alanschu

Meh, I certainly don't consider sneaking behind my roommate's (and friend's) back to be much else than a despicable thing to do. I'm okay with it I haven't confronted him yet, as I just found out today before heading out to work. In a personal email (not to her obviously) I mentioned that things seemed to be getting more and more awkward around her, so I was deleting her from my life (which actually isn't that far from the truth, things did seem to be getting progressively awkward around her). So I canceled some upcoming plans, namely my attendance at a Star Wars Marathon and being able to be a sub for beach volleyball. She sent my roommate an email saying that I was acting weird and stuff, and he basically told her why. It wasn't quite full disclosure, but acknowledging to her that the decisions that I make are because of her crosses the line as far as I'm concerned. In this email, he also made some comments to her about how he should tell me to just get over it since it's been almost a year (which is probably a fair statement haha. I don't remember the exact words. He either said he has [which he hasn't] or he will [which I doubt]). There was other stuff in there that I don't really remember. I didn't have much time to dwell over the email as I had to get to work.

I had considered that actually

Haha maybe that's how my subconscious is taking it. I expected to feel worse, but really don't since it seems I was correct in my assumptions. I wonder how I'd have felt if it turns out I was wrong haha.

Outlook was open on his desktop. I'm not really trying to excuse my actions, I made my decision and clearly there are giant trust issues between us. Especially since he was also talking **** about me in the email to her. But yeah, just thought it was interesting.

How much do the ends justify the means? I had a feeling that my roommate was telling other people the stuff I told him in confidence. So I ended up creating a bit of a ruse with some acquaintances, and basically acted all weird to a larger group of friends. To be somewhat fair, the ruse was quite plausible (the girl trouble I had in like September last year), and I included my roommate in my discussions. So some people asked some questions, which went back to him. Apparently he has no issues telling HER the stuff that I say to HIM. So basically not only was I right that he betrayed my trust, he betrayed it directly to the person that I was talking to him about. I found this out through MY despicable act by checking his email this morning. So while there's the part of me that knows that I shouldn't have checked his outlook this morning because that's deceitful, I can't help but feel justified since it turns out I was right. I haven't told him this, but I decided today to move back home with my parents until I can find my own place to live.

If you don't think it's worth the money, then you're well within your right to spend it elsewhere. Playing Star Wars video games is not a necessity in life, and the market has clearly shown that people are willing to pay $20/month for games like these. I have no real issue with banner ads, or in game ads if they fit the setting. However, a lot of people do. Would you rather play KOTOR full screen, or with a banner ad taking the top inch of your screen? Donations are unreliable. Furthermore, it sounds like you just made a counterpoint against it yourself here. I'm not quite sure what you were trying to say. All you've done here is essentially suggest a significantly lower monthly fee. Paying $20 at the end of the year is significantly less money than people paying $240 at the end of the year. You better have 12x the install base simply to break even revenue-wise. I suppose. I don't know how lucrative the toy industry is. It sounds like it could just as easily be a way to lose some money. What? Are you suggesting that companies offer their MMOs for no subscription fee, and take their money and play the stock market instead? Would it still make sense to do that if they ended up losing money over the $240/yr model?

I am actually pretty indifferent. Though when AI makes sloppy decisions I tend to lean towards manual control. Effective AI party members is good fun though.

You can pretty much play the game either way.

I think that that's an average number, so you will have deviation, but sounds like it

Out of my friends and I that used to LAN together, I'd probably be the only one with really any interest at all in doing another one. Many of them have wives and kids now, and don't have as much time to game. Committing a full day with all the network hookups, computer transportation, and so forth is really a large time commitment.

Darkwing DUCK! Let's....get....dangerous!

Inflection and tone of voice don't exist, but word choice can play a big factor. What does the word outgrew imply to you? You implied that LANs were childish and that people who still enjoy them just haven't grown up yet. Meh, I used the word as in "I used to take part in LANs, but the circumstances available to me meant they were more a thing of my past." If you prefer, I'll rephrase my statement. I've moved on from LANs after high speed internet became more common. Having said that, LANs were more common when I was younger (17-22 years old), so in that sense, my statement still stands as I personally did outgrow them.

Where is the faq? I haven't seen it yet.

Referring to my comment? I simply stated that I outgrew LANs once highspeed internet connections became common. LAN parties were no longer needed in order to play larger scale multiplayer games with friends. Given I have a lot of friends that play MP games, it's actually a bit easier because space was always such an issue. If anyone thought that there was a condescending tone or an implied insult, then welcome to the internet where things like inflection and tone of voice no longer apply.

You should try to socialize outside of facebook/twitter/whatever... maybe you will find that playing against real friends face-to-face and speaking to them while doing BBQ in the garden is indeed fun... You assume I don't socialize outside of facebook/twitter/whatever. Not sure why you'd make that assumption. I used to LAN all the time too (I figured this was obvious when I mentioned I outgrew LANs), so really I have no idea what the point of your post is, unless it's an attempt the incite a reaction out of myself.

I outgrew LANs when highspeed became so common.

What constitutes an ordinary MMO?

The point is that the universe is filled with mountains of **** like that. Getting on Fallout 3's case for doing some of the same stuff that Fallout 1 and 2 did is just stupid. The Fallout writers and creators had fun making their universe doing weird stupid stuff that didn't exactly fit in with the rest of their universe. To say it's stupid for Fallout 3, but conveniently just a random encounter in Fallout 1 and 2 is inconsistent. Of course, cognitive dissonance will prevent people from admitting that, lest it tarnishes the near immaculate image the game has in the eyes of some people. This kind of reminds me when an interviewer from the Codex started arguing with Chris Avellone himself about the awesomeness of Planescape: Torment when Chris had some critical comments about it.

I enjoyed EVE at first, but I found the economy and universe to be a bit too hardcore haha. I also played it by myself.

Is it really an option to choose to ignore content in the game? That's like saying you have lots of choice in Mass Effect.

Are they really? Or do you just come off as whining? I know some people will actually go into a store and then complain about how expensive something costs to a clerk, but honestly I tend to think those people are idiots. The best way to show that you think the price is too expensive is the same way people have done so forever...not buying it. No they haven't. People pay precisely what they feel a product is worth. Though I'm certainly starting to sense a holier-than-thou attitude, and especially a sense of entitlement. Yup, seems I was right. Right. So now you're judging me too. Cool. Quite frankly it sounds like you're just whining because the games that you want to play aren't as popular to make anymore. I used to think so. I now disagree, as evidenced by the fact that I play MMO games. I still play single player games, but I actually doubt there are many single player games that have given me better value for my dollar than WoW has. I played that game a lot. It was a boatload of fun which made it rather easy to pay the subscription fee. I decided to go to one less movie per month to pay for it. It was a pretty easy financial decision for me, even as a student without much money to his name. It doesn't cost $60 to print a CD, manual, and box that you end up buying in the store either. Because they can? I'm sure you'd do it differently though, because it's easy to make such decisions when it's purely hypothetical. As far as I'm concerned, yes. Because how can you be ripped off if you aren't actually spending the money, since you're not paying for it. You don't think MMOs are worth the money. That's fine and I understand and even respect that. Depending on the MMO, I can justify the cost. It's pretty arrogant to assume that the people that do pay to play these games do feel like they're being ripped off. It's basically an implication that you think they're stupid, as you're saying these people (such as myself) continue to pay for something that they do not feel they get their money's worth from.

Outdoorsman skill allows you to avoid them no ? There's one option. So I'm forced to take a skill I might otherwise not want to take, just to avoid immersion breaking OOC real world references? You're the one saying there was no option. So yes, if you wish to avoid the easter eggs you can, or just ignore them. In any case you're not necessarily compelled or guaranteed to experience any given easter egg. Because I'm sure that's what people did when they got the popup "You see a man guarding a bridge."

Those are random special encounters, thoroughly non-canon. The term for this is rationalization.

How is that NOT both silly AND a plot device??? Because it'd create cognitive dissonance otherwise.

Shall we create some characters to mess around with?