Annmarie Throckmorton, M.A.
- Jun 25, 2021

I bought a MMORPG.

I reviewed twenty or so MMORPGs (massively multiplayer online role playing game), which are video games in which a very large number of people (throughout the world) play simultaneously with and against each other. Then I bought Elite Dangerous: Commander Premium Edition, $70! Before I could install it on my PC I had to reinstall the platform that it runs on, Steam, because it has been years since I have played a game on Steam and Steam demanded to be updated before it would let me play my new game. I have named myself Commander MissileArtemis to play in a game that promises, "Take control of your own starship in a cutthroat galaxy. Elite Dangerous is the definitive massively multiplayer space epic." I am stoked. Soon I will be cross-playing on my tablet or PC, whichever is most convenient at the time.

Bummer. Ever since the hippies of the 1960's, bummer has meant undesirable, unpleasant or annoying in a helpless sort of way, specifically an unpleasant experience such as a bad drug reaction, a failure, a flop. Yesterday the gaming platform Steam forced a failed, 12-hour install of "Downloadable content ( DLC) including "workarounds" onto my PC. This morning I wake up to find only an obsolete version of the game on my PC, not the spiffy new version of Elite Danger-CMDR ED that lets me land on planets, get out and walk around. "ED" describes it quite well. I got a refund, but no compensation for loss of time, effort, and enthusiasm.

Regardless, I will continue my quest for a playable online game, and since I have gone through the time and fuss of downloading the Steam platform, I will look there.

Sooo, since I plan to continue on, I uploaded the following five of my Gaseous Entities series to my Steam artwork public display, , and a new avatar:

(And, I installed a demo game on my Steam platform: Saturated Outer Space. Never say die.)