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Lucky Wander Boy
It's the mid-90s and Adam Pennyman's got no particular place to go, so he finds himself in a Los Angeles apartment with a cranky soon-to-be-ex girlfriend and a copy of MAME, everyone's favorite game emulator. His collection grows until he feels compelled to document it, or his life as realized through his gaming, in an unpublishable text called the Catalogue of Obscure Entertainments.
Unimpressed, his girlfriend starts edging out of his life just as a chance meeting with a former friend lands Adam a copywriting gig at Portal Entertainment, a dot-com ostensibly in the process of turning various videogame properties into movies. (The real business, of course, involves turning smoke and mirrors into venture cap; alumni of, oh, D*N or El*ctr*m*dia are encouraged to up the dosage of whatever they're taking to quell the flashbacks during the passages describing Portal's office culture.)
But Portal puts Adam within reach of the gamer's Grail: Lucky Wander Boy, a rare and bizarre game created by the reclusive Araki Itachi. Lucky Wander Boy was years ahead of its time, and so intricately coded that no one, no one, ever reached third level. Or have they? Adam nearly did once, long ago, and has been haunted ever since by a memory of gameplay that just couldn't have truly happened... could it? Adam will go far to find out. Very far indeed.
I love me some metaphysical conceits in my fiction, so strictly for the description of the Lucky Wander Boy game I'd rate this book highly. (It doesn't exist. It couldn't exist. I want it to exist. Dammit.) The author's done a fine job capturing a certain kind of thinking that occurs when smart people start reading deeper meaning into their obsessions.
Adam's ruminations on many of the classics (Pac-Man, Microsurgeon, Donkey Kong, Super Mario Bros., et al.) ring player-true -- which is why it's so glorious and scary when he goes off the rails with you right beside him. If you played in the days when primitive graphics and freshly-minuted archetypes made gameplay somehow even more addictive, this book will cause howls of recognition. Best of all, it's well-written and for the most part affectionate to the subculture; be glad this quasi-historical novel was written by the promising Weiss and not by that maiden aunt of yours who wouldn't let you have any more quarters.
You can purchase Lucky Wander Boy from bn.com. Slashdot welcomes readers' book reviews -- to see your own review here, read the book review guidelines, then visit the submission page.
We'll correct the oversight of games not being recognized as a part of pop culture by writing a book about them?
where Lucky Wander Boy becomes the 43rd President of the United States?
so he finds himself in a Los Angeles apartment with a cranky soon-to-be-ex girlfriend and a copy of MAME,
Right here is where the story would lose me. It is nigh impossible that some nerd with MAME whose mission is to seek out this one mythical video game is going to have a girlfriend in the first place.
If it were a movie I'd be screaming at the screen.
So why haven't the arcade games so formative to geek youth (okay, geek 30somethings, young in the glory days of arcade play) gotten their due from the rest of popular culture?
Am I the only one who saw Tron? Last Starfighter? Mario Brothers?
Would an InSync ballad to Centipede be what you are looking for? Popular culture has been riddled with the games I loved to play. And vice versa. This whining is unseemly.
It's hard to believe that's how Micronians are made. Why don't we see it right now by having you both kiss one another?
It would take time away from gaming.
Cunning linguists
There are great games now. I particulary liked The Lost World!
My website
Since you brought it up, how much money DOES Hollywood and the recording industry bring in every year compared to the computer industry/software companies? Hollywood and the record companies seem to be the ones pushing for severe restrictions curtailing our computing equipment.. is it a case of David pushing Goliath around?
I spent a whole day when I was 12 with a single ten pence piece, playing Wonderboy in monsterland, my score at the end of it was 867,000 odd and I was quite proud.
Previoud high score just scraped in at the 80k mark.
I didn't win the weekly high score prize because my dad owned the said arcade.
Shame. Was a fiver. Could get chips, a litre of cider, and a spccy game in them days. With change. Didn't drink mind you.
I'm trying.... One of the most random books reviewed on /. I've ever seen.
Where *does* pacman go?! Arghh
Does it include his arch-nemesis, Nastyman?
Anyone else think the Lucky Wander Boy looks a little like Buddy Lee?
No really, where do they go? That little door int he screen. Where do they go?
Where does the me go?
Yeah, but where does the meat go?
written by the promising Weiss and not by that maiden aunt of yours who wouldn't let you have any more quarters.
Who needed quarters? Didn't you read the Jolly Roger Cookbook? Getting arcade games for a penny instead of a quarter. Or mabye I read that somewhere else. Flicking pennies up the coin return and getting credits. woohoo.....
-Tolerate my intolerance
As far back as 1981, the videogame industry was pulling in more than Hollywood and Vegas combined; that year it raked in $5 billion, and for the most part did so one quarter at a time.
this seems like wishful thinking. Perhaps Hollywood could not have been a 5 billion dollar market (back then there probably weren't videos, dvds, omnipresent cable tv, product placement, etc.), but Vegas ?!? i really do not think there was a domestic market bigger than Vegas in 1981. maybe DoD... and oil... and cocaine...
sorry, off topic.
I was thinking of how to intentionally fail my drug test... It would make a good memoir story someday.
"So why haven't the arcade games so formative to geek youth (okay, geek 30somethings, young in the glory days of arcade play) gotten their due from the rest of popular culture?"
Let's see...there have been pop songs about arcade games, movies based on arcade games, movies about people playing arcade games, movies about people arcade video games, television cartoons based on arcade games, and almost every household you see on tv in US of A has at least one video game system.
Yes, there is no Hollywood 'walk of fame' star for gaming, but what kind of 'due' do you expect?
I think the important question is, why does every video game on tv sound like Pac Man for the 2600?
if they weren't important, i wouldn't have built my own
Anyone that makes it to the third level gets a visit from Robert Preston.
Arcade's weren't a fad, they just didn't upgrade at the speed of consoles, so consoles caught up and passed up arcades. Why would I fork over $0.50 a game when I could spend $50 for the entire game, and not have to leave my house (plus better graphics, saved gameplay, and no smoke)?
Good quote, too many chars. Seriously, the slashdot 120 char limit sucks!
Adam is a very sad little boy.
Mix the failings of Usenet with the shortcomings of the World Wide Web and the result is slashdot.
Now everyone has consoles. And the internet.
:
Unfortunately, if you want some real physical companionship, you have to either
1. Find a friend, or someone who will pretend to be your friend whilst you have a superior console or more games
2. Go into said arcade, and risk the consequences.
Disco might not be the same as it was in the 70's, but disco music has consistently proven to be a money spinner.
Many of the latest cuts from the top DJs are remixes of older tracks, and in the late 90's there was a definite 'disco vibe' to a lot of the commercial club output.
Recent club music seems to be having a bit of an 80's resurgence (as does European pop music in general - for proof, listen to 'Freak Like Me' by the Sugababes).
Disco culture, however, has proven popular since the 70's. If you're in the US, just take a look at some of those candy ravers and you'll see what I mean.
mogorific carpentry experiments
I wonder if this name has any link (in either direction) to Lupus Yonderboy, in _Neuromancer_?
Comment removed based on user account deletion
I thought the subject said Lucky Wanker Boy.
Note to self: get smarter troll to guard door.
I started with pinball: Gone by the wayside.
...
Now it's AC2: will be gone in 3 years
I moved to Space Invaders: Gone as well
Such is life, such is the way of world and all pop culture. What can I say Shit Happens!
Where else can you really obtain a true High Score and true infamy?
Think Frogger seinfeld ep.
Virtually every other game can be tampered with, patched, repatched, exploited etc. Plus noone knows who you really are.
So next time you see an arcade which doesn't have the default high score entries (they all seem to have them these days, pah, kids) think of the skills, effort and no-lifes that these people posess.
Then think that you just read all this comment, and whats worse, I wrote it.
A lot of people like to play old games like Donkey Kong, $YOUR_FAV_OLD_GAME. on MAME. However, I think the main draw must be the nostalgia factor, because I find these games to be boring after about 2 minutes of play. I don't think there is any merit to the "they don't make 'em like they used to" argument.
What are some of your old favorites?
mine:
Metroid, Zelda, Megaman, SMB, Tecmo Bowl (yeah, nintendo kicks a55)
I haven't read this book, and Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance(ZATAOMM) I read a while ago,
but it sounds like if you are interested in that sort of philosophy 101 kinda stuff (NOT an insult! I am very into the philosophy 101 stuff! I'd rather not read Kant) its got a video-game wrapper.
but it sounds like something I'd get from the library and read.
In the future, I would want to not be isolated from my friends in the Space Station.
Arcades were /always/ full of freaks, they're just no longer /your/ freaks.
"and on where Pac-Man went in that split-second between disappearing on one side of the screen and reappearing on the other"
There was a urinal just off-screen. You wouldn't think he'd drop his load in front of a crowd of teenagers, 4 ghosts and a bunch of cherries do you?
Megamania was the greatest game ever. I still play it. I think my high score was around 360,000. Of course, most atari games are superior to the crap they hock in stores now.
Anyone here ever owned an Aquarius? They had a D&D game on it--probably the best game I've ever played, I wish I could get a PC version of it. Oh well, back to reality.
Wer mit Ungeheuern kämpft, mag zusehn, dass er nicht dabei zum Ungeheuer wird. --Nietzsche
Dramatic Interlude
It seems that video games occupy a certain space of popular culture and that it is only slowly expanding beyond that. The geek influences are still in place even though they're mass market items. When I am interested in a new video game or a new system, I don't check the mainstream news outlets, I go to a video game website or read a video game magazine. Comparing this to when I want to read a review of a new movie - just open the newspaper or just watch the trailer on TV and judge it from that. Video games have clearly broken out of the niche of being a toy for kids BUT the marketing of them seems to be stuck in a limited circle. Of course, maybe this is a good thing - perhaps it's the fact that people are interested enough in video games to seek out information about them, without huge marketing budgets pushing them down our throats, that shows just why the video game industry pulls in so much more money.
Oh also, the Mario Brothers movie was crap. I think that stunning pile of dog feces shows that a lot of people outside of the video game industry just don't get it - they don't have the ability to translate because their heads are stuck in Hollywood mode. All they did for that wretched mistake was take the basic characters from the game (two Italians, one wearing red, the other wearing green) and throw them into a run of the mill crap movie. There was no real use of the dynamics of the games. Video games are different. :D
I hate liberals. If you are a liberal, do not reply.
...at my boxing class. I won't ruin the "mystique" except to say he's a really nice, smart guy with a genuine love for video games.
I read the book too, and I agree very much with the review. The excerpts from the "Catalogue of Obsolete Entertainments" were my favorite part - some very canny insights into old-school arcade games. I particularly liked in one section where on of the character starts critiquing the catalogue in a manner that completely echoed what I was thinking...
Go read the book, it's cool!
grib.
maybe
"I still prefer battling it out with another live human in a game of Mortal Kombat or Street Fighter 2"
Me too, however I get the same thrill matching wits and reflexes while playing Quake/UT/etc. online. It's nice to play for free and I don't have to leave the house.
The other nice thing is no one complains that I am stark naked.
When the only tool you have is a claw hammer every problem starts to look like the back of someone's skull.
Behold! I give you CmdrTaco!
"Lord, grant that I may always be right, for Thou knowest that I am hard to turn" -- A Scots-Irish prayer
Even the coolest video games only cost a quarter! Now anything more advanced then a 1994 version of Street Fighter costs at least 50 cents, and I've seen some that take a doller to two dollers just so you can lose after one try.
That's the reason I was turned off from arcades, dagnabbit.
OT: I think the best baseball game ever made was SNK "Baseball Stars" for the NES. I've yet to seen one be as fun as that.
"I only speak the truth"
Karma: null(Mostly affected by an unassigned variable)
God. I have a wife. I have a copy fo MAME. I'm a hard core nerd, my day job is coding z80 ASM for ATM's, my hobby at night is making video games. Yet, I've dated a lot, had a lot of girlfriends, and don't understand this geek steroetype BECAUSE NO ONE I HAVE MET HAS EVER BEEN ONE. And I know alot of nerds.
God. You know what's unbeleivable? Somebody so stupid they actually would place their suspension of disbleif in something so bad as a stereotype. 1. It's fiction. So suspend away NONE OF IT IS REAL. 2. That would be like saying "God, this cop-buddy comedy with a black man in it isn't racist enough in it's portrayal of a subculture.".
click me
Anyone remember this blockbuster? Captain N: The Game Master http://us.imdb.com/Title?0096554
I'm sorry, but every time I see this title I think "Happy Fun Ball" for some reason.
Do NOT taunt happy fun ball...
.Information doesn't want to be anything
Since this book is about geeks and games, I think its kinda appropriate that Amazon's "Customers who shopped for this item also shopped for" list contains: The Definitive Book of Pick-Up Lines. :)
I would think the holding of video game controllers and the dialogue about, "Hay, let's play video games" would clue the viewer they're not watching a show about people watching car races. And it's not "Pac-man or Space Invader sounds" or a composition of stereotypical video game sound, it's Pac-Man for the Atari 2600.
I've heard it on at least a dozen different sit coms, for range of game--road racers, FPS, etc. I can't be the only person who's noticed this.
I think that this perception is what the article summary was talking about. Video games are a part of pop culture but people think they play a much smaller role than they do.
Interesting analogy with the butler there; very true. No one wants to solder anymore! - those wimps
I hate liberals. If you are a liberal, do not reply.
because of games, so I see it as a positive aspect.
So why haven't the arcade games so formative to geek youth (okay, geek 30somethings, young in the glory days of arcade play) gotten their due from the rest of popular culture?
As mentioned, this isn't exactly accurate. Arcades were and are still very much of an either/or proposition: Either you went, or you did not; and the folks in the later case greatly outnumbered those of us in the former. Yet anthor example of being good vs. being popular. If this doesn't make sense, watch Tron a couple of times through.
mark
If you played in the days when primitive graphics and freshly-minuted archetypes made gameplay somehow even more addictive, this book will cause howls of recognition.
I feel priveleged to have been born in '68, because I got to experience arcades at the height of their glory. Best arcade I ever went to: Spaceway Raceway in Springfield Mall. Actually, there were *two* arcades in Springfield mall during the 80s--IIRC, they were both called "Timeout" at one point. The Spaceway Raceway was the one that was remodeled to include a circular electric bumper-car track.
The important thing is that the arcades were DARK. This cannot be stressed too much. Also, games were new, we were young, and this was "cutting edge technology that nobodoy knew where it would take us". It was soooo... easy to get "lost" in this fantasy world... perhaps too easy. I honestly believe I was addicted to games at one point.
Timeout is still there, but SWRW was turned into something else... not sure what. The beginning of the end came for me when games started getting "cartoony" and I learned to drive. Then they started turning on lights in Time Out. They started turning on lights in all the arcades, reason given was that drug deals and pick-pocketing were going down. Lousy people always have to spoil it... but perhaps this was part of the "Star Wars Cantina" low-grade danger that made the places so appealing... that, and the fact that I had to ride my bike pretty far to get there.
It all fell apart when I went to college. Even before that, they were losing their luster. And, when you can drive a car, there are much more interesting places to go...
Of course kids these days have better tech, but I can't help but think they are deprived. There tech is too good. No epic bike rides for gaming... they sit on their butts too long... the effect of the tech and the direction it will take seems more predictable.
Games now? I fire up Quake once in a while when I'm frustrated with something, but that's it. The addiction left, as mysteriously as it came.
For all intensive purposes, "whom" is no longer a word. That begs the question, "who cares"?
Acording to Forbes Magazine, the Video Game Industry made closer to 10 billion in 2002. Thats in the US alone.
Friday nights at the arcade with the tokens lined up 4 rows deep on the donkey kong machine. oh, and you could actually smoke while you played your video game if you were so inclined.
That was back when pacman for the 2600 looked liked dog shit, but you still put your order in months in advance to plop down your $50. I guess this wa '82'sh.
I guess when the graphics on your x-box are just as good or better than anything in the arcades these days, there's not much point of an arcade. Kindof a shame though. Something about the dark arcades, with all the different sounds and music(everybody hating the manager/token-boy), beating each other's high scores, just doesn't cut it while sitting on your couch.
Maybe arcades will make a comeback with some kind of advanced virtual reality system with full tacticle/pressure suits. Who knows.
I'd like to issue a formal complaint concering your stark nakedness.
-prator
The least you could fucking do is get the lyrics right, asshat. Quit karma whoring for "Funny" (especially since this'd be "Redundant", see the link to the Wonderboy lyrics above). Die now, thanks.
nothing beats playing super mario 3 for sexual favors either. A favorite game for me and my wife- - heh.
click me
Hollywood makes FAR more than the gaming industry. Always has and will for at least a long time yet. This myth about the gaming industry making more than Hollywood began because it was reported that the game industry had surpased BOX OFFICE receipts (true, BARELY). This turned into, "Games are bigger than movies!"
Nope, isn't even close. Once you include DVD sales/rentals and such, Hollywood is way above and beyond the gaming industry.
so there unless my wife drops out of the sky, I think I'll be sexually frustrated until I get home from work.
click me
brings a whole new meaning to the name "space invaders".
Of course, with the PSX/2 vibrating function, it's almost as if the controller was asking for it.
click me
Oops...I meant B as in billion, not M.
QED
I can totally relate to the main character in the book wanting to find an old arcade game. In fact I was looking for Turtles by Konomi, 1980, a couple years ago, and couldn't find it. Then, enter MAME, and a seach for the rom - voila. Now I'm happily playing it. www.mame.dk/gameinfo/turtles/
My Journal.
Here's what the September 2002 issue of Business 2.0 magazine had to say about this myth.
Videogames Vs. Hollywood
You've probably heard that the videogame business is now bigger than the movie industry. Don't believe the hype. The reality: Videogame sales last year still trailed Hollywood box-office receipts (not to mention books and music). Throw in revenues from VHS and DVD sales and rentals, and game software becomes a distant also-ran.
Share of the entertainment dollar, 2001 (TOTAL: $59 Billion)
Video (VHS and DVD): 28%
Books: 28%
Movies (box office): 14%
Music: 19%
Videogames: 11%
'Lucky Wander Boy'? 'Araki Itachi'? Nostalgia instead of appreciation? Oh... just, *cringe*
Preferences > Homepage > Customize stories on homepage > Authors > Zonk > Uncheck
i'll remember that next time I'm typing in a response to a post that will maybe last a day or two on the internet, you shit for brains.
click me
you didn't have to slam my wife. First of all- not fat, but like you would know in the first place. Of course, if you knew anything about women, you'd also know how utterly cruel of an insult this is. No matter how thin the woman is, a sentance like that could send her into extrememly deep depression.
only a real prick would say something like that off-handedly.
Joke or not, I hate these stereotypes. So far, I've met no one who fit into it. To me, it's about as bad as saying "All mexians or lazy". It's not there for a reason, other than as a self-perpuatating myth. You enjoy perpuatating it because of the positive aspects of the stereotype.
click me
To me arcades were a kinda of heaven. A place of escape and fantasy. The arcade machines themselves were visual works of art expecially in the low light. I think the art portion is not appreciated as much. It wasn't complex most of the time but from a visual stand point they are\were brilliant. Down the line I plan on buying a bunch of old games and some new ones. So lets hear it everyone. What was your favorite, nostalgia video game. Not necessarily the best game you liked but the one that helps define arcade to you.
For me it's Star Castle or Star Wars Arcade. Love those vector graphics!
scaring the crap out of the two chinese girls that share an office with me. I knwo, I can claim I really love programming, and that I'm just typing really fast....
click me
Unfortunately, I had the displeasure of reading this book. While the subject matter is right up my (and most slashdotter's) alley, the author lacks the ability to actually present characters, and a story that is worth reading. It's like watching a documentary on the discovery channel with the volume turned all the way down. You're pretty sure it's supposed to be something you like but by the end, you never really got anything useful from it.
If you're considering buying this novel, don't. It's really bad, even if you are a videogame geek.
That was really damn rude of him. I wonder why he thinks the geek stereotype is true? Maybe it's easier to blame something outside fo your control rather than to admit that saying shit like that will drive girls away faster than rotting meat tapes to your genitals.
click me
Of course, your figures are also for 2001 (a bad year, just before CameCube and Xbox kicked in).
Hmm, MAME has a facility for hacking/cheating games, kind of like Game Genie / Gameshark for console systems. I wonder if the protaganist considered looking for some cheat codes to help get through that level...
SO YOU'RE GOING TO DIE: The Comic for Dealing with Death
why does every video game on tv sound like Pac Man for the 2600?
Ugh. The 2600 version has the worst sound fx of any version I've ever heard. Eating the dots sounds like "gonk gonk gonk gonk" instead of the authentic "waka waka waka waka".
I just want to know if the moderator who rated this interesting was interested in the fact you play FPS's online, or that you do it naked...
...I think you meant to say non-fucking geek steroetypes.
Either that or you're thinking of a different one than I am.
"There are people who do not love their fellow human being, and I _hate_ people like that!" - Tom Lehrer
I almost shot soda out my nose when I read this....lol...
They stuck me in an institution, said it was the only solution, to...protect me from the enemy, myself
NO TEXT!@
click me
but i've also had very little sleep today...so i probably should have phrased it better. but I didn't.
click me
Horace goes Raving
Horance goes bungee jumping
Horance goes mental
Horace get aquitted
Horace and the Happy Hairy Humping Heathen Hippies
Horace on Mars
Horace does Slashdot
Horace get First Post
Yet, I've dated a lot, had a lot of girlfriends, and don't understand this geek steroetype BECAUSE NO ONE I HAVE MET HAS EVER BEEN ONE.
My God man, no wonder you've never met any stereotypical geeks! There're not going to be at places you MEET people! True geeks avoid social meeting places and if you approach them at work they just mumble something about staplers until you go away and leave them to their coding.
Want to find some REAL geeks? You need to stay IN more - go on IRC, start a blog. The geeks will come.
---
DRM is like antifreeze, to the MPAA/RIAA it's sweet, to the consumers it's poison.
my favorites from back in the day:
space invaders, gorf, donkey kong, joust, tempest, dig dug, wizard of wor, galaga...
now, i can't even be bothered to fire up my roomie's ps2, but i'd love to get my hands on any of the above consoles....
How many video games do you own?
How many DVDs?
Now consider that at least half the population doesn't play video games at all.
i never said i went outside. you can meet people online as well...
and why do you think I posted so much in this forum today? Because I am socialite? No. I too just mumble and etc when people try to talk to me (although not about staplers....mainly because there is no such thing as a red swingline stapler...heh) at work. But then again, I hate everyone I work with.
I do have friends in the real world- but since I've gotten married I much perfer stayinh home with my wife after work than going outside.
click me
I think the important question is, why does every video game on tv sound like Pac Man for the 2600?
;)
damn right! I've noticed that since the 80s up to present day. CLANK CLANK CLANK CLANK... so close to the original, too(!)
Is there some 'realistic computer noises'[tm] audio stock all non-primetime studios bought back in the day?
ermmm... don't take any notice of me... I'm too old...
Maybe he should have titled it "Pac Man Feeble" instead?
Just because you can mod me down, doesn't mean you're right. Shoes for industry!
They weren't basing it on your previous purchases?
we all wish 43 had the attention span to get past the first level!
Ok, *now* I understand.
Yes. I agree. Pop culture has long since taken video games to heart, but the powers that be in Hollywood and the other centers of Big Media still don't get it.
Now, personally, I think that it's a generational thing. Oddly enough, given their core customers, media companies famously are run by guys (pretty much all guys) who are positively decrepit. And like Wall Street, the culture is so strong and pervasive that even if somebody isn't from that world, they ape its morés and behaviors to fit in.
Unitl the people running the studios and managing the papers/televison stations are of the generation that grew up with video games, and even for five or six years after that during the transitions in priorities and procedures, this will keep happening. If you look at magazine publishing, from GQ to TimeOut, they review video games just as they do movies, and have for years. So do pretty much all men's magazines (especially the "lad"-oriented ones), most of the hipper style magazines (Vice, not Vogue), as well as most nightlife guides.
Of course the weakness in this argument is that there is no reason that iD can't just write a check to ABC and have ads all over the screen by Monday morning. Why don't they? Dunno.
Me? I don't have a TV, stopped playing video games in the late eighties, and only keep an eye on this stuff as a media guy tracking buying and production.
When it comers to editorial policies, well, if you don't like the coverage, start your own news company.;-) But as for ads, bitch at iD or Blizzard, or Bungie, ILM, or these days the ever-newly-evil Micro$oft. They choose the ad pages. Until *they* decide to shift their media buys ain't nothin' doin.
Rustin
Data is the lever, rigor the fulcrum, brains the force that drives it all.
Well, that decides it then. I'm moving to Ohio.
Findlay, you say? Where is that exactly?
Rustin
Data is the lever, rigor the fulcrum, brains the force that drives it all.
No matter how thin the woman is, a sentance like that could send her into extrememly deep depression.
Yeah, right. Well, maybe someone extremely thin, like anorexic, but nothing you could say about my weight would send me into even a minor depression. I don't care. I don't even know my weight. Last scale I saw was in a doctor's office - he had no complaints. Call me fat in person, I'll wonder what you're smoking. Do it on Slashdot - I'll just figure you aren't good at original insults.
We had to make rules, tho, to insure the losing team wouldn't use a credit to upgrade to a Titanium Runningback or Receiver in between "periods" (there were 6 quarters in Cyberball)
Come and see the violence inherent in the system!