Chess is slowly losing it's ability to be this amazing game of strategy as computers get more and more powerful. I read an interview awhile back with one of the grand masters dudes who was saying that Chess is getting to a point where it's the ability to memorize lists of opening moves and progression that is seperating players. Furthermore, the size of the table is starting to get within the limit of computer memory on very high end systems, thus a computer could know every potential opening move and react accordingly. It's a bit more complex and I wish I had the article but within 20 years Grandmasters may not stand chance in hell of beating a computer.
Or they could start modeling their AI's after MUD's, the only issue would be scaling. My experience on the mud Arctic (http://mud.arctic.org/... we're player wiping soon it's a good chance to try us out!) is that some of the AI is incredibly well done. Granted, it is more or less script based but some of the interaction that occurs can make rooms very, very difficult. From my building experience on arctic, it's not very tough to make a mob act fairly intelligent assuming a good scripting system is there for the foundation.
It's not even a "restricted format". All you have to do is burn the music to a CD and then rip it back in to MP3 format and presto, the restricted format is gone. Everyone knows it too, but by saying it's restricted it gets the RIAA off Apple's back (I think Apple says some nonsense about how the play quality is reduced if you try to rip it back but I news article I read said otherwise. I am yet to do it because I don't really care).
On a pointless side note that will probably get nailed as "off topic", The Shawshank Redemption does at least draw the highest demographic of males 18-45 of any movie, hence TBS or should I say SpikeTV plays it a lot. Interesting, yet pointless little factoid:)
Uh there is a HUGE difference between Madden 2001 and 2004. You don't have to "squint" to notice it, all you have to do is actually sit down and play the damn game. For starters the physics in 2004 is just *SLIGHTLY* more realistic (and since sarcasm doesn't work in print, by slightly I mean incredibly). In 2001 you could stop and turn on a dime, 2004 it no worky no more. Furthermore, the player movements and actions are more realistic plus there are tons of tiny touches to make it more authetnic. Clearly this nimrod didn't actually play the game.
Uplink isn't really hacking though, it doesn't teach you anything about system manipulation (and how boring that can be). It's more a problem solving game. You have a set of tools and you need to figure out the best way to do a project... I only played the demo though, although I enjoyed it quite a bit.
Lord knows the only reason I even attempted to play that stupid game was to try and get my sims laid and that go real boring, real quick. But hey, maybe that's just me:D
Was Halo revolutionary? Nah I don't think so but it was a whole lot of FUN. It reminded me of the first time I ever played Goldeneye (Which may have be revolutionary for the console, but in terms of FPS's it doesn't really do anything all that snazy). Halo was a blast to play, it is still a blast to play... particularly multiplayer with friends. That's why I like Halo, pure and simple. A game doesn't have to be revolutionary to be FUN.
An interesting little factoid about oil that I've come across in various of my history classes and my own readings... Good ole Alaska. Unfortantely I have to do a hand waving argument here based on what I remember and what I've read. I could be quite wrong with my assesment and if someone has evidence to the contrary I'd love to see it but the short and sweet of it is the US Government has been watching how much oil we take out of Alaska and specifically buying from Over Seas so once we run them dry, we'll still have Alaska.
Oil is power, without the world would stop thus we're using everyone elses oil to perserve our own. I'm not really saying it's ethical or that we shouldn't seek alternative solutions I'm just saying that that is how our government is doing things. I could be off base and this could be trollish drivel but who knows!
I don't know about you guys, but I for one can barely contain my excitement about this bit of news:-p. The MUD I've played on off and on for the past six years (http://mud.arctic.org/) has something called a "Chaos Day" every few months. Basically, it's 24 hours of noholds bars, super characters going out and having fun. Immortals will take control of dragons and fly them in to town to have a little feast. Lord Soth (Dragonlance themed MUD) will saunter in to Palanthas to spread his special brand of love and happiness etc etc. It's nothing new, although it is fun. My suggestion to the Iron Realms folks is rather than doing it when your system FUBAR's, why not make it a special day for your player base once a year or so. It can be a little thank you for their support, plus it's a fun way to blow of steam and tension. There's nothing like killing your own clanmate who has been pissing you of for the past three months:)
Many of the studies done show that your IQ can be off the charts but if your EQ isn't up to par you'll epitomize the uber-nerd stereotype (Ie someone who is very good at techincal stuff/writing/etc but has absolutely no social skills). That was what I meant, without the ability to effectively deal with situations and the ability to communicate thoughts and feels, you're severly disadvantaged. I fell victim to over simplification of my statement... mea culpa
Common Myth: High IQ == Genius. Just because someone has a high IQ doesn't mean jack shit, not to mention the fact that IQ tests one of many facets of the brain. In fact, many modern psychologist believe that your EIQ (Emotional Intelligence Quotient) places a much larger role in success than IQ. Granted this isn't about success it's about genius.
Not that mental illness is a good thing by any stretch of the imagination, it falls into the category of the law of unintended consequences. There is no way that we can tell what sort of things would occur with the total elimination of mental illness in many different fields. Sometimes solutions to complex problems come from a perspective that is wholey different. All I'm trying say is your blanket statement falls victim to the idea that you can know how one thing effects another when in reality one can never know such things.
Other clans have come and gone since those days, I've played on and off since about 97. The game is a lot different these days, larger world... smaller player base. It's sorta become elitest but such is life, the days of the Grand Poohbahs of the Tarsis Shriners are long gone. No longer are you charged to drink from the tarsis fountain nor killed because you did not bow to one of them. Ahh fun times:)
I agree with you 100%, half the fun of PvP is epic 12 on 12 battles where the winner takes home the loot. You have to put your balls on the line, and some people show their true feathers in these situations (ie they log off or use a trash character as opposed to the one with real gear).
I play on a MUD called arctic and the system is really pretty simple yet effective. First off, the maximum amount of any sort of equipment is limited so there are not endless drops as in something such as everquest. Second, the guards are quite powerful in cities and there is a wanted board system. Should you continually attack someone who is a great deal lower than yourself you will get on the wanted board and be hunted by NPC Guards. Finally, when you die your corpse is left where you died and you lose a % of experience of your total level (It ranges from 25-50%, it's random). Essentially death sucks, losing your gear sucks but there is a vague sense of realism and "griefing" isn't an issue.
Prohibition, in any of forms applied to anything NEVER works. Joe Schmoe will be the only person effected by these actions because the fact is, there will ALWAYS be someone who figures out a way around these protection schemes. It's just adding fuel to the fire really, giving people a bigger challenge. Maybe the MPAA and the RIAA will learn this, but I doubt it... there heads are stuck so far up their asses they don't know the difference between their colons and the sun.
Yeah, I'm no special forces dude, but I can remember carrying an 80 lbs pack in 8th grade over about three miles... ah the things I'd do to let the bastard guide bring my pillow. If your pack is correctly configured it's really not a big deal because new packs adequately distribute the weight throughout your body. I would imagine 140-180 are the packs used in war but I'm not expert.
Haven't you guys ever seen the full-contact basketball? I think it's on Spike TV or something. There are trampolines throughout the court and everyone is padded. They really fuck each other up, it's sorta like football-meets basketball-meets rugby... not really that entertaining but if you need some brute violence it'll due.
Indeed, it's interesting because until modernity there death was not such a taboo thing. It was everyday and common place, even fifty years ago things were different. Case and point, how many people actually know that in three years 50,000 Americans died in the Korean War? Moreover, how many people know that that is roughly how many died in Vietnam except it was over 13-15 years. Death is one of those things that has always been apart of life, and modernity has decided that we can fight it. We're out of our fucking minds...
Time for the obligatory six degrees of seperation comment. My neighbors uncle was a high ranking officer in the Air Force working in the R&D department. One day my neighbor was talking to him and asked him for a general idea of what sort of stuff they were developing, realizing that all this stuff was classified. The guys response was imagine the most fantastic stuff you can think of in terms of science fiction/fantasy/technology etc and push it 50 years past that and we're probably working on something like that. The government probably has all sorts of stuff we don't know about, let's face it they've been using GPS since what the 60's-70's and it's just starting to become mainstream technology.
Doesn't this strike you as one of those things that maybe the government should not be advertising to the world? Let the idiots keep falling victim to the same blunder but who knows maybe it's just me:P
Ah yes you've hit on one of the fundamental reasons why I believe the DARE program has failed. The mentality in the United States is "Only bad people do drugs" and if you do drugs you're a "bad person". Furthermore, by demonizing and forbidding drugs, they only become more appealing to those who want are rebelling against society (ie teenagers who want to be more independant etc etc etc). Maybe it's time we start looking at our real problems, legalize drugs let the government tax the heck out of them and start tackling the issues that really matter. Oh well just my two cents
Just because a game does not require fast reflexes does not mean it does not require skill. Let me use an allegorical example of this to illustrate my point as opposed to the argument used by many already.
Let's say we have two football players, one happens to be named Brett Farve and the other happens to be named Payton Manning. Granted they are both amazing athelete's but they are fundamentally different quaterbacks. Brett Farve plays with his gut, he doesn't bother pouring over game footage to learn the oppossing teams defense, he goes off his reflexs and his instincts. It's all action-reaction.
Payton on the other hand is a very different quaterback. He will study the footage of every game that his opposing team played this season and be able to read any defense that they throw at him, he's a field general (You can tell this if you watch him play, he walks to the line pointing this way and that shifting his blocking options etc).
The point is, Farve is like a FPS. It's gut, it's act-react kill or be killed. Manning is analytical. He studies every facet and is able to make a decision based on the knowledge he has and often his decisions are correct. Both methods take extraordinary skill, it's just a different skill set.
In other words to call RPG's the "refuge for the unskilled gamer" is a very ignorant comment. And yes I play RPG's but I also play FPSers, RTS's etc.
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Chess is slowly losing it's ability to be this amazing game of strategy as computers get more and more powerful. I read an interview awhile back with one of the grand masters dudes who was saying that Chess is getting to a point where it's the ability to memorize lists of opening moves and progression that is seperating players. Furthermore, the size of the table is starting to get within the limit of computer memory on very high end systems, thus a computer could know every potential opening move and react accordingly. It's a bit more complex and I wish I had the article but within 20 years Grandmasters may not stand chance in hell of beating a computer.
Or they could start modeling their AI's after MUD's, the only issue would be scaling. My experience on the mud Arctic (http://mud.arctic.org/ ... we're player wiping soon it's a good chance to try us out!) is that some of the AI is incredibly well done. Granted, it is more or less script based but some of the interaction that occurs can make rooms very, very difficult. From my building experience on arctic, it's not very tough to make a mob act fairly intelligent assuming a good scripting system is there for the foundation.
It's not even a "restricted format". All you have to do is burn the music to a CD and then rip it back in to MP3 format and presto, the restricted format is gone. Everyone knows it too, but by saying it's restricted it gets the RIAA off Apple's back (I think Apple says some nonsense about how the play quality is reduced if you try to rip it back but I news article I read said otherwise. I am yet to do it because I don't really care).
On a pointless side note that will probably get nailed as "off topic", The Shawshank Redemption does at least draw the highest demographic of males 18-45 of any movie, hence TBS or should I say SpikeTV plays it a lot. Interesting, yet pointless little factoid :)
Uh there is a HUGE difference between Madden 2001 and 2004. You don't have to "squint" to notice it, all you have to do is actually sit down and play the damn game. For starters the physics in 2004 is just *SLIGHTLY* more realistic (and since sarcasm doesn't work in print, by slightly I mean incredibly). In 2001 you could stop and turn on a dime, 2004 it no worky no more. Furthermore, the player movements and actions are more realistic plus there are tons of tiny touches to make it more authetnic. Clearly this nimrod didn't actually play the game.
Uplink isn't really hacking though, it doesn't teach you anything about system manipulation (and how boring that can be). It's more a problem solving game. You have a set of tools and you need to figure out the best way to do a project ... I only played the demo though, although I enjoyed it quite a bit.
Lord knows the only reason I even attempted to play that stupid game was to try and get my sims laid and that go real boring, real quick. But hey, maybe that's just me :D
Was Halo revolutionary? Nah I don't think so but it was a whole lot of FUN. It reminded me of the first time I ever played Goldeneye (Which may have be revolutionary for the console, but in terms of FPS's it doesn't really do anything all that snazy). Halo was a blast to play, it is still a blast to play ... particularly multiplayer with friends. That's why I like Halo, pure and simple. A game doesn't have to be revolutionary to be FUN.
An interesting little factoid about oil that I've come across in various of my history classes and my own readings ... Good ole Alaska. Unfortantely I have to do a hand waving argument here based on what I remember and what I've read. I could be quite wrong with my assesment and if someone has evidence to the contrary I'd love to see it but the short and sweet of it is the US Government has been watching how much oil we take out of Alaska and specifically buying from Over Seas so once we run them dry, we'll still have Alaska.
Oil is power, without the world would stop thus we're using everyone elses oil to perserve our own. I'm not really saying it's ethical or that we shouldn't seek alternative solutions I'm just saying that that is how our government is doing things. I could be off base and this could be trollish drivel but who knows!
I don't know about you guys, but I for one can barely contain my excitement about this bit of news :-p. The MUD I've played on off and on for the past six years (http://mud.arctic.org/) has something called a "Chaos Day" every few months. Basically, it's 24 hours of noholds bars, super characters going out and having fun. Immortals will take control of dragons and fly them in to town to have a little feast. Lord Soth (Dragonlance themed MUD) will saunter in to Palanthas to spread his special brand of love and happiness etc etc. It's nothing new, although it is fun. My suggestion to the Iron Realms folks is rather than doing it when your system FUBAR's, why not make it a special day for your player base once a year or so. It can be a little thank you for their support, plus it's a fun way to blow of steam and tension. There's nothing like killing your own clanmate who has been pissing you of for the past three months :)
Many of the studies done show that your IQ can be off the charts but if your EQ isn't up to par you'll epitomize the uber-nerd stereotype (Ie someone who is very good at techincal stuff/writing/etc but has absolutely no social skills). That was what I meant, without the ability to effectively deal with situations and the ability to communicate thoughts and feels, you're severly disadvantaged. I fell victim to over simplification of my statement ... mea culpa
Common Myth: High IQ == Genius. Just because someone has a high IQ doesn't mean jack shit, not to mention the fact that IQ tests one of many facets of the brain. In fact, many modern psychologist believe that your EIQ (Emotional Intelligence Quotient) places a much larger role in success than IQ. Granted this isn't about success it's about genius.
Not that mental illness is a good thing by any stretch of the imagination, it falls into the category of the law of unintended consequences. There is no way that we can tell what sort of things would occur with the total elimination of mental illness in many different fields. Sometimes solutions to complex problems come from a perspective that is wholey different. All I'm trying say is your blanket statement falls victim to the idea that you can know how one thing effects another when in reality one can never know such things.
Other clans have come and gone since those days, I've played on and off since about 97. The game is a lot different these days, larger world ... smaller player base. It's sorta become elitest but such is life, the days of the Grand Poohbahs of the Tarsis Shriners are long gone. No longer are you charged to drink from the tarsis fountain nor killed because you did not bow to one of them. Ahh fun times :)
I agree with you 100%, half the fun of PvP is epic 12 on 12 battles where the winner takes home the loot. You have to put your balls on the line, and some people show their true feathers in these situations (ie they log off or use a trash character as opposed to the one with real gear).
I play on a MUD called arctic and the system is really pretty simple yet effective. First off, the maximum amount of any sort of equipment is limited so there are not endless drops as in something such as everquest. Second, the guards are quite powerful in cities and there is a wanted board system. Should you continually attack someone who is a great deal lower than yourself you will get on the wanted board and be hunted by NPC Guards. Finally, when you die your corpse is left where you died and you lose a % of experience of your total level (It ranges from 25-50%, it's random). Essentially death sucks, losing your gear sucks but there is a vague sense of realism and "griefing" isn't an issue.
Prohibition, in any of forms applied to anything NEVER works. Joe Schmoe will be the only person effected by these actions because the fact is, there will ALWAYS be someone who figures out a way around these protection schemes. It's just adding fuel to the fire really, giving people a bigger challenge. Maybe the MPAA and the RIAA will learn this, but I doubt it ... there heads are stuck so far up their asses they don't know the difference between their colons and the sun.
Yeah, I'm no special forces dude, but I can remember carrying an 80 lbs pack in 8th grade over about three miles ... ah the things I'd do to let the bastard guide bring my pillow. If your pack is correctly configured it's really not a big deal because new packs adequately distribute the weight throughout your body. I would imagine 140-180 are the packs used in war but I'm not expert.
Haven't you guys ever seen the full-contact basketball? I think it's on Spike TV or something. There are trampolines throughout the court and everyone is padded. They really fuck each other up, it's sorta like football-meets basketball-meets rugby ... not really that entertaining but if you need some brute violence it'll due.
Indeed, it's interesting because until modernity there death was not such a taboo thing. It was everyday and common place, even fifty years ago things were different. Case and point, how many people actually know that in three years 50,000 Americans died in the Korean War? Moreover, how many people know that that is roughly how many died in Vietnam except it was over 13-15 years. Death is one of those things that has always been apart of life, and modernity has decided that we can fight it. We're out of our fucking minds...
Time for the obligatory six degrees of seperation comment. My neighbors uncle was a high ranking officer in the Air Force working in the R&D department. One day my neighbor was talking to him and asked him for a general idea of what sort of stuff they were developing, realizing that all this stuff was classified. The guys response was imagine the most fantastic stuff you can think of in terms of science fiction/fantasy/technology etc and push it 50 years past that and we're probably working on something like that. The government probably has all sorts of stuff we don't know about, let's face it they've been using GPS since what the 60's-70's and it's just starting to become mainstream technology.
Wait a minute, I thought Al Gore invented the internet!
Doesn't this strike you as one of those things that maybe the government should not be advertising to the world? Let the idiots keep falling victim to the same blunder but who knows maybe it's just me :P
I didn't know "run"'s could rise :)
Ah yes you've hit on one of the fundamental reasons why I believe the DARE program has failed. The mentality in the United States is "Only bad people do drugs" and if you do drugs you're a "bad person". Furthermore, by demonizing and forbidding drugs, they only become more appealing to those who want are rebelling against society (ie teenagers who want to be more independant etc etc etc). Maybe it's time we start looking at our real problems, legalize drugs let the government tax the heck out of them and start tackling the issues that really matter. Oh well just my two cents
Just because a game does not require fast reflexes does not mean it does not require skill. Let me use an allegorical example of this to illustrate my point as opposed to the argument used by many already.
Let's say we have two football players, one happens to be named Brett Farve and the other happens to be named Payton Manning. Granted they are both amazing athelete's but they are fundamentally different quaterbacks. Brett Farve plays with his gut, he doesn't bother pouring over game footage to learn the oppossing teams defense, he goes off his reflexs and his instincts. It's all action-reaction.
Payton on the other hand is a very different quaterback. He will study the footage of every game that his opposing team played this season and be able to read any defense that they throw at him, he's a field general (You can tell this if you watch him play, he walks to the line pointing this way and that shifting his blocking options etc).
The point is, Farve is like a FPS. It's gut, it's act-react kill or be killed. Manning is analytical. He studies every facet and is able to make a decision based on the knowledge he has and often his decisions are correct. Both methods take extraordinary skill, it's just a different skill set.
In other words to call RPG's the "refuge for the unskilled gamer" is a very ignorant comment. And yes I play RPG's but I also play FPSers, RTS's etc.