Location Taken: Multnomah Falls, Oregon
Time Taken: June 2008
Some days just remind me of the importance of balance. The hot midday, followed by a cool and rainy night. The way I keep feeling like I’ve been sitting too long and spend some time standing to stretch my legs. The two games I’ve been playing today. Things like that.
The first one is one of the games I play most often, Guild Wars 2. They just put out a new release, and Tyria is being invaded! Every hour, on the hour! Go to the map that’s currently being invaded, and well, you’re in for a heck of a fight. There’s a 45 minute timer, and you often use every last drop of it while fighting battle after battle all over the place. Well, technically if you use up all the time, you fail the event, but hey, it’s a tough enough fight that you only win about half the time. And in order to do that at all, you have to be constantly in motion, going from one hot spot to the next, clearing out enemies and barely having time to pick up your treasure before you’re off to the next place. It’s forty-five minutes of constant action and calculation, and it’s a blast!
The other game I’ve been playing is Terraria. It was one of the horde of Minecraft-esque games that came out when Minecraft first became all the rage, and one of the better of that horde. This one has 2D graphics (think old school Mario) and more of a focus on getting better and better gear and fighting bosses and all that, but it’s still a lot of mining and crafting and building. Which, of course, means you spend a lot of time mining and crafting and building, and well, that’s a rather slow process. You can spend hours just digging one mineshaft. It’s quite slow and peaceful, really, and you get a real sense of progress and accomplishment out of it.
So what I’ve been doing is alternating the two. I run around Guild Wars 2 until my brain’s as hyped up as it can get, then swap to Terraria for a while until I start getting bored of digging, and well, back to Guild Wars 2. It’s a day full of ups and downs, but it works for me. Both games have their place, and both are very fun, but rarely do I find quite as strong a contrast as this so enjoyable.
Oh, and the heron? That’s because the concept of balance always reminds me of the song Crane Dance by Julia Ecklar. It’s a lovely tune about the balance of life and cranes and dancing and all that, and probably a significant part of why I put a lot of importance in balance. And well, herons are similar to cranes, and this one definitely knows the importance of keeping your balance.
