A less presumptuous name.

If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Originally Posted By: Sylae Edit Reason: That's how they sucker you in, right there. It's been what, almost a decade? and I can still find perfectly functional cartridges in pawn shops. Wait ten years and see if you'll see still-working game disks. But you forget, so many people now prefer rapid turnover to quality and longevity. I often think that I'm the youngest person who still expects a device to last more than a year or two. I also still appreciate hard copies of things... I'm too young to complain about the current generation, much of which is older than me.

That's my friend's picture, not mine. I've upgraded to an 84 Plus. And the 83/84 is still the standard in most calc classes. Unless you're special enough to have an 89.

Originally Posted By: Dikiyoba At this rate, this thread is going to make some people develop postrate cancer. Dikiyoba. Uncontrolled postrate growth? Check.

Originally Posted By: Uberwiggett @master1 a hard drive failure or format? I recently got a new computer and had to load up a new windows (64bit) but with steam I just backed up my 90 odd games and put them on in the space of an hou, saves me having to chuck in a bunch of cd's. My hard drive actually just died, but I have a nifty device called an external hard drive. I have backups on that, plus a number of install discs and whatnot. Originally Posted By: Tyranicus Steam allows you to play games offline. Well then, I'll stick with my "I want an Intel computer" excuse.

Nikki, focus on something else, please. But thanks for this opportunity to increase my postrate (I almost misspelled it that time...)

This is a friend's picture documenting the extent of the damage here in Maryland. Our house shook pretty well, and all of my friends claim to have run outside. I was still in disbelief throughout the experience. I was searching for alternate explanations until I confirmed with my brother, who was awakened from his extended nap when his bed shook.

Congrats, Dantius. If his is killed and his posts distributed, will the distribution be weighted or even? Will Alorael receive more or less posts? Will the postrate gap grow, shrink, or just be translated up a few posts across the board? Originally Posted By: Randomizer Now all you need is a graph of members years of posting versus a log scale of total posts. All this talk of scaling gave me a great idea for a gimmick. Post at specific rates so that, when total posts are graphed with respect to time, shapes are formed. Or at least standard mathematical models.

My centralized service is called a hard drive. Until Cloud takes over the world, it will work just fine. Of course, I only have one computer to use, so the convenience of Steam's online collection is offset by my ability to play offline.

The satire in that comic is effective. If someone is coming at me with a knife, even if it's just the school bully, I certainly won't be giving him a birthday present for it. Then again, a lot, I might even say the majority of bullying in America (both in school and in the workplace (but not sibling)) is verbal. And with verbal abuse, striking back almost never works. That's why I like my stance - there isn't a single perfect solution. If I'm attacked regularly by a bully and can't get assistance, self-defense techniques make a lot of sense. If a guy calls me names regularly, I'll just ignore him.

Yes, that is correct.

Originally Posted By: Jewels in Black snip - anecdote about kindness My mom recommended that I do something similar a long time ago. I found ignoring the jerk to work just as well. Originally Posted By: Brocktree Jewels, your advice is so far removed from reality, that it should be a sin to give it to your own children. Providing nice things to those harassing you simply reinforces the perception that you are weak, and provides your bullies with an incentive to continue with their bullying behavior. May I mention that my mom has been studying and teaching psychology since, well, before these boards were up? Much of what Jewels said seems counter-intuitive, yet it can work in certain situations. Certainly there isn't a single solution that will always work, or it would have been enacted already. (Oh, and calling a parent's parenting techniques a "sin" is probably not a nice way to have a civil debate.) Originally Posted By: The Turtle Moves Striking back at a bully with physical violence worked for me, but I can't say I recommend it in the general case. Certainly not for verbal harassment. My dad actually told me of a time in his childhood when he was bullied. One day, he punched the guy in the face, and he was never bothered again. But, as you mention, that's not always the best course of action. tl;dr - people are complex and there isn't always a catch-all solution to ending bullying, or someone would have found it by now. Sometimes psychology works, sometimes ignoring them works, sometimes active resistance works. It really depends on the case.

Oh boy... did I just start a conspiracy theory thread? Whoops.

This is hardly the first time that this has happened. Whenever I look at the Top Posters list and Alorael's daily title takes a full two lines, my mind adds Lilith to the end of it, and half of the time it makes more sense. Is this planned? Is this a conspiracy? Or are my eyes just too tired?

General wasn't cleaned out at all in 2010? I'm surprised that this is still here, not that I was ever involved. Slarty-induced necromancy. Is this what Retrioactivity is all about? Getting everyone to find an old thread to resurrect?

Originally Posted By: Tyranicus I understand that monopolies are bad, but in this case, a monopoly really does make things more convenient for the consumer. Unless the consumer is still waiting to get a Mac for personal or family use that has an Intel chip in it. But I guess that I shouldn't get into that right now... As far as Steam and monopoly is concerned, I'm going to sound like my oldest brother. As long as the company is still providing the service and it's good enough that people accept it, there is no reason to have a major competitor. As long as Steam still acts like there is significant competition and provides a quality service, I don't see any problem with what it does. Then again, we'll always need niche game vendors, just like our niche developers, to satisfy the bizarrely-shaped corners of the market.

Originally Posted By: A lot of really angry elves left Alolol. A((lo)_n)l Am I the only one to see a face in that?

Originally Posted By: Handyman But martial arts, for instance, may be a better recourse for many younger victims--assuming, as always, that they can overcome their abusers. The problem then is that, just like in all the movies, some kids will abuse martial arts as an offensive rather than defensive art. And then you have the same problem that Alorael mentioned with guns, only less extreme. Quote: If they can't directly win against their oppressors in battle, then there are no real solutions. This reminds me of the Self-Defense thread, in which I and a few others mentioned that running away works really well in many situations. Oh, and good luck on your continued "debate" with Alorael... You'll need it* *that isn't meant to be rude or insulting - Alorael is just very well informed and very thoughtful. And stubborn.

/facepalm

The problem I see with teaching people to fight off attackers is that it can (can does not mean the same as will) cause situations like bullying or rape to escalate into violence and even murder. It is better to stop people from trying to bully than it is to teach the victims how to help themselves. And at this point, the burqa is very much a part of tradition. Eliminating rape would hardly cause certain Islamic sects to stop wearing the burqa.

Originally Posted By: Enraged Slith I really don't like discussing length as an indicator of quality. A game should be as long as it needs to be. This really should be true. I want this to be true. Alas, I have trouble replaying Spiderweb games because of the time investments. I always plan to go replay and finish (for the first time, often) the Geneforge games, particularly 1 and 2. The problem is, these games require a bit of time, and I just can't bring myself to invest my free time in something more productive than lazing about. I can play long games. I've beaten the last three SW games I've bought (G4, G5, and A:TBF), but I don't think I've done more than one full run on any other than possibly G4. This may be in part due to my dislike of repetition, which makes starting these games over hard. Then again, if the rewarding endings came sooner, I may be more inclined to replay. But don't get me wrong, I will always make time for an initial run of SW game that appeals to me, even if it takes a month to finish.

Oy, I should never leave this site for a few days again. So many posts to catch up on... even if most of them are new Steam people asking questions that can be answered with either the tech support or FAQ page. Anyway, I don't think I've been really bullied outside of my family. And is it really bullying when it's your older siblings/cousins? I'm a good member of the nerd archetype, and I always make a point of telling people that I've never been beat up, or even harassed much at all. Of course, there are a few people that tried to, and occasionally succeed in, making my life miserable. I remember once in maybe the second grade my best friend and I decided to pick on a kid just so see what it was like. It was a rather unpleasant experience, and I'm glad it was never repeated.

Originally Posted By: Jase Would you consider a sale on Avadon for the iPad, to take advantage of the hoopla and attention of Avadon going live on Steam? If you do this I'll post on forums and try to get my friends to take advantage of the sale. Originally Posted By: Spidweb Remember, our 3rd party distributors set prices, not us. We are only allowed to suggest prices. (This is what antitrust law allows.) - Jeff Vogel Jeff can't put the iPad version on sale, only recommend it. And it's already less than half of the regular price of the game. That's a pretty good sale in my opinion.

Originally Posted By: Like Tom Petty Said. I must be the only person to still keep a pen and some paper by my side whilst playing computer games. I've always meant to do this, but I like to enjoy the freshness of my first play through the game without any scribe work. I plan on keeping records to help min/max and get every quest the second time through, but that second time through never quite happens. At least not with a pen and paper.

Originally Posted By: Skwish-E "No,... This is what going crazy feels like" -- Simon (upon seeing the statue of Jane Cobb) +5 karma for Firefly reference.