Finding a NWN persistent world to settle in is proving to be a bit difficult. I’ll be the first to admit I’m perhaps a bit fussy about the environment I want to play in.

It has to be role-play heavy but it shouldn’t be too heavy to the extent that the game experience is reduced to sitting around listening to a bunch of humourless self-absorbed drama queens trading angst-ridden tales.

I’d like some action along with my role-playing. I’d like to be surrounded with memorable characters and immersed in memorable situations. A sense of humour is essential. I’d like to play with players who want to entertain as much as be entertained. And hey, let’s remember to take that +3 Rod of Seriousness out of our asses and always keep in mind the “game” aspect of “role-playing game.”

The ping rate is a bit of a problem. I know from experience that you’re simply asking for trouble if you play on a server that has a ping rate in excess of 500ms. I’ve had enough frustrating lags, random disconnections and possession bugs to last several lifetimes. That narrows down the list of choices pretty quickly.

Then there are the server requirements which need to be fulfilled. Some servers require a password which in turn requires registering with the server’s forum. Players might even be required to provide a detailed bio of the character they intend to play. I would not be surprised if players will soon have to provide their tax and health records for the past 10 years and then submit a thesis on the mating habits of dire badgers before they’re even considered for a spot on a multiplayer server.

All this hasn’t deterred me from looking for that one server I can settle in, though. When all the elements come together, the player mix is just right and the planets align just so, multiplayer NWN can provide a transcendent gaming moment and I’ll keep trying until that happens.

The server I tried today was disappointing. The character names were a big giveaway that the role-playing quotient would be a bit lacking.

I realise I shouldn’t be mocking character names since my own characters’ names are usually anagrams of my real name. In my defence, the anagrams sound pretty exotic to me. Besides, I’m just damned tired of those names derived from fantasy novels. But being derivative isn’t all that bad. Some of the names I saw on the server I played on today were highly original. They were also pretty damned stupid.

Case in point: Teh Sukc. No joke. Teh Sukc. It’s so bad that it’s … no, wait, it’s just so bad. There’s no possible way you could justify that name. It may sound Vietnamese but crucially, there are no records of any Vietnamese boat people landing in the Forgotten Realms. There was another character named Beast Butcher. It makes you wonder if he had siblings named Plant Butcher, Fish Butcher, Bird Butcher, etc. And what would possess someone to name their character _WarFANcH_? What’s with the weird capitalisation and the underscores? Did the server have, god forbid, multiple characters named Warfanch and this player needed to differentiate himself? (Don’t ask me how I know but I just know it’s a him. A 12-year-old him.)

Then there was this exchange by two players:

[Shout] hi@all
[Shout] omg hi2u2
[Shout] :p

I know I could be accused of having a +3 Rod of Seriousness up my ass but come on, there were so many things wrong about that.

The server was, all things considered, a bad experience. Teh Sukc-y even.

Here’s hoping I’ll have better luck tomorrow.

Mr Postman delivered Hordes of the Underdark yesterday and I reinstalled the original Neverwinter Nights game and the two expansion packs today. This involved swapping in and out five CD-ROMs, entering three separate CD-keys (each roughly three jillion characters long) and updating the game (after updating the updater). All told, my NWN folder is taking up 3.51GB of hard disk space and I haven’t even downloaded all the hak packs I’m going to need to play on various multiplayer servers. Sheesh.

I tested the game in single player mode earlier and things went smoothly. The introduction movies played without stuttering and gameplay in the first few areas of NWN’s Prelude chapter were free of any glitches. I hope the multiplayer game is just as trouble-free but I suppose that would depend very much on my ISP’s whims and fancies.

I went online earlier and found the ping rate for World of Palladium was around 400+ which is playable more or less. I’ll give it a shot as soon as I’ve downloaded the hak pak and registered with the site’s forum.

In other news, Neverwinter Vault reports an organisation called The Education Arcade is using NWN as an educational tool to teach about the American War for Independence.

Among the things students will learn about the Revolutionary War during the exercise:

• The Americans won their independence mainly because they had help from Red Dragons.
• You need to be a Level 9 musketeer (at least) before you can slay a British General.
• Before going into battle, it’s always a good idea to have your clergyman to cast “Bless” and “Protection from Small Metal Projectiles.”
• +2 Matchlock Musquettes are completely badass.
• If you slay an artilleryman, you get 100XP.
• They spoke l33t a lot in those days.
• It’s a little known fact the outcome of a number of critical battles was decided by server lag.

All right, I made those up. All kidding aside, I think it’s neat that educators are using PC games as a means of education. It’s educational and entertaining. Edutaining even.

(The HotU logo is from the fan site kit.)