What, next thing you're going to tell me is the Bastard Operator from Hell never existed! Bollocks! Hogwash! I refuse to believe it, Fellow Internetizen.

-1, Flamebait.

Sir or madam, speaking as an American, I can ASSURE you that there are more than a thousand people here who fit your description. If you desire evidence, I would like to remind you of the kind of candidate Big Money likes to elect in this country, and the judgment (or lack thereof) that illustrates. I don't think they'll have any problem selling out of this particular piece of hardware. It just won't be to working stiffs.

Certainly they won't give it to whatever directorate's in charge of conducting espionage. Spies are the most honorable government officials there are, and nobody in Moscow's looking to get ahead by bending any rules.

Sir or madam, I respectfully object to the title of your most recent post. I have found using my real name to be an uplifting experience.

Respectfully,

Divide B. Zero III, Esq.

I was a victim of this. I'd been playing about four hours straight of Gran Turismo or Forza or one of those sim-style racers, and immediately after finishing I had to head out to an appointment. I floored it, maintained a nice outside-inside-out line around the first curve, then realized I was doing 50mph in a residential zone. Stopped at the first (well, second, I blew the first) stop sign, took a breath, made a conscious effort to recalibrate myself back to Reality, and carried on to wherever it was I had to go in a more "civilian" style and pace.

These games have made me a better driver on every other day, more cognizant of the weight distribution on my tires, available friction to turn/accelerate/brake and the like, so it's been a positive thing on the whole, but for that minute or so, I wouldn't've wanted to be out there with me.

news

I do not think it means what you think it means.

Congrats, fellow short-timer. My magic number's currently four or five (depending on what you're counting) as well. Kinda takes the prognostication element out of the poll, but who cares? What're they gonna do, fire us?

Do you write intros for CSI Miami? Cuz I read that and heard "YEAAAAAHHHHH!!!!"

You kid... I worked for a major defense contractor that used "Id0n'tknow" as an admin password.

Wait up, hold on a minute, I didn't even POST to this thread before now, there's no WAY I've screwed up already!

AC, I wish I could bet you money on this, mainly due to the fact that your position is SO unreasonable as to be laughable. People still play SW:G, ferchrissake, and that game's been gutted, re-gutted, and lobotomized. The only thing that drives away EVERY LAST PLAYER is shutting down the servers, and even that doesn't always do it.

If you're trolling, I bit hard and will readily admit it, but if you're not, I'm glad you're staying out of DDO. I'm sure your skill at predicting the future will help you find the next game you're not willing to try.

What was stopping you before? The exorbitant cost of free? The days and days of downloading (Turbine's tiered download can have you up and playing DDO or LOTRO in an hour or two)? Your enjoyment of spending 45 minutes to cross a continent for one quest or drop? An unnatural desire to collect ten of something and turn it in (rare, but not unheard of in DDO)?

I've played nearly every MMO out there, either in beta, or as a subscriber, or on a trial. DDO does a few things differently (real-time twitch combat normalized for your character level, instanced dungeons for all quests and "adventure areas"), and it's worth a look for that alone. If you're a loner, it's become a functional game with the addition of hirelings and Solo difficulty. (It used to be somewhere between "eh" and unbearable solo.) If you can find a good group that isn't going to zerg rush every dungeon and is willing to let you read the text and let you enjoy the story, it's truly a sublime experience.

Warner Bros. isn't all Looney Tunes, and even if it were, you got a problem with Looney Tunes? I promise you, the kids at your school won't make fun of you for playing something from WB, and if they do, remind them that WB also makes things like The Matrix. (The two rumored "sequels" of this fine film are figments of your imagination - malicious code inserted into the Matrix to degrade your understanding of your place in it.)

If you hate DDO, you're out zero dollars and about as much time as it takes to watch whatever derivative schlock Hollywood's cranking out this month. If you love it, you set your subscription price (nothing, buy-what-you-want or all-you-can-conquer) and have at it. Either way, unless you're willing to cop to COMPLETE publisher zealotry (Sony, after the rootkit incident, does not get a DIME of my money, but I'll still kick around FreeRealms), you risk so little by trying it, it's objectively stupid not to. :)

A) Who takes a cash advance on a credit card as a matter of policy? I have under two circumstances: I put the wrong card in the ATM, and that's what my employer tells me to do when I'm traveling, to keep all my expenses on the employer-issued travel credit card. One was a mistake, and the other was because I was being reimbursed. I'd never take a cash advance on my own card on purpose. No grace period, insane interest rates, and they apply your payment to the cash advance last if you're carrying a balance.

B) How often do you go into a restaurant that doesn't take plastic? Where do you find them? I can count on one hand the number of restaurants I've SEEN in the last year that don't take debit/credit, and can count on something-I-don't-have the number of times I've been in one. Even if I did find one, I'd find an ATM first and use an ATM card - see A).

The whole credit-debit thing would be moot if people lived by the rule "If you don't have the money for it, you can't afford it, regardless of whether someone will give it to you." Other than a car, a house, or college, I can't think of anything I'd borrow for, and the sooner you pay those off, the better you are financially. I use a credit card all the time because of the protection afforded me in cases like this (literally had my credit card number stolen two days ago - they called me to make sure I hadn't bought a cell phone in Sweden, they shut it down and I had $0 liability and a new card w/new number yesterday) and for the cash-back. I effectively get 1-5% off whatever I buy on credit, and turning down free money's just DUMB. (also, be sure to get every employer match dollar on your 401(k) or similar)

...

This unsolicited financial advice brought to you by my father, who I've apparently turned into. Thanks, Dad.

+1, Goddamn Genius.