More Last Outpost

The most exciting day for me on the Last Outpost was the day I reached level 5. It was a very special day…….it really was. I had been stressed for 3 weeks over this game, although I had gradually moved from “I hate this game ..there is no way I could ever reach level 5” to “ I can actually see how people get hooked on this game, and the people on here are so helpful…….if I can get with them…….I know they can help me reach my goal.” And that is what happened. After slipping back to level 3 when I had almost (or at least I thought almost) been there…..a wonderful, wonderful player named reht ran into me on Saturday morning at the north gate. I told Reht I needed to find the farmer and from there we wandered all around the farm looking for the farmer, looking for the chicken coop, cleaning the coop, finding the pig sty, looking for the farmer again and again and again. It was a very long heroic quest, but we finally made it together, and it was fun. I even killed the wolverine who had, just a few days before, taken my life (and my level 4). I was so thankful for Rehts help, and so excited at every accomplishment we made. I even learned how everyone was laughing so hard they were falling down…….I began to do it myself. And in the end, I took Reht with me to the warriors guild to witness the screams I would make when I finally reached level 5. It was a scream that I’m sure was heard as far away as the northwest corner of the steppes. It was a good day, and my only regret was that in this fantasy world…..I could not take Reht, and all the others who had helped, out for dinner to show my gratitude. But somehow I think they knew how thankful I was for their help, and somehow I think they enjoyed it just as much as I did. And you know what…….I really think I might try my next quest sometime soon. Now from me, that is saying something. The Last Outpost put me on a whirlwind of an adventure through barriers, challenges, and frustrations galore. But in the end, I really did begin to appreciate the game and the intelligence involved in creating it, and in playing it. I feel it will not be my last time visiting……..The Last Outpost.

The Last Outpost

At first you will croak!!!!!! It is sooooo hard!!!!!!! But if you are made to play it, like I was made to as it was required in my course.........you will begin to "get it". LO is a game that is all text, all imaginary. If you play it long enough your brain will eventually begin to "rewire" and you will begin to draw pictures of more and more detail in your head. It will become more and more challenging for you to reach new levels. In this game you will choose a character and character traits, and you will wander through a town or outside the town in the grassland, woods, farmland, or many many other adventurous places. You will be given quests, and will have to kill animals or fight to stay alive. That's about all I can say about it now, because I am a "newbie" .......but I will say.........hang in there and the frustration will begin to SLOWLY fade. Oh, and make sure you let the regulars help you. They are super helpers!!!!

Flight to Freedom

This similation is to me, just wonderful. You get to take on the role of famous slaves from history, and go through experiences that were recorded as actually endured by the slaves. The game hits an emotional cord when it discusses things like how plantation owners would scare slaves about what life would be like in Canada by telling them that in Canada, they skin the heads of slaves and wear it on their collars like wool, eat children, make them work in lead mines and cut their eyeballs out. I learned something new there, I hadn't heard that one. I enjoyed the game and found out some intersting facts along the way.

Math Man

I tried a game called Math Man at primarygames.com. Momories! It was pacman, only you had to solve math problems before eating the right pacman food. It got faster and harder pretty quick, and I thought it was only a game adults could keep up with. Primary games? No way. Maybe the advanced third grader.......but only with a calculator and an assistant to punch in the numbers while you manuver on the keyboard. I found the same problem with another game on the primary games website where you had to put number balls in order, and it started out with one positive and two negative 2 digit numbers. Not primary level......more intermediate level for sure.

Games/Similations

Since I am just now figuring this out (not quite there yet but on my way......I've spent my whole Sat. getting this far) I'd like to share a few games that I've been playing. My favorite discovery is a puzzle game called Bloxorz. It is kind of a geometric game of sorts, and it involves tiles. You proceed through levels and the levels become more and more difficult. There is lots of problem solving, and it is very addictive. ...very fun. I also tried out the Jamestown similation posted on blackboard. It was pretty ecucational in the "survival" sense.........and I even emailed it to our fifth grade teachers to try in their social studies classes. I thought they would appreciate it. I also would like to share the games found on starfall.com. If you teach early reading skills, you have got to check out starfall. It is wonderful. It will let students form words with the same middle vowel sound......like pan, fan, ran, man......by moving the letters around ......and it provides good graphics. Then it continues to move through reading skills more and more difficult, like the vowel-consonant-e pattern. There are other activities to go along with it like electronic books that help sound out words, etc. There are lots and lots of good activites for early readers on this website.

Hello

Hello everyone. I cannot tell you how new and inexperienced I am at blogging. I have been trying to figure this out for some time now, and have just now gotten here. I was stuck on "tapped in" forever, thinking that is where I was supposed to do the whole blog thing, and kept getting lost in a circle of confusion. Now I am here, and hoping I am doing something right. Sorry I haven't been around, but I have been exploring games, and I will catch you guys up on the games and similations I have been trying out. :)