Gamer Gate and you...

It's so important that no one really knows what it's all about.

But they will take a few hours explaining what it's really about...when it's not.

We all know about video game tropes and the steady leveling out of male to female gamers. We also know that the balance is all f-ed up. The lack of sensible or fully clothed females as strong or powerful characters is only now being addressed. The demographic of the female "Gamers" is on the rise but the "boys club" of trolls across the world feel themselves threatened or even in danger of "not being the apex nerd" while the term "nerd girl" or "Gamer Chick" is growing in standards and popularity. There are a ton of various sock-puppets who run around on the internet with no clout who see ladies who take an active role in standing up for themselves as "the enemy" and "feminists". The truth is integrity comes from acting on a moral decision. The decision must be "Girls and boys like the same thing and people want equality" just like civil rights and considerations for gender and people's likes.

-Insert Bayonetta sexy image here-

^

NOPE

We need celebrate games as the works they are. We need to rally behind games that reflect positively on a gender without simply exploiting features. We need to stand up for people who are willing to stomp their feet when something goes amiss and corruption is exposed. That's the only way "Gamer Gate" can come to an end and how it has anything to do with you.

Gamer Gate does nothing to improve the industry.

Telling people to commit Seppuku/suicide

Writer and Publisher gives a quick overview of a much misunderstood insult that can be taken the wrong way if not applied correctly

I can say I've been there. While I've STOPPED before doing anything insane I've had an ex wife (when I was married to) say "Go ahead and do it. I won't feel anything." with a knife in hand  and blade to my wrist. What I thought then was "Oh FUCK. Who will take care of my kid? Who will entertain all my friends? Who will comfort them when they have a loss? Who?" and I set the knife down to the dismay of my ex who later divorced me and ran off leaving my son with me. I had things to take care of and they sure as hell weren't some psychopath who would encourage me to end my life. Despite my body being all kinds of messed up with damage to my spine, disks in my spine, brain contusions and neurological damage from a Semi-Truck sideswiping me (my passenger had a dislocated arm and detached retina) I pulled through. It was bad enough I had discovered my wife at the time was cheating on me, messing with my friends, and otherwise planning to ditch everything once the time came but I made it through. I was THERE. I've known the desperation of escape when your body has given up and when you're mental state is so degraded that there is ONLY a single out aside from THROUGH the grueling grind of building yourself back. Let me tell you, walking, forming coherent word patters, thinking, wiping my own ass and working full time and being a full time dad is harder when you're still recovering from a wreck that normally breaks peoples necks and kills them. 

So about almost a decade later, 7 years after the divorce, I've embraced the fact that I've felt that way. With the suicide of Robin Williams, a hero and conversational partner I've met twice, I've gone about a different approach. If someone is a really bad person I'll tell them "Eat shit and die" or "I suggest suicide to cure your problem." because unless they're in a serious mental state it comes across as a huge insult. I've also found psychopaths and sociopaths IMMEDIATELY go into victimization "OH MY GOD HE THREATENED MEEEHUR!" or "YOU CAN'T TELL PEOPLE THAT URRF!" or "OH MAH FUCK CALL THE FBI!" when they don't understand it's meant to be a degrading insult along the lines of:
"You're not a worthwhile person and you don't contribute anything to society as a whole. As a matter of fact the world would probably be a better place if you were not in it. You should probably shut up and realize that you're a giant moron with no substance beyond whatever social veneer and status quo that you have assumed as your public face and the only remedy would be a radical departure from the norm."

I've even gone as far as to post links to Maddox and follow it up with far more vulgar insults.
Maddox telling it like it is...wait..what?

Good people who are in a bad mental state often will say "Oh shit...fuck off" or something along those lines. People who are just IN a bad mental state can be enticed and that's why you probably shouldn't use it as an insult to people who are handicapped or mentally retarded in some way.

Years later I found myself dealing with the very ex wife who had encouraged me to "do it" and my response to her walls of fabrication was the same thing. As SOON as I did she immediately started to go absolutely irate taking screenshots of non government websites and the statements I made on FB AFTER I had made the insult sarcastically over the phone with a "You should get life insurance then kill yourself if it's too hard to pay child support that you agreed to and have been dodging for years." followed by a "Remember when you told me to "do it, you wont feel anything." I never said anything to you then but I am now." and I felt liberated. I was finally able to say what she did was fucked up and now she gets to deal with it! Freedom of Speech at work people!

So if anyone is ever a slime ball, shithead, or some kind of total troll with no integrity whatsoever just tell them that their solution is in their hands! Unless they actually kill themselves (which sociopaths will NOT do in most cases) it's a form of expression.

If you think someone is really fucked in the head though..refer them to a psychiatrist because no amount of prayer or space alien overlord voodoo will fish their fucked up shit.

A rant about the past two months.

Author, Robert A.G. Rankin rants about what's really bothering him

Prepare yourself for something truly epic about things that matter...

Man last month and this one are really starting to get under my skin. Some things I just can't tolerate anymore. It's been such a pain in the ass that I've made a LIST of it! You wanted to know? PREPARE YOURSELVES! Here it is:

1. That moment when your doctor is about to tell you all of your problems over the phone...then tells me "Oh, we will have to talk about it in person, next week at our appointment." like seriously!? I need to know doc!
2. The Tumor in my neck. Freaking POS is solidifying?! WHAT!?.... and these headaches..oh god.
3. Bullies at my son's school. Seriously, kids become culturally bias and stigmatized because they go to schools where the majority of the kids from "Immigrant" or "Low Income" homes are allowed to play call of duty and beat the crap out of their siblings and the parents allow it because it's how they grew up. Honestly, it may be a fucked up generalization but when I come into school wearing a Halo shirt and more kids can recognize THAT than the GHOSTBUSTER sticker on my car...yea. Whoa. I remember when I was a kid if my sister even pretended that I hurt her (and she often would because she didn't like me as a child) I'd get the ever-living crap beaten out of me.
4. Gas prices. These f$#@%ing gas prices. The government has some insane tax rate per ounce, then a sales tax per ounce, then a service fee per ounce and all that money is going to pay for these government bankrolled s#*!-birds in their 65+k a year with benefits incomes! What a crock.
5. Having autoimmunity. Oh man I still have to work despite the horrible way my body is breaking down. No government aid, no help with the kid, nada...and to top it off I go in the sun and start melting like a greenskin from Oz.
6. Price of Warhammer Minis... PRICE OF WARHAMMER..... PRICE OF WARHAMMER!
7. Alien: Isolation early release....
   Alien: Isolation's second encounter with a group of hostile NPCs I go SOLID SNAKE on their asses and cant take any weapons... WTF?!
8. Santa Ana winds.
9. 97 degrees F. F stands for F.U. it's god damned hot.
10. Diablo 3 has no one playing anything below Torment 2.
11. Some people have not got the expansion for Diablo 3.... BART.
12. Found a friend that I cared very much for is not dead...just...reinvented themselves and moved a few states north... thanks for the warning.
13. California dating scene... low on female inellectuals who are not afraid of children... bah.

The Destruction of late 80's and Early 90's Children's Entertainment Icons and how we can stop it!

Bound to happen one day!!!

At the hands of a "Dude" named Michael Bay today and George Lucas a few years ago..

I have not had the colossal break in an industry like some people have. Despite my trying with my own original content I always seem to be fighting an uphill battle but some guy named Michael Bay has made a KILLING off our child hoods. Mostly Transformers and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles but he's looking to take as much as he can get despite "retiring from the drama of Cybertron". To be honest you can't fault someone for making tons of money but you can fault them when your childhood is savaged and brutally beaten and thrown into a frozen river.

We're not bound to WATCH these horrible derived works from content of our childhoods but the Intellectual properties carry such weight that when the average every day person sees "Guardians of the Galaxy" then "TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES" people are going to say "Oh man... I KNOW Ninja turtles..not this Guardians of the Galaxy crap.. lets see turtles!" and that's what happens! Money that would have been well spent on something AMAZINGLY CLOSE to what it was derived from instead spent on a mutated monstrosity that only served to entertain younger audiences and people over 55 because:
 "I remember when my kid's liked Ninja Turtles" -My own father.
So we've had it happen. Ninja turtles, Transformers, GI Joe, Garfield, Fat Albert, and ALL those things have been resurrected only to be a horrible WARP WHALE of a turn out (Despite the hotness of The baroness, G.I. Joe just didn't do it.) while other products approach the chopping block and our imaginations blare with air raid sirens while impending doom befalls the next beloved work...

You can't say "They're bad movies" because they FOLLOW the Hollywood Formula. You can however say they are not true to their original source material. We saw the first signs of this with Star Wars Episode I-III and that was done by the very guy who had first given us "A New Hope".

No amount of complaining will change what we have seen, no matter how much it hurts to look at. What will change it is how us true fans go about telling people NOT to mess it up and follow the FORMULA of less known works that are great hits and a worthwhile derivation from it's source material like Guardian's of the Galaxy or X-Men: Days of Future Past

The Retrospective look at modern day RPGs and the Industry's changes

Author of Eon Legacy, Robert Rankin, Gives his Opinion on the state of the Industry!

Insider look at where it's going and how things have changed between the 80's and now.

Hello adventurers and welcome to this little bit of data that you may find shocking if you're JUST getting into the industry and COMMONPLACE if you've been in it for a while. I've been wondering about the CONVENTION circuit for the better part of the past 3 years in California and Las Vegas. Wonder Con, Comic Con, Comikaze, ALA, ALV, STLV, Stratigicon, and so forth all the mean while getting to know and meet fellow Independent Tabeltop Game Developers, Designers, Writers, and Publishers. I've found ePublishers like Drive thru RPG and Amazon to be a great platform for products. The issue that I see is the change we've had since the 80's. I can't say much because I was only five years old at the turn of the 90s but what I can say is I've made many friends (Some who have passed away like Gygax and CatFX) that have given me a GOOD idea of what has happened since then. While I'm half a year from turning 30 I've found myself GIVING LECTURES on Copyrights and Storytelling. Things that some people would pay hundreds if not THOUSANDS of dollars to learn... but it all comes down to some simple bits of core knowledge (that I'm not going to cover here). The changes to the industry are the following.

1. Pathways of Distribution have changed-
   ~One word: DIGITAL
   ~Another two words Word: COLLECTOR'S HARDCOPIES
   It's not that hard to figure out. Anyone who want's to can homebrew up a d20 system and name it "Pixies and Ponies" and sell it as their own product. Doesn't mean it will be good...nor original.. nor fun (Unless you're into Magical Equines and Fey folk exclusively) but if you DO have an awesome product and you've got it copyright-ed your work is only a few days away from being INTERNATIONALLY PUBLISHED AT AN AFFORDABLE ePub Price. After your game gets popular you can find a typesetter and/or a publisher for hardcopies, work out a set number per sold copy contract (Or print on demand with Drive-Thru RPG) and give those who LOVE the game a nice solid edition! Not only will your works be able to be accessed online and take up Hard Drive space but shelf space too with the right marketing and popularity!
2. Your competition ISN'T other Tabletop games-
   Back in the 80s-Early 2000s Companies like TSR and Palladium were MILLING out RPGs in any genre they could while companies like White Wolf and others desperately pined for the market with niches and stylized cliques to ink out what disposable income gamers had back then.
   Now, we have a true enemy to face, Brain Melting Mediocre Multimedia Entertainment. We don't mean the modern epics of today's well done action/sci-fi and fantasy works, no, we're talking the movies and TV shows that MILLIONS of dollars are spent and produced without ANY substance beyond "BANG BOOM LOOK AT DEEZ CURVES DRUGS EXPLOSION YO DOG RAT TAT TAT I WAS REALLY A COP NO IM REALLY THE BADGUY KABOOM SAD ENDING BLAH". and WE have TROUBLE getting KICKSTARTERS going!? People pay $12-$20 a ticket to see that Garbage on the big screen or $50 a month on cable TV AND $30 for the internet when there is better content WAITING TO BE READ and USED WITH IMAGINATIONS for a fraction of the price. The population AT LARGE is INHALING this stuff. Eating it up. Less and less people are looking at imaginative works and thinking while more and more just sit there and zone out with a "Whoa". We are in an industry that can MAKE A CHANGE lets work together. Hell, I've got a SHELF of original RPG Sourcebooks ranging from Alterality to Zero Hour! I bought them with my money and I'm proud to read and play any time I can!
3. Once you've finished writing you're done-
   There is no better way to end your career than to be "Finished" with a game. If you do not have depth and a continuity that breathes just as deeply as you do then the world, as you've made it, dies
   Back in the 80s there were plenty of 1-Hit wonders. 007, Spycode, Gatecrashers, and various other titles that have slipped into obscurity but still had sold like hotcakes. Some editions of games shipping 2-3 million copies. There were also games that lurched forward like "Marvel Super Heroes" and Shadowrun (oh we KNOW Shadowrun's current incarnation don't we!) that have evolved and inked out enough of a place for themselves.
   Today, we've got people who think they can make a game and leave. It doesn't work like that. Same thing with the VIDEO game market. Releasing games half done or 3/4th of the way done then finishing it with DLC and "Season Passes" have become a "Lure Practice". As mentioned earlier... you have to keep BUILDING on that stuff or you'll end up a "One Shot" that didn't even hit a target.
4. Comparison to Electronic Gaming-
   What can we say about this besides "Dungeons and Dragons 4th Edition was an attempt to simulate the Mob Hack and Slash that MMOs had in their Raid content." and not giggle. Dozens of games have seen some kind of supplement from Hasbro or Wizards of the Coast in an attempt to "appeal to the tabletop gaming community". Hell, I remember a "Diablo II Sourcebook for Dungeons and Dragons" with the big WotC stamp on the back then a year or two later I saw "Dungeons and Dragons: Warcraft Edition 3.5" on a Battle.net banner. Three more years and Warcraft got it's own MMO which is still making them millions a month- not as much as it's hayday but enough to keep it running. Our issue as Tabletop and RPG makers is that like Hollywood new games have the fiscal backing that most of us indi guys would DREAM of! We have to make OUR content and give our storytellers something that people CAN'T get from Electronic Games.... life and imagination that spans beyond the boxes the characters jump around and COMMUNITY SUPPORT.
5. Social Media Community Interaction-
   As I mentioned in the last listed item, that, Community Support is something we can offer that most other forms of entertainment can't. I don't mean answer every question but making content meaty enough and non-crucial information AVAILABLE enough so that people don't get lost.

Then and Now

:
Then-
~Only Hardcopy books.
~Community only available through word of mouth and offchance encounter at comic book/hobby store.
~Content limited to what's been provided (and in some cases only content that ever would exist)
~Community consisting of roughly 1-2 dozen players per hundred miles.
~Exclusivity between games.
~Publishing Wars over buyers..

Now-
~Hardcopy, Digital, eBook, iBooks and Wikis.
~Communities readily available through the internet.
~Content open to further expansion and encouraged exposure to other works.
~Community consisting of 1-8 players per 5-10 miles.
~Open Mechanics for expansion and conversion to other games.
~Publishing Open to encouraging cross industry purchases.

Remember, if you're just getting into this industry, don't hesitate to ASK us that are struggling along what to do/avoid! We've been through it!

Love,
Robert Alan Gregory Rankin
Eon Legacy's Author

Publish your game: http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/

Tires and Wheels- What's the difference.

Tires and Wheels

Know the Difference between the two!

A simple guide to what these two items are and how to figure out what they are.

I, Robert Rankin, have been around the automotive wheel industry since I was a child. My father, Terry Rankin, is the man behind "Terry's Wheels"www.terryswheels.com has been working hard to explain what is what to the retail market. I've decided to make it a very easy to determine what is what! 

Tires: The Rubber Ring filled with air that runs on the road!

Wheels: The Stylized Metal Barreled frame inside the rubber- 

The Grim Lingering Death of MMO Franchises

Tabletop and Freeform RPG Writer, Robert Rankin, takes a stab at one of the most profitable "Cash Grabs" in the Electronic Gaming Market and it's slow decline 

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If you are an electronic gamer of any kind at some point you have "Paid to Play". There is a myriad of games that range between Massive Multiplayer Sidescroller Platformers like Maple Story to 2.5D Third Person Combat weird named games like Tale of Zolonia. Listing them would be fluff so I will cut to the chase. Sometime between 1998 and now people began to see the flaw in "Pay to Play" games. After dumping money on buying the game you are made to pay for "Support and Community" and of course the "Franchise theme". As a "Business Model" you will come out on top as long as you are selling a specific number of core units then an amount of Subscribers from those initial purchases while keeping your support and community paid for and money to developing more content for people to indulge (buy) in. The problem is something we call "Market Over-saturation" where too much of a similar product make choices limited to "Franchise Standing/Gameplay/Community" for "User Opinion and rating with sales" which thins the market by means of diversification. Customers like a LOT of things and unless your game has its own niche it will be seen as "Another clone" and unlike Tabletop and card games you have a business model set on fishing a specific dollar amount from every user every month which can be stressing when you have to sustain the programmers, customer support, artist, and marketing.

Once initial sales wear off and you depend on subscriptions (Trust me, I ran a subscription based website so I know ALL about having to deal with customer retention) so your content must stay fresh and offer a unique experience. The issue is the "Grindfest" which all these MMOs have become. Eventually, you will need to be ready to spend hours and hours doing the same thing to "Build up a character". You're sure to find yourself caught up in a "Instance" or "raid" or "world boss" until it gets repetitive. Therein lies the crux!

Modern day "Cash Haul" games are falling into the First Person Shooters category with massive battles and combat realism. MMOs popularity dwindle while million dollar projects fade into obscurity. Without adapting to the market many companies are seeing no light at the end of the proverbial tunnel and it's a sad state when you watch a trend begin to die.