. Then there were the week long modular courses in November and December, the two back to back almost killed her and the nasty falls on the ice didn't help much either. I knew going in that this was not going to be an ideal season for health and I was ready to stand up and do my part, but the season began to extend beyond what I foresaw and new storm clouds on the horizon made me prepare for some nasty slugging up ahead.
During Victoria's last class she didn't meet the professor's expectations. We got to argue that the expectations were unrealistic given the circumstances and that due care and attention to her needs was not given even when she asked for specific accommodation. This lead to a long appeal process and ultimately in my wife having to leave the school because dealing with them was simply too taxing on her health.
Then, as if by the hand of God (since I thought that surely things could not get any more difficult), we had a relational explosion and meltdown with some close friends that made Victoria afraid to be around people for a month
That has been the context of life since January. Health in the toilet, disappointments falling from the sky, the foundations seemingly cracking and shifting beneath our feet, and then there's me running around trying to fix everything.
I tried fixing the issue between Victoria and the school. That one is hard because I work for the school and I am Victoria's husband which makes being her advocate difficult to keep straight. I tried fixing the explosion in our friendship but I can't make it happen. I try to provide for what my wife needs but I'm still new to this whole 'live with a woman thing' and can't figure out what on earth to do when she's hormonal or when her EDS flares up. I've been called upon to lead House Church a midst the chaos that everyone else is going through normally during the school year at a time when the other House Church leaders can't be there. Now the school year is almost done and then everyone will be gone and still no sign of spring yet.
Yep... All in all it's been a long winter. I'm always tired and the fact that we're getting more snow doesn't even phase me anymore. I look forward to spring, to that light at the end of the tunnel. It's been tough, and looking back I'm amazed that we haven't blown apart or simply died by now. Somehow I don't think I've given into bitterness, and I think I've still found the strength to continue caring and hurting with others, not giving into numbness. Somehow I'm still working at redeeming what I maybe should have just let burn by now. The Lord truly does give us tireless grace to continue on.
I am tired. I love my wife. And I won't give up. Even in the long winter I must look to the Lord and allow him to lead me.
Greg Out
Getting married was good. Really good actually. People say that you should 'ease into' your marriage in the first year. Tori and I just kinda dove right in and hit the ground running. We had people over to our house almost every day at the start. Visitors, family, friends, no honeymoon. Then my wife went in for surgery to get rid of nasty gall-stone attacks that had been giving her incredible pain. The surgery was a success but people with EDS heal slowly so we knew that it would take a while to fully recover.
I got to make all the meals and clean the kitchen, bathroom, living room, everything. But she never did fully recover. Not entirely. You see, it shouldn't have been medically possible but we are now expecting a child, and Victoria managed to get every possible negative symptom of pregnancy. Then there were the week long modular courses in November and December, the two back to back almost killed her and the nasty falls on the ice didn't help much either. I knew going in that this was not going to be an ideal season for health and I was ready to stand up and do my part, but the season began to extend beyond what I foresaw and new storm clouds on the horizon made me prepare for some nasty slugging up ahead.
During Victoria's last class she didn't meet the professor's expectations. We got to argue that the expectations were unrealistic given the circumstances and that due care and attention to her needs was not given even when she asked for specific accommodation. This lead to a long appeal process and ultimately in my wife having to leave the school because dealing with them was simply too taxing on her health.
Then, as if by the hand of God (since I thought that surely things could not get any more difficult), we had a relational explosion and meltdown with some close friends that made Victoria afraid to be around people for a month
That has been the context of life since January. Health in the toilet, disappointments falling from the sky, the foundations seemingly cracking and shifting beneath our feet, and then there's me running around trying to fix everything.
I tried fixing the issue between Victoria and the school. That one is hard because I work for the school and I am Victoria's husband which makes being her advocate difficult to keep straight. I tried fixing the explosion in our friendship but I can't make it happen. I try to provide for what my wife needs but I'm still new to this whole 'live with a woman thing' and can't figure out what on earth to do when she's hormonal or when her EDS flares up. I've been called upon to lead House Church a midst the chaos that everyone else is going through normally during the school year at a time when the other House Church leaders can't be there. Now the school year is almost done and then everyone will be gone and still no sign of spring yet.
Yep... All in all it's been a long winter. I'm always tired and the fact that we're getting more snow doesn't even phase me anymore. I look forward to spring, to that light at the end of the tunnel. It's been tough, and looking back I'm amazed that we haven't blown apart or simply died by now. Somehow I don't think I've given into bitterness, and I think I've still found the strength to continue caring and hurting with others, not giving into numbness. Somehow I'm still working at redeeming what I maybe should have just let burn by now. The Lord truly does give us tireless grace to continue on.
I am tired. I love my wife. And I won't give up. Even in the long winter I must look to the Lord and allow him to lead me.
Greg Out
Friday, April 5, 2013
Talking about God the Son
How does one talk about God the Son? Who is he? Well, he is the God who became incarnate as a man in history, the man Jesus of Nazareth. This is why the Apostle's Creed states 'Conceived by the Holy Spirit, and 'Born of the virgin Mary.' He is identified as the Son of the Father. Not a son in the sense that he was the offspring of God but in the sense that he had a Father - Son relationship. Christianity has long held that the Son existed along with the Father in eternity passed and that there has never been a time when the Son did not exist alongside the Father. Afterall, the Father couldn't be the Father without the Son.
Why did God the Son incarnate himself? Well, Jesus' mission on earth was to announce the coming of the 'Kingdom of Heaven' which he accomplished through preaching, miracles, and signs; feeding the hungry, healing the sick, and fulfilling the Law according to Moses and the Prophets. What is this kingdom you ask? The rule of God breaking into the rule of man. The day of salvation where men may turn to God and he will be their God and they will be His people! All of the fulfillment and plans set forth by the Father are accomplished through the Son.
He is the very image (icon) of the Father. He is God incarnate, the divine becoming one of us while still being divine. Everything we can know about the Father and the Son is manifested in Jesus. He is God bridging the divide and revealing himself to us, giving himself to us. He reveals himself to be the God who gives himself.
He is the God who gave of himself even unto death. The incarnate God chose to die a criminal's death and became the sacrifice for sin so that all those who put their faith in him will have the blood of Christ, who did no wrong, as their defense before the holy judgement seat of God. Furthermore, the Son is the God who conquers death! After dying himself he was raised from the dead; not merely 'waking up', not as a zombie, and not having never actually died, but actually rising from the dead whole and completely, with a new body that could never die. He is the God who became what the Scriptures call 'The First Fruits' from among the dead, the 'template' if you will, for all those who put their faith in him, that we can hope, and have good reason to hope, in a bodily resurrection after death.
Furthermore still, he is the God who having descended to earth ascended back into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father, with every power and authority under him to fulfill the will of the Father and mediates now between us and the Father so that we may be one with the Father as the Son is one with the Father.
Finally, he is the God who will come again and will finally be victorious over all things. The will of the Father will be completed because Jesus will return and the Kingdom of God will outshine and overcome the Kingdom of Man. He will bring to complete fruition the justice, hope, peace, and love that was promised so long ago when the Scriptures were written.
Why did God the Son incarnate himself? Well, Jesus' mission on earth was to announce the coming of the 'Kingdom of Heaven' which he accomplished through preaching, miracles, and signs; feeding the hungry, healing the sick, and fulfilling the Law according to Moses and the Prophets. What is this kingdom you ask? The rule of God breaking into the rule of man. The day of salvation where men may turn to God and he will be their God and they will be His people! All of the fulfillment and plans set forth by the Father are accomplished through the Son.
He is the very image (icon) of the Father. He is God incarnate, the divine becoming one of us while still being divine. Everything we can know about the Father and the Son is manifested in Jesus. He is God bridging the divide and revealing himself to us, giving himself to us. He reveals himself to be the God who gives himself.
He is the God who gave of himself even unto death. The incarnate God chose to die a criminal's death and became the sacrifice for sin so that all those who put their faith in him will have the blood of Christ, who did no wrong, as their defense before the holy judgement seat of God. Furthermore, the Son is the God who conquers death! After dying himself he was raised from the dead; not merely 'waking up', not as a zombie, and not having never actually died, but actually rising from the dead whole and completely, with a new body that could never die. He is the God who became what the Scriptures call 'The First Fruits' from among the dead, the 'template' if you will, for all those who put their faith in him, that we can hope, and have good reason to hope, in a bodily resurrection after death.
Furthermore still, he is the God who having descended to earth ascended back into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father, with every power and authority under him to fulfill the will of the Father and mediates now between us and the Father so that we may be one with the Father as the Son is one with the Father.
Finally, he is the God who will come again and will finally be victorious over all things. The will of the Father will be completed because Jesus will return and the Kingdom of God will outshine and overcome the Kingdom of Man. He will bring to complete fruition the justice, hope, peace, and love that was promised so long ago when the Scriptures were written.
Greg's List of High Quality Free Games
I've been working on this one for a little while. Maybe somebody who's into gaming will stumble on to this post. Maybe.
I've been a PC gamer pretty much my whole life. I haven't played every title, but I have run across some really high quality free games that I think should get special mention. These aren't chintzy little arcade games made in Flash, these are top notch full length well made PC games with high replay value and hours upon hours of quality entertainment.
In no particular order we begin with:
Team Fortress 2
Team Fortress is, imho, the best FPS I have ever played. From the cartoony graphic style to the strategic and tactical depth of class builds, team composition, and the rewards for pure skill, this game is flat out awesome.
League of Legends is currently the most popular MMO in the world. If you are into PC gaming and you haven't at least heard of LoL then something aint right. You choose from one of like a bazillion 'heroes' play as and then you are paired up with up to four other players to go compete against the enemy team in the "Fields of Justice" (a big arena with three lanes, jungle in between, and a river down the middle). You are only ever in control of your one character and you must use your character's abilities, the map's ambush points, and your team's assistance to try and kill the other team's heroes and wreck their towers. As you kill heroes and AI controlled 'minions' you will earn gold which you use to buy new items which increase you hero's stats / abilities, eventually becoming powerful enough to blow up their base. It's a fairly simple concept in theory, and the game is easy and fun to get into, but the longer you play the more you realize that the game has an incredible amount of depth. Each of the bazillion champions is unique and brings something special to the arena. Some are easy to learn and others very complicated. Different combinations of champions make the team play especially interesting. The game is unbalanced, but in a healthy way. No one champion or strategy is over powered because each champion and strategy are so different that whenever one champion or strategy becomes dominant it is only a matter of time before it is countered by a new one or a previously forgotten one. Regardless of champion or strategy though, this game really knows how to reward skill. The battles are fun and replayable over and over with other players or with bots. You are generally placed among team mates and opponents with a similar skill level to yourself, so this game is accessible to new players and hardcore competitive veterans alike.
Dwarf Fortress.... oh Dwarf Fortress. Wow, how do I introduce this game? Perhaps with a disclaimer. This game is not for the casual gamer or the faint of heart. It uses old-school text based graphics and interface and is about as intuitive as driving a tank blindfolded... but oh Dwarf Fortress... how I love thee...
Basically World of Warcraft in Middle Earth with some tweaks to make it work well. You enter the world of Middle Earth as a level 1 warrior / champion / hunter / bard / burglar / rune master / etc and through questing and adventure you acquire new skills and abilities with which to go out into the world and continue to quest and adventure. It's the timeless WoW formula of MMO that we've all come to know and love and it's free... ish.
Basically the tried and true World of Warcraft formula except in the Star Wars Universe with a few notable tweaks to make it different. The game story picks up where BioWare's Knights of the Old Republic I and II left off (about a thousand years before the events of the prequel movies). You can play for either the Republic or the Empire as one of four classes, each of which morphs into one of two 'advanced classes' at level 10 (so 8 classes total). You go out questing and adventuring like your typical MMO but BioWare has added the element of narrative to the mix. Every quest is fully voice acted and you get to interact with NPCs through a variety of choices of dialogue which are also voice acted. The addition of narrative is fun and even compelling if you enjoy story-telling... which is Bio-Ware's strong suit... but if you don't care for such things then it's basically a less popular WoW.
World of Tanks is a unique game that finds a good balance between tank simulation and engaging competitive MMO game-play. In each game you pilot (?) a tank and together with your 14 team members work to destroy / outsmart the enemy team. Every match is 15 vs 15 and the game modes are capture the flag and attack / defend. The maps are well crafted and change often enough to offer a wide variety of strategic and tactical game-play.
I've been a PC gamer pretty much my whole life. I haven't played every title, but I have run across some really high quality free games that I think should get special mention. These aren't chintzy little arcade games made in Flash, these are top notch full length well made PC games with high replay value and hours upon hours of quality entertainment.
In no particular order we begin with:
Team Fortress 2
- Genre: First Person Shooter MMO
- Publisher: Valve, 2007
- Price: 100% Free
- Website: www.teamfortress.com
Team Fortress is, imho, the best FPS I have ever played. From the cartoony graphic style to the strategic and tactical depth of class builds, team composition, and the rewards for pure skill, this game is flat out awesome.
Don't let the whimsical graphic style fool you, this game delivers everything that a fantastic shooter should. The game is primarily online so you'll be trading kills with real people all over the world. You can play single player against bots if you like, but most players will quickly outgrow that and venture online where the real fun is to be had. As the title implies, their is an implicit emphasis on teamwork. Each round will have an objective like capture the briefcase, king of the hill, or assault / defend the base, all of which will require teamwork to complete. There are 9 different classes to choose from, each with a distinctive play style and weapon choices that are fulfilling to learn and master and compliment each other, once again playing into the need to work together as a team. Games are often very competitive, but almost always in a fun way where you can not wait to get back into the fray. Matches are often short but start up again in seconds. Since each team is constantly adding new players every time one of your mates decides he's had enough you never feel obligated to play for any length of time. Furthermore TF2 has something that most FPS never will; personality. Simply watch the 'Meet the Team' movies and you'll see what I mean. I have logged well over a hundred hours on this title. Everything about the game runs smoothly (unless you have a bad internet connection) and the combination of a graphic style that ages well and well honed, well developed game play makes this old game a timeless classic.
The business model for this game is completely 100% player friendly and free. Every class, every map, and every game-mode are available right from the start. Every weapon is unlockable by simply playing (random drops after games). Players can purchase weapons and upgrades for money, but this does not give them an advantage over players who don't put money down, it simply unlocks these items faster. Even the aesthetic items (hats) are available to players who play for free although they take a ridiculously long time to get without simply buying them.
All in all, a high quality and unique FPS with years of feedback and experience implemented to make it the best FPS it could possibly be and it's 100% free.
League of Legends
- Genre: Difficult to Identify (tactical team-based RPG MMO?)
- Publisher: Riot Games, 2009
- Price: 100% Free
- Website: www.leagueoflegends.com
League of Legends is currently the most popular MMO in the world. If you are into PC gaming and you haven't at least heard of LoL then something aint right. You choose from one of like a bazillion 'heroes' play as and then you are paired up with up to four other players to go compete against the enemy team in the "Fields of Justice" (a big arena with three lanes, jungle in between, and a river down the middle). You are only ever in control of your one character and you must use your character's abilities, the map's ambush points, and your team's assistance to try and kill the other team's heroes and wreck their towers. As you kill heroes and AI controlled 'minions' you will earn gold which you use to buy new items which increase you hero's stats / abilities, eventually becoming powerful enough to blow up their base. It's a fairly simple concept in theory, and the game is easy and fun to get into, but the longer you play the more you realize that the game has an incredible amount of depth. Each of the bazillion champions is unique and brings something special to the arena. Some are easy to learn and others very complicated. Different combinations of champions make the team play especially interesting. The game is unbalanced, but in a healthy way. No one champion or strategy is over powered because each champion and strategy are so different that whenever one champion or strategy becomes dominant it is only a matter of time before it is countered by a new one or a previously forgotten one. Regardless of champion or strategy though, this game really knows how to reward skill. The battles are fun and replayable over and over with other players or with bots. You are generally placed among team mates and opponents with a similar skill level to yourself, so this game is accessible to new players and hardcore competitive veterans alike.
The business model for this game is clever and 100% friendly to the player. Every champion and customization bonus (called runes) can be unlocked by simply playing the game and earning IP with each game. You could, in theory, unlock all of the characters and all of the upgrades by just playing. Even better though, League of Legends will alternate a set of champions that everyone gets to try out for free every two weeks or so, so that you can try out other champions without needing to gamble with your hard earned IP. You can also purchase 'Riot Points' with real cash and then use those RP to purchase heroes, upgrades, and 'skins'. Players who pay for game content with real money have no advantage over those who have earned their content by playing. The only thing that paying players have access to that non-paying players do not is purely aesthetic options, different costumes and 'skins' for your champions which have absolutely no bearing on game-play.
All in all, a fantastic, well crafted skill based and team focused game with infinite hours of potential fun and 100% free.
Dwarf Fortress
- Genre: Management / City Building
- Publisher: Bay 12 Games, 2006
- Price: 100% Free
- Website: http://www.bay12games.com/dwarves/
Dwarf Fortress.... oh Dwarf Fortress. Wow, how do I introduce this game? Perhaps with a disclaimer. This game is not for the casual gamer or the faint of heart. It uses old-school text based graphics and interface and is about as intuitive as driving a tank blindfolded... but oh Dwarf Fortress... how I love thee...
Dwarf Fortress is a purely unique experience. It has three 'game modes' but I'm only going to address 'Fortress Mode' where you are put in charge of a group of seven dwarves who embark to create a new home in the great and treacherously deadly world. You tell them what to build, which trees to chop down, what sort of food to eat, what sort of armor to wear (and the long arduous process of how to build said armor), and so on. The game is micro / macro management to the extreme. You are in charge of absolutely EVERYTHING for the dwarves under your care. The game looks and feels like ye olde textbased DOS game, but it is probably one of the largest and most complicated games ever created. The entire world, every single dwarf, every single event, every single goblin and weapon and barrel of ale is recorded for the entire game world... and the world builds itself for years before you even begin to play. Every time you embark you are already a part of an entire universe that has been put into motion. Each one of your dwarves has a full on personality and history that they remember and make mention of in the engravings and art objects you will need to make in order to trade for materials.
What do you do in Dwarf Fortress exactly? Well, you use the keyboard to designate what areas will be dug out and what trees will be chopped down. You designated which workshop will be placed where as well as which of the bazillion different types of goods and resources will be stored for easy and efficient use. You tell each workshop what to make and how many to make. You tell the dwarves how to wire their mechanical bridges and doors and traps to make truly innovative defense systems. You instruct them as to which places are safe to go under different levels of alert (which you must manually activate). And they go. You never have direct control over them though, only indirect suggestions of what needs doing and the dwarves with their individual AI sort themselves out to go and do those things.
The game has a learning curve like the Grand Canyon and many an expedition will die... horribly... and often. This title is really more of a simulation than a game. Your objective is to build a home for your dwarves and exist. It starts out easy at first. The dwarves find a peaceful little area to call home, so you dig out a spot where they can sleep at night and chop down some trees to make beds and barrels to store the food and ale which is produced from a farm. Then more dwarves migrate to your fledgling outpost and you decide to dig deeper so that everybody has a room and maybe venture out to the river to include fish on the menu. Then you set up a production line so that your craftsdwarves have easy access to rocks and jewels to create items for trade so that you can plant new types of crops or get better tools. Then more dwarves come and you're beginning to consider a metal smelting production chain and maybe some walls and drawbridges to keep the pastures and the overland crops safe from goblin raids... Before you know it you're managing the freaking Mines of Moria and after having delved too deeply and too greedily you're locked in a bloody battle with an army of goblins, demons, cave spiders, and some nameless elder beast monster thing forgotten since the creation of the world!
Thankfully there is an extensive wiki to tell you what the heck everything is and how it works. There is also a very helpful set of add-ons and tools (the Lazy Newb Pack) to make entry into Dwarf Fortress much easier and nicer on the eyes (it includes a graphics pack)
The attention to detail in Dwarf Fortress is simply astounding. Since the graphics are practically non-existent but your imagination begins to fill in the gaps. I once watched small letter 'c' move around the map chasing a glowing green '*' and so I paused the game to access the 'look' feature to tell me what these symbols represented. The 'c' was a cat that had a full on description and the '*' was a firefly. The cat was chasing the firefly... and had somehow managed to get outside even though I locked the doors. Even the cats have personality in Dwarf Fortress.
As already mentioned, this game is not for the faint of heart but there is no city builder or management game like it anywhere. The difficulty and the learning curve is part of the "fun".
The business model is to pay what you would like as a donation if you liked it. It's a free download. The game is still in pre-Alpha, which means that more content will be added to an already full and well crafted 'experience'.
Lord of the Rings Online
- Genre: MMORPG
- Publisher: Turbine Inc, Midway Games, 2007
- Price: "Freemium" (friendly)
- Website: http://www.lotro.com/en
Basically World of Warcraft in Middle Earth with some tweaks to make it work well. You enter the world of Middle Earth as a level 1 warrior / champion / hunter / bard / burglar / rune master / etc and through questing and adventure you acquire new skills and abilities with which to go out into the world and continue to quest and adventure. It's the timeless WoW formula of MMO that we've all come to know and love and it's free... ish.
The business model is 'Freemium' where you can play for free but can only unlock premium content with 'Turbine Points'. Certain classes, Unlimited wallet space, mounts, larger inventory storage, Mid - High level instances, items, crafting recipes, and zones will require you to turn in Turbine Points to access them. You can purchase Turbine Points from the online store or you can earn Turbine Points by accomplishing various challenges and deeds scattered throughout Middle Earth. I don't know if you can earn enough Turbine Points to unlock all of the premium content, but I know that you earn enough to acquire a mount and gain larger access to the auction house fairly quickly.
For those who have read the books / seen the movies and have taken an interest in Tolkien's world this game is a treat. References and ruins of ancient kingdoms, iconic locations and people, and an awareness of canonicity have been woven into this world.
I haven't attempted the PvP portion of the game just yet...
All in all, a well and carefully crafted MMO with beautiful settings and smooth and balanced game play which might be 100% free if you are really dedicated to hunting down those Turbine Points.
Star Wars The Old Republic
- Genre: MMORPG
- Publisher: EA / BioWare, 2011
- Price: 'Freemium' (annoying)
- Website: http://www.swtor.com/
Basically the tried and true World of Warcraft formula except in the Star Wars Universe with a few notable tweaks to make it different. The game story picks up where BioWare's Knights of the Old Republic I and II left off (about a thousand years before the events of the prequel movies). You can play for either the Republic or the Empire as one of four classes, each of which morphs into one of two 'advanced classes' at level 10 (so 8 classes total). You go out questing and adventuring like your typical MMO but BioWare has added the element of narrative to the mix. Every quest is fully voice acted and you get to interact with NPCs through a variety of choices of dialogue which are also voice acted. The addition of narrative is fun and even compelling if you enjoy story-telling... which is Bio-Ware's strong suit... but if you don't care for such things then it's basically a less popular WoW.
The business model is an annoying implementation of 'Freemium'. Each of the classes and advanced classes are available and so is all of their story up to level 50 (the highest level) but instances, using the auction house, PvP, mounts, action bars, and nearly every item worth having requires Cartel Coins which are acquired by paying money for them online. Unlike Lord of the Rings Online, you can not acquire these Cartel Coins by simply playing the game, you must pay for them. This wouldn't be so bad if the game weren't designed to severely limit you early on and continuously show you what you COULD be getting if you bought a subscription. While I'm sure it is 'possible' to finish the main story-line up to level 50 I'm not sure how anyone could manage it with only 2 puny action bars and at least 3 dozen abilities that all need to be used. I got too frustrated to keep playing when they gave me options for quest rewards and 3 out of the 4 options were for subscription players only and they visibly penalized my XP for not having a subscription.
All in all, a good game... possibly even really good, but a really poor implementation of the Freemium system.
World of Tanks
- Genre: Strategic MMO
- Publisher: Wargaming.net, 2010
- Price: 'Freemium' (Professional)
- Website: http://worldoftanks.com/
World of Tanks is a unique game that finds a good balance between tank simulation and engaging competitive MMO game-play. In each game you pilot (?) a tank and together with your 14 team members work to destroy / outsmart the enemy team. Every match is 15 vs 15 and the game modes are capture the flag and attack / defend. The maps are well crafted and change often enough to offer a wide variety of strategic and tactical game-play.
You start out with a collection of humble WWII era Tier I tanks from the nations of Germany, Russia, USA, Britain, France, and China. You earn XP and silver coins depending on how well you do in each match with which to research and purchase upgrades for your tank as well as access new vehicles. There are different 'classes' of vehicle, each of which has its own strategic worth and different game-play; Light Tanks, Medium Tanks, Heavy Tanks, Tank Destroyers, and Artillery. Following the tech tree for each nation can be fun and working your way up into the higher tiers of vehicle brings out the nuances in each vehicle type even more. Once you blow up you are dead and can either continue as an observer or leave the match (which rarely takes longer than 10 minutes).
Special word needs to be given to the strategic game-play. In order to do well in this game you will find yourself imitating and possibly spending some time to research actual tactics that tank commanders used in WWII. Things like camouflage, spotting, elevation, and facing make a huge difference in how well you do in a match. Being aware of how your armor is slanted and how you face the enemy will increase the chance that shots will ricochet off of you and do no damage at all. Patience and skill is always rewarded whereas typical FPS run and gun tactics will most likely get you killed very quickly.
The business model is a well implemented type of 'Freemium'. In order to access the 'premium' content you need to purchase 'gold' (which is purchased with real money). Only certain tanks are considered 'premium' and can only be purchased with gold. These tanks are only marginally better than other tanks of that tier, which means that people who pay money get a small advantage but not enough to be frustrating to everyone else. Gold also allows you to purchase permanent paint jobs (as opposed to paint that falls off after a month if you purchase it with silver) and powerful 'gold rounds' of ammunition (which can also be purchased with silver for a hefty fee). Buying a subscription with gold will increase your XP and silver per game and allow you to create a platoon of up to three people to enter matches together. All other tanks (as well as forming a platoon of two) are available to the players who do not purchase gold. I say that this is a professional setup of the 'Freemium' system because it's not in your face and you can have tons of fun without it and don't feel limited or under-powered in any way. However, some of those premium tanks look pretty good and by the time you get to about tier VII the extra silver per match would be nice because it begins to cost lots of silver to repair your blown up tank and resupply your ammunition stores. It's not in your face but it's tempting.
All in all, a fantastic and unique game, very well designed, and a blast to play and, if you can withstand the temptation to purchase gold, 100% free!
Pirates of the Burning Sea
Pirates of the Burning Sea is the only naval simulation MMO available. You start in the Caribbean as a captain for one of the four nations (Britain, France, Spain, Pirates) and use your ship and sword-arm to quest about the Caribbean and make trouble for the other nations. The game-play is purely unique. For the ship to ship combat part of the game you are sailing your vessel and need to be conscious of wind direction, cannon range, reload times, and which part of you is facing the enemy when they are lining you up for a broadside. Ship battles kind of feel like slow motion chess where you need to constantly be thinking ahead to take advantage of the wind and position yourself to inflict maximum damage while at the same time staying out of your enemy's arc of fire. You start out by fighting NPCs either for a quest or out on the high seas, but a skirmish between players can have up to six players on either side pummeling each other with cannonballs. Port Battles feature up to fifty players on each side. Fighting alone is very different than fighting in a fleet. Fleet tactics, the type used in authentic ship battles from the 1600 - 1700's are essential to effective teamwork. Your ship only has so many 'durability points' (how many times you can sink before your ship is just gone) so be careful out there.
Pirates of the Burning Sea
- Genre: Ship Simulation MMO
- Publisher: Sony Online Entertainment, 2008
- Price: 'Freemium'
- Website: http://www.burningsea.com/page/home
Pirates of the Burning Sea is the only naval simulation MMO available. You start in the Caribbean as a captain for one of the four nations (Britain, France, Spain, Pirates) and use your ship and sword-arm to quest about the Caribbean and make trouble for the other nations. The game-play is purely unique. For the ship to ship combat part of the game you are sailing your vessel and need to be conscious of wind direction, cannon range, reload times, and which part of you is facing the enemy when they are lining you up for a broadside. Ship battles kind of feel like slow motion chess where you need to constantly be thinking ahead to take advantage of the wind and position yourself to inflict maximum damage while at the same time staying out of your enemy's arc of fire. You start out by fighting NPCs either for a quest or out on the high seas, but a skirmish between players can have up to six players on either side pummeling each other with cannonballs. Port Battles feature up to fifty players on each side. Fighting alone is very different than fighting in a fleet. Fleet tactics, the type used in authentic ship battles from the 1600 - 1700's are essential to effective teamwork. Your ship only has so many 'durability points' (how many times you can sink before your ship is just gone) so be careful out there.
For the sword fighting portion of the game you, as captain, leap into the fray with your weapon of choice and together with your crew / allies hack and slash and shoot your way to victory. If you feel that you've weakened the enemy crew enough with grapeshot you can board their vessel and engage them in hand to hand.
In between these two game modes you'll either be walking around various ports or traveling in your ship in the big Caribbean map, taking advantage of the wind and sea currents, waving to passing players, and avoiding the 'red zones' (or prowling within them) which is where players can fight each other.
The leveling system is typical. Killing ships and completing quests gives you XP and coin. XP gets you levels which in turn allow you to unlock new abilities. The abilities and classes are varied enough to make the experience different over a number of characters. Ships are varied in their statistics and created for different types of game-play strategy. Ships can be upgraded with a variety of options that increase as you level up.
The game features a player run economy where every ship, every cannon ball, and every upgrade and consumable is crafted by the players and sold via the auction houses. (this is reminiscent of Eve Online's economy model) Players will be able to build plantations, mines, processing factories, shipyards and a host of other economic buildings to gain the resources required to make their own stuff and sell it to other players, but never enough to be self-sufficient. This encourages players to ban together into various 'societies' so that they can build the big ships by working together.
What further sets this game apart is the level of PvP interaction. Almost every port in the game can be captured by any of the four nations. Aggressive players begin by blockading a port and killing all the NPCs that sail to and from it. This will eventually create a 'red zone' around the port so that players can begin fighting other players and NPC fleets of warships begin to appear. As the level of disorder grows, so does the red zone. Economically minded players can smuggle in weapons and supplies for the rebels within the port to further increase disorder. Eventually, if the attackers are not driven away, ownership of the port is decided in a 50 vs 50 port battle where everybody brings out their best ships to fight. Once one of the four factions has earned enough conquest points, everybody from that faction gets a 'you win the map' award and the board resets.
The business model is another 'Freemium' but I purchased the game when it first came out so I haven't actually played with the Freemium restraints. I think you can play right to the end and access all of the ships and auction house options, but you are limited to two economic buildings (as opposed to 10) and only two characters.
* As tempting as it might be, don't make your first character as a pirate. This game is a simulation, and pirates had some serious disadvantages over against the other three nations.
Overall, a unique game with well polished ship simulation mechanics and engaging multiplayer elements (if you're into playing with other people in an MMO) and Free...ish.
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