The Improbable Island Enquirer - Forums

Feature Requests, Ideas and Feedback :: Re: A new daft idea from Hairy Mary.

Sun, 05 Feb 2012 17:54:29 +0000

I'm a strong believer that things like this need to be considered in terms of how good it is as a game mechanic. If it's bad for the game, then it doesn't matter how good the in character justification is, it shouldn't go in. If it adds something to the game, then as Buddleia implied, an IC justification can be dreamt up with enough imagination. Brains in NP has ordered in some kitchen equipment from Maiko's side business. Whatever. In this case, we don't even need much of a justification. All you need to know is that somebody's willing to pay cash for delivering a parcel to 'Cake or Death Joker - AceHigh', to be dropped off at the council offices for collection. If it's a player commissioned delivery, then the player can come up with whatever story they choose.

What I think that it might add. It's something else to do, a slightly different way to play, to be able to get such jobs. It will encourage moving about more. As FML observes, Dan's quests already do that, but having a different way is no bad thing. And this is more travel, rather than 'IC to outpost, stay there for some days, back to IC'. Also, there's extra decisions to be made. With Dan quests, you just take the quest. If you don't want to go to that particular outpost then put it on hold until you have some time. With this, there's an element of risk involved. Is it a good idea to take up this job or not?

If the player commissioned jobs idea is part of it, then that encourages travel to Places and not just outposts, which will be more varied, and encourage exploration of some of the Places that have been built. A lot of builders will like it because it gives them a great way to encourage people to come and look at their Places (and I'm sure that a lot of us want to show them off.) It might also encourage interaction between veteran and newer players, possibly. Also, it's something for higher level players to spend their req on.

If the 'group jobs' idea is incorporated, then it will encourage collaborative play, which I think would be a good thing. It will encourage people to get together and work together and get to know each other, interacting and role playing, and I think some people need help with this, a good excuse. This sort of touches on the other thread that's going on at the moment about New Home. You have to work together, which soon implies roleplay, but you won't just be able to 'pull solutions out of your ass' because you're working to some extent within a controlled framework.

The point about teleports is a good one. Actually, my pricing scheme idea was 5req/square distance/per level of difficulty, so that if you were to deliver a level 5 difficulty package from Squathole to Pleasantville say, then you would get 10 squares x level 5 difficulty x 5 req = 250 req for it. And you'd be facing extra lvl 5 monsters. This is of course subject to tweeking. Maybe a lvl 5 difficulty job would have lvl 6 monsters come looking for it. Perhaps these 'bandit beasties' wouldn't get you any req, just experience. So under this scheme, the most you could get is CC to NH lvl 15 which gives 2250 req. Slightly more if a player commissions a delivery from CC to somewhere right on the south coast. Maybe enough to buy a teleport if you're very lucky, but only just. That's not going to happen very often, and when it does you're not going to make much money from it. If teleports are that cheap somewhere, then you're probably better off making money as a merchant, buying cheap and selling more expensively elsewhere.

I was thinking of only having a limited number of jobs in each outpost at any one time. Maybe 5? or 3 game generated ones and up to 3 player commissioned ones? Something like that. So you can't count on getting a job going to the right place at the right level. You have to see what's going and then decide if it's worth it or not.

Still, if you're going somewhere by teleport anyway, then nipping into the council office and taking the highest difficulty level job to that outpost going would be an attractive option. Perhaps, as you say, the parcels are destroyed in the Nothingness. Or maybe they blow up, causing you hp damage as well. Maybe the office won't give you another job until you've paid back for the lost parcel (at a rate dependent on difficulty level). Non-use of teleports (even to run away from monsters) might be an extra consideration you have to make when deciding whether to take on a job or not.

The problems that I can see are -

1) If you're going to an outpost anyway, then take a job on for free extra req. But the extra risk involved means that this isn't quite so straight forward. If you take on a job that's too easy for you, then the amount of req that you get in return is so small compared to what you get just jungle fighting, that it's not really worth your while. If you take on a job that's too hard, then you'll just get hammered.

2) Also, people using this to farm exp. You get extra monsters to fight without having to spend stam hunting for them in the jungle. But you have to spend the stam travelling instead. It would take some careful balancing maybe, but I reckon that it's doable.

Perhaps there's a time limit. If you travel more than twice the theoretical distance as the crow flies, then the parcel perishes for some reason which I can't dream up at the moment. It's perishable foodstuffs or something. The receiver wanted this quickly, you're too late.

3) If group jobs are taken on, a high level player taking on a (for them) easy job and sharing it with a low level player, thus giving them more req than is good for them. Maybe don't let the initial job-taking player recruit anybody more than two levels in difference from them.

I also think that Buddleia's idea of limiting how many jobs can be done in a day is probably a good one. Certainly don't let anybody take on more than one job at once, or commission more than one job at once.

Feature Requests, Ideas and Feedback :: Re: A new daft idea from Hairy Mary.

Sun, 05 Feb 2012 15:40:18 +0000

By: Full+Metal+Lion

Quote by: Buddleia

Out of character - it looks to me like this system would be another way to encourage people to explore the map and go to other outposts while earning req.

Isn't that what DanQuests are supposed to do?

Quote by: Buddleia

As for how much req you'd earn ... I made a table of the straight-line distances between outposts.

Good job.

Out-of-Game :: Re: The Thank-you Thread

Sun, 05 Feb 2012 06:24:04 +0000

By: Makiwa

Seconding Harris's post - brilliant!

I too was getting nervous as we walked as to where this was going to end up. 8O

Thanks Mr Joe!

Out-of-Game :: Re: The Thank-you Thread

Sun, 05 Feb 2012 05:17:46 +0000

By: Harris

Rohit and Stern is AWESOME.
(and I was just a wee bit paranoid of being jumped while on our way. Heh.)
Looking forward to part two!
(...not to mention FINDING the sodding thing...)

Thanks, CMJ! And possibly Emily!

Feature Requests, Ideas and Feedback :: Re: A new daft idea from Hairy Mary.

Sun, 05 Feb 2012 02:49:19 +0000

By: Buddleia

FML, do you mean in-character or out-of-character, for the point of these packages? If CMJ thinks this is a good enough idea to code up, we could come up with any rationalisation in-character. Taking supplies, news, information from one council office to another - like the freebie supplies to Newhome, or details on threat levels, or Titan sightings, or updating the clan rosters, or maybe the details of bank balances and transfers, or the Gifting system, or the post (Distractions), or for eBoy to know what stocks are available where, or sending building supplies to outposts that need more walls to be built up, or ammunition for their guards, or supplies for the restaurants or hospital tent, or restocking/repairing the cameras ... anything that needs to be moved or shared around!

Out of character - it looks to me like this system would be another way to encourage people to explore the map and go to other outposts while earning req.

As for how much req you'd earn ... I made a table of the straight-line distances between outposts.

Using Hairy Mary's figures of 5 req per square, that would earn you between 30 and 170 req per delivery (plus the cash from the heightened monster encounters, but minus the stamina and healing from dealing with them). That looks a little low to me; you'd have to do several of these quests to even earn a cheeseburger, and a NewHome to CyberCity delivery might take a rookie two gamedays (or more if they get lost!) so would not even pay them back for the stamina spent. It certainly wouldn't get anywhere near the price of a one-shot unless the figures were very different from that. (OSTs vary wildly in price. Depending on crate drops, which depend on donations, I've seen them as cheap as 2,000 req and more expensive than 20,000.) Perhaps a flat rate of e.g. 200req plus a distance factor?

Another thought: if the req payout is high enough to be a significant source of earnings, perhaps there should be a maximum of so many of these deliverequests per character per gameday, to prevent people req-farming by shuttling back and forth between SQ and NP or similar? Or, each person can only do one Mission:Impostable from each town per gameday?

Feature Requests, Ideas and Feedback :: Re: A new daft idea from Hairy Mary.

Sun, 05 Feb 2012 00:21:50 +0000

By: Full+Metal+Lion

Quote by: Svergon

On a similar note with 'tax reasons' I wouldn't think it too difficult to cause teleporters to be a bad idea for deliveries. Maybe the contents are fragile, and even indirect exposure to nothingness will somehow bring irreparable damage. Or the special packaging is, among other things, teleportation proof. To prevent sneaky thefts, you see. Things like that to force people to slog through it the hard way, at least on the more difficult assignments.

My ponderings aside, it seems like a good idea.

If I remember correctly, the price of a OST is around 10,000 Req. Would packages pay more than that?

Also, Hairy Mary, what would be the point of the packages, again?

Feature Requests, Ideas and Feedback :: Re: A new daft idea from Hairy Mary.

Sat, 04 Feb 2012 23:23:50 +0000

By: Svergon

In-Game :: Re: New Home Dilemma

Sat, 04 Feb 2012 15:44:29 +0000

By: Harris

Well, you made a lot of points about being berated for violence in outposts, and I felt a bit inspired by your own M.O. when a fellow contestant wielded another contestant as a projectile weapon, so.... A duck was knocked unconscious, a gang war amongst chefs started, and events took their natural course.

(A day or two ago)

In-Game :: Re: New Home Dilemma

Sat, 04 Feb 2012 08:39:44 +0000

By: Agelmar

Quote by: Harris

I had a batch of cooks get into a knife fight to the death in NewHome in your honor, Ag. Thought you'd wanna know. B)

Sorry, what? When was this? How in honour of me?

In-Game :: Re: New Home Dilemma

Sat, 04 Feb 2012 05:02:14 +0000

By: Harris

I had a batch of cooks get into a knife fight to the death in NewHome in your honor, Ag. Thought you'd wanna know. B)

In-Game :: Re: New Home Dilemma

Sat, 04 Feb 2012 02:04:33 +0000

By: Agelmar

Quote by: spandex

"That said, if you know you're doing a dramatic scene, keep it away from the outposts."

Barely anyone reads these forums, but I'm still compelled to respond, because this is the sort of premise that leads to players spouting arbitrary rules, divisiveness and what Agelmar has described. Do what you want in outposts and everywhere, just 'don't be a dick', and follow the basic RP guidelines.

Well, yes. That's the set of rules I follow. Don't be a dick (unless they start first and then it's okay to just unload on them) and try to be a team player.

Being a team player doesn't mean be a team character. I often stress (how many times I have had to tell people that when they're not Cool, Calm, and Collected, they should be off of II) that I am not my character and as acerbic as Mara is, usually I'm wearing a grin while playing her.
I've been told off for violence in the Outposts; one person misunderstands the PvP rule, and they spread that misunderstanding, and those people further misunderstand it, and then you have lots of people telling you that anything so violent as drawing a knife IS NOT ALLOWED EVER IN OUTPOSTS SHAME ON YOU (apparently there are children here (well-hidden, too. (some not as well as they think they are. (Yes, you know who you are. (I'm watching you.)))))

Before I write another three novels here, I'm going to say what I came in here to say. Yes, I agree with spandex. There's only a few rules. Yes, they are easy to follow. Yes, it is possible to write a violent character as a passive person. No, you are not a Mod, and the most you can do as a player is advise people if they're doing something wrong. No, there's no [BAN] on anything loud and disruptive in an outpost, and No, that's not what violence is. As far as I interpret it, the 'rule' on violence is there to keep II from being a hostile environment, and to keep people from having their characters attacked over a bent spork in Kittania because they thought it would be fun to mule-kick spontaneously. Just try not to be overdramatic. Usually plots or Events that are dramatic are private, and to involve everyone in an Outpost in them as bystanders is a little rude. More pie-throwing, less crying. At least in Outposts. That's as much as I can say.
*deep breath*

Okay, I'm done here. I think I'll sign up for every creative-writing class there is in my county.

In-Game :: Re: New Home Dilemma

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 17:01:00 +0000

By: CheshireCat

Fair enough, dex.

In-Game :: Re: New Home Dilemma

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 11:05:34 +0000

By: spandex

In-Game :: Re: Fears Survey

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 09:13:26 +0000

By: Agelmar

1. What are you afraid of?
"Afraid? Cor, there's a lot what I'm afeared of. Mainly, though. I don' like the unknown. Because what I do know, I know how ta work agin'st. I have a plan for most fings, or a plan for planning a plan. But if I'm completely in the dark, no intel, no-one at my back, no s'port... That frightens me."
2. Why?
"Wot? Why? Dinnae I just--Ah, fuck. Why? Why, then. Well, I base e'rryfin' Ah do on what I know. So when we get inta the realm of what I don' know, et's like pullin' the rug out from unner me feet. Very disc'ncertin'."
3. Does anything else make you vaguely uncomfortable?
"Yes, indeedy. Z-zedword fings. Um. Z-.. The fuckers in Pitts, a'right? I don' fookin' like 'em, they put me on edge, an' the smell es terrible. Whoever thought up walking corpses, I would.. I would do some [i]very[/i] narsty stuff to 'em."
4. Does your fear have something to do with what you are? (Race, gender, etc.)
"Not at all. Nope."
[5. Does your narrator/writer share these fears?]
((I just don't like spiders. Spoiled milk and me have a history as well.))

In-Game :: Re: New Home Dilemma

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 08:42:32 +0000

By: Agelmar

Um, yes. Dizzy here knows that I share his views on random-ass contrivances and 'oh I found it' bits. I learned that lesson well in my earlier times when Agelmar would give out gifts he found in the Jungle, some not really canon. These would be ignored or conveniently lost. I recall wondering at that. Joseph Kemys still has that cane made from the Gestalt Treebranch, but he didn't ever EQUIP the BEN STILLER SHADES, and in fact didn't mention them after my character gave them to him. Wow, I thought, it's not that he doesn't like me... But this thing which is related to MSPA and not this weird Island stuff got ignored, but an item which was described as being painstakingly whittled out of something in-canon was met with enthusiasm. I wonder what that could mean? Well I put my brain to the task and eventually it chugged out an answer. I just made my first example of Good Roleplaying over one in Bad. Oh, the pride I felt. From then on, everything was thought out deliberately. Not only was Logic applied to a character idea but I also asked myself, Does this fit on II? MY character was one who tried to make sense out of the madness. After a long while of playing II I don't DK much, and in fact only have a few barely-formed ideas on what a JokerMara would be like (not good).

See, Mara's appearance of inferiority is a carefully considered choice. If I wanted a powerful Joker who had Improbability backfire on her (sometimes literally backfire, in the explosive sense), then I certainly could manage it. If you all can DK in a day just to prove you can, then if I so chose I could have reached Joker Rank in two years. But I didn't, and because of reasons.

I like being where I am. I like writing life out to be a struggle for my character. I like having to explain and describe every little thing. It's details that I love. It's human interaction that I love writing, and as Dizzy said, when you've got everything you want, other people just don't matter. I've seen this demonstrated quite a few times in our newer characters, and try to set an example. Mara describing her exploits. Mara field-stripping her pistol for a quick clean, maybe discussing her experiences in handloading captured brass. Day-to-day stuff. Beeps and I were talking about the one time Mara pulled together a flamethrower using scrap metal from CC404, empty propane tanks, the frame from a stripped-down Crossbow, and an armload of hosing in Kittania. I'm a nut for this stuff.

Now again this is me projecting my starvation for human interaction and getting all long-winded. I'll cut it down here, as well as backpedal and justify how this can be relevant rather than my opinion running off on a tangent. My point for the paragraphs above is this; I like the mundane stuff. It gets me more XP for roleplay bonuses. It's fun to do. Or at least, it's fun when it's appreciated. When it's ignored I feel like a pervert, masturbating over his little masochistic fetish. I feel the odd one out, 'that one guy who actually does manual labour'. I used to think that these sort of little exhibitive acts were good and well-appreciated. I was being applauded and patted on the head and I felt like a somebody oh boy oh boy oh boy. Well, that petered off. I became Manuel, the labour guy like I said above (oh that sounds wrong now, he's onto the messican jokes), and nobody liked to talk to me. My old standard of 'lead by example' stopped helping anyone. I wasn't interesting. I didn't make fantastical machines on a jungle island where you're supposed to be shitting in the bushes. I didn't have a bag of everything in it.* I wasn't on the 'in' crowd. That's what got me feeling like I was out. I'm a little sore about it, I guess. I used to be cool, I used to be hip! But.. I'm not now. And like my earlier post says, I'm not about to change myself or Mara for other people. But that's got me in a rut. I still have my dignity, but I don't have any more of that spontaneous fun of which I have such fond memories of. I can't! It's not interesting to these darned new kids. And I've tried to have my fun around them but like I said I feel like it goes ignored.

Really, I'm taking the defeatist way. The new people Sessine describes don't find me interesting. Out the gate, I just don't look as big and shiny as some of those other people. My character, as a real person, is also kind of mean, and OOC I can be pretty critical. So playing with new people is out. Now, the people of the sort that I like to play with, they already took the path I'm describing. Either their narrators are busy or else their characters are holed up in Dwellings and Clan Halls doing private stuff. For me, there's not much to do and in fact I've become weary of II. The only interesting thing that isn't a chore is hanging Mara around the handful of people I actually like in the one or three Dwellings that they frequent. It's repetitious, nothing new happens, and there's this stigma against going to the outposts that removes them as a choice. II stopped being a game for me a while back. It stopped really being fun. It's something I resent happening but I guess that either I've outgrown it or it's outgrown me.

*(Actually Mara's bag holds a towel, rations, dry packages of medicinal herbs, spare supplies to make explosives in the field, a carton of cigarettes, extra water, spare fuzes, dry food for rations, a set of picks (she's a crap lock-picker), and a first-aid kit with a length of gauze, surgical tape, twine, a razor blade, and else a few random odds and ends she finds in the Jungle.)

In-Game :: Re: Fears Survey

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 02:25:56 +0000

By: CheshireCat

1. Anyone vanishing without a trace, or being forgotten. People have come and gone, but to lose them, and to never know where they are, is problematic. Similarly, people change, but nothing should ever be forgotten, even on purpose. To forget is to vanish.

2. Erm. Forgetting someone is worse than killing them. As long as they're there, as an idea, they can be reborn. Or, they can live as that idea. It's also the only way I think I'll ever die, truly.

3. Monkeys. So close to being human, and they're smarter than people think.

4. Yes. It's the only way I'll die. Change happens, including what people think I am, and thus what I am.

5. [Earnestly, yes. It's why I've found the Weeping Angels and Silent so scary from DW - they prey more on the mind than who you are, and are a taunt to who you are.]

In-Game :: Re: New Home Dilemma

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 02:18:50 +0000

By: CheshireCat

I'm partially guilty for this current issue in NewHome. I'm working on getting better. But my suggestion is, as players, make an event for the public. A hoe-down in Kittania (that was a while ago, granted - I haven't been on much) or a tea party in NewHome. Something relatively innocuous. But it's something for a new player to come in and do. Else, those outposts aren't used or directed around by older players who have a sense of how things should work around here. If you, as a writer, can't do that with your current character, either prod your buddy into doing it or make a new character to do so with.

People quickly devolve into cliques, and I'm among the first to do so. But what makes a group fun is constantly getting new people in it. The core group of your best buds may stay the same, but everyone rotates in and out, even them.

I don't mind the cliques, but breaking into one as a new player can be a pain in the arse. And if people do hide in their dwellings, then they're harder to get to know. That said, if you know you're doing a dramatic scene, keep it away from the outposts. Silliness is a trademark here at II, and that's what attracted me to the roleplaying side in the first place.

Make a rube-goldberg machine that anyone can add a part do.

Organize a small dance where you grab people at random to join in.

Sing songs with reckless abandon.

Just go have some fun.

In-Game :: Re: New Home Dilemma

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 00:23:33 +0000

By: dizzyizzy

I was doing, during the scene, what was probably even less helpful than challenging them: lurking silently. :lol:

I can't rememver who challenged them, but it came across well. Good for you, forgotten person. :)

In-Game :: Re: New Home Dilemma

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 23:58:45 +0000

By: Hairy+Mary

Dizzy, as godmodding goes, having a pair of scissors about one's person is hardly that extreme.
Your point is valid, it's better if they hadn't had the scissors. "I found them somewhere." is some sort of post hoc justification come up with when challenged. Why were you challenging them like that?

In New Home in particular, accept that those sort of things, honest mistakes, are going to happen. It's the place for new, inexperienced players. If you play there, then know that.

In the 'scissors' example, would it not have been better to talk to them, in character, something along the lines of -

"Hello there. You've got scissors? I'd let them use the hatchet, I can't wait to see the haircut. Are you new here then?"

So disuade the scissors gently, and try to include them.

If you (I'm talking to everybody here, not just Dizzy) go steaming in with an accusatory "Why are you doing that?", then it's unhelpful. It's bad feeling on your part. Hippy wisdom no.29846: Shit breeds shit breeds shit breeds shit. You're just making somebody else feel bad as well, and then they're more likely to assume a defensive stance. You've stopped communicating and started fighting instead. Bad shit. It just escalates, probably until they leave the Island.

If you feel the need to distract somebody, then always always ALWAYS - start with 'Hello and welcome to the Island' and then finish with 'I hope that you enjoy yourself here.' If you can, add, 'If there's anything that I can do to help, then please don't hesitate to distract me.' You might want to mention that you won't be on here all the time, and so perhaps Location 4 might be a better place for questions.

And mean it. Don't just say it because you feel you ought to, through gritted teeth. Don't say it so that you can feel good about yourself, what a wonderful person you are. Say it because they're another person and you care about them, purely and simply for themselves in their own right. I can assure you, that even from an entirely selfish point of view, your own enjoyment of the Island will be much enhanced.

EDIT: Back to Dizzy again. No, you hadn't mentioned that CS Lewis quote before, at least not in my hearing (reading). Cheers, it's a good one.

In-Game :: Re: New Home Dilemma

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 23:54:34 +0000

By: Twosocks+Monkey

Experienced writers know this and control for it. But there's no sign at the entry gate to the Island saying "You must be this experienced as a writer to play this game." So experienced writers on the Island also have to control for the fact that they are playing with other people, some of whom are only just starting in on creative writing and still have a lot to learn.

You know, I have been feeling down on NewHome and Kittania lately myself, but your comment gave me pause Sessine. It's easy to feel like someone is doing it wrong, or ruining the game, and in fact, quite a lot of people are just experimenting with writing.

Thanks for the reminder. I really appreciate it.

Sometimes I feel so invested in the Island I forget it's really here for many different people for many different reasons, and serves a totally different function for everyone.

Seriously, not being facetious, thanks.

:D

-Rose

In-Game :: Re: New Home Dilemma

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 22:05:00 +0000

By: dizzyizzy

Quote by: Count+Sessine

Quote by: dizzyizzy

I do wish people would let scenes develop, not race to solve problems first.

The modding, in this case, came from having the scissors. It's entirely plausible that they had them, I admit. It didn't pass the sniff test to me, though. They pulled them out of their backpack. When asked, they said they "found them somewhere". This is easy to do. I've fallen into the trap a few times, admittedly (Including one particularly flagrant infraction it took me a year to convince Dev to let me retcon). I try to guard against it, because I know some people like playing certain things. I, personally, find it annoying when players "just find" instruments. I try to be courteous to others in the same way I hope they are to me.

I've probably mentioned this before, but in The Great Divorce, C.S. Lewis describes Hell as a place where anyone can get anything they want. This results in people living further and further from each other as petty quarrels result in neighbors just imagining up themselves a new house. Scarcity is what holds communities together. Without it, all we're left with are petty quibbles about who shagged who all that noise.

In-Game :: Re: New Home Dilemma

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 21:23:32 +0000

By: Count+Sessine

Quote by: dizzyizzy

I do wish people would let scenes develop, not race to solve problems first.

The trouble is, dramatic tension (and this applies to all forms of fiction) all too often depends upon nobody involved ever thinking to do something sensible.

Experienced writers know this and control for it. But there's no sign at the entry gate to the Island saying "You must be this experienced as a writer to play this game." So experienced writers on the Island also have to control for the fact that they are playing with other people, some of whom are only just starting in on creative writing and still have a lot to learn.

What you describe isn't godmodding. It's someone trying to participate, but playing a character who's reacting with common sense instead of comedy sense. (If you saw someone in real life about to try to give a haircut with a hatchet, come on, wouldn't you try to talk them into using scissors instead?) To do something different requires 1) recognizing that this is a Comic Scene, not just some player being a dangerous idiot, 2) thinking up some action that will make things more disastrous (that is, funnier), not better.

(That's harder than it sounds. I'm a problem-solver by reflex myself. For me, the benefit of experience only amounts to this: I have at last learned to stay out of scenes where the problems shouldn't be solved.)

Anyway. By the law of averages, if you set a comic scene in a crowded outpost, especially NewHome, you are nearly always going to run into someone who will, one way or another, with the best intentions in the world, ruin it. If you want to do a set piece with no interference, then do it someplace less crowded. You'll have a smaller audience, and they'll just read and chuckle, but that's all right, if that's what you want. If, on the other hand, you want to do an audience-participation comedy, then you need to think ahead and design your comic situation to be proof against common-sense!

In-Game :: Re: Fears Survey

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 21:02:30 +0000

By: LydiaDefountain

1. Afraid? I'm not afraid.. now some things make me a bit... nervous perhaps.. like say people only being able to sing, robots.. and technology in general.. I wouldn't go so far as to say I'm afraid of any of them.. exactly.
2. Why they're unnatural.
3. Too much pink, too much glitter.. people just staring and not blinking.. ever..
4. Well I never encountered much of the technology that I... don't really like.. before I came to the island
[5. nope]

In-Game :: Re: New Home Dilemma

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 20:15:20 +0000

By: dizzyizzy

I'll admit it, I've done my share of telling people off for stupid shit before. I'm not a mod, this place would have fall apart a long time ago if I was. ;)

But too often, anything done on outposts that doesn't involve sitting down to tea get looks of disapproval from banter. God help you if you don't raise your pinkie.

[Time for my anecdote]

My midget character was once told off for thinking the word "gangbang" in Newhome. thinking it. Just thinking a word is enough for a player to interrupt story with an OOC demand for me to go to banter (before even posting in banter to see if I was watching there). I was summarily crucified for making a sexual reference on a +18 game featuring fetid midget brothels.

The mods smiled kindly on me that day, and I've heard more recently they're trying to end player modding. I've enjoyed ripping someone a new one for being a fucktwit, but I only did it when they were really messing up. There's hoards of little wannabes who will attack anything they see that doesn't fit with their puritanical vision of the island. It is, in part, thanks to those people that outposts are shit.

Another problem is godmodders. If every physical problem can be solved by a snap of the fingers, then what's left? They keep ramping up until you've got concussive grenades throwing football-size chunks of shrapnel, and beyond that, once every problem is solvable in moments without having to exert effort (or, more importantly, write a long scene about it), then all that's left to do is shag and start drama. I saw, quite a while ago, Quinn trying to start a scene in newhome. I can't remember the details of it, but another character walked up and ended it before it began. Devorah once was trying to find someone to give her a haircut. Someone was about to do it with a hatchet. Hilarious, right? That would be an awful haircut, and probably wouldn't be able to cut through all the hair. It would be awful, and it would be fun. Too bad someone happened to have scissors that they "found" in a bag, and waved them in front of people's faces until they just couldn't be ignored anymore.

It's seemingly insignificant garbage like that that makes outposts less fun.

What's the solution? I don't know. Anything I can think of would be far too heavy-handed, or not technologically possible (can I reach through the internet to knock people upside the head?) But I do wish people would let scenes develop, not race to solve problems first.

In-Game :: Re: New Home Dilemma

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 18:07:08 +0000

By: Harris

Ag, not out of place or inappropriate at all.

Cookie, what everyone else said, with an emphasis on "lead by example", and an extra, Hey you, Agelmar,and anyone else who wants, Distract me if you'd like some company. If I'm on, I'll happily join you in some shenanigans. (That's about all my character's made out of!). Strength is numbers certainly doesn't hurt, y'know.

In-Game :: Re: New Home Dilemma

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 13:18:21 +0000

By: spandex

I like AceHigh. I'll look for you around, Agelmar.

In-Game :: Re: New Home Dilemma

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 08:56:18 +0000

By: Agelmar

I have yarned about this to everyone who will listen (and some people who won't) and it's become an annoyance for me, as I feel sort of pushed out of the outposts in which I've logged so many hours in. There's a lot of Nattering ahead and it's really just exposition on my reasoning, thoughts, and justification. The short answer for all you tl;dr'ers is at the bottom where you usually look for it. Or is it in the middle? Did I hide it in the first word of every sentence? Oh, bother. Anyway! Talking ahead! Rough words off the port bow, Cap'n!

I understand that in the current state of things (to repeat Remidial's comment; not to point fingers at anyone in particular at all) my character isn't the best of the social types. AgelMara has become a rough, combative person. She's lewd, she's jeering, she's disgusting at times, and she finds amusement in the misfortune of others. Truly, this is only an evolution of the character I first wanted to introduce to the Island, well over two years ago.

Writing Mara in the past, she's done some things for 'fun' that aren't too fun for other people, though it's done with everyone being given a choise to follow along or not. She's set off smoke pots and noisemakers in Newhome before, torched the lawn of the common grounds to burn the Jackalope Flag in the grass, started loud and incoherent arguments on the Failboat, all to just name a few as well as give you an idea, if you're not familiar, of the raucous and bawdy side of the character I play. While maybe not entirely welcomed, this is how I've played my character for a long time, and generally without complaint (except where there was, in which case I would correct). I liked playing a character that wasn't perfect or made to be lovable or cute or what have you. I wanted a character that was a person and would be that person whatever anybody said to them.

Still not seeing how this relates? Don't worry; I'm getting there. I've established that my character got up to shenanigans in his(subsequently, and now currently and permanently 'her') heyday. She did as she liked; and I as the narrator did my best to make sure that the play wasn't too rough or scary or YOU MUST BE INVOLVED IN THIS RAARGH. I made the 'events' open-ended; whatever she did in Outposts, while perhaps close to violence, never was lethal and always written so as to give other players a choise to evade or at worst be stunned or maybe comically blinded or deafened. People knew the standards of my character, knew my style, and knew that I was smart enough to not intend to hurt other characters.

This changed.
[YOU DO NOT HAVE TO READ THIS PART IT'S PROBABLY JUST ME BEING BITCHY MYSELF]
Now, this is pointing fingers (but not naming names). If you know what I'm talking about, I'm probably disappointed in you.
My first twitch, the first idea, if you'll pardon my French, that I got that shit was bad, was when I decided to do one of those little pranks Mara does and has done for a long time. In Kittania. Some of you are probably groaning and rolling your eyes by this point, if you hadn't already upon seeing me make a post. Back onto my story: Mara plays a prank. I don't know if any of you have friends like this but it's the sort of prank where someone does something to startle everyone and then has a big laugh about it. Everything went horribly awry. I made two posts to detail my character initiating the prank, and from there it shot straight downhill and smashed into the bottom of the gorge, ending with two concussions, temporary blindness, shrapnel in several people, blood everywhere, and then some hasty retconning after. I was being berated in Banter for starting such a thing and being guilt-tripped as someone moaned about how their character will NEVER EVER NEVER GO TO KITTANIA AGAIN BECAUSE OF YOUUUU. This matter was cleared up when I explained OOC that the device used was nonlethal, I hadn't instigated shit, and they all were ultimately responsible for what happened to their characters, more so since I didn't make a single post after lobbing a concussive (read: nonlethal) explosive device at the fountain. Well! All that is done with. I don't see myself as responsible for that matter, though I was told I should have been aware of the crowd in Kitt and their propensity for antics of the Llama-scented type. It's behind us. The only reason I detail it here is to help the reader understand the first kick I got as to the state of Outposts. From there... It went downhill. People got touchier, bitchier, more complain-ier.

YOU CAN START READING FROM HERE AGAIN, THIS NOW HAS RELEVANCE]
Most recently I've found myself unable to roleplay in Outposts unless I'm with a party of friends. This is Bad. This is straying close to the cliqueishness that I don't like seeing. But the fact is; II has stopped becoming fun for me. Or, 'random' interactions have. The way I've become used to playing my character is not not accepted by the populace. Constantly it seems that I'm barraged with cries of 'you can't do that!' and 'I'm telling a mod' and 'no violence in Outposts!', and it takes away my 'fun'. The only fun I get is with people I know, usually with some party which has been preordained though gTalk and then run in a Dwelling because the Outpost is too cray-cray. See, I'm a stubborn person. I won't change myself or Mara to appease you lot. For one, I abide by the rules already. (it's not hard to do) For another, I've received a lot of positive support from players I respect and appreciate, and their good words weigh more than all the bad words I've ever heard from anybody. I don't want to cause strife, and I'm already experienced in butting my head on the brick wall that is NewHome and Kittania. Any sort of attempt at reason usually ends with (after me being right, of course (of course I'm right (Pff, I'm always right (except for that one ti(No. Always right.))))) --ends with, I say, me being told to take it up with the Mods. Well, honestly I don't care enough to bother our moderators with the trivial stuff. I have alternatives, and while it's a blow, I take Buddleia's path and just avoid Outposts entire unless I spot someone I appreciate in one of them.

TL;DR HERE --SPOONFEED FOR YOU LAZY DON'T-LIKE-TO-READ TYPES
Well, that's a lot of typing. I feel like it will be out of place and someone will admonish me for it, but I said a lot of my feelings on this matter and at least I got them out. Maybe someone will appreciate it. If you didn't read it all, well the short of it is: NewHome, and the other Outposts, have become cliqueish, to my eyes. It's a clique I'm not a part of and I'm done being angry about it and I've given up my resentments over it. All I can do now is be creative and have fun my own way; which for me is to stick to Dwellings, Clan Events, and private parties with characters of players I know.

P.S: This is probably the third post I've made on any sort of forums anywhere in the last four years and the style is very different for me and what I'm used to writing in. I apologise if this is out of the norm or strayed off-topic somewhere. This is just my 2p and it can be taken or left where it is.
Unless it offends. Somehow.

Feature Requests, Ideas and Feedback :: Re: A new daft idea from Hairy Mary.

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 06:12:16 +0000

By: Full+Metal+Lion

I like this idea, but I freely admit my opinion does not matter, and isn't very informed.

Question: Would this package be a thing in one's inventory? How much would it weigh?

Quote by: Buddleia

Also, the distance-for-req calculation - would that be a standard fee for each outpost-distance, or would you get extra (but with a higher monster risk) if you went a longer way around?

That would, in-universe, make no sense. Also, if it were a simple "squares traveled*the bonus=payout", couldn't people just travel from one square to another and back again, farming potential req?

Unless there were packages that needed to be routed through outposts, say, NewHome to NewPitts to CC404, for, let's say, ill-defined tax reasons.

"This package needs to go to CyberCity404, by way of New Pittsburgh," The Council Officer says.

"Why?" you ask.

"Tax reasons," she says.

"But we don't have--" you try to object. You are cut off by another "Tax reasons." This happens again, and then a third time.

"Look, do you want the job, or not?" She asks, leaning back in her chair.

Oh dear, I appear to be rambling. Sorry. Any how, sounds fine to me, but I'd like to see the Rohit story first.

Feature Requests, Ideas and Feedback :: Re: Trains rewrite

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 04:31:59 +0000

By: Harris

Sadly, trains will not be coming back.

Feature Requests, Ideas and Feedback :: Re: Trains rewrite

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 04:05:14 +0000

By: gladius212

so... I think that if passes (or an item like them) are continued to be implemented the 'creatures' that will 'remove' them from you must be challenge able and if they are they will have to be hard. (i recommend a 2 - 3 level skip for them.)

i like the idea of the trains being social spaces and of them having "improbable events" on them. i also enjoyed the possibility of being put into the middle of nowhere for no conceivable reason(other than you actually wanted to end up there and didn't even know it)

also this is improbable island were talking about here, the trains aren't moving at all, the world is just manipulated into moving on without them. they have no set course and no driver. it is all up to the person who holds the 'first class pass' as to where the train shows back up.think about it if these 'trains' run on a set course what happens when something is put in there way. also if an object were to run constantly over the same area wouldn't something realize the possibility of an easy plunder by sabotaging this 'track'.

Feature Requests, Ideas and Feedback :: Re: A new daft idea from Hairy Mary.

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 02:06:42 +0000

By: Buddleia

I like this idea! It would be a nice way of a) getting new people out to explore the Island and possibly b) getting req when you feel like travelling. I can imagine someone being a sort of itinerant postie, going from outpost to outpost to outpost to outpost to outpost to ohfuckbreached.

A random thought: if these quests go to peoples' houses, how would they say the destination? Would you give the map coordinates, or the house name? Maybe with a link to the land registry? (I need to update that. It's been a while since my last full map-sweep.)

Also, the distance-for-req calculation - would that be a standard fee for each outpost-distance, or would you get extra (but with a higher monster risk) if you went a longer way around?

Another random thought: medals for completing these quests. One for completing one, another for completing ten, and another for completing fifty. Or something like that. Everybody likes medals.

Feature Requests, Ideas and Feedback :: A new daft idea from Hairy Mary.

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 00:00:54 +0000

By: Hairy+Mary

I haven't come up with one of these in some while now, so here it is.
Usual caveats apply. I have little or no idea about programming issues. I fully expect 95% of my ideas to sink without trace due to technical difficulties or else because closer examination reveals that they will in fact shaft the game sideways. Of the 5% that make it, I know that CMJ's got a TO DO list with 200 ideas on it, 198 of which are better than this one. Here goes.

Council offices hand out jobs. These consist of delivering something (a generic parcel wrapped in brown paper say) to another outpost, and come with a difficulty rating and a pay packet, the size of which depends on distance and difficulty.
The player then has to deliver the parcel to the council office in the desired outpost to collect the pay.

Someone out there wants this parcel. For each square travelled carrying it, there's a 10% chance of meeting a beastie of the level of the difficulty level of the job. This is on top of normal encounter rates.

I'm thinking of a reward of about 5 req/difficulty level/square distance. The jobs would be commisioned by currently existing NPCs say. It would be nice if there were different names for the beasties than the normal ones that you meet so that it's clear that that's what they are, but that's not essential. If you get failboated, the parcel gets taken and you fail the job.

So far, so good. The numbers might need balancing a bit, but it's a nice little additional thing that's going on. Encouraging rookies to get out and about a bit more perhaps. There are extensions to the basic idea.

Extension 1.

Each outpost only has four or five randomly generated jobs at a time. If a job goes undone for a game week then it disappears and is replaced. BUT extra jobs can be commissioned by players. The player has to pay the wage plus a 10% admin fee, perhaps a cig as well or something. The player of course picks the difficulty level and the destination. the destination doesn't have to be an outpost, it can be a Place of which they are a key holder. I think that this might be popular, because a lot of us builders want to show off our Places, and this would be an ideal way to lure people in.

This could be done with mementoes, so that the employer could get to choose what the parcel looks like. They could also set up a program in their Place to give a message when (if) the item is delivered.

This could also encourage interaction between rookies and veterans. Even more if the employer could choose the employee somehow. Imagine the RP that could revolve round this. I don't know how it might work in practice though.

Extension 2.

A bit more problematic this one. I can see it being open to abuse. But I'll throw it out in the spirit of brainstorming anyway.

Doing jobs as groups. One person picks up a job as above. Now they can recruit other people to help them. This means that when attacked by parcel seeking beasties, everybody in the group who happens to be on that square can join in the fight ala the way Titans work. Also, if the original player gets failboated in a fight, then the parcel can go to any remaining player in the group to deliver. The job is only failed if everybody in the group gets failboated before the job gets completed. It's the player holding the parcel that gets attacked. Once the job is completed, then the payout gets split up between all the group depending on their level on completion.

This would encourage collaborative play, which I think would be a good thing. That was one of the original ideas behind titans, although it didn't quite work out that way.

If this happens, then difficulty levels can easily be set up above 15. There would need to be some cap, to stop req transfer. Otherwise jobs of a high enough level would could be commisioned where the payout significantly outweighs the cost of the one-shot it takes to get from NH to CC to complete the job. Also it would be possible for a high level veteran to take on a high level job and split the payout with a level one rookie, essentially giving them a nice wedge of free req. So there are problems.

Anyway. There's my idea for what it's worth.

In-Game :: Re: New Home Dilemma

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 07:12:46 +0000

By: Buddleia

You are far from the only person to feel that way. There was a thread about this ~~last year~~ back in 2010, and there is still a fair amount of comment in gchats. I recommend a browse of it - some very good points and things to think about, including suggests for what to do. (What I mostly do is the easy way out, sadly - avoid Newhome and Kittania.)

In-Game :: New Home Dilemma

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 06:05:43 +0000

By: Remedial+Cookie

So, none of this is in response to any one person, or meant to insult anyone. New Home is where I call home and the people there are those I call friends.

That said, the current state of New Home is really troubling me. The attitude of New Home has become really... lax. The unwritten rules to avoid violence and keep some of the more risque stuff out has gone almost out the window. NH, as much as I love it, has become a hot bed of hook ups and drama. And that's fine... for dwellings.

I'm not sure what to do, and want some insight. I know I can always call a mod, but I hate becoming that person. Eben, come here. Z, come here. MOM, they're touching me. Make them stooop.

SOOO, Islandites. I come to ask... Is this just me? Am I the only one who's disturbed by this? And are there constructive ways to deter others from doing this?

In-Game :: Re: Fears Survey

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 04:37:16 +0000

By: Buddleia

I don't play much any more, but I'll do the survey anyway. It's entertaining to imagine my character finding or being sent this and filling it out, or being approached by someone with a clipboard to ask personal questions. And I'm interested to see what your project will be.

1. What are you afraid of?
a) The Stranger.
b) I don't have any phobias.
c) I fear getting emotionally hurt - by friendships turned sour, by friends getting hurt, by rejections, insults, attacks and losses, by loneliness.
d) I no longer fear getting physically hurt.
e) I fear losing my sense of self, including memories and long-held skills and abilities.
f) I fear breaking or losing my glasses when I cannot get to a replacement pair.

2. Why?
a) Because he is terrifying and wrong at a level I cannot understand or explain. The Drive twists normal reality; he is an actual break, a fracture, a hole. And maybe once he was a normal person, so maybe normal people could turn into that.
b) I think. (I used to be afraid of heights, but I've got over that now.)
c) This is a normal fear for any social animal, no?
d) Two years here will do that to you ... the jungle and the hospital tent, not to mention the Failboat, gets you used to rather more than you might have expected, and you get used to being able to fight back.
e) I am not sure how to explain this one. If something is intrinsic to myself, if it is lost, I would have a terrible sense of something missing and wrong.
f) Because my eyesight is that bad that without them, I would be fairly helpless. (I wouldn't be able to recognise a friend's face if they were standing further than arm's length away, let alone spot a lion hiding in the jungle.) And being helpless in a known and safe environment is frustrating, but in a dangerous and varying one like the Island it could be very bad indeed.

3. Does anything else make you vaguely uncomfortable?
a) Exhibitionist humping and onstentatious sexualisation. I don't mind PDA, but is really necessary to make a big scene of "look at me I am so big and clever and awesome I am sexing it up right in front of everyone!"? It makes me uncomfortable when things are so in-your-face: to me, sex should be a private thing between consenting participants, not something to flaunt at everyone or constantly emphasise.
b) Between-contestants violence. We are here to survive and fight the Drive, not each other. We're supposed to be members of a cooperative society, not a lawless and amoral chaos. Surely the place is big enough that even if you hate someone you can just go somewhere else. And if they are attacking you, why not call one of the Moderators? They have the Admin Goggles and powers to sort out this sort of thing!
c) Drama (including relationship troubles, OMG I Am Different, I Wuv You, Tragic Misunderstandings, I Am Awesome, Tragic Past/Pity Me, bullying, yelling, whining, arguments, etc). If I wanted a soap opera, I'd be watching daytime TV, not chatting with friends or passing through town ...
d) People who show off all the time, putting a huge emphasis on their strength, speed, smexiness, ability to shoot fireballs, dragonishness, number of tails, etc. It just feels weird, like that damn Fourth Wall is starting to fracture. Also, the weird proportion of people who have green eyes (even allowing for Jokers) and red hair. What is this, the AGM of the Redhead Society?
e) I have to admit that some mutants (and, occasionally, zombies and midgets) can make me feel uncomfortable if they appear or act in ways that would be considered disgusting in your average Mainland society. Oozing slime, skronking, attempting to eat your brains without even a "hello", etc. This, however, is entirely my problem, and unless they are actively harming me, I will do my best to ignore my reaction and respond normally.

4. Does your fear have something to do with what you are? (Race, gender, etc.)
These are standard ones to every form I've been. There are some extras that only apply when I have been different. Examples:
a) My robot self had absolutely no fear of physical damage.
b) When I am kittymorph, I am more startled by loud noises and less keen on getting wet, and larger predatory-shaped contestants can make me nervous.
c) As a midget, I was less uncomfortable with rudeness and yucky things. Mudslinging and swearing came naturally.

[5. Does your narrator/writer share these fears?]
Yep, except The Stranger. He is awesome.

In-Game :: Re: Fears Survey

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 03:50:40 +0000

By: Liebs

1. Uh...scary things. You know. Failed experiments. Bad data. Unfamiliar things. Brainwashing.
2. Actually, uhm, if you're interested, I read this really cool paper about the evolutionary basis of fear. If you want I can get it for you? I mean, you don't have to read it, uhm, just if you want, I guess.
3. Really terrible pick-up lines. (She looks over her shoulder, briefly, and sighs in relief when she finds no one there.)
4. Why would it?
[5. More or less. Like Liebs, I startle ridiculously easily. Also, I wasn't thinking of any paper in particular, but I did do a brief PubMed search and found a salient one. GUYS, THEY SCARED SEALS WITH LOUD NOISES. IS THAT NOT THE SADDEST.]

In-Game :: Re: Fears Survey

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 00:36:43 +0000

By: Reverb

1. Lillith
2. LILLITH
3. Not for very long.
4. As a GERMan, i'd say, yes.
5. I live safely in the knowledge that she doesn't know where i am, exactly.

In-Game :: Re: Fears Survey

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 18:44:33 +0000

By: Omega

1. Nothing besides losing a valuable costumer. I am not very good at finding out what I am actually afraid of, but I am okay with that. In fact, I get a certain thrill from experiencing what others would call "Creepy". Pleasantville is a nice place to visit.
2. Not dealing with emotions makes it easier to be a professional mercenary. When you make your living out of something, you need to do it very well.
3. Nearly losing a limb makes me vaguely uncomfortable, especially if I'm wearing my favorite suit; that thing is expensive! (I also am slightly nervous at people "reading" me, and finding some of the habits I can't control, such as starting every line with the same letter in letters, or picking m--Wait, this is not going to be public, is it?)
4. No. Yes. I am not sure, I don't know many people who share my same fears and race. But I don't know many people closer than a professional level.
[5. No...Okay, mostly no.]

And here we go. (By the way, I bet I know vaguely what your project is about!)

In-Game :: Re: Fears Survey

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 12:29:43 +0000

By: Artist+Dragon

1. People disliking my muffins. and my snuggles. And my drawings....
2. B.b.b.because i do it for others. WHY ELSE WOULD I DO IT? its my life work!
3. Lonelyness. SO very lonely.
4. Wha? what a stupid question! thats like asking a lion how he hides in a sandwich!
[5. Only the thing about huggles and snuggles. i can' t draw for shiz. or bake.]

In-Game :: Re: Fears Survey

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 09:51:39 +0000

By: Ebenezer

1. I'm not-I'm not afraid. Why do you think I'm-I'm afraid. You-you know what I think? I think-I think you're afraid, that-that's what I think.
2. Because you're-erm-well-I-erm. Don't change the subject!
3. Th-this question make me unc-com-comfortable.
4. I al-already told you. I'm not afraid!
5. [Absolutely.]

In-Game :: Re: Fears Survey

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 07:53:00 +0000

By: Raimar

1. The dark, swimming in deep water, and (certain) heights.
2. For the dark and swimming, it's the possibility of the unknown; that there's something out there, watching, waiting to grab her and pull her to her death. Oddly, scuba-diving never disturbed her. Heights, only when they're on what (to her mind seems to be) an unstably surface; "How is this thing not crumbling under me and plunging to my death?!" Type surface.
3. People getting unnecessarily touchy-feely.
4. No.
[5. YES]

Out-of-Game :: Re: SOPA/PIPA

Sat, 28 Jan 2012 19:01:21 +0000

By: dizzyizzy

On top of ACTA, there's the Protect Children from Internet Pornographers Act. Since "Think of the Corporations!" didn't work, Lamar Smith decided to go with "Think of the Children!". The bill will force ISP's to store all browsing data for 18 months. This information will be available for examination by law enforcement, without requiring a warrant. It can even be used in civil and divorce cases.

As of right now, I don't know what people outside the US can do to help with this, should they want to. But I'm putting this here so more people can find out about it.

In-Game :: Re: Ask Full Metal Loin[Sic] Letter Submission Thread

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 18:56:58 +0000

By: Full+Metal+Lion

Quote by: Maniak

Dear Full Metal Loin,

My wife recently passed away. To be honest, it came as no surprise. After a long battle with Third, First and even Fourth Degree Wallititis (which the Hospital Tent Lads assure me is the most severe of all) she finally succumbed to the disease and quietly moved on. Now that she's pushing up the daisies, I am on the prowl again. However, I find it hard. Countless proposals were rejected. Micha. Esc. Budd. Or was it Boud? That one girl I met at eBoys.. Rose wouldn't even believe I was ever married. Elessa took one look at my bank account and rejected me seven times over. It's.. to be truthful, I'm getting desperate. What's a guy to do when neither Trees nor Flowers will reply after you've poured your heart out? Even Emily is looking at me with disdain. Emily for Horatio's sake!

Anyway, dear Full Metal Lion, my question is simple.

Should I have Hippotamus or Spiderkitty for dinner?

Kind Regards,

Maniak.

Answered.

I'm too kind, posting my weekend column on a weekday :P

Happy Freitag!

Out-of-Game :: Re: SOPA/PIPA

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 18:06:11 +0000

By: Buddleia

Now that SOPA/PIPA has been postponed, the current threat is ACTA.

from www.stopacta.info
What is ACTA?

ACTA is an international trade agreement currently being negotiated by the European Union, the United States, Japan, Canada, South Korea, Australia as well as a few other countries, whose aim is to enforce copyright and tackle counterfeited goods (hence its acronym: Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement).

The main problem with this treaty is that all the negotiations are done secretly. Leaked documents show that one of the major goal of the treaty is to force signatory countries into implementing anti file-sharing policies under the form of three-strikes schemes and net filtering practices.

At a time when important debates are taking place on the need to adapt copyright to the digital age, this treaty would bypass democratic processes in order to enforce a fundamentally irrelevant regulatory regime. It would profoundly alter the very nature of the Internet as we know it by putting an end to Net neutrality.

ACTA has already been signed by the EU. We can still work against it! La Quadrature's page on How to act against ACTA recommends contacting the politicians in the various committees who are preparing reports on the treaty, telling them that you as a citizen object to it and explaining why. Also, for UK residents, there are e-petitions on the government website - but the largest has a measly 10,021 signatures, out of the 100,000 needed to become eligable for debate. Anybody else know of any more we can do?

(click for fullsize)

Out-of-Game :: Re: Visual Novels

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 15:43:20 +0000

By: tehdave

The only experience I've ever had with anything of this sort is a series called Broken Saints, which was really fucking good. Mostly just done as a moving comic book with BGM. Well done, though.

Out-of-Game :: Re: Visual Novels

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 03:08:21 +0000

By: Svergon

I have had only passing contact with actual visual novels of the like you described: a few simple, short things hosted as flash games at sites which do so. They were intriguing despite a lack of much true game play (solely basic navigation or making choices). So, with a decided lack of experience I might call myself curious, if nothing else.

Places: Feedback and Development :: Re: Suggest a Contrivance/Contraption

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 23:42:30 +0000

By: Count+Sessine

Quote by: Hairy+Mary

Would it be possible to change the 'Hide Room' so that it hides everything apart from the page that the program is trying to show?

Basic rule of programming languages: once people have delved in and written some programs in a language, you really don't want to re-define what any of the basic commands do, because that is pretty much guaranteed to break some existing program.

Also, commands should do exactly what they promise to do, and nothing more.

This means 'contraption_hide_room_desc' ought to stay the way it is. There are going to be some new contraptions, we hear, so here's two of them:

1. a 'contraption_hide_other_descs' to do as you suggest -- hide everything but the page or room the program is in,
and perhaps also
2. a 'contraption_hidepage' to suppress a specific, named page's description.

Places: Feedback and Development :: Re: Suggest a Contrivance/Contraption

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 20:39:29 +0000

By: Hairy+Mary

I'm back on the net again!!

Now I've been getting stuck in with programming Places again. I've hit a snag.

I have a room with several pages coming off of it. One of them (call it 'A') is a normal, straightforward page accessible via a link under 'Explore this area'.
Another (call it 'B') is hidden, but gets shown when you use the proper command. Great.

Now. If you look at page A first, and then use the command to see page B, you get page A showing underneath, and I can't get rid of it. using a 'Hide Room Desc.' Contraption hides the room, but not the page that you're on.

Would it be possible to change the 'Hide Room' so that it hides everything apart from the page that the program is trying to show?

In-Game :: Re: Fears Survey

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 15:16:26 +0000

By: Hairy+Mary

1) Soap. Losin me wullet loik.
2) Stunds tu reasun loik dunnit? Soaps nusty dirty stuff. Nuwun wunts tu lose thur wullet.
3) The Skronkys in a bad mood.
4) Wot yu sayin? Fear uv soapz gut nuffin tu do wiv bein uh midget. Uny sunsibul person iz.
[5) No.]

In-Game :: Re: Fears Survey

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 07:19:19 +0000

By: Harris

1)My friends getting hurt, and forgetting who I am.
2)I can take a lot of pain without much trouble, thanks to Korbel, Johnson, and the Hospital Tent. I think all of my friends get hurt by pain more than I do, and I don't want them to ever be sad, but there's no way I can protect them all, or from all of it. I'm only a Kittymorph who knows a lot of things.
I don't know anymore how many other people's memories I have thanks to Stonehenge, and haven't for a long time (At least it feels like a long one). Even putting asidewho I know and am, just having so many thoughts, and knowing they're not mine is scary when I stop to think about it, because it's like a tide- I can control my path through it if I'm careful, but if I mess up once... Will my own thoughts drag me under like a wave?
3)The Stranger. He could easily hurt my friends, but Constable Swede said not to kill him. So I'm going to capture him. But I don't know how yet.
4)Hmmm. I don't think so? I think I used to be human, but it's hard to tell what history's mine, and what history I just remember. It might be partly 'cause I'm a Kittymorph. We don't like to let on, but a LOT of us are very edgy people.
[5)My what now? I think I saw someone, once. There were numbers. And a 'capes low key'. He seemed more excited than afraid, though.]
[Brackets are fun.]