Friday, May 05, 2006

The Ca-nasty World of On-line Gaming

When Dan and Penny were here, they introduced us to the card game Canasta. Canasta is a game for four players, somewhat like Gin Rummy, but played in partnerships. A game consists of 4-7 hands and each game takes about 1 hour or so. We found this game to be fun and challenging, and it led to many late nights trying to win the final hand.

Once the in-laws left, Nick and I were suddenly left without an in-house partnership to challenge. Being the resourceful sort that I am, I wondered, "Google, can one play Canasta on-line?". Always helpful, Google pointed me towards Yahoo games, which for a username, password and internet connection, you can play Canasta against other players around the world for free! So, I signed up and entered the world of on-line gaming.

I was expecting to find a place where you could play an interesting card game, plain and simple. Instead, I found a new world with a separate language structure and different expectations -- and a lot of blather. First, all players can chat during the game -- there is a space under the "table" where the cards are played for communication. Comments about the game were shortened to acronyms (npup = nice pick-up partner; gha/p= good hand all/partner; nrc = nice red canasta; thank you = ty). Entering the game was strange, I kept seeing the codes scroll across the bottom of my screen: NPUP, NRC, GHA/P, TY. I finally asked for some clarification and a (rare) helpful player let me in on some secrets. The first game I played, there was quite a bit of chatter, a lot of it having to do with the fact that our table was so nice.

I soon realized why this table was deemed "nice." My second game, I was doing fine, not playing any horrible cards or discarding poorly. (Without getting into the details, Canasta is a game where you need to be very careful about which card you discard or it can cause the other team to get a whole bunch of points.) Towards the end of the first round my comptuer assigned partner discarded poorly, and then sent me a text message that stated that I was a complete f------ idiot! How dare I try and play on-line! Granted I'm just learing the game, but really, why the hate? I was playing with other self-described beginners. We lost the hand, and then my partner quit the game. I've also forever ended my foray into on-line gaming. I've always thought it was a bit strange to play anonymously against other folks on-line and I've know had my suspicions confirmed.

posted by Peggy C. at 5:09 PM

Tuesday, May 02, 2006

Tis the Season

The parents are safely back in their native environs, leaving us to batten down the hatches for our next wave of visitors in a week's time. We're getting better at our routine of what to do and where to go with people, each visit finds new discoveries.

Last week we were in the botanical gardens for a leisurly Saturday stroll. The gardens themselves are poised right on the harbour, giving the hills and vales magnificent views of the opera house and bridge. Over the course of an afternoon, we must have seen a half dozen weddings going on, either in the garden, under the pagoda, on the harbour boats. Some looked like simple civil ceremonies, whereas others were lavish affairs.

We perched on a rock in the botanical gardens to watch the sunset (and the bats come out) when we stumbled upon a particularly comedic couple. They had three photographers working the two of them and their six wedding party members - none of which who were 'kind to the lens'. The various poses and gestures that the photographers made them go through were rediculous. To pay thousands of dollars for a shot of three groomsman from the rear, hunched over a sea wall with the opera house in the distance, mot my kind of value and certainly wouldn't make it to my mantlepiece anytime soon.

posted by ncawthon at 8:20 AM