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The End has Come

commercial_bge1It’s difficult for me to decide on how to actually say this, so I guess I’ll just be frank. LVLs. will no longer be operational. It will remain up as an archive for my work (as well as my friends who helped write for it) and the Imagery. I will be removing the links and updating the banner to reflect its new status as an archival site, but beyond that, I will no longer be contributing any further posts to LVLs.

Why, you ask? Well, there’s many reasons, but the biggest two are:

1) I spend too much time on the Internet to the detriment of my other hobbies. The Web has somehow sneaked its way into my mentality as the best way of coping with stress, and LVLs. helps facilitate my undesired addiction. I hope that taking leave of one of my biggest Internet connections will aid me in spending time with Grace, gaming, reading, drawing, writing for Game on Girl and for myself, and working on my education. LVLs. has become more of a thorn than a pleasure, and that’s one big reason over the last year my interest and attention have dropped off.

2) I mentioned Game on Girl above, and Regina’s site has been a wonderful learning opportunity that also correlates to my educational future. I will be porting some of my work from here to Game on Girl in the near future, as well as contributing new material. If you like what I’ve done here, join me over there. Look for Jerry’s posts.

There may be a new blog down the road that I will open and run, but it will not be LVLs. It will be explicitly tied to my educational and personal studies and desires, but I don’t know what exactly I want to do with my career yet, and I don’t need to create a secondary tie to the ‘Net without a clear goal in mind. I had initially thought of setting up something this summer, but I think I’ll be holding off for at least the remainder of my undergrad career.

Wildcat Online, Lvl. and LVLs. have been an amazing ride. From 2001 to 2013, I’ve gotten a ton out of my various web projects and watched my maturity, passion and writing prowess grow and develop, and I’m proud of what the sites have accomplished. However, it’s become old hat. I need to stretch my “wings” and push myself far beyond what I could ever do here. A gaming fansite was a wondrous idea, but I’ve taken it as far as I think I can or want to. It’s time to retire this stage of my life and continue self-examining where I wish to go from here. I thank you, viewers, for participating in my hobby here, both as a writer and as the administrator. I also dedicate LVLs. to Nester, TEi, and Jason X, because your posts made LVLs. more than it could have been if it was only my endeavor. You all have gone on to your own personal projects; it’s time I do the same.

The future beckons. So long, my old friend.

~ Jerry Fieldsted (WildcatJF)

gb

This just seemed appropriate…sort of. :p

by WildcatJF on March 23, 2013  •  Permalink
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Posted by WildcatJF on March 23, 2013

http://lvls.wordpress.com/2013/03/23/22862/

I Take My Leave

There’s a scene in the Tim Burton film Ed Wood in which the low-budget filmmaker meets his idol, Orson Welles. The two briefly discuss their strikingly similar problems, and then the legendary director imparts the young Wood with this little bit of wisdom: “Visions are worth fighting for. Why spend your life making someone else’s dreams?”

It’s been a pleasure to write for LVLs. these last five (!) years. It’s helped me develop my writing skills, and I’ve done my best to try to provide worthy content for Wildcat’s blog. And at the end of the day, that’s what LVLs. is: Wildcat’s personal project. I’ve only been a contributor in that regard, and don’t get me wrong, it’s been my pleasure.

But as a developing writer, it was inevitable that I would begin to outgrow my position and feel the need to come into my own. That’s why I started up my own blog back in 2011. I figured that if I was going to put that much effort into something, I would like it to be my own project. As a result, I’ve drifted away from LVLs. these past several months, and focused more on my blog.

But I never meant for it to be an abandonment of LVLs. It’s been an online home to me for five years, and I’d be glad to continue involvement with it in some capacity. (After all, my writing still gets far more exposure here.) It’s simply the case that our visions are naturally diverging.

As I forge ahead in my own direction, I wish Wildcat the best of luck in his. I’m looking forward to seeing what new ideas and articles he and Jason come up with this year, and I hope to still make an occasional contribution. So, perhaps this isn’t as much a farewell as it is a “see ya around.”

With that, I take my leave. Thanks to all who have read my stuff on LVLs. I have officially gained experience and leveled up!

by Nester on January 9, 2013  •  Permalink
Posted in Misc., Site News
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Posted by Nester on January 9, 2013

http://lvls.wordpress.com/2013/01/09/i-take-my-leave/

Reflections on 2012

toldyasoIt’s 2013 at last! As promised, here’s some ruminations on the year. In terms of the site, it was a great and not-so-great year for LVLs. We’ll start with the positives. The blog had approximately 200,000 visitors swing by in 2012, which is about 30,000 more than the previous year. March 2012 was our best month statistically, with 22,774 unique hits. We put out some great content, relaunched with a new anthropological focus (which is working on being more integrated into the site’s content), and I personally feel pretty good about the site’s direction. Alas, we did have some key losses. TEi, Cammy and Nester all departed the blog (although Nester is still posting here on the rare occasion), leaving Grace, Jason and I to soldier on. With the shifts in content I have in mind, this may not be a bad thing (as this is my blog), but it still hurts losing many of the comrades I had collaborated with in one year. The site’s upward tick in statistical growth fell after March, and took a nosedive in November. That was probably due in part to the October hiatus and general lack of content in November.

As for me, I’m quite thankful 2012 is over. The first half of the year was pretty good! Had a wonderful first semester in school, and nothing major seemed to go wrong. Once summer rolled around, that changed. Our car began to become a massive headache, depleting our funds all summer long. Once we got that under control, our dog had a horrific allergic reaction to chicken that required an emergency vet visit that wasn’t cheap. When the semester began, school itself seemed fine, but our car resumed its crankiness, and after putting out more money we discovered that it had a serious engine problem that would require a whole new engine to solve. I had to take out a loan to acquire a new used car, which is running better but still has had its fair share of issues that we can’t quite fix because, again, we’re out of money. Our snake died in November. Thanksgiving was cancelled due to my nephew having a terrible asthma attack that led to further complications because of his diabetes. We seem to be experiencing a massive mold problem in our house right now. My favorite bookstore in Monterey is closed. In short, it’s been a lousy year. XD There were some good things; Xenoblade and The Last Story came out despite huge odds, and I could afford them both. I had a great result from my game sale in the summer that allowed me to pick up some new stuff. Christmas, although subdued due to finances, was quite nice. School has been going extremely well. We do have a future plan worked out when I’m done with my B.A. I did experience some wonderful games and read some amazing books. I met Regina at Game on Girl, which led to me writing there. Grace is always there to help me get through funks (and vice versa). So it wasn’t all bad…but there was a lot of bad. XD

So, here’s to 2013! Let’s hope it’s a better year for both LVLs. and myself.

by WildcatJF on January 1, 2013  •  Permalink
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Posted by WildcatJF on January 1, 2013

http://lvls.wordpress.com/2013/01/01/reflections-on-2012/

The LVLs. 2012 Year in Blogging Report

WordPress has just sent me my Annual Report, letting me know what was popular on LVLs. this year. As I did last year, I’m going to pass that along to you to peruse at your leisure if you so choose. I’ll go into this a bit more at a later time.

by WildcatJF on December 30, 2012  •  Permalink
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Posted by WildcatJF on December 30, 2012

http://lvls.wordpress.com/2012/12/30/the-lvls-2012-year-in-blogging-report/

I’m Now Writing for Game On Girl!

GoGMy actual announcement for this week is that I’ve joined the staff of Game on Girl! I’m humbled to be a part of Regina’s continuing research following her dissertation, and look forward to exploring gender/sex/identity topics over there. Whatever I write over there will eventually make its way over here, so I’m not sacrificing my writing time for LVLs. in the slightest. This is a wondrous opportunity for me to begin my own academic game research. :)

by WildcatJF on December 12, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Games, Site News
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Posted by WildcatJF on December 12, 2012

http://lvls.wordpress.com/2012/12/12/im-now-writing-for-game-on-girl/

The NEW LVLs. Opinion Format (at least ones by me)

I’ve decided to revise my opinion process in order to make it more fun for me to write and hopefully clearer for you to read. How will this work? Well, let me tell ya!

INTRO – A brief synopsis of the gameplay and methodology of the game in question. Will include a brief segment of why I was interested in the game in the first place.

PROS – One to five paragraphs of what stood out the most positively about the game, be it graphics, sound, mechanics, memorable moments, etc.

CONS – The flipside of Pros. One to five paragraphs of what negative aspects poked out from the good.

BATTLE! – Essentially, do the pros or the cons win out on this game? Also where I will recommend the game or not.

I plan on including a couple more photos of the game to add some visual aid, and will probably include a trailer of the game to show what it looks like if at all possible. I will be testing this new format out on THREE Opinions in the near future: Bioshock, Deus Ex: Human Revolution, and Uncharted 2. Don’t expect them until December, though. I have a bit more to do with school before I feel comfortable doing serious work on here beyond revision, Imagery updating and mild posting.

by WildcatJF on November 23, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Opinions, Site News
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Posted by WildcatJF on November 23, 2012

http://lvls.wordpress.com/2012/11/23/the-new-lvls-opinion-format-at-least-ones-by-me/

So…this is what’s going on with LVLs.

LVLs. is going in a new direction beginning now. It will be shifting gears, yet staying somewhat familiar. Let me break that down for you step by step in order to better explain what I mean by that.

* It will be abandoning traditional news reports. Now, I’ve enjoyed posting about news here in the past. But when I look at the overall picture of LVLs., I think it’s the weakest part of the site. There are exceptions (and I’ll get to those in a second), but I really can’t compete with IGN, Gamestop, Kotaku or Destructoid with up-to-date news. I often report from GoNintendo or Siliconera, myself. I’ve never had any real scoops. So, I want to eliminate doing announcements of new games, new details on games, and stuff like that. That can be gotten elsewhere from people who are getting paid to do it. If I’m going to put in work on this site, it better damn well be worth it to me. On the other hand, I love covering (and reading about) niche, fan-based and esoteric news. This is stuff like Jason X’s Pokeymans project post, or Nester’s coverage of The Speed Gamers whenever they do something. Those are perfect for LVLs. for the direction I want it to go. It may be covered elsewhere, but it’s something that truly and honestly deserves more attention. Assassin’s Creed III news will be everywhere, but will some artist doing some cool project or a charity group who plays games to earn money to help people? Not so much. That is the kind of news I’m totally cool with, and you can expect that kind of coverage to continue.

* The overall site structure will be on opinions, features, and editorials. My anthropological interests will be taking much more of a role than they have in the past. I want to examine games with the tools and techniques I’ve been acquiring. I want to do Cultural Anxiety more often. I want to use LVLs. as a springboard into my hopeful research on female gamers. I want to really dig into what I like about games. I wish to delve into my favorite characters to understand why they are my favorites. I want to uncover the issues some games give to me and come to grips with why I didn’t like them. In short, I want it to be a little more academic.

* I want to broaden the site out a bit to include more content on books and anime and music. These have been marginalized at best, and I’d like to remedy that.

* I want to remove or revise features that require little effort on my part to create (i.e. Artistic Discussion, Gamer’s Playlist) in favor of more elaborate pieces that make people (hopefully) think and reconsider their positions on. At the very least, I want to put more effort into what I do. Fluff posts don’t really satisfy me anymore.

* I also want to be online less. LVLs. will be a weekend-only project during school, and it may stay that way in the summer and winter breaks so I can focus on some other stuff, like my art, creative writing or just some genuine gaming. The Internet sunk its teeth in too deeply, and I need to break off a bit. This plan will allow me to do more of what I really want to do AND still let me work on LVLs., just not as much.

* Weekly Whose Line? will be moved to Mondays. Music Wednesdays will still occur, and Fan Art Fridays will incorporate Gamer’s Playlist into its midst. Wildcat’s Art Sundays will tentatively remain a part of the site as well. These will serve as my lighter post material throughout the week, and the weekend will hit harder. I will program them to appear during the weekend as part of my routine. There is the possibility that these weekly events will not happen, or that I may not post on a particular weekend because of some other commitment. I will attempt to warn you when that will be the case.

* The Imagery will stay (it’s a nice attraction for people) and will continue to grow. That will be the “fluff” of the site, I suppose. I do like having art on my site for games (or just art) I adore.

* In terms of the staff, a major shift is occurring. Nester is sailing towards Lark’s Island as his permanent home (which will be an affiliate for the duration of both sites). Jason X is staying on with me and will be determining if this shift in focus is to his liking. Grace will continue to serve as a silent admin, occasionally popping up whenever she feels like it. As LVLs. is becoming more personalized to my interests, this is not a surprising development. Nester, Jason and I would like to continue doing Roundtables together, although they too will be more in line with the academic shift I want LVLs. to take. There are no hard feelings here, and I wish Nester (as well as TEi and Cammy) well in their future endeavors. All of the features, editorials and opinions of the staff will remain in the LVLs. archives with their blessings. Their work is a vital component of LVLs.’ past, and the site benefited greatly from their assistance. My eternal thanks to you all for everything. I also want to thank Jason for continuing to provide LVLs. with his unique blend of posting that adds some much-needed variety to my work. We’ll see how this goes!

* I plan on eliminating fluff posts (i.e. irrelevant site news and goofball posts) and all of the traditionally angled news posts in November to free up some space and to better focus the site for these changes. I also want to muscle through some of the older content and revamp it. Some of it is a little embarrassing to re-read. So, at first, new content will likely be sparse, but I’ll try to not only focus on revision.

* Other changes will likely be implemented beyond what I’ve listed here. I’ll announce them as they occur.

To sum up, I want quality to be the goal of LVLs. now. I want to have pleasure writing content that intrigues me and that I am proud to produce. I hope that you will join me in this revised endeavor. See you Saturday. :)

~ JF

by WildcatJF on November 1, 2012  •  Permalink
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Posted by WildcatJF on November 1, 2012

http://lvls.wordpress.com/2012/11/01/so-this-is-whats-going-on-with-lvls/

Roundtable: The LVLs. Staff Ruminates on our 11 Years

This is a little late, yes, but…pretend it’s still August 6th, eh?

In 2001 I never expected my little Tripod site to become what it is now. I also didn’t foresee my maturity and development as a writer and as a person grow through the site. When I look at LVLs. and what it has turned out like, I feel a lot of pride. It’s something I have no shame for. It’s a vital part of my life, a valuable chunk of my soul carved into the Internet for others to examine and critique.

There are a few things I regret. The forum is one. It was kicked off from the public last month, and I had hopes it would have built up more than it did. The massive focus on gaming is another, but that’s hard to avoid when that’s primarily what I’m interested in. I’d like to get some more book coverage (at least Opinions) onto the site over the next year, perhaps some more anime stuff, too.

On the whole, though, LVLs. is leagues ahead of anything I predicted it would be when I was 18. At 29, I can reflect and smile on all this has worked up to be. And I plan to keep it marching on for years to come. I can only hope you will be there with me as I go. :)

Big thanks go out to Nester and Jason X for their continued contributions to the site. It wouldn’t be LVLs. without you both. I’d also like to thank TEi for all his work before his retirement, and to Cammy for trying. Of course, I’d be remiss to exclude Grace from my thank yous. Her love and support keep me going in every aspect of my life, including LVLs., and I can’t express how much I appreciate that. An extra special thanks to our dog, Bindi, who had a little health scare this last month. It’s wonderful to still have you in our lives.

To conclude, I’d like to say thank you to you, the people who come here, like posts, leave comments and/or link to us. It’s gratifying and humbling to see our stats every month hover over 15,000 individual hits (and often higher!). It’s good to know that what we do has struck some cord. We’ll keep at it, and I hope you stick around. :)

It’s crazy to think of how much things can change over 11 years. At this time in 2001, I was 21, living in Orlando and a few months away from my college graduation. Now I’m in Ohio, married, and over 30 (gasp)!

While I’ve only been a member of the LVLs staff for a little over a year now, it’s been great to contribute to the content here, as well as working with Wildcat and Nester. We often times have very different interests and approaches to gaming, but I think that makes the site that much stronger. Through our work here, we expose each other to new things that we might not have considered on our own. In turn, we try to do the same for our readers.

One of the main reasons I love this site, both as a reader and a contributor, is the simple fact that it’s purely done out of our shared appreciation for gaming. There are no advertisers to appease. No insurance deductions that need to be covered. While this means that we aren’t paid for our work here, it also means that we don’t have to worry about calling a spade a spade. Silent Hill: Downpour…I’m looking in your direction.

In closing, it’s interesting to think how things might progress for this site in the future. We’re kind of new territory here, as our parents and grandparents never had this kind of ready access to instant, global publishing. Will LVLs continue for another 11 years? One can only hope. No matter how things turn out, though, I’ll always appreciate the time I’ve spent here and the people I’ve met through it.

Happy birthday, LVLs!

Wow, man. I’m pleased and a little honored to hear that.

I can’t believe it’s been four-and-a-half years since I started writing for LVLs. I’ve enjoyed it, and I think my skill has developed a lot in that time. I’m grateful to Wildcat for that opportunity, and it has been a privilege to be a part of his blog.

My latest project, however, has been my own blog over at Lark’s Island, which will be seeing its own anniversary in just a few weeks. I hope you’ll check it out, subscribe, and leave some comments! (Pardon the shameless plug! ;) )

So, congratulations to LVLs. for reaching 11 years, and also to the staff that got it there: Wildcat, Jason X, Grace, and former member TEi! We can only wait and see where it will go next!

A shameless plug is fine. I consider Lark’s Island to be a nice alternative to LVLs., and it provides a second opportunity to read your writing, Nester. :)

Again, thanks to you both for all your work on LVLs., and here’s to many more years of success for us all. :)

by WildcatJF on August 20, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Editorial, Roundtable, Site News
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Posted by WildcatJF on August 20, 2012

http://lvls.wordpress.com/2012/08/20/roundtable-the-lvls-staff-ruminates-on-our-11-years/

LVLs. is officially 11 years old today!

Back on August 6, 2001, Wildcat Online crawled onto the Internet via Tripod. In 2009, the site migrated to WordPress as LVLs., and we’ve been rolling along for three and a half years here. There will be some special stuff being posted later on today, so stay tuned! :)

Last year I put up our most popular pages and posts, and I’d like to do that again, since a year has gone by since then. It also has a nice revisiting of everything LVLs. once was, if you’d like to dig into our past. Anyway, the top 10 most popular posts/pages since we’ve been at WordPress are:

The Last Story Imagery - 13,205 total hits

Lufia: Curse of the Sinistrals Imagery - 10,003

Marvel Vs. Capcom Imagery - 6,835

Kid Icarus Uprising Imagery - 5,014

Sin & Punishment Imagery - 4,705

Xenoblade Imagery - 4,660

Beyond Good and Evil Imagery - 4,651

Grandia II Imagery - 3,331

Super Mario Bros. 3 – Revolutionary by Every Standard - 3,285

Super Mario Sunshine – A Tropical Getaway Gone Awry - 2,939

Obviously the Imagery is a busy place. :p I am pleased to see a couple of the Mario features I did garner up this kind of attention, though, and those two are among the best I wrote. :) Shame I never got finished with the Metroid ones. XD As for the staff, Nester’s most popular post is still Saga of the Pride Lands – The Lion King II: Simba’s Pride. Jason’s is his first post, Hi, everybody! Also, Dark Souls CE, although his piece on ICO and Shadow of the Colossus is close. Grace’s More Reading Suggestions… has gathered up the most attention. As for retiree TEi, his has changed over the past year to Fantastic Fictional Females: Toph Bei Fong [A:tLA Month part 2].

Things I’d like to pop from the last year that I feel deserve more attention include:

Wildcat – My piece on Street Fighter x Tekken. This is the catalyst to my current writing direction. This throws aside my somewhat blind fandom for Capcom, alerted me to the issues women gamers have to deal with in our field, and solidified my anthropological desire to branch out into more aspects of gaming than just cultural. Hard to believe, but I feel that this one piece awoke me to a greater purpose in my whole life, and let me be critical about things I both love (Capcom) and hate (sexism).

Nester – Personally, I think Nester’s Tunage piece on Norio Hanzaka was excellently done, so much so that I redid all of mine to match!

Jason – Jason’s The Joys of Retro Gaming: Final Fight 2 was a great example of why I asked him to join up with us. It’s not happened as much as I’d like, but I do want to keep up The Joys of Retro Gaming as a more regular editorial feature here.

Grace – Grace’s contributions to the blog are few and far between, alas, but this isn’t her life, it’s mine. :p

As we move towards our 12th year, I hope all of you who come here will continue to find LVLs. intriguing. I know my goals of writing have changed over the last year. Stick around, friends, for the best is yet to come.

by WildcatJF on August 6, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Site News
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Posted by WildcatJF on August 6, 2012

http://lvls.wordpress.com/2012/08/06/lvls-is-officially-11-years-old-today/

LVLs. a la WordPress is 3 years old today!

Time is short, but I do want to thank all of our lovely viewers who have meandered our way over the past three years. LVLs. would still keep plugging on, but the support is wonderfully appreciated and motivating. :) I’d also like to thank all of the LVLs. team who aid me in supplying it with awesomeness. Again, I’d still be marching on if I were alone, but the site would not be what it is without your backing. :)

I’ll be busy with a bit of work and finals studying over the next couple of days, so I’ll see you this weekend once those exams are put to rest (hopefully I do well on them!).

by WildcatJF on May 9, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Site News
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Posted by WildcatJF on May 9, 2012

http://lvls.wordpress.com/2012/05/09/lvls-a-la-wordpress-is-3-years-old-today/

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