How population affects the world

Some quests are better with an empty world. The lone hero who saves everyone quests in particular work best when there isn't someone else also around saving the world. Waiting in line just gets to be ridiculous. "Excuse me, sir, but could you hurry things up a bit? I also need to destroy this threat to the world." Kills and spawns can get silly too when you've destroyed the threat to the world, only to have it pop back up again and fight you while you're riffling through its pockets. This gets doubly bad when the next guy in line to save the world has to wait because you've gone and tagged the threat to the world. It's not as if shared kills solve this, as then we end up with a handful of Lone Saviors of the World teaming up to repeatedly kill the threat.

On the other hand, if things are too empty, then quests can get to be too hard. Many quests with elites are of this sort. Many of those are gone. This can still end up looking silly, because the quests were clearly designed for multiple players involved and went from being a significant accomplishment to being lame. I'm looking at you, Jintha'Alor. On a side note, not only was that place tricky to run at level, but it's also the worst Archaeology spot in the history of ever. Quests for mass killing are simultaneously well- and poorly-suited to a high population. On one hand, if those rats/orcs/rarcs are such a problem, then it makes sense that there would be a ton of people hired to kill them. It makes it feel a bit more like a war/magically oversized pest control when you have a dozen people busily killing them. Yet this depends a great deal on the spawn rate: if they come back quickly, then all is good. But, if the respawn is slow, then you have a bunch of guys standing around drinking coffee and yet, none of them claim to be supervising or on break.

Population variance can take a turn for the comical, utterly ruining the quest, but creating an equally-great situation, if only you can see it from the right perspective. For example, Westfall is meant to begin with an investigation into a murder. This should mean the lone player carefully questioning various vagrants, possibly bribing them, a feature that I believe all quests should have. In practice, it means racing people for the opportunity to punch a homeless person. Perhaps not what the developers intended, but it works just as well. And the ragamuffins have a field day.

Understanding Understanding BitCoins

I have a shiny new game to write about, but until I'm horribly burnt out and hate it I can't really give a fair assessment. In the meantime, here's a brief I wrote about how comprehension of BitCoins works.

Understanding of BitCoins operates with a complex system, but here are a few concepts to know. Some people try to understand BitCoin and will spend a great deal of time and mental energy trying to work out complex mental patterns. All understanding is tracked in the BitCoin Comprehension Ledger, a list that everyone has of people who understand BitCoins. Two people can agree to talk about BitCoin, with one transferring their understanding to the other, as illustrated here, which is then witnessed and recorded by others in the Ledger. In this way the system can carefully regulate how many people understand it, thereby creating value through scarcity.

There is some risk that too many people will understand it. The inventor has assured everyone that they will work diligently to ensure a sufficiently confusing system in the long term. However, the system has been shaken by some large events such as the FBI's Silk Road action and something happening with MtGox. Spreading through media channels, these resulted in dozens of additional people understanding BitCoin and dramatically increasing the popularity of trying to do so.

Unlimited equipment slots: A wizard did it

Oblivion had staff as weapons, so you could have a spell and a staff. Skyrim uses them as spells, so you can have a staff or a spell, or two staffs, despite the fact that the only guy who uses two staffs is Saruman. On the plus side, you could have two spells equipped, which allowed for more flexibility and creativity.

And then I realized that it was all nonsense. I can equip telekinesis. Therefore I can equip anything, and with training, everything. Who has not struggled through the mishmash of disconnected plots to reach the end of Knights of the Old Republic 2 to see Kreia fight with four lightsabers using only her mind? Why can we not do the same? But with swords? And if with swords, why not hold armor as well.

We already carry unreasonable large amounts of armor in our bags. Why not carry them with our minds? Layer them, one over the next, levitate ourselves so we can carry the boots. No longer will the mage be a glass cannon, but instead he will be a magical robot, surrounded by shining shells of levitated armor, with a whirling corona of swords. Bring on your pitiful warriors, let them bounce off my armored shell of invincibility. If one item breaks, I will tear replacements from the corpses of my foes and with every one that falls I grow bigger and stronger.

Bow before me, mortals, bow before your doom!

OOM.

Oops.

The Recovery: Unfinished Business: A Story

In response to Rock, Paper, Shotgun:
 
The President wasn't happy about it. He didn't care how much everyone loved the guy, he wasn't going to allow Chris Hadfield, astronaut extraordinaire, and Canadian, to lead America's most important mission. Yet he remained calm. All he had left were calmness and two dogs suitable for kids with allergies, and any day now someone might leave a door open and they'd be gone.

With a string of profanity he threw it all away and threw open a door. The dogs would explore and so would he. And dammit, this mission was too important. Wasn't he always talking about international cooperation? What was that peace prize for if not for this?

President Obama; Chris Hadfield, astronaut extraordinaire; and SEAL Team Six boarded the ship. Fifty seconds later it launched. No one had their seat belts on, despite everyone taking turns yelling, "Buckle up, it's going to be a bumpy fucking ride!"

Space isn't actually that bumpy. At least it wasn't usually.

Three missiles had already hit and shields were at 10%. They'd thought Valve Voyager was going for speed. It wasn't. They were outgunned and outrun. It was all over.

Then John Aaron's voice crackled over the radio. He calmly rattled off orders, everyone panicking except him and Chris Hadfield, astronaut extraordinaire. A few more switches flipped and shields were online.

Even better, Valve Voyager had slowed down to power its tractor beam. They were trying to trap the President!

But that was the plan all along. The hatch blew open and bullets flew. Valve agents were hopelessly outmatched. Their bunny hopping was useless. They couldn't see anything in first-person view. Defense Pattern Delta wasn't actually a thing, just a morale booster and an intimidating thing to yell.
 
"Hold your fire. Ganymede, Gabe?"
"Our own world to make, Mr. President. It could be anything!"
"You already had your own world. It was one of the best FPS experiences I've ever had. The characters were like actual people, the story was complex but understandable, the twists and turns and... dammit, you have unfinished business!"
"I have no idea what you're talking about!"
"No? Do the words 'Episode Three' mean anything to you?"
"Noooooooo?"
"Nice try."
"Okay okay, but we were to never speak of it again! It was forbidden. We made it, but it never got past the prototype stage. It's too dangerous!"
"Danger is my middle name."
"Isn't it Hussein?"
"Hand over the game. Now. Or I'll be playing a different FPS."

Gabe moved slowly, carefully, to the computer. With a few keyboard presses, no mouse, and far too much steam to make any sense at all, he copied the files to a flash drive.

The American ship, piloted by Chris Hadfield, astronaut extraordinaire, detached and turned toward the Sun.

"My fellow Americans, it is time to go home. Let me be clear, that does not mean that the Canadian astronaut extraordinaire is going to be stranded here as well. He gets to come home with us, but to Canada."

On the largest moon in the solar system two words were written on a whiteboard, barely visible in the distant sun: "Episode Four."

Weeks later, a man wheeled the flash drive down the hallway toward the President's computer. Men in suits watched, joined by one extra. Steam finished checking for already downloaded content, found it all, and began first time set up. There was a flash of green light.

If You Log On to an Alt

If you log on to an alt he's going to want to run the new content.
Before he moves on he's going to want to have his professions up to date.
To get his professions up to date he'll need to farm some materials.
While he farms some materials he's going to want a zapthrottle mote extractor.
The mote extractor requires a delicate arcanite converter.
Since no one makes many of those anymore, he's going to need to fly to Winterspring.
When he can make the converter he'll see that he needs an arcanite bar.
To make an arcanite bar you need to log on to your alchemist alt...

Even More Immersion Breaking

Blizzard support RPs outside of the game as well. This is ruining my out-of-game immersion.

Cave "Mengele" Johnson

The other day I wrote about how we as players may casually commit what would in real life be genocide, war crimes, or some other varied form of evil. This led me back to an idea that has been floating around in my head for some time, though I only recently understood it fully: GLaDOS is not the villain of Portal. Nor is Weatley. Instead, the true is evil The Old One, a being who was so profoundly evil that it still permeates all aspects of the institutions and structures that he created. GLaDOS is merely a tool, as is Weatley, and the player. They are also all the victims of this evil.

Think of GLaDOS and her compulsive need to test. She couldn't not test. Yet, what was testing? It was about as scientific as shooting the floor while ordering someone to dance.

This first test involves something the lab-boys call repulsion gel. You're not part of the control group by the way - you get the gel. Last poor son of a gun got blue paint, ha ha ha! All joking aside, that did happen. Broke every bone in his legs - tragic. But informative! Or so I'm told.

This isn't reckless pursuit of knowledge. This isn't a man driven to know, regardless of the consequences. He is instead a man driven by the consequences.

Just a heads up, we're gonna have a super conductor turned up full blast and pointed at you for the duration of this next test. I'll be honest, we're throwing science at the walls here to see what sticks. No idea what it'll do.

Science isn't about why, it's about why not. You ask: why is so much of our science dangerous? I say: why not marry safe science if you love it so much. In fact, why not invent a special safety door that won't hit you in the butt on the way out, because you are fired.

There is nothing to learn here. There is nothing to learn from substitution repulsion gel for blue paint. There is nothing to learn from creating AI that are tortured if they are not torturing.

What we see here is a man creating an institution of evil. He fired all who dissented, who even hinted at the concept of human rights. He created the AI. He forced employees to be both torturers and victims thereof.

Ha! I like your style, you make up your own rules just like me.

No one said that the Übermensch would be a moral person by any measure that we can comprehend. Yet he is clearly an immoral person by many measures that we can comprehend.

When I stop and think about it, Portal is a profoundly disturbing game series. It feels so light-hearted in its presentation. It is silly. Yet it is a game set in a world with a horribly twisted history. We can set aside the part where Portal takes place in the same alien-occupied world as Half Life; Aperture is terrible enough. I suppose it's true what they say, that comedy is tragedy plus time.

Murder, Mayhem, and Management Skills

Saints Row: The Third is the delightful story of a plucky group of Americans trying to make it in a new city while being harassed by Mexican clones, hackers from the 80s, and a Belgian man who insists that it isn't the same as being French.  On the surface it's an adrenaline-filled game of violence and many terrible things.  Dig deeper and you'll see that it has important management skills to teach.

Servant Leadership
A servant leader leads not for his own power, but to help others.  In SR3 the protagonist is the leader of the Saints gang.  Yet he is also the servant of the gang, frequently putting his own safety on the line in order to help others.  He serves the gang as much as it serves him.  With his help, gang members grow as individuals and advance their goals.  Whether that means killing a Belgian guy or restarting a drug franchise, the protagonist helps his team members meet their many diverse goals.

Mentoring
When not shooting people (I needed a car), the protagonist is helping his gang members to grow as individuals.  He listens to them and helps them with their goals.  He offers advice as well as covering fire.

Learn from your Subordinates
A good leader becomes a great leader by learning.  The protagonist takes every opportunity to learn.  For example, he drove around in a convertible with a live tiger attacking him to learn to master his fear.  He also learned the value of team work and insurance fraud by working with new members of his gang.

Adapt
At no point does the protagonist insist that "this is the way we've always done things."  When offered new opportunities, he leaps at the chance, whether this means leaping from a plane or jumping into a new and exceptionally violent, yet highly ethical Japanese game show.  In keeping with his style of learning from others, he seeks out those who understand the strange new city and adopts their methods.

Have a Goal
The protagonist has an ambitious set of goals.  He wants to kill people who tried to kill him.  He wants to get rich.  He wants to run the city.  Yet he also has achievable smaller goals along the way.  He gathers intelligence.  He develops money-laundering operations.  He takes over small areas of the city and recruits supporters.  Each small goal builds up toward the larger goals, like a mighty pyramid.

Is this really who we want representing [state that I do not live in and have never been to]?

We all know that Maine state senate candidate Santiaga is an orc rogue.  A female orc rogue.  But did you know that many female characters are played by males?  This raises the question, who is the real Santiaga?  Is it the woman running for office, the murderous orc, or the secretive man who pretends to be a woman?

Even worse, the pretend rogue has no glyphs.  This means that I am cruelly deprived of the opportunity to make jokes about glyph of pickpocket being evidence of government overreach.  But it gets worse than that.  I can't find her (his?) talents.  We don't know if the plan is to Prey on the Weak or to use Dirty Tricks.  There is Subterfuge that we cannot yet see, but I'm sure there is Anticipation and Preparation.  Or is there?

As we learn more it only gets worse.  The last thing he (she?) did was to fish.  Fishing achievements.  Are we going to see an open door policy at her office, or a closed door and a sign that says "gone fishing... in Azeroth"?  We don't know and she hasn't said.  Why does she refuse to give specifics on her choice of zones to fish, whether she has purchased Mists of Pandaria, and whether she has ever cosplayed as Chen Stormstout?  That last one is a fictional character who makes terrifying, possibly poisonous alcohol.

Who is the real Santiaga?  And why does her name sound vaguely Spanish?

Paid for by Google's free blogging service and in no one coordinated with any candidates.

America Online

WoW is the America of MMOs.  It is big, profitable, and gets a huge amount of attention.  It is culturally dominant.  It is perpetually 'dying' as an upstart appears, and then somehow fails to overcome it, since inertia keeps things moving just as well as it keeps them stationary.

The tourists are the worst.  They blunder about with their maps out, perpetually lost.  They don't know the language and refuse to learn it, or even accept its legitimacy.  "Why is the character screen called a hero screen?  It should be C, not H.  And why are bags I for inventory instead of B for bags?"  They don't like the responses, for any response suggests that another game could have sprung up and done things just as correctly yet not the same way.

The entire time they complain about how much better things run in their game.  "Our auction house works.  And it isn't a trading post."  They forget the launch problems of their own game, cleaning up the little bit of history they know.  It makes for a shinier picture.

Thankfully, they do go back home.  Of course once they get back they think they are worldly and now superior and so they go about the reverse business of criticizing everything and saying how they do this thing so much better over there, seemingly forgetting all their previous complaints, until such time that they feel the need to remind themselves how much better they are for having been born in WoW.  "If your bags are full you can just send back all the ore into the collectible slot in the bank.  And you can access the bank from a crafting station.  And mail is everywhere.  Waypoints are instant!"

Give them a few days and they'll be back to normal, trading their insufferable there worship for insufferable here worship.  They'll be yelling in trade chat about how Guild Wars 2 is the gayest game ever and then someone will call them a fag and finally they'll be on the same page of agreeing that they don't like gay people, though they can't quite give any good reasons.

I've had a nice time so far in Guild Wars 2.  I expect that forTuesday or Wednesday I'll write a post about all the terrible things in it.

Hipster Hunter only pulling aggro ironically

I'm only generalizing based on a single aspect of appearance ironically.

A Sermon

Stand in the fire.  STAND IN THE FIRE!  In the fire!  Yes I said it and I know they say you shouldn't do it and you shouldn't but this time, this one time, stand in this fire for I have some words for you.

The Jews have their week and the Christian have theirs and we have ours.  We have our Tuesday.  And on that down, server down to server up, we rest.  Yes we rest!  Rest ye weary souls, for the raids are starting again.  Refresh yourselves.  On this day of rest the locks are reset and a new World is opened to you.  Rest well.

But do not grow complacent!  Never!  For you do not know the hour in which the server will return.  No one knows!  Thus it is written upon the forums in the divine text of blue: SOON!  Be ready.

What do we do when we know the servers are going down, as if we did not always know?  What do we do?  We rush.  We try to get it all done.  A long week, too short for our lazy characters.  Valor uncapped, LFR undone, and your guild will not respect your reputation gain when you're so low.  Oh it is the life, the life indeed.  You wait and say you have all week and then the hour is upon ye and you rush to get it all done and do you succeed?  With luck, with the blessing of the random number generator.  But ask not for such such blessing for you have not EARNED it.

They rush to the auction house like hyenas after the scraps, eager for the low bids which will have no competition with a server down.  They are the last rats to jump off the ship, plundering your auctions as they go.  And yet, why?  Why would you do that?  Learn To Auction!  Tuesday afternoon is no time for a 24 hour auction.  Oh no. It is TOO LATE.  And yet, too early.  For the hyena rises early and he will be there when the server returns, waiting to strike.

Hyenas.  And yet it is the LION, the supposedly noble one who steals the kill.  You're a lion and if you say you're not you're lyin'!  The lazy lion you are.  A week?  You failed the week.  But the day, did you fail that too?  Did you do your daily quests?  Did you do your random?  Or did you sit by and say "I have many hours in the day"?  Hours turn to days and days to the week.

Rest your souls.  Unburden yourself of your sins, for while they are of great weight, they are as lost as you.  A new week is upon us and let us celebrate it for the opportunity it brings.

NOW GET OUT OF THE FIRE!

Amen.

So what's the symbology there?

I log onto my shaman to test far sight. First thing I did was to go find the elevator to go learn flying. That caused me to discover Orgrimmar (something I've already done that the game says I haven't), and gain 8 xp, which made me hit level 80 (and I didn't even have to use a scroll of resurrection). Cata leveling is way too fast.



In related news, my gear was an indecipherable mess.

Proof that science is smarter than religion

Ask a priest a question for which he has no real answer and he'll answer "The Lord works in mysterious ways."

Ask a scientist a question for which he has no real answer and he'll start writing grant proposals.

The Vatican might be pretty neat, but it has no particle accelerators.

In unrelated news, classes start today.

Is excessive use of hyperbole killing democracy?

Dunno, vote on it.

Passive Patricide

If Luke had just learned to heal Vader might have lived.
That's what happens when you don't learn to heal: your dad dies

-Iapetes

I'm stealing that.

-Klepsacovic

Eliminating Test Anxiety

I have my last final of the semester in a bit under four hours. So test anxiety and stress are right on my mind. Some people deal with these with studying. Psh. It's a stats exam, so of course I spent last night teaching someone the basics of energy in chemical bonds. This morning I'm writing this and I can't imagine missing "Wait Wait Don't Tell Me", the NPR news quiz which is in less than an hour.

Most importantly though, I deal with tests with creativity, with applications of my vast knowledge, some of which is psychological. See where I'm going with this? Yep, I have my own way to deal with stresss based on proven psychology. We all know the "flight or fight" response. But have we ever truly applied it? We get all worked up over an intellectual challenge, but prepared for a physical challenge. So why not fix that so we can focus on thinking?

The general idea is to allow the flight or fight response to manifest itself fully, activate, and then go away. In specific applications this means I release a couple tigers into the building before exams and then we can all fight them or run like wimps. Once that's done, we're in the perfect mental state to tackle t-tests, z-tests, and of course, f-tests, which make a great stats exam pun. It makes sense, what is a bit of over-hyped algebra compared to tigers trying to kill you?

I'm still left with one nagging thought about regression. We (our classes) describe them as taking four general forms: level-level, ln-level, level-ln, and ln-ln, but no cow-level.

Science in the News

It's been an exciting week for science, just like last week, except last week was too hard for me to understand, so I ignored it, just like global warming.

New Hope for Hypochondria sufferers
Researchers have found a multi-stage program which could dramatically ease the symptoms of hypochondria for those who suffer due to the previously untreatable condition. One major problem is that those who have the condition refuse to accept that they have it, in favor of hundreds or thousands of often-obscure diagnoses. The first stage involved dramatically broadening the list of symptoms, thereby causing any given person to fit the new criteria for hypochondria. New symptoms include: shortness of breath, lack of desire to increase the rate of breathing, sleepiness during late hours of the day, and a desire to stay awake during later hours of the day. The second stage involved planting claims on websites and non-peer-reviewed medical journals, suggesting that hypochondria is under-diagnosed and that doctors are intentionally refusing to diagnose or treat it. Doctors believe the new program will encourage those with the condition to seek a diagnosis for hypochondria, thereby relieving the suffering of the doctors.

Chinese Cyberwar Plot Goes Unnoticed for Decades
A series of high-level defections within the People's Liberation Army have brought startling information to light. It turns out that as far back as the 1970s, China had sought to infiltrate the World Wide Web and Internet and destroy them from within. Plots included the spread of disinformation and personal attacks, a technique they branded "trolling". Individual elements included spreading conspiracy theories regarding government plots and the creation of wikipedia in the hopes of destroying all other sources of information. American cyber-war specialists and sociologists were shocked: "We figured people were just assholes, we never suspected that we were all decent people and it was the Chinese all along."

Government Denies Adding Paranoia-Causing Chemical to Water Supply

Lucas Wins NASA Deal to Create Next 'Moon Landing'

Taser Releases 'Solid-State' Variant

Bipartisan Vote Approves Funding to Create 10,000 New Jobs Based on Arguing About Global Warming

Nature Magazine Warns Readers About Possible Extinction of "Letters to the Editor" Page.

Reporter: Laser Was the Brightest Thing I Ever Saw

Government Accountability or Lack Thereof

Hey Britain, WAKE UP. Especially you, lazy government employees. And you, BBC, you dropped the ball on this one. Or walloped the loo or whatever ridiculous phrase you have.

Downing Street is overrun with vermin because the ...

Okay on second thought, it appears that NPR had the BBC as its source for this story. So good job, BBC, I'm glad to see you're so proud to be taking over American media. Anyway, government incompetence.

No. 10 Downing Street's semi-official mouser is being defended despite mouse sightings at the glorified shack. Even worse, since being brought on in the winter, "Larry" has caught only 3 mice as of June. Either that place has so few mice that an official mouser is a waste of taxpayer dollars, or as you ridiculously call them, pounds, or the mouser us utterly incompetent. Or lazy.

Just look at that lazy, lazy cat.

He's So Tough

The captain was a tough guy; there was no denying that. At night after we had too much to drink we'd all sit around and play a game where we'd make up ever more outrageous stories of how tough he was. We were supposed to go until someone was obviously lying, but somehow it never happened. He was just that tough.

"The captain is so tough, I heard he plays Russian Roulette every night."

"That's him!"

"I heard he plays with only one empty."

"Tough!"

"I saw him. He uses a pistol."

"Woah..."

It was my turn.

"I heard he doesn't bow to social pressure and risk his life over a pointless game with no payoff."

"You're lying."

"No really, I can't believe he'd be so dumb as to..."

*bang*

"To the captain!"