Well, I thought I’d wait until after everyone had calmed down from the so-called “holiday” to bash it. If I had somehow negatively affected the flower sales, Hallmark might have sent their hit men after me, and I doubt any of us really wants that to happen, right?

So what, you might be asking yourself, is wrong with couples celebrating their love for one another? To this I simply respond: BLAH! I certainly have nothing against celebrating love for one another, just as I have nothing against people celebrating at Christmas when they’re spending time with their families (even though this may not be a cause for celebration in some cases). What I despise is the over-commercialization of holidays, and this is what brings me to my problem with Valentine’s day. Valentines isn’t a “holiday” that has simply been over-commercialized. Without the commercialization of the holiday, it doesn’t exist in the first place. The entire day is built up around material goods: flowers, cards, candies, and expensive dinners out. If you eliminate all these things from the “celebration”, you don’t have a single thing left.

While at Christmas, even though it has become severely over-commercialized, amidst a seemingly dwindling true Christmas spirit (I have to say, this past Christmas was the least enchanting one I’ve ever experienced. Perhaps this is due to my increasing age, which brings with it an increased level of cynicism and bitterness about the world around me, perhaps not.), one is still able to find some manner of joy for the true spirit of the season. Whether it be through seeing families reunited for the holidays (just take a trip to the airport and watch people as they meet their rides after getting off the plane), or when you see a child open their presents and play in the snow on Christmas morning (ok, so maybe the snow was in a movie, since I’ve never in my life seen a white Christmas). Valentine’s day lacks all this luster and illusion. It is solely built upon sex and commerce. Not only does it have no true spirit, but it also helps to downplay the single life, and in doing so depresses those who find themselves without a “Valentine” at the end of the day.

You’re probably wondering now if I really know what I’m talking about, or if I’m just another one of those bitter people who downplay the holiday simply because I was single and unable to partake in it. Well, to answer your question, yes, I was single yesterday, and the day before that, and the day before that, and the day before that… in fact, many days before that (I’ve been single for over a year now), and I’m still single today, nor do I foresee a change in the next few hours. This, however, isn’t the point. I’m single, and I’m happy to be, particularly at this time of year. When the holidays and the end of the year start approaching, things start getting incredibly hectic at work, and the last thing I need on my mind is how well my relationship is doing and what kind of present would be appropriate at this point. In fact, last year I even tried it. I had a girlfriend as we approached Thanksgiving, and I got so stressed out at work I eventually just stopped calling her. The relationship died, and I felt horrible about it. (In the end she joined some kind of freaky cult and married their leader… Surely I jest? Surely not…) Now why in the world would I want to voluntarily inflict this upon myself at Christmas, much less the day devoted entirely to relationship disasters?

The bottom line is, I think people have lost sight of the reasons holidays have been created. We’ve got Christmas, Valentines Day, Easter, Halloween, and Thanksgiving… Christmas is going downhill sharply, Valentines Day was created at the bottom of the gorge, Easter isn’t really a holiday (in my opinion anyway), and with Halloween it’s expected. All I’ve got left is Thanksgiving! What am I supposed to do when they kill it? Call it a good (or kinda) life and check out? I implore you, don’t forget the true reason we create holidays… to respect events and enjoy the love and fellowship of the family and friends we have in our lives…

You know something that’s become a virtual plague on the internet these days that I’m seriously sick of? Cheap knockoffs. They’re everywhere. From huge corporations creating cheap knockoffs of their competitor’s online music store to little nobodies trying to create knockoffs of great online games? It’s everywhere, it’s out of control, and something needs to be done about it.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not some bible-thumping copyright activist. Ordinarily, I root for the little guy. I don’t think the MPAA should be raiding houses looking for stolen music, and I think I should be allowed to do whatever I like with the music I’ve legally purchased (yes, I purchase my music. I believe the artists do deserve to get paid for their work, just like I do.). However, I do have to draw the line when people start to knowingly copy works and publish them as their own.

I suppose I should give a little background on this before I continue, so that people can get a better idea of what I’m talking about?

There are two online browser-based games. Utopia and Re!gn (both of which can be found in the Web Links module in the “Games” category). These are both truly remarkable games. Utopia is a long-established, well planned and maintained game sporting multiple servers, each of which gives the user a unique playing environment. It is based in a fantasy world. Re!gn is a new-comer in the field. It’s still in the beta stages, constantly undergoing maintenance and development. It’s a little more random and also much more responsive to its users requests. It is based around modern day countries.

Now to the problem. In the past 6 months, each of these great games has had a pathetic knockoff created of it.

Our journey begins with Re!gn’s knockoff, which emerged at some point in the last 6 months (which is probably a very safe estimate. I have a horrible sense of time, so I played it safe). Its name? Elite Empires, or 3E for short (how they get 3 out of `Elite Empires’, I’m still not sure?). It’s developed by some Re!gn lovers themselves, who have caught nothing but flack for their idea. Ever since word was released in the Re!gn forums that there was going to be a new Java-based stand-alone version of the game produced by someone other than the original developers of Re!gn, they’ve been bashed from every corner. The apparent general consensus? Don’t copy other people’s work!! The “3E” devs have spent every waking minute trying to convince everyone that it is *not* like Re!gn at all and that we should all love it ever since. They’ve met severely limited success?

We continue on our escapade with the knockoff that really pushed me over the edge and spurred this article itself. Its name? Siege World. Siege World is the most pathetic attempt at copying a game I’ve ever seen. They’ve taken a long-standing internet legend such as Utopia and ripped out every feature. Whether it was actually a direct ripoff of Utopia or some unlucky simp merely ripped the idea off from another pathetic ripoff, I can’t say and honestly don’t care. From an initial protection phase to protect new accounts from being raped by pathetic larger kingdoms who are too afraid to pick on anything their own size to the lack of unique account personalities and races which provide special abilities to your account, this game is thoroughly pathetic and barely deserves mentioning. Why are you mentioning it then you ask? Because no where does the game give any credit to Utopia what-so-ever. The name isn’t even mentioned on their pathetic site. At least 3E’s website outlined supposed differences between itself and Re!gn and even contained a link to Re!gn itself? That’s not even the worst of it, however? The worst part? Siege World is being “developed” (if that’s even applicable in this case) by a moderator of the Re!gn forums.

So is this an indication that the Re!gn forums are nothing but trouble and consist merely of 12 year old bottom feeders who can’t originate their own ideas and are therefore forced to steal those of others? I’m afraid I have to admit that it is. One look at the Re!gn forums and you find no help, no advice, not even anyone answering questions in the support thread. All you find is squabbling and complaining. No one can take an original opinion. They all have to bash and put down the author of such posts, and they don’t deserve the game they so loyally play.