Online Worlds

Right now I'd rather be in Wurm, firing some clay pots and flasks so I can start fending for myself; or perhaps using a carving knife to feed my campfire with more kindling; better yet, gathering enough resources and making enough tools so that I can build an oven or forge in order to utilise the ore that seems to be scattered around the island.

Although I was fairly excited, and definitely interested, when I first heard about Wurm Online, I didn't have a stable Internet connection at the time and never got around to playing it.

I'm now trying to make up for lost time. The problem with that is everything else that is now going on around me. The Moeh guys have introduced me to the Mortal Online open BETA. It's like Oblivion crossed with Wurm, and it's massively multiplayer. I've only played it for a short while, and it is still in BETA, but so far it's delightful.

The Mortal Online website can explain the features better than I can here, and duplicating all the information would just be a waste of time. In short, it's a huge world that you can explore at your leisure from a first-person perspective. The combat feels much more like Mount and Blade than Diablo, and a lot of work has gone into the extensive crafting skills. There are no maps bar those you make yourself, and if you are the first to discover a new area you can name it. There are unique creatures, items, characters, and locations to discover, and the game really does feel like an Oblivion MMO with a heck of a lot of bells on it. Did I mention the graphics?

So there's another time sink. On top of that, this is one of the busiest times of year for me what with renewing rent, my bike insurance, paying the quarterly utilities bill, and reviewing my contract with my landlord. My fire alarm is beeping every minute or so, driving me mad, complaining that its battery is running low. My bike will need its next service very soon, but I think it needs an oil change before that. I'm off to the Living History Fair re-enacters' market this weekend to pick up some gear for the Vike. I finally got around to seriously knuckling down to writing a book, although we'll if I get complacent half way through as usual. I still have a lot of spriting to do for my Picture Wars army. I am no way near finished learning PHP. I'm trying to apply for two new jobs (I haven't even filled in the application pack for one of them yet). I still need to call some instructors to see if I can get some driving lessons. I'll never get around to reading A Brief History of Time at this rate.

Things got very busy all of a sudden.