It might actually happen!

[Dweller_Benthos]

"What might happen, Dweller?" you might be saying to yourself. Or, more likely, "What is this guy rambling about now?"

Two words: Broadband. Errr, I guess that's one word, isn't it?

Yep, I might be actually getting broadband at home. I'm sure a lot of you are aware (and probably getting tired) of hearing me moan about not having a decent internet connection at home, and my trials and tribulations of trying to live in the megabytes-per-second digital age on a kilobytes-per-minute connection. But there is some hope, and some movement, as people from the newly merged Time Warner-Charter (now called Spectrum) cable company have been trolling my local area checking on power pole positions and asking residents whether they are interested in getting hooked up to cable. Of course, they were canvassing my neighborhood during working hours, when I was, surprise, at w0#k, so I couldn't talk to them directly, but they did seem legit and sincere from what I've heard.

Of course, I won't 100% believe it until I see a truck outside stringing wire on the poles, but here's hoping in the next few months I might be able to get a connection fast enough to accomplish normal online activities. No more bringing a thumb drive to w0#k in order to download the latest Steam update, or to grab some software. No more turning the computer on in the morning and letting it sit idle for two or three hours while it downloads the latest Windows update.

Which brings my dilemma. Time, being the commodity it is, as usual, in short supply, has a way of getting in the way of things you want to do. Take games, for instance, up until now, I've essentially ignored any game with an online component, as I've posted here in the past. Now, I won't be able to use that excuse, and actually have to decide if I want to spend my time, and how much of it, playing an online game as opposed to something offline like Fallout. Sometimes having certain choices automatically be unavailable makes things simpler.

[PZ]

OMG! 

[Art Blade]

good luck and all the best for that matter, D_B -- remember Portal2 co-op..

[BinnZ]

Nice D_B!

I really hope they get you connected soon

And yes, some choices are much easier not to have. My online career started with GTA IV, and playing games never was the same since then

[LowPolyOWG]

Nice, maybe we can team up in GTA Online

[Dweller_Benthos]

Yeah, one of the things that I thought of was getting into a GTA game with you guys. The limited exposure I've had to other online games makes me cautious about my expectations, especially ones open to the public.

But just getting out from under the thumb of the download limit will be nice. Not having to worry about going over my allotment for the month and just watching a video whenever I please will be refreshing.

[fragger]

Here's hoping it happens for you, Dweller I feel your pain mate. I too used to suffer the curse of sluggy access speeds, like when I first moved here from the big smoke and my local ISP (which was the only game in town then) used a tin-can and wire setup. I used to read about the dazzling speeds some people were getting elsewhere in the world while thinking it was a good day when I got anywhere close to 100 kps - yes, KAY pee ess - access speed. Ususally it was around 12kps, and sometimes it could drop to about 5. It would have been quicker for people like Steam to mail me the updates.

I'm with a way better provider now and I get very good rates, but apart from one co-op session with Art in FC4 a few years back I haven't been terribly inclined to plumb the online world. It's not that I'm antisocial I generally either don't think about it, or the time zones count against me. When I'm up, most of you guys are in bed or at w0#k, or vice-versa. That's an unfortunate fact of antipodean life, but at least I know my net access speed is up for it nowadays. It would have been out of the question back in the bad old days.

Who knows, maybe we can all get together into something sometime. It might be refreshing for our European gaming friends to hear some different accents in the mix

[Art Blade]

hehe I am enjoying the fact that I met basically everyone of the hard core, one way or another. Including real life meetings, phone calls, voice chats and online gaming.

[LowPolyOWG]

Sounds cool, Art Maybe I should put that on my things-to-do-before-I-die list

[BinnZ]

Heheh, OWGKID's YOLO tour across the globe

You're welcome in Holland matey, I'll teach you some of Amsterdam's finest

[Art Blade]

 

[LowPolyOWG]

That sounds like fun

[Art Blade]

things-to-do-before-I-die

I was just thinking about that. I mean, this is the only way of doing things -- there is nothing you can do afterwards so you could skip that "before I die."

[LowPolyOWG]

Hmm,you're probably right 

[Art Blade]

can't speak from experience -- haven't died before -- but I think so, too