I was recently watching TV when I saw an ad for a  "cyber athlete" who played Warcraft III online. I then afterwards saw a superbowl commercial for a faster computer and internet connection that made a young gamer have everyone in the world throw up a white flag of surrender. I thought this was interesting considering the growing popularity of online games such as World of Warcraft.

This seems to be one of the more popular trends today and I believe that maybe within 5 or even 10 years, online gaming will become a widely televised and sponsored event like football or basketball. If a man like "Fatality" can gain worldwide attention for being an online gamer, then it won't be long until many individuals, even whole teams are formed for the specific purpose of online competition. Now I am not opposed to this because I myself greatly enjoy online gaming. My problem is however is that I believe that regular online gaming will become something of the past. Imagine rather than having one online gamer be increasingly superior to other gamers online, but then have "professional" players constantly playing online as well. Will there become a strict divide between regular, even casual online gamers and the more hardcore users? Will certain games be made only for the more "professional cyber athletes? I think its a question that deserves asking because I myself enjoy playing online games when the playing field is level, but if there is a strict divide created in the evolution of the "cyber athlete" then I believe that there will be some reprecussions that could harm the avergae players experience online. Plus it would be an excuse for online gamers and even working adults to not go to work and waste away in front of the the computer. Long gaming nights can now be called "training for the big leagues".

Now, I've played games for many years now. About three years ago, I bought a game called Planescape: Torment. Now for those of you lucky enough to have actually played this game, you understand what I mean when I say it has...flavor. I mean the game was just distinctive and almost explosive in how incredibly detailed the world was. Its unique little quirks and characters, all thrown into what is a world so strange, and yet so appealing. You wake up as a main character who has completely lost his memory, is deformed by years (possibly centuries) of torture and pain, and who has a cryptic warning sprawled across his back. He quickly meets a floating head (Morte) who's special power is using curses to anger and drive his enemies to attack. At one point, your character entrails are searched through to find a special little ring that hints that your character is possibly much more than he seems. Afterwards you can equip your entrails, or throw them away...if you want. Then you meet the most beautiful woman in the world, who has the wings of some sort of demon and runs a harem. There's a rat girl, there's a warrior who's sword is a part of his soul, there's a crazed robot, there's a mad wizard who is CONSTANTLY on fire, and there's a rat girl. Oh, and a living alleyway that gives birth to its offspring, which is another alleyway, that leads you to your next city. The main world, by the way, is actually a huge spiral in which every archway or door or opening could be a portal to another world, if you have the right key.

But what really sealed the deal for me was the fact that I honestly believed every single absurd piece of it. Some games are great pieces whose puzzle never quite fits together. Others are well designed puzzles with missing pieces. This game is neither. In fact this game isn't even a puzzle, it's so deep with so many ways to go that its a tapestry that weaves itself across the breath of your imagination. It was the believability that held this weave together. You really felt for Morte when he hints at the fact that he was once so much more, and that now he is a watchman at a morgue. You feel that there is a hidden force within the Nameless One (your protagonist) driving him, and that there is something more menacing behind his actions. The githarrzzi warrior, with his strict code of rules, even comes off as being a lost wanderer. It's this drama of characters that kick starts and pushes forward the entire story. I strongly encourage anyone out there who even remotely enjoys video-games to give this one a shot. It's a little off the radar now since it was released over seven years ago, and since it's a top down RPG that may put some gamers off, but if you even want to attempt to rationalize the world of gaming as being something more than mindless entertainment, I would suggest you use Planescape: Torment as the heart of your case.