Somewhere I still have some homemade DM screens with the THAC0 tables and saving throws all typed out so that I didn't have to do the math while dealing with all the different dice rolls going on in mass combat.
Our last long term D&D campaign I played a druid. It was gimped until around L13 at which point it rocked. It suffered what most 'hybrid' classes suffer from - which is it's powers are too dilute to be effective in any single role.
Half the time I couldn't hit what everyone else was attacking (and if I did my damge sucked), I was severely and non-logically limited in the weapons I could use (staff, dagger and scimitar? - daggers and scimitars are metal - so why can't I use a regular sword?), my spells were more effective outside than inside.
Bizzarely, I am experiencing many similar issues with my WoW Druid.
My other D&D toons have generally been mages or rogues, or combinations of the two (spell filtcher etc...).
I used to DM a group that included 3 min-maxing rules lawyers. Eventually we established a rule that said - If the DM has to consider the consequences for more than a minute - you're not allowed to do it.
Some of the things they came up with were not just game breaking but game universe breaking. I had to ban the leadership feat after someone used their points to get an entire village to run into the Crater Ridge Mines as trap decoys.
You obviously never saw the 2nd Ed rules books and suppliments. Or the rules for systems such as Rolemaster or GURPs.
D20 is actually quite straight forward rules wise. Many table top games rely on probability matricies, d20 simplified the matricies compared with the old THAC0 (to hit armor class zero) rules and the like.
How about move to Sweden. They have a constitutional monarchy, a parliment and a socialist society with day care, schools and medical paid for through your taxes, conscription but peaceful and neutral (Damn those neutrals! - shut up Brannigan), and a strong platform of responsible environmental energy generation.
If it wasn't for the herring, it's actually begining to sound like a good idea.
We were required at Year 10 to fill in a form listing the 3 careers we were most interested in. When my younger sister's turn came around, she listed; "Nuclear Physicist, Circus Clown and Phrenologist"
From the response she got, we don't think the school counsellor either a) knew what phrenology is, or b) owned a dictionary.
The next step in the evolution was to add rebar to the outside layer (chain link fences sections). That stopped the cracking problem. Or so the vendor said. We'll probably fine out in ten years that that caused other problems (not the least is cost) - but they won't talk about that until they have a fix ready to offer.
The most likey issue will be spalling - the external concrete layers will crack slightly, moisture will get in to the iron rebar and the iron will rust. Rust expands causing the concrete to crack further, letting in more moisture, rinse, repeat.
Spalling (also known as concrete cancer) is a common problem for the 1950's and 60's style concrete framed buildings where rebar was used to strengthen long horizontal spans.
The trainer recommended have a small chunk of cheese - slow release energy and protein. The other recommened option is raw fruit - the fructose (not from corn syrup - from real fruit) is slightly better than sucrose, and the vitamins are good. Apple, Orange and Ginger freshly squeezd juice for example - the ginger accellerates the metabolism.
Heading out to buy a juicer after the next pay packet.
i worked in a supermarket, yes it is sloth and gluttony causing the excess weight in >95% of cases. take a field trip to your local supermarket and observe the produce, bakery, meat, bread, and frozen foods aisles.
I was recently diagnosed with a liver tumor, while the liver is 'functioning' correctly as far as medical tests go, one of the side effects of the tumor is a sweet tooth - a craving for sugar. I've been concious of the cravings for a long time and have discussed them with the trainer I see, we've tried a variety of strategies to try and address them. It was in some ways a relief to find out there was a medical reason why I was experiencing those cravings - it gives me more ammunition in how to cope with them.
And before you suggest it, the tumor wasn't cased by sugar - it's a known but rare side effect from taking birth control pills.
It's even more skewed against poeple of below average height. At 5'2" most high school children are taller than me, according to the BMI charts, my weight should not have changed since I was 12 years old.
This is fine if you are child sized and genuinely petite. If you just happen to be short - the height squared component of the equation really screws you.
The question is - is IT a discipline that would not benefit in anyway from the differences?
Traditionally one of the most common complaints levelled against IT workers is their poor communications skills - in particular how they communicate with other departments and business units within thier parent company, as well as between themselves.
Traditionally women are perceived as having stronger language and communication skills.
Can you see a possible synergy between the two.
Then there's documentation, or training or project coordinators etc...
There is more to IS than simply software development/programming.
There are plenty of women who do possess analytical skills and the ability to plan and manage multiple tasks concurrently.
There are plenty of men who do possess good communication skills.
Average and typical are a way of expressing a trend, but everyone is a little bit different from everyone else to a greater or lesser degree. We all operate under the expectations of our socially acceptable norms. Some are enabling, some aren't.
We have a choice in how much we stick to historical norms or accept change.
Bear in mind also the expectations that most IT people work in. You are expected to put in ridiculous amounts of hours, sometimes be on call 24/7, all for pay that's in many cases only somewhat better than that of a janitor.
No... women are leaving IT in droves because they're taking one look at what kind of career path they can look forward to and saying, "Screw this".
And that's not all - if you are in a relationship the average amount of housework you do per week is likely to increase (don't have the study to hand, but women tend to do more hours of house work per week once they are in a relationship and men do less on anverage than when they are single.
Oh, and if you decide to bow to society pressure to have kids, who carries the baby to term is not really optional unless you use a surrogate. BTW, expect that even if you intend to return to work ASAP and keep climbing the corporate ladder, you boss has probably now pigeon-holded you as someone not worth promoting because your dedication is now suspect - afterall, your family will always come first. Guys with kids don't experience the same expectation.
This is one of the core reasons why salary parity gets worse the older women get.
Depends on what you look for in a computer game. You can't *win* WoW. You would have dificulty *beating* the end game as a casual player.
However, there is a mass of content for solo or small group play. Thousands upon thousands of quests - not all of them are awesome, but they will take you all over an incredibly detailed world.
If you have an obsessive personality - steer clear and spend the time with your family.
Every year or so, release an expansion that completely invalids any progress made in the last expansion.
Depends on why you play really.
As I see it, a MMORPG is a *journey* not a *destination*.
New content is new content. Personally I don't find that the possibility of playing new content invalidates the enjoyment I got frrom the content I had already experienced.
Pre-TBC I was in the second top raiding guild on my server. Because of the changes in the raid size our guild exorcised all the Oceania based players, it took us time to find a new home and start raiding again. We've finally got our butts into SSC in the last couple of weeks (just in time to see the attunment requirements dropped).
I don't feel gypped by the possibility of a new level cap or a new zone to explore. It's a game, it's supposed to be fun. I'm looking forward to Zul Aman in a couple of patches time, and the next 25 man raid they are planning to release to sit after Black Temple. I would be astonished if I haven't replaced my gear several times within the first few weeks of the new expansion (though am still wearing my T2 chest piece - stoopid Moonkin itemisation).
Yeah, the next time that a terrorist busts into a crowded mall with his Stormherald and starts stunning the crap out of people with Mortal Strike will be the first.
Stormherald may be scary, but what about Thunderfury!
And the first time I find someone wielding the Tanglestaff in a public place is exactly when I pack up and head for the hills...
Actually, many Xerox printers now use EA Toner whcih is grown chemically, rather than the old style toner which is made by crushing carbon based subatances to dust.
Slashdot Mirror
I thought the MMORPG caused abstinence... (j/k)
I guess you don't play a healing class. We get enough "Healplz!!!" while in PUGs, none of us would go to capital cities until it was over.
Somewhere I still have some homemade DM screens with the THAC0 tables and saving throws all typed out so that I didn't have to do the math while dealing with all the different dice rolls going on in mass combat.
Our last long term D&D campaign I played a druid. It was gimped until around L13 at which point it rocked. It suffered what most 'hybrid' classes suffer from - which is it's powers are too dilute to be effective in any single role.
Half the time I couldn't hit what everyone else was attacking (and if I did my damge sucked), I was severely and non-logically limited in the weapons I could use (staff, dagger and scimitar? - daggers and scimitars are metal - so why can't I use a regular sword?), my spells were more effective outside than inside.
Bizzarely, I am experiencing many similar issues with my WoW Druid.
My other D&D toons have generally been mages or rogues, or combinations of the two (spell filtcher etc...).
I used to DM a group that included 3 min-maxing rules lawyers. Eventually we established a rule that said - If the DM has to consider the consequences for more than a minute - you're not allowed to do it.
Some of the things they came up with were not just game breaking but game universe breaking. I had to ban the leadership feat after someone used their points to get an entire village to run into the Crater Ridge Mines as trap decoys.
Obviously you have never encountered the philosophy behind Munchkin!
You obviously never saw the 2nd Ed rules books and suppliments. Or the rules for systems such as Rolemaster or GURPs.
D20 is actually quite straight forward rules wise. Many table top games rely on probability matricies, d20 simplified the matricies compared with the old THAC0 (to hit armor class zero) rules and the like.
That's ok, I buy new dice every games convention - it's a tradition.
It also means I have hundreds of dice around the house... ... Shiney!
How about move to Sweden. They have a constitutional monarchy, a parliment and a socialist society with day care, schools and medical paid for through your taxes, conscription but peaceful and neutral (Damn those neutrals! - shut up Brannigan), and a strong platform of responsible environmental energy generation.
If it wasn't for the herring, it's actually begining to sound like a good idea.
We were required at Year 10 to fill in a form listing the 3 careers we were most interested in. When my younger sister's turn came around, she listed; "Nuclear Physicist, Circus Clown and Phrenologist"
From the response she got, we don't think the school counsellor either a) knew what phrenology is, or b) owned a dictionary.
Alas poor Clarus, I knew him Horatio...
The next step in the evolution was to add rebar to the outside layer (chain link fences sections). That stopped the cracking problem. Or so the vendor said. We'll probably fine out in ten years that that caused other problems (not the least is cost) - but they won't talk about that until they have a fix ready to offer.
The most likey issue will be spalling - the external concrete layers will crack slightly, moisture will get in to the iron rebar and the iron will rust. Rust expands causing the concrete to crack further, letting in more moisture, rinse, repeat.
Spalling (also known as concrete cancer) is a common problem for the 1950's and 60's style concrete framed buildings where rebar was used to strengthen long horizontal spans.
The trainer recommended have a small chunk of cheese - slow release energy and protein. The other recommened option is raw fruit - the fructose (not from corn syrup - from real fruit) is slightly better than sucrose, and the vitamins are good. Apple, Orange and Ginger freshly squeezd juice for example - the ginger accellerates the metabolism.
Heading out to buy a juicer after the next pay packet.
i worked in a supermarket, yes it is sloth and gluttony causing the excess weight in >95% of cases. take a field trip to your local supermarket and observe the produce, bakery, meat, bread, and frozen foods aisles.
I was recently diagnosed with a liver tumor, while the liver is 'functioning' correctly as far as medical tests go, one of the side effects of the tumor is a sweet tooth - a craving for sugar. I've been concious of the cravings for a long time and have discussed them with the trainer I see, we've tried a variety of strategies to try and address them. It was in some ways a relief to find out there was a medical reason why I was experiencing those cravings - it gives me more ammunition in how to cope with them.
And before you suggest it, the tumor wasn't cased by sugar - it's a known but rare side effect from taking birth control pills.
That's exactly what I was thinking...
Chester Carson is spinning in his grave.
All bow before the Big Red X. ;P
It's even more skewed against poeple of below average height. At 5'2" most high school children are taller than me, according to the BMI charts, my weight should not have changed since I was 12 years old.
This is fine if you are child sized and genuinely petite. If you just happen to be short - the height squared component of the equation really screws you.
Yep, women are different.
The question is - is IT a discipline that would not benefit in anyway from the differences?
Traditionally one of the most common complaints levelled against IT workers is their poor communications skills - in particular how they communicate with other departments and business units within thier parent company, as well as between themselves.
Traditionally women are perceived as having stronger language and communication skills.
Can you see a possible synergy between the two.
Then there's documentation, or training or project coordinators etc...
There is more to IS than simply software development/programming.
There are plenty of women who do possess analytical skills and the ability to plan and manage multiple tasks concurrently.
There are plenty of men who do possess good communication skills.
Average and typical are a way of expressing a trend, but everyone is a little bit different from everyone else to a greater or lesser degree. We all operate under the expectations of our socially acceptable norms. Some are enabling, some aren't.
We have a choice in how much we stick to historical norms or accept change.
Vila: What about you?
Avon: What about me?
Vila: Why don't you go?
Avon: YOU are expendable.
Vila: And you're not?
Avon: No, I am not. I am not expendable, I'm not stupid, and I'm not going.
(Blake's 7: Horizon [B4])
Bear in mind also the expectations that most IT people work in. You are expected to put in ridiculous amounts of hours, sometimes be on call 24/7, all for pay that's in many cases only somewhat better than that of a janitor.
No... women are leaving IT in droves because they're taking one look at what kind of career path they can look forward to and saying, "Screw this".
And that's not all - if you are in a relationship the average amount of housework you do per week is likely to increase (don't have the study to hand, but women tend to do more hours of house work per week once they are in a relationship and men do less on anverage than when they are single.
Oh, and if you decide to bow to society pressure to have kids, who carries the baby to term is not really optional unless you use a surrogate. BTW, expect that even if you intend to return to work ASAP and keep climbing the corporate ladder, you boss has probably now pigeon-holded you as someone not worth promoting because your dedication is now suspect - afterall, your family will always come first. Guys with kids don't experience the same expectation.
This is one of the core reasons why salary parity gets worse the older women get.
Depends on what you look for in a computer game. You can't *win* WoW. You would have dificulty *beating* the end game as a casual player.
However, there is a mass of content for solo or small group play. Thousands upon thousands of quests - not all of them are awesome, but they will take you all over an incredibly detailed world.
If you have an obsessive personality - steer clear and spend the time with your family.
Every year or so, release an expansion that completely invalids any progress made in the last expansion.
Depends on why you play really.
As I see it, a MMORPG is a *journey* not a *destination*.
New content is new content. Personally I don't find that the possibility of playing new content invalidates the enjoyment I got frrom the content I had already experienced.
Pre-TBC I was in the second top raiding guild on my server. Because of the changes in the raid size our guild exorcised all the Oceania based players, it took us time to find a new home and start raiding again. We've finally got our butts into SSC in the last couple of weeks (just in time to see the attunment requirements dropped).
I don't feel gypped by the possibility of a new level cap or a new zone to explore. It's a game, it's supposed to be fun. I'm looking forward to Zul Aman in a couple of patches time, and the next 25 man raid they are planning to release to sit after Black Temple. I would be astonished if I haven't replaced my gear several times within the first few weeks of the new expansion (though am still wearing my T2 chest piece - stoopid Moonkin itemisation).
Yeah, the next time that a terrorist busts into a crowded mall with his Stormherald and starts stunning the crap out of people with Mortal Strike will be the first.
Stormherald may be scary, but what about Thunderfury!
And the first time I find someone wielding the Tanglestaff in a public place is exactly when I pack up and head for the hills...
Plus it will be a bit of a problem for them if they are relying on Combat Rezes or SoulStones to get them out of trouble when they wipe...
Actually, many Xerox printers now use EA Toner whcih is grown chemically, rather than the old style toner which is made by crushing carbon based subatances to dust.