strangely enough, i expected things to just stay still. if life's supposed to be like running water, time and tide and all those cliched overused metaphors, i guess it's almost reasonable to assume runescape's going to be one of those things that's not like that. as if, i can leave it alone for a few weeks, months, and every time i log in out of habit in those times in between, i'll just pick up the loose ends and play on. an attitude that extends to this blog.
except there isn't really anything like that, is there, that stands still for you. it's like going back to a book and realising you wouldn't have finished reading it now, but you did then, and for that you're grateful.
except every time i'm about to blog about something trivial while doing something repetitive, i realise there's so much i need to catch up with. f2p last year seemed so starved of updates in comparison. unless it's just about the amount of time spent playing. there's this sense that there's no point saying anything unless you know enough, especially since i'm not used to not knowing about anything f2p. after all, there's precious little to know. there's things like summoning, which has nothing to do with me but which i simply would like to have some idea of. and little little changes, in lieu of everything else - a stronghold of something else, some gnome setup cum advertising gimmick, perhaps. ge database, new combat minigame. oh yeah, and the new graphics.
all things i don't actually know anything about. pfft. and i do find i can't actually be bothered to find out. it builds up into this massive backlog reminiscent of secondary school two-subject-credits maths, massive by my standards, anyhow, so i can't actually really be bothered with runescape. much. it doesn't help that it's not easy to throw away something i've put so much time into, even if it's only pixels. i can't seem to make a clear cut decision, because 'i quit' implies i wasted the past two years or so, and not quitting seems hypocritical. lacks closure, and fading out of existence is cowardly and annoying.
real life helps a lot. mainly because real life is slightly screwed. slightly in context of everything else. today's mother's day, today's the global day of prayer. there was a cyclone in myanmar. another term's ending. everything seems massively out of context, and none more so than rs.
it would be nice if rs could sit still and just be a game. simple game. brainless, not time consuming. not fluid. except (most) simple games don't have blogs written about them, or articles, or sites dedicated to their dissection. ergo i wouldn't be surprised if this is my last post, even though i didn't plan for it to be, but like i said, lack of closure annoys me, and i need a pseudo last post for peace of mind, if nothing else. the way i didn't mean for the last february post to be left hanging so long, but it just, y'know, did.
anyway, all i meant to say, before this turned into a rambling mess, was that it's irritatingly ironic that fluidity, the one thing i needed to keep me tied to the game this time last year, is the one thing that's pushing me away from it now. lack of fluidity (in f2p at least) pushed me to start this blog, to convince myself that there's something more to a game than changeability, that boredom's a conquerable enemy, and i'm bigger than monotony.
turns out - turns out i'm my own worst enemy. so thanks for dropping by, and for everything else past, because it being past doesn't wish it out of existence. and i'd also like to apologise for unfufilled expectations, up to and including unkept promises, unfinished sentences.
this seems easy, too easy. almost like it isn't fair, because real life issues never could be this easily... disposed of. (and i just now realised maybe fluidity isn't the most apt of words, but what they hey, last few sentences.) but then, in all it's ambiguity, that's what fluidity essentially is, hein?
Sunday, 11 May 2008
Saturday, 2 February 2008
a-llusionary.
in today's news, i have worked out a strategy, slightly belated though it may be. henceforth my (new) skiller shall carry for a weapon a bow that is the definition of non-confrontational. a curved stick makes for a bloody useless weapon if "there is no ammo [left] in your quiver." i get offers of arrows from kind donors and not so kind 'the noob is economically ignorant' wannabe merchants, but that by far beats accidentally clicking on barbarians and farmer fred's rams for a one way, express trip to lumby, the castle of.
i am ignoring my main.
said skiller has also commenced the morbid task of part time bone collecting, which has proved to be a surprisingly profitable enterprise. market rates are at a high of 77gp, and with minimal initial capital (a subject that needs burying, a random player's cb xp), all contributed by various generous investors, even a causal run yields 100% profit. after scounting locations, the research assistants would like to report that the goblins in front of the al kharid toll gate, the cow field just north of there, and lumby courtyard on a busy world are prime sites for activities. the only observed downside is that of contributors not receiving due dividends, but unless you're a goblin, chicken or a cow, the company shall endeavour not to pick up and sell your bones. the upper management concludes that this is a time-consuming but surefire money making method for the impoverished skiller, and therefore has decided to discontinue bone collecting for the indefinite future.
dogbert says dance like it hurts, love like you need money, work when people are watching.
i haven't seen non sequitur in the longest time.
i am ignoring my main.
said skiller has also commenced the morbid task of part time bone collecting, which has proved to be a surprisingly profitable enterprise. market rates are at a high of 77gp, and with minimal initial capital (a subject that needs burying, a random player's cb xp), all contributed by various generous investors, even a causal run yields 100% profit. after scounting locations, the research assistants would like to report that the goblins in front of the al kharid toll gate, the cow field just north of there, and lumby courtyard on a busy world are prime sites for activities. the only observed downside is that of contributors not receiving due dividends, but unless you're a goblin, chicken or a cow, the company shall endeavour not to pick up and sell your bones. the upper management concludes that this is a time-consuming but surefire money making method for the impoverished skiller, and therefore has decided to discontinue bone collecting for the indefinite future.
dogbert says dance like it hurts, love like you need money, work when people are watching.
i haven't seen non sequitur in the longest time.
Friday, 1 February 2008
shove off, saradomin - when runescape meets religion. rl religion.
don't actually come across this very often, but still. it's so messy.
an erstwhile nameless player makes his way through the packed lumby courtyard of a world just full enough that you'd need to refresh the page a few times at least before you got in. he walks up the steps, stops, and starts speaking. above the din of the gathered crowd, you hear "Jesus loves you!" he manages a few more lines unmolested. then he starts damning people to hell.
and that's where the trouble starts.
he's attracted a few 'you're so right's and about thrice that number of dissentors. every comment's pure flame bait, and for some reason people can't just ignore him and go on with their account selling and cybering. as they perhaps would an ad bot. then again, he's a mid leveled account with enough typos to be a real person. the difference is he just ploughs on, regardless of any and every legitimate debateable point people throw at him. he's not an ad bot, but he might as well be one, but because he isn't one, people can't just leave him alone and treat him like one, like a little blip on the radar you annihilate by clicking 'add ignore'.
it's not strictly muteable, it's almost reportable, but there isn't exactly a rule of the thumb for this sorta thing, no? it'd be intolerant if there was. so forget the report bit, for now.
joining in the fray isn't absolutely out of the question, but how dyou join in without being perceived as taking a side by the overly sensitive?
in the end, pm seems the best option. results in a short conversation, briefer explanation, abrupt logging out, and relocation to a considerably less populated lumby where he actually has what almost resembles a theological discussion with the only spectator. i got lucky.
but even so, it's volatile, and it's messy. so so messy.
i'm not against religious discussions, it's a topic you just have to broach if you've got a friend who can make intelligent conversation, but preaching's another thing altogether. in a way, i've no idea why he does it. was all about intimidation, threatening people with 'if you don't listen to me you'll go to hell' over and over. and i just got this sense, it's all he knew to say. either he's a child who hasn't a clear enough grasp of what he wants/ought to do, or he's got too poor a grasp of the language to know how to say anything more.
not that the exclamation marks and random capital letters helped any. or the name either. watching u *number* doesn't exactly inspire trust, or confidence.
and it's sweet of him to believe so strongly in what he does, but it's simply a flawed way of going about it. intimidation usually spawns defiance, forcing opinions and judgment on people isn't the same as persuading and debating with them. acting as if the other party doesn't exist by having what's in essence a one-sided conversation's just going to annoy. going to do more harm than good.
further complicated by the fact that i agree with him. more or less, on the salient points. salient points that nonetheless aren't half the picture, aren't telling it all. discussion goes round in circles, but because we're christian too, there's this pervading element of guilt. as if you're silencing something that matters.
not exactly the best of situations to be in.
there was this point raised about religion not belonging in runescape. about real life, the problems of real life not belonging in a game. not an argument that really works, considering that religion's a lifestyle, and for some of us, runescape isn't so much a game as a medium for communication, such controversy being a defensive measure against that 'i can't remember what happened eight minutes ago' syndrome. even if it isn't, it does seem pretty stupid to compartmentalise your life that way.
so religion crops up often enough, and when it does, i'm-a-guthix-worshipper type humour seems to be more of a cop out. is why i'm more wary about using it, but more to the point, i don't actually care for any of the rs gods. or demigods. or in between entities.
on an almost related note, i don't know why, but i always had this impression that christianity's a more common religion in western countries. uk, usa, europe, generally. as if all the catholic/protestant conflicts and declaration of independance automatically renders christianity the majority religion. then i go into a game that seems to have an even smaller percentage of christians than statistics say about real life. puts you vaguely off balance.
but then again, that's what arguments do.
an erstwhile nameless player makes his way through the packed lumby courtyard of a world just full enough that you'd need to refresh the page a few times at least before you got in. he walks up the steps, stops, and starts speaking. above the din of the gathered crowd, you hear "Jesus loves you!" he manages a few more lines unmolested. then he starts damning people to hell.
and that's where the trouble starts.
he's attracted a few 'you're so right's and about thrice that number of dissentors. every comment's pure flame bait, and for some reason people can't just ignore him and go on with their account selling and cybering. as they perhaps would an ad bot. then again, he's a mid leveled account with enough typos to be a real person. the difference is he just ploughs on, regardless of any and every legitimate debateable point people throw at him. he's not an ad bot, but he might as well be one, but because he isn't one, people can't just leave him alone and treat him like one, like a little blip on the radar you annihilate by clicking 'add ignore'.
it's not strictly muteable, it's almost reportable, but there isn't exactly a rule of the thumb for this sorta thing, no? it'd be intolerant if there was. so forget the report bit, for now.
joining in the fray isn't absolutely out of the question, but how dyou join in without being perceived as taking a side by the overly sensitive?
in the end, pm seems the best option. results in a short conversation, briefer explanation, abrupt logging out, and relocation to a considerably less populated lumby where he actually has what almost resembles a theological discussion with the only spectator. i got lucky.
but even so, it's volatile, and it's messy. so so messy.
i'm not against religious discussions, it's a topic you just have to broach if you've got a friend who can make intelligent conversation, but preaching's another thing altogether. in a way, i've no idea why he does it. was all about intimidation, threatening people with 'if you don't listen to me you'll go to hell' over and over. and i just got this sense, it's all he knew to say. either he's a child who hasn't a clear enough grasp of what he wants/ought to do, or he's got too poor a grasp of the language to know how to say anything more.
not that the exclamation marks and random capital letters helped any. or the name either. watching u *number* doesn't exactly inspire trust, or confidence.
and it's sweet of him to believe so strongly in what he does, but it's simply a flawed way of going about it. intimidation usually spawns defiance, forcing opinions and judgment on people isn't the same as persuading and debating with them. acting as if the other party doesn't exist by having what's in essence a one-sided conversation's just going to annoy. going to do more harm than good.
further complicated by the fact that i agree with him. more or less, on the salient points. salient points that nonetheless aren't half the picture, aren't telling it all. discussion goes round in circles, but because we're christian too, there's this pervading element of guilt. as if you're silencing something that matters.
not exactly the best of situations to be in.
there was this point raised about religion not belonging in runescape. about real life, the problems of real life not belonging in a game. not an argument that really works, considering that religion's a lifestyle, and for some of us, runescape isn't so much a game as a medium for communication, such controversy being a defensive measure against that 'i can't remember what happened eight minutes ago' syndrome. even if it isn't, it does seem pretty stupid to compartmentalise your life that way.
so religion crops up often enough, and when it does, i'm-a-guthix-worshipper type humour seems to be more of a cop out. is why i'm more wary about using it, but more to the point, i don't actually care for any of the rs gods. or demigods. or in between entities.
on an almost related note, i don't know why, but i always had this impression that christianity's a more common religion in western countries. uk, usa, europe, generally. as if all the catholic/protestant conflicts and declaration of independance automatically renders christianity the majority religion. then i go into a game that seems to have an even smaller percentage of christians than statistics say about real life. puts you vaguely off balance.
but then again, that's what arguments do.
Tuesday, 22 January 2008
leading up to quitting.
hmm. haven't blogged in the longest time, or it seems that way. somehow i didn't quite expect runescape to change very much. not that i expected the game to remain stagnant while i was away, but (and especially after the wildy fiasco and all) i honestly didn't see what was coming.
and by that i don't mean summoning.
then again, i've transferred all that incoherent stuff to the previous post, so this is more... real. more solid, in case you find reading posts like my previous one nauseating and downright infuriating. grasping for straws you know you don't have. i know i would. hence the editing.
in short. i quit. i've resigned modship, and i won't in all likelihood be playing rs very much in the future. distant or otherwise.
take note? i'm only doing and saying it now because of recent developments. emphasis on the recent developments. or what you shall read would've remained there, not even articulated as thoughts.
looking back it's as if everything these past few months lead up to quitting. this post is for telling it as it is, putting down my thoughts as of november last year, before events responded to in the previous post. saying things you will likely understand, instead of be flummoxed by. so this mayn't seem reason enough to you, but when viewed in the context of aforementioned developments, to me, it is.
i accidentally trained mage on my skiller and raised the combat level i was so dedicated to keeping. i reached 777 total level on my main, a nice milestone of a number, by my standards. (academic) results weren't catastrophically bad, but still worse than they've ever been since secondary school.
plus i've been trying to keep off rs during weekdays for the last few months. and failing miserably at it.
i wouldn't have been able to quit if i'd tried. and that thought existed, but i wouldn't have considered just not playing if i hadn't been persuaded in a way only jagex could. and since they took the first step, i've been thinking.
if i want to go to grad school, i'll need a scholarship. i won't survive (and won't be allowed to stay) on a more or less minor scholarship like the one i'm on now. which i'm not actually in danger of losing, but it's not as if i wouldn't like to do marginally better. and while rs isn't exactly dragging me down, it's not helping much either.
so jagex offers a way out that leaves hardly any chance of me ever coming back to rs again once i've decided to leave it alone. y'see, f2p's an intensely boring place, and i didn't and don't become a member for fear of being even more addicted than i already am, which is already scaring me. i don't define myself as a mod, but that's the only thing that keeps me playing. i would be enormously relieved and a bit less stressed if i were not, but i would've quit sometime in april last year if i hadn't been modded.
conclusion: the best way to ensure i stay away is to be voluntarily demodded.
nothing new, that theory. but i've been running away from that action for almost half a year. as i write this, i'm trying to convince myself.
it's as if, you pour one to four years of your life into something, for me there was english, track, writing, skating, fanfic, and in a really different way, runescape. only lasting loves/obsessions - God, my religion. then in a sense, english, learning it, speaking it, getting to the point when i'm completely comfortable thinking and functioning in the language; and skating, because it's one of those things i can honestly say i'm passionate about.
other side, it's really sad when you put so much into something, and find you don't actually actively like it anymore, but you're just stuck with it. like track. and in a way, runescape. at the start it was addiction-stuck. then there's the queue mentality, after a while i didn't think about levels because past a point, consciously deciding to level in f2p is suicide, but i didn't want to let go. still don't wanna.
but i think, have been thinking i need to, and now i find i can. it's almost liberating.
this blog still lives for the time being, and i was thinking of letting it die when it does. because i may in name have said i quit, but it'll take longer to pull away, especially from my new skiller (complete waste). and i'll be blogging for some time yet. in the meantime, toodles. a two day break isn't long enough for two plane flights. happy lunar new year.
and by that i don't mean summoning.
then again, i've transferred all that incoherent stuff to the previous post, so this is more... real. more solid, in case you find reading posts like my previous one nauseating and downright infuriating. grasping for straws you know you don't have. i know i would. hence the editing.
in short. i quit. i've resigned modship, and i won't in all likelihood be playing rs very much in the future. distant or otherwise.
take note? i'm only doing and saying it now because of recent developments. emphasis on the recent developments. or what you shall read would've remained there, not even articulated as thoughts.
looking back it's as if everything these past few months lead up to quitting. this post is for telling it as it is, putting down my thoughts as of november last year, before events responded to in the previous post. saying things you will likely understand, instead of be flummoxed by. so this mayn't seem reason enough to you, but when viewed in the context of aforementioned developments, to me, it is.
i accidentally trained mage on my skiller and raised the combat level i was so dedicated to keeping. i reached 777 total level on my main, a nice milestone of a number, by my standards. (academic) results weren't catastrophically bad, but still worse than they've ever been since secondary school.
plus i've been trying to keep off rs during weekdays for the last few months. and failing miserably at it.
i wouldn't have been able to quit if i'd tried. and that thought existed, but i wouldn't have considered just not playing if i hadn't been persuaded in a way only jagex could. and since they took the first step, i've been thinking.
if i want to go to grad school, i'll need a scholarship. i won't survive (and won't be allowed to stay) on a more or less minor scholarship like the one i'm on now. which i'm not actually in danger of losing, but it's not as if i wouldn't like to do marginally better. and while rs isn't exactly dragging me down, it's not helping much either.
so jagex offers a way out that leaves hardly any chance of me ever coming back to rs again once i've decided to leave it alone. y'see, f2p's an intensely boring place, and i didn't and don't become a member for fear of being even more addicted than i already am, which is already scaring me. i don't define myself as a mod, but that's the only thing that keeps me playing. i would be enormously relieved and a bit less stressed if i were not, but i would've quit sometime in april last year if i hadn't been modded.
conclusion: the best way to ensure i stay away is to be voluntarily demodded.
nothing new, that theory. but i've been running away from that action for almost half a year. as i write this, i'm trying to convince myself.
it's as if, you pour one to four years of your life into something, for me there was english, track, writing, skating, fanfic, and in a really different way, runescape. only lasting loves/obsessions - God, my religion. then in a sense, english, learning it, speaking it, getting to the point when i'm completely comfortable thinking and functioning in the language; and skating, because it's one of those things i can honestly say i'm passionate about.
other side, it's really sad when you put so much into something, and find you don't actually actively like it anymore, but you're just stuck with it. like track. and in a way, runescape. at the start it was addiction-stuck. then there's the queue mentality, after a while i didn't think about levels because past a point, consciously deciding to level in f2p is suicide, but i didn't want to let go. still don't wanna.
but i think, have been thinking i need to, and now i find i can. it's almost liberating.
this blog still lives for the time being, and i was thinking of letting it die when it does. because i may in name have said i quit, but it'll take longer to pull away, especially from my new skiller (complete waste). and i'll be blogging for some time yet. in the meantime, toodles. a two day break isn't long enough for two plane flights. happy lunar new year.
just for me to sort things out.
EDIT:
i logged in last week to find myself with one foot out of the door, and apparently put there by jagex. following a conversation i'm very glad i had when i did, i decided to move the other foot, too.
road to hell is paved with good intentions, that lead to things like overkill. and purely accidental betrayal of trust.
end of story.
- because i'm sorry, really i am, but i'm lousy with euphermisms, and i make for a sucky diplomat, and that's the best way i can say things.
quote of the week. "always tell the truth. that way you don't have to remember what you said."
i logged in last week to find myself with one foot out of the door, and apparently put there by jagex. following a conversation i'm very glad i had when i did, i decided to move the other foot, too.
road to hell is paved with good intentions, that lead to things like overkill. and purely accidental betrayal of trust.
end of story.
- because i'm sorry, really i am, but i'm lousy with euphermisms, and i make for a sucky diplomat, and that's the best way i can say things.
quote of the week. "always tell the truth. that way you don't have to remember what you said."
Tuesday, 11 December 2007
impromtu post. (yes that's what it is.)
I wasn't actually going to post. Up till yesterday I hadn't thought there was time, nor a point. Last post details the result of that theory.
I don't know to what extent having only 42k people online right now isn't so much a result of dissatisfied players quitting as the absence of bots.
I'd plastered a big fat WRONG on RWT even before stopping to think why. It's that glaringly obvious. There isn't any need to wonder whether the answer might possibly be counter intuitive, it's one of those conclusions that comes so naturally, so rightly that a different, correct answer just doesn't exist. If you're a sentient human being, I'd thought, you'd realise that, or at least the reasons why I do.
That's why the players who tell me "Jagex is jealous of the real world traders because they earn more than they do" simply blow my mind. To let this go without talking about RWT, much as a waste of words it is, seems impossible. It's wrong because it cheapens the game. It undermines the time and effort of countless players. It's cheating, pure and simple, being textbook exploitation of an unfair, undeserved advantage. More than that though, not only is the act of buying wrong, along with intentions on both sides, the goods are tainted. They were attained by unfair means, by people majority of which have the sole intention of material gain, and a pragmatic worldview that places value on money, items, and leaves space for nothing else.
By supporting RWT, you're agreeing that you're one of those people. You're renouncing the concept of "morals" and "ideals". I believe I've made my opinions clear.
Onto the recent slew of updates. In all honesty this is exactly what's been begged for for months by some of the only players who've ever given me any reason to respect them: drastic (underline drastic) action that rids Glienor of the material flotsam of the real world. It didn't quite take the form we expected, but hey, any improvement's a good improvement, right?
Right. Especially when it incites comments, mere observations of which are as follows:
Jagex is considerate enough to time their updates for non peak, meaning I always seem to catch the updates right as they come out. Meaning I had a shot at Bounty Hunter before the clans swarmed in. Thought it was too good a chance to be missed, but my main just happens to be cb 61, and in the 55-100 med level crater, didn't hardly stand a chance anyway. And when you're aggro'd within 30 seconds, whether it's by a rogue or a legitimate hunter, you learn to go in empty handed and let them kill you for the xp. By the time I worked up the courage to go in to actually fight, my default-clothes-clothed main found herself at the bottom of a five person pileup. (Why they don't allow robes is beyond me. What, mage in your birthday suit?) I forgot Protect Items and lost the fire staff of great sentimental value. Spent the next ten minutes searching for the killers, with the vague idea that I'd awkwardly offer them 20k for it, until I figured they'd just write me off as some crackpot loon, and that I was indeed acting like some crackpot loon.
But seeing as I'm both "1 of he noobs that don't like the wildy and always die" and "the kind who are an so called lvl 3 skiller", I just shrugged and went back to the chaos dwarves, getting caught by some revenants I didn't even bother to catch a glimpse of in return, them hitting 15s on me and all.
Still, Bounty Hunter has to have some toggling multi combat on/off element. Then clan wars can transport itself over there with the money aspect intact. Speaking of the money aspect, perhaps pking was an excellent moneymaking opportunity. I wouldn't know, I never went there. I always did find the thought of death duels for the sake of money barbaric and mercenary in the extreme. Philistines.
Well, at best you could see the 3k cap as an attempt at reeducation. If you're into fighting for the sake and beauty (wtf?) of it, there's still dueling, there's still Bounty Hunting, Clan Wars, so on. As for the wilderness, while the revenants pose a deadly enough threat, it's simply not deadly enough. They need to be more widespread, perhaps level-specific, more common, to be dangerous. If the wilderness is to live up to it's name, it's got to be more dangerous than that. I'm grateful dishonourable pkers're a no show, isolated as they are in that little pen of theirs, but it's still too easy.
Grand Exchange, it's been out so long it's old news, all I've got to say's the same as anyone else. Too fixed, too inflexible, I've managed to earn 150k on my skiller while getting rid of junk, but even being desperate to get rid of things and selling them at the lowest prices, it's still hard to find a buyer. That aside, it's a feature I can get used to. Not that I don't appreciate the trading, but at least now I can trade...
Saving the best for last, unbalanced trades. I've yet to find anyone who actually agrees with this little beauty, that's a little bit more logically than emotionally sound, but not by that much. Only argument for it, it reinstates that idea of self-sufficiency. Not that I'm not more or less for self-sufficiency (die begging die), but gifts are just ... gifts. Sort of not seeing the forest for the trees, suppressing that spirit of generosity and putting a damper on Christmas cheer, all for the sake of ridding the game of nasty cheating... I can see where they're coming from, but all I see is it puts you at a loss, somewhere, in that game of human relations.
The money I've got saved fluctuates between 450k and 570k, but I'm going to have to make that change. There's so much giving that needs to be done, a particular instance of which is a cause for incense as much as anything else, but that's for later. I mean, money you can earn, and to think, scrambling to give away gifts one last time... that's vaguely pathetic. Why force us to be that way?
Sometimes, especially times like this, it feels like the only people who're half decent who actually play this game are friends who happen to be offline, oh, maybe because they don't agree with the new updates. At times like this a return to newbness on my skiller invites regular reminders of the humanity of runescapers I don't even happen to know. I get offers of 10k from someone on their way to triple digits, offers of 2k from an almost mid-leveled player who obviously can't afford it, and is in that awkward stage of bothering even to give a reason for their kindness (you don't have any numbers in your name), offers that I try to gush over before turning down, and reciprocating via my main. It's what makes the world go round. What, does Jagex think they're the exception to even that?
At this point, I'm almost glad to be away. I appreciate talking as much as the next person, but too much of this, in particular, it's not exactly a blessing. Players are alternately scandalised and victorious when I agree with them on choice points. Whatever they might think, mods don't sell their individuality and opinions to Jagex for the crown, and it's not as if the changes aren't about to anger mods less than anyone else. But somehow, it just seems plain wrong not to say something else, somehow. Something that softens the blow, something that gives Jagex a little more than the credit they're due.
Sometimes I just lose words in a normal conversation, I know what I mean, but I can't say it that way. I've learnt to listen in on conversations, that's one great thing about clan chat. That way I've got the politically correct answers phrased in an acceptable way on hand if I need them. Yet when I hear mods and experienced, mature, intelligent players lash out at Jagex, it seems almost like a betrayal. Of sorts. There's such a thing as loyalty, and even if something went a little wrong, somewhere, it's not as if they meant ill, so cut them some slack, and stand behind them when they need someone to. I don't know if it's too much to expect, but I feel as though I owe it to those I know personally, if not Jagex, to defend them more than I otherwise would have. Criticism is one thing, but abuse takes it into a whole new ballpark.
That said, Jagex does owe players an explanation. A long list of FAQs, written in the right tone, phrased half professionally, half genuinely. It's not that they aren't capable of it, I know that for a fact, but I don't understand why they won't just do it. It's like town criers. Players are trying to decide, to figure things out, and for those just puzzled, they need something, preferably official, to push them over, or at least get them off others' backs.
Crap's being deflected off onto the plates of mods who really had nothing to do with game development. When we also don't entirely agree with what's been done, it's hard not to react. My point about mods also lashing out wasn't to say that they should be hypocritical, and show a small measure of support for Jagex, whatever they choose to do. It's all about self control. Much as the think they want to, hearing a mod agree with and rant alongside them is the last thing these kids need. They're kids who don't want to listen to reason. It's about remaining professional, not detached, but in control.
I let myself go the last post, being completely sick of reigning everything in ingame. As a buffer I've got my imitation of a sounding board down, but the calming presence bit still needs work. I'm not yet able to let it come naturally, not to be disgusted by people and not let it show because that's not what they need to know, not yet. But I'm trying, and besides some mods many quietly watch, the examples I look to are certain Jagex curators. That's how I know the company can't be all bad. They've got some terrific employees. They've also got some players that continually disgust me, and reach greater heights with that pursuit every so often. Players that I'm embarrassed of.
For all intents and purposes, anyhow, it's a game. It's not as if people can't adapt (think, response to f2p team capes: "selling member cape 1k!"), accept it, or choose to have membershps terminated if they don't believe Jagex delivered. As for the future of RWT, everyone seems to assume it'll go away. It appears gold farmers're making a new proposition - let us hack your account for a price. You can trust us because we've delivered in the past, haven't we? Almost sad that they haven't given up, but that seems like it'll receive considerably less takers, and anyway, it's another problem for another day.
But whatever the consequences, I do believe the intentions were pure, because the corporation not withstanding, I know the people, I know they're good people, devoted, moral, diligent people. Good people. Whether it proves to be a mistake or no, what matters is they tried. They exceeded expectations that've sunk progressively over this past year, and that I can admire, can finally, finally respect.
On a totally related note, since I couldn't be bothered to fit this in snugly, it's off to China for a week and a half, then home just in time for Christmas. I'll be back next year, or near the end of this, if I manage to find a computer. Merry Christmas y'all, and like the song says, have a Happy New Year, updates and all. Can't be that hard to live with, right? (Wait, on second thoughts, you'd better not answer...)
I don't know to what extent having only 42k people online right now isn't so much a result of dissatisfied players quitting as the absence of bots.
I'd plastered a big fat WRONG on RWT even before stopping to think why. It's that glaringly obvious. There isn't any need to wonder whether the answer might possibly be counter intuitive, it's one of those conclusions that comes so naturally, so rightly that a different, correct answer just doesn't exist. If you're a sentient human being, I'd thought, you'd realise that, or at least the reasons why I do.
That's why the players who tell me "Jagex is jealous of the real world traders because they earn more than they do" simply blow my mind. To let this go without talking about RWT, much as a waste of words it is, seems impossible. It's wrong because it cheapens the game. It undermines the time and effort of countless players. It's cheating, pure and simple, being textbook exploitation of an unfair, undeserved advantage. More than that though, not only is the act of buying wrong, along with intentions on both sides, the goods are tainted. They were attained by unfair means, by people majority of which have the sole intention of material gain, and a pragmatic worldview that places value on money, items, and leaves space for nothing else.
By supporting RWT, you're agreeing that you're one of those people. You're renouncing the concept of "morals" and "ideals". I believe I've made my opinions clear.
Onto the recent slew of updates. In all honesty this is exactly what's been begged for for months by some of the only players who've ever given me any reason to respect them: drastic (underline drastic) action that rids Glienor of the material flotsam of the real world. It didn't quite take the form we expected, but hey, any improvement's a good improvement, right?
Right. Especially when it incites comments, mere observations of which are as follows:
Jagex is considerate enough to time their updates for non peak, meaning I always seem to catch the updates right as they come out. Meaning I had a shot at Bounty Hunter before the clans swarmed in. Thought it was too good a chance to be missed, but my main just happens to be cb 61, and in the 55-100 med level crater, didn't hardly stand a chance anyway. And when you're aggro'd within 30 seconds, whether it's by a rogue or a legitimate hunter, you learn to go in empty handed and let them kill you for the xp. By the time I worked up the courage to go in to actually fight, my default-clothes-clothed main found herself at the bottom of a five person pileup. (Why they don't allow robes is beyond me. What, mage in your birthday suit?) I forgot Protect Items and lost the fire staff of great sentimental value. Spent the next ten minutes searching for the killers, with the vague idea that I'd awkwardly offer them 20k for it, until I figured they'd just write me off as some crackpot loon, and that I was indeed acting like some crackpot loon.But seeing as I'm both "1 of he noobs that don't like the wildy and always die" and "the kind who are an so called lvl 3 skiller", I just shrugged and went back to the chaos dwarves, getting caught by some revenants I didn't even bother to catch a glimpse of in return, them hitting 15s on me and all.
Still, Bounty Hunter has to have some toggling multi combat on/off element. Then clan wars can transport itself over there with the money aspect intact. Speaking of the money aspect, perhaps pking was an excellent moneymaking opportunity. I wouldn't know, I never went there. I always did find the thought of death duels for the sake of money barbaric and mercenary in the extreme. Philistines.
Well, at best you could see the 3k cap as an attempt at reeducation. If you're into fighting for the sake and beauty (wtf?) of it, there's still dueling, there's still Bounty Hunting, Clan Wars, so on. As for the wilderness, while the revenants pose a deadly enough threat, it's simply not deadly enough. They need to be more widespread, perhaps level-specific, more common, to be dangerous. If the wilderness is to live up to it's name, it's got to be more dangerous than that. I'm grateful dishonourable pkers're a no show, isolated as they are in that little pen of theirs, but it's still too easy.
Grand Exchange, it's been out so long it's old news, all I've got to say's the same as anyone else. Too fixed, too inflexible, I've managed to earn 150k on my skiller while getting rid of junk, but even being desperate to get rid of things and selling them at the lowest prices, it's still hard to find a buyer. That aside, it's a feature I can get used to. Not that I don't appreciate the trading, but at least now I can trade...
Saving the best for last, unbalanced trades. I've yet to find anyone who actually agrees with this little beauty, that's a little bit more logically than emotionally sound, but not by that much. Only argument for it, it reinstates that idea of self-sufficiency. Not that I'm not more or less for self-sufficiency (die begging die), but gifts are just ... gifts. Sort of not seeing the forest for the trees, suppressing that spirit of generosity and putting a damper on Christmas cheer, all for the sake of ridding the game of nasty cheating... I can see where they're coming from, but all I see is it puts you at a loss, somewhere, in that game of human relations.
The money I've got saved fluctuates between 450k and 570k, but I'm going to have to make that change. There's so much giving that needs to be done, a particular instance of which is a cause for incense as much as anything else, but that's for later. I mean, money you can earn, and to think, scrambling to give away gifts one last time... that's vaguely pathetic. Why force us to be that way?
Sometimes, especially times like this, it feels like the only people who're half decent who actually play this game are friends who happen to be offline, oh, maybe because they don't agree with the new updates. At times like this a return to newbness on my skiller invites regular reminders of the humanity of runescapers I don't even happen to know. I get offers of 10k from someone on their way to triple digits, offers of 2k from an almost mid-leveled player who obviously can't afford it, and is in that awkward stage of bothering even to give a reason for their kindness (you don't have any numbers in your name), offers that I try to gush over before turning down, and reciprocating via my main. It's what makes the world go round. What, does Jagex think they're the exception to even that?
At this point, I'm almost glad to be away. I appreciate talking as much as the next person, but too much of this, in particular, it's not exactly a blessing. Players are alternately scandalised and victorious when I agree with them on choice points. Whatever they might think, mods don't sell their individuality and opinions to Jagex for the crown, and it's not as if the changes aren't about to anger mods less than anyone else. But somehow, it just seems plain wrong not to say something else, somehow. Something that softens the blow, something that gives Jagex a little more than the credit they're due.
Sometimes I just lose words in a normal conversation, I know what I mean, but I can't say it that way. I've learnt to listen in on conversations, that's one great thing about clan chat. That way I've got the politically correct answers phrased in an acceptable way on hand if I need them. Yet when I hear mods and experienced, mature, intelligent players lash out at Jagex, it seems almost like a betrayal. Of sorts. There's such a thing as loyalty, and even if something went a little wrong, somewhere, it's not as if they meant ill, so cut them some slack, and stand behind them when they need someone to. I don't know if it's too much to expect, but I feel as though I owe it to those I know personally, if not Jagex, to defend them more than I otherwise would have. Criticism is one thing, but abuse takes it into a whole new ballpark.
That said, Jagex does owe players an explanation. A long list of FAQs, written in the right tone, phrased half professionally, half genuinely. It's not that they aren't capable of it, I know that for a fact, but I don't understand why they won't just do it. It's like town criers. Players are trying to decide, to figure things out, and for those just puzzled, they need something, preferably official, to push them over, or at least get them off others' backs.
Crap's being deflected off onto the plates of mods who really had nothing to do with game development. When we also don't entirely agree with what's been done, it's hard not to react. My point about mods also lashing out wasn't to say that they should be hypocritical, and show a small measure of support for Jagex, whatever they choose to do. It's all about self control. Much as the think they want to, hearing a mod agree with and rant alongside them is the last thing these kids need. They're kids who don't want to listen to reason. It's about remaining professional, not detached, but in control.
I let myself go the last post, being completely sick of reigning everything in ingame. As a buffer I've got my imitation of a sounding board down, but the calming presence bit still needs work. I'm not yet able to let it come naturally, not to be disgusted by people and not let it show because that's not what they need to know, not yet. But I'm trying, and besides some mods many quietly watch, the examples I look to are certain Jagex curators. That's how I know the company can't be all bad. They've got some terrific employees. They've also got some players that continually disgust me, and reach greater heights with that pursuit every so often. Players that I'm embarrassed of.
For all intents and purposes, anyhow, it's a game. It's not as if people can't adapt (think, response to f2p team capes: "selling member cape 1k!"), accept it, or choose to have membershps terminated if they don't believe Jagex delivered. As for the future of RWT, everyone seems to assume it'll go away. It appears gold farmers're making a new proposition - let us hack your account for a price. You can trust us because we've delivered in the past, haven't we? Almost sad that they haven't given up, but that seems like it'll receive considerably less takers, and anyway, it's another problem for another day.
But whatever the consequences, I do believe the intentions were pure, because the corporation not withstanding, I know the people, I know they're good people, devoted, moral, diligent people. Good people. Whether it proves to be a mistake or no, what matters is they tried. They exceeded expectations that've sunk progressively over this past year, and that I can admire, can finally, finally respect.
On a totally related note, since I couldn't be bothered to fit this in snugly, it's off to China for a week and a half, then home just in time for Christmas. I'll be back next year, or near the end of this, if I manage to find a computer. Merry Christmas y'all, and like the song says, have a Happy New Year, updates and all. Can't be that hard to live with, right? (Wait, on second thoughts, you'd better not answer...)
Litany of Complaints.
I am completely and utterly pissed off. Oh, not with Jagex. With the immature ungrateful little buggers who choose to flood me with their incessant whining. If it's one thing I absolutely cannot stand, it's whingeing. Yes I am about to embark on a short rant. Allow me this luxury and I'll be coherently reasonable in the next post.
If you define yourself as
1. a merchant
2. a pker
Congragulations, you belong to the two groups of people I often cannot stand to fraternise with. Nonetheless, I am human enough to understand that 1. you are pissed. 2. you aren't overly fond of Jagex at the moment. But quite, quite frankly, I do not give a damn about the complaints about the updates apart from praising Jagex for ridding the game of bots, real world trading and general unpleasantness and cheating AND giving f2p capes AND bank space AND the duel arena. In short I had absolutely nothing to complain about, and I especially do not want to give a damn about it solely on your behalf.
I don't for one second believe Jagex will "change it back" just for you morally destitute excuses for players and you know what? That thought gladdens me. Furthermore I have no intention at all of "telling Jagex" that they "suck" seeing as they, well, don't. I am also not an extension of Jagex and while I feel for them, with all the abuse they're getting, abusing me isn't going to do a thing, thank you very much. In fact I would be fully ecstatic if you would just quit already, "FOREVER".
So piss. Off.
If you define yourself as
1. a merchant
2. a pker
Congragulations, you belong to the two groups of people I often cannot stand to fraternise with. Nonetheless, I am human enough to understand that 1. you are pissed. 2. you aren't overly fond of Jagex at the moment. But quite, quite frankly, I do not give a damn about the complaints about the updates apart from praising Jagex for ridding the game of bots, real world trading and general unpleasantness and cheating AND giving f2p capes AND bank space AND the duel arena. In short I had absolutely nothing to complain about, and I especially do not want to give a damn about it solely on your behalf.
I don't for one second believe Jagex will "change it back" just for you morally destitute excuses for players and you know what? That thought gladdens me. Furthermore I have no intention at all of "telling Jagex" that they "suck" seeing as they, well, don't. I am also not an extension of Jagex and while I feel for them, with all the abuse they're getting, abusing me isn't going to do a thing, thank you very much. In fact I would be fully ecstatic if you would just quit already, "FOREVER".
So piss. Off.
Tuesday, 13 November 2007
one small little thing,
i'd never really given the assist system much more than a cursory dismissal.
okay, so now my skiller gets to enchant ammys. (never quite got round to asking, conversation usually started/ended with a 'lol noob'.) okay, so ammy of [whatever] isn't actually worth much of anything, now.
okay, so that's one more thing i have to toggle 'off' next i log in.
okay, so some people simply will not read announcements or understand the the word request; meaning there's a new problem to deal with since, yeah, the level 3 banking in lumby must need help, never mind that i've got no notion of what constitutes 'skiller', much less that a puny level 3 could've ever had stats better than mine. okay, so people always didn't/acted-as-if they-didn't-so-it doesn't-make-any-difference read the announcements which is a Fact Of Life so accept it or It crushes you.
beyond all that, no, the poor assist system got the aforementioned cursory dismissal.
now, well well well the assist system still gets the aforementioned previously reiterated cursory dismissal. just, the one small thing that people shouting 'Request Me'exclamationmarkoneoneone decide some time to move over to world 16's air altar with 'free assist 3/4/7/8x'. i seem to play on the wrong side of the world from most people, placing world 16 at 452pax at the time of visitation; and i can't remember how i wanted to end this sentence, blogger's SAVE NOW not actually helping much if there isn't any internet connection.
runecrafting's the one skill i persistently find exceedingly difficult to train, a Fact of which i ignore rather than find myself resigned to. on the rare occassion that i do runecraft, a rewrite of that tired script is called for. when did 'open 2k'/'open 125 airs and ess' become 'open 3 laws and ess' become 'free assist...' etc. stuck so far to 'open 125 airs and ess' though, and i'm tempted for a moment to become one of the fluid majority, not a bad thing at all, really, and adopt that new form of blatant self-advertising.
rc just happens to be closer to 33 to 44...
and i do 'open 125 airs' stead of 100 to, as is apparent, stay ahead of the crafters with similarly lousy levels or of the opposing mentality with 25 airs royalties. meaning i do alternating 'open 2k' and 'open 125 airs and ess' runs of 1k rune ess, using the airs not sold from the 2k run to bring the airs dispensed next time round up to 125. seems faintly unethical to be offering 125 when the person next to you's at 100, but level 3 skillers in an f2p jungle need a competitive advantage, if you know what i mean.
...rendering me unable to take part in their innovative little 'free assist', stick in the mud up your as the sayings go.
fringe benefit's that i don't feel so guilty about 'open 1k and ess', with thrice the number of trade offers. being one of three voices shouting that refrain does things for you. strange things i wouldn't know about.
i go back at the dawn of when the sun's blistering the other side of the earth, and am rather thankful to find proportions epically reversed. i'd be drowned out in all that din, but it's nice to see the world's still normal when the sun's shining and my crafting's done for this day, at any rate.
on a completely related note, i'm not xactly supposed to be posting right now. distractions *glares* goodbye until early december.
okay, so now my skiller gets to enchant ammys. (never quite got round to asking, conversation usually started/ended with a 'lol noob'.) okay, so ammy of [whatever] isn't actually worth much of anything, now.
okay, so that's one more thing i have to toggle 'off' next i log in.
okay, so some people simply will not read announcements or understand the the word request; meaning there's a new problem to deal with since, yeah, the level 3 banking in lumby must need help, never mind that i've got no notion of what constitutes 'skiller', much less that a puny level 3 could've ever had stats better than mine. okay, so people always didn't/acted-as-if they-didn't-so-it doesn't-make-any-difference read the announcements which is a Fact Of Life so accept it or It crushes you.
beyond all that, no, the poor assist system got the aforementioned cursory dismissal.
now, well well well the assist system still gets the aforementioned previously reiterated cursory dismissal. just, the one small thing that people shouting 'Request Me'exclamationmarkoneoneone decide some time to move over to world 16's air altar with 'free assist 3/4/7/8x'. i seem to play on the wrong side of the world from most people, placing world 16 at 452pax at the time of visitation; and i can't remember how i wanted to end this sentence, blogger's SAVE NOW not actually helping much if there isn't any internet connection.
runecrafting's the one skill i persistently find exceedingly difficult to train, a Fact of which i ignore rather than find myself resigned to. on the rare occassion that i do runecraft, a rewrite of that tired script is called for. when did 'open 2k'/'open 125 airs and ess' become 'open 3 laws and ess' become 'free assist...' etc. stuck so far to 'open 125 airs and ess' though, and i'm tempted for a moment to become one of the fluid majority, not a bad thing at all, really, and adopt that new form of blatant self-advertising.
rc just happens to be closer to 33 to 44...
and i do 'open 125 airs' stead of 100 to, as is apparent, stay ahead of the crafters with similarly lousy levels or of the opposing mentality with 25 airs royalties. meaning i do alternating 'open 2k' and 'open 125 airs and ess' runs of 1k rune ess, using the airs not sold from the 2k run to bring the airs dispensed next time round up to 125. seems faintly unethical to be offering 125 when the person next to you's at 100, but level 3 skillers in an f2p jungle need a competitive advantage, if you know what i mean.
...rendering me unable to take part in their innovative little 'free assist', stick in the mud up your as the sayings go.
fringe benefit's that i don't feel so guilty about 'open 1k and ess', with thrice the number of trade offers. being one of three voices shouting that refrain does things for you. strange things i wouldn't know about.
i go back at the dawn of when the sun's blistering the other side of the earth, and am rather thankful to find proportions epically reversed. i'd be drowned out in all that din, but it's nice to see the world's still normal when the sun's shining and my crafting's done for this day, at any rate.
on a completely related note, i'm not xactly supposed to be posting right now. distractions *glares* goodbye until early december.
Sunday, 11 November 2007
forget the economics
it's not as if it hasn't be calculated, reexamined, dissected, analysed. multiple times. and before i forget, by 'it' i mean the grand exchange.
if it's as they say, and it isn't going to need no talking, well then [insert appropriate expression of jubilation]
what more's there to say of such an admirable tool that's to reintegrate erstwhile business illiterate people back into that world of trade? (y'know. commerce, it's such a... foreign word...)
come to think of it, i don't quite know who i mean by people. only encountered two other people who remotely thought this a problem, and even then, it's not a problem. it's an... inconvenience.
anyhow, if it renders me able to trade without having to stand in a bank shouting, and promptly scrambling to click 'off private', then scrambling to switch it to 'friends private', then scrambling again to click 'hide public' before regretting it all and retreating to a basement/second floor to switch everything back to 'on' and talk, or sort out pms that seem worth answering, all the while berating my own stupidity. the perils of f2p.
(of course, by the next time i venture out a-trading, i'd have forgotten that last episode, and y'know what they say about history.)
biiig incentive to become a member, but i persuade myself i'd almost rather shut up and wish the rest of the world would do the same. ohyes i am such a people person.
i think the meanest thing they could do right now is take away the talking bit of the trade but make grand exchange members. touch wood. otherwise i could always just wallow in my unwillingness to do business, gleefully stumbling on people selling/buying things that correspond to my own interests as often as the grand exchange allows it.
back to economics.
*blank*
whoo. is it quite so possible to die from financial shortsightedness?
if it's as they say, and it isn't going to need no talking, well then [insert appropriate expression of jubilation]
what more's there to say of such an admirable tool that's to reintegrate erstwhile business illiterate people back into that world of trade? (y'know. commerce, it's such a... foreign word...)
come to think of it, i don't quite know who i mean by people. only encountered two other people who remotely thought this a problem, and even then, it's not a problem. it's an... inconvenience.
anyhow, if it renders me able to trade without having to stand in a bank shouting, and promptly scrambling to click 'off private', then scrambling to switch it to 'friends private', then scrambling again to click 'hide public' before regretting it all and retreating to a basement/second floor to switch everything back to 'on' and talk, or sort out pms that seem worth answering, all the while berating my own stupidity. the perils of f2p.
(of course, by the next time i venture out a-trading, i'd have forgotten that last episode, and y'know what they say about history.)
biiig incentive to become a member, but i persuade myself i'd almost rather shut up and wish the rest of the world would do the same. ohyes i am such a people person.
i think the meanest thing they could do right now is take away the talking bit of the trade but make grand exchange members. touch wood. otherwise i could always just wallow in my unwillingness to do business, gleefully stumbling on people selling/buying things that correspond to my own interests as often as the grand exchange allows it.
back to economics.
*blank*
whoo. is it quite so possible to die from financial shortsightedness?
Friday, 26 October 2007
ramblings inspired by halloween.
holiday events relieve the drudgery of an otherwise quest-bereft f2p. which is really sweet of them, considering.
after a while though, they get boring enough, too. till i almost dread repeating it on my mage pure, and wonder if it's even worth the effort. so call me an ingrate, you wouldn't be too far off. after all, wouldn't i just be going along with the more vocal forumers in the domain of rants?
it seems it's probably the general holidayish feel to it, though. it's like early birthdays, when there were presents to look forward to (as opposed to, say, money). all the expectation's built up, and i wonder if that isn't why they release these events early. regardless of how much better it is, it always falls short of those expectations of a holiday event. i don't suppose the poll and news of preparation helped much in that respect, either. if you raise awareness so expectations find their way up there too, it's hard to build as high, yourself. even if you do break a record or two along the way.
the consolation's that by the next holiday event, the initial positivity outshines that nagging sense of boredom that by the actual holiday day it peters off to. that, after all, is the fuel for expectations - that previous events were ultimately successes in themselves, as this will be.
maybe it's just me, but the easter you-are-a-rabbit hopping game kinda got me, the first time round. as a rule, i like mazes. a wish of mine's to visit (and be allowed to get lost in) one of those garden mazes they advertise when they advertise europe (with the price in fine print, of course). the easter event implied the player required something more than the mental capacity to walk and breathe at the same time. it's rather annoying that this halloween one patently does not. (and you still have people screaming away, where do i put the last testament???) i mean, it's a holiday event. fun doesn't imply brainless.
then sometimes i wonder how jagex comes up with these things. aside from conforming the intricacies of the idea to the various festivities, it would stand to reason that there's a sort of general template to draw from. not that it betrays a lack of creativity, just presence of mind, the way teacher's testimonials ostensibly do.
on to the components, anyhow.
1. mazes. (invisible spiders, rabbit! though that's stretching it...
2. give things out/ collect things. (dispense eggs to npcs, other players, defeat the strange tree...)
3. put things together. (bauble-painting, marionette-making...)
4. shoot things. (gublinch, freaky toys...)
only common factors i've managed to source, so far. maybe they aren't that boring, after all, not when taken as the whole concept of holiday events. just repetitive.
and fun. let's not forget fun. second floor. the slide was really cute. the springboard was so-so. the green slime was faintly disgusting. blah blah blah. it was okay, that bit, better than okay. then come the pitfall traps... i just couldn't see them, the first two times around. got it the third time, then complacently got caught by the trap just a square next to the door...
yes, it was fun. all in all i can't find fault worth mentioning with it, or with most holiday events, generally. but there's still the thing called overkill. so upstairs was fun, so upstairs got repetitive fast.
better overkill than not at all, anyway. happy holiday(s) y'all, if you have any.
after a while though, they get boring enough, too. till i almost dread repeating it on my mage pure, and wonder if it's even worth the effort. so call me an ingrate, you wouldn't be too far off. after all, wouldn't i just be going along with the more vocal forumers in the domain of rants?
it seems it's probably the general holidayish feel to it, though. it's like early birthdays, when there were presents to look forward to (as opposed to, say, money). all the expectation's built up, and i wonder if that isn't why they release these events early. regardless of how much better it is, it always falls short of those expectations of a holiday event. i don't suppose the poll and news of preparation helped much in that respect, either. if you raise awareness so expectations find their way up there too, it's hard to build as high, yourself. even if you do break a record or two along the way.
the consolation's that by the next holiday event, the initial positivity outshines that nagging sense of boredom that by the actual holiday day it peters off to. that, after all, is the fuel for expectations - that previous events were ultimately successes in themselves, as this will be.
maybe it's just me, but the easter you-are-a-rabbit hopping game kinda got me, the first time round. as a rule, i like mazes. a wish of mine's to visit (and be allowed to get lost in) one of those garden mazes they advertise when they advertise europe (with the price in fine print, of course). the easter event implied the player required something more than the mental capacity to walk and breathe at the same time. it's rather annoying that this halloween one patently does not. (and you still have people screaming away, where do i put the last testament???) i mean, it's a holiday event. fun doesn't imply brainless.
then sometimes i wonder how jagex comes up with these things. aside from conforming the intricacies of the idea to the various festivities, it would stand to reason that there's a sort of general template to draw from. not that it betrays a lack of creativity, just presence of mind, the way teacher's testimonials ostensibly do.
on to the components, anyhow.
1. mazes. (invisible spiders, rabbit! though that's stretching it...
2. give things out/ collect things. (dispense eggs to npcs, other players, defeat the strange tree...)
3. put things together. (bauble-painting, marionette-making...)
4. shoot things. (gublinch, freaky toys...)
only common factors i've managed to source, so far. maybe they aren't that boring, after all, not when taken as the whole concept of holiday events. just repetitive.
and fun. let's not forget fun. second floor. the slide was really cute. the springboard was so-so. the green slime was faintly disgusting. blah blah blah. it was okay, that bit, better than okay. then come the pitfall traps... i just couldn't see them, the first two times around. got it the third time, then complacently got caught by the trap just a square next to the door...
yes, it was fun. all in all i can't find fault worth mentioning with it, or with most holiday events, generally. but there's still the thing called overkill. so upstairs was fun, so upstairs got repetitive fast.
better overkill than not at all, anyway. happy holiday(s) y'all, if you have any.
Tuesday, 9 October 2007
rain.
something amazing happened. it's what prompted me to blog in the middle of the week, anyway.
it was raining, and i decided to just make a run for it, without an umbrella. i was running late, but i don't suppose that'd be much of an excuse.
so i prayed the rain wouldn't drench me too much, and started out.
then of all things, a car horned, and stopped, and someone passed me an umbrella. a stanger gave me an umbrella.
was completely nonplussed. dumbstruck. whatever you call it.
it was just amazing, amazing, amazing.
so i got drenched a few seconds more before taking it all in, and said thank you so many times over. i don't think they heard me.
i'd heard two cars horn just before that, but i hadn't stopped. i'd just crossed one of those small roads, and was under the impression they'd been rebuking me for not looking before i walked. one car turned, and that's why i'd thought what i'd thought, after all.
i'd like to think, they were trying to do exactly the same thing. it's an amazing world.
God's given me amazing friends. and He's blessed me with amazing people to share this world with.
i'd prayed that i wouldn't get sick, or get too wet, but i hadn't prayed for an umbrella. it just never came to mind.
God is good.
and while i waited at the bus stop, i hadn't taken a bus in rainy weather in a long enough time that i didn't think to stand back. when the first truck drove into a puddle that had water splashing halfway over the entire length of that sheltered area, i wasn't so much feeling anything but being stunned. then i realised, it was more than twice as many cars that purposely avoided the puddle made by the road sinking in a little just at the bus stop. they'd slow down, deliberately, or even drive in the middle of two lanes, just so they wouldn't get people wet.
and it's times like these when i just have to stop, and wonder at how amazing God is, how amazing life is.
it was raining, and i decided to just make a run for it, without an umbrella. i was running late, but i don't suppose that'd be much of an excuse.
so i prayed the rain wouldn't drench me too much, and started out.
then of all things, a car horned, and stopped, and someone passed me an umbrella. a stanger gave me an umbrella.
was completely nonplussed. dumbstruck. whatever you call it.
it was just amazing, amazing, amazing.
so i got drenched a few seconds more before taking it all in, and said thank you so many times over. i don't think they heard me.
i'd heard two cars horn just before that, but i hadn't stopped. i'd just crossed one of those small roads, and was under the impression they'd been rebuking me for not looking before i walked. one car turned, and that's why i'd thought what i'd thought, after all.
i'd like to think, they were trying to do exactly the same thing. it's an amazing world.
God's given me amazing friends. and He's blessed me with amazing people to share this world with.
i'd prayed that i wouldn't get sick, or get too wet, but i hadn't prayed for an umbrella. it just never came to mind.
God is good.
and while i waited at the bus stop, i hadn't taken a bus in rainy weather in a long enough time that i didn't think to stand back. when the first truck drove into a puddle that had water splashing halfway over the entire length of that sheltered area, i wasn't so much feeling anything but being stunned. then i realised, it was more than twice as many cars that purposely avoided the puddle made by the road sinking in a little just at the bus stop. they'd slow down, deliberately, or even drive in the middle of two lanes, just so they wouldn't get people wet.
and it's times like these when i just have to stop, and wonder at how amazing God is, how amazing life is.
the bots strike back.
the trees are alive -
with the sight of white dots...
musicals don't quite go with sci fi movies. hmm.
anyway. the title says it all. it's almost scary. more bots are massing around lumby, swarming aroundthat pond next to farmer fred's with willows round it. the theory's that it's an army of them, out for vengeance as a response to the shop update. i mean, well, that's heartening, the shop update rocks, in a nicer way of putting it, but...
a little too many bots to handle, if i do say so myself.
of course, there's reporting done in about as many droves, though by slightly less a number of people. just, well. brings up the whole macro issue again too. i just found this post on vaskor's blog, about real world trading. only just came across it, but the links really are interesting. in their differences.
most of all this, from runehead. there's the claim that it isn't "immoral". i almost was convinced myself. it's kinda pathetic that i'm not more able to keep to the same view. but i finally did, and it is immoral. in more plain langauge, it's stealing. it's not a service that's being sold, it's property of jagex being stolen in that what's exchanged for it is real world money.
it's immoral in that you're going behind the backs of other players to gain an underserved advantage for yourself. like backstabbing, of the worst order, because you're doing it to every single person you come across who does not, also, real world trade, and because it's children backstabbing, or being backstabbers, who also, simply, don't understand.
then there's this other link, also from vaskor. (whom i owe alot to, thank you. i'd tried before to find runescape blogs worth a visit to, and hadn't previously found any at all. just logs, and blogs chock full of quoted updates, nothing else. i knew blogs existed, i just never could find them. must've been walking about with my eyes closed. i hadn't even realised tip it had a news section. of sorts.)
http://www.chinesegoldfarmers.com/
it explains the perspective most of the spoilt children and brats i come across never look to. while it doesn't make real world trading any less wrong, it does do something more. i'd touched on this earlier, but the people i knew didn't at all have this much to lose.
anyway. there was this one sentence that struck me.
precisely. i think the whole world should be like that, and in as many places as it is possible - whyever not?
i don't like the idea of pragmatism, even though i'm more pragmatic than i'd like. it just seems so... crass. like living to eat. like being obsessed over money yourself just because money's a major driving force behind many other people, when it shouldn't be. it's just crass. i can't quite find another word for it.
and well. that's all i have to say.
i suppose it's all old news to you, and those others expressed it so well i don't feel a need to. i just write because it's how i think. it's how i go about thinking, not an expression of my views per se. i don't write about what i think, because i don't know what i think till i write it.
and that's what it seems a blog's for. yep.
with the sight of white dots...
musicals don't quite go with sci fi movies. hmm.
anyway. the title says it all. it's almost scary. more bots are massing around lumby, swarming aroundthat pond next to farmer fred's with willows round it. the theory's that it's an army of them, out for vengeance as a response to the shop update. i mean, well, that's heartening, the shop update rocks, in a nicer way of putting it, but...
a little too many bots to handle, if i do say so myself.
of course, there's reporting done in about as many droves, though by slightly less a number of people. just, well. brings up the whole macro issue again too. i just found this post on vaskor's blog, about real world trading. only just came across it, but the links really are interesting. in their differences.
most of all this, from runehead. there's the claim that it isn't "immoral". i almost was convinced myself. it's kinda pathetic that i'm not more able to keep to the same view. but i finally did, and it is immoral. in more plain langauge, it's stealing. it's not a service that's being sold, it's property of jagex being stolen in that what's exchanged for it is real world money.
it's immoral in that you're going behind the backs of other players to gain an underserved advantage for yourself. like backstabbing, of the worst order, because you're doing it to every single person you come across who does not, also, real world trade, and because it's children backstabbing, or being backstabbers, who also, simply, don't understand.
then there's this other link, also from vaskor. (whom i owe alot to, thank you. i'd tried before to find runescape blogs worth a visit to, and hadn't previously found any at all. just logs, and blogs chock full of quoted updates, nothing else. i knew blogs existed, i just never could find them. must've been walking about with my eyes closed. i hadn't even realised tip it had a news section. of sorts.)
http://www.chinesegoldfarmers.com/
it explains the perspective most of the spoilt children and brats i come across never look to. while it doesn't make real world trading any less wrong, it does do something more. i'd touched on this earlier, but the people i knew didn't at all have this much to lose.
anyway. there was this one sentence that struck me.
They think that the game world should be a level playing field, that it should
be a magical circle free of the corruption of the real world.
precisely. i think the whole world should be like that, and in as many places as it is possible - whyever not?
i don't like the idea of pragmatism, even though i'm more pragmatic than i'd like. it just seems so... crass. like living to eat. like being obsessed over money yourself just because money's a major driving force behind many other people, when it shouldn't be. it's just crass. i can't quite find another word for it.
and well. that's all i have to say.
i suppose it's all old news to you, and those others expressed it so well i don't feel a need to. i just write because it's how i think. it's how i go about thinking, not an expression of my views per se. i don't write about what i think, because i don't know what i think till i write it.
and that's what it seems a blog's for. yep.
Saturday, 6 October 2007
updates, goals, updates on goals.
before i properly leave this and rs for the rest of this week (i've decided to shorten it to a week. i suck at planning and goals and executing what i do plan, so it's back to shortening it all. besides, i wouldn't have time to do anything rs-related this week even if i wanted to, so no danger there. i suck. i know. it's my long term goal to do something about it.) one last post about something rs-related seems to be in order. to make posts topically more proportionate and all.
updates. i don't know how jagex manages to keep that steady stream of updates going, but whatever the case, they're doing a damn good job of it. (right on schedule, too, or at least it comes out looking right on schedule. *cues the sheepish look*)
as for october's, the shop issue. nice that they got rid of the rune and arrow buying bots, but things do seem a little too gp-consuming for comfort. 4 gp for a spool of thread. 310 gp for a death rune. we'll see then. i'll wait for prices to settle before i properly comment. i'll probably end up buying straight of the shelves though. i don't buy much at all, period, so when i do, it's a 'money? what about it?' thing.
another problem with the shops though - the endless supply of willow logs, oak logs, normal logs. till they reach yew-worthy stages, the general store would be the main source of bot income. it's the assumption players don't buy willows which has the players down at lumby general store, next to those bots selling a continuous stream of willows, buying their pants of and promptly... burning their pants off? that sounds wrong...
a continuous stream of selling and buying, with the selling by far outdistancing the buying. which probably isn't so much at all, but looking at the sheer number of willows in there... isn't there some sort of rule against selling too much?
i'm starting to sound and feel like an ingrate. off with that. good riddance days of welcoming being booted from the game for 'system update in 1:04' just because you know the bots'll be booted, too, and think (or hope) that they'll take a longer time coming in. meaning there's time to go about restocking the shops, for bots to lose that bit of money that could've let someone else astray, and for those few seconds, find f2p, overall, a much more pleasant place. (ie going to a yew tree doesn't have you thinking, 'domain of the bots'.)
(oh wait. contradition. come back, days of welcoming being booted from the game for 'system update in 1:04'!)
regarding edgeville's graphically enhanced coat of paint, that's the way to go. make it so the last sight of those pkers pk'ed against their best intentions is something that'll bear looking at as one kneels over. literally. bearing in mind that i'm saying this as someone who hasn't stepped close enough to inhale the fumes of aforesaid new paint on aforesaid edgeville.
and halloween? anniversary of my first holiday event. beyond that, the seventh month by the lunar calendar ended not so long ago, and anything remotely halloween-like mainly's confined to the expat communities. so reading that was more of 'halloween? *delayed reaction* ohh, halloween'.
update on my goals for rs: an investigation into the ways of ending a conversation as quickly as possible.
preferably in a one word, non-offensive, non-illicit, neutral, monosyllabic response that kills the conversation deader than lag would. (if lag does at all. i don't know how people manage to ramble, and ramble, and ramble, without me even trying to get a word in edgeways. seeing as a word would be 'if you please, stop spamming my private chat with a one-sided conversation' i suppose they're grateful. unless they just want someone to listen, in which case, go ahead. i love being a sounding board. *said without any sarcasm, seriously.* i'd rather listen about you than talk about me.)
necessary for my survival if i am to persist in keeping private chat 'on'. which i will, or not log in at all in the attempt.
update on gameplay-related goal: not to get bored with the game by going off it for long stretches that by the time i do log on, all boredom's dissipated.
yay. a post of doable goals. i hope.
updates. i don't know how jagex manages to keep that steady stream of updates going, but whatever the case, they're doing a damn good job of it. (right on schedule, too, or at least it comes out looking right on schedule. *cues the sheepish look*)
as for october's, the shop issue. nice that they got rid of the rune and arrow buying bots, but things do seem a little too gp-consuming for comfort. 4 gp for a spool of thread. 310 gp for a death rune. we'll see then. i'll wait for prices to settle before i properly comment. i'll probably end up buying straight of the shelves though. i don't buy much at all, period, so when i do, it's a 'money? what about it?' thing.
another problem with the shops though - the endless supply of willow logs, oak logs, normal logs. till they reach yew-worthy stages, the general store would be the main source of bot income. it's the assumption players don't buy willows which has the players down at lumby general store, next to those bots selling a continuous stream of willows, buying their pants of and promptly... burning their pants off? that sounds wrong...
a continuous stream of selling and buying, with the selling by far outdistancing the buying. which probably isn't so much at all, but looking at the sheer number of willows in there... isn't there some sort of rule against selling too much?
i'm starting to sound and feel like an ingrate. off with that. good riddance days of welcoming being booted from the game for 'system update in 1:04' just because you know the bots'll be booted, too, and think (or hope) that they'll take a longer time coming in. meaning there's time to go about restocking the shops, for bots to lose that bit of money that could've let someone else astray, and for those few seconds, find f2p, overall, a much more pleasant place. (ie going to a yew tree doesn't have you thinking, 'domain of the bots'.)
(oh wait. contradition. come back, days of welcoming being booted from the game for 'system update in 1:04'!)
regarding edgeville's graphically enhanced coat of paint, that's the way to go. make it so the last sight of those pkers pk'ed against their best intentions is something that'll bear looking at as one kneels over. literally. bearing in mind that i'm saying this as someone who hasn't stepped close enough to inhale the fumes of aforesaid new paint on aforesaid edgeville.
and halloween? anniversary of my first holiday event. beyond that, the seventh month by the lunar calendar ended not so long ago, and anything remotely halloween-like mainly's confined to the expat communities. so reading that was more of 'halloween? *delayed reaction* ohh, halloween'.
update on my goals for rs: an investigation into the ways of ending a conversation as quickly as possible.
preferably in a one word, non-offensive, non-illicit, neutral, monosyllabic response that kills the conversation deader than lag would. (if lag does at all. i don't know how people manage to ramble, and ramble, and ramble, without me even trying to get a word in edgeways. seeing as a word would be 'if you please, stop spamming my private chat with a one-sided conversation' i suppose they're grateful. unless they just want someone to listen, in which case, go ahead. i love being a sounding board. *said without any sarcasm, seriously.* i'd rather listen about you than talk about me.)
necessary for my survival if i am to persist in keeping private chat 'on'. which i will, or not log in at all in the attempt.
update on gameplay-related goal: not to get bored with the game by going off it for long stretches that by the time i do log on, all boredom's dissipated.
yay. a post of doable goals. i hope.
Friday, 5 October 2007
recovery questions.
setting recovery questions is ever so fun.
i don't see how it's possible to be hacked if you didn't set a password too obvious, or let an erstwhile friend too near. i suppose keyloggers play their own part, but keyloggers seem to be scapegoats more than anything else. conclusion: it's unlikely that recovery questions'll be your downfall.
but it's still good fun, anyway.
try setting recovery questions cryptic, cute, coldly logical, and downright weird. don't know about you, but it's not as easy as i'd have thought. think of it as an art. set recovery questions you'd be proud of.
i've yet to fulfil those criteria, by my own standards.
it's like macro names, kinda. random letters on some, but names like men jiu (alcohol you drink when you're sad. that it's nicely, reasonably specific is what makes the word endearing) on others. doesn't make any much difference, but if you have to do it, it's the latter you'd aim for. beauty for the sake of it. like i read in a book somewhere once, rather a long time ago. it's the same reason why you learn about paint dripping into the eyes of michelangelo as he painted the roof of the sistine chapel, and suchlike related things. you just do it because you can.
i don't dare risk it on my mod account, but for my skiller and inactive pure, the questions are solvable, yet unsolvably so. if you'd just be logical, you'd be able to solve them all. and get ahold of my account, but i'm assuming those secondary defences of 'password', 'previous password', 'time you last logged in' and such would deter you enough.
not that 'what was your mother's maiden name?' and so on aren't difficult to bypass, but it's plain boring. boringness isn't a thing you've got to have written all over your account, if you don't want it to.
i'm still working on it, myself. there's classic questions, 'how much land does a man need?', 'chicken or egg?' and so on. or questions related to your character's name. 'why isn't it/aren't there summer/s?' questions about questions. 'how many?' there's questions so in-your-face, so logical, so it-all-makes-so-much-sense!, but patently unsolvable, like 'state the answer of recovery question 1'.
so yeah. give it a shot. questions that make any prospective hacker (if there ever even might be one, but let's imagine there will be for the sake of feeling useful) go hunh? and ditch your account for something perhaps, less ridiculous.
i don't see how it's possible to be hacked if you didn't set a password too obvious, or let an erstwhile friend too near. i suppose keyloggers play their own part, but keyloggers seem to be scapegoats more than anything else. conclusion: it's unlikely that recovery questions'll be your downfall.
but it's still good fun, anyway.
try setting recovery questions cryptic, cute, coldly logical, and downright weird. don't know about you, but it's not as easy as i'd have thought. think of it as an art. set recovery questions you'd be proud of.
i've yet to fulfil those criteria, by my own standards.
it's like macro names, kinda. random letters on some, but names like men jiu (alcohol you drink when you're sad. that it's nicely, reasonably specific is what makes the word endearing) on others. doesn't make any much difference, but if you have to do it, it's the latter you'd aim for. beauty for the sake of it. like i read in a book somewhere once, rather a long time ago. it's the same reason why you learn about paint dripping into the eyes of michelangelo as he painted the roof of the sistine chapel, and suchlike related things. you just do it because you can.
i don't dare risk it on my mod account, but for my skiller and inactive pure, the questions are solvable, yet unsolvably so. if you'd just be logical, you'd be able to solve them all. and get ahold of my account, but i'm assuming those secondary defences of 'password', 'previous password', 'time you last logged in' and such would deter you enough.
not that 'what was your mother's maiden name?' and so on aren't difficult to bypass, but it's plain boring. boringness isn't a thing you've got to have written all over your account, if you don't want it to.
i'm still working on it, myself. there's classic questions, 'how much land does a man need?', 'chicken or egg?' and so on. or questions related to your character's name. 'why isn't it/aren't there summer/s?' questions about questions. 'how many?' there's questions so in-your-face, so logical, so it-all-makes-so-much-sense!, but patently unsolvable, like 'state the answer of recovery question 1'.
so yeah. give it a shot. questions that make any prospective hacker (if there ever even might be one, but let's imagine there will be for the sake of feeling useful) go hunh? and ditch your account for something perhaps, less ridiculous.
a filler. from between week to week.
uh huh. lasted all of a week. and what a week.
at least the primary sixes are sitting tight in their exam rooms by now. just one more set of exams to go...
from what i gather majority of parents here are insanely achievement oriented. insanely. if their precious in-their-eyes-precocious nine year olds don't score in the realm of band 1, or (horror of horrors) drop a further 5.5 marks to below 80...
well, they'll whip the cane out, and for good measure get rid of the ineffective person who claims to be giving tuition to their kids once a week.
i read a book. apparently caning's the culture. wacky people. (oh no, i should say, traditional...) i have concluded. i am blessed. not to have parents like that. or the parents who gleefully impart their disciplinary secrets. "don't use canes, canes leave a mark. use rubber bands."
what is freaking wrong with you?
in any case. i'd have had to be going, anyway, by the end of the year. it's bad enough that the primary school year overlaps into our first semester. i wonder if i should tell them that, or let them politely ask me to get lost first. maybe i'll let them refine that art of office politicking.
but enough people are decent enough themselves. as are the kids, all three of them (i know, small basis for comparison, but that doesn't make it any less real), that i don't know how i'm going to be decent to them in saying 'i quit'. if the action itself doesn't already count that impossible.
i don't know. i don't know. (so i know i don't know. is that supposed to make me feel any better?)
i don't type in capital letters because that makes it feel too formal for me to be honest.
the kids aren't all bad. infact they aren't bad at all. and it's not as if i don't wish for them to be happy, or do well. i'm just not in a position to achieve either next year. so that leaves till the end of this.
i'm awaiting eviction in the case of the primary sixes. it's just science and mother tongue, if i'm not wrong, that's left. and i do hope they get all the a*s they want or need. as for the aforementioned primary three kid, well. just a little while more, before the exams come a-caling. here's to practice papers i'll have to churn out if i don't find good enough assessment books in time. and to hoping.
at least the primary sixes are sitting tight in their exam rooms by now. just one more set of exams to go...
from what i gather majority of parents here are insanely achievement oriented. insanely. if their precious in-their-eyes-precocious nine year olds don't score in the realm of band 1, or (horror of horrors) drop a further 5.5 marks to below 80...
well, they'll whip the cane out, and for good measure get rid of the ineffective person who claims to be giving tuition to their kids once a week.
i read a book. apparently caning's the culture. wacky people. (oh no, i should say, traditional...) i have concluded. i am blessed. not to have parents like that. or the parents who gleefully impart their disciplinary secrets. "don't use canes, canes leave a mark. use rubber bands."
what is freaking wrong with you?
in any case. i'd have had to be going, anyway, by the end of the year. it's bad enough that the primary school year overlaps into our first semester. i wonder if i should tell them that, or let them politely ask me to get lost first. maybe i'll let them refine that art of office politicking.
but enough people are decent enough themselves. as are the kids, all three of them (i know, small basis for comparison, but that doesn't make it any less real), that i don't know how i'm going to be decent to them in saying 'i quit'. if the action itself doesn't already count that impossible.
i don't know. i don't know. (so i know i don't know. is that supposed to make me feel any better?)
i don't type in capital letters because that makes it feel too formal for me to be honest.
the kids aren't all bad. infact they aren't bad at all. and it's not as if i don't wish for them to be happy, or do well. i'm just not in a position to achieve either next year. so that leaves till the end of this.
i'm awaiting eviction in the case of the primary sixes. it's just science and mother tongue, if i'm not wrong, that's left. and i do hope they get all the a*s they want or need. as for the aforementioned primary three kid, well. just a little while more, before the exams come a-caling. here's to practice papers i'll have to churn out if i don't find good enough assessment books in time. and to hoping.
i'm sorry.
a few things i've got to say, seeing as i suppose i have offended my fair share of people, or at the very least, not been very charitable in the expression of opinions. something i sincerely regret, believe it or not.
1. economics does drive much of the world (more of the world than it should, imo). i still don't feel it should, and think it's entirely possible for it not to, but fact is, it does.
2. advice sites and fan sites in general should be recognised by jagex for the simple reason that the effort put into them is just not at all proportional to the appreciation received.
3. sudoku is more complicated than it would otherwise seem. meaning that while i wouldn't try it a second time myself, there's more reason for others who like that sort of thing to solve it than previously supposed.
4. public transport is reliable enough, and of high enough quality to merit whatever we pay for it. yes. people (like me) just complain too much.
5. fan fiction isn't complete crap. although alot of it is, and i haven't yet come across enough that don't put me off before i've ploughed through the promised first page, it isn't complete crap.
i'm sorry. i've since been provided with quite nice perspectives on things, and while my core opinions still stand, there are some things i've believed wrong.
1. economics does drive much of the world (more of the world than it should, imo). i still don't feel it should, and think it's entirely possible for it not to, but fact is, it does.
2. advice sites and fan sites in general should be recognised by jagex for the simple reason that the effort put into them is just not at all proportional to the appreciation received.
3. sudoku is more complicated than it would otherwise seem. meaning that while i wouldn't try it a second time myself, there's more reason for others who like that sort of thing to solve it than previously supposed.
4. public transport is reliable enough, and of high enough quality to merit whatever we pay for it. yes. people (like me) just complain too much.
5. fan fiction isn't complete crap. although alot of it is, and i haven't yet come across enough that don't put me off before i've ploughed through the promised first page, it isn't complete crap.
i'm sorry. i've since been provided with quite nice perspectives on things, and while my core opinions still stand, there are some things i've believed wrong.
Thursday, 27 September 2007
(too mild a word, but) dislikes.
while playing rs i come across enough people who fall into the category of 'annoying and insufferable', two words (like surreal, for example) that i've found too much cause to use recently.
i never did find cause to hate them, though. i don't usually hate people. it doesn't quite seem possible.
only things i've actually ended up hating are ideas. subjects. disciplines. that sorta thing. (yes this is another rant, so you might like to bail now before the smoke gets thicker...)
in no particular order, these would be the things i despise, sometimes, some of them most times. (i'm not about to argue the usefulness of a subject, that's been drilled into me enough times. i may intellectually know it's useful, and has a point, but that doesn't mean i don't have the freedom to hate it.)
chemistry. particularly, atomic theory. physics. why must you say precisely why this thing happens this way? it just is this way. basically, branches of science dedicated to explaining the obvious, or predicting what doesn't need predicting.
locations aside, much of physical geography.
philosophy. i enjoy philo well enough, but when religion explains it all, and religion can't be brought in for religious purposes, all the theories and imperatives those poor guys spent years sweating over seem nothing more than glorified posturing. it's at those times that i don't think much of it, but it's more useful a tool than i could ever have imagined when faced with friends, people, who don't think much of religion, at all.
too many aspects of trigonometry. statistics. accountancy. i don't know how accountants survive. even with excel those little numbers're enough to drive you over the edge. basically, mathematical proofs that set out to prove the obvious, or topics (think, congruence, symmetry etc) that require you to prove the obvious.
scales. if they're meant to be important, why am i only forced to learn them the first time i take an exam? if i'd known that, i'd have told them they needn't have bothered. for a sheet of paper (fine, two sheets), it doesn't hardly seem worth it.
my mother tongue. (to go into specifics might entail being sued. it's possible. believe it or not.)
to those people who call "everybody's mother tongue" the most beautiful language because it's the language of their most treasured memories and innermost thoughts; amid answers like gaelic, french, chinese, greogrian, farsi, german...
you obviously haven't been forced to learn this language. it also stopped being the language of my innermost thoughts a long time ago.
to those who'd call me derrogatory names for a pro-western non-westerner...
i've got news for you. being anti-my-mother-tongue ≠ being anti-asian ≠ being pro-western.
heck, even anti-asian ≠ pro-western.
i'm fine with every other asian culture, i'm fine just about every other culture, and every other language. besides english and that bit of german, all the other languages/bits of languages that i know are asian. i'd sooner learn korean and farsi (beautiful script) than another western langauge. don't you dare generalise to the point that you'd pin that on me.
to those people who'll look scandalised at that revelation, and start spitting in outrage...
i learnt to read, speak, and write the language before i could make the conscious decision to condescend to learn it. i would have condescended to learn it anyway, not least of all so those as inflexible and wont to judge a person by their culture as you would shut up. after all, it's people like you who simply cannot be less blind who drive me to despise this language in the first place. so bugger off.
bearing in mind, again, that this is my considerably flawed opinion, incomplete in the sense that i dropped most (sadly not yet all) of these subjects as soon as i was able. and though i may know why i shouldn't have, and should not when i do get the chance, i'm not about to argue for the opposition. i also don't think much of those arguments at all.
bearing in mind, also, that i wouldn't have hated those things if they hadn't been forced on me. so let them exist, but don't force me to have any unnecessary, overt contact with them.
that's just superficial though, isn't it?
what would count as something i'd genuinely hate is evil.
hate's an ugly word. i was wondering whether it'd be right to hate evil, i googled it, and came across this. it's strange, really. the general message is hate isn't necessarily a bad thing. it's a matter of what you hate. that to hate someone that's gone beyond anything remotely decent or human; that would be the type of hate that ends wars.
i don't know.
it makes sense, and in a way, it doesn't. i'll stick by proverbs 8:13. "to fear the Lord is to hate evil".
and in the meanwhile, i'll try to figure it out.
i never did find cause to hate them, though. i don't usually hate people. it doesn't quite seem possible.
only things i've actually ended up hating are ideas. subjects. disciplines. that sorta thing. (yes this is another rant, so you might like to bail now before the smoke gets thicker...)
in no particular order, these would be the things i despise, sometimes, some of them most times. (i'm not about to argue the usefulness of a subject, that's been drilled into me enough times. i may intellectually know it's useful, and has a point, but that doesn't mean i don't have the freedom to hate it.)
to those people who call "everybody's mother tongue" the most beautiful language because it's the language of their most treasured memories and innermost thoughts; amid answers like gaelic, french, chinese, greogrian, farsi, german...
you obviously haven't been forced to learn this language. it also stopped being the language of my innermost thoughts a long time ago.
to those who'd call me derrogatory names for a pro-western non-westerner...
i've got news for you. being anti-my-mother-tongue ≠ being anti-asian ≠ being pro-western.
heck, even anti-asian ≠ pro-western.
i'm fine with every other asian culture, i'm fine just about every other culture, and every other language. besides english and that bit of german, all the other languages/bits of languages that i know are asian. i'd sooner learn korean and farsi (beautiful script) than another western langauge. don't you dare generalise to the point that you'd pin that on me.
to those people who'll look scandalised at that revelation, and start spitting in outrage...
i learnt to read, speak, and write the language before i could make the conscious decision to condescend to learn it. i would have condescended to learn it anyway, not least of all so those as inflexible and wont to judge a person by their culture as you would shut up. after all, it's people like you who simply cannot be less blind who drive me to despise this language in the first place. so bugger off.
bearing in mind, again, that this is my considerably flawed opinion, incomplete in the sense that i dropped most (sadly not yet all) of these subjects as soon as i was able. and though i may know why i shouldn't have, and should not when i do get the chance, i'm not about to argue for the opposition. i also don't think much of those arguments at all.
bearing in mind, also, that i wouldn't have hated those things if they hadn't been forced on me. so let them exist, but don't force me to have any unnecessary, overt contact with them.
that's just superficial though, isn't it?
what would count as something i'd genuinely hate is evil.
hate's an ugly word. i was wondering whether it'd be right to hate evil, i googled it, and came across this. it's strange, really. the general message is hate isn't necessarily a bad thing. it's a matter of what you hate. that to hate someone that's gone beyond anything remotely decent or human; that would be the type of hate that ends wars.
i don't know.
it makes sense, and in a way, it doesn't. i'll stick by proverbs 8:13. "to fear the Lord is to hate evil".
and in the meanwhile, i'll try to figure it out.
Sunday, 23 September 2007
mistaken identity.
i've had my skiller mistaken for a macro more times than i'd care to count.
i've tried...
1. talking excessively. actually starting conversations, believe it or not. i tend to keep to myself when playing, and since may, virtually never say a thing unless i've been talked to in a manner i can't ignore. that's why it's a nightmare when i start playing on my main, but forget that i'm playing on my main and not on my skiller...
2. starting off by raising stats no macro would ever raise. namely, the most boring, useless stats that i don't even actively train on my main (not that i actively train anything, really...) because i simply don't see the point of it. namely, firemaking and rcing. i got firemaking up to the hiscores sooner than i did any of the other skills. after that came runecrafting. hardly any bots seriously rc on f2p servers, after all, if it's nature runes they're after.
3. dressing tastefully. not that macros don't ever do that, but i tried dressing something radically different from the usual combinations.
4. showing off items a level 3 character shouldn't have. not showing off in the explicit sense of the word, seeing as i can't quite afford that many items. not wearing items worthy of of much attention, like trimmed robes or rares. wearing items that are quietly expensive, rather. common items that you wouldn't give a second thought to, but items that just don't belong on a level 3, as most would think. exemplified by coloured gloves, holy symbol/power ammy (prefer the holy symbol), fire staff...
5. not following a set routine. using lumby tele sometimes when mining near the lumby swamps, but walking to draynor other times. not following a set pattern when banking, or mining at certain rocks. changing clothes between bank runs. and so on.
i've tried all that, and still i get that "macro!", "macro?", "macro or friend?"...
well. at least that's a start...
i've tried...
1. talking excessively. actually starting conversations, believe it or not. i tend to keep to myself when playing, and since may, virtually never say a thing unless i've been talked to in a manner i can't ignore. that's why it's a nightmare when i start playing on my main, but forget that i'm playing on my main and not on my skiller...
2. starting off by raising stats no macro would ever raise. namely, the most boring, useless stats that i don't even actively train on my main (not that i actively train anything, really...) because i simply don't see the point of it. namely, firemaking and rcing. i got firemaking up to the hiscores sooner than i did any of the other skills. after that came runecrafting. hardly any bots seriously rc on f2p servers, after all, if it's nature runes they're after.
3. dressing tastefully. not that macros don't ever do that, but i tried dressing something radically different from the usual combinations.
4. showing off items a level 3 character shouldn't have. not showing off in the explicit sense of the word, seeing as i can't quite afford that many items. not wearing items worthy of of much attention, like trimmed robes or rares. wearing items that are quietly expensive, rather. common items that you wouldn't give a second thought to, but items that just don't belong on a level 3, as most would think. exemplified by coloured gloves, holy symbol/power ammy (prefer the holy symbol), fire staff...
5. not following a set routine. using lumby tele sometimes when mining near the lumby swamps, but walking to draynor other times. not following a set pattern when banking, or mining at certain rocks. changing clothes between bank runs. and so on.
i've tried all that, and still i get that "macro!", "macro?", "macro or friend?"...
well. at least that's a start...
live from world 139
edit: sigh. i take a cue from keywords. you get onto world 139 by clicking "deutsch" in the language sidebar. and if you speak german, you'll know where to go from there.
another foray into the german servers, another macro encounter.
weirdly enough, on a german server, i end up speaking chinese. it's surreal. i'm overusing that word, i might as well get used to the reality of it.
usually most of my proper conversations on world 139 start with "sprechen sie english?" to which most people answer to the affirmative. they're met with an altered enough rendition that the censor won't react to of "that's great. mind if we converse in english then? my german sucks."
it sucks enough that it takes two tries to secure the mysterious box's dematerialisation, but not enough that i get ko'ed by the sandwich lady.
this guy in question, anyway, looks like almost every other crafting guild macroer you'll meet. level 8, in default clothes, a chinese name that means 'i'm not civilised'.
the difference is he actually speaks. another player's trying to sell something, i gather, and is more persistant about it than most. to his german the borg returns answers in the range of fundamentals like "yes", "what?", and culminating in "nonononono". to which the player unceremoniously departs.
seems too fun an opportunity to pass.
me, out of characterly: sprechen sie deutsch?
macro: what?
me: do you speak german?
macro: *insults collectively specific areas of my mother's anatomy in chinese* (if it wasn't for this i might've seriously doubted his macro-ness. was only on my skiller account, after all.)
me: ni shi hua ren ma? (are you chinese?)
macro: *says 'what the-' in chinese. this i actually had to google to find out it's meaning. last count, i've learnt 2 new insults and 1 new vulgarity...*
after that we have a pleasant conversation during which he breaks the personal details rule several times over. it's interspersed with basic english when i can't quite get what he's trying to say. after the more genial inquiries "ni duo da? (how old are you?), "ni shi na de ren? (what's your nationality)", "ni shi nan de ma? (are you a guy?), i find he's from zhejiang.
i don't know why he bothered, and come to think of it, (beyond mining being the only skill he's maxed out and him being online whatever time i log in) i wouldn't otherwise have had much cause to think of him as anything more than another person, that as anything more than a mundane conversation.
in the meantime, i might as well properly figure out what "qq" is (a "lian xi fang fa (means of communication/interaction)" he tells me), or even start an account on what seems to be china's equivalent of msn. all the better to take him up on that offer the next time he asks.
maybe even exchange views about macroing, if not actively persuade him otherwise; or at the very least, make a new friend.
a friend i'm sure will prove more scintillating than the level 29 player who came up to me that same day, putting 14k up in the trade window, declining, and after he'd had his fill of boasting what he obviously thought was his comparative wealth, inserted that choice uncensored four-letter insult. i mean, fine, insult me, but at least try to do it in style.
another foray into the german servers, another macro encounter.
weirdly enough, on a german server, i end up speaking chinese. it's surreal. i'm overusing that word, i might as well get used to the reality of it.
usually most of my proper conversations on world 139 start with "sprechen sie english?" to which most people answer to the affirmative. they're met with an altered enough rendition that the censor won't react to of "that's great. mind if we converse in english then? my german sucks."
it sucks enough that it takes two tries to secure the mysterious box's dematerialisation, but not enough that i get ko'ed by the sandwich lady.
this guy in question, anyway, looks like almost every other crafting guild macroer you'll meet. level 8, in default clothes, a chinese name that means 'i'm not civilised'.
the difference is he actually speaks. another player's trying to sell something, i gather, and is more persistant about it than most. to his german the borg returns answers in the range of fundamentals like "yes", "what?", and culminating in "nonononono". to which the player unceremoniously departs.
seems too fun an opportunity to pass.
me, out of characterly: sprechen sie deutsch?
macro: what?
me: do you speak german?
macro: *insults collectively specific areas of my mother's anatomy in chinese* (if it wasn't for this i might've seriously doubted his macro-ness. was only on my skiller account, after all.)
me: ni shi hua ren ma? (are you chinese?)
macro: *says 'what the-' in chinese. this i actually had to google to find out it's meaning. last count, i've learnt 2 new insults and 1 new vulgarity...*
after that we have a pleasant conversation during which he breaks the personal details rule several times over. it's interspersed with basic english when i can't quite get what he's trying to say. after the more genial inquiries "ni duo da? (how old are you?), "ni shi na de ren? (what's your nationality)", "ni shi nan de ma? (are you a guy?), i find he's from zhejiang.
i don't know why he bothered, and come to think of it, (beyond mining being the only skill he's maxed out and him being online whatever time i log in) i wouldn't otherwise have had much cause to think of him as anything more than another person, that as anything more than a mundane conversation.
in the meantime, i might as well properly figure out what "qq" is (a "lian xi fang fa (means of communication/interaction)" he tells me), or even start an account on what seems to be china's equivalent of msn. all the better to take him up on that offer the next time he asks.
maybe even exchange views about macroing, if not actively persuade him otherwise; or at the very least, make a new friend.
a friend i'm sure will prove more scintillating than the level 29 player who came up to me that same day, putting 14k up in the trade window, declining, and after he'd had his fill of boasting what he obviously thought was his comparative wealth, inserted that choice uncensored four-letter insult. i mean, fine, insult me, but at least try to do it in style.
Thursday, 20 September 2007
just, an annoyance.
there aren't very many things i explicitly love. there aren't very many things i hate either. confronted with most things, i register apathy.
not altogether the best of attitudes, or ways of life, but i've become quite good at convincing people i'm passionate about things i don't quite give much of a damn about.
one thing i am passionate about is figure skating. it's not that i don't love it, but sometimes everything gets so annoying. the one rink i go to has a monopoly, charges exorbitant prices, far as i'm concerned, and all in all burns a hole in my pocket. not even counting lessons, mind you. that whole quandary again, i know i'm meant to save money, i know i need money for other things, i know it's obscene to spend this much on something that's just, recreation.
it's just annoying. and it annoys me that it does.
end rant, such as it is.
not altogether the best of attitudes, or ways of life, but i've become quite good at convincing people i'm passionate about things i don't quite give much of a damn about.
one thing i am passionate about is figure skating. it's not that i don't love it, but sometimes everything gets so annoying. the one rink i go to has a monopoly, charges exorbitant prices, far as i'm concerned, and all in all burns a hole in my pocket. not even counting lessons, mind you. that whole quandary again, i know i'm meant to save money, i know i need money for other things, i know it's obscene to spend this much on something that's just, recreation.
it's just annoying. and it annoys me that it does.
end rant, such as it is.
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