Rental Scam!

Recently I have been looking for a new place to move too. Somewhere better then where I am use to living. So my wife found a place listed on multiple websites, that looked perfect. We contacted the poster online and was emailed the next day.

Dangerous!

When I started writing this post I was thinking of going into detail about everything that happened but instead I am going to skip straight to the point. The guy claimed to be in london and he emailed me the application. Then when I sent it back (signed), he asked me to Western Union him the deposit and then to scan the recipet and show it too him.

This is a huge flag that it was a scam, with that recipt he could pick up the money anywhere in the world. Once I relized it was a scam and I re-read all our emails, I saw so many sigsn that I had almost missed before.

• Strange english with odd typo's.
• To much info given in usual ways.
• Trying to assure me he is not looking for money and that I will get the keys.
• Being willing to work with me on whatever I need.
• Not actually showing me the house.

Just so you know there are few tricks they can use that make it more convincing, such as those electronic locks that you can access with out key. They could easily get the code just by asking the real owner. Also telling you to send money to a friend you trust and showing him the receipt.

One thing this guy did, is he seams to have the real owners name. I can't find the real owner but no way in hell a real owner would ask you to scan a receipt and show him. And western Union-ing or wire transferring money is very dangerous, even Western Union says don't send the money to someone you don't know.

Bad part is the guy did get all of information, so on monday I am going to be talking to someone from the police department, partly because I have found even more properties in my area being used for scams.

For more information just do a google search for rental scams. Or check out http://rentalscams.org/

Tekpersona website is complete, and my current status.

Last Time I blogged it was about J.C.Kendall's website Tekpersona. At the time some of the links were not yet set up as the site was under re-development. Now the site is finished with more articles (in the articles and docs section) coming soon.

In case you didn't read my last post Tekpersona is a company with many years experience in social media and web presence advertising.

As for me, I haven't been blogging much lately as first I was distracted playing minecraft and running a multiplayer server. It was alot of fun but alas has died down and now there is little activity on the server, maybe we just need some new players. I then spent awhile trying League of Legends. Which I enjoyed more then I thought I would considering how much I don't like pvp typically and that is what League of Legends is all about.

However its one of those supposedly free to play games that I just can't stand. Basically it's free but if you want more then just whatever champions are currently free to play, that costs money (although some can be unlocked just by playing alot) All the skins cost money anything you can buy in game can also be bought with money.

I just can't play a game that constantly wants my money.

Also I am going to be moving soon, we have a house in mind and are likely to get it, and also got on housing which is going to be a pain dealing with all the paper work, but could pay about 30 % of my rent or something. It's a nice house though, in a sub urban area very middle class which is way more then I am use to.

So I haven't been working on any of my game design projects at all. I'm not even sure how I intend to move forward on them. I might just start from scratch using game maker. I found an old copy of game maker 7 on my computer so maybe I wont have to deal with yoyo games bull crap this time. Yay, lol.

Tekpersona

I decided I want to write a review about +J.C.Kendall's site Tekpersona. He did not specifically ask me to either. However it was partly in exchange for him hopefully checking out my blog.

I want to mention first that I doubt I am his target audience but likewise he probably isn't mine. So the first thing I noticed about the site was it looked very professional or business-y which I can get bored of but I'm sure in his line of work professional is a good thing. I liked the color scheme which helped allow me to keep reading.

After looking around abit it appears to me that his line of work and what this business does is online web/social media marketing. (I wonder if they could promote my blog if I payed them. Not that my blog offers much in the way of products to promote though, lol).

One thing that stood out to me on their about page was they clearly value experience, I for one feel more re-assured hearing they know what they are doing rather then how some business web pages just say Innovation.

I think the pictures on the title page are kinda fluffy and maybe abit cramped but not too much and besides dead space would be much worse.

One thing the site has that I find very important, the Contact Us link was easy to find. The site also has an interesting "From Our Articles" section which has some good reads like how google+ is a better facebook the facebook, ect.

I like reading things like this so I would have  actually spent more time on his site just checking out the articles.

 However their contact page, solutions, and technology page and some other links never did anything when I clicked on them. I don't know if was me or the site but I couldn't actually get to any articles.

For someone who likes their page or service it is easy to share with all the links to social media sites right in plain site, makes sense for a social media company. However the social media pics at the bottom were just pics or badges or something.

In conclusion, nice looking and professional site that makes me think they could be worth hiring but either the page isn't compatible with firefox or maybe the sites not done. I should also mention I slightly know +J.C Kendall from google+ so my opinion of him is I would hire his company if I had the money. He seams like the type that is a hard worker and won't put up with people standing in his way.

UpDate:  Turns out the site is under Re-Development so the links will be working, when that is done.

A blog worth following.

I stumbled across The Doglion today and first read an article on viewing games as art rather then stircly breaking them down and giving them scores. Something I find very valid especialy when comparing games like Terraria and Minecraft. Sometimes you just can't even compare things. His example being The Mona Lisa and that one with the screaming guy.

So I decided to see what his most recent article is, and it was a look at the Mongolian educational system (I guess that's where he is from) and it too was very in depth and well thought out. Heck I forgot he was talking about Mongolia for a second and thought it sounds exactly like my schools.

I find most things on the internet to be random spewing but it looks like this takes his time to think thing through. Also I'm looking to follow more indie game blogs which I think his kind of is one. Hopefully I can one day re-create my success I had as a D&D blogger by getting more thoroughly into the Indie Game blogging sphere and finding good blogs to follow.

Stop SOPA

I know I don't have a huge user base or anything but still, in protest of SOPA my blog is going to be blacked out on Jan 18.

Signed up for Diablo 3 beta!

I am really surprised at how easy and convenient battle.net was on signing up. I made a new account using my new email, They wanted me to own at least one full game, so I entered my old Diablo 2 code its like 9 years old but was accepted anyway. And amazingly it looks like they have the option for me to download the game! Yay no more broken disks problem.

My google result for Diablo 3

That let me go to the beta preferences and hopefully someday I will be accepted to play the Diablo 3 beta and if not well I can use this account to try and get on other betas, how convenient.

How to buy a car, like a boss.

This is the kind of thing that should be taught in school, before you turn 18.

Why I hate (supposed) free to play.

This was originaly a comment in respones to The Hammer Strikes post about the free to play take over.

I just wish they wouldn't call it free to play and then pressure you into buying things or getting a premium account. Its not free to play if most of all the cool stuff costs money or worse invites. That's just an extended demo.

I hate it even worse when you do a search for a free game, find one, get signed up and then after you are playing get bombard with being asked to pay money.

For me though I don't like anything that distracts from the game, when you play an oldschool console and turn the game on that's it, your playing a game. Can you imagine playing super mario world with it constantly blocking levels until you pay more money or get more referrals and with ads and a chat thing blocking half the screen.

I don't like monthly subscriptions but saying its free when its not bugs me. For this reason I usually play games where I can host my own server. I really prefer to pay for the game once and be done unless an insanely cool expansion is released a year or more later.

Diablo 3 is going to be better then all the MMO's out there (not saying it is an MMO) but It's only going to cost once. I'm not saying one format will work for all games, but I pretty much stop playing on the spot if asked for more money while in game.

Codecademy

Thie year is code year for  codecademy.com which means that you can sign up to get free weekly lessons emailed to you. They claim to be able to teach you to make websites, games, and apps. They also have places where you can practice in javascript, ruby and one other online.

I have taken the first lesson and am about to take an extra one and here is what I like about it so far. The lesson have you typing in a box right on the same page as the text your reading, so far. Which means I'm not switching between windows.

Also the lessons are organized by exercises and by completing them you gain score, and earn achievements. Each lesson tries to get you to do work for yourself but also comes with a hint button and some of the code filled out where needed.

It all felt very stream lined and simple, and at least for now I really looking foward to my futures lessons, which is such a difference compared to almost any other programming lesson, which to me seam to normaly come in walls of text that are not very clear.

The weekly course does not look like it will be strictly for one programming language, however it does look like javascript will be focused on alot. (Everything seams to be getting web based these days.)

UPDATE:

I have now completed the noraml easy lessons as well as their currently availble extra lessons except for 2 questions in JavaScript Quickstart guide, its lesson 8, Q: 7 and 8 so if anyone can help me with those two questions, that'd be greatly appreciated.

Also if your new to codecademy don't worry about me being stuck their its a more advanced lesson and not one that you ever even need to do.

HTML5 Games

I have figured out how to share HTML5 games and think it might be a good thing that Construct 2 uses HTML5, as the games are played through your internet browser. (you need to be updated to the latest ones, though)

So it here is the first pre-alpha of my currently mentioned project. It is nothing more then Princess Toadstool jumping around an unfinished level recreation. Using the arrow keys and shift.

Link Removed!


Also here is what I got when finishing the first tutorial for Construct 2. It seams to have some key press issues but I have it using WASD and mouse to shoot.

Link Removed!

Micro Blog

I added a twitter feed to the right so I can post small things to the blog without making an entirely new post. That way I can keep a more up to date feed of what I'm working on.

The New World

I am still hoping for a Zombie Apocalypse, or maybe for 60 percent of the population to just vanish, but even if nothing cinematic does happen, I still think the world of 2012 is already different if compared to the world 2010 and before.

Whats different? For starters people every through out the last year got of their asses and said I'm sick of this shit and starting protests and revolutions across the world. Egypt, Russia, Tunisia, America, everywhere.

Hackers and others across the internet are taking measures to protect people's freedom no matter what country they live in, including combating censorship harder then ever and even working on making an open source internet via satellites.

There is an ever increasing realization that in a world economy you first need a local Resilient Community.

In other words people are sick of relying on Mercantilism and Facism or any other form of unwanted control. I hope this all turns out for the best, and hope everyone will continue valuing freedom more and more.

So if this is how the old world ends, then maybe it is good enough for me. I only want two things out of life the first being love, the second being freedom.

Although Immortality would be awesome as well.

Announcing The SPiRiTLiNG Blog Alliance!

Since I no longer considered myself to qualify for the RPGBA but I loved being in a blog alliance. Me and Stateless formed a new blog alliance. We also began work on a website for it and making a logo.

As we are small right now we will likely expect each member to be active on each blog, but as we grow traffic will of course become more natural. We are accepting pretty much any blog right now. If you'd like to join post a comment below and also check out Stateless's Blog.

I am still going to leave the RPGBA image at the bottom left too support them.

Progress

I made much better progress as soon as I switched to Construct 2. I think I am going to ignore what I was planning and follow more closly to my minable mario idea. However my wife had the last couple of days off and I am now playing alot of Haven and Hearth. Also Construct 2 is designed for HTML 5 games so I'm not sure how to export quite yet as I plan to experiment with it, so I don't have an update to post at this time.

But here is Screenshot:

Happy End of The World!