It's new year already?

A very belated Happy New Year 2007 to everybody!

I did not do nothing much, mainly because I somehow do not feel the
urge to go "say farewell to the current year and welcome the new one." I
literally felt the year turning when I was in Japan. The weather getting
hotter before plummeting to freeze my ears off, the trees going from
green to bare in a blaze of yellow-orange-red flames, the rainbow that
peeks out as greenery swept across the bare earth, and the pink storm of
petals accompanied by merry banter. But here, nothing, nada, zilch. It
comes with living in the tropics I guess, or maybe I am just
chronogically insensitive.

This year would be the end of my current 2-year work contract. From the
way things are looking, I am pretty sure that I would be asked to renew
it. Not a bad proposition really, I kind of enjoyed my current work,
and it keeps my "early" retirement investment plan on course. (Would be
good if it speeds up but, I take what I can.)

Now, on to the news about a new MMO

I got the feeling that unless the teacher in charge is a gamer like me,
they would probably be left far behind by their charges (woo... wordplay).
I amused some of my ex-students when I told them that I too played Ragnarok Online
(before going into discussion on why certain ways of doing things are
better). Games can, and do teach a lot of skills. The challenge lies in
applying these skills outside the game world. For example, getting over
18 people to cooperate properly in an in-game quest, is approximately as
hard as getting them to do so in real life. I see a lot of problems
when running quests that mirror real life habits. Most notedly - being
unprepared, being late, and being unable to remain cool under fire.

Granted that while failing a quest in-game would not say, crash the
stock market or sink the titanic, the basic skillset is the same -
information gathering, planning, preparation, and execution. It is quite
stressful being what is called a "raid leader" in a game. A raid leader is
like a project manager and a master sergeant rolled into one. Your raid
group depends on you to get them through the quest, coordinate the boss
fights, and divide the loot. You will also be held somewhat accountable
if the raid fails due to a character called Leeroy Jenkins. If you run
a succesful raiding guild, your name is likely to be dragged through
the mud by jealous people. Being me, I am glad that I do not have to take
this role.

In game, my favorite activity is to craft things and sell them to other
players. It does reflect what I would like to do in real life too.