Thanks for the birthday-greetings, folks! I may not get around to sending a personal "thank you" to everyone, so consider yourself thanked!

I owe a lot of people e-mails now (especially Ivano and RaMa, and all those who've requested a diploma - it's in the pipeline, guys!), and I intend to get around to all of y'all, either by replying through the journal (preferable), or privately (if it's something that we don't want shared with everyone out there). I mostly do the journal-updating-e-mail-answering while at the office - to cut down my online time at home - and there are a million other things that need doing at any given time, so I'm sorta booked solid. For the next century. And a half. But you've not been forgotten, though some of you (cough-Ivano-cough) may feel that I'm ignoring you (I'm not). There wouldn't be much point to this site if there weren't any readers. And there's a surprisingly large number of readers.

On that note, from now on, if you have questions related to The Longest Journey - technical, game-play, "will there be a sequel?"; stuff like that - you might want to post them on the new TLJ boards at forums.longestjourney.com. I'll check out the threads and maybe post once in a while if/when I have the time, and there will definitely be people (RaMa? Corvwyn? Wamingo?) there who can help you out. Feel free to send me e-mails about TLJ, but I won't be able to answer specific questions - it just takes up too much of my time.

*Sigh*. Need. More. Time!

Last but not least: Anarchy Online! Things have quieted down, so it's about time to stir up some solid controversy again! No, actually, there's an interesting issue I'd love to talk about in depth (though not right now): Cloning. From AO-Basher's 'Razishlyat':

I, for one, thought that FC's version of cloning fit in very well with AO. Omni-Tek's development with insurance scanning was hand-in-hand with attempts at cloning. While cloning may be cliche in sci-fi, so are lasers, space ships, and hyperspace [...] I haven't seen any MMORPG develop as reasonable and explainable system for not dying as Anarchy Online's.

This thread touched on the issues of cloning in AO, and whether or not this is an "acceptable" topic for the story to touch on, or whether it's too much of a cliché at this point. I'd like to talk about that. Some other time. Suffice it to say, clones and cloning have always been a cornerstone of AO's universe - it's how we explain "resurrection", for example - and it's something that will pop up again. And again. And ag- Yes. You've been warned.  ¶ 16:47   

  July 31st. Wesley Snipes' birthday. Harry Potter's birthday. J. K. Rowling's birthday.

My birthday!

Yes, that's right: Blade the daywalker, Potter the boy wizard, Harry's very rich mum...and me.

Yay for me.  ¶ 12:03   

  My two cents didn't arrive yesterday, as promised, but at least now I have something to write about.

What am I talking about? I posted a link to this article on Salon.com yesterday, which discusses the future of online worlds - or MMOGs - and, more specifically, the launch of Star Wars Galaxies and The Sims Online later this year, and how those games will affect the other online games out there - including (although the article neglects to mention it) Anarchy Online.

It's an excellent article, and it touches on some very important topics that I've thought about for some now: that of the hardcore gamer "ghetto", and how unfriendly - and unwieldy - online worlds might appear to a broader audience of gamers and non-gamers.

I think the "massively multiplayer online game" genre - and online role-playing games in particular - will grow to become much more than a niche market, and that MMOGs - in various shapes, forms, and sizes - will become an increasingly important part of the industry, both in terms of profit and prestige. The really big online worlds will catch the attention of mass-media and a mass-market intrigued by the "virtual reality" of it all. Like The Matrix, without the goo and the tubes and the unpleasantness.

But I also agree that online worlds have to move on from post-apocalyptic sci-fi and Tolkiensque fantasy worlds (and, hey, I'm just as guilty as anyone - AO's backstory revolves around, yes, a nuclear apocalypse wiping out the majority of Earth's population). I love my fantasy and sci-fi as much as the next geek, but then again, I'm a geek and a gamer. But I also see the need - as well as the creative possibilities - in doing Something Else. A different type of world, a different style of game-play, an easier learning-curve (I'm not the smartest egg in the basket, and I actually had a tough time getting started with both Everquest and AO. Asheron's Call, for some reason, was much easier, and I've never played Ultima Online, although I probably should have).

With Midgard, we did try to do something else, although we took the easy way out and went back to one of the main sources for all modern fantasy: Norse mythology. The upside was that this was a setting familiar to many, with an amazing amount of potential research material, and a rich and varied mythology. The downside was that it could easily be perceived as Just Another Fantasy Game, because it had all those mainstays of modern fantasy: swords, magic, trolls, elfs, dwarves, gods...you name it, we had it. (Midgard is currently on hold.)

Another factor that may scare away the non-hardcore players is current MMOGs emphasis on combat (AO included), and character development through killing monsters, gaining experience-points, looting the corpses for, uh, loot, and leveling up. It's a treadmill that might only appeal to hardcore online gamers. Yeah, it works - EQ had more than 100,000 people playing at the same time last weekend - but that potential market might be getting a bit satured. Heck, I don't understand how I'm going to have time to play AO (yes, I do play AO!), Asheron's Call 2 (which I will definitely be spending a lot of time with), Star Wars Galaxies (oooh), and The Sims Online (aaah). I can't possibly play more than two of 'em, and AO has to stay, for obvious reasons. And I'm guessing a lot of working adults - with a limited amount of free time - can sympathise with me. Besides, I still want to have the chance to play single-player PC games, as well as console games. Something's got to give, and that goes for everyone. There's no room in the market for a hundred online worlds - there isn't even room for a dozen of them! Not unless these worlds become more approachable to non-hardcore, non-online gamers and non-gamers.

So what do we do? An important thing to remember is that we can't ever ignore the hardcore online gamers, not for the forseeable future. They are a dependent bunch of players, and the only proven market for online worlds. If we choose to "open" these games up - getting out of the ghetto, so to speak - they will still have to appeal to the hardcore players in addition to the new players. What this entails - more accessible worlds, more layered game-play, much easier learning curve, and so on - is an entirely different issue. And not something I have time to discuss right now.  ¶ 16:34   

  Hey, my post has moved waaay down the page - no good. So here it is again: There's a new The Longest Journey site up-and-running, and if you haven't checked it out, do so now! It's not hugely exciting, but it's got a neat bulletin board, and that's always good fun, you know, for the kids. Go on, it's waiting for you. Post away. It's free!  ¶ 23:57   

  Just missed my tram - yup, still stuck at work, although it's getting close to 10 PM - so I'll have to hang around a few minutes more for the next one. After an exceedingly productive, albeit busy day, I've had a very, very unproductive evening. I stayed late to get some work done, but all I've accomplished is finishing off an item that's being published tomorrow, and...yes. That's it.

[I have to admit that I chopped out a big portion of this post before publishing it. Why? Because I'm a little jumpy from the attention we've been getting, and the various links to this journal from...other sites. Not that I don't like being linked to. I do. It's great. What would be the point of this site if no one ever visited? Still, I think I'll try and avoid controversy this time around, and hold back the post until it's safe(r) to publish it. Yeah, yeah, it sorta contradicts the previous post, but there you go. I'll get back to stirring up trouble next week. Trust me.]

Time to catch that next tram, or I'll have to stay longer, and I really don't want to, or I'll be cross.  ¶ 21:56   

  A couple of nice comments from readers this weekend. This one's from Joakim:

I really like your answers (Saturday, July 27, 2002) to the Basher link, not that watery normal stuff! hard and straight to the point!

...and from 'Fenris':

By the way, love the site... great to see a developer who doesn't feel he has to pull his punches, or tip toe around on his own turf. I can respect that.

Thanks a bunch. I really appreciate those comments. Getting flamed is good, getting kudos (a lovely, and sadly underused, word) even better, as long as it doesn't go to my head (trust me - it won't). Besides, I write what I write for reasons that aren't just self-serving (hard to believe, but mostly true). I try to be honest, and I try to be informative, at least when it comes to my work. I often end up pissing people off, but there you go; there has to be something I excel at.

I'll keep not pulling my punches, I won't tip-toe on my own turf, and I'll definitely stay non-watery. Whatever that means.  ¶ 19:58   

  I thought this Salon.com article was a very interesting read, and I agree with much of it. I'll add my two cents later today.

In case you didn't notice, the front page's been updated with a tiny little news item regarding the all-new The Longest Journey website. Quote-Yay!-unquote. Yes.  ¶ 17:46   

  This item came to my attention, and I thought it was hilarious. From a thread called "PC games that would make a good movie", in the rec.arts.movies.current-films newsgroup:

> I would love to see a Longest Journey movie, done well of course.

Well, a project like that would certainly mesh with Hollywood's infatuation with fags, feminists, and left-wing freaks.

Good ol' Ragnar may not be American, but he certainly understands and embraces the American liberals' hatred of straight white males, and it shows
in TLJ. The game got a lot of good reviews, but from a political perspective, it is the most bigoted piece of shit I have ever deleted from my hard drive.

Ragnar Tornquist is very typical Euro-trash. Yeah, he'd probably be a perfect fit with Hollywood elitists.

I really don't need to add anything to this, but I'd just like to say that I get immense enjoyment from being called "Euro-trash". Heck, I enjoyed everything about this gentleman's post.

Bigoted. Heh.

Those straight white males...bunch of insecure bastards. Hey, wait a second...  ¶ 23:39   

  The cat just teleported again, from the floor to the couch, and it's still fast asleep. I swear. No lie. It must be dreaming travelling dreams.  ¶ 22:10   

  I just returned to my apartment in the city after spending the entire weekend out in the country with my family. My sister and her two kids are visiting from Israel, and one of my older brothers and his wife are visiting from Colorado, so it's been a busy but fun weekend. Our family is pretty international. This afternoon, with all four of my siblings present (plus a few wives, kids, and a pregnancy), the conversations around the table were a mix between Norwegian, Hebrew, English - and Polish. It's fun, but after a while you learn to just block it all out and focus on the food. You have to. You'd go insane if you didn't.

Listening to Counting Crows. The cat's asleep on the floor, exhausted from a long day of doing absolutely nuthin'. A load of laundry's in the washer. That long, drawn-out teatime of the soul is coming to an end. Sunday nights are the best and the worst of what the human experience has to offer us. There's a slight desperation to the way we want this day - and the weekend - to last forever, with Monday lurking just behind the curtain. But then there's a wonderful calm and quiet - a stillness of heart and mind - that we only ever experience on those long and lazy Sunday afternoons and evenings.

The cat has moved. She's now sleeping in a completely different spot. I don't know how that happened. Cats have magic powers. I'm absolutely convinced that they do.  ¶ 21:58   

  You're damned if you do, and you're damned if you don't. Make of that what you want.

Anyways. There are a lot of people out there who read this journal for reasons non-anarchic, and they were here first. So there.

It's the weekend, and I'm not working. In fact, it's late Saturday night, and I just watched a very obscure little horror movie called The Attic Expeditions. I'm not quite sure if I liked it or not. It was interesting. It was obviously low-budget, but there's nothing wrong with that; I appreciate effort and ambition. Ambition goes a long way, even when it leads to catastrophic failure. This movie wasn't a total failure, nor was it a success. I don't know what it was. At times, it was creepy. At other times, it was funny. And inbetween it felt like...a bad dream. It was one of those "is it real or is it not?" stories that I happen to love - case in point, Vanilla Sky, which I think is an incredibly underrated movie. So if you're a big horror fan, if you like Jeffrey Combs and/or Seth Green, and if you're bored, check it out. You might be disappointed, but don't say I didn't warn you. At least it's not typical Hollywood fare.

Here are two "interesting" facts about Hollywood movies:

Money. People in a Hollywood movie always carry with them enough cash to pay for any unexpected event that may occur - from petty cash to hundreds of dollars. Credit cards only appear in order to be declined. No one ever waits for change at restaurants - they put the money down, and leave.

Garden sprinklers. If a character in a Hollywood movie walks through a garden with automatic sprinklers, said sprinklers will always activate, drenching the character. If it's a couple, the couple will laugh and run through the rain of water. If it's a single person, that person will stand still looking sheepish or dejected. Sprinklers will never activate unless someone, somewhere, gets wet.

I'm sleepy. I hear sleep's a good cure for that. I'm going to try it. Wish me luck.  ¶ 01:50   

  I understand you might be angry at been flamed for talking about a new project. But your angry is nothing compared to how the players feel this you must understand.

On your site [you] say about AO "it ain't exactly my type of game" from reading your site you hardly seem over the moon with the project or in love with it in the same way you talk about The Longest Journey or Midgard. Its your choice of words when describing the game, AO seems like a monkey on your back, while other projects like a new dawn.

Yeah, I've said that Anarchy Online isn't precisely my cup of tea. I've also said that the loot-and-level treadmill of most online games gets really boring after a while. I'm a role-player. I'm into setting, story, history, character, community, interaction...things that online games haven't done all that well yet.

So traditional MMOG game-play doesn't do much for me. But you know what? That's why I'm pouring all my energy into the work that I am doing, and the kind of game-play that I do enjoy. I'm not working on balancing professions or expanding the skill-trees. I'm working on the content side - history, plot, characters, quests - because I want AO to have more of the kind of game-play I enjoy. I love quests. I love NPC interaction. I love uncovering bits and pieces of a complex backstory, and finding clues and prophecies about the future. That fires up my imagination and gets me going. So my criticisms actually have a point to them: I want us to improve what needs improving. And that's what I'm doing.

Back when Asheron's Call launched, I played that game every day. Why? Because I felt there was more to the world than fighting monsters. I explored. I walked for hours through the wilderness. I found documents that gave me insight into the world's history. When I met another group of players, it was like encountering old friends: The world wasn't crowded, it felt new and exciting and dangerous. And I loved it.

It's impossible for me to enjoy AO in the same manner. Honestly, it really is impossible. I'm an adventurer and explorer, but with AO, that's something I can't do: I know all the answers. There are no mysteries left for me, and since I don't get a kick out of levelling my neutral character or slaying a monster I've seen the artists put together in 3D Studio, I'm screwed. It's been the same way with games I've made before. I've never played through The Longest Journey from beginning to end. Never. Every time I tried (back when we were still working on it), I always ended up discovering something that had to be fixed, and thus got distracted with work. Even now, I'd just get irritated by all the things I feel we should have fixed or changed. As a creator, I get to enjoy other people's creations, but not my own. It's a curse. But then again, as a creator, my craft is to know how to put various pieces together into a coherent whole - and to understand that whole as a vision, to know how it will look and feel and sound and play.

As for the other comments above - I was in no way angry for being flamed. I enjoy a good flaming, as long as it's to the point. If you read my previous post, you'll notice that I said "I expect people to tell me straight out what they think". And I meant that. That post was also quite satirical in paraphrasing (in the loosest sense of the word) the readers' comments, although the "fiction" bits were lifted almost directly from specific talk-back comments. I felt those particular comments deserved a reply. Yeah, I was a bit pissed about people taking a positive issue (the fact that we're now starting to think about restarting new development at some undisclosed, future date) and giving it a negative spin (they're killing AO!). That's all. Because those types of comments aren't very logical, and I think I gave some very logical answers. It comes down to this:

We won't be using any major resources on a new project any time soon, and AO will not be abandoned or lose out when we do!

Alright? It's all there in my post. Sorted.

My last issue has to do with a perceived lack of passion for AO in comparison to other games, and it's a fair point to bring up. Here's one thing to remember: On TLJ and Midgard, I was the vision bearer - the game director - and I was part of the development process on both of these games from day one, as a designer and as the (co-) creator. With AO, I'm only working on the story. I have passion for the story. I believe in it, although it hasn't been told all that well (yet). I'm passionate (as previous posts bear witness to) the reworked NPCs that we're putting together, because it's a step in the right direction, and they're a lot of fun. I'm passionate about Ross' and Radiman's statements and policies, because, God help me, I love those geezers. I'm passionate about the AO universe - the expanse of which we haven't even scratched the surface of. I'm passionate about the new plot twists that lead up to the Shadowlands. I'm really, really passionate about AO's direction post-Shadowlands, when major things are scheduled to happen. I'm passionate about the ambitiousness of the four-year story arc. I'm passionate about ambition in general, because ambition shows passion. I'm passionate about- Well, you get the point.

I'm not all that passionate about the day-to-day balancing issues, because I'm not involved, nor am I an expert. It's not my field, not on AO. I'm not passionate about the professions, or the weapons or armour or nano-programs available. I can't be. I just don't know enough about any of it. I have to focus on my day-to-day involvement with the game, and remain passionate about that, however limited it may be. The overall vision - passion for the game as an entirety - comes from an entirely different source: Gaute Godager, game director, designer, co-creator, who's worked on the game for a lot longer than I have. And he is passionate about his game, believe me. There are others, too, many others on the AO team who are very passionate about what they do. Please don't confuse me with, for example, the game director, the project manager, the leads, or the team-members who have spent years of their life on this game. Just because I'm outspoken about AO doesn't mean that I define AO's game-play, or lead the team, or hold the vision, or is responsible for the game's success. I'm the story-guy. But that's good enough for me. I love doing just that on AO. It's very liberating, especially since I'm not used to being able to focus on one thing.

Of course, I'm also excited about the Next Big Thing. Who wouldn't be? When I worked on TLJ, I was dreaming about a game called 'Miracle' (which may yet happen at some point in the distant future), and I spent my spare time thinking about it and working on preliminary designs. I live for the Next Big Thing, in addition to the Thing I'm working on right now. I'm the happiest when I have a dozen Things in various stages of development. So, yeah, of course I sound excited when I talk about what's next - be it Midgard or something completely different. I'd be a very, very bad Creative Director if I wasn't excited. But I'd also be a very, very bad writer-slash-designer if I didn't still love working on AO on a day-to-day basis. And I do.

Ow. Cramp. Too much writing. Must go outside and enjoy beautiful sunlight.  ¶ 15:48   

  Great. Linked again. And this time, I didn't even have anything interesting or newsworthy to say. I guess it must be summer, with nothing else going on, so let's all visit Ragnar's journal, shall we? Happy times.

The flaming, of course, has already begun: Aaah, Funcom's making another game, they're abandoning Anarchy Online, screw 'em, the blood-sucking vampires, they're incompetient [sic], talentless hacks, and someone should put a gun to their- Well, no one's gone that far...yet. I'm just paraphrasing. And there haven't really been any major flaming. Yet.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying we shouldn't get flamed. We wear protection at all times. Flames can no longer hurt us. And besides, God knows we certainly deserve a good flaming now and then. I definitely do. I expect people to tell me straight out what they think. After all, that's what I always do. To mixed effect.

This time around, though, logic seems to have gone out the window, as my earlier comments about a second online world weren't exactly Breaking News, and shouldn't have caught anyone by surprise.

Facts: About a year ago, we announced Midgard as our next MMOG. We'd already assembled a medium-sized team (some of us had been working on the game since the end of 2000), and we'd commenced pre-production - even some production - on the project. We showed invited journalists some exclusive material (concept art, rendered screenshots, a video, and a real-time demo of our water technology) at ECTS in London last August. "Midgard" was no secret. It had a freakin' website (where the forum is still active - God bless the faithful fan. I feel totally awful about our total lack of follow-up, but AO's been a huge priority for us). But then, for various reasons, we decided to put "Midgard" on hold in order to focus on AO. Back then, we told everyone that we'd get back to Midgard when the time was right. That's never been a secret either. Times change, however, and now we have to ask ourselves whether or not Midgard is going to be our next game. And even that has been no secret. I've mentioned this to members of the community on several occasions, and to the press, most recently at this year's E3. We're looking at Midgard, we're discussing the future, and we're going to make a decision one way or the other. I can't even begin to tell you what the answer's going to be...because I simply don't know yet. And yes, as Funcom's Creative Director, I'm part of that process. While my journal isn't an official Funcom news source - despite what some people might think - I have a habit of being in touch with reality.

Fiction: "Funcom's giving up on AO!" Why would we do that? It doesn't make sense. AO is supposed to run for many, many years to come. After all, even if we started production on a new game today - and that's not going to happen - it'd still be at least 2-3 years before we could launch it. And we learn new things from AO all the time - it's a first-generation MMOG. If we gave up on it, we'd never have a second-generation MMOG, would we? We'd be permanently behind everyone else. And we don't want that to happen.

Fiction: "Funcom's moving everyone from AO to a new project/to Midgard/out the door!" Uh, no. Right now, Funcom is sized for one project (with a few people, like myself, who are "floaters" - i.e. we work primarily on AO, but sometimes we spend time doing other stuff that's in the pipeline). If/when we start working on a new online world, we staff up. That's the way the industry works - you get the people when you need the people. Besides, I don't think AO would last very long without a live team, and someone's bound to notice pretty quickly. Who'd do the patches? Maintenance? We've also announced an expansion pack, remember? There's a team working on that one as well, and they're going absolutely nowhere. So would we sabotage ourselves - cut our losses - and put everyone on a new game? Nope. Doesn't work like that. Until AO winds down - hopefully a long, long time from now - it's going to remain our primary focus. Not just because we owe it to the players, but also because it's a business, and abandoning something that works, and generates income, is usually bad business.

Fiction: "Funcom won't bother to improve AO if they start working on a new game!" Why wouldn't we want to keep improving AO? Again - AO is teaching us everything we need to know about running an online world. If we stopped improving AO, we also stop learning from it. That's just bad business, and, more importantly, bad for the designers. I want to know what works and what doesn't, because I don't want us to make the same mistakes twice, but I do want us to do something that works well again. And again. And...yes.

Fiction: "Funcom/Ragnar wants to push AO under the carpet and start over!" Right. I want the game to stagnate and disappear. I want the players to cry out for my severed head. That doesn't make sense. If you've read my journal, you'll see that my main focus is AO's story - right now that means I'm working on the new NPCs as well as some other stuff (check out the AO forum thread mentioned below). But at the same time, I also want us to make a decision about the future, so that we have something to work towards. As a creative person, I don't think it's particularly strange to be excited about the Next Big Thing, even when we're still putting our all into the Current Big Thing. New stuff gets my juices flowing, which is beneficial for everything that I do. And that goes for my colleagues as well.

I'm sorry if all of this sounds a bit confrontational, because I do understand everyone's concerns, and I agree with some of it. As a player, I'd hate to see something I've invested time and money in go to waste, and there is that concern. But it won't happen. When we do decide to pick up on "Midgard" again - or go with a different online world - it won't happen overnight, it won't be at the expense of AO, and it won't split the current workforce in two. It'll take a long while for any game to emerge from a concept stage - where only one or two people are involved - into pre-production, and at that point the staffing situation will be different. Most importantly, we're not talking next week here, guys! While the decision will be made soon, the actual work won't begin until...the future. At some point. Maybe not even this year.

The only thing we intend to say is whether or not our next game will be "Midgard". That was the deal. That's why I wrote the previous post. This is not about brand new online worlds, or about AO going bye-bye. It's all about "Midgard". And I'm starting to regret those quotation-marks. People ask me, I've got to tell them something. It's only fair.

Besides, look at it this way: If we're discussing our next game, what are the chances that we'll suddenly go belly-up and AO will shut down, leaving you all without your daily fix of Rubi-Ka? See? It's all good. It really is.

Phew. Bedtime.  ¶ 02:07   

  Holidays help, even when they're awfully brief, like mine was. Lazy days at home allow you some space - physically, mentally, and spiritually - to think about the things you don't normally have time to think about. And you get reenergised. That's crucial. Energy is good. Like banana milkshake, which is also good.

So I'm back, and I'm getting a lot more done than I have in the past few months. I've even had time to chat with the Anarchy Online community members in a forum thread about the story. Check it out. It's a good read.

What else? Oh, yeah. People keep e-mailing me about Midgard, mostly asking when we're going to make a decision about the Future - you know, what's next for Funcom, and will it be "Midgard"? Contrary to what some people think, yes, there is going to be another online world from Funcom! No, we're not abandoning AO - people live there, new people are moving in all the time, it's still the "best damn online game out there" (not an actual guarantee - your mileage may vary), and, last but not least: that's where we make the cash we need to keep workin'!

So how about it? What's happening? We haven't yet made a decision about whether or not to restart development on "Midgard". It might be our next game, it might be held back for a few more years until we're truly ready to tackle Vikings and Troll and Gods. When will the decision be made? Soon. Very soon. When are we going to inform you about that decision? Unfortunately, I can't give you a timeframe at this stage, simply because I don't know. Not right away, but as soon as it's feasible, and logical, to do so. As soon as we're sure our decision was the right one, and we're moving ahead with it, whatever "it" is.

What are the alternatives? There are a thousand possibilities, and the only thing we're truly certain of is that we're going to build on our strengths and the knowledge we've acquired through developing, launching, and running AO. Our past successes - and failures - won't be for naught: it'll bring us one step closer to a glorious online future. Yes.

More on this later.  ¶ 10:06   

  Several readers share this gentleman's concerns:

I'm a regular reader and have sent you a request for a diploma. I am only sending you this message because it has been about a week since I e-mailed you for it. I am guessing that you have several different inboxes and don't check the diploma one as it has been a while since you posted it.

Don't worry, folks - if you've sent me a request, I've probably received it, and you will get your diploma! For the past week I've been on a "holiday" (at home), and I've only just returned to work today. Your Regular Reader diploma is in production, so sit tight - it'll arrive in your inbox some time soon. How soon? I've learned not to make promises regarding time and delivery. But you'll get it. Oh yes, you will get it.

And if you too want this coveted Regular Reader diploma...all you have to do is ask. Yes, a totally non-ironic testament to your regular online reading habits can be yours now, for a limited time only, for the amazing price of zero dollars and zero cents! That's right: Zero! Nil! Zilch! Zip! Nada! Nothing! In other words: Free!

(Delivery within your lifetime...probably. Electronic diploma only. Non-transferrable. Will not pass as currency anywhere in the known universe. Batteries not included, though, strangely enough, every diploma comes with a fuel-cell. Recipient must be 18 and older, or pretend to be, or at least be somewhat mature and not act like a baby about it. One diploma per reader, unless you ask very nicely, in which case you still only get one, but at least you'll have made a fool of yourself. Diploma does not automatically grant recipient the right to practice law within the United States, the European Union, or China - but if you live anywhere else, knock yourself out.)  ¶ 10:02   

  It's raining a river outside, and I can't sleep.

The rain isn't the reason why I can't sleep. I find rain soothing and romantic. I have no problem going to sleep when it's raining, not usually. My trouble with falling asleep tonight is partly caused by the past week's holiday (I'm returning to work tomorrow) and the resulting change in sleeping habits - get up late, stay up late - and partly by the fact that there's too much to think about right now.

Thoughts are bad when you're trying to sleep.

(Also, there's a tiny little fly in my room - too small for my cat to catch and eat, but big enough for me to hear the buzzing when it gets very close to my ear.)

Today was my younger brother Audun's birthday (and yesterday it was both of my older brothers' birthdays, while I'm up next Wednesday - coincidence, fate, or very good planning? Who knows?), and so I spent the day with him, driving around trying to find a suitable birthday present and just chillin'. I did find a present eventually: he bought himself a Game Boy Adance, and so I got him Advance Wars, an excellent turn-based strategy game from Nintendo. Later, we went to TGIF's and ate the biggest damn dinner I've had in a long time, which consisted of chicken wings for starters, a big burger with fries for me and a club sandwich for him, and two large banana milkshakes each. Very good, and also quite, quite awful. As it should be.

My sister also arrived from Israel, where she lives with her husband and two children, this afternoon, and so we all went to my parents' house for a great, big family gathering where there was more food. Right now, I cannot quite imagine why I will ever need to eat again, but I'm quite certain that this will change tomorrow.

I've had a minor creative breakthrough on my "primary" screenplay - the one closest to becoming reality right now - and I can't wait to dig in and rewrite it from the very beginning when I have the time. It will improve no end, I believe...fingers crossed. After all, I've been working on that one for, oooh, two and a half years now? At least that. Too long.

Yawn. Late. Sleep now.  ¶ 01:32   

  Another rainy Sunday, another journal entry.

Spent large portions of the day watching Stephen King's Rose Red - a four-plus hour, haunted house television mini-series - with my brother, and precious little else. I have absolutely no idea what happened to the rest of the day. It went AWOL. Poof. Like New Coke and Richard Grieco. There and gone in the blink of an eye.

Oh well, there's always Monday.  ¶ 00:14   

  Saturday. An update.

My holiday has begun, and I'm almost done with Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. Yup, I haven't been doing much besides reading. Thursday and Friday's weather was mostly cold and wet, but at least it's been sunny and warm today. If there are blue skies next week, I probably won't come in to the office at all, but we'll see. There's much to be done.

Why haven't I gotten around to reading the second Harry Potter novel until now? Good question. I loved the first one - even after all the hype - and I was looking forward to reading more of the series, but I've had a stack of books the length of my arm to get through, and I didn't pick up "Chamber of Secrets" until last Tuesday. It's a really quick read, though, and not just because of its page count. It's actually quite exciting, and very well written. I'm sure the movie will be fun, too, as it's more action packed than the first one.

Right. That's about as much PC-time as I can stomach today. Back out into the warmth of a- Damn it, now it's clouded over again. It's all your fault for making me come inside and write in my bloody journal, you know! Well, no, it isn't. But it's always good fun blaming other people. Sorry.

Later.  ¶ 18:03   

  The last seven months have been...a blur. Honestly. I can't remember a thing, time's gone by too quickly, I've lost touch with people I never wanted to lose touch with - including myself - and I've not accomplished a tenth of what I wanted to accomplish, neither professionally nor personally.

It's time to make amends.

With a few days off - which I desperately need - I'll try and collect my wits, contact the people I want and need to contact, and set a plan for the future. I'm not talking about boxing myself in, but rather about giving myself the kind of structured freedom that I need to function to the best of my abilities (even when that's decidedly below par).

Trust me. It's a good idea. You should try it some time. Accomplishment is 90% perspiration and 10% inspiration. There's very little magic to a craft. Writing, for example. Every writer needs routine and structure. Get up in the morning. Eat breakfast. Sit down. Write for four hours, or a thousand words, or four pages...whatever goals work for you, whatever you're aiming for. Eat lunch. Keep working. Eight-hour days aren't just for carpenters and office clerks. The more creative the job, the more important structure and routine can be. At least, it's that way for me. And for a lot of creative people I know.

Seven months. That's a pretty big chunk of time. There are no regrets, of course - lots of good stuff has happened in the past seven months - but I still would like to sit down and figure out what I want from the rest of this year. Soon, too soon, the days will start to get shorter, the nights longer, the weather colder, and we'll be making big strides towards 2003.

Also, it's my birthday in a few weeks. And that always makes me go "huh", on a lot of levels. So bear with me - there might be more philosophising ahead. But this is good. It really is.  ¶ 18:22   

  I'm really quite giddy with excitement about something I'm working on right now. No, it's not Anarchy Online NPCs - sorry. Yes, I'm working on those as well, but no, that's not what I'm talking about. Yes, I'll get back to the NPCs next week. No, they won't be delayed because I'm working on this "something else". Jeez.

Unfortunately, I can't tell you what exactly it is that I'm working on, or if it will ever turn into something you'll get to play and enjoy. We'll know in a few weeks' time, when we (probably) decide what the future will hold for us. Suffice it to say, it's something a lot of you would be very happy about, I think. Yes, it's an online world - and yes, that's all I'm saying. For now. The minute something's decided, I'll...drop more vague hints.

There are, in fact, lots of hints in this journal, if you know where to look.

But, like I said, the future has a way of screwing with the present. Meaning nothing is certain until it's certain, and nothing gets the green light until it's...lit green. So to speak. Keep your fingers crossed, and keep this page bookmarked.  ¶ 14:19   

  The number of visitors to this site doubled (!) from Monday to Tuesday. Crazy. I mean, there's been nothing new on Anarchy Online since before the weekend, so what gives? Maybe we've managed to hook a new generation of Regular Readers. Or maybe it was yesterday's return to more innocent times, with a brief report on the weather, accompanied by a few good book recommendations. Could be. Could very well be. So let's stick with what works, shall we?

The weather is holding up, and I'm pretty sure I'll be taking the next few days off to sit outside, read more good books, and gaze surreptitiously at all the pretty girls (that last bit sounded more than a little creepy, actually. But hey, the pretty girls gaze surreptitiously at me too, so it's all right!). Don't worry, though - I'll still log on every few days to update my journal. After all, what would you do without me? Write your own online journal? That's not enough. We're all dependent on living vicariously through other people - me included - and you're hooked. Admit it, you are. You want to find out What Happens Next. So with that, I'm introducing a brand new feature in this journal. It's:

Next Week, in Ragnar's Journal...

We find out what Ragnar ate for breakfast, lunch, and dinner...every single day! The weather is described in painstaking detail, using flowery language liberally borrowed from whatever author Ragnar currently favours! More Anarchy Online controversy, including the answer to the most-asked question: "Whatever happened to the leet-farming feature you promised us?" Sex! Violence! Book and movie reviews! Arses! And the shocking return of someone you prayed you'd never see again: Evil mirror-universe Ragnar!

All new, all next week, on the WB's- uh, on RagnarTornquist.com's "The Journal".

Yes. That's exactly what next week's going to be like. So stick around. The ride's...just begun.  ¶ 12:15   

  I've bought a ton of books these past few weeks. I hate finishing a book on a Sunday afternooon and not having another one available to carry me through that darkness before the bookstore opens again. Now I've got a whole stack of books available. Choice is good. Darkness bad.

I'm just finishing a novel now called "Carter Beats the Devil", by Glen David Gold - a clever, funny, romantic, exciting, and extremely well-written story about a stage magician in 1920s San Francisco, where facts mix with fiction. The protagonist, Charles Carter, was a real-life magician, and the major events of the novel - including, early on, a president's mysterious death - are true. But the details are mostly fictional, and the history is simply a canvas for Gold to paint on, which grounds the novel in a reality that's unique and refreshing. At least for me, because so much of what I read is pure fantasy. Of course, Gold's novel is also fantasy, but it's believable and accurate fantasy, which, quite often, is a lot more impressive than fantasy fantasy. If you get my somewhat convoluted point. Research, boys and girls, ain't all that easy.

At any rate, it's an excellent novel, and most certainly worth reading - even if you're the sort of reader who usually sticks to genre fiction. You'll like this one.

I've also just started reading Michael Moore's "Stupid White Men", which is filled with satirical social commentary about post-2000-election America - it's funny and bold, and definitely smart and important (especially since it's sold surprisingly well, considering it was published after 9/11), but sometimes it plays perhaps a little too loose with the facts, just to make a point. Like the section about the New Beetle in the introduction. Michael had problems with it. He makes it sound as though his problem was a widespread one, and that VW had sloppily introduced, and ignored, the problem simply because this is how corporate America works today, and people just lie down and accept it. Nope - you cannot generalise like that, based on a very personal, and very subjective, situation. And people certainly don't just lie down and accept poor quality or bad service - least of all in the US. While I agree with a lot of what he says, arguments like that one just turn me off. But for anyone who lives in the US today, or is interested in US politics - foreign or domestic - ought to check it out. It'll make you laugh, it'll make you go "what's up with that?", and it'll make you deeply suspicious - even more than before - of George "Dubya" Bush and his corporate cronies. And that's always good.

Next, I'll be stepping back into George R. R. Martin's new fantasy universe, with book three of the A Song of Fire and Ice cycle - "A Storm of Swords". The first two novels in the series were amazingly detailed and original - and huge - fantasy epics, and I'm confident that the third one will live up to the standard set by the series so far. Worth catching if you're into the genre, especially if you've enjoyed Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series. It's different - darker, more medieval, with much less focus on magic and more focus on politics, family, and the neverending struggle between powerful men - and women - for power, money, and land. This is about swords, blood, castles, titles, and an approaching winter that will last decades. Book four is on the way, so start reading now.

More book recommendations soon. Now - bedtime. For Bozo. Which is me. Bozo, that is. Bozo = Ragnar. Yes.  ¶ 23:50   

  Sunny and warm weather triggers a return to simpler - some say better - times, as I muse introspectively about summer, work, and my life.

Yup, it's a non-controversial, State-of-the-Ragnar address, packed with nostalgic romanticisms and an old-fashioned optimism sorely lacking in recent weeks. Just the way you like 'em. Just the way Mom used to make 'em.

Ahem. All-righty. Here we go:

The long walk to work today took me through a quiet city. July is when most Norwegians go on summer holiday, leaving the concrete and the asphalt behind, and setting the course for sandy beaches, wide open mountains, or deep forests. So now every restaurant has available tables, every movie available seats, and every park available benches. You can find crowds where tourists congregrate, but everywhere else the streets are empty, and sounds are muted. For the past few weeks, the weather was moody. One minute the sun might peek through turbulent clouds, the next minute the skies would open up and sheets of rain would hammer the ground, punctuated by streaks of lightning and thunderous drumming. Taking a walk was a precarious business: you never knew what was to come. Fierce winds, an oppressive, humid heat, or a rainstorm to wash you away and drown you. But now summer has returned, and it's right outside my office window. I'm tempted to leave, and I certainly won't be working a full day, nor a full week.

It's lunchtime, and the supermarket beckons.  ¶ 12:08   

  Seems like my little funny about a Regular Reader diploma (see Friday's post) caught on, because I've been receiving your credentials all weekend.

Well, okay, you asked for it, and I will deliver. There shall be a Regular Reader diploma, it shall be good, and everyone who is - or claims to be; I'm not picky - a Regular Reader shall receive it. Just fire off an e-mail to rrdiploma@ragnartornquist.com, and you'll be added to the list.

Of course, this is only a digital diploma - so don't send me your actual address. Even if I had money for all those stamps, I'm way too lazy to actually walk to the post-office. We live in a digital age, baby!

A few comments about the "Battle Royale" review below. If you don't want to risk reading any spoilers - and there are some (minor) spoilers - you can just read the final paragraph. Or just go see it. Or buy the Region 0 NTSC DVD. It's worth it.  ¶ 17:24   

  Saw Battle Royale yesterday.

I have a huge soft spot for Japanese popular culture. Having been exposed to video games, manga, anime, and live-action films from Japan for most of my adulthood, I'm probably more inclined towards liking - and understanding - something like Battle Royale than your average Joe or Jane. But still, despite having read reviews and despite being prepared for the experience, on some level I'm completely lost for words. I think I "got" the movie. It made sense to me, in a twisted and frightening manner. I certainly enjoyed it, although that's a somewhat guilty admission, since the movie is filled with such over-the-top violence and a nihilism you rarely see in an American or European movie. No one would ever get away with making something like this in Hollywood, that's for sure. It'd be blamed for every single violent incident in schools from now until the end of the century.

Battle Royale is the story of a very near future Japan where - lottery-style - a high-school class is selected to participate in something called a "battle royale": In essence, to take part in a fight to the death where there's only one survivor. Kill or be killed. Whether the point of this program - named the BR-reform - is to cull the population, punish teenagers for delinquincy and lack of respect for adult authority, or some other, more culturally obscure, reason, I really couldn't tell you. The opening credits claim that students have become rebellious and out of control, and an early scene shows a student randomly stabbing a teacher. But that's really a moot point. It's the framework, but after about ten minutes you stop caring about why this is happening, only that it is happening. In pure video-game style, the focus is on death and on survival. Every time someone's killed, an on-screen counter tells us who died and how many are left. 42 start out. Even before the game begins, there's just 40 left. And there's only supposed to be one left by the end of the game (and the movie)...or everyone dies.

Battle Royale is brutal but hilarious - hopefully by design. It's sometimes hard to tell, especially when teenage romantics, broadly drawn, mix with gallons of blood and automatic gunfire. Half the time, the movie's preoccupied with who's got a crush on whom, and with the obviously doomed relationships between the 16-year old boys and girls. A few couples (and here be spoilers, so beware!) take the easy way out, and commit suicide rather than be forced to kill each other. Another student has returned from a previous battle royale only because he wants to understand why his girlfriend smiled and said "thank you" when he killed her. It's sweet and absolutely horrifying at the same time. At certain points in the movie, the characters' inner thoughts are presented in text, white on black, like lyrical interludes - it's like playing a Japanese role-playing game like Final Fantasy, where simplistic emotions writ large and combat with demonic monsters go hand in hand without a stutter. It's fascinating on a cultural level, but it can also be somewhat inexplicable - like you're offered a peek into a completely alien culture. But it's an alien culture that I - and a lot of people - recognise and am familiar with...even understand, to a worrying degree. I do pity, however, the person who walks into this with no familiarity of Japanese popular culture whatsoever. He or she will enter a nightmarish world of blood, theatrical overacting, and high-school sexuality, with seemingly no connection to European or American conventions. Yet, it's exactly those modern conventions the movie appears to be inspired by; the shroud of violence that has begun to hang over - particularly US - high-schools, where teachers and students walk in fear of their fellow students and the threat of explosive violence. This is a Japanese extension of two Western phenomena - teenage violence and reality-TV - but with a uniquely nihilistic presentation, something that's very culturally specific, and which makes this movie more than a speculative bloodbath. Although it is that, too.

Don't see Battle Royale if you're easily offended, if you can't - or don't want to - watch cartoonish violence, and if the idea of high-school kids blowing each other away with automatic rifles, hand-guns, grenades, swords, knives, and axes disturbs you. Do see it if you're up for a dose of stylised Japanese video-game action, with a smidgen of social commentary, wrapped in a lot of pointed, absurdist comedy about angst-ridden 16-year olds. Just don't expect to walk away from this like you would a typical summer blockbuster. It will affect you. It will (hopefully) disturb and disgust you. And it will stay with you for a very long time...if only because it's so completely and utterly different.  ¶ 11:20   

  There we are, then, it's all blown over and everything's back to its rightful place, as it should be. Only the regulars are still around now - some of whom I owe an e-mail response; don't worry, I'll get to all of you in turn, once the ruckus has died down - and there's room for everyone, and quiet, too, now that the new crowd has moved on to the next big thing. Sure, there's less business, but that's all right - we'll make do. Our regulars are more important. That's who we're here for.

We had five times more hits yesterday than we have on any average Thursday. Five times! Good lord. There's a steady stream of visitors to this website on a daily basis - my Regular Readers; give yourself a pat on the shoulder if you're one of them, you deserve it - but yesterday's rowdy bunch was an unannounced, and unexpected, avalanche. Good thing there was room for everyone, then, and cookies too, and hot chocolate. What, you didn't get any? Well then, love, you were too late, weren't you?

Not that those new visitors aren't welcome back; of course they are. Our doors are always open, and I'd never turn anyone away. But occasional guest and Regular Reader are two very different things. We're polite and welcoming to the first group, but we warmly embrace - like old friends - the second group. This is where everybody knows your name. Sort of.

How does one become a Regular Reader, then? One reads, regularly, the cra- uh, the journal entries that comprise this...journal. Obviously. It's awfully simple, really. Give yourself six- no, three...make that two. One. One month of reading the journal, at least once every week, and you're a Regular Reader. Send us an e-mail with your credentials, and we'll send you an electronic diploma. Honest. It's that easy. Now there's no excuse. Don't settle for less.

And since this obviously didn't register the first time I said it:

War. Of. The. Balance.

Got it? There you are, then. Does it mean anything? Of course it doesn't. When did this journal ever contain anything of value? It never did. What's the chance you'll ever read those four words again, in that order, on this site? Less than one in ten. Any point in getting excited? There's never any point in getting excited. Why so glum? It's Friday night, and I'm knackered.  ¶ 23:48   

  A bit more about that controversial word "story", as it relates to everyone's favourite, Anarchy Online. Remember, folks, that these are my personal musings - typed up in a frenzy during the odd coffee break, or while I should be eating my lunch, or after work...or before...or during - and that this ain't from the horse's mouth, just the ass. The ass being me. In a horse-and-donkey-unholy-union kind of way, and not a buttocks kind of way. Which is to say that everything I write below should be taken with a spoonful of salt, as always. This is my personal journal, and not the official AO site - but hey, I'm doing my best here!

Revising the NPC dialogues and interaction isn't a substitute for a dynamic storyline. The stories told by non-player characters are static, and the player's involvement will mostly entail asking questions, gathering clues, putting together a coherent whole from a multitude of parts, and - in time - go on quests. NPC interaction will not, for the most part, allow any kind of dynamic, changeable, interaction with the storyline. This will be a way for the majority of players to learn about the background and the setting, about what's happened so far, and get hints and predictions - right or wrong - about what the future may hold, hopefully while having fun doing it. NPCs are fun. Not as much fun as other players, of course, but that's a given. The NPCs will represent all sides, all points of view, all the little stories that make up the tapestry of Rubi-Ka.

But the NPCs will not magically grant the players the key to a fully dynamic, fully interactive, living four-year story arc. Again, this is background, it's setting, it's interaction with static characters - game-play meets story, yes, but in a different, and more traditional, way. It's something. It's not everything. It's a piece of the puzzle.

So what else is there? There's the events team, and their tireless dedication to both story- and non-story-related events - both are important, and not every event can be a major turn in Rubi-Ka's history. Sometimes a little goes a long way. Contrary to what some people may think, there's open communication between the "story people" and the "events people" (the definition of a "story person" will change all the time, as all content, in some way or another, touches on story, and thus everyone takes part in communicating the story from our end), coordinated and supervised by the game director, who, in every instance, has the final word on what's good and what's not. The material that I - we - produce, in terms of background story, and future story (in the shape of content like dungeons, quests, new areas, major twists and turns, and NPCs) is distributed to the people who need to read it, and that includes the events team.

There's the expansion pack, which will open up new avenues for the story, with the introduction of both the mysterious Shadowlands and the city of Jobe. These new areas are closely linked with the background and the what-happens-next of the AO storyline, and events - as well as NPC conversations - in the game will lead up to, and drop hints about, the eventual launch.

There's the players' favourite, the ability to hold and control areas and outposts, and thus alter the political landscape of AO (to some degree). The extent of my knowledge on this subject is zilch, zero, so I may be waaay off here. But if/when this feature makes it into the game, that's definitely player-shaped interaction with the setting and the story. I'm keeping my fingers crossed. It's a daunting task, but one I know has been mentioned several times.

News and articles in-game - as opposed to on the website - is also something that's been discussed, and maybe even planned, for the future. I've said it before in the AO forums, and I'll say it again: This would be cool. I think that the official website is an important resource, but it would be doubly nice if all the in-character stories and articles could be published inside the game, using some kind of player-operated device.

I might be over my head here - I often am - but this is basically what we're looking at and thinking of when we utter the infamous word "story". Not just NPCs, not just events, but a whole package of things. When I say that I am working on NPCs, keep in mind that I am not the entirety of the story! I don't own it! Everyone does, to a greater or lesser degree - even you, because you make demands and ask questions and vote with your credit card, and in the end, your approval or disapproval is what shapes AO. So my singular focus on non-player character to player character interaction doesn't mean a complete abandonment of everything else - far from it. There's a big, huge team working on the game - the tentacles - and a squishy head with a lot of eyes and a sizeable brain - the octopus - overseeing all the elements. I'm one tiny tentacle. There are a hundred more!

All right. That's enough about that for the time being. Next post, I'll shun all things AO, and tell you what I ate for lunch. Or talk about a movie. Or how the sun is or isn't shining. Or why grass is green. Or some other nonsensical, self-centred garbage. Show's over, folks! There's nothing to see here! Move along, move along!  ¶ 12:33   

  I've worked a full eight hours, so I'm allowed to waste time updating my journal. From AO-Basher (again):

My post wasn't meant to critise what you were doing, on the contrary, I think it's great that a diary of the development processes is being kept!

I just think that you are doing yourself down by not making little bits of information (And _any_ information is interesting to us players) more public as it would stop a lot of people complaining about having No communication between Funcom and the players. As I said in the main post, any news is better than no news!

There's Much Truth to this. I really didn't think that my little scribblings were particularly newsworthy or interesting. After all, the players care about more important things, like balancing, phat l00t (I'm not being sarcastic! Phat l00t is important!), bug-fixes, events, and major game-play upgrades planned for the future - not new NPC dialogue. I mean, NPC dialogue is important, otherwise we wouldn't be working on it! But because it's a long way off, and because I've talked about it before without any of the fan-sites bringing it up (E3, interviews, journal entries - you name it), I never even thought that this would be something of interest to the majority of players, or worthy for inclusion on the official site. Shows how much I know, doesn't it?

What I'm saying is: This is my fault! Don't blame Funcom! It's all me!

Still, I'm glad the issue has caught the attention of some players, and I'm glad it's gotten people talking, and I hope it will encourage us to divulge more details about the NPC changes in the not-too-distant future. In the meantime, I'll go back to writing intentionally vague and morally ambigious entries in my journal.  ¶ 18:34   

  Ack! Linked! Busted!

...why the information available to read there has not been copied onto the Official Site and made easy to find for the majority of players is beyond any rational reason I can think of.

Ah, that's where I put my hand up and go "uh...". I dump a lot of stuff into my journal. My journal is filled to the brim with what a single monkey on a single typewriter could produce in, oh, thirty minutes, tops. Mostly I go on and on about myself and my stunningly dull life - "I took a shower, and then I ate breakfast!" - but sometimes I write about what I'm working on, and this happened to be one of those entries. I've mentioned the redesign of the NPCs several times before (honest! Check out my entries from June 4th, 13th, and the 28th), but no one paid much attention, so I'm a bit surprised that it's suddenly Big News, but there you go.

Why hasn't there been an official posting about this? Because it's waaay too early, that's why. And because we don't want to say too much about how it's going to look or play or sound or read, because we don't know yet. It's just one of those things that are In Development. Unlike most things that are In Development, however, this happens to be something that I'm working on, and since some people were asking, I thought it might be interesting to write about it. In general terms. Without getting too specific. Or official.

I know that there will be more information about the NPCs and whatever changes we end up making when we get closer to whichever patch this will accompany (I really have no idea - it's a long way off), and it'll come from a different - and more reliable - source than yours truly. This is, as the journal entry (not article!) says, something I'm just working on as a writer and designer, and that's the only perspective I have.

Anyways. I hope the journal entry (!) was an entertaining read, and that it provided an answer to the question "what the hell has that loser Ragnor been doing lately?", because it is, in all fairness, a Good Question! ("Not nearly enough!" would also be a Good Answer.)  ¶ 17:54   

  I try to check out the biggest Anarchy Online websites as often as possible, to see what people are talking about and what's happening in the community. I'm primarily interested in story-related discussions, since I'm not particularly involved on the game-play side of things, and balancing AO is like synchronised swimming - I don't get it, and I shouldn't do it. I found the following posting on AO-Basher:

As Vac said. Ragnar Tornquist and Fadinaway need to provide some sort of explanation on what they're doing, or what they're supposed to be doing. All we know is Fadinaway is supposed to be providing quality events, and Tornquist doing the story and related story events (according to Fadinaway, story events aren't his worry).

So unless we actually know what they're supposed to be doing, it's tough to critique their efforts. Afterall, how do we know Tornquist's real job isn't just to keep a chair warm and Fadinaway is supposed to test the limits of giant leet attacks or mocking ARKs who ask for a bit of GM support? Hell, if that's what they're paid to do... give them a raise!

I already got a raise for keeping my chair warm - it's very hard work, you know - so I'll need to either push myself a little further before my next salary evaluation, or get by with a million bucks a year (and God knows that's hard to do, am I right?). I can't speak for Fadinaway, although he's still heading up the events team. I have absolutely nothing to do with events - story or otherwise - and that's A Good Thing, because I'd probably suck at it, like I suck at most things. What, then, (besides warming my chair...which I am pretty good at, mind you) am I doing? Or, more correctly, what are we doing?

As I've mentioned several times before, we're working on a brand new way to interact with NPCs (non-player characters) in AO. The writers have focused their attentions on the NPC designs and the stories they tell. The technical term for these stories is a story group, which refers to the general areas of knowledge of each NPC. A specific trader may (for example) belong to the traders' story group, the notum story group, and the "mutant problem" story group. This means that he's got an opinion, and information, regarding all three subjects. But the amount of information - and the accuracy of that information - depends on an NPC's story group level. Without getting too complicated, each story group has three levels: Level one signifies a very superficial knowledge about the subject, perhaps even inaccurate knowledge; level two is a bit deeper, and more accurate; and level three is about as deep as it gets without divulging things that no one should know (except myself, the game director...and pretty much everyone at Funcom).

Every single NPC in the game will, eventually, receive a complete makeover. This is inevitable, seeing as we're changing the entire system. Some will disappear, new NPCs will be born, and others may be moved around or altered in subtle or not-so-subtle ways (names, locations, and so on), but they'll all have a lot more to say. A lot more. Players will be able to interact with each and every NPC in a similar - and much improved - manner, and there shall be much rejoicing and stuff. It's all good.

So what have I been doing? Up until this week - in addition to a bunch of other, more boring responsibilities that have absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with AO - I've written a lot of story groups, designed a bunch of NPCs, and - starting this week - I've begun writing the actual dialogue and linking it all together into a coherent whole. Here's a picture of my desktop as we speak:



I realise that it's impossible to see exactly what the hell this is...so let me explain. What you're looking at is our brand new, much improved, billion dollar NPC chat toolkit. Huzzah! What? It's a tool that allows us to write arse-whupping NPC-player conversations (emphasis on 'whupping', not 'arse'). This tool was conceived and designed by the multi-talented Bjørn Arve Lagim, who's also behind 1/3 of the AO music, and 90% of The Longest Journey soundtrack - both critically acclaimed, and worth getting on CD - and who's (obviously) not composing a heck of a lot of new music for AO at the moment (although the expansion pack will have much musical goodness). He's thus branched out into more design, with excellent results. Together with Dag Scheve - our esteemed Australia-schooled web editor and soon-to-be novelist - Mr. Lagim and myself are rewriting the bulk of the NPCs using this self-same tool. It's good. It's (yes) all good.

"But what about the damn story, fool!" I hear you screaming. "I hear you!" I yell back. This is story! It's not events, granted, but Fadinaway is taking care of that part. This is my current contribution. Disregard the novel, the story portal website, the animated series, and the timeline: This is getting story, news, background, setting - all of that - into the game. This will make it possible for a new player to easily engage in conversation with an interesting NPC, get information about Omni-Tek, the clans, the neutrals, notum, the Dust Brigade, the Unicorn Company, the Shadowlands...and have a good time doing it. In time, there will also be quests attached to some of the NPCs. This is story meets game-play. Finally.

I completed my first NPC using this new tool yesterday ("Ardis Weske"), and the second one today ("Evelina Fincel"). It's fun to do. And I can combine it with the chair-warming, so everybody wins. Yay!

More on this as the story breaks. We now return you to our regular programming.  ¶ 13:37   

  Now, don't read too much into this one, 'cause it's way early and may never turn into anything, but...

I'm currently working on a document entitled "The War of the Balance".

Make of that what you wish - I ain't saying nuthin'!  ¶ 14:59   

  Monday. Grey skies. Working, albeit slowly. Thinking about taking a week off some time soon. Neck hurts. Listening to Tenacious D.  ¶ 14:42   

  I'm finally getting around to more reader mail - thanks to everyone who's taken time out to write me! I really do appreciate it. Keep those e-mails coming, and if there's anything I feel that others readers would be interested in seeing, I'll stick your questions/comments and my answers/feedback here. Like, for example (now in bold!):

I also heard about those layoffs at Funcom and hope you made it through those okay. Past few weeks couldn't have been fun =/

Nope. You're right. Not fun. It sucks to lose friends and co-workers like this, and it's very easy to feel a bit guilty about getting through okay when other people - good people - don't, but the fact is that we were a little overstaffed for our current situation. After all, we're currently working on just one game. The entire development team was left unscathed, and that's good news for the players. We don't intend to sacrifice quality or our ability to deliver.

But it still sucked. Big time. The fact that this is happening all over the world - in every entertainment industry - doesn't make it any better.

Anyway, I'm actually writing to get some suggestions on good films I should probably see but have never heard of. I guess I'm into a "foreign" phase right now, having just seen and enjoyed Amelie and Run Lola Run, but any good movie will do. I don't really hear about many non-hollywood movies over here but figured you could probably name a dozen good ones easily.

A good dozen? How about a hundred? Okay, okay, a dozen it is - with an emphasis on non-Hollywood flicks (since that's what you asked for!):

Audition. A weird and twisted Japanese flick that'll definitely make you feel something. It ain't pretty, but it's intense, and it's interesting, and it's well made. And worth catching, if you're in the mood for...something different. Don't see it if you'r squimish, though.

The Devil's Backbone. A Spanish-speaking ghost-story. Guillermo del Toro is a great filmmaker, even though his Hollywood-output has been a bit mixed - I enjoyed Mimic, and Blade II kicked arse in a very Blade-ish way (if you didn't enjoy the first one, you won't enjoy the sequel). This one is smaller and more personal, and so more indicative of del Toro's obvious talents. Looking forward to Hellboy and, especially, At the Mountains of Madness (an H. P. Lovecraft novella that I've always wanted to turn into a movie myself).

Chungking Express. Kinetic Hong Kong film - a bit style-over-substance, but a good flick nonetheless, especially if you appreciate the craft of filmmaking.

In the Mood for Love. Another Hong Kong movie, but this one a poetic, slow-moving, and melancholy portrait of the growing love between two lonely people. Beautifully shot and acted - it might not be for everyone, but everyone should still see it.

Princess Mononoke. I've mentioned this one before, but I want to mention it again, 'cause it didn't do too well in the US when it was released. This is a beautiful anime - an example of how the Japanese aren't afraid to use the medium of animation to tell adult, and relevant, stories - and this story will stay with you long after the end credits. The message, as it were, is one that shouldn't be ignored. See it with subtitles and Japanese voice-overs - the dubbed soundtrack is surprisingly good, but the original is always better!

Donnie Darko. It's American, but it ain't your typical Hollywood flick. A time-travelling, dimension-skipping, mindblowing, 1980s-invoking, independently made movie. I love it. So should you.

Mulholland Drive. Again, definitely not for everyone, but if you like David Lynch, this is a no-brainer, and if you don't - then why the hell not?

Vanilla Sky. This is Hollywood, but it's also a woefully ignored and underrated film by Cameron Crowe. So what if Tom Cruise is in it? The man is a better actor than he's given credit for. And this movie blew me away.

Waking Life. Just saw it this weekend, and - oh boy - it's unlike everything you've ever seen before. It might piss you off, or it might just make you go "whoa", and then go off to just think for a few hours. It starts off looking and sounding a bit pretentious, but stay with it - it'll grow on you. Big time.

Memento. A lot of you have probably seen it, but it bears mentioning again. Brilliant, deconstructive filmmaking - and a damn cool story, too. The new Limited Edition DVD is a very well put-together box, with great menus and some cool extra features.

Best in Show. Hilarious mockumentary about a dog show, the dogs, and (especially) their owners. A must-see. Brilliant improvisational comedy.

Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels. Guy Ritchie's first - and best - movie. Violent, funny, and uniquely stylish. 'nuff said.

There you go! Don't say I never do anything for you!

Well, I think you did hype up Sexy Beast a bit more than it deserved but more likely I just don't understand art ;)

No, that's probably not it. A friend of mine, whose tastes match mine 90% of the time, was also disappointed with Sexy Beast after I'd hyped it up. Go figure. It's all a matter of personal preference. I can see how someone wouldn't love it as much as I did, and that has nothing to do with not understanding art! In fact, if you have to "understand art" in order to enjoy a movie, it's not a good movie. It's not accessible. Movies - even when there's an important message to be communicated - are entertainment. That doesn't mean they're always fun to watch, or easy to watch, but they need to keep you intrigued and interested. The second you're glancing at your watch, the movie has failed.

As for Sexy Beast, I just loved the performances, the direction, the dialogue, and the story - but it might also be that I viewed it from a technical and writing point-of-view, and was a bit too dazzled with the methods employed, and the intelligence of the work. Your mileage may vary. So buyer beware - all the suggestions made above are personal ones. There's no guarantee you'll like any of them!

As a little pre-thanks I'll suggest a few things I don't remember you ever mentioning. First there's Farscape, which you must of heard of but never commented on (that I remember). They only sell the DVDs in groups of two episodes for an insane price but maybe you can find better. Also, Supertroopers. It's a small american movie I never heard much about except from friends but it's surprisingly hilarious.

I've seen a few episodes of Farscape - the first four episodes of season one - and I plan to see all of it when I have the time! Friends - and SFX, the best damn sci-fi-fantasy magazine in the whole, wide world - tell me it's brilliant, so it's gotta be. It's been released in box-sets in Europe, seasons one through three.

Supertroopers I've heard of, but I haven't seen it. Thanks for the tip - I'll probably pick it up when it's released on DVD!  ¶ 15:07   

  I am repeating myself.

I just realised that the previous entry is a word-for-word clone of an entry I wrote a good while back. Which proves that my inner life isn't half as rich as I'd like to think. But which also proves that there's a comfortable sameness to my behavior that is slightly reassuring. Yes.

Nerve-wracking couple of days, and I'm going back into the fire in a few minutes. I had major trouble sleeping last night, and I got out of bed at 3 AM to fix myself a sandwich (or two).

Adding to the aggravation, my bedroom and kitchen windows have been nailed shut, and it's as dark as a mediaeval cellar in my bedroom, which makes it very hard to wake up. Extensive work is being done to the exterior walls of my apartment building, and while that's a good thing, I wish they would hurry up. It's summer, and I like sunlight. I hate sleeping in a black and bleak cave. I do get light coming in from the other end of the apartement - the living-room - but it's not enough, dammit, I want more. Trust me; in a country where, half the year, there's barely daylight, you learn to love the light. A lot. Obsessively so.

Complain much? Nah.  ¶ 15:50   

  I've been on a continuous shopping-spree this past month, partly because I'm trying to compensate for not taking a summer vacation, partly because, when I feel blue, I shop. And when I shop, I buy DVDs and console games, and very little else. Lately, there have been lots - too many - of them. But I loves my movies, and I loves my games - why else would I be a game designer with scriptwriting and directing aspirations? Why indeed.

It's all about the love. (And not the fifth element known as love, because I hated that movie with a passion and a fury that can never be fully communicated.)

It's all about what you - and by "you", I mean "me" - love, what drives you, what gets you up in the morning, what keeps your clock ticking, your heart beating, and your brain working through the small hours. For me - and by "me", I mean, uh, "me" - it's creating. Whether it's a game, a novel, a short-story, a screenplay, a scribbled idea on a napkin or a piece of toilet-paper (yes, that has happened), it's about creating, dreaming, a vision, a desire to shape and make and share.

Games are great in that way, because they involve the audience - the players - in completely new and surprising ways, and that's why I love making 'em, and that's why I love playing 'em. I can live inside a game, if only for a brief time, and feel completely enveloped by the world and the setting and the game-play. If the game is good, mind, and not if it's a piece of crap, because then - even if it manages to envelop me - all I want to do is get back outside.

But I digress. Point is, the fact that I spend my money - waaay too much money - on DVDs and games is a Good Thing, really. It's about the passion. It's about learning and understanding more of my craft(s) through the handiwork and artistry of others.

Besides, it's a good excuse to spend more cash on frivolities. Come Friday, there's another box of DVDs arriving from Amazon, and it's nice to not have to feel guilty about it.  ¶ 14:59   

  Reader mail! Only massively delayed!

I just read the AO book Prophet Without Honor, and I loved it, but now must ask the question, What is the time frame we are looking at for the next book? I want to continue the story, and want to know when it's coming. any info would be great. Thanks again.

Ah. Yes. Well. (Cough).

There are chapters of the next novel on my hard-disk. There is a beginning. The story - probably a trilogy-thingy, the kids seem to like that these days - is plotted out in stunning detail...inside my fat head. The background story for Anarchy Online stretches back millions of years, and it'd be nice to dig into some of that in a new novel, because a lot of it isn't suitable for the in-game story (it's a little far-fetched to believe that an NPC in Omni-1 knows the inner thoughts of a being that lived and died before intelligent life first emerged on Earth).

The next novel even has a provisory title: "The Garden of Eden". And the plan was for it to be more linear, with fewer jumps across time and characters, and with more emphasis on current day Rubi-Ka. In other words, I've listened to the criticism, and I wholeheartedly agree.

But it might never see the light of day. "Why?" you ask.

Well, see, it takes a lot of time to write a novel. More time than, for example, making a baby, which is pretty weird when you think about it. Babies, after all, are a lot more important and a lot more fragile than novels, and so they should also require a lot more time and effort to make. But they don't. They're pretty easy to make, most of the time, as long as there are two of you, and not one, like with me...so, in fact, for me it's easier to write a novel than to make a baby. But it's still pretty hard. Which is my point, really. Without knowing whether or not Funcom wishes to publish another novel, or the readers to, uh, read one, it won't happen.

But! Here's the thing. If it doesn't happen - and it might not - I'll try not to leave my readers hanging. If there are no other options, and I get permission to do so (because, after all, I don't own the AO property), I'll post the relevant chapters on my website or the AO website - in due time, of course - and at least try to wrap up the storylines that need wrapping up. It won't be a full novel, but it'll be a fair number of chapters that, hopefully, will bring closure to the story that began with "Prophet Without Honour".

Then again, there might be a second novel, which might be named "The Garden of Eden", or not, depending on the decisions made by our marketing department.

Can I get more vague than this? Probably not!

Phew. Reader mail is hard. I need a break.  ¶ 14:39   

  Thanks to Howard for pointing out how to fix the Kermit-thingy below. Yes, I'm incompetent, but you're all still reading my journal, so...hah!

What's with me and promises? No reader mail on Friday - in fact, no updates at all since Friday. Truth is, I haven't touched a PC all weekend long. I've been spectacularly unsocial, spending the bulk of Saturday and Sunday playing a bunch of new console titles, the best of which, by far, was Eternal Darkness. Boy-oh-boy, there's a game to love. It's an action-adventure with a great story, finely tuned game-play, a perfect difficulty curve (even I was able to progress at a satisfying pace), and tons of atmosphere - which is always important in this type of game. In fact, if you're a TLJ fan looking for an adventuring fix - and you don't mind a bit of arcade-y game-play fighting terrifying monsters - check it out. You'll need a GameCube, but if you don't have one, you should get one anyways: After all - it's Nintendo! Eternal Darkness is the closest thing to perfection I've played in a long while. And pick up Resident Evil, too; the GC remake is incredibly scary, technically impressive, and a lot of fun. It's a bit simplistic as an adventure, but, again, it's got more atmosphere and character than most recent adventures. And the voice-over work is, for the first time in this series, quite good.

I will try (emphasis on 'try') to get around to the reader mail later this afternoon, though I'm expecting a pretty busy day, what with everything that's going on (good things; stick around, and I'll tell y'all). Check back tonight - it only takes a second to do so!  ¶ 12:00