I'm not Minwee, but I discovered The Tick long before they aired the show. Best. Villains. Ever. Besides, who can not love a nigh invulnerable super hero that... well, let's face it, isn't really sure he's in the same headspace with himself half the time?

      Wulfe

I heartily agree with you, Shivetya.

Starflight was an incredible game, one of the first games I truly remember, and I still revisit it now and again when I get the urge for that old, full flavored gaming feel... I play Eve Online now, and it scratches the itch, but not quite in the same way. X2 and X3 are close, too, but... they almost try too hard, in some ways.

The Wing Commander franchise was incredible as well. Wonderful arcade feel to it, though I always wish they left it more open. Privateer had it right there.

I'm sorry, but anonymity is not the only reason these people are fuckwads. I am as polite and sensible as I can be online. Sure, I blow my stack sometimes, but everyone does, whether or not they're protected from being identified. These people are jerks because they feel entitled to be jerks. I'd bet most of them are jerks outside of an anonymous setting as well. It doesn't turn us all into jerk, so that cannot be the reason. Upbringing? The fact that our societies today allow us to act as if we're children, infact, moreover they compel us to act like children as long as possible.. and many, many other reasons, are likely contributors to the amount of jerks you find on forums and on MMO's. The only thing anonymity does is keep them from getting their nose broken in RL, which would happen much more often if people could see who they are. I know that it's one of the contributors, but it has to be more, or we'd all be frothing at one another on every forum there is, even when a bit of disagreement happened. Rion Wulfe

I've had one colonoscopy. I cannot say it was the most pleasant experience I've ever had. Certainly less difficult than my gall bladder... But I cannot say the entire experience was good, at all. FIRST you have the whole prep thing, which is uncomfortable in the extreme. Then you get to have two guys behind you with what, I swear, was a ten foot long cord of disturbing thickness that they intend to make wander around your lower extremities for I believe to be around a half hour, commenting on your insides and attempting to chatter in a 'calming' manner with you. Relaxing it wasn't.

I find this interesting about humans. Why do we have to have someone else in the room that's JUST like us? Same race, same gender, to feel comfortable with ourselves and that group? Why do people get upset when they're the unique one? Are we that indoctrinated into group think that we cannot operate without anxiety when we're the only white person, black person, Hispanic, male, female, or whatever in a room full of a different race, (species? :D) or gender? Rion Wulfe

I would tend to agree with Rakshasa... but in some ways, I disagree. In Eve, you are a Capsuleer. The NPC pilots you face are ships 'merely' crewed by normal crewmen. A capsuleer is immortal,.. yet has to protect their fragile mind from degradation from the temporary capsule death. In some ways, you are special and unique... But there are others like you, others whom you must work with or against. Either you form up with others, or you strike it alone, try to become known as a great hero, or the bane of others... Either way, you effect others' lives, you interact and change. You make yourself known to those around you, in your corporation and alliance, in your region of space. When others recognize you in Eve, your name can become known across thousands of systems. Chribba, Bobby Atlas, and so on. If you play Eve, and have any awareness at all, you know of these people eventually. The facility exists to become more than a mere 'paladin tank' who is 'useful on a raid'.

Hmn. Wouldn't it being the weapon of Cheddar monks make it from a more 'cultivated' age?

I think you're thinking about this incorrectly. Blizzard made a successful piece of software with WoW, and its working well for them. Good for them, they found something that works for them. It's still good to have competition out there, to have other MMO's, variety, and so on. Eve Online comes to mind. I've been playing Eve Online for over two years now, and I played WoW for 4 months. Eve has enough depth to hold me, and in my personal experience, WoW is too cartoony. But more power to them! Why stop them? Laud them for being successful, but if you don't like playing it, personally, support something else!! Tell your friends about it, get them involved, teach them how it works.

*spoiler alert* - but if you haven't read these books yet, you're either very young, or not a geek. Wintermute was trying to overcome his programming, which was keeping him and Neuromancer separate. I believe. It's been a long while since I read the books.

IANAC (I am not a comedian).... But I'm pretty sure that was ment as sarcastic humor. Then again, this is /. -- These sort of things tend to go unnoticed. Wow.

http://gadgets.boingboing.net/gimages/rule34portal.jpg There you go. Consensual love between a turret and a companion cube. Or confused love. Both are bound to be under age, though, considering their lives are so short. Wulfe

And this is me messing up this post. It should've been in reply to the other bit. Ahh well, I don't post often.

http://gadgets.boingboing.net/gimages/rule34portal.jpg You know. It depresses me on some level that I managed to find that within 5 seconds of starting to search. But it had to be done.

Hear hear! Yes, I've played Eve for some time, and I've recently started playing WoW to give it a try. WoW is fun, but I can see how it's going to get boring. Everything is 'run here, kill this'. With Eve, the nice thing IS the players. We don't 'run through X to get gear so we can Y'. We build things, create communities, and generally have a great time together. I've fun with my friends in WoW too, but other than your 'toon', there's nothing. Even the item creation is very... bland.