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He says that it was "irreplacable data". The whole point of a backup is that the data is trivially replacable, because it has been duplicated. I suspect his backup routine is rather like this one.

You really don't get it do you? Time machine is not just a backup, it is a lot like a repository such as SVN. It lets you find a previous revision of a file or project and save it out somewhere else to do a comparison or undo changes you decide that you don't want. It is an incremental backup.

He says that it was "irreplacable data". The whole point of a backup is that the data is trivially replacable, because it has been duplicated. I suspect his backup routine is rather like this one.

http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2008/4/23/

"Nowadays"? Penny Arcade was mocking this back in 1998. Hell, anyone remember Pac-Man for the Atari 2600? Game developers have been putting out buggy releases since time immaterial, I'm a little surprised that everyone angry at Bethesda thinks this is some emergent phenomenon.

I'm going to create my new product - The "Social Toilet"

Meh. It's been done. http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2008/4/23/

Obligatory Penny Arcade

Even then it can be... disappointing...

Oblig penny-arcade

Gonna need another ink cartridge for that. http://art.penny-arcade.com/photos/215175283_emzgz-L-2.jpg

I quit playing games on Facebook at about the same time I quit playing WoW. It took me playing Mafia Wars to realize how stupid it was to continue spending my time on WoW. Here's a simplified version of Mafia Wars and the two basic playing types for WoW.

In Mafia Wars, you have to complete "missions" which you do by simply clicking a button. The catch is that you only have so much "energy" that can only be refilled through time (or real-world money), so you have to maximize the profit (whether it be experience or in-game money) by choosing which button to click. It got to a point where I wasn't even reading the flavor text and I was just clicking the same button over and over again, just to go up a level so I could pick a different button to click.

In Warcraft, to get to the raiding level (whether that's 60, 70, 80 or 85), you have to complete "quests" which you do by moving through an area and killing/talking to NPC's/monsters. The catch is that you have to travel long distances that often take a lot of time (paid for only by money), so you have to find the most optimal path to do maximize profit (experience, money and phat lootz). Eventually it got to a point where I was just following the waypoints in the quest-helper generated optimal path and using the same spell/skill rotation just to go up a level or get a slightly better piece of gear.

In Warcraft, at raiding level, you have to kill bosses, which you do by getting a group together, repeating your spell rotation over and over again, and not standing in the fucking fire. The catch is that the bosses are kind of hard and you can only attempt to kill them so many times per week, so you have to make sure to fully optimize your character beforehand. Eventually it got to a point where I had to invest hours upon hours running around gathering consumables (or money to buy consumables), which basically devolved into repeating the same spell rotation over and over and over again(called "grinding" for a reason), just so I could kill the boss, get a random chance at receiving better gear, and then go forward and repeat the same process for another percent chance at slightly better gear.

The worst thing is that the skill cap for WoW (outside of PvP) is extremely low and the only way for your character to get stronger is through gear. Because of Mafia Wars and my 101 level of psychology knowledge, I realized that the only reason that I was sticking around was because of basic Pavlovian conditioning. That's when I decided that the $15/month was no longer worth it.

Now don't get me wrong, I enjoyed a lot of the time that I spent playing the game. I enjoyed learning the lore and exploring the world and making friends. But eventually, I basically "finished" the first two and I can talk to my friends any time that I want. I still enjoy playing video games and even other MMO's, but now I force myself to think about why I'm playing. The point where I no longer care about the backstory and *just* want to optimize is the point that I take a long hard look at the game and decide whether I want to continue playing or not.

Obligatory Penny Arcade

I guess the travesty that was Caprica makes more sense now. Thanks for posting this. Reminds me of this PA.

http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2008/10/10/

http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2010/9/15/

I remember this with Halo 2. Competing against racist seemingly tourette syndrome 14 year olds that must play 26 hours a day to perfect their 'leet skillz', when I just want to play a game and have some fun.

Hate to break it to you, but the only server that doesn't have some form of asshat on it is the one that you admin yourself.

You've never met the admin of the sites I admin...

Insert link to Internet comic regarding anonymity breeding douchebags here.

As ordered: http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2004/03/19/

I think the issue with that is that it's not really making it any more difficult...just making it longer.

I agree with PA on this-Halo on Legendary is a chore.

There was one exception in Halo 3 where this wasn't true, during the New Mombasa highway.

http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2001/02/26/

Chillax man.

Too much fussing about can cause snakedick!

That or change the ammo to something else even if it's against the rules: http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2006/01/04/

Reminds me of this comic about why games went XBOX exclusive.

Just yesterday I was in Best Buy and they offered a service to open the package for me. Given the tools I'd otherwise need, it was worth it.

Since you want to know: it's from Penny Arcade: The Series. Don't know if they took it from somewhere else.

http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2009/1/30/

I was obliged (very briefly) to develop for that abomination, and it's like Penny Arcade read my mind and put it into comic form.

You're a liar. He stole nothing. Next time why don't you post using your real name, or don't you have the stones??

Personally, I'm hoping for Meow Skywalker.

You're misparsing it. He's saying Lucas could have created two {more epic} {six film sagas}, not {two more} {epic six film sagas}

Of course, Penny Arcade predicted this a while back.

I hope you made the right choice and you're playing an Englishman.

"Absolutely awe-inspiring..." ~Some Newspaper

Uh huh, yeah, that's what she said.

Is that a reference to this Penny Arcade?

http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2008/4/23/

Just like that.

Penny Arcade had a great comic describing this very thing.

http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2010/4/7/

Because Microsoft has never confused us with a dozen different varieties of the same operating system. http://art.penny-arcade.com/photos/217488538_MN88A-L-2.jpg

True. Dell and HP never made it to the top of the PC manufacturer/vendor chain by distributing proprietary additions to the Windows operating system such as recovery tools, preloaded malware protection, various other "support" applications, etc, etc, etc...

Because Microsoft has never confused us with a dozen different varieties of the same operating system. http://art.penny-arcade.com/photos/217488538_MN88A-L-2.jpg

What's refreshing to see is a company that actually admits it was wrong, how often does that happen?

If you think Apple does so more than other companies in its industry, you are drowning in the Kool-Aid.

Obligatory Penny Arcade. Except probably swap from to to.

Hopefully you didn't promise anything like this....

http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2008/4/23/

I assume you are a twitter shitter?

Most of them are probably not amoral sociopaths in real life but I think John Gabriel's "Greater Internet Fuckwad Theory" explains it neatly.

http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2004/3/19/

One of the manufacturers- I can't recall who (gee, good ad)- dared to show the family sitting with their little goggles in front of the TV. That thing vanished from the airwaves faster than any ad I've ever seen. *Everyone* I know was making fun of it, young and old alike.

They need to overcome the goofy factor.

And this: http://art.penny-arcade.com/photos/932182163_EazuQ-L.jpg

I believe Penny Arcade has a pretty good stance on spoilers.

http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2005/12/5/

Or maybe

http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2004/3/19/

post AC just for extra irony :)

Like this sign http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2008/3/19/

Twitter shitters?

http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2008/4/23/

Penny Arcade coined a term for this: bullshot.

Still as relevant today as it was in 2005.

You'll be delighted to know that Penny Arcade just did a comic about you.

On the other hand, there is a huge demand for a good "Twitter Shitter" app!

Mostly because it is.

Seriously, they are about as unbiased on some topics (environment being one of the big ones) as Skeletor is regarding He-Man, and their idea of being fair is that they are completely open about being biased.
As if saying you are biased somehow "fixes" your cognitive bias and makes right of your faulty logic.

Also, books could be written and movies could be made about them cherry picking the worst samples and presenting them as norm so as to achieve a greater "look at the crazy person" effect.
And that is about as "fair" as presenting Charles Manson as a prime example of an American.

Obligatory.

MMOs make their games intentionally addictive. Nothing wrong with that, per se, and there's no reason to formally regulate it. The basic rule of "be responsible for your actions" should apply here, and to the extent that NCSoft making Lineage II addictive caused this guy harm, they should be held accountable. But, he's also an adult, and needs to have at least SOME self-control.

Your definition of either 'addictive' or 'self-control' is out of whack here. And I'm guessing that your 'adult' could use updating too ;)

Seriously though, ever since Diablo a lot of these games have been essentially Skinner boxes, and we know what those do to test subjects because we were awake in psych, right?

Ob. P.A.

The Fivefold Mother

Mandatory: http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2009/5/01/