Gaming Site Reviews.. Real Life?

jbp8 writes: "There's an article on GameSpot reviewing the ultimate MMOG - real life!" The article gives real life an Editor's Choice award, focusing on issues such as leveling up ("Typically, a character will learn of the numerous viable career paths available by undergoing schooling. This can be a long and tedious process, equivalent to the sort of 'level treadmill' monotony that characterizes almost all MMORPGs") and player death ("..a serious issue in real life, and cause for continued debate among players, who often direct unanswerable questions on the subject to the game's developers.")

Comments

Damn ... !

[jayjaylee]

I should have taken the Red Pill.

Real Life is not a very fun game.

[HanzoSan]

Real life is about hard work, its about survival, its about solving problems, its about paying your bills on time, taking care of responsiblities, doing things you dont want to do because they must be done.

That is real life, it certain isnt a game,and its not fun. If I had a choice I'd choose to live in some of these game worlds over this one.

Oh, and you only get one chance, so real life is stressful as hell. Failure is not an option.

Re:Real Life is not a very fun game.

[gotr00t]

Then why do over 6 billion people still play it then? I'm not implying anything, but given the choice of staying in this not very fun game or ending it, the vast majority of people would say that they still want to stay.

Is this because most people are skeptical about what happens after they quit the game or because they're enjoying it too much? Even though it isn't "very fun"?

I think I speak for many of us when I say: "Life is good."

Re:Real Life is not a very fun game.

[CharterTerminal]

I think I speak for many of us when I say: "Life is good."

Mm, I don't know. I'd feel better about it if I could figure out how to restore from a saved version.

Re:Real Life is not a very fun game.

[packeteer]

I dunno man, take life as a game and it can be kinda fun. Remember nobody MAKES you pay bills. You spend the money in advance which means you need to pay bills later. You could run away and live in the woods if you really want to. Thats what makes life so great. There are much more paths of live than in EQ.

At least this world is fairly reasonable and you can figure out some of it after a few years.

Im not so sure failure is no an option. Im not suicidal but if you really think this world is no good you CAN leave. The best part about leaving is you dont know where your going.

The most important thing is thati dont know how to get to any game worlds (without a lot of drugs that is) so i dont really spend time deciding if i really want to be here.

Re:Real Life is not a very fun game.

[Poeir]

Remember nobody MAKES you pay bills.

You know I never really liked paying bills, I don't think I'm going to do that any more.

Re:Real Life is not a very fun game.

[mcc]

Well, from personal experience I can say that unsubscribing is a bitch. The customer service people have been instructed to hassle anyone who comes in saying they want to unsubscribe until they agree to stay; I know people who say they unsubscribed previously, only to find later that they were still being billed; and all the user interfaces through which you can have your account deleted are just plain user unfriendly. (I am beginning to suspect the "slit wrists" module, which is the one most of the help files direct you toward, is designed just plain not have any way to make it work at all. "Down not across" indeed, what rubbish.)

It seems to me that most people who want to quit eventually just get so frustrated by this sort of run-around that they eventually just give up and keep playing.

Re:Real Life is not a very fun game.

[Verteiron]

Actually, you can't go and live in the woods. At least, not for very long before you get either arrested for trespassing, or (if you own the woods) arrested for property tax evasion.

Re:Real Life is not a very fun game.

[cyroth]

The subgames are alot more fun. I have been playing Real Life for a while now, and one of the only reasons I got a JOB (legitimate way of making money in the game) was to have greater access to these subgames.

Re:Real Life is not a very fun game.

[Kenja]

Its people running the hacked client and cheating there way to the top taht are ruining it for the rest of us.

Re:Real Life is not a very fun game.

[be-fan]

Because in most religions, suicide is a sin? Actually kinda twisted when you think about it.

Re:Real Life is not a very fun game.

[ndinsil]

Who would fardels bear, to grunt and sweat under a weary life, but that the threat of something after death... puzzles the will, and makes us rather bear those ills we have than fly to others we know not of?

I knew they made us memorize that thing in high school for a reason. I just didn't realize that reason would be /.

Re:Real Life is not a very fun game.

[unborn]

So that's what it means when they say "REAL" gamers never restore from saved versions.

Re:Real Life is not a very fun game.

[usotsuki]

Yeah, people like me who have hacked system logic, and manage to convince the server to give them extra power...

(SSI because I have a mental illness)

-uso.

Re:Real Life is not a very fun game.

[CoolVibe]

+1 funny for the office space reference :)

Re:Real Life is not a very fun game.

[CoolVibe]

Yeah, take that BillGates character for example. I bet he used the money freeze cheat. Lamer.

Re:Real Life is not a very fun game.

[bluesnowmonkey]

I'm not implying anything, but given the choice of staying in this not very fun game or ending it, the vast majority of people would say that they still want to stay.

Naw, it's just that there's nothing better out right now.

Re:Real Life is not a very fun game.

[transient]

There's a difference between "want" and "biological imperative".

Re:Real Life is not a very fun game.

[z01d]

Is this because most people are skeptical about what happens after they quit the game or because they're enjoying it too much?

I know not what cause others may use, but as for me, I'm seeking for a better one, that's why I'm still here. If I quit, then everything is over. you see, I'm no skeptical.

Re:Real Life is not a very fun game.

[canadian_right]

Yes, one should work and pay their bills, but doesn't exclude having fun (at work if very lucky), and after work for all of us lucky to live in a rich part of the world.

You should compare your life an Israeli, Iraqi, or Burma before whining that "life is hard". Most of here at slashdot have it very good.

Re:Real Life is not a very fun game.

[RdsArts]

They stay for the same reason many people stay in these types of games:

THeir contacts all play
They still have friends in the game, that they don't have outside it
Boredom
Addiction...

I'd go as far to venture that many people playing, if given the option not to, would stop today, but a habit of playing keeps them going for "just one more month."

Then when the bills come, they ask it again, and just rationalize it.

Honestly, the game stopped being fun when the rares were taken out. Now it's just the same old 'crawl, and for little real treasure if any.

Re:Real Life is not a very fun game.

[canadian_right]

As far as I know only Islam and Christianity have strong anti-suicide rules. Other religions have weak anti-suicide rules, no rules on the subject, or in some cases, promote suicide (for the good of society, protect honour, etc...)

Re:Real Life is not a very fun game.

[antis0c]

Oh, and you only get one chance, so real life is stressful as hell. Failure is not an option.

Specifically you only get one chance? You know this how? Lots of religions belive in re-encarnation, which many embody the meaning of more chances. A lot of religions believe not only in re-encarnation but rather as a means to have a second chance at life, to do what you are suppose to do. If you succeed in doing what you are suppose to do, then you go to your religions "heaven".

I try never to speak in absolutes, so I highly doubt anyone has continued to re-encarnate and remember their previous life fully. Thats the difference between the real world and a game world. Sure you can die in both, but only in the game world can you learn from your mistakes and apply them to your second new life. Even if re-encarnation is true, its a clean slate and you don't remember what happened before.

Of course socieity in a way fills this gap through historical records allowing you to study others mistakes and learn from them. Thats what allows our race to grow through the centuries as opposed to doing the same thing, every generation, over and over like the rest of the animal kingdom. No other animal on earth can record and aggregate experiences like humans and continue to pass it down. I'm often saddened when I think of the Dark Ages, roughly 500 years of technological evolution halting with our own will. Had the Dark Ages never occured, we'd more than likely living in a world very much like that of Star Trek or various other Science Fiction stories. 500 years is a lot of time, over 10 generations.. Imagine 10 generations ago, then apply Moores law and fast forward another 10 generations.

That has to be by far something I wish was possible, and who knows, where-ever I go when I die I may be able to see mankind evolve in the future. Watching from above somewhere. Then again, its a very real possiblity that when I die, that's it. There's no soul, no spirit, nothing that continues on. My existance is merely the sum of all the cells in my body and an electrical current that runs through it, my only purpose on this earth to procreate and then die.

Scary thought.

Re:Real Life is not a very fun game.

[HanzoSan]

It doesnt change the fact that no matter if you live in a jungle or in a cubical its hard work, and its not fun.

Re:Real Life is not a very fun game.

[packeteer]

Exactly what i meant by my post. I guess that waking, working, and sleep isn't the worst life its also probably not the best. Living in the woods isn't the worst life either. Even though you are pressured to work hard in school then college then get a job that pays a lot that might not be what makes you happy. We all got pressured to get good grades in school, why? To get a good job? Sure thats nice but is that worth all the studying? Maybe, maybe not. I think i would rather have a job i like and spend the probably less money i would make on useful shit. I will use that money for something other than buying shit to compare to what my friends have in their house.

Re:Real Life is not a very fun game.

[HanzoSan]

Depends. In college after work you must study, oh and you need to sleep sometimes too.

You should compare your life an Israeli, Iraqi, or Burma before whining that "life is hard". Most of here at slashdot have it very good.

Isreali? They have it easy, we give them enough economic welfare. I admit Iraqis did have it hard under Saddam but Isreal isnt really all that bad, neither is India.

Most of here at slashdot have it very good.

I see you've never been young and never been poor, just because you didnt have it hard growing up doesnt mean everyone in the US has it easy. Some of us have to work for everything in life.

I suggest you try going to college and living poor for a while, in this enviornment its difficult to find work, and education is time consuming.

You dont really have time for anything other than school and work, you have saturday to do whatever you want with.

Re:Real Life is not a very fun game.

[HanzoSan]

"Thats what allows our race to grow through the centuries as opposed to doing the same thing, every generation, over and over like the rest of the animal kingdom."

So why do we keep having wars? why does slavery still go on? Why do we keep repeating ourselves over and over again?

Because History is pointless,people dont want to learn from their mistakes.

Technology has progressed well but social progress hasnt progressed at all, people still act like animals, why are people aggressive? Why do we have wars? Why do people abuse power, and human rights?

Re:Real Life is not a very fun game.

[ndogg]

Then why do over 6 billion people still play it then? I'm not implying anything, but given the choice of staying in this not very fun game or ending it, the vast majority of people would say that they still want to stay.

Us 6B people were forced into this situation. No one asked us if we wanted to live the existence we would potentially live before we were born. Once we're born, though, most of us are forced to continue living. Most of us don't have complete control over our behavior, and self-sustainance is one of those behaviors most of us don't have complete control over (if we did, I doubt our species would still be alive.)

Just within the US, almost 2.5 million people attempt suicide each year. Only about 30 000 of them actually succeed. Why do the rest fail? They fail because as much as they hate life, they're afraid of death by their own hands even more. Killing ourselves isn't natural, and so we're naturally averse to it.

Re:Real Life is not a very fun game.

[tenshioboe]

Then why do over 6 billion people still play it then? because: 1. you can't win. 2. you can't break even. 3. you can't even leave the game.

Re:Real Life is not a very fun game.

[mdielmann]

Because Real Life has an upgrade pack called Unreal. Of course, I'm a geek, and play neither Unreal nor Real Life - my time is consumed with Work Life and No Life.

Re:Real Life is not a very fun game.

[mdielmann]

I hear the shotgun account deletion method is effective, but it could be hearsay - I only have third-hand reports.

Re:Real Life is not a very fun game.

[mdielmann]

Actually, I think it was the map cheat. With his latest user mod, WinXP, he can see what's happening in millions of places without even having to produce spies...

Re:Real Life is not a very fun game.

[HanzoSan]

You get pressured to get good grades in school just to survive. This is global competition, capitalism is survival of the educated and death to all who arent. You have to be smarter than your rivals, you have to work harder, study more, and have more degrees just to survive.

Without a degree you cant even get a job in this economy, its only going to get worse with outsourcing.

? Sure thats nice but is that worth all the studying? Maybe, maybe not. I think i would rather have a job i like and spend the probably less money i would make on useful shit. I will use that money for something other than buying shit to compare to what my friends have in their house.

I'm not studying for money. You know why? money is pointless.Having more money is useless when you either dont have the time to spend it, or no family to spend it on.

Why do you need to make 100,000 a year salary just so you can live in an apartment or house by yourself? Is that logical?

Although some people do this, and their life is so pointless that I dont understand their motivation.
I guess I'm not selfish enough to simply be happy with making alot of money and owning alot of things.

Re:Real Life is not a very fun game.

[aeoo]

Simple. People are affraid to end it. And those who are not affraid often do not know how (a common mistake is to kill the body).

Re:Real Life is not a very fun game.

[nathanh]

So why do we keep having wars? why does slavery still go on? Why do we keep repeating ourselves over and over again?

Because people make mistakes.

Because History is pointless,people dont want to learn from their mistakes.

This is obviously wrong. People wouldn't study history if they thought it was pointless.

Technology has progressed well but social progress hasnt progressed at all, people still act like animals,

I disagree. Society has significantly improved in the past few centuries. There are always going to be exceptions but modern civilised society has mostly stamped out religious persecution, slavery and torture. You have a reasonable expectation of social welfare, medical help, secondary education and police protection, no matter what your social standing or economic position. You have access to judicial representation and legal assistance. If you lived in Europe during the 1400s and you were not royalty or obscenely wealthy, then you would have none of this.

why are people aggressive? Why do we have wars? Why do people abuse power, and human rights?

Because people make mistakes.

Re:Real Life is not a very fun game.

[Steeltoe]

It doesnt change the fact that no matter if you live in a jungle or in a cubical its hard work, and its not fun.

"Hard" work makes you less lazy. Being lazy, laying on a couch, watching TV all day, eating grapes, is not "fun" either. Doing only "fun" things, will make them boring. There needs to be a balance. Consider this: If you were never bored, how would you know you just had fun? An opposite CANNOT exist without the other.

Then again, work is what you make it. The more you resist it, the less fun you will get out of it. Not because the work itself is bad, but because YOU RESIST!! You are being fooled by your own feelings. The work in itself is not bad, just as the icecream is not happiness itself. The thought of eating an icecream, makes happiness rise in you. It's already in you, you don't really need the icecream.. With the right attitude and knowledge, any work can become positive and rewarding. If not, maybe it's time to change?

I recommend yoga, auyrveda, meditation or just a good walk in the woods. You'll get a new perspective on life.

Life is what you make it. It may sound cliche, but that's because people just say it, they don't live it. Then the words mean nothing and are lifeless. Live it and see for yourself.

Re:Real Life is not a very fun game.

[xtianus]

Even if re-encarnation is true, its a clean slate and you don't remember what happened before.
Of course socieity in a way fills this gap through historical records

You might not remember them, but you are the result of your previous lives. If you achieve some spiritual insight in the current life, you won't need to learn it all over in the next one. It will be inside you when you'll be born again, even if you won't realise. This why I don't kill anyone now, even if I probably did 3k years ago (who knows).

It is not by studying history that civilisation progresses. Civilisation is about individuals living together. History is not about individuals: you don't really know what was in the mind of Napoleon as a man. Learning history doesn't remove fears, anger, greed from people. Only life can teach.

But learning through experience is not as easy as learning through reading.

This is why Real Life is not a very fun game:

1. you mostly level-up after a failure, after gaining consciousness of your limitations, after accepting the bad part of yourself.

2. because you don't remember being reborn, fear of ruining your precious only life prevents you from doing what destiny might offer you to make life itself more interesting

Re:Real Life is not a very fun game.

[xSauronx]

adn what of george bush? how many times do you think that guy got labeled a n00b...

Re:Real Life is not a very fun game.

[Steeltoe]

So why do we keep having wars? why does slavery still go on? Why do we keep repeating ourselves over and over again?

What else is there to do? Life is repeating itself all the time. Weather come and go, seasons go in cycles, there is day and there is night.

But everytime you expect something, something surprising will happen. Such is also life, you cannot expect anything. Life has abundant surprises in store for us.

When we go through something bad, it simply means we still haven't mastered it yet, there is still something to learn. As long as we resist the event, we resist the teaching, and we will go through it again. This is true, both on the individual level, and the mass-level.

The more we can let go of feverishness and the idea of how it should be, we can start enjoying how it IS and THEN we can really make a difference..

Re:Real Life is not a very fun game.

[Sklivvz]

You should compare your life an Israeli, Iraqi, or Burma before whining that "life is hard". Most of here at slashdot have it very good.

This is ludicrous... Very good compared to WHAT? One feels good or bad depending on his expetations, and I guess the expectations of an Iraqi or Israeli are way different from those of a typical slashdotter... So if someone feels their life sucks, who are you to judge? It probably does, in their own mind, and your smartass words will not help.

Re:Real Life is not a very fun game.

[Steeltoe]

The more you complain, the more you focus on yourself.

The more you focus on yourself... "Ohh, poor me. Poooor meeee...." It's the BEST receipt for unhappiness!!!

Life can be said to be hard to many people, but whining only makes it harder and makes you blind to other people's suffering.

You will never be happy as long as you feverishly focus on yourself. Help others, talk to them and LISTEN. If you must complain, then GET IT OUT ONCE AND FOR ALL! Climb a mountain and scream out your anguish, whatever to really get it out. You don't deserve to be unhappy or live a stereotype and dull life. Don't become a victim of yourself.

Are you really sure you are doing what you really want? If it's boring, maybe it's something somebody else made you do?

Re:Real Life is not a very fun game.

[xtianus]

"People still act like animals, why are people aggressive? Why do we have wars? Why do people abuse power, and human rights?"

Forget about people. Do you act like an animal, are you aggressive, do you start wars, do you abuse power and human rights? If not, then you have progressed since you were a trilobite.

You saw that lion at the zoo. How do you think he'll behave when he'll be reborn as a human being?

Real Life gives a chance to anyone. There must be a place where a lion-reborn can learn to overcome his aggressiveness.

There will always be wars and pain and abuse in the World of Real Life, because even the most hopeless players need a chance to level-up... or level-down.

... and I bet Real Life is no fun at all for them! P.S. I'm not saying that people who are suffering now (for famine, deseases, wars) deserve to suffer because they are on a lower level of the game. They might in fact be much higher in score than myself: less selfish, less cynical, more open-minded, and for sure everyone who is suffering deserves our help.

Re:Real Life is not a very fun game.

[thynk]

Depends. In college after work you must study, oh and you need to sleep sometimes too.

Sleep is for the weak and can mostly be replaced by strong coffee. You can train your body to get by on either 3 or 4.5 hours a night. That leaves between 19.5 and 21 hours a day.

I suggest you try going to college and living poor for a while, in this enviornment its difficult to find work, and education is time consuming.

I suggest you joing the military and living poor for a tour or two. Some of the times we had in the Army made college life look like a cake walk.

The point is - I enjoy Real Life (tm) because I choose to. I set my mood when I get up in the morning and while having coffee I tell myself "Self, today is going to be a good day because you choose for it to be so." Yes, sometimes it takes until the second cup until Self is willing to listen to me.

Re:Real Life is not a very fun game.

[HanzoSan]

Mistakes? War is never a mistake.

Re:Real Life is not a very fun game.

[HanzoSan]

I'd never be bored if I could do whatever I want to do when I want to do it, instead of doing whatever I have to do when I'm supposed to do it.

Then again, work is what you make it. The more you resist it, the less fun you will get out of it.

Work is not enjoyable, its too repetitive and I dont enjoy that. Also I dont like everyone I work with.

Life is what you make it. It may sound cliche, but that's because people just say it, they don't live it. Then the words mean nothing and are lifeless. Live it and see for yourself.


Life isnt about happiness or sadness, its about finding solutions to problems. There is an endless supply, pick one and solve it.

Re:Real Life is not a very fun game.

[Fweeky]

Is this because most people are skeptical about what happens after they quit the game or because they're enjoying it too much? Even though it isn't "very fun"?

Reasons I haven't quit:

1. Real Life sucks, but quitting involves the complete and utter termination of existance. Not existing has got to be the least fun thing imaginable, if only because you're no longer around to experience it. Ever.
2. Real Life sucks now, has sucked, and is quite likely to suck in the future, but there's always the chance that it won't. And even if it does, there might be some quite nice bits. Even a 0.1% chance of things turning out worthwhile is better than 0% chance of experiencing anything ever again.
3. Quitting is a one-way process. The lack of QuickSave and QuickLoad was a major oversight by the development team, and sadly looks to be extremely difficult to add after release.
4. Quitting is not a guaranteed process; you can get through most of the way only for the process to be interrupted, leaving the possibility of you being stuck only partly in the game, unable to interact with it properly. You'll quit eventually, but that might take years.
5. Quitting may also be painful, and ruin the game for other players.

I think I speak for many of us when I say: "Life sucks, but what else is there?"

Re:Real Life is not a very fun game.

[Allegro]

Perhaps its an instinctual thing. You know... self-preservation?

Re:Real Life is not a very fun game.

[Farscry]

Then why do over 6 billion people still play it then? I'm not implying anything, but given the choice of staying in this not very fun game or ending it, the vast majority of people would say that they still want to stay.

Well, if Elizabeth Wooley has anything to say about it, she would probably contend that the very nature of massively multiplayer games forces gamers into addiction. The games are designed from the bottom up to be addictive, regardless of how fun they are.

I have to admit, I myself have fallen into this trap. I find the crafting skills particularly addictive, especially the ones that are profession-oriented. I can't help myself; most mornings after logging in, I head to the office and work on my tech assistance phone skills. Sure, I'm sitting in a cubicle and not moving for 12 hours, but every once in a while I advance a level (which results in more money) or gain some bonus certifications.

Ah well, I suppose it's really the social aspects of the game that keep me addicted. Every once in a while I find a female character (hopefully not really being played by some 55-year-old man living in his mother's basement) who's really into H07 cYb0Rz. ;)

Re:Real Life is not a very fun game.

[nathanh]

Mistakes? War is never a mistake.

War is always a mistake.

Re:Real Life is not a very fun game.

[DavittJPotter]

You're very hot about this topic - there are several posts from you about how Real Life sucks so bad, and how people are stupid and materialistic, about how the human race is full of morons. If you hate your own life so much, why not do something to change it? If you think people in general are so stupid, why not work on a project to help change what you dislike?

You have a choice; either do something to positively impact your situation, or quit bitching. Bitching while doing nothing is truly lazy.

Re:Real Life is not a very fun game.

[theghost]

War is usually a bad idea, but it's not a mistake. You can kill a few people with a mistake, but you have to work at war.

Re:Real Life is not a very fun game.

[chaoticset]

Well, yeah, but the admins do their best to prevent it. Besides, when you start over there's no way to bring stuff with you, so it's kind of a moot point...

Re:Real Life is not a very fun game.

[Steeltoe]

I don't really want to argue, but feel nescessary to reply. Life as a game, is an interesting topic and perspective to me, because it touches my new-found lifestyle and interest. But please, do not think I think I know so much better (although in some ways, I really do *ha, ha!* ;*D). Or that what I say is the only truth I believe in. Opposites and paradoxes can coexist side by side if understood correctly. I merely wish to illustrate some points that can expand the view beyond the current horizon.

I'd never be bored if I could do whatever I want to do when I want to do it, instead of doing whatever I have to do when I'm supposed to do it.

First let me ask you to reread what you wrote. Just do it, and reflect on it for a minute.

Is this not the argumentation of a victim? As long as you're playing the victim, of course you will feel trampled and stuck. Being a victim, you force yourself to believe you have no choice, that you are stuck, have to do what your parents expect, that there is no way out, that this is how life is and supposed to be forever and ever. In fact, a victim will always identify with the victim-role. So, losing the role, you actually fear losing your identity. You think being victimized is what makes you You, but in reality you are much bigger than what you believe you are!

Just as the fear of death, we fear losing our identity (it's really the same), but our identity is what makes us small. When we think we are this and that, then we believe there are certain things we are not, and can never be. If I say "I am a thinker", then in the language that implies I am passive. But on further reflection, there is not really a connection there. To become bigger, I can be *both* a "thinker" and "active", if I so chose. Many people are just used to thinking small of themselves and especially of others (in Norway it's called "Janteloven"), they do it automatically, so many times it's even implied in the language. The book "1984" taught us that language-definitions is the worst cage the human mind can build for itself.

For the one who have little, having more seems an attractive prospect. For one who have a little more, they envy those who have the most. Those who have the most, fear those who have little the most! Fear is the main obstacle in life, and one who overcome fear, need nothing.

To overcome fear, we need to identify with being masters and creators of our own life-situation. Have you not lived for so many years? Were you a puppet all these years, or did you make choices? Even following other people's suggestion is a choice, one that we have to pay the consequences for!! Do you really want to continue doing it??

A victim can never resolve a situation exept by accident or mercy, while a master can. Who do you want to identify yourself with? What horse would you like to bet on?

You are sad or angry because you can't do everything your mind tells you you want to do. I tell you, if you got everything you desire, nothing would be attractive to you anymore. Is a über-spoiled life worth living? Some do, others envy them, but maybe you're supposed to live a different life, instead of the artificial stereotype life being pushed through media and family pressure?

As long as you believe unconsciously that you're a victim, the world will acommodate your belief with new "problems". In a way, you get everything you need, just not all the things you desire! Giving you everything without any work or merit, would leave you ungrateful. This is how much God, or whatever you want to call it, cares for us. Like a good parent, He/She/It doesn't want to spoil us. That is absolute love.

Work is not enjoyable, its too repetitive and I dont enjoy that. Also I dont like everyone I work with.

If work is not enjoyable, then maybe you should find something worthwhile and enjoyable? Or you can change your attitude to your work, or improve it. Do something about it, don't be a victim, complain and leave it at th

Re:Real Life is not a very fun game.

[i chose quality]

I don't know why, but somehow i read: "The most important thing is tahiti"

Strangely enough, I would agree with that! :)

Re:Real Life is not a very fun game.

[Carewolf]

Just within the US, almost 2.5 million people attempt suicide each year. Only about 30 000 of them actually succeed. Why do the rest fail? They fail because as much as they hate life, they're afraid of death by their own hands even more. Killing ourselves isn't natural, and so we're naturally averse to it.

No, they fail because trying to commit suicide for most teenage girls (the ones making suicide attempt) it's just a cry for help, and there is no point in crying for help if you're going to be dead. Most likely the 30 000 dead failed their suicide attempt, and ended up dead by mistake.

Re:Real Life is not a very fun game.

[IIRCAFAIKIANAL]

Heh, that's why Nethack is sooo much like real life.

Just like in Nethack, the Real Life devs thought of everything too!

Course, being a critical thinker, nobody has really ever proved who the developers are to me. Which is too bad, there's a few bug fixes I would love to submit... I know a few people who think they know who the dev is, but their appeals to Him don't seem to be answered....

Re:Real Life is not a very fun game.

[enronman]

Culture came to a halt durring the dark ages, technology actualy kept moving along. A book I read, "the medieval machine" went over all of this. Their were improvments in plows, agriculture, crafts ect. High culture is what stoped in the dark ages. The dark ages were a very practical time where people were doing geeky inventive things.

Re:Real Life is not a very fun game.

[grumpygrodyguy]

Then why do over 6 billion people still play it then? I'm not implying anything, but given the choice of staying in this not very fun game or ending it, the vast majority of people would say that they still want to stay.

To be, or not to be? that is the question.--
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind, to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune;
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them?--To die,--to sleep--
No more; and by a sleep, to say, we end
The heart-ache, and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to; 'tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wish'd. To die----to sleep----
To sleep? perchance, to dream. Ay, there's the rub;
For in that sleep of Death what dreams may come,
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause. There's the respect,
That makes Calamity of so long life.
For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,
Th' oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely,
The pang of despis'd love, the law's delay,
The insolence of office, and the spurns
That patient merit of th' unworthy takes;
When he himself might his Quietus make
With a bare bodkin? Who would fardles bear,
To groan and sweat under a weary life,
But that the dread of something after death,
That undiscover'd country, from whose bourne
No traveller returns, puzzles the will;
And makes us rather bear those ills we have,
Than fly to others that we know not of?
Thus conscience doth make cowards of us all.

Re:Real Life is not a very fun game.

[gjbivin]

We don't know how many players are sitting this one out, or playing in other, possibly better, game systems.

Re:Real Life is not a very fun game.

[grumpygrodyguy]

The most stubborn are the American Suburban people. Wake up in shitty generic apartment. Commute to work in car. Work in cubicle. Commute home. Go buy useless, generic shit to put in shitter generic apartment. Sleep. That's fucking pathetic.

JACK
There's always that. I don't know, it's just...when you buy furniture, you tell yourself: that's it, that's the last sofa I'm gonna need. No matter what else happens, I've got that sofa problem handled. I had it all. I had a stereo that was very decent, a wardrobe that was getting very respectable. I was so close to being complete.

TYLER
Shit, man, now it's all gone.

JACK
All gone.

TYLER
Do you know what a duvet it?

JACK
Comforter.

TYLER
It's a blanket, just a blanket. Now why guys like you and I know what a duvet is? Is this essential to our survival? In the hunter-gathered sense of the word? No. What are we then?

JACK
You know, consumers.

TYLER
Right. We're consumers. We're by-products of a lifestyle obsession. Murder, crime, poverty -- these things don't concern me. What concerns me is celebrity magazines, television with five hundred channels, some guy's name on my underwear. Rogaine, Viagra, Olestra.

JACK
Martha Stewart.

TYLER
Fuck Martha Stewart. Martha's polishes on the brass of the Titanic. It's all going down, man! So fuck off, with your sofa units and your green stripe patterns. I say never be complete. I say stop being perfect. I say let's evolve and let the chips fall where they may. But that's me, I could be wrong, maybe it's a terrible tragedy.

JACK
No, it's just stuff.

TYLER
Well, you did lose a lot of versatile solutions for a modern life.

JACK
Fuck, you're right.

Re:Real Life is not a very fun game.

[brakk]

I'm just looking for that damned Pause button. I need to pee!

Re:Real Life is not a very fun game.

[3Bees]

How foolish of me! Sitting in a small artificially lit, artifically aired (AC), enclosed box, typing TPS reports into a box shooting a constant stream of electrons straight into my brain could be fun! Why am I so worried abou the fact that the fat guy who comes around and yells at me every day is getting rich off of the pennies he pays me? I should just relax and enjoy it!

Hey dude, pass the Soma.

Re:Real Life is not a very fun game.

[Shawn Baumgartner]

Oops, I'm terribly sorry. I didn't mean to send several hundred thousand troops across this here ocean to run upon your shores all willy-nilly with guns a-blazin. I dunno what happened really. Guess that's the last time I mix beer with papaya juice. Well, hope you get all of the holes in your country filled, but I've got to go to my vacation home and get me a weekend of R&R.

Re:Real Life is not a very fun game.

[Gunzour]

Well said, Steeltoe.

HanzoSan, please take the time to read and think about what Steeltoe wrote. Better yet, after you do that, print it out and tuck it away somewhere. When you happen upon it again at some point in the future, read it again and see if your perspective changes.

You said something in another message about not being able to figure life out and wishing someone would share their wisdom with you. Nobody ever figures life out entirely, but there are people in this very thread who *are* sharing their wisdom with you. But the fun part of life *is* the ongoing process figuring it out. That's true with lots of video games too -- once you've 'solved' the game, it's no longer fun.

Life is challenging, and that's what makes it good. Taking on those challenges can be quite an adventure, and when you succeed, that's one of the greatest feelings there is.

I've been where you are; I know what it's like. People have to learn to take control of their own life, make their own decisions, and not let themselves be 'victims'. It's a slow process, and it can seem impossible, especially at first, but the rewards are fantastic.

People can and do check out of real life every day. They do it by engaging in some activity that lets them avoid thinking about real life. They resort to playing online games for hours on end, or drinking alcohol, or watching tv all the time, or gambling, or any number of other activities than someone can choose to turn to. When done to excess, it becomes an addiction and it often has a negative impact on real life. I've been there, too.

Re:Real Life is not a very fun game.

[Razor Blades are Not]

Real life is ok, but the down time is a bitch.

Re:Real Life is not a very fun game.

[Razor Blades are Not]

You don't like it ?
Quit !
Start your own company and pay other people pennies!

What's that you say ? It's not that easy ? Well that fat guy who yells at you did it. Didn't he? Oh wait? He's just middle management? So he's getting an ulcer watching his projected schedule slip because you're wasting time reading slashdot instead of working.. and getting his arse reamed by upper management.

Get some perspective.
It's hard to just up and change your career, but if you feel like you're hemmed in and can't blissfully slide into a new life, at least try and make the best of the one you've got.
Complaining about it isn't going to help you : it doesn't even make you feel better, really.

Re:Real Life is not a very fun game.

[johnkoer]

Us 6B people were forced into this situation. No one asked us if we wanted to live the existence we would potentially live before we were born

How do you know you did not have a choice?

The answer is, no one really knows for sure. If there is such a thing as reincarnation, there could also be a choice involved. Your soul could choose to live another life, because maybe you had fun in your previous lives and want to take that 75 year ride again.

Re:Real Life is not a very fun game.

[2short]

Wow, your life sucks. Actually, I'd guess your life is about the same as mine, it's just your attitude.

"Real life is about hard work,"
Hard work can be fun and rewarding. If it's not, don't do it.

"its about survival,"
In a lot of the world, maybe. In the US, (and pretty much anywhere else you have time to post to slashdot from), just surviving is easy. Even really stupid people do it.

"its about solving problems, its about paying your bills on time, taking care of responsiblities, doing things you dont want to do because they must be done."
Many people significantly overestimate what "must be done". You may find you are happier in the long run if you pay your bills, but if you start by not incurring more bills than you can handle, it's pretty easy to do it. In any case, none of this is what my life is about. My life is about playing peek-a-boo with my daughter, riding my bicycle, playing roller hockey, telling jokes, etc.

"That is real life, it certain isnt a game,and its not fun."
Life is absolutely a game. You get to make up the rules. Despite this, you appear to be losing.

"Oh, and you only get one chance, so real life is stressful as hell. Failure is not an option."
The conditions of success are entirely up to you, and you can change them any time you want, so you get new chances constantly. Failure need not be a possibility. Why be stressed?

its about solving problems, its about paying your bills on time, taking care of responsiblities, doing things you dont want to do because they must be done."

Re:Real Life is not a very fun game.

[DocTee]

there are some people that would say you do not need misery to appreciate joy - www.hedweb.org

Re:Real Life is not a very fun game.

[3Bees]

Start your own company and pay other people pennies!

That's definately the best way to make the world a better place and get the most out of life: do unto others 'cause they've done unto you. And definitely, positively, always allow others to keep doing unto others as they have done unto you. Remeber, thinking that anything better is possible is the worst of the thought crimes!

Re:Real Life is not a very fun game.

[HanzoSan]

I know what you are saying, I just disagree with you.

Is this not the argumentation of a victim? As long as you're playing the victim, of course you will feel trampled and stuck. Being a victim, you force yourself to believe you have no choice, that you are stuck, have to do what your parents expect, that there is no way out, that this is how life is and supposed to be forever and ever.

You dont understand my point, I dont consider myself a victim. What I'm saying is life isnt about YOU, its not about emotion. I can see you like to act all emotional, either life must be a great happy experience, or an extremely sad experience as if theres no way to live life without feeling one extreme or the other.

Its not that I feel I'm a victim, where did that come from? I just said life isnt a game. Its not about fun, its about work.

You are sad or angry because you can't do everything your mind tells you you want to do. I tell you, if you got everything you desire, nothing would be attractive to you anymore. Is a über-spoiled life worth living? Some do, others envy them, but maybe you're supposed to live a different life, instead of the artificial stereotype life being pushed through media and family pressure?


Actually I'm emotionally neutral. See its your own emotional thinking which causes you to believe I must be motivated by emotion. Emotion does not play a role here. Like I said, its not about me, I'm a part of something bigger and I'm playing my role.

Same goes for the people, but further on, they're a reflection of you. Do you see the popular people, what they do? They talk to everyone and take an interest in other people's lives. While how others treat you, is a reflection of what you think of yourself and how you treat others. Improving relationships with others, can really make you realize that other people are not so dumb as you think! Even though they can be stuck in silly things too, they also live, breathe, think, dream and learn.

Here you go again. I know how to be popular, theres benefits and drawbacks. I want to be balanced, I want to be known and remembered in a good way, I know if I became famous just as many people would hate me as love me, and I'd prefer to not be known at all than to be disliked by the masses.

I truly don't know what life is about, then it also has the most potential.


Life isnt about you and your emotions, life is about the role you play in this world, and the effect you have on other things which are alive. We all are part of a system, we all are supposed to be on a team even though we actually arent.

If you focus on the problem, it will grow bigger and bigger. When focusing on the solutions, you will become active and don't waste energy thinking about what you should have done. Again, be active, don't be a victim.

Once again you are assuming a person can be one extreme or the other. Problem solving is life, but when did I say I only focus on the problems and never the solutions? Don't assume stuff.

If the world was only bliss and happiness, the population would leave it because it would be boring. Or the minds of people would come up with something to fuss it up once more! The people make the time and place, so if they do not match, changes will occur.

Actually I wouldnt leave it, in fact thats my goal in life, to make the world better, hopefully something like that.

Some people just as mentally screwed up and cannot be happy in any world, but those people also do most of the damage which prevents everyone else from being happy, my role in this world is to fix the damage and solve the problems caused by others who were here before me.

If you truly want a change, then become that change with your own life. A positive change is absolutely possible and within your reach, you just have to reach out and do it.


What makes you think I dont already do this?


If this

Re:Real Life is not a very fun game.

[Steeltoe]

Personally, I'm against it. It's short-sighted and unwise thinking that spawns such technology to be used in a wide fashion. Because pain and unhappiness are responses from the body and mind, that something is seriously wrong and needs to be fixed. Without it, we are left numb, dumb and spiritless.

Consider abolishing all pain, you would burn up your hand on the stove! That is possible today, but nobody wants to do that..

Consider abolishing all misery, there is no longer an incentive to cooperate, abide by laws or have any ethics. You're thrown in prison or executed? No big deal, you're still HAPPY!!! :-))))

Misery stems from lack of wisdom. To artificially remove it, will create more lack of wisdom. Then there is no feedback to teach us about life, and the spiritual evolution will halt.

Talk to people who have been through a deep crisis. They will tell you, they learnt alot from it. Do you really want to take that away from people?

To use it to treat deeply miserable people, is another topic, but like lobotomy, any permanent change, is really a permanent damage. Humans need to express sorrow, not just happiness and smiles.

When you teach humans to express their feelings, use breathing techniques like Sudarshan Kriya, meditate, walk in the woods and about the beautiful vedic knowledge, then there is no need for artificial stimuli or mechanics to "improve" (read: damage) the already perfect nature we live in!

Re:Real Life is not a very fun game.

[Sanction]

Then quit piddling around with college and improve your life. It is expensive and time consuming, but very rewarding. However, if you are looking to make a better living, it is just a waste of time and money.

Re:Real Life is not a very fun game.

[Steeltoe]

I wish you good luck and that you accomplish what you set out to do!

You are right I assume based on what I read from your post, so I apologize if this doesn't apply to you at all. I must say, it has and still do apply to me though. I cannot think I have accomplished a realization of any kind, to make me dull. It's not really true in the highest sense, and it halts further progress. Maybe I wrote it more for myself, than for you, and I thank you for great inspiration!

You talk about emotions, and you are right they do not define life fully. Emotions are just the spice of life. They should never rule your life. They come and they go, and you cannot force them. Desire is really a desire for a certain emotion, which can be triggered by an event, and chasing that makes one unbalanced (passionate).

What you describe is called "dispassion". Which is a very deep spiritual practice (sanskrit: sadana), where you remain unaffected by the events.

However, I enjoy hiding my dispassion and displaying enthusiasm and joy, because it makes me not so serious and life more fun and enjoyable! Plus it inspires others to wake up!

I write this, so maybe others can be inspired too. Maybe not you, because you found your way, but there are many seekers out there.

I think your posts are great. It's good to get things out in the open, the way you do. You're not afraid of critics, and there are not many people posting what they truly believe and live.

Re:Real Life is not a very fun game.

[Sanction]

"I just said life isnt a game. Its not about fun, its about work."

This is actually a fully developed philosophy called Puritianism, which is defined as the fear that someone, somewhere might be having a good time.

In all seriousness, though, it is only about work if you make that your goal. We all end up working sometimes, but for most it is only 40 hours out of a 168 hour week, not even 25%. If you don't have a family to support or expensive desires, it doesn't even take that much. With a frugal lifestyle for a couple of years, you can easily get to the point where the only work you'll ever have to do is for yourself (cooking, doing the dishes, etc.) for the rest of your days.

Life is about doing what makes you happy and what helps you grow. Many people have tried the happiness through work/money path, and have found it lacking. Life as hard work, then, is hardly a universal definition. At best it can represent your current worldview at this stage in your personal growth.

Re:Real Life is not a very fun game.

[Sanction]

I guess our question is this: what, if anything, does make you happy then?

If things aren't what makes you happy, massive education and grueling work is not necessary for one without a family. If you aren't happy working, but wouldn't be happy being rich, what are you looking for?

Re:Real Life is not a very fun game.

[HanzoSan]

Oh please, you act like you never sleep?

8 hours of your day is work, 8 hours of your day is sleep, 2 hours of your day = preparing for work.

Then theres house chores and studying. 90% of a persons day is work, if they are likely they get a couple of hours to watch TV.

Life is about doing what makes you happy and what helps you grow. Many people have tried the happiness through work/money path,

I dont think life is about me or how I feel. I believe that my existance is more important than that. Perhaps you are selfish but not everyone does everything for emotional reward.

Also I'm not a puritian or whatever you want to call it. People can spend their life being silly and partying, its their life.

If you don't have a family to support or expensive desires, it doesn't even take that much.

I guess you've never been in college.

With a frugal lifestyle for a couple of years, you can easily get to the point where the only work you'll ever have to do is for yourself (cooking, doing the dishes, etc.) for the rest of your days.

No, you have to pay rent, pay bills, buy food, pay for education and trasportation to school and work.

The mistake you made in your post is that you believe happiness is essential to life. Its not.

Re:Real Life is not a very fun game.

[ndogg]

How do you know you did not have a choice?

The answer is, no one really knows for sure. If there is such a thing as reincarnation, there could also be a choice involved. Your soul could choose to live another life, because maybe you had fun in your previous lives and want to take that 75 year ride again.

Considering that maybe true, why would so many people choose to be born into destitution and abusive situations?

Re:Real Life is not a very fun game.

[Sanction]

I sleep around 6 hours, personally work around 4, that leaves plenty of time for everything else. If you choose to go to college, then you shouldn't complain about the cost. College is no more a necessity than watching TV.

For your lifestyle, why do you have to pay rent, bills, pay for education or transportation? With a couple of years of extra work and frugal living, you should be able to have a paid off house, mobile home, or boat. No more rent. If you choose the boat or mobile, your only bills are fuel and filling water, not exactly expensive. College is a luxury item, not a necessary expense. Transportation is only needed if you buy a home far from the rest of the things you need.

For the simple bills like gas and food, you should be able to pay it mostly from well invested (not risky) savings, or at most a very minimal work schedule of around 10 hours a week or less.

What I still don't see is what you think the point of life is? You don't want to work, be happy, make money, be poor, go to school, go without school, etc. Why do it then?

Re:Real Life is not a very fun game.

[HanzoSan]

I sleep around 6 hours, personally work around 4, that leaves plenty of time for everything else. If you choose to go to college, then you shouldn't complain about the cost. College is no more a necessity than watching TV.


I see you dont live in America. What job can you get in this economy without a degree?

For your lifestyle, why do you have to pay rent, bills, pay for education or transportation? With a couple of years of extra work and frugal living, you should be able to have a paid off house, mobile home, or boat.

What the hell are you talking about? Houses cost a quarter million dollars. I'll never be able to afford a house by myself but even if I did have a house, the property taxes are too high.

No more rent. If you choose the boat or mobile, your only bills are fuel and filling water, not exactly expensive. College is a luxury item, not a necessary expense. Transportation is only needed if you buy a home far from the rest of the things you need.


Boats cost more than cars, yes I could live in my car but I dont have a license yet.

Transportation costs money, I dont know where you live but you have to pay at least $1 to get on a train, and almost $1 to get on a bus, without a car you pay about $60 a month for a pass.

For the simple bills like gas and food, you should be able to pay it mostly from well invested (not risky) savings, or at most a very minimal work schedule of around 10 hours a week or less.


I'm 22 years old, not 50, what savings?! 10 hours a week? Ok let me explain. College costs $10,000-30,000 a year, the average wage for an uneducated college student is around $10 an hour.

This means I can make about 400 a week, when you take away taxes its more like 325 a week.

If rent is $1000 a month, thats 3 weeks of work just to pay rent.

IF you live with a roomate, thats 2 weeks of work just to pay rent.

What I still don't see is what you think the point of life is? You don't want to work, be happy, make money, be poor, go to school, go without school, etc. Why do it then?

People who go without school are bums, The life of a bum isnt any easier than the life of a student. At least when you are a student you get help from the government via financial aid, when you are a bum people spit on you.

You enjoy being a bum begging people for food, because without an education you won thave a job.

Re:Real Life is not a very fun game.

[TrixX]

I'm often saddened when I think of the Dark Ages, roughly 500 years of technological evolution halting with our own will. Had the Dark Ages never occured, we'd more than likely living in a world very much like that of Star Trek or various other Science Fiction stories.

The Dark Ages weren't too much of a halt as your Western-Centric mindset makes you think. It's true that what was the Roman Empire (i.e., most of Europe) became stagnant culturally for a lot of time. But other advanced cultures at the time (Arabic and Chinese, for example), keep developing at that time.

When Europe started to advance again, and travellers started going to the East and exchange knowledge, Western Culture adopted several of the advances, like positional-based number systems and gunpowder.

Re:Real Life is not a very fun game.

[Sanction]

"I see you dont live in America. What job can you get in this economy without a degree?"

Try looking around you. I have held a number of them, ranging from $40,000 to $130,000 a year. I don't have any degree. And yes, I have lived in America all my life. It may take a bit of work, but even a good waiter can clear $35,000 pretty easily.

"What the hell are you talking about? Houses cost a quarter million dollars. I'll never be able to afford a house by myself but even if I did have a house, the property taxes are too high."

Then move somewhere reasonable. In most of the country, houses in that price range are strictly the domain of the richest in the community. I only paid $130,000 for a 2000 square foot, 3 car brand new home in the most expensive subdivision in the area, with nothing but a stream and open land behind me. My property taxes are around $1,500 a year I believe.

Even better, just go with a very inexpensive manufactured home or trailer. It doesn't have the presteige factor, but you should be able to pay it off in a couple of years. Or, if you live on the coast, get a nice 30 or 32 foot sailboat. That is a great size for 1 or 2 people, and you should be able to find one in decent condition for around $18,000, or $25,000 in excellant condition. Once you own that, everything else is cheap. Right on the coast of downtown Seattle, the rich mans marina (where Microsoft execs park their yachts) Elliot Bay, would only cost you $306.41 per month. This includes trash, water, phone, and cable TV all paid. And Elliot Bay is seen as absurdly expensive by most boaters, you can easily find a slip for half of that.

Transportation is a factor of where you live, but usually breaks even. Either you get a more expensive place close to work, or you get a cheaper place farther out and pay to commute. If you go with the boat option, you are already downtown in a lot of coastal cities, and only need a bus pass for around $30/month. Heck, look at how cheap vacations would be too, since most of the vacation spots are coastal, just sail there and avoid the hotel costs, and get SCUBA lessons or something with the money instead.

"I'm 22 years old, not 50, what savings?! 10 hours a week? Ok let me explain. College costs $10,000-30,000 a year, the average wage for an uneducated college student is around $10 an hour."

If you are single, savings is not that hard. The continuing difficulty I see in your ideas is college. It is possible to make a pretty decent living without a degree, you just have to hustle a bit to get the job. I have already shown how cheap life can be, why do you need the kind of job that requires a college education then? Go to a coastal city, live on a boat for a bit. Your expenses will be very low, you will own your "home" very quickly, and if you see better opportunities in another city, moving is easy. A similar argument can be made for living in an RV, which is how my mother made a killing. Paid off "house", low expenses, and she can now travel to where the best jobs are, or with how cheap living is, just take a year off now and then.

I've been supporting a wife and three children for years without a degree, but I have lots of skills. I know how to use them together to be more useful to a business than a specialist out of school in many cases. College is a great way to learn, and a good path for many people, but certainly not the only way to make it. In many cases, you'll find that the money spent and wasted years really don't get paid back. The 3-5 years and $50,000-$100,000 dollars could have been better used, the years working your way up in a trade or company, and the money invested. Unless you specifically want a career in one of the few that requires college, you can make a great living without.

Re:Real Life is not a very fun game.

[nathanh]

This is silly. Google for "war" and "mistake" and stop wasting my time.

Re:Real Life is not a very fun game.

[Razor Blades are Not]

Again, you miss the point.

You are in charge of your life. It's trite sounding crap, but it's true. You and I want the same thing - a better world for all. But if all you're going to do about it is bitch about being paid pennies, then it's your perspective that's flawed, not mine.

If you are so far above the material concerns of getting paid less, you wouldn't have mentioned it.

Re:Real Life is not a very fun game.

[johnkoer]

Why do people jump out of perfectly good airplanes?

Maybe these reincarnates are doing it for the rush, or lack of a rush.

To each his own.

Re:Real Life is not a very fun game.

[HanzoSan]

"Try looking around you. I have held a number of them, ranging from $40,000 to $130,000 a year. I don't have any degree. And yes, I have lived in America all my life. It may take a bit of work, but even a good waiter can clear $35,000 pretty easily."

yeah just ignore the fact that WE ARE IN A RECESSION. We have lost MILLIONS of jobs. Yes before the recession I was making $35-40k a year myself, the recession came and I decided to go to college.

Then move somewhere reasonable. In most of the country, houses in that price range are strictly the domain of the richest in the community. I only paid $130,000 for a 2000 square foot, 3 car brand new home in the most expensive subdivision in the area, with nothing but a stream and open land behind me. My property taxes are around $1,500 a year I believe.

In Massachusettes a house in the ghetto will cost you about $200,000. Why? Because its in the city where all the jobs are, where the colleges are etc. I'm a college student, I'm not even thinking about getting a house, I may never get a house, apartment and condos however cost $1000 a month, with a roomate you can bring it down to $500-600 a month.

Transportation is a factor of where you live

Where you go to school and where you work decides where you live, not you. There is a reason most college students all live in the same general area.

Either you get a more expensive place close to work, or you get a cheaper place farther out and pay to commute. If you go with the boat option, you are already downtown in a lot of coastal cities, and only need a bus pass for around $30/month.

Yes because boats are free! So is the space where your boat is parked!
Be realistic.

If you are single, savings is not that hard. The continuing difficulty I see in your ideas is college. It is possible to make a pretty decent living without a degree, you just have to hustle a bit to get the job. I have already shown how cheap life can be

People WITH degrees are getting laid off from their jobs, 3 million jobs lost, yet you seem to think that me, a 22 year old with little to no experience is going to get hired?

MY uncle is a chef with 20 years experience, and hes working for a temp agency just like I am. In fact hes working for the same temp agency!

I've been supporting a wife and three children for years without a degree, but I have lots of skills. I know how to use them together to be more useful to a business than a specialist out of school in many cases. College is a great way to learn, and a good path for many people, but certainly not the only way to make it. In many cases, you'll find that the money spent and wasted years really don't get paid back. The 3-5 years and $50,000-$100,000 dollars could have been better used, the years working your way up in a trade or company, and the money invested. Unless you specifically want a career in one of the few that requires college, you can make a great living without.

No one is willing to hire me!!!! Why cant you get it through your thick skull? Theres not unlimited jobs, once they hire all the people who they are going to hire, thats it. You got lucky, try going for a job now in a completely new field which you dont have years of experience in and see how difficult it is. You wont even be able to find a job at mc donalds, people with degrees are taking those jobs too.

Go to a coastal city, live on a boat for a bit.

Boston is a coastal city, you come here with your boat and I'll move in.

Your expenses will be very low, you will own your "home" very quickly, and if you see better opportunities in another city, moving is easy.

What is the precise cost of living on a boat, where can I get a free boat? And I'd think if boats were so cheap EVERYONE would be living in them instead of in cheap apartments, projects, and other places. Prove me wrong.

Even better, just go with a very inexpensive

Re:Real Life is not a very fun game.

[couch_potato]

I'd never be bored if I could do whatever I want to do when I want to do it, instead of doing whatever I have to do when I'm supposed to do it.

Funny, I know a 4 year old who tries to use this exact same logic. "WHY CAN'T I JUST DO WHAT I WANT TO DO ALWAYS?" Then he starts with the screaming and beating his fists on the floor. HanzoSan has the cognitive abilities of a 4 year old?

Re:Real Life is not a very fun game.

[couch_potato]

No one is willing to hire me!!!!

Hmm, could this have anything to do with your attitude or social skills? Recession or no, I have never had any trouble finding jobs, I have no degree and I never settle for anything the doesn't pay at least $15 an hour, plus health insurance. I never have had any trouble making ends meet, and I live in one of the most expensive cities in the US, Anchorage.

A couple years? Theres no jobs, NONE. Mc Donalds is filled, theres no need for new waiters and when there is, the experienced waiters will get the job over someone like me with no experience in that industry. There is NO jobs.

"There is NO jobs." Especially not for someone with a limited grasp of the English language. Can't even get a job at McDonalds? GET REAL. Fast food has one of the highest turn-over rates of any industry out there. Period. The 'recession' that, in your eyes, is crippling the economy is NOT bad enough that people are clinging to their exploitative, dangerous minimum-wage jobs. Your posts are simply absurd. You, sir, are lacking credibility.

There is a little place where the rest of us live, it's a place called REALITY. Check it out.

Re:Real Life is not a very fun game.

[SkOink]

El Blockquote:

Specifically you only get one chance? You know this how? Lots of religions belive in re-encarnation, which many embody the meaning of more chances. A lot of religions believe not only in re-encarnation but rather as a means to have a second chance at life, to do what you are suppose to do. If you succeed in doing what you are suppose to do, then you go to your religions "heaven".

There are a number of ways to look at the issue of re-incarnation, but I'd have to agree with the original poster that we do indeed only get one chance. Think of the issue like this: Even assuming you do get re-incarnated, and some spark of your essence lives on in your new body, you still die. Your memories, thoughts, feelings and dreams all blink out like a candle. So even if part of your soul gets a continue, you're still very much out of credits. Personally, I could care less if my soul lives on, if my conciousness has to die anyways. I mean, what good will it do me for my soul to be re-incarnated as the next president, or even a Buddha, if I'm not around to see it? If you think about it, re-incarnation is as much a crutch for people to lean on as the idea of a heaven.

Re:Real Life is not a very fun game.

[Sanction]

If you're looking for ideas on how to get by better, it really is worth a shot. I'm not sure exactly where you live and work, so I just tried to find some general Boston area marinas so I can give you fairly accurate pricing for your area. If you know the name of a nearby bay or port that could help me to find a good match, and a decent dealer near to you.

I am drawing from a couple of your earlier posts where you mentioned an after tax income of around $375 per week, and said that you could get a roommate and get an apartment, at least for the short term, at $500/m.

The best boat will be a sailboat between 27' and 30', in good shape but needing you to refinish some of the woodwork. Depending on the boat, it will probably cost anywhere from $12,000 to $25,000, so your payments will be roughly between $250 and $400/month. The marina I found looks to be a fairly fancy one, it will run you from $280-$300 a month depending on if you're in a 27 or a 30 (they charge by the foot). This payment includes trash, water, power, phone, cable TV, laundry facility, showers, and parking. You will also probably have to carry insurance and such, which will run around $400-$600 per year, so around $50/month. This will run you around $600-$850 per month, and you will own it in 5 years, much faster if you can squeeze in a few extra payments here and there.

This would give you permanent housing for a while, the ability to sail to somewhere else on the coast for better job prospects, and you would own it. Even if you're still in college, this means that for not much more than rent would normally cost you, you could own a boat and live on it. You have the security of owning where you live, and the freedom to leave if the grass looks greener somewhere else. After the boat is payed off, you're only in for the slip, insurance, and maybe some extra for diesel (after you've had it a bit, you'll start wanting to travel some, you live in a really nice area for short trips), maybe $500/month at most.

If there is anything I can help you out with, like finding a good boat in your area or helping with cost estimates, let me know, I'd be happy to help. I know how hard getting started is, and I know how bad a recession sucks. I've spent my share of time working as a temp for BFI (the local trash company) during cold rainy weather, it sucks. I'm just trying to show you that there are some ways to improve your life faster, most people just don't know what great options are out there.

Re:Real Life is not a very fun game.

[HanzoSan]

What are you talking about? Get off your couch and do something.

You are talking about entertainment here, not responsibility. 4 year olds dont understand responsibility, I do.

Now shut up and go back into your cave with bin laden you troll.

Re:Real Life is not a very fun game.

[Catnapster]

So, what you're saying is that we should use natural methods of increasing happiness and improving our world.

And of course, your forum for telling everybody this is Slashdot Games, which is a pattern of computer code (written by humans) that exists as electricity (generated by artificial machines) in a computer, which was built by humans, with artificial materials.

If you're trying to convince someone to quit smoking, it's good to at least take the cigarette out of your mouth first.

Re:Real Life is not a very fun game.

[HanzoSan]

DO I need some kinda boat license or something? I dont know how to drive a boat.

The idea sounds cool if I can find some roomates to tag along and help me pay for the boat.

I see no point in paying $800 when I can pay $500, and I'd rather live with roomates than live alone,

Re:Real Life is not a very fun game.

[theghost]

Waste of time? No. It's an important semantic distinction. Mistake is the term that anti-war people use to soften their language so they don't have to run around saying "crime against humanity" and politicians use to cover up failures.

If you gloss over the deaths of thousands of people as a mistake, then you're playing right into the hands of those who see war as just another political tool to be used wherever and whenever. It's might makes right on a larger scale, but is that how we really want our world to be?

I think you and i are actually on the same side of the overall argument, but your dismissive attitude certainly isn't winning me over. However, if that's the way you would rather play out this conversation...

Go Google for "arrogant" and "prick" and stop wasting everyone's time.

Re:Real Life is not a very fun game.

[Sanction]

If you want a roommate, you will probably want to stick with a 30-32 foot boat then, some of the 27' only have one bedroom. Just keep in mind that the smaller boats are close quarters, and that can be tough if your roommate doesn't know how to pick up after themselves :)

I'm not sure what the licensing is like in Mass, they don't seem to have a good government website with that kind of info, but it won't matter at first. When you buy it, you can arrange to have it delivered to the marina you want to stay at, or being coastal, you can probably find a friend who can help. You can just take it under motor power, so they don't have to know how to sail.

If you want to learn a bit about how to go under sail you should probably start with Invitation to Sailing by Alan Brown. The "bible" of boating would be Chapmans Piloting and Seamanship, this will teach you things like the right of way rules, what naval flags mean (not used much, but it is good to know distress signals), basically the naval drivers ed. The final one I'd recommend is The Boatowners Mechanical and Electrical Manual by Nigel Calder. This is the best do it yourself fix it book out there. All of these should be in the library in that area.

There is a really nice community boating group in your area at http://www.community-boating.org/ that can help. The dues are $175/year, and that gets you all the classes you need to be a good boater, and can get you some practical experience to see how you like it. They also have a $75 45 day membership if you just want to try a couple of classes to see what you think.

And if you have a roomie, just charge them less than half, and make sure the boat is only owned by you if possible. It's nice to have a paid off home of sorts at 25, takes a lot of the stress out of economic uncertainty.

Re:Real Life is not a very fun game.

[nathanh]

Go Google for "arrogant" and "prick" and stop wasting everyone's time.

Google gave me your homepage.

Re:Real Life is not a very fun game.

[theghost]

Excellent. I know the picture i have of you there is not the most flattering, but it's all i could get on short notice.

(This is getting fun!)

Re:Real Life is not a very fun game.

[nathanh]

Dude, photoshopping my head onto your father's body is *not* cool.

Re:Real Life is not a very fun game.

[theghost]

That's not my dad - it's your mother, but it's easy to understand why you wouldn't recognize her. I mean - she was probably dimly lit under that streetlamp on the corner, wearing a sequined halter-top and spandex pants last time you saw her.

Cool, Life is a game, so...

[zubernerd]

...where can I find all the cheat codes?

Re:Cool, Life is a game, so...

[anon*127.0.0.1]

Cheat codes hell... I'd be happy with a damn rulebook.

Re:Cool, Life is a game, so...

[Poeir]

Or even better, a strategy guide.

Re:Cool, Life is a game, so...

[Klimaxor]

Gameshark....buut...I'll let you all decide the slot you'll stick yours

Re:Cool, Life is a game, so...

[PoisonousPhat]

There are strategy guides out there. These so-called "bibles" of the MMOG vary widely in their approach, but when reduced kind of say the same thing. Unfortunately, most are not written very clearly, so some confusion and/or player frustration is to be expected after attempting to interpret said guides. Then again, you could just have someone else interpret the guidebooks' instructions for you, as many choose to do. What an extended metaphor this makes.

Re:Cool, Life is a game, so...

[tchueh]

Dude,
Just go to the middle of a room, then go:

up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, b, a, select, start... It always works!

Re:Cool, Life is a game, so...

[OneArmedMan]

I will not be help accountable for how you use this in real life

IDSPISPOPD = walk thru walls

Re:Cool, Life is a game, so...

[Ruie]

Hacking courses are offered in graduate departments of your nearby university.

Re:Cool, Life is a game, so...

[snero3]

...where can I find all the cheat codes?

The problem lies in the inability to restart if you get caught using the cheat codes. Plus the be somebodies b*tch 1.0 module really sucks

Re:Cool, Life is a game, so...

[the uNF cola]

Isn't that where religion comes in?

Re:Cool, Life is a game, so...

[autophile]

I think Real Life must be Open Source, because the documentation is so crappy.

--Rob

Re:Cool, Life is a game, so...

[Epistax]

I'd like to see the controls. I still can't figure out how to do a split.

Re:Cool, Life is a game, so...

[Kredal]

Didn't Harry Potter use that cheat code in the train station?

Re:Cool, Life is a game, so...

[pavon]

You are in a twisty maze of passages, all alike.

what more rules do you need ?

Re:Cool, Life is a game, so...

[forringer]

I'd be happy with a damn rulebook.

There are several several groups who have published rulebooks. The end of game scoring is very strange, and each rulebook has a different system, so players of this game are advised to carefully determine which, if any, are correct.

Re:Cool, Life is a game, so...

[Senator_B]

I've heard some rumors regarding the physics engine. Apparently there is a glitch that allowes you to slow down time as you approach the speed of light. Has anyone been able to produce this exploit or is this just another unfounded rumor?

Re:Cool, Life is a game, so...

[identity0]

It goes something like this....

"Dear Lord who art in Heaven, iddqd"

If that doesn't work, try jumping, crouching, jumping, crouching, move left, move right, move left, move right, press right nipple, press the other nipple, then find the "select" button on you body and press it. Congratulations, you now have infinite life, or you've created the next dance craze.

Re:Cool, Life is a game, so...

[drinkypoo]

A number of organizations will provide you with more or less complete walkthroughs but the majority of them are not very exciting. You don't get to see any of the really cool cutscenes featuring curved surfaces with realtime deformation, you don't hear most of the cool sound effects or even soundtracks, you'll never experience most of the mini-games. And occasionally they end up serving you tainted kool-aid.

Re:Cool, Life is a game, so...

[anon*127.0.0.1]

Cynics would say that having a lot of different rulebooks is worse then having no rulebook at all. Whats a player to do when the different rulebooks directly contradict each other?

Re:Cool, Life is a game, so...

[StikyPad]

Here's one, and here's another.

What about

[Travoltus]

All the MMORPG players who take the Red Pill? :)

Re:What about

[ElectroKiwiMonkey]

They tend to slowly become obsessive over finding more Red Pills so they can maintain the game's illusion of reality, generally becoming so addicted to it that when they can't afford any more they start selling off all of their best equipment and artifacts, completely forgetting the point of the game and usually ending up on the street begging for more GP. Or, through a glitch in the game's coding, they'll sometimes become fascinated with bright colors and glowing lights, hanging out together at giant parties with loud, pulsing music. Trust me. You don't want the Red Pill. Stick to your Flintstones vitamins instead.

I agree.

[HanzoSan]

Whats so fun about real life?

I dont know about you, but real life is repetitive and boring most of the time.

Re:I agree.

[EverDense]

Whats so fun about real life?

I dont know about you, but real life is repetitive and boring most of the time.

Then YOU need The Machiavellian's Guide to Womanizing

Re:I agree.

[Blondie-Wan]

You really think so?

Can I have the remaining time on your Real Life account, then?

Re:I agree.

[fussman]

I dont know about you, but real life is repetitive and boring most of the time.

That's what it says above. Besides, some of the other games can be just like real life in the way that they're boring, repetitive, and lacking substance.

Re:I agree.

[NoData]

Whats so fun about real life?

I dont know about you, but real life is repetitive and boring most of the time.

You're always free to hit the reset button, Saddy McSad.

Re:I agree.

[dJCL]

I love "Real Life" I play it all day, every day. I wake up in the morning and start playing and don't stop until I go to bed, and even then I'm still playing.

I'll put it this way: There may be other games that let you have sex, but the feedback is sooooo much better in "Real Life".

Enjoy!

Re:I agree.

[canadian_right]

If you are rich enough to be posting on slashdot, you should have the resources to do all sorts of non-boring things. For example, here are things I have/do that Kings did not only a thousand years ago:

• fresh fruit all year (all sorts, yum yum)
• central heating / air conditioning
• cold drinks (refrigeration)
• effective medecine
• expect my children to survive to adulthood
• music all the time (kings did have live muscians)
• Movies, videos
• lots of books
• cruise ships
• jets planes
• public transportation
• cars
• radio (TV sucks - cancel your cable and spend the time playing more real life)

Even with a crappy job you have it good. Is anyone actively trying to kill you? Are you in danger of starving to death? If not, stop whinning and get out and do something!

Life is as intersting as you care to make it. Get off your butt and do something.

A few things I do, to make life more interesting:

• Draw and paint (acrylic, easy to clean up, dries fast)
• Learing piano (I really suck so far)
• Programming (did a commercial video game years ago, do it for work, and dabble with directX)
• tutoring (math and programming). Teaching is very rewarding.
• floor hockey
• roller blading
• swimming
• hiking
• parenting
• picnics (I don't actually ever go camping)
• Writing, short stories, letters to the editor, book reviews (I have collected a few rejection notices for my short fiction. You can too.)
• Passive spectator (movies, concerts, etc...)

Most people have to work, but that still leaves lots of time to pursue many intersting real life intersts.

Re:I agree.

[HanzoSan]

No, just because life isnt fun doesnt make death any more interesting.

Re:I agree.

[HanzoSan]

Thats just it, theres no reset button.

By the say who ever said I was sad just because I'm not happy?

Re:I agree.

[rjoseph]

radio (TV sucks - cancel your cable and spend the time playing more real life)

And radio doesn't suck? Radio is easily as commercialized, if not more commercialized, than TV these days. If I could find one radio station that didn't have a playlist that I could figure out, entirely, after listening for three hours, I could die happy.

Needless to say, I'm not very optimistic on dying happy.

But as for the other stuff, all great ideas, althought I don't think we needed and exhastive list of what slashdot user 410687 does in his/her spare time. However, you do make a great point: get out and do something!

Re:I agree.

[UniverseIsADoughnut]

"Thats just it, theres no reset button."

Get enough nukes, some wire and a big switch and one can make a reset button for real life.

The bummer is the boot time after the reset is really long.

Re:I agree.

[stuffman64]

If I could find one radio station that didn't have a playlist that I could figure out, entirely, after listening for three hours, I could die happy.

How about XM/SIRIUS? Most of the stations have much larger playlists than regular radio, and a lot fewer (if any) ads. And there are quite a few stations to choose from. I went with SIRIUS, and I am quite happy with it. You should give it a try. It is well worth the money if you listen to the radio more than a few hours a week.

Re:I agree.

[HanzoSan]

Thats not a reset, thats game over.

I dont lose, I win.

Re:I agree.

[archen]

If you live near the right college station there's a good chance you can listen to something interesting. Around here there is one college station that has actual variety (from death metal to regge). Of course that's usually only during the summer as the regular college terms bring forth the same crap as the rest of the stations tend to play.

Again that depends on the college, because I know for a fact that where I went to college (NDSU) the college station was really freaking boring.

Re:I agree.

[japhmi]

If I could find one radio station that didn't have a playlist that I could figure out, entirely, after listening for three hours, I could die happy.

Find a local Jazz or Classical station. I don't think you could determine their playlist out in 3 hours, as they always play lots of different pieces.

Re:I agree.

[Lord_Dweomer]

"I'll put it this way: There may be other games that let you have sex, but the feedback is sooooo much better in "Real Life"."

Is this 'sex' quest kind of like the Jedi quest in Star Wars: Galaxies? No guarantee you'll get to attempt the quest, and odds of about 1-1000 of succeeding? Eh, maybe I can wait till someone just sells their woman on EBay

Re:I agree.

[IWannaBeAnAC]

If you think real life is lacking substance, then you clearly have never been to Amsterdam. ;)

Re:I agree.

[rjoseph]

Right, and I agree with you as well, but I don't think this is what he was getting at: these are both subscription services, which means you have to pay a (IMHO) pretty heafty fee each month, mainly because radio has never lived up to it's promise, so if you want what you expect from radio, you have to pay.

However, I do agree that they're both pretty good services: a friend of mine had XM on a recent road trip of ours and I was quite impressed, but not nearly impressed enough to shell out for the hardware and equipment.

Re:I agree.

[rjoseph]

Can't argue with that: the Jazz stations we have at home are awesome, but they're very few and far between (mostly for lack of interest) unless you're in a large city or near one. Where as the nasty, big-corporation bubble-gum pop stations are a dime a dozen almost everywhere (I go to school in a fairly isolated part of California and *all* the major stations in our area are owned by Clear Channel, with their executive-approved, 5-song playlists).

Re:I agree.

[UniverseIsADoughnut]

"Thats not a reset, thats game over."

it's not game over, the universe will survive, just not our board. In time a new universe will pop back up like before, if it was reset. or another planet would reform and the game would slowly come back, though good chance it would be a bit differant game play.

Re:I agree.

[sllim]

It was late. I screwed it up.
Then I corrected it.
But it didn't take me greater then 120 seconds to correct it. So Slashdot through out my correction.
I was beaten. Beaten by a machine. I went back to doing what I was previously doing and decided to live with the redicule of slashdotters the world over.

I meant for it to read:
'Argue loudly in public that the word Masturbate can also be used to describe the debate of weapons of mass destruction'.
Not nearly as funny now.

the "real world"

[Thinkit3]

The real world is physics. Nothing more and nothing less. It's not the "employment world". Those are just as arbitrary as everquest's rules. If someone says money is power, take out a gun!

Re:the "real world"

[Anonymous Coward]

If you have a Feature Request for the next version, you can always post it here.

The admins

[Eric(b0mb)Dennis]

The only thing I hate about the REAL LIFE MMORPG is the freaking admins..

Every time I try to PK or steal.. they are on my tail.. can't get away with ANYTHING! Maybe i'm just bad at it.

Re:The admins

[YOU LIKEWISE FAIL IT]

Agreed. Wish they'd hurry up with the patch though.

Promised bugfixes, balance adjustments and playability enhancements in Real Life 1.01:

• Boyfriend/Girlfriend object to be represented by linked list instead of single object.
• Bug causing male pattern baldness fixed.
• Economy to be tweaked for 'balance'.
• Improved treasure drops from "Tax Return" mob.
• Improved AI.
• Rules revision to allow limited multiplaying.
• Rules revision to allow deployment of "wallhack" in shower areas.

Anything I missed? I'm also looking forward to the new Spaceflight/Posthumanist expansion. Should be out around the same time as Duke Nukem Forever and the Diablo II 1.10.

YLFI

Re:The admins

[Daverd]

A cool thing about Real Life that's unlike other MMORPGs is that often times they'll accept in-game currency to resolve problems like that.

Re:The admins

[CoolVibe]

I have to complain about that BillGates user. I think he found a bug in the economics code and is exploiting it like there's no tomorrow. Will that bug be fixed with your 'balance' fix?

Otherwise, love the game, although it can be repetitive and boring sometimes. :)

Re:The admins

[MichaelDelving]

You forgot to mention:

Rules revision to allow scripting/botting to automate menial/trivial/frequent tasks.

Re:The admins

[rushiferu]

"Should be out around the same time as Duke Nukem Forever and the Diablo II 1.10."

Damn, and I was hoping to be alive when the shower area "wallhack" was enabled!

Re:The admins

[rastos1]

# Boyfriend/Girlfriend object to be represented by linked list instead of single object.

Do you think it is a good idea to have a link between those objects? I would prefer good old pascals "set" instead of list

Life?

[EelBait]

Obviously, the amount of time one spends in an online "life" is time spent away from real life. Turn the game off, go outside and enjoy the real life -- problems and all.

I wonder who among us would have written on his tombstone: I should have spent more time online.

Re:Life?

[KingJoshi]

Obviously, the amount of time one spends in an online "life" is time spent away from real life. Turn the game off, go outside and enjoy the real life -- problems and all.

How the heck can someone escapre "real life"? Where do they go? "fake life"? Whether we're spending time outside or indoors, playing sports or reading a book, on the computer or off, we're in real life. Any form of entertainment is just that, and it's real life. What others do during their lives may not appeal to you, but as long as they don't harm anyone, why should they live their lives to your satisfaction?

Re:Life?

[Loundry]

Okay, so playing an online game, according to you,
is avoiding "real life". So, what about sitting
in front of the television? What about lying on
your bed listening to Eminem? Do those alternatives
qualify as "enjoying real life" to you? Apparently,
going outside is a crucial element for you to judge
a certain activity as "enjoying real life". What
if a person spends three hours at a Britney Spears concert?
What if a person spends three hours "going out", i.e.,
hitting clubs, trying to "score" (either sexually
or substance-wise)? Are those "enjoying real life"?

I propose this: either you have to spend all your
waking hours working to survive, or you don't. If
you don't, then you have leisure time, and people who are in this privileged position
choose all sorts of activites to fill their leisure
time. To me, it sounds like you don't approve of
the way some people spend their leisure time. That's fine,
everyone is a snob to some degree. But don't say
that they're not "enjoying real life". All leisure
activities are escapism.

Re:Life?

[SN74S181]

Comparing your chosen favorite introverted loser activity to others doesn't change the fact that you just listed a whole bunch of introverted loser activites.

Re:Life?

[Zardus]

Just a reminder, you're also still in real life when the computer is on. The only difference is that you look a lot funnier hunched over staring at some glowing square in front of you.

Re:Life?

[Loundry]

Comparing your chosen favorite introverted loser activity to others

I disputed the point that MMORPGs are unacceptable leisure activities and you have thus decided that it must be my favorite leisure activity. Your poor reasoning has led you to a false conclusion.

doesn't change the fact that you just listed a whole bunch of introverted loser activites.

Put-downs say much more about your self-esteem than they do about anything else.

Re:Life?

[SN74S181]

Pop-psychology jargon slinging says more about.....

whatever.

Buy a bigger gun.

[HanzoSan]

Money buys gun. Money = Power.

When someone pulls out a gun, pull out a bigger one.

Re:Buy a bigger gun.

[Klimaxor]

Man steals guns. Guns used to steal Money
Money buys robber drugs
Robber OD's
Money == Death

Re:Buy a bigger gun.

[HanzoSan]

Thats when you buy new laws to make guns illegal.

Heh - Real LIFE?

[mcrbids]

I've recently discovered "GTA: Vice City" and have been playing a fair amount of it.

The realism I find amazing - it looks very much like real life. (but I sure wish real life came with a Paint-n-Spray!)

Anyway, I was bike-riding with my 14 Y.O. son (yes, I'm that old) and I saw a neon "Open" sign out of the corner of my eye. And the pinkish-red color was just like the color on the bright, moving icons for health found in Vice City.

And the thought crossed my mind as I rode along - "Get health?" followed by the immediate "D'oh! - real life, move on" thought...

I don't wonder within a few years psychologists officially recognize a mental disorder of "Video Game/Reality dissociation" or something...

(Notice above, I said "in Vice City" as though it was a place and you didn't even notice!)

Re:Heh - Real LIFE?

[swtaarrs]

psychologists officially recognize a mental disorder of "Video Game/Reality dissociation" or something...

I agree with you. I have played a lot of Vice City since I got it last christmas. I just started driving, and sometimes when I see pedestrians walking beside the road, I'll get an urge to run them over, hop out of the car, and pick up their money. :-/ Luckily I have indulged any of these urges yet :)

Re:Heh - Real LIFE?

[swtaarrs]

Luckily I have indulged any of these urges yet

That should be Luckily I haven't indulged any of these urges yet

I guess I should pay closer attention to what I type before I submit.

Re:Heh - Real LIFE?

[b1t r0t]

I'm old enough that I dropped a lot of quarters into Spy Hunter back in my college days. One day I was driving down the highway and had a momentary urge to drive into the back of a Coca Cola truck. (To get the oil slick, I'm sure.) Unfortunately it didn't want to put its ramp down for me. Damn those red trucks!

Re:Heh - Real LIFE?

[Monkelectric]

A couple three years ago I got *really addicted* to Black & White and its expansion pack (I spent 42 hours on the last level alone). As I would commute to work I had a similiar experience; driving past the pastures and fields that connect my shitty town to the less shitty town down the way, I disassociated for a moment (if thats the correct term --? I think it is...) and for a split second I thought I was playing black and white, I saw the landscape as something I could manipulate with my godly powers, then I nearly hit the black BMW in front of me and it was back to reality :)

Re:Heh - Real LIFE?

[ZzzzSleep]

Yes... I had a similar experience earlier this year...
I'd just been playing a huge amount of SSX tricky, and eneded to go down to the shops to buy some bread. I hopped in the car, started driving down the road, saw a small bump in the road and started thinking.... "I can get a 360 rotation off that jump...." fortunately reality kicked in before I attempted it.....

Re:Heh - Real LIFE?

[Judge_Fire]

I don't wonder within a few years psychologists officially recognize a mental disorder of "Video Game/Reality dissociation" or something...

Duh, when I spill coffee my left hand visibly twitches for Undo.

J

Re:Heh - Real LIFE?

[mraymer]

Ever find yourself looking at reflections or sunsets and going "Damn, nice graphics... Oh, wait..."

Re:Heh - Real LIFE?

[Lord_Dweomer]

"I don't wonder within a few years psychologists officially recognize a mental disorder of "Video Game/Reality dissociation" or something..."

They are already starting to. Its not 'official' per se, but everytime something like Columbine happens, guess what topic inevitably comes up? 'Yup, these kids shot everybody up because they were playing Doom.'

Re:Heh - Real LIFE?

[Asprin]

Heh, heh. I think everyone that's played their way through the Gran Turismo series can sympathize as well.

I sometimes catch myself taking the corners a little wide walking around the office, and I've already got the ultimate endurance racing track mentally layed out around the cubicles back in accounting. Oh, and I SWEAR our break room looks exacly like the break rooms in Half-Life, freshly-polished floor and all! (You just need to watch out for the head-crabs around Jeanette's desk. [ack!])

Re:Heh - Real LIFE?

[brakk]

"sometimes when I see pedestrians walking beside the road, I'll get an urge to run them over"

Try driving after playing carmageddon3 for a couple weeks nonstop.

Re:Heh - Real LIFE?

[danila]

Something like that. I was watching water reflections in Real Life (tm) and it really surprised me how similar they look to the simulated ones (those in recent games like Enclave).

Problem with Real Life (TM)...

[JackAsh]

...is it's got very poor replayability, unless you pick the Buddhist specialization (or so I hear).

-Jack Ash

Re:Problem with Real Life (TM)...

[Farley Mullet]

Yeah, but it offers a veritable lifetime of gameplay!

Re:Problem with Real Life (TM)...

[beacher]

I like the Buddhist mulligan ability.. although if my /. karma had anything to do with it, I would level down to a camera lens in the goatse photography dept. Ugh
-B

Re:Problem with Real Life (TM)...

[gatesh8r]

Yeah I also heard that the game has a great way to make mods for it too! It's really cool -- I hear there's a way to create virtual realities, and people make them all the time -- though it's mostly through the economic system that they do this. Just FYI.

Re:Problem with Real Life (TM)...

[hyphz]

Well, there's a few other slight problems.

One of the big issues is a rather controversial one, which the admins are very hush-hush about and which people have been kicked off the discussion boards for talking about. That is that there's an upper limit on the number of characters who can attain given career advancement levels at a given moment. If the cap's been reached, then it doesn't matter how much you train your skills - you'll never be offered the "level up" prompt, because the game simply can't support you being at the higher level. Some careers have the cap very near the beginning of the advancement path, so they'll effectively be closed to you if you join at the wrong moment.

There is a legend that this was once conclusively demonstrated when a group of hackers modifed the game to give everybody the skill settings of the highest level player at that time. Despite this, a number of people in the "dustman" low-level profession were never offered the level-up box even though they were now as skilled as the CEOs. Sadly, this took place on a server emulator and nothing like it has ever been reproduced to conclusively confirm the existance of this problem in Real Life.

An even nastier one is that the player-run economy is having some serious problems. The basic problem is that, when the game started and the player-run economy was first coded in, a bunch of players started trading and did very well, making lots of money and making lots of stuff that people wanted. Now, that's pretty cool, but the problem is that if you're a newbie now, you have pretty much no chance of being able to compete with them; especially since, if they leave the game, they give all their super-buffed tradeskill items to somebody else. In many fields, the tradeskill items are becoming so expensive that nobody but an existing trader could afford them; and some traders are talking about withholding tradeskill items (such as CD and DVD recorders) from all other players on the grounds that they cannot be trusted with them. The situation is similar to that in The Sims Online, where the "mega houses" do indeed deliver better chat and skill development than all others, but the fact they exist means that no other player has any hope of having people come to their house.

Re:Problem with Real Life (TM)...

[felis_panthera]

Another biggie is the general lack of control over the game environment itself. there are very few ways around this built-in physics engine (which, I must say, is extremely realistic). Perhaps new versions should think of incorporating a "Magic" patch, or perhaps even a "Sorcerer" sub-class for those of us who like to tweak our realitites.

ask Martha Stewart.

[zymano]

also look up the Enron coat and ties.

Re:Can you BAZOOKA Bin Laden in real life ????

[HanzoSan]

Don't become a racist just because Bin Laden lives in a cave with monkeys.

He's still human even if he's ignorant.

Life is pretty disappointing.

[Joel Bruick]

I was expecting much more after the promising 9 month beta test.

Re:Life is pretty disappointing.

[ElectroKiwiMonkey]

Me too, but half the time the team that okayed it for beta was drunk, or high, or the beta got leaked out.

Re:Life is pretty disappointing.

[El_Ge_Ex]

Forget that! I prefer 'compiling the builds' :)

Re:Life is pretty disappointing.

[StikyPad]

Too bad we spend 9 months trying to get out and the rest of our lives trying to get back in. Think I'll go watch "Attack of the 50 Foot Woman" again. Drool.

So...

[Cobralisk]

Basically the matrix?

Re:So...

[ElectroKiwiMonkey]

Yeah, there's lot of need for patches. All my buddies keep talking about their GF2s and 3s, and I keep asking them "what the hell, where'd you get the upgrade? Mine keeps sleeping around and claiming I don't love her enough."

Now, is he reviewing Real Life?...

[Moskie]

... or just his reality in The Matrix? o_O

Life is not a MMOG.

[Fu Ling-Yu]

There's an article on GameSpot reviewing the ultimate MMOG - real life!

The O stands for on-line as oppose to off-line. Therefore, real life is not an MMOG, but a.. MMG?

Re:Life is not a MMOG.

[Junta]

MMOG: massively multiplayer offline game, so MMOG is fine. You said so yourself.

Real life? I like it.

[Jardine]

Who needs real life when you have Real Life? And no, I don't have anything to do with it, I just like the comic.

RL the MMORPG? Time for a raid

[n0nsensical]

Forming a raid to the SCO Headquarters zone; we're going to take down the boss Darl McBride for some ph4t l3wts! All above level 50 welcome! Need healers!! Meet at the Utah portal.

Its a game no one can afford to stop playing.

[HanzoSan]

Unlike in Video Games, you don't have a choice but to play this one. There's no guarenteed out, if this is all there is, and there is no way out then you cant stop playing.

I dont think you can say life is good for the majority of the 6 billion people. For a very rich and successful person in America, yeah life can be good.

Still doesnt change the fact that even if you are successful you didnt start off that way, Life has to be bad before it can become good.

Can an actual MMORPG simulate real life?

[indros13]

To some extent, I wonder if an article like this is long overdue to point out to some players that online games are not, in fact, real life. On the other hand, think about this:

For many players of games (my roommate included), online gaming is pretty much their entire life. I recently calculated that my roommate has played Everquest for 5 hours a day (on average) for the past two years.

Since he has virtually no social life, never has people over, and doesn't belong to any organization outside of work, one could assume that he is incredibly lonely, yet he doesn't seem so.

To what extent can an online game substitute for real human interaction? To borrow an idea from the Sims, can an almost entirely online social experience fill up the Social Meter?

Re:Can an actual MMORPG simulate real life?

[heli0]

"To borrow an idea from the Sims, can an almost entirely online social experience fill up the Social Meter?"

Are you a writer for Sex and the City?

Re:Can an actual MMORPG simulate real life?

[AvengerXP]

I play about 4 hours per day each day of the week. Im on the evening shift, and i find that this isnt too much. It all depends on your schedule. I dont spend my weekends on the game tough, so strike out 2 times 12 hours. I can't stand being in front of a game more than a few hours (3-4), i think im getting old (24). Haha!

Re:Can an actual MMORPG simulate real life?

[Zardoz44]

Are you a writer for Sex and the City?

Are you forced to watch Sex and the City too? Five points if you can name the host of Trading Spaces.

Rating of 9.6

[LongJohnStewartMill]

The guy gave it a rating of 9.6 'superb'. I guess we can rule out depression...

Yeah? On what planet does this game take place?

[release7]

The only problem is you're relegated to playing as a human character, though the game does randomly choose one of several different races for you (which have little bearing on gameplay and mostly just affect appearances and your standing with certain factions).

Sounds like this game reviewer hasn't explored this game enough.

addicted?

[Xzzy]

Does that make those who committ suicide the real heros, because they beat the addiction and quit playing? ;)

Re:addicted?

[carpe_noctem]

ask me in twenty minutes.

Re:addicted?

[Jafafa Hots]

I'm beginning to think so...

Or he's rich.

[HanzoSan]

I hear once you get a certain amount of money, you get to spend your life on vacations while occassionally logging into a website and writing editorials like this.

So...

[jromz03]

... when does version 2 comes out? I really could use a better Real Life (tm).

Playing Real Life right now

[Buzz_Litebeer]

I spent all my education skill points on computer programming, and now I cant seem to use the damn skills because someone nerfed the ability to gain money with them like before. I wanted to be a god damned power user, now I am trying to get a skillset in another area that looks good, and that will probably be nerfed too!

Re:Playing Real Life right now

[Nucleon500]

It's your fault; all the smart players became Lawyers. That's my favorite role because it can extract money from every other kind of player, and it can influence other large teams. Congressperson is also good, you can't steal money, but players will give it to you if you make the right law.

Re:Early post by GNAA!

[jromz03]

You know you're very much out of scope. Someone should call you're destructor immediately.

Games are fun because you can lose !

[HanzoSan]

Life is not fun because you arent allowed to lose.

You don't pay your bills and you'll be a homeless bum. You live in the woods and you can get killed by animals or diseases, like I said you cannot afford to lose in this game because you only get ONE life.

At least this world is fairly reasonable and you can figure out some of it after a few years.

Its taken me my whole lifetime to figure this world out and I still cannot say I have it completely figured. Please share your wisdom with the masses.

Im not so sure failure is no an option. Im not suicidal but if you really think this world is no good you CAN leave. The best part about leaving is you dont know where your going.


You can't leave if you dont know where you are going, you could leave right into the firey pits of hell.

The real world is serious because all sane people know you arent allowed to lose. Insane people like Bin Laden who want to run around in caves, they lose when the bomb falls on their head.

Re:Games are fun because you can lose !

[Mac Degger]

Here's a tip: quit whining! It pisses people off.
Expecially because they have their own shit to deal with every so often...but because they can deal with it themselves (or their good friends, not some anonymous wierdo's the world over), they find that if they don't bother people with trivial, whiny stuff all day long...*gasp* /other people will start to enjoy being in your company!/, and life will sudde4nly be a whole lot better.

Just get off your ass, and start trying (to make your life better, earn more money, achieve enlightenment, whatever). Because if you just sit and whine, nothing will change.

Re:Games are fun because you can lose !

[HanzoSan]

Why do I care about what pisses other people off?

Expecially because they have their own shit to deal with every so often...but because they can deal with it themselves (or their good friends, not some anonymous wierdo's the world over), they find that if they don't bother people with trivial, whiny stuff all day long...*gasp* /other people will start to enjoy being in your company!/, and life will sudde4nly be a whole lot better.

Sounds like you are doing all the complaining. Just read some of the stuff you wrote.

Just get off your ass, and start trying (to make your life better, earn more money, achieve enlightenment, whatever). Because if you just sit and whine, nothing will change.

Quote my so called "whining". I said life was hard, but because you have a short temper and need to take your meds, you believe its whining.

Just accept the fact that the post I made was reality, the world is not a game. You dont want to hear about reality? Go play your MMORPG.

Re:Games are fun because you can lose !

[2short]

"Just accept the fact that the post I made was reality, the world is not a game"

Why would anyone want to accept that? From your descriptions, it doesn't sound like a very enjoyable outlook. I seem to be having a lot more fun by assuming that life is a game.

"Quote my so called 'whining". I said life was hard"

Consider it quoted. You said life was hard, without making any reference to the fact that you're starving to death or suffering from a debilitating disease. You have the time and resources to post on slashdot about how hard life is, and you in fact choose to use them for that purpose, as opposed to making your life better (which is probably chiefly a matter of changing your mind). That is whining.

Oblig.

[Anonymous Coward]

"Video games don't affect kids. If Pacman had affected us when we were kids, everyone would be running around in darkened rooms, munching on magic pills and listening to repetitive electronic music."

Re:The problem with real life

[Lancer]

Hmmmm. There are certain in-game populations (Hindus, for example) that do apparently have do-over capabilities. Perhaps you've simply chosen the wrong alignment?

Re:The problem with real life

[Anonymous Coward]

No, my game has a post-game bonus round, which varies depending on how you played.

RP server?

[Melibeus]

Does anyone know where I can find a Real Life server with good role play? I'm a little sick of all the loot monkey, powergamer, rules lawyers that I find on this server.

Forgot the most rewarding feature: Sex!

[Anonymous Coward]

Sex is fun. Reproduction is rewarding. Of course, most gamers know little/nothing about either, so it doesn't surprise me that they skipped it.

Seriously, as a maried parent (yes, I still game occasionally), I like this part of 'real life' the best. My five year old son just wandered in and asked me what 'random' meant. I'll make a gamer out of him yet... But at any rate, it does have chores associated with it. Time to stop posting AC on slashdot and go read the kids a story...

"We are too lazy to play games and wrote this..."

[TrancePhreak]

Basically sums it up. I'm sure they're laughing it all the way to the bank thanks to /. posting a link to them giving them more ad revenue.

It just ruined it...

[Sayten241]

It just ruined the game when people started selling their items on Ebay.

Re:It just ruined it...

[Wes Janson]

Correction: it was ruined when some SOB upstairs added in the patch with eBay.

Re:It just ruined it...

[identity0]

Well, that's better than on the soviet.russia.com(munist) servers - the admins there were really paranoid about items being sold, so they kept everything server-side and anyone caught selling stuff was kick-banned to the gulag.soviet.russia servers. They had really restricted clients with built-in spyware and DRM, too. It screwed up their entire in-game economy, in my opinion. Thankfully, the game was not making enough money, so the whole operation went under. Those admins were real assholes - I think they're running EverQuest nowadays.

Re:If real life is a game...

[Anonymous Coward]

The developer has already started work on Version 2.0 and beta testing is underway. Although He has only shown a few screenshots to a handful of users, He has stated that all known bugs and defects will be fully removed.

I've been building a business...

[vudufixit]

And the weird part is how much I feel like I'm living in a business simulation. I invest in some things (equipment, advertising), make some profits, which I can allocate to whatever I want, including more adversiting, equipment, etc.
Abstracting life like a game can actually be helpful, since trying to distill the "rules" and come up with ways to cheat them, circumvent them or efficiently obey them can be a fun and rewarding challenge.

Re:I've been building a business...

[duggy_92127]

Abstracting life like a game can actually be helpful, since trying to distill the "rules" and come up with ways to cheat them, circumvent them or efficiently obey them can be a fun and rewarding challenge.

This is, in fact, quite deep. This is EXACTLY how rational people should approach life. As another poster wittily noted, what we wouldn't give for a rulebook to this game of life! Finding out the rules, in terms of action and consequence, only makes you a better 'player'. You can play by them wisely, or break them where appropriate, when the gain is large enough.

But without some idea of the rules, you're just flailing about. "Button mashing" may work for Mortal Kombat, but not in life.

Doug

I am not making this up

[The Monster]

the vast majority of people would say that they still want to stay.

I just checked the site's poll stats:

Do you like real life?

Yes 1194 (64%)
No 666 (35%)

Apparently those who don't like Real Life prefer Eternal Damnation.

Re:I am not making this up

[HanzoSan]

Life isnt about loving or hating it, its about what you accomplish in the time you have to experience it.

So you dont like life? Invest your life in a useful way which benefits the world.

So you like life? Invest your life in a way which benefits the world.

If you are useful it doesnt matter if you like life or not, you still accomplish your mission and are successful at whatever you decide to do with yourself.

Re:I am not making this up

[Tackhead]

> Do you like real life?
> Yes 1194 (64%)
> No 666 (35%)
> Apparently those who don't like Real Life prefer Eternal Damnation.

The site is targeted at gamers, not the general audience. We grew up on DOOM. If Hell is anything like that, then Hell sounds like a pretty cool place! :)

Gamer: "Hey! Fuckin' fire everywhere! Ouch! It's just one big lava pit! And there's this asshole with a big sword who just gets in my way all the time! This isn't like DOOM at all! This SUX!1!!"
Satan: "Back in Real Life, you were only playing the demo. This is the released version. Sorry kid, you get to play Daiakatana for all eternity!"

Re:I am not making this up

[Quixadhal]

I just checked the site's poll stats: Do you like real life? Yes 1194 (64%) No 666 (35%) Apparently those who don't like Real Life prefer Eternal Damnation.

Hmmm, eternal damnation vs. limited damnation with the option for eternal damnation if you make any mistakes in your character building? As one poster pointed out, unsubscribing is rather painful, and no help is ever offered to those seeking that course. Another big problem is that Real Life pretty much only operates on a proprietary OS. With no alternatives, we are stuck having to run Real Life in EarthOS, which is subject to periodic crashes (every 35,000 years or so, it freezes up) and all kinds of instability. Players have complained about the lack of customization options for their avatars, most choices are locked in when their character is created, with few user-chosen variables allowed. Starting equipment also varies wildly, and seems based on the arbitrary assignment of parents, another option beyond the player's control. No saved games, limited configuration options, buggy overpopulated server, and VERY POOR documentation... I'd rate this game at 1/2 star. Steer clear of it if you can, maybe a better game designer will come along.

Re:I am not making this up

[TedTschopp]

I hear that Eternal: Damnation is the seqeal. And the kicker is that it's not the only sequeal. You get the new version installed when you are either done playing real life, or when the developers intend to stop supportin real life. Then depending on several key decisions you made in real life you either get the Eternal: Damnation version or the Eternal: Salvation version of the game.

Some players of RealLife have complained that there is conflicting information about the decisions you need to make in Real Life to activate the Eternal: Salvation version of the sequeal.

Some players of RealLife seem to be happy with this though becuase they see it as the actual goal of Real Life; to find out how to get into the correct sequeal.

If this is the case, then perhaps Real Life offers something many other games of this genere don't offer; a final goal.

IP stupidity in the next article!

[Thinkit3]

Anyone read the next article? I had to cringe every time the word "steal" came up. Hey, dork, it's "copy". Apparently some people haven't mastered the fundamental physics of real life--you can't own information...sorry! And that's something the players can never change.

truth in avatars

[gad_zuki!]

It was also found that in the real life MMOG women rarely wear sexy armor, don't say "Mi'Lord", don't have a supermodel's figure, and most importantly do not have a penis.

Re:truth in avatars

[bluemeep]

...most importantly do not have a penis.

That all depends on what street corner you're passing by at what time of night.

Re:truth in avatars

[ArsSineArtificio]

It was also found that in the real life MMOG women rarely wear sexy armor, don't say "Mi'Lord", don't have a supermodel's figure, and most importantly do not have a penis.

Apparently the reviewers get different spam than I do.

Additional servers are waiting for us!

[jesser]

This further discourages players from engaging in PVP combat, but it does help real life's rapidly growing player population from getting too out of hand (though eventually there will be a need for additional servers).

Some players insist that additional servers already exist, and that it is the players' responsibility to explore and "settle" them in order to guard against catastrophe and ensure that there are sufficient resources for new players. Skeptics point to extreme lag between the existing server and the suggested new host: ping times are measured in minutes, and player transfer could take months.

Am I the only one who thought...

[grungebox]

..this story would be about a MMORPG featuring the characters from here? I was really hoping for stats on the Shirt Ninja. -grungebox

Unfortunately...

[bluemeep]

It turns out that I can't sell my account on eBay. They don't seem to have any qualms about items, but characters are strictly forbidden.

The real problem with real life

[God! Awful 2]

is that you can't buy and sell characters on eBay.

-a

Re:The real problem with real life

[thebatlab]

well you just haven't been looking hard enough ;)

you have seen the auctions on character parts though right? never know when you're gonna need another kidney :)

Re:The real problem with real life

[Mac Degger]

Yeah man; I'd love to buy Natalie Portman :)

Patch?

[beamstar]

I've been running Real Life for a while now, and occasionally get frame drops and skips, especially in the "Alcohol Consumption" sub-games.

I quite enjoy these sub-games - is this a legitimate memory issue that will be addressed in a patch, or should I be upgrading my system?

Re:Patch?

[cyroth]

We are aware of the problems with the "Alcohol Consumption" sub-game. We are developing a patch but in the mean time there are several fixes you may want to try.
1 - Have your character consume "Coffee", many have reported the effects of the alcohol game to be less severe
2 - Play the game more often. Yes this may sound silly at first, but the routine for processing the alcohol seems to be more efficient when your character improves at colume consumption.

My Review on 'real life'

[jsse]

The games displays excesive violence e.g. raping, killing and bombing cities with mass destruction weapons; and it's highly intolerable for this game to allow pointing guns at legal enforcement officers and sometime even shooting at them!

The game system itself is very unfair to majority of players. Few rich people can enhance their characters by spending lot of cash to buy equipment and trainings. The more popular MMORPG EQ has proved that players are generally displeased with the premium characters packages, and now 'real life' doesn't learn from history! This has a very adverse influrence to the kid-players whom we lied to them in school that the 'real life' is fair and balance.

Think about the children! You incensitive clod!

Another rating of 9.6

[FrankoBoy]

at GameSpot goes out to Banjo-Tooie , so I guess we can rule out coolness as well.

cheats

[August_zero]

Hey! anybody got cheat codes for the new 1.98 patch?

Re:cheats

[Kredal]

That patch is YEARS old! We're all running the 2.003 version. Where have you been for the past 23 years? You really should upgrade.

Of course, I still know some people who are running the 1.971 version, so I suppose you're not doing too bad.

Too Much Like The Sims

[gmhowell]

It's too much like the Sims. Pointless tasks to get simoleans to impress people with house and stuff in it. WAY too much micromanagement. I have to figure out when to go to the bathroom, sleep, eat, etc?

Still, I'm somewhat addicted to the game, and not looking to stop any time soon.

Re:Too Much Like The Sims

[MyHair]

Well, our avatars are supposed to develop habits so we don't have to think so much about micromanaging them, but for some reason my 33-year-old avatar started forgetting to zip his fly every now and then before going to work. What the hell is up with that? He was doing automatically for the past 25 years.

I never could understand why only the good habits broke by themselves and never spontaneously started while bad habits never broke but frequently spontaneously started. There are lots of contradictions like that. Take food. Ice cream is good only when cold, but it naturally warms up. Steak is good when hot, but it naturally cools down. WTF is up with this game world? Doesn't anything stay okay by itself? Sheesh!

Also, my avatar is way too picky. In some third-rate servers the people reuse bath water. My avatar refuses to even piss in anything but fresh water. Go figure.

Re:Too Much Like The Sims

[angrytuna]

It's too much like the Sims. Pointless tasks to get simoleans to impress people with house and stuff in it. What a thing to say. Now I'm too depressed to go to work today.

Feature request for next version..

[apetime]

The current version got a 9.6, but I still think there's room for improvement, and I'm not the only one.

Feature request for Universe 2.0.

Re:Feature request for next version..

[WolfWithoutAClause]

Yes, I think the distributors of the game paid off the reviewer in this case.

Or something ;-)

It *is* real human interaction

[Anonymous Coward]

"To what extent can an online game substitute for real human interaction?"

The majority of the time you are interacting with real human beings. What else would we be interacting with: dogs, apes, squirrels?

When people come accross someone who can find enjoyment in life without the hassles of looks, body weight, body fluids, the horrible effects of aging, they are jealous.

These are all things that normal people worry about, and when they don't understand how a gamer can be so happy in life and not worry about these things, they have to find something wrong with that person; they have to call them a gimp or a failure, a freak and a loser.

Online human interaction can be more fulfilling than "real world" human interaction, if it is done in a structured environment with interesting tasks and many solutions.

And no, it isn't only more fulfilling for those who are "socially inept". It is more fulfilling for anyone; where what matters is your intellect and your creativity.

When you say that a gamer is "socially inept", what you are saying is that they are poor at playing the game you want them to play; they may not even want to play it. Yet, you taunt and jeer them because you can not understand why they are so happy.

What are they so happy? They have every reason to be very very happy, and these are good reasons. They are successful at what they want to do. They have many aquaintences who they go on grand adventures with. Now only this, but they are able to give so greatly to others. You can make someone's day -- a real human being -- by your "in game" actions. You can make them smile; you can make them feel loved; love in the sense of brothers and sisters; the love of a companion: male or female does not matter.

And it is not a false sense of love. It is love that is as real as the love of your mother and your father for you, and you for your brother and your sister and your fellow man and fellow woman. It is love between real people, and it really matters. It is real.

Yes, if a gamer has obligations to a spouse or children, or to paying the bills, then it is wrong for the gamer to ignore these obligations, or to treat them with disdain. These are obligations, the results of choices you have made, and you must live with them.

But for those of us who are not yet so obligated, there is no reason why we should bind ourselves to this dying and decrepit world. There is no reason why we should be what society wants us to be, or what the people who are hip and fashionable and popular want us to be.

When we can interact with real human beings and when we care about others as brothers and sisters, and treat them with the love and respect that they are due simply in virtue of being persons, we do a great thing.

No one can take this away from us. No one can tell us that what we do does not matter, or is not real.

No, we may not be helping to eliminate hunger in Africa by playing this game, but what the fuck have you done to eliminate hunger in Africa? You haven't done a damned thing.

I can make someone's day. I treat others with the utmost respect. I can make them happy. I can make them laugh. I can make them feel loved. I can make them feel worthwhile. I can comfort them when they are down. I can help them up when they are in bad times. And they do these things for me.

This is what matters; helping real people, and helping them in tangible, real ways.

Yes, criticize me for not giving money to staving children in Africa, but first, tell me, just tell me, is what you have done in this world so much greater than what I have done? Have you comforted and inspired so many people? Have you loved them as human beings? What the fuck have you done for Africa? You do what you do for yourself.

It is as real as anything else in this world; the perceptions are as real; the emotions are as real. The people are real.

Why won't you let us be happy? We give you our bodies for 40 hours a week. What won't you let us live?

For the love of God, why won't you let us LIVE?

Re:It *is* real human interaction

[sn00ker]

Damnit, why do I never have mod points when I want them!?

Re:It *is* real human interaction

[NEOtaku17]

Wow amazing! Dude you should really write an article about this man. You have a lot of good points. Man I might have to save this as and put it up on my site. By the way I feel the same way dude I always try to help out the newbs on NWN. Peace man...

Re:It *is* real human interaction

[MyHair]

That's somewhat disturbing to me. This phenomenon of online socializing deserves a lot more psychological study and philisophical debate, but I won't even try to analyze it myself. I'll also avoid judgement (for the most part) and just post my personal experience and opinion in my little world.

Online socializing has never been "real" to me. I was on 300bps dialup BBS systems back in the early 80's, and I've done a lot of online messaging over the years and met quite a few people that way (BBS parties and some online dating). To me, people are completely different online versus real life. Some people intentionally misrepresent themselves (as in the classic guy-impersonating-a-horny-teenage-girl), but even those who are trying to present their true selves are altered by the sense of anonymity or the lack of body language and other instant feedback. "LOL" just doesn't get the whole message accross.

When I tried online dating I never felt like I knew anything about the girl until I met her. To me it was like two different people (appearance description jokes aside). Someone who was appealing in email was frequently unappealing personalitywise in person.

I had an email penpal female friend for a couple of years. We confided a lot in each other, using each other as a safe way to get the perspective of the opposite sex and helping each other through insecurities and perplexing actions by our dates. Even though I shared things with her that I haven't shared with others, I still don't feel like I know her. It's entirely possible that we wouldn't be able to stand each other in person. I really appreciated her help and vice versa, but it never felt like a real life friendship to either of us. I wouldn't have considered letting her stay at my place or borrow my car if she had been into town on business, for example. A real life female would be offered the use of my place and car, assuming I trusted her.

I do get some social enjoyment out of online situations. I laugh at myself about it. Slashdot, for example. I enjoy being modded up, and I take it a bit personally sometimes. I like when people reply positively or thoughtfully. But it's still very different from real interaction.

By the way, I never take game interaction seriously, but the only MMOG game I played was WWII Online which didn't lend itself to role playing or extended socialization. Way back in the BBS days there were some MUD-like games, but I didn't take those seriously, either.

The anonymity and privacy online does help in some cases, though. I'm a fat white guy with a very sloppy apartment, but you can't tell that by reading most of what I type. And I judge other /. posters by their ideas, grammar and spelling. Back in the BBS days I met a shy girl at a BBS party who was deaf. You'd never know it online, but she was very shy in person because of her being deaf. I think she liked that the BBS made her identically functional to everyone else there.

On the other hand, with instant messaging today, slow typers might be judged poorly when they're slow to respond and/or mispell things (too slow to correct everything) or use poor capitalization or grammar (again because they're trying not to be too slow).

Re:It *is* real human interaction

[RTMFD]

But it's only a game. Really. You may think that your online presence is merely an extension of yourself, but it's only a game. A way to pass the time, much like dominos or backgammon. I can "make someone's day" in any of these other games as well. However, I cannot be a loving husband, friend, or father _purely_ through them, and the richness of my interaction with that person is limited when I screen it through a computer.

Basically, what I'm saying is that if you think helping people out and being social is fun online, try doing it for real. It's a thousand times more rich... It's true immersive VR :)

Re:It *is* real human interaction

[mark-t]

An insightful post, but with a notable flaw:

But for those of us who are not yet [married with children], there is no reason why we should bind ourselves to this dying and decrepit world.

Although virtual worlds exist that allow us to escape the mundanity of this "dying and decrepit world" for a time, those who choose to value escapism more than this existence will ultimately find themselves with access to neither anyways. And nobody ever left this world regretting that they hadn't spent more time playing video games.

Nobody's telling you not to play these games, but merely cautioning you about keeping it in perspective for reasons I won't bother mentioning here. The defensive tone suggested by your comments implies you've heard all the arguments anyways.

Enjoy your life.

Re:It *is* real human interaction

[Alereon]

And nobody ever left this world regretting that they hadn't spent more time playing video games.

Are you sure about that? Just what DO people on their death beds wish they spent more time doing? Methinks it's what they enjoyed, be that helping people, raising their children, having sex, or playing videogames.

Re:It *is* real human interaction

[mekkab]

online messaging over the years and met quite a few people that way (BBS parties and some online dating). To me, people are completely different online versus real life. Some people intentionally misrepresent themselves (as in the classic guy-impersonating-a-horny-teenage-girl), but even those who are trying to present their true selves are altered by the sense of anonymity or the lack of body language and other instant feedback. "LOL" just doesn't get the whole message accross.


Same thing in real life, people frquently mis-represent themselves. Its just that due to its prevelance online, most people come to expect it.

The idea of "living in a fantasy world where I/we are more fabulous than we actually are" crosses the keyboard boundary.

Re:It *is* real human interaction

[Junta]

First off, when the hell did the parent mention feeding Africa? That was just totally pulled out of your ass. Next time you post a ranting response, at least *try* to stick to the parent post's issues.

Aside from that, I would not classify the typical feeling towards gaming as jealousy, but genuine concern. If truly a misunderstanding of the fulfillment offered by gaming, jealousy would not be the result. Online gaming by no means excludes people from playing. If they truly believed gamers have an unbelievably satisfying lifestyle, they would just join in, nothing really lost.

I would also dare say that while there may be a general misunderstanding of how genuinely fulfilling the online gaming experience can be by outsiders, that you also have a misunderstanding of how much you are missing out on. The depth of real life interaction and experience cannot be matched in any way by *any* online gaming experience.

You say that you interact with each other and have very real feelings and effects on one another. While this may be true, it is but a small degree of the experience of real life. When you interact through an avatar that speaks almost exclusively through text, there are just so many things missing. Among the most obvious is tactile sensation. Feeling your mouse and keyboard is nothing like receiving a hug, shaking hands, giving a real high-five, etc...

Of course, another thing wrong is that everything can be thought out thoroughly before any conversation occurs. All emotions can be completely hidden or faked. You can type something like '/me cries.' But ultimately if you are in the condition of crying, you probably wouldn't bother typing it. Similarly, 95 times out of 100, when I type something along the lines of 'lol' or 'rotfl', I am rarely laughing at the time, but instead merely acknowledging that something someone typed is at least mildly entertaining. Nothing is real or even a good approximation of the true state of mind or emotion of anyone participating. When someone has true sorrow but tries to hide it, a potentially concerned friend would never see it online, but would see it in real life despite attempts to hide it. It is a form of interaction heavily filtered and greatly divorced from the reality they live in.

This is not a 'dying and decrepit world', it is a living and vibrant one, full of deep experience and interaction. Maybe reading internet news sites and watching the media on TV will make you feel that this is a dying and decrepit world, but actually experiencing it will, if you give it a chance over time, prove to provide a true depth that online games lack. It is true that there is more sorrow in real life than a gaming life, but the happiness to be had is so great as to truly offset the problems of sorrow.

That is not to say games are totally inferior either. There are feelings and experiences that can feel pretty good that real life really cannot provide to the average person (being in grand adventures, influencing epic events, stuff like that), and offer images of power, beauty, and sorrow that most people will not see in ordinary life. Gaming provides a way for the ordinary person to experience extraordinary things (to an extent). However, real life allows otherwise ordinary things to be experienced in extraordinary ways, and I think this is the part that you fail to understand.

Re:It *is* real human interaction

[salemnic]

When I tried online dating I never felt like I knew anything about the girl until I met her

I think this has to do with the depth of communication you receive depending on your medium. email/IM/writing(what?) has the lowest depth of communication - you only get the words, not necessarily context, emotion, etc. Up the scale a little you could see a phone conversation, where you get tone and words. The deepest form would have to be face to face, as you get words, tone and body language.

For me, personally, face to face is the most rewarding. There have been too many misunderstandings in the past and hurt feelings over a piece of mail that said one thing and meant another.

Cheers,

s

Re:It *is* real human interaction

[MyHair]

Here's a good example of the shortcomings of online communication: I have no idea if your post was serious or sarcastic, and my impression of you would be very different depending on whether or not you're serious.

Re:It *is* real human interaction

[MyHair]

Same thing in real life, people frquently mis-represent themselves. Its just that due to its prevelance online, most people come to expect it.

True, but it would be difficult for me to misrepresent myself as a curious 14-year-old girl in person, to use an extreme example. I could pretend to have more or less money than I do; I could pretend to be more confident; I could lie about how much I've traveled or famous people I've met.

But there are still elements of personality that are difficult or impossible to hide for long in person, or to some degree on the telephone. (By the way, I don't think I'd feel like I knew someone talking only on the telephone, either, but it would be closer to 'real' than online chatting.)

There are just lots of little things, like maybe you stop in the middle of conversations to watch big-breasted women walk by, or maybe you cringe when dogs (as in canines, not ugly women) are close. Your eyes may widen when the waiter puts a filet mignon in front of you, or your voice may change when we're about to get some ice cream from your favorite place. Similar things happen when talking about certain subjects or people. You don't get that online, and I guess that's what defines 'real' for me: the minutiae.

The idea of "living in a fantasy world where I/we are more fabulous than we actually are" crosses the keyboard boundary.

Definitely, but the detectability and accountability is greatly increased in person.

Re:It *is* real human interaction

[mekkab]

True, but it would be difficult for me to misrepresent myself as a curious 14-year-old girl in person,

Shoot- I can't find the link, but last week from obscurestore.com a 28 year old man did JUST THAT- fooled people into thinking he was a confused teenage girl, and they gave him/her a place to stay! ;)

But that is not the norm.

Given that potential obfuscation is soo high on-line, I think people are either a little warier because of it, or don't care as much since they assume everyone is lying about something.

So I guess I'm concedeing (sp?) that online personas aren't expected to be "real"- then how can I claim that the "interactions" are a decent substitute for real?

I'll try to build up. First- detatched online personas are a great way of coming to terms with your emotional self and bring out pieces of you in a semi-public forum. In exactly the same way that most good fiction isn't REALLY fiction at all- its events in the writers life with the names slightly changed to protect the writer from libel. So online interactions allow to you express yourself to someone else and get as deep as you want, yet giving you the distance you may need.

Think of it as a confessional, or as group therapy. Having an outlet for free communication of whats going on in your emotional life is a fine achievment in terms of developmental growth (says who? says ME. What are my qualifications? I'm a guy who talks to people. So no, I have no qualifications, this is just a "feeling").
Sometimes being behind a mask allows you to be who you truly are.

To continue the build up- you are probably thinking "well, thats all well and good from a self-centered point of view, and true, people need to get their own issues worked out before they can form deep interpersonal relationships, but what about the interpersonal relationships they form online? How can those be real if there is always a mask?"

I guess to that, I have to come with a semi-copout. 1)- how do you know anyone is ever telling the truth * (to which you have already responded) 2)- how do you know the truth today is the same truth tommorrow? (I am a firm believer in the flexibility of peoples and their emotions. "I love you" last year may have held one meaning, and this year its different. Things change and people change.)
3)- Even if these relationships are a shadow of one in real life, they are close enough to fulfill a void and are controlled enough to allow the individual in it to distance themselves from it when they need to. That allows you to develop your sense of self both in and out of relationships- a VERY important skill (that some people never get).

So to recap- your best bet for an online relationship is actually a relationship-ette. Kind of a cop-out, I agree, but still it provides something. It's like flirting, the "appetizer" to the main course of a long and deep relationship.

Re:It *is* real human interaction

[198348726583297634]

It is as real as anything else in this world; the perceptions are as real; the emotions are as real. The people are real.

Sorry, it's fictional. There may be overlap with the real world, and you may take things seriously (that is, you may accept them as real), but your ability to confirm or disconfirm an online reality's validity and correct overlap/connection to the real world, even if you are skilled at reading-between-the-lines, is substantially lower than even an ordinary individual's ability to do the same in real life. If your ability not to read people in real life, your ability to play the only social game it even makes sense to approach as a confirmably serious one, is lacking, suggest you pursue avenues to improve that, not just check out to play in a world where the only limit is your imagination.

Life (for most, certainly for you) is not zombo.com

Re:It *is* real human interaction

[Lord Ender]

Wow, the way you say it, it does sound like an imaginary CRT-perceived life is better than a real one. I am sure you are having great fun at it. Keep having fun while the rest of us are getting laid.

Re:It *is* real human interaction

[MyHair]

Very good points. I have to agree that online socializing helps you communicate with parts of yourself that you can't or won't do 'in real life', and many times that is very useful personally and helpful to 'real' relationships.

That allows you to develop your sense of self both in and out of relationships- a VERY important skill (that some people never get).

A very, very good point. I'm just realizing that I'm slowly recovering from a 'real life' relationship that beat down my sense of self/ego/self esteem/whatever. It's amazing how that affects a person.

Going back to the first post with this subject name (the great-great-grandparent post?), I was more concerned that he seemed to be using the online world as his only social life and claiming it was just as valid as any other social life. I still have to disagree with that, personally; it looks and feels much more like an addiction than a life to me. But I will open my mind a bit and reserve judgement for when some more time has passed and there's been more study and consideration of the evidence.

What you and I are talking about now I think is an online supplement to real life socializing, and I agree that can be healthy and productive, you turd. (Just kidding on that last part.)

Re:It *is* real human interaction

[Sanction]

Getting laid is your idea of the end-all be-all use of time, and you accuse others of not having a life? I assure you, once you grow up you find a lot of things that are both more fun and more important.

Re:It *is* real human interaction

[mekkab]

A very, very good point. I'm just realizing that I'm slowly recovering from a 'real life' relationship that beat down my sense of self/ego/self esteem/whatever. It's amazing how that affects a person.


I hear it- and it isn't something where you say "here is where I end, here is where you begin, and thats that for the rest of our lives"- its a constant struggle. For example, it took quite a bit for me to say "Wife, I am dropping $300 on some gear." Instead of getting it on the sly and taking the chance that she wouldn't notice (don't laugh- at Homerecording bbs there were a few comments in a thread in a thread about doing JUST that!)

What you and I are talking about now I think is an online supplement to real life socializing,

Yep- that's my "copout", I agree, I don't think its enough by itself. I can't defend the parent-parent-parent post.

you turd.
In my online circles, thats a term of affection, bud. ;)

Re:It *is* real human interaction

[StikyPad]

I don't know about you, but I like sex with a warm body better than one-handed typing. I played EQ for 3 yrs, with /played totaling over 2 years (albeit playing 2 chars at once for quite a while) and didn't get laid once during that time. Developed some tremendous forearm strength and dexterity though. But I can never get those years back, and the friendships I thought I made in-game are now hollow without the game as a foundation.

There's nothing inherently wrong with immersing in an MMORPG, and I would never condemn or ridicule someone for doing so. However, as I look back on my life so far, if I had things to do over again, I would choose to have never played as the first thing to change. Not that I didn't have fun playing, or that I haven't done things with far graver consequences, or experienced periods of extreme melancholy, but everything else in my life has helped me become a better person (imho), or make better decisions in the future, or at least know what to expect when I made the "wrong" decision again. The only thing EQ taught me was not to let anybody in RL know that I played.

Re:Buddhism

[ElectroKiwiMonkey]

So are multiple-personality cases just Buddhists that hit Select while they were putting the code in?

Comment removed

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Get lots of practice making new accounts

[merlin_crow1066]

creating user made accounts can be fun, I dediacte quite a bit of time networking with other users to work on exciting new methods to create new accounts. Have to use some creative technologies to make sure that no accounts are accidentally created though. Like all good systems there is a wide range of nice software

Re:Yeah? On what planet does this game take place?

[HeghmoH]

and mostly just affect appearances and your standing with certain factions

Obviously the reviewer knows of the negative social effects of race, that's what "standing with certain factions" refers to.

By gameplay, he means the game mechanics; how the game works excluding social interactions. And race has little bearing on those. Differences are there, but most of the time they aren't very noticeable.

It can be boring at times but...

[Manhigh]

The framerates are awesome!

Re:It can be boring at times but...

[Manhigh]

Point taken. But I dont get any stuttering even when billions of polygons are being rendered.

Eck this one's no fun

[foonf]

Back to playing sed pong for me...

Reminds me of a few lines from the movie Existenz

[KenR]

Ted: "I don't like it here. I don't know what's going on. We're both stumbling around together in this unformed world whose rules and objectives are largely unknown, seemingly indecipherable or even possibly nonexistent, always on the verge of being killed by forces that we don't understand."

Allegra: "That sounds like my game all right."

Ted: "That sounds like a game that's not going to be easy to market"

Allegra: "But it's a game everybody's already playing."

America mod only

[Anonymous Coward]

review seems geared towards the "America" mod for Real Life. in other mods, the opportunities for advancement, certification, or satisfaction are not as great - and can be nearly absent altogether! for a real handicap, try the "Africa" mod next time. otherwise, a good review.

To quote Pvt. Joker

[NoData]

"The dead know only one thing: It's better to be alive."

Re:To quote Pvt. Joker

[Ender77]

Aparently they never been at college around exam time.

Re:To quote Pvt. Joker

[recursiv]

Or maybe they have, and would still rather be alive.

But seriously, how would you know?

Re:To quote Pvt. Joker

[DavidTC]

I think, in fact, we have rather strong evidence it's better to be dead...I mean, how think about how many living people voluntarily become dead vs how many dead people voluntarily become living.

Yeah, I've played that game...

[tunabomber]

It's way too violent and fills my mind with all kinds of impure thoughts that make me want to go on killing sprees, unfortunately.

A few issues with real life

[Powercntrl]

It needs a better search function. Usually you have to private message another player and hope they've already seen the item you're looking for and know where it resides.

Seaching for other players for the partnership or relationship mini-games usually requires manually initiating a private message session with many different players before a suitable match is found. This can be very time consuming and while there are in-game services that claim to be able to help you with this, they don't attract enough players to be truly useful.

Not enough features come standard. If you want enhanced vision to see at night or zoom in, you have to purchase addons. If you want to know what the world you are on looks like, you must purchase a map. If you want to know your position on the map, you must purchase a GPS. Not all addons work as well as you'd expect. For example, screen capture capability with a camera addon is usually limited to only a small portion of your viewable display area.

Many of the players carry infectious agents, seemingly introduced into the game by its creator. These range from slightly annoying (they'll slow your progress in the game for a few days) to lethal (game over). Some activities in the game will expose you to infectious agents. The sexual activity minigame, while fun, is the most notorious for this. Some of the players have been trying to reverse engineer these problems and distribute patches, but they're only having limited success.

Even with all my complaints, real life does get some things right. There's nearly a limitless supply of background music tracks and while the in-game admins would prefer you purchased them as addons, they're easily enough aquired without using hardly any in-game currency once you start using the Internet features.

Classic criticism

[Animats]

"The graphics are great, but the plot is boring".

Quick release

[transient]

The truly amazing thing about Real Life is that the development process only took six days, although that all depends on who you ask.

Re:Quick release

[qedigital]

Unfortunately, the Developer isn't available for comment.

Re:Quick release

[Powercntrl]

The truly amazing thing about Real Life is that the development process only took six days, although that all depends on who you ask.

Exactly - it was rushed and that's why there's so many bugs. Unfortunately, fixing the bugs would break compatibility with the current version of real life. The last time the creator tried it, he got an overflow error, lost all his work and had to start over from scratch.

Re:Quick release

[BlurryEyed]

Ah, but they say the lead programer was a God...

Re:Quick release

[Mike Buddha]

Exactly - it was rushed and that's why there's so many bugs.

I hate it when developers rus a product out the door and use the first release as the Beta.

As an adjunct to this, I've modified my prayers to include bitching about the lack of real content in this game.

Re:Quick release

[Ender77]

NO! NO! that was the promised release date (6 days development and 7th ship) but like all games the actual date kept getting pushed back! It wasn't actually released until years later, a few billion in fact.

And wouldn't you know it, it still has bugs that need fixing. Especially that last one that screwed up the presidential election and allowed that bush character to come into office. WE NEED A PATCH FAST!!!!

Re:Quick release

[PhxBlue]

Six days to write the code. . . and thirteen billion years for system and integration testing.

God saw the light; and He said, "It is good." Then he saw the power bill, and He said, "It is not so good."

Think Different

[Powercntrl]

I was creating a world on the PC and all the sudden it was like "bleep beep beep beep beep" and I was like, "Wah?".

It devoured my world.

It was a really good world.

Then I had to create it again and I had to do it fast and it wasn't as good.

It was kinda, a bummer.

I'm God and I'm a deity.

Re:Can you BAZOOKA Bin Laden in real life ????

[DaveAtFraud]

Then how about the rail gun? ...Blaster? ...Multi-shotgun? ...Sub-machinegun? ...Hand grenade?

Wait! I know! The BFG!

(But I still like the sound effects from the rocket launcher)

The Problem with Real Life....

[Alan Hicks]

....is no one understands the economy.

Ok I need to upgrade.

[HillBilly]

Look at those gfx. will it run on my p4 2.4g and ti4200? Or can I turn down the details?

Character Creation

[po8]

...for some reason you have no choice in determining your character's initial starting location, appearance, or gender, which are chosen for you seemingly at random.

This was generally a good review. Unfortunately, the reviewer completely failed to explain the finer points of character creation.

A unique feature of real life is that, while players cannot choose their own character attributes, new players can enter the game only when their characters have been created by players already online. The mechanic is that two players of opposite gender and appropriate age and alignment combine their attributes randomly to create a new PC. This mechanic makes the gender attribute more than superficially significant: much of game play, including many socials, are gender-specific.

The newly-created avatar actually encumbers the female "mother" character for 9 months, after which it typically spends time as essentially an item in the mother's inventory. Character creation is normally part of the "parenting" system referred to in the review, although it is not uncommon for characters other than the creators to parent the newbies.

Many players of real life find character creation among the most enjoyable aspects of the game. There is a practice-only option for character creation: in fact, practice character creation is itself one of the most popular activities in real life, and is discussed endlessly in-game.

Some character classes in real life, for example, the "nerd" class, are usually nominally male, but essentially genderless from the gaming POV. Perhaps the reviewer's character is a nerd: if so, I'd encourage use of the in-game training and character mods to develop some character creation skills. I think the reviewer might be surprised by how much fun they can be.

Re:Character Creation

[mdielmann]

after which it typically spends time as essentially an item in the mother's inventory

It's worth noting that the admins get upset if you drop this item. Also, although its worth is very high, the admins will visit if you try to sell it.

Re:Character Creation

[euxneks]

Not to mention that nearly 50% of all players are FEMALE!

Buggy and released too soon

[Castaa]

When is the first patch scheduled?

And OMG, don't get my started about the griefers. They are everywhere.

I'm sticking with EQ for now.

.\ nerdiness

[mnemonic_]

If there were ever a story to serve as the definitive example of slashdot nerdiness, this is it.

Re:.\ nerdiness

[anttik]

Aren't you talking about dotbackslash nerdiness here?

hahaha please

[HanzoSan]

You dont have sex all day long, you sit in your office cubical answering phonecalls all day long or whatever typical slashdot job you do (which is boring and repetitive)

Re:hahaha please

[packeteer]

I should hope your not having sex all day long. Where is the time to drive your sports car really fast or shoot loads of people who can hardly aim back?

The servers for Real Life aren't very secure...

[Semi-Psychic Nathan]

People keep hacking them.

this raises some interesting questions

[toddhunter]

When you play online, you are interacting with other human beings. You wouldn't do it for your whole life, because you miss out on the touching, the sex etc (yes I know obvious nerd jokes).
But what about when technology achieves these things? When it can make you feel stuff, or smell virtual roses etc. Is the choice so obvious then which is the best way to live your life?
It all gets a bit matrixy then, with everybody plugged into their machines living happily in a 'Better than Life' type situation. Because in that virtual world you wouldn't have the limits posed in this one. Assuming this is real... and so forth.

unfortunately...

[Tuxinatorium]

Real Life is a bit buggy. You may sometimes have errors where the graphics won't render or there is no sound...

Not enough save points!

[alien_blueprint]

I haven't found *any* yet. So, if I screw up, I have to live with it! That, or just reset back to the beginning ...

There should be more floating around, so that if we slay a particularly nasty middle manager we don't have to keep doing it over and over each time we die. I'm scared to take on any more, in case I get killed.

The other advantage would be that every time we are about to do something risky, we could save *first*! About to ask the boss for a raise? Save first! About to finally ask the girl in the next cubicle over out? Save first! About to take a financial risk? Save first! Entering a tough bit on an annoying PS2 game with not enough save points? Save first!

Actually, he's being sarcastic, not trolling.

[Kelmenson]

The parent is the troll. Read it again:

( which have little bearing on gameplay and mostly just affect appearances and your standing with certain factions)

You see, the emphasis on "bearing on gameplay" implies that your character is different based on which race you are. So when the AC responds "ie blacks are better at sports.. asians math.." he is describing exactly what Release7 is saying. You see, having a "bearing on gameplay" would mean that your character would perform differently based on what race it was.

Racism falls under "your standing with certain factions," which the article clearly references. It is saying that your race does not affect your characters abilities, but it will affect other people's attitudes towards you. Which sounds like a pretty apt, non-trolly, non-racist viewpoint.

"Try being more subtle"? I think he was already too subtle for you...

So what does it matter?

[Anonymous Coward]

Love, for everyone, is at least more than touching privates. Love isn't always, or maybe ever about touching privates. Love, what it really is, is the same between a husband and a wife as it is between brothers and sisters and between their fellow man and fellow woman. Love is to feel a person, to feel and know their being; to hide yourself with them in it, and to talk to them there; to feel them. Do you know what it is to feel a person?.

When you laugh with someone, uninhibited, as two people who are overflowing with the simple and childlike joy of being, just being, this is what it is to feel someone.

When you cry with someone, when you share their pain and their agony, but know in your heart that with you, us, together, it will be ok; like a young child for his weeping mother, this is what it is to feel someone.

When you pick someone up who is down in the gritty dust of life, when you steady them and walk with them, talk with them and be with them, no matter who they are or what they have done to you or anyone else, just because they are a person; this is what it is to feel someone.

What?

[The_Shadows]

There's a RealLife game now?

Nethack

[cliffy2000]

And yet, real life STILL doesn't have as many features as Nethack.

Boring!

[rvalles]

Real Live is the most boring RPG I've ever played. I recommend you to stay away from it, and play other RPGs that are really funny.

Quake was Real for me

[Anonymous Coward]

Back in the days when me and my mates played FAAR too much quake to be healthy. I remember a conversation between a friend and his girl.

(F) You are my night in shining armour!
(M) Is that RED armour ?

Don' you think its time...

[Ender77]

That they released the source and let the mod community have a crack at it.

The Poll on the Site

[OzPhIsH]

Did anyone else vote on on the GameSpot poll "Do you like Real Life?" 37% said no. I wonder how accurate this poll really is, but it certainly might explain to some degree the popularity and addiciton many feel towards MMORPG's like Everquest, etc. I just wish more people could be happier with the way their lives are going.

Elaborate easter eggs

[Kieckerjan]

One of the neat things of Real Life is the massive amount of energy the makers put in emulating old hardware like for instance Intel Pentium IV systems (anyone remember those?). On these you can actually play bit-perfect versions of thousands of games, among which precursors of the game itself. It was called the Sims I think. Talking about Easter Eggs!

Game Over, man!

[Jafafa Hots]

I suck at this game. I mean I truly, absolutely suck. I've triggered every fucking booby-trap there is. I've tried to give up, I wish I could give up, but there's nobody to give up to! I can't get out, I've ended up just being a fucking part of the room description that other players sometimes notice as they pass by.

Please tell me you're kidding.

[Tidal Flame]

I've always hated Gamespot for their biased reviews, but this is just... beyond words. Transcendant, almost. Someone give me a good, hard kick if I ever visit that site again.

Rumour has it

[hayden]

That it's constantly under development and that the whole 6 days thing was just marketing spin for people who were gullible and needed an answer. Despite people finding a shitload of evidence to the contry, they still point at things like the evolution of people from apes and say "show us the missing link!" Unfortunately they don't want the missing link, they want a family tree before they'll admit they're wrong.

Management still pushes the six day idea to stop people frigging with the mechanics of the game too much. Of course various hacker groups have sprung up and are busily chopping and changing. Management have responded by astro turfing the opinion that the game will fall apart if this continues to go on.

Despite all this power they supposedly have, they still refuse to fix the things that really need it. They hide behind the "we act through the actions of others" mantra. Most aren't convinced.

Re:Yeah? On what planet does this game take place?

[daveo0331]

It's true that your player's race will affect gameplay - but the situation was far worse in earlier versions of the game. In fact, before the Emancipation Proclamation patch was applied in 1863, players could be "owned" by other players and forced to work for them as slaves - typically endless "farming" of certain items such as Tobacco and Sugar Cane. Whether or not you could be owned as a slave was determined by your character's race.

Many problems remained after the patch. This has required additional patches to ensure that all players have an equal chance to develop their character and participate in the in-game economy regardless of character race. The admins still have some work to do, but the game is much better in this regard than it used to be.

Unfortunately, many of these problems continue due to malicious players. On several occasions, players have amassed power and tried to kill all players of a certain race. The worst of these was a German player who killed several million players this way in the 1940s, and started a round of PvP combat that lasted six years and involved player armies from nearly all the regions of the game world. The fighting only stopped after a group of players in the North America region discovered the Nuclear Weapons Exploit and used it to force a surrender.

Coolest Feature

[Bakajin]

What is amazing about this game is the number of people playing. I didn't realize until I started asking around, but it seems that almost everyone I know is playing! I have found that some people are more satisfied with the game than others. Also the levels of violence and sexuality available in the game are quite controversial. However I think that the coolest feature about this game for the diehard gamers is the ability to play games within the game!

Ban Real Life!

[DeathPooky]

Due to life-like violence and intense sexuality, Real Life has been given a rating of M for Mature, and is restricted to only those above 17 to play. We must make every effort to ensure that our children are not playing this horrific game, for who knows what thoughts will enter their mind when they see the actions available to their character, or the actions performed by other characters in game. It's just too horrible to even imagine.

Re:Who says any of that is fun?

[ottothecow]

maybe the key to your life is to stop looking for low paying jobs...they dont pay much

Re:Yeah? On what planet does this game take place?

[mdielmann]

Probably playing in 'easy' or 'moderate' skill level, in the 'United States' locale...

Reminds me of The Onion

[Rogerborg]

Circa 2003, I mean, where they can still come up with funny premises, but the implementation just sort of meanders around in an aimless fashion and tails off in a non conclusive, dribbling, eh, yeah, mmmm.

Re:Who says any of that is fun?

[HanzoSan]

Riiight, so without a degree and without 10 years of experience, I'm going to be upper level management for Microsoft?

You care funny

Re:Who says any of that is fun?

[JohnFluxx]

You know, you don't _have_ to drink alchol!

I know - surprising huh.

so you work 8 hours. That still gives you 4-5 hours a night to do stuff.

And if you don't drink, you can go out both saturday and sunday! And if you are adventurous, friday night too!

Blue Screen Of Death

[Mr. Self estruct]

When does the Linux version of "Real Life" MMORPG come out?

Re:Blue Screen Of Death

[QueenOfSwords]

The Linux version is up, but there are some communication problems with Windows-only clients.

not balanced

[klaasvakie]

I find that Real Life is not fair to chaotic characters. Lawful characters have it much easier. I mean, just look at the artifact weapons: Lawful characters have the Thermonuclear Bomb which does 4d10 shock damage, 3d8 fire damage, and 2d6 radiation damage for 100 turns afterward.
Chaotic characters only have the SCUD Missile which has a -1 to hit and only 3d6 damage.
Lawful characters can enchant the Thermonuclear Bomb up to +6 when it becomes a Hydrogen Bomb which does 8d10 shock damage but less radiation damage. SCUD Missiles cannot be enchanted but instead lose -1 to hit for every year left in the desert.

Not fair i'm telling you.

I want to restart

[mrselfdestrukt]

Aaah Crap! I am white but I started in Africa! Can I start again please?
I would also like to start with rich, loving parents for a change.

If it works on my PC, then maybe....

[lhbtubajon]

glittering prizes

glittering prizes

glittering prizes

glittering prizes

Crap! Why isn't this working?

Re:If it works on my PC, then maybe....

[drinkypoo]

Personally, I've been trying to install the nude patch for several years now...

Perhaps you're just not very good at playing it?

[Hittite Creosote]

It doesnt change the fact that no matter if you live in a jungle or in a cubical its hard work, and its not fun.

The probability is that it isn't life that has the problem - it's you.

If you think what you have is 'hard work' then you're just spoilt. I *know* I have it easy compared to at least 5 billion of the world's population. I know I have it easy compared to 99% of the world's population prior to 1950. Since you have access to a computer, it's likely the same applies to you as well. There are many, many people out there for whom life is a horrible struggle from which there is no way out, and no hope of ever improving their lot. But for the vast majority of those who can post on Slashdot, this isn't true. Yes, I was broke and working over 60 hours a week a couple of years back - but I did that through choice and to get where I am today - my work is interesting, albeit underpaid.

Keep playing. The better you get, the better it gets.

Generalize a bit?

[Lispy]

You may have a point but assuming that having the mammon to post on /. makes me rich enough to afford effective medicine is an arrogant estimate. Alright I make quite a bit of money as being a selfemployed journalist, but right now I use most of it to pay my taxes (this might look better next year though). I might be able to listen to Mp3s all day long but affording a cruise on a ship is waaay out of range at the moment. When I think about it, I guess comparing listening to music to a "live performance" shows a considerable lack of musicality. The same estimate would mean that a farmer back in the middle ages could sing himself. BUT, this doesnt make up for a VIP Special live performance of your favourite band, does it? (Hmmm..The Sisters of Mercy playing live at my birthday barbecue...sweet, but wont happen).

Whats more having a cellphone, email, a car and all that only means that I HAVE TO HAVE it. Everyone expects me to be able to drive 50miles a day to come to work and being able to reach me anytime, everywhere. So this means most things loose a lot of appeal when they are used by the masses. In fact they might turn into the opposite, meaning what once was there to make your live easier makes it easier to control you.

I am not whining here, I like tech and I like having central heating/air condition but your post is a bit too general. The second part of the post is totally random. And whats more: time and money are limited ressources.

cu,
Lispy

Re:Generalize a bit?

[Richthofen80]

the reason you might not make enough money: for a self-employed journalist, you can't write for shit.

Look at all the misspellings...
And that post had the coherence of a seven year old ritalin addicted child's speech patterns.

Re:Who says any of that is fun?

[rikkards]

Riiight, so without a degree and without 10 years of experience, I'm going to be upper level management for Microsoft?

You may be an improvement

Life is hard...

[qtp]

waaaa...

waaaaa...

No really, if there's no joy in your life, then you must be doing something wrong, or expecting something unreasonable.

Whats the point of living if life means nothing to you except drudgery, stress, bills, responsibilities, and unfufilled expectations.

Time to reasses your values, your job, and your loyalties.

Failure may not be an option, but failure to one is another's (perhaps unexpected) vacation.

This article was blatantly stolen!

[mdavies]

Check out this article from over a year ago and tell me the author of the article at GameSpot didn't steal my idea! This infuriates me!!!

Re:Who says any of that is fun?

[HisMother]

I'm trying to decide if you're joking here, or serious. Why on earth would anyone lead such an admittedly miserable life to work towards such a stupid, pathetic, miserable goal? Pretend you do become "upper level management." What on earth do you think you'll do with yourself? You've spent years training yourself to have no fun. Now you'll have lots of money, and no idea how to enjoy yourself. You'll buy all sorts of useless crap, and it will give you no joy. Go rent "Devil's Advocate" sometime.

The developer

[MoeMoe]

...and player death ("..a serious issue in real life, and cause for continued debate among players, who often direct unanswerable questions on the subject to the game's developers.")


And just like any regular game developer, you never get an answer from them.

Re:Who says any of that is fun?

[Hrothgar The Great]

I had a blast in college, and I had to support myself with student loans and low paying jobs too, buddy. Matter of fact, my low paying job in college was the best job I ever had - I worked as a pin chaser in our campus bowling alley. I wish I could go back and do it again, because work was fun, but the difference in the amount of money I make with a college degree is too great to even consider it.

Hate to have to tell you this, but if you think life is boring, it's actually because YOU are a boring person. I really can't simplify this for you any more, so perhaps that will finally get through that thick skull of yours. People who are vibrant and exciting never whine and moan and complain the way you do - if you talk to people in real life the way you post on slashdot, it's a wonder anyone is willing to hang around you at all. Lighten up a bit, for crying out loud.

I wasn't even a drinker or partier in college - I just had a great time with great friends, and I never ALLOWED things to be boring. The choice is yours.

Whatever... are we both playing the same game?

[mekkab]

I play "real Life" on the "are you insane?!" level with the speed on "fast forward", and its always a blast. Mortgage, wife, career, family, chores, friends, good times, bad times (you know I've had my share*)- any many times you get a lot more than one chance. to give you a metaphor- if you screw up trying to go in through the front door there are all sorts of sneaky ways to still get in, if you know what I mean.

Failure is a learning experience- remember, no one was good at Gran Turismo the first time they played. You had to practice those tracks over and over again, getting the feel for the car and for the conditions. Its the same way with life. Practice, fail, learn from failure, change your strategy, lather, rinse, repeat. That's what makes it so awesome.

Yeah, life is a game. I play it to the hilt.

*With apologies to zepplin

Just like the games...

[Cruciform]

We just can't seem to get rid of griefers and player killers...

Re:Who says any of that is fun?

[Hrothgar The Great]

Well wait, if you're TAing, aren't you in grad school? The other guy is undergrad, as far as I can tell, and thus he is not working anywhere near as hard as you are.

And I was working 40 hours at two separate jobs my 5th year of undergrad (bowling alley 25 hrs, tech support 15 hrs) and still had ridiculous amounts of time to goof off. Probably because my coursework was not all that time consuming, I guess.

Re:Hohum...

[Kredal]

The last time they patched was the Great Flood. People complained about the downtime and the fact that most of the characters on the server being deleted. Since then, the developers have tried not to do any patching because of the extreme problems encountered.

Re:how i want mod points...

[Kredal]

Are you saying slavery is a fairy tale?

You frighten me.

Yeah, great.

[dynayellow]

When will it port for Mac?

RL is teh sux0r. I wouldn't even warez it.

[Tackhead]

> Well, from personal experience I can say that unsubscribing is a bitch. The customer service people have been instructed to hassle anyone who comes in saying they want to unsubscribe until they agree to stay; I know people who say they unsubscribed previously, only to find later that they were still being billed; and all the user interfaces through which you can have your account deleted are just plain user unfriendly. (I am beginning to suspect the "slit wrists" module, which is the one most of the help files direct you toward, is designed just plain not have any way to make it work at all. "Down not across" indeed, what rubbish.)

RL is teh sux0r. I wouldn't even warez it.

I mean, what else can you do other than unsubscribe once you get bored? It's like the Sims, but worse! No speed-up, not even for the 8 hours a day you spend at work!

For fuck's sake, once you got bored of the Sims, you could at least save, have your fun, and restore. But nooooooo, the dumbass designers of Real Life didn't even bother to build in a save-restore feature.

So every little mistake you make follows you around for the rest of the game. I mean, what's the fucking point of that? You spend three weeks setting up a menage a trois with you, your boss's wife, and one lousy goat...

Re:RL the MMORPG? Time for a raid

[Kredal]

I'd rather raid with people between lvls 25 and 45... after that, they're generally set in their ways too much, and don't feel like raiding anymore.

Spaceflight expansion pack effectively cancelled.

[Tackhead]

> Promised bugfixes, balance adjustments and playability enhancements in Real Life 1.01:
>
>Anything I missed? I'm also looking forward to the new Spaceflight/Posthumanist expansion. Should be out around the same time as Duke Nukem Forever and the Diablo II 1.10.

Damn. I got the wrong version. The admins in my game put the Spaceflight/Posthumanist expansion pack permanently on hold.

In my version, there was a bug in the steel/asbestos lining of a couple of towers in New York. No big deal until a bunch of barbarians (probably a memory leak from Civilization I) got mixed up with another memory leak from Flight Simulator, somehow they managed to trigger the bug in the Towers, the whole damn game script got corrupted and went to hell from there. (Goddamn C programmers.)

And while there's no save/restore feature, there may be a causality/time loop bug, which would imply someone's found a way to do a save/restore cheat? The week before the bug brought down the game, some players bought assloads of put options on certain stocks, almost as if they had read the stock page of the New York Times from two weeks ahead of time (the ultimate cheat sheet!), and then restored from an earlier version.

Even if they can't fix the bugs, or release the spaceflight/expansion pack, could the admins kindly ban those players?

Re:Perhaps you're just not very good at playing it

[i chose quality]

aaargh, if i only hadn't wasted my mod-points on promoting some irrelevant, but well written comment this morning!!

this is one of the worst comments, i have seen in a while and i would not have a problem with concentrating on demoting here...

it reeks of misunderstanding of not only the parent's post, but of general facts of live. and even though the author implies, that he is a natural english speaker(which i'm not), the grammar and style is very poor.

anyway, the comment is pretty long, and i'll leave it to other people to pick on the several errors and lies. my time is wasted by writing that much, already.

Hindus know how

[spineboy]

It's called reincarnation, but you have to start from the beginning of that level(i.e. baby).

Wlat Disney, AFAIK, is on a VERY long bathroom break.

You can't win!

[dnoyeb]

A famous player once observed that

"You can't win, you can't break even, and you can't get outta the game."

I think we have another example of the reviewers being on the payola. j/k ;)

Where did you find sex?

[Anonymous Coward]

I havent found any sex vendors yet. I have found stores that sell sex devices, but no actual sex vendors.

Re:Can you BAZOOKA Bin Laden in real life ????

[clarkc3]

well, thats why the goverment decided to make it worth 25 million bonus points in the game of life if you are able to do it.

Re: yep, and...

[op51n]

You know the best thng about real life... Computer Games!!

Re:Who says any of that is fun?

[Hellkitty]

Wow. Hate to be the one to break it to you, but I promise that you will look back on this "busy semester" in ten years and think "Boy, did I ever have it easy back when I was in college.". Trust me - I did, and I had a schedule that sounds very similar to yours.

College can be stressful, and it can seem like you've got the weight of the world on your shoulders, but take a step back, breathe deeply, and enjoy. There is time to enjoy things and experience non-academic and non-work related activities. It is all a matter of time management.

Also known as....

[JeffTL]

"website spam" Cutesie articles like that only make it harder for people wanting to find actual games by cluttering their displays. Besides, the article probably inserts itself when people are searching for actual Editor's Choice games.

Re:Who says any of that is fun?

[Hrothgar The Great]

The great thing about college for me was the social atmosphere. Considering that it doesn't sound like you have much of a social life (not an insult mind you, just an observation) you are probably correct that you will not miss college when you look back on it.

The best part about this game....

[LilMikey]

is the mini-games you get to play on the way through.

Pearls wasted on swine...

[SunPin]

That was an excellent post. Given the pace and patience of /., it is not surprising that you weren't given your due of + 5 Insightful. Of course, you earned some real karma here so it doesn't matter what the score on /. is.

Matrix Patent Business Plan

[Dr. Evil]

1. Patent fully-immersive VR environment
2. Challenge people to prove that they're not infringing
3. Profit!

Need CD Key

[Bahamuto]

I lost my CD key, honest, and I need a new one. Anyone know where I can get a crack for Real Life? How about any warez sites with Real Life?
---
Nathan

Very Sappy

[Dr. Evil]

We're all just squishy blobs of chemicals who react with happiness or despair to splurts and oozings of various horomones.

To some people, statements like 'mission', 'accomplishment' and 'bennefit the world' are all fluff, for others, they're words which give them happiness. As politically correct the statements may be, 'mission', 'accomplishment' and 'bennefitting the world' don't provide happiness for everyone.

It's best to go with your own flow, find whatever causes your body to keep oozing happy horomones into your brain and enjoy. If nothing can do that without making your life terminally short or causing long-term despair, then find somebody who can splut happy horomones into your brain for you.

Rule Book...

[virg_mattes]

...for the PvP server, I guess.

Oh, wait, they're ALL PvP servers...

On a more serious note, the Bible isn't a rule book. It doesn't cover falling damage or skill progressions, for example. The Bible is a strategy guide.

Virg

Recruiting Incentive

[centauri]

One of the best things about the game is the incentive to get new players to join.

Skill Set

[virg_mattes]

> I still can't figure out how to do a split.

Only certain players get this skill at level 1. You need to put skill points into "stretch" or pay a Doctor player for some body modifications. Also, some other player classes (pro wrestler and Mafioso, for example) will teach you this skill for free, although learning it that way will reduce your run and sexuality skill levels.

Virg

Yeah

[mindstrm]

I experienced this after some marathon 20+ hour quake sessions.. walking through the hallway leaving my office at 3am, and seeing colored blips out of the corner of my eye, and then thinking something like "Turn, shoot, rockets!". I didn't twitch or anything... but the thoughts were definately there.
When you get your brain used to a certain set of inputs, sometimes it's hard to let go.

Re:Who says any of that is fun?

[Rinikusu]

What the hell? Materialist? Talking about "
out-of-context". The poster was saying that most people in the world cannot even afford to to post a post on slashdot, count your blessings. In fact, we (in the 1st world) live a very affluent life that the rich and famous of yesteryear could not even dream of. And this is how we live. Our Bums have it better than many of the rich of yesteryear (or even of some of our contemporaries in the 3rd world). The point that you so dismissely, ah, dismissed was that if you can afford to post on slashdot, then you can afford to do OTHER THINGS, too.

You dont' have to like the poster's suggestions. Those things may NOT be fun for you, but the other point you missed out on was that its up to YOU to figure out what you like to do.

Dude, I'm 30. I've worked 2 jobs and gone to school part time for the better part of 12 years. I realized that I just wasted a bunch of time and always bitched about never getting anything done and never doing anything. You know what? I quit one of my jobs, got out and started finding stuff to do. I go for walks every day through the park (that's free and better than sitting around posting on /. or playing CS). I play guitar. I ride my bike, talk to friends, bake cookies, whatever, I do STUFF. You don't have to like doing that stuff either, and frankly I didn't know I enjoyed it until I tried it. Go find stuff to do and figure out what it is that YOU want to do.

So, my advice to you: Go out, find something you like to do and do it. Until then, shut the fuck or kill yourself.

Einstein noted this as well...

[SunPin]

The only religion that attempts to be rational and, for the most part, succeeds is Buddhism. Not the Tibetan nonsense but Southern or Theravada Buddhism.

Feature Requests Inside

[LiberalApplication]

Although that does seem like it'll make for a nice patch, there are some issues which I feel need to be addressed in order to make Real Life a more enjoyable experience for its player-base.

1. Deal with griefers more harshly. Ban 'em. Kick 'em. Boot 'em. Take away their loot. I'm pretty tired of walking around town and hearing racist remarks, having people get in my way just to be in the way, sauntering across the street when there's a line of traffic waiting to pass, and PK-ing in no-PK-zones.
   .
2. Object persistence. It looks like the way the game works now, dropped objects have infinite persistence. Since dropping objects like candy wrappers and soda cans is not prohibited in-game, and since players are obviously too stupid and lazy to pick up after themselves, I'd like to suggest that dropped objects expire after an hour or so and are removed from the system.
   .
3. Reduce the setting for "caloric value" of edibles. Come on, I'm not fat, but I'd sure like to eat pie three times a day. Obesity is a problem, and that wallhack ain't gonna be much fun if everyone on the planet weighs 300lbs.
   .
4. Theme shards. Separate worlds for different kinds of players. Let there be a PK world, and a non-PK world. Let the thieves and killers have their own bloody playground. Let there be a "free love" shard, where clothing is banned (you can leave it behind in your home shard). Let there be a nerd-shard, where those of lower intellects fear to tread because Starfleet uniforms are just too scary that way.
   .
5. Add drops from other mobs. Really. I want to go out, find a rat, stomp on it for a while, and retrieve from its carcass six gold pieces, a silver ring, and a pair of Prada boots.

That's about it. Is that asking too much?

I've got Five Characters Going

[nightsweat]

But strangely, they're all named Sybil...

Re:Who says any of that is fun?

[Razor Blades are Not]

88 hrs of work a week?
You've got it lucky my son.
when I was a lad, I lived in a cardboard box on the side of the road. We got up 4 hours before we went to bed and licked the road clean.

Seriously, I've worked shift work on 12 hour shifts in a factory, 7 days a week. And rotating 3x8hr shifts as well. They really sucked: One week you're starting at 5:30am the next 1:30pm and the next 9:30pm and leaving at 6 am.
I've worked 100+ hours a week at a cube jockey fire-fighting position for 3 months. (I had to schedule time to wash my clothes). The peak duration in that stint was 120 hours in a week.

Now I'm in a cushy 9-5 job where I rarely have to work weekends. The pay is commensurate with that.

I feel pretty lucky though, because I now have the time to concentrate on other parts of my life, other than work.
So I look back on those days where I worked in a video store to get through university with fondness. Sure it sucked that my friends would all go out in the evening and I was stuck at work. But in the end, you do what you have to do to get by. I've heard having goals helps :)

uh...

[Thinkit3]

No, it's just a part of our culture, like the buybull is. Slavery is alive and well, most recently with intellectual property.

Re:uh...

[ArsSineArtificio]

Slavery is alive and well, most recently with intellectual property.

Wow. Way to trivialize a disgusting and horrific practice which has crushed the souls of millions for thousands of years.

Life is a great game...

[felis_panthera]

Who said hard work wasn't fun? I work very hard at the office, in my relationships with others, in my time at school... but I love every minute of it. I don't work to have money to pay bills to work. I work, my reward is money, I use the money to pay bills and have fun outside of work so that I can go to work in a good mood, enjoy myself, and be rewarded with more money.

I don't go to college to get a better job and get more money so I can pay higher bills. I go because I enjoy learning new things, because it allows me to grow as a human being and because then I can do bigger, more important and more fun things at my job.

I don't develop relationships with others for self gratification (that's what pr0n and tissues are for *EG*), I do it because people of like interests encourage you to grow in those interests and people with differing interests encourage you to expand your horizons, both giving you more to offer to new friends, thereby increasing your growth as a person.

Life is not about money. Life is not about power. Life is not about keeping up with or one-upping the Joneses. Life is about living every day to make the world a better place for you and the rest of humanity.

Life is a game, choose to play it well.

If the Real Life MMORPG is so great...

[ggwood]

...why do we have to enhance it by playing other MMORPGs within it?

Seriously.
________________________________

slavery may seem trivial compared to IP...

[Thinkit3]

...but it is related!

Re:Perhaps you're just not very good at playing it

[HanzoSan]

Respond, I dare ya.

Nothing in it is a lie, I did my research, how about you?

OT: Just Curious

[Pii]

"...mainly because radio has never lived up to it's promise..."

I have to ask... What exactly were you promised, and how does radio fail to live up to it?

I listen to talk radio 3+ hours a day while communting, and I'd estimate it's value to be far higher than what I've paid for it.

Billing Plans ?

[RabidStoat]

I've been playing this game for more than 30 years now and I feel I'm being ripped off. I've introduced loads of new players ... I play every day and yet every year they charge me more and more !

Why aren't they encouraging the founder players to stay in the game with more high level content ?

What billing plans are people on ?

Any discounts for buying a few years up front ?

GameSpot's review all hype, no criticism

[anttik]

GameSpot missed many negative aspects in Real Life:

I haven't found any save/load functionality yet. Anyone? It can't be just because it's a MMORPG, because I'm often playing in single player mode only. (Not as often as I used to, though, because I got married - a very nice feature btw. At least so far. I hope they didn't screw this one up.)

"generally the game's financial system is well balanced"

Bah! How was it? Richest 5% owns 95% of the World? Or was it something like 1%/99%? Some jobs are VERY overrated. Some software nerd could buy several countries while someone working his ass off on three-shift work gets just about enough to eat.

What about people living in total poverty? The developer doesn't seem to care about characters that can't get a better gaming experience because they are born in a poor area. Talk about balance. Reduce the random factor in character creation NOW!

No legal PvP areas? WTF? Just some fake sport events with huge restrictions.

Real Life is a very good example why game should never be fully controlled by its players. When some caste gets too much power, there's nobody to take it from them (at least not on a short time span).

Finally, who IS the developer? I get different answers from different people. I really need to file a complaint!

"The" Manual

[forest_rock]

My parent players gave me, what they called an online manual when I was a newb. It had all sorts of weird rules in it about what you could and couldn't do and how you were supposed to play. Some of the rules were just weird, like what kind of rations you could eat during a certain time of the solar cycle. Most of it was about developer brown nosing though. Supposedly, following the rules got you a better endgame sequence.

It wasn't long before I found out that that there were all kinds of these supposed manuals. There were a lot of overlapping rules between them, but it was clear that some of the stuff was just made up clan bullshit. Most of them are woefully outdated too.

Anyone else see one of these so called manuals?

Re:diablo 1.10 beta.

[toddestan]

And sadly, after looking at the beta... they got *a lot* of work to do.

Bullshit lol!

[HanzoSan]

Hmm, could this have anything to do with your attitude or social skills?
My attitude is not on display here, and I don't try to pretend like I'm socially talented, I aim for jobs which do not require me to spend long hours talking to annoying people

Please tell me where you live? You don't accept $15 an hour? Where are jobs going?

"There is NO jobs." Especially not for someone with a limited grasp of the English language. Can't even get a job at McDonalds? GET REAL. Fast food has one of the highest turn-over rates of any industry out there. Period. The 'recession' that, in your eyes, is crippling the economy is NOT bad enough that people are clinging to their exploitative, dangerous minimum-wage jobs. Your posts are simply absurd. You, sir, are lacking credibility.

My English skills are better than about 80% of the population, now I admit I'm no English major, but my writing skills were good enough to get my through highschool and college.

The reccession is causing people with more experience and or degrees to compete me for that MC Donalds job. Lets also remember I must compete with MILLIONS of college students because I'm in Boston and not some little hickville town like yourself. About 70% of us have degrees in Boston, this isnt Texas or Virginia where everyone has a GED. You come to Boston and I promise you wont have a job here, just because you can get a job in a ghetto where everyones ignorant, doeosnt mean you can come to the most educated state in the country and get a job. I have to compete with Harvard and MIT students for that Mc Donalds job, you have to compete with bubba and his GED.

Especially not for someone with a limited grasp of the English language. Can't even get a job at McDonalds? GET REAL. Fast food has one of the highest turn-over rates of any industry out there.

Mc Donald's is not offering Jobs, I went to MC Donalds first, guess what, they were out of applications. I went to every fast food place I knew and none of them were hiring,The list? Mc Donalds, Burger King, Wendys. I also went to Sears, BestBuy(they at least were willing to interview me), Walmart, CVS, GNC, eventually I gave up and signed up with the temp agency, why? Because theres a shortage of jobs. Teenagers dont even have jobs this summer, I suggest you do some research on the economic situation in Boston else shut up because you dont know shit. If you know where theres jobs in Boston which will pay me $15 an hour, show me so I can send them my resume. I however think you are talking bullshit, sure before the recession you could make $15 an hour, there were millions more jobs than there are now, now we have alot less jobs, you take whats offered or you are jobless.

There is a little place where the rest of us live, it's a place called REALITY. Check it out.

There is a little trait you should learn, HONESTY. Try it.

Don't assume I'm stupid, or put words in my mouth

[Steeltoe]

If I didn't read /., I wouldn't have read your post in the first place, doh.

I didn't say anything about computers. I also fail to see the connection between a productivity tool and something resembling lobotomy. Although in lobotomy, the people/victims feel neither happy or sad, it seems very similar to be happy all the time. Without the downs, there can be no ups, IOW the two side of the coin depend on eachother.

I'm not so silly as to suggest we go back to the stone-age. What would be the point of development and evolution then? But healthy humans do not need drugs, especially not to feel good. If you feel bad or sad, that's the bell signal from the body and mind telling you something is wrong, just like pain. That was my point.

You go ahead and inject yourself with that stuff when it comes out and be happy as a clam. I just tell you, it's not a wise thing to do, and I'm also telling you why. It's your choice as long as the society don't have to pay your hospital bills.

I may also expand a little on the connection between body and mind. If there's something wrong with the mind or lifestyle, it may eventually manifest in the body if left unattended. Perhaps as chronic pain, or illness. Try reading books from Deepak Chopra, he'll explain better than me.

So people taking that happy-serum, will also eventually need pain-releavers and medication to strengthen the immune system. Why go through all that trouble when nature provides many natural ways?

The body can take care of itself, if we take care of it. To take proper care of it, we need knowledge and wisdom.

Re:Perhaps you're just not very good at playing it

[Hittite Creosote]

Actually, they have computers in Africa, India, Iraq, Tokyo,Hong Kong. The computer is not something only we have.

There are a great many millionaires in India. There are just a hell of a lot more poor people. Iraq? Well, a computer is not much use when the occupying forces *still* haven't got the electricity working in your area yet. But in the past they were a well educated country - I have worked with an Iraqi scientist. The second man to pay his own way into space was a South African. As for Tokyo and Hong Kong - where the hell did you get the idea they were poor?

Give me an example of no way out?

Ever heard of subsistence farming? You spend all day trying to scratch a living. If the crop fails, you're in trouble. It's hard to get an education if there is no free school available and your family needs you to help in the fields or there will not be enough food.

It doesnt matter where you are, if you are smart you'll take advantage of what you have, and find ways around what you dont have.

Bullshit. Absolute utter bullshit. Only if you are lucky enough to be born in a country with free education and some form of welfare state does that apply, and even then not equally. If there is no free education, if you have to work every hour of the day just to get enough to live on, then there is no other way out. Are you trying to claim all those people on the breadline in the third world are just bone idle?

What makes you think a kid in Africa or China cant pick up a book on C++, then go to an internet cafe and practice programming so he can get a job?

Are you absolutely insane? Possibly if the Chinese kid lives in Beijing, Shanghai or Guangdong, and has the money to spend on the cafe. But what if you live in a village in Western China? Where do you get the book from? Where is the internet cafe? Especially if the government has just shut most of them down. Same with Africa. Possibly fine if you're in Accra , but what if you're in ha Konote?

to live in the USA you have to be the smartest hardest working person in the world.

Firstly, the US only work the longest hours of any western industrial nation. You work less hours than Hong Kong-China. Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand all report working more than the US. You work for less time than the Koreans. Look up the original report rather than US media misunderstandings. Secondly - well, duration does not equal quality. And finally, yes, the French have it easier. That's because the French decided to have it easier. That's because they value their free time more than their bank balance - they go on strike to get better working conditions, not more money (and boy, do they go on strike). They work fewer hours, they're a bit poorer, but they are a damn sight happier than you. I'd rather be a happy cheese munching surrender monkey in Paris than a miserable cheese munching desk monkey in Wisconsin. If you are spending all your time working to get the money to buy consumeables and you are still miserable, when there are people with less money who are far happier, have you considered that they might actually be the smarter ones?

Your idea is very good I must admit.

[HanzoSan]

So why do cities build "affordable housing" and cheap projects, when they can just build a bunch of boats and have the poor all live on deck?

Anyway thanks for the help, I will do some research into this and see how feasable it is.

You got me.

[Lispy]

Im german. But at least your comment was funny. ;-)

Computer. . . End Program!

[Chaset]

Computer. . . arch!
Computer! Computer? Respond, computer.
Computer, run level 1 diagnostics...
...so has anyone else gotten the program to terminate? Or at least gotten the arch to appear? Anyone?
Darn, this thing's STILL on the fritz.
Captain to bridge! Respond. Damn...