You can beat this. Stop playing. Get a WizBan, or something similar, for at *least* a month. So you have no way to get back on, cuz you're going to try. Then, get out of your house. Distractions abound outside your computer room. If you have the option, and you have to use a computer, get a low-powered one that can't play the game. If yer a MUD addict, then get rid of your client. You'd be surprised how much more tedious playing MUDs can be without a client. If that still doesn't work, maybe an abacus is more your speed for the time being... When I say get out of your house, I don't mean exercise, or any of that crap, (unless you wanna, then go for it), but just leave your house. Go hang out with friends. They should be supportive. Go to the bar, take in a movie, whatever, but leave the computer alone, entirely. You need to find new distractions to replace the game, and no single distraction will do the job, if it did, you'd just be transferring your addiction onto another, possibly worse, activity.
When I played EQ, my hard and fast rule was simple. I played the game, ruthlessly, for dozens of hours at a time. But, if someone called, or came over, or just generally wanted to do something, I quit the group, or raid, or whatever and went out. No ifs ands or buts. If there was *anything* else to do (involving contact with other humans), the game got shut off. I suggest the same rule for anyone who is worried that they are heading down the ol' addiction road. Sometimes I'd just go out with friends, just to talk about EQ for 5 or 6 hours. But we weren't playing the game, and we were out of the house.
You play the game because it relieves boredom. Get bored again, and you'll figure out things to do.
0nce upon a time, you had to be creative, or at least devious to come up with, and execute an April Fools prank. Since the internet, all you have to do is post made up crap on your web site. I guess someone, somewhere still finds this funny. I'm getting sick of wasting my time one day a year reading BS stories that don't even sound believable anymore.
Wow! Not to try and flame or anything (really!), but I think *Gnome* is the ugly one... Dark colors, and an unhealty love of the color brown really turn me off every time I boot into it. (I have them both installed, on the chance that someday I'll boot up Gnome and like the way it looks.) I guess it's a good thing that we have both KDE and Gnome, if for no other reason than aesthetics...
Well, personally, I've always used my fingertips to mouse. I've never noticed that the form of the mouse ever had anything to do with my ability to use my fingertips to move the mouse around. The only time I've noticed myself using my whole hand/arm is to pick it up and move it when I get too far in one direction. So, I guess that explaination for the puck-mice has always kinda struck me as not the whole truth. Methinks it has more to do with Apple wanting to be different, once again. But that was a horrible design. Even with the notch, it was tough to use without looking at it.
I can't imagine playing a Fighter with a trackball or mouse. In fact, Analog sticks stink for fighters too. And RPG games have little need for anything but a D-Pad and buttons. Then again, I can't think of too many of those types of games that exsist on any Nintendo-made console, so maybe they don't care. But it won't make me want to buy the console, as those are pretty much the only games I play. I agree on FPS games tho. A mouse/trackball is *so* much easier to use. I remember, back in the day, seeing the PS1's joypads in a magazine and thinking that each of the directions on them was an individual button instead of having the crosspiece hidden under the plastic of the controller. I thought, 'How the heck am I gonna do a Dragon Punch with that controller?'
I read the first half of the article, and then as he kept calling himself dumb names I lost interest, but I have to refute this at least a little.
First he makes the sweeping assumption that no one plays their NES/SMS/SNES/Genesis, etc... I play all of the above, at least weekly. I just do it on my computer via emulators. I still OWN all those systems, but it's much nicer to have them all in one place, on one screen, rather than keeping a switchbox and dozens of cables all running around my livingroom. If a new game came out for one of my last-gen systems, I'd still buy it.
Next he tries to somehow define 'fun' for us. Nice of him to do that, but fun is one of the few things in the world that is (IMO) wholly subjective. To quote the Anime Lain (and while I don't like the movies, it's a good quote), 'No one knows what is fun, nor why.' His discrition of Rogue Squadron was humorous, but very flawed. First of all, it's not a movie, which is completely scripted. No where in the movie was it *ever* possible for Luke to be destroyed in his X-Wing and the Empire win. Neither is Rogue Squad a Toy, where one can pick it up and play with it in new and interesting ways, and maybe even make a new game out of the old one. (However, if you've ever ventured a glance at gamefaqs.com, and happened upon the section for GTA:VC you'd see that people really have made their own 'games' out of Vice City. So the potential exsists.) It is a game. It has goals and objectives, it is challenging, and you can fail. Just like any other game. It may *feel* like a movie, but it's still a game. (And I personally got the feeling from reading the article that the author really doesn't get off on challenge the way he might have 10 years ago.) In fact, I'm more pleased than ever with the recent slew of video games. Previously, in bygone years, you *knew* that if it was a game based on a movie, it would be horrible. (Total recall on the NES anyone?) These days movie based games aren't just good, they are making sub-movies to put in them.
And finally, as for his 'married to cinema' bit goes. The only movie I saw in the theatre last year was LotR. I play video games every single day.
Sorry man, I've done the Google search a LOT of times to try and find what this person is looking for (A good, free Mu* client in case you forgot), and Even if I put the words 'free' or 'freeware' all I usually get is links to major (crappy) DL sites like c|net, who have maybe 2 free clients that either are so new as to be barely above telnet, or old and no longer developed. I'm quite glad someone actually asked this question, and I hope someone has a good answer for him. FWIW, Zmud *is* the best client for Windows, I own it, and I love it, in spite of the fact that the wazards on the mud I play are nazi's about using clients. Nothing that outputs to the mud is the rule.:P But colors have saved my virtual life many times. --Phlod
This will be great for me at home. But at work - where I'd LIKE to have it - we don't run X on anything. Something like this for the console would be so nice...
Just two days after ordering and recieving SuSE Linux 6.1 from LinuxMall for $39.95, I step out to CompUSA to pick up a couple games for the Windows box, and lo! What do I see but the same austere white box with a price 10 dollars less than I payed! I wanted to cry. but I didn't. Oh well. I still love it!:)
Why bother waiting for a football game or something like that? I doubt they even thought of it. Jocks aren't 'people that play sports'. They're just the dumb ones who call you names. The cheerleaders are just the pretty ones who call you names, etc... I don't know if they would have even thought of doing it at a football game. And besides, they hated the people on the field. How are you going to kill someone who's on the field? Yeah, it's possible, but it's much easier to just walk into the school when it's in session and open fire. Why the library? Because they had bombs everywhere else maybe? Because that's maybe where they were fond of hanging out? Because it's someplace that you'd have to get through the bombs to get to? Who knows. Not me. How can I sympathize? Because I spent most of my life in that hell. I would never belittle the fact that it was a tragedy! But look at the outcome. They killed themselves. That part is what many people don't understand. I would bet that was the genesis of the idea. Suicide. But only after they had revenge. They didn't expect to get away with it. They didn't even expect to live through it. But to them death would be welcome after what they had felt for so long. So, hate, yes. That's what schools breed in the outcasts. But evil? Is it evil to hate those who have hated you for so long, and without a reason? You don't get over living like that. Even years later, I still hate my teenage tormentors. I just deal with it differently than they did.
Now, at least, we know why Microsoft has been so vociferous in citing BeOS as a competitor in the OS market, despite Be's repeated rebuttals to the contrary. Seems MS has known more about BeOS all along than they let on...
Slashdot Mirror
You can beat this. Stop playing. Get a WizBan, or something similar, for at *least* a month. So you have no way to get back on, cuz you're going to try. Then, get out of your house. Distractions abound outside your computer room.
If you have the option, and you have to use a computer, get a low-powered one that can't play the game. If yer a MUD addict, then get rid of your client. You'd be surprised how much more tedious playing MUDs can be without a client. If that still doesn't work, maybe an abacus is more your speed for the time being...
When I say get out of your house, I don't mean exercise, or any of that crap, (unless you wanna, then go for it), but just leave your house. Go hang out with friends. They should be supportive. Go to the bar, take in a movie, whatever, but leave the computer alone, entirely. You need to find new distractions to replace the game, and no single distraction will do the job, if it did, you'd just be transferring your addiction onto another, possibly worse, activity.
When I played EQ, my hard and fast rule was simple. I played the game, ruthlessly, for dozens of hours at a time. But, if someone called, or came over, or just generally wanted to do something, I quit the group, or raid, or whatever and went out. No ifs ands or buts. If there was *anything* else to do (involving contact with other humans), the game got shut off. I suggest the same rule for anyone who is worried that they are heading down the ol' addiction road. Sometimes I'd just go out with friends, just to talk about EQ for 5 or 6 hours. But we weren't playing the game, and we were out of the house.
You play the game because it relieves boredom. Get bored again, and you'll figure out things to do.
0nce upon a time, you had to be creative, or at least devious to come up with, and execute an April Fools prank. Since the internet, all you have to do is post made up crap on your web site. I guess someone, somewhere still finds this funny. I'm getting sick of wasting my time one day a year reading BS stories that don't even sound believable anymore.
Just stop already.
--Phlod
Wow!
Not to try and flame or anything (really!), but I think *Gnome* is the ugly one... Dark colors, and an unhealty love of the color brown really turn me off every time I boot into it. (I have them both installed, on the chance that someday I'll boot up Gnome and like the way it looks.)
I guess it's a good thing that we have both KDE and Gnome, if for no other reason than aesthetics...
Well, personally, I've always used my fingertips to mouse. I've never noticed that the form of the mouse ever had anything to do with my ability to use my fingertips to move the mouse around. The only time I've noticed myself using my whole hand/arm is to pick it up and move it when I get too far in one direction. So, I guess that explaination for the puck-mice has always kinda struck me as not the whole truth. Methinks it has more to do with Apple wanting to be different, once again. But that was a horrible design. Even with the notch, it was tough to use without looking at it.
I can't imagine playing a Fighter with a trackball or mouse. In fact, Analog sticks stink for fighters too. And RPG games have little need for anything but a D-Pad and buttons. Then again, I can't think of too many of those types of games that exsist on any Nintendo-made console, so maybe they don't care. But it won't make me want to buy the console, as those are pretty much the only games I play. I agree on FPS games tho. A mouse/trackball is *so* much easier to use.
I remember, back in the day, seeing the PS1's joypads in a magazine and thinking that each of the directions on them was an individual button instead of having the crosspiece hidden under the plastic of the controller. I thought, 'How the heck am I gonna do a Dragon Punch with that controller?'
I read the first half of the article, and then as he kept calling himself dumb names I lost interest, but I have to refute this at least a little.
First he makes the sweeping assumption that no one plays their NES/SMS/SNES/Genesis, etc... I play all of the above, at least weekly. I just do it on my computer via emulators. I still OWN all those systems, but it's much nicer to have them all in one place, on one screen, rather than keeping a switchbox and dozens of cables all running around my livingroom. If a new game came out for one of my last-gen systems, I'd still buy it.
Next he tries to somehow define 'fun' for us. Nice of him to do that, but fun is one of the few things in the world that is (IMO) wholly subjective. To quote the Anime Lain (and while I don't like the movies, it's a good quote), 'No one knows what is fun, nor why.'
His discrition of Rogue Squadron was humorous, but very flawed. First of all, it's not a movie, which is completely scripted. No where in the movie was it *ever* possible for Luke to be destroyed in his X-Wing and the Empire win.
Neither is Rogue Squad a Toy, where one can pick it up and play with it in new and interesting ways, and maybe even make a new game out of the old one. (However, if you've ever ventured a glance at gamefaqs.com, and happened upon the section for GTA:VC you'd see that people really have made their own 'games' out of Vice City. So the potential exsists.)
It is a game. It has goals and objectives, it is challenging, and you can fail. Just like any other game. It may *feel* like a movie, but it's still a game.
(And I personally got the feeling from reading the article that the author really doesn't get off on challenge the way he might have 10 years ago.)
In fact, I'm more pleased than ever with the recent slew of video games. Previously, in bygone years, you *knew* that if it was a game based on a movie, it would be horrible. (Total recall on the NES anyone?) These days movie based games aren't just good, they are making sub-movies to put in them.
And finally, as for his 'married to cinema' bit goes. The only movie I saw in the theatre last year was LotR. I play video games every single day.
--Phlod
Sorry man, I've done the Google search a LOT of times to try and find what this person is looking for (A good, free Mu* client in case you forgot), and Even if I put the words 'free' or 'freeware' all I usually get is links to major (crappy) DL sites like c|net, who have maybe 2 free clients that either are so new as to be barely above telnet, or old and no longer developed. I'm quite glad someone actually asked this question, and I hope someone has a good answer for him. :P But colors have saved my virtual life many times.
FWIW, Zmud *is* the best client for Windows, I own it, and I love it, in spite of the fact that the wazards on the mud I play are nazi's about using clients. Nothing that outputs to the mud is the rule.
--Phlod
I thought the first installment was good. I thought the Lynch movie was pretty good too.
I hated the books. *shrug* Next.
--Phlod
Man, I want this, and I've got 20/20 vision!
;)
Next stop cybernetic implants! I wanna make myself a superhero!
-Phlod
This will be great for me at home. But at work - where I'd LIKE to have it - we don't run X on anything. Something like this for the console would be so nice...
Just two days after ordering and recieving SuSE Linux 6.1 from LinuxMall for $39.95, I step out to CompUSA to pick up a couple games for the Windows box, and lo! What do I see but the same austere white box with a price 10 dollars less than I payed! I wanted to cry. but I didn't. Oh well. I still love it! :)
Why bother waiting for a football game or something like that? I doubt they even thought of it. Jocks aren't 'people that play sports'. They're just the dumb ones who call you names. The cheerleaders are just the pretty ones who call you names, etc... I don't know if they would have even thought of doing it at a football game. And besides, they hated the people on the field. How are you going to kill someone who's on the field? Yeah, it's possible, but it's much easier to just walk into the school when it's in session and open fire. Why the library? Because they had bombs everywhere else maybe? Because that's maybe where they were fond of hanging out? Because it's someplace that you'd have to get through the bombs to get to? Who knows. Not me.
How can I sympathize? Because I spent most of my life in that hell. I would never belittle the fact that it was a tragedy! But look at the outcome. They killed themselves. That part is what many people don't understand. I would bet that was the genesis of the idea. Suicide. But only after they had revenge. They didn't expect to get away with it. They didn't even expect to live through it. But to them death would be welcome after what they had felt for so long.
So, hate, yes. That's what schools breed in the outcasts. But evil? Is it evil to hate those who have hated you for so long, and without a reason?
You don't get over living like that. Even years later, I still hate my teenage tormentors. I just deal with it differently than they did.
Now, at least, we know why Microsoft has been so vociferous in citing BeOS as a competitor in the OS market, despite Be's repeated rebuttals to the contrary. Seems MS has known more about BeOS all along than they let on...