Messages

16

Dwilight / Re: SMA...but with Standards!

« on: December 20, 2011, 11:17:42 PM »

A problem with all forms of communication, but especially prevalent with with written English. Once you have a preconception about the behaviour of the other party, it is very easy to see evidence of it in nearly everything that is written

Indeed.

I would also say that though it is more easy to misinterpret written messages, preconceived notions can have a significant effect on your perceptions of people in almost all social situations.

A good rule that I try to follow, online and in real life, is to always assume that the people interacting with me are not purposefully trying to be !@#$%^&s. This way people don't feel like they're stepping on eggshells when having a conversation with me out of fear that I may misinterpret something they said. Because let's face, trying to have a "politically correct" conversation all the time is !@#$ing boring.

Was Anaris being short? Yeah probably, but that doesn't mean he was purposefully being "condescending". I can't say that Anaris' no nonsense response to some questions haven't irked me on occasion, but if you assume that fundamentally he's a nice guy, his personality (or at least the online aspect of it) actually seems quite colorful, and in most cases very appropriate.

17

Dwilight / Re: Dwilight = An aspect of the Netherworld

« on: December 19, 2011, 07:29:43 PM »

After enough posts where supposedly "normal" and "rational" people who claim to post things that "contribute" to some topic fail to live up to expectations (And I would like to point out that said expectations were pretty low to begin with), I have decided "Aw, screw it." And thus I have jumped the metaphorical shark. Is that the right trope? I dunno. What's the TVTrope for "He went bat!@#$ crazy"?

I'll go back to slightly more "normal" after my next hiatus from posting, which will be now until like, July. So therefore y'all don't get to see my The Dream speedrun cuz I'm just too awesome for y'all lol. Unless you're really that much bored to search youtube for it lol.

Now I understand.

You just want attention.

And I !@#$ed up cause I bit.

My mistake.

18

Dwilight / Re: Dwilight = An aspect of the Netherworld

« on: December 19, 2011, 05:02:00 AM »

At a guess, he knows exactly how frustrating they are, and probably enjoys it.

For the sake of giving him the benefit of the doubt, I assume that Artemesia does not post drivel maliciously, but is merely unaware of  how non-contributing his posts are.

Who hasn't posted under the influence of chemicals?

I refuse to blame this sort of non-legible gibberish on drugs.

19

Dwilight / Re: Dwilight = An aspect of the Netherworld

« on: December 19, 2011, 02:37:17 AM »

It is that which for the reason it is whosoever describes this post. The victory cannot be attained alone by their hand.

Did you have a stroke three words into that post....

seriously. I have no idea what you are saying a majority of the time, IC and OOC.

I'm not trying to put you down, I just feel like you are painfully unaware of how frustrating your cryptic pseudo-philosophical posts are for those around you.

20

Dwilight / Re: What little things that people commonly do, do you consider non-SMA? And why?

« on: December 17, 2011, 06:55:16 PM »

Indeed.

It just gets tiresome when people prattle on and on about the differences between BattleMaster, a browser based computer game, and real life.

It could literally go on forever.

In real life you need time to sleep. In real life we don't have turn changes. In real life you physically see the people you're interacting with. In real life you can recruit in places other than the capital. In real life you didn't have to command just one unit. In real life..... blah blah blah....

I just don't see what the point is....

And I know you were responding to other people who themselves were going off topic, but you literally springboarded from

"Only courtiers should be literate. Noblemen in the Middle Ages were rarely literate -- in fact, Henry I of England was nicknamed "Beauclerc" because, unusually for an English king, he could read. Adventurers shouldn't be literate at all."


to

"In battlemaster you don't !@#$"

Wut?

21

Dwilight / Re: What little things that people commonly do, do you consider non-SMA? And why?

« on: December 17, 2011, 06:17:30 PM »

What little things that people commonly do do you consider non-SMA?

All the things you have just listed Artemesia are game mechanics that obviously do not perfectly reflect real life, but have apparent pragmatic reasons behind them...

You must have SO much free time on your hands..........

22

Magistrates Case Archive / Re: Torture Reports as Message Forwarding

« on: December 14, 2011, 02:36:01 AM »

You need to replace "100% accurate" with "unforgable".

Yes, you are right. I'd go in to manually change every "100% accurate" to unforgeable, but... I won't.

It is exactly what I meant though, thanks =)

23

Magistrates Case Archive / Re: Torture Reports as Message Forwarding

« on: December 13, 2011, 04:00:54 AM »

I've spent some time reading about this case and it's a lot more complex than I first thought.

Not that it matters, but I agree with Vellos. I wouldn't go so far as to call this particular instance "meta-gaming", because I think that term implies malicious intent which I don't believe is what motivated the Zuma GM. However, I do agree that the ruling of this case sets an important precedent.

If I may point out an alternative situation in which this issue would come up:

[The King asks the General "Give me a scout report of the region of Keplar."

The General, for some reason, does not want to give the King the true scout report and instead replies with a "My scouts have come back and report that Keplar is free of enemies"

The King, suspecting something, asks for a *scout report*.]

Now what? Is the general forced to oblige and risk the King uncovering his plot?

I think that the King is in this case is violating SMA and the spirit of IC/OOC separation. Why would the *scout report* be any better than the general's word? In medieval times it would be no problem at all for the General to send the king some forgery that looked identical to a "scout report" but was not actually accurate. In OOC terms however, it is impossible to send anything other than a 100% accurate scout report. This is where the problem lies.

Now, it would be one thing if 100% accurate * torture/ scout reports* served some sort of game-balancing purpose. If this was the case Vellos' criticisms would fall under the same category as people who ask for more recruiting locations, i.e. Sure it's more historically correct to recruit in places other than the capital, but for the sake of game balance that's how it must be.

However, unless I'm mistaken (totally possible), the fact that *torture reports* are 100% accurate (i.e. impossible to forge) is not a game- balancing issue, but simply a matter of keeping the game simple/ efficient/ easy to code.

In my opinion the heart of this issue is the separation of IC/OOC knowledge. The Zuma GM, though well intentioned, used the OOC knowledge that scout reports are 100% accurate as motivation for his IC actions (i.e. the request that an "official report" be provided)

I'm not sure how pertinent it is to the case, but I'm pretty sure that Vellos is not trying to hide anything from the Zuma, rather he is concerned at the potential for future abuse. I've seen the "official report", there's nothing there that we would want to keep from the Zuma... but if there were, this would totally ruin any chance at "thickening the plot".

24

Beluaterra / Re: Fifth Invasion

« on: December 13, 2011, 02:30:25 AM »

I totally thought I'd get yelled at for being off topic and pretentiousness, but yeah.. I'm also fascinated by language.

I know Wikipedia isn't the most credible source, but the citations on the "learning curve" page looked pretty legit. One source that particularly stood out was:

7. Laparoscopic Colon Resection Early in the Learning Curve", Ann Surg. 2006 June; 243(6): 730–737, see the "Discussions" section, Dr. Smith's remark about the usage of the term "steep learning curve":

"First, semantics. A steep learning curve is one where you gain proficiency over a short number of trials. That means the curve is steep. I think semantically we are really talking about a prolonged or long learning curve. I know it is a subtle distinction, but I can't miss the opportunity to make that point."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Learning_curve

25

Beluaterra / Re: Fifth Invasion

« on: December 13, 2011, 12:47:35 AM »

How so?

The original meaning of "steep learning curve" and the meaning still maintained in most* academic formats is that a steep learning curve implies rapid progress in learning at the introductory stage.

The phrase has deviated from it's original meaning in colloquial conversation where it has come to refer to difficulty during the elementary stages.

*It's pretty much universally accepted that the original meaning was "easy to learn" but that hasn't stopped smart and well informed academics from arguing that the newer, conversational interpretation of the phrase is acceptable even within an academic setting. So really, you're not wrong, but you could be more right.

I don't mean to go off topic but being informed never hurt anyone and I found this interesting when I first heard it.

26

Beluaterra / Re: Fifth Invasion

« on: December 12, 2011, 11:04:50 PM »

Personally, I think the game has just become too complicated and the learning curve for newbies too steep.

Fun fact: a steep learning curve means something is easy to learn.

A little counter-intuitive and a common misconception.

27

Other Games / Re: Settlers of Catan

« on: November 08, 2011, 08:20:40 PM »

It is the greatest game in the world.

Perth and I have an online game ongoing with several of our mutual friends, which has been running now for several weeks. It is an amazing and addictive game.

I LOVE Diplomacy!

I had a prof who instead of finals would just have us play a class wide game of diplomacy with 6 or so players per team. It was an interesting dynamic within the group as well as between groups. It would be very interesting to play by myself and see how it goes.

If you guys are starting another game anytime soon, let me know, that prof left our school and I have not played diplomacy since.


Also Settlers is badass, the boardgame and the xbox version

28

General Talk / Re: How many Canadians do we have?

« on: October 26, 2011, 08:46:41 AM »

No way!

I'm from Victoria too! You don't go to uvic by chance do you?

29

Dwilight / Re: Barca

« on: October 17, 2011, 08:18:45 AM »

We'd probably feel the same if it was Winnipeg or something, Chenier.

30

Dwilight / Re: Barca

« on: October 17, 2011, 02:46:23 AM »

Lusitania = Roman province, modern Portugal.

I always thought Lusitania was a reference to the ship that was sunk in WWI and prompted the US to declare war. Which, I think, is not a bad reference for a region name.

and while I can appreciate the "blank page" argument, its also nice to have some sort of indication as to the style of the city, ie. Wurzberg German style. I think of it as "lined paper", if you will.