Bah. Every time I decide to try and write something, I discover someone else got there first and did it better than I could have. So I end up reading rather than writing. That's all very well, but it's not what I set out to do. Ah, well, there goes another good idea.

The Crash project: abandoned

It's funny; I meant to post something here, but in the time it took me to load up the site and punch in my login details, I've forgotten what it was.

EDIT: Fixed a typo. Still can't remember what I wanted to post about.

"Yeah, that's fire. I suggest not touching it."

While digging through old logs, I discovered the premise of an RP I started with someone which never really got off the ground. Quoted here for those interested.
( Premise )
Might develop this into a serious work of fiction.

STATUS UPDATE: Abandoned

Ooh, now this is a question. There's a whole lot I'd change. I'm not sure a day would be enough, so the first order of business would be establishing myself as a dictator. With that messy business out of the way, I'd set about renationalising the utilities - gas, electricity, water etc. - in the hopes of undoing a bit of the damage privatisation has done. I'd overhaul the education system so as to teach young children things that are actually useful to know, and to pay more attention to ranges of ability levels, rather than taking the current one-size-fits-nobody approach. I'd add a new income tax band at 60-80% on all earnings above £100 000 - and 250% on all above £1 000 000, because I'm a vindictive git. I'd completely replace the criminal justice system, and have criminal behaviour treated as a disease to be cured than something to be punished. I'd make the requirements for getting a driving license stricter (you'd need to know how to drive rather than just how to operate a car). And finally, just before re-establishing the democratic process and stepping down as dictator, I'd call up our military reserves and put out a KOS on furries, because I have a freaking grudge to settle.

That about covers it.

I want to play Planetside again. Not Planetside as it is now; Planetside as it was back in 2004.

You all know this is a subject close to home for me, so the below linked article made interesting reading for me. It's more or less what I've been saying all along, but it's nice to see a developer's perspective on things.

Cliff 'cliffski' Harris writes about his findings based on an informal survey taken as to why people pirate games - generally and his specifically - and, most interestingly, what he plans to do with it: Talking To Pirates.

I took the no-DRM icon used for this post from the article linked. Somehow, I didn't think he'd mind.

A'ight, folks! The tea-dragons are back online. Prettyshiny.org and LaSalle services resumed as of... now.

One of my pet hates:

Installers with music that you can't turn off.

Being black doesn't mean you can't be racist.
Being female doesn't mean you can't be sexist.
Being gay doesn't mean you can't be sexually bigoted.
Equality works for everyone. That's the point. Down with political correctness.

I love roleplaying and RPGs. I play whenever I can, which isn't often, unfortunately. So why can't I be a decent GM? I've tried three times, and all have been unmitigated failures. What am I doing wrong?

I need a project, something to keep my mind off of the depressing reality of prolonged unemployment that doesn't involve playing EVE Online any more than I already do. Solution: time to finish learning German! I always promised myself I would, but I never had the time. That's not a problem now, I think.

And I can get Schnee to tell me how well I'm doing. This is a plus.

Process Explorer tells me that my CPU usage and I/O throughput are both minimal. So why is everything running so slowly?

So, julius_songkhla, you've added me to your list. May I ask why? I really don't need sick freaks like you anywhere near me.

I play a lot of computer games; there's no disputing that. And I've been doing it long enough to be able to see the times changing around me. And once that point is reached, nostalgia is a trap we all fall into at some point. I go into games shops, see nothing new or interesting. It's all been done before, and better. Am I really going on about the good old days, I ask myself? Yes, I guess I am.

But here's where it breaks down, you see. I then go home, play those old games that did it first and better, and have my opinions confirmed. Normally, the way nostalgia works is that you tend to remember the best of things, and if you were to go back and try things the old way again, you'd be bitterly disappointed. Yet computer games don't work that way - I don't have a distorted memory of games from 10 or 15 years ago, because I just played them last week. Why stick with the old ones? Because occasionally I try a new one, and find it just isn't as much fun.

This is an observation I've been making to anyone who'll listen for a couple of years now. Where did it all go so wrong? We're getting just as many bad games as we always used to, naturally, but there seem to be far fewer worth actually playing. And if you look around for a bit online, you'll see that opinion everywhere. Go on, have a look; I'm not going anywhere.

Scary, isn't it? In the age of computers with 4GB of RAM, and graphics cards with huge, silly numbers on them, there are people playing Nethack. Why? Because they find it to be better than anything else these absurdly overpowered computers can offer them. Starcraft, released in 1999, is considered a national obsession in South Korea, although that is probably a significant exaggeration. Even after the release of Supreme Commander, which was supposed to be the RTS, there are still people who sit around playing Total Annihilation. The Playstation 3 in shunned in favour of its predecessor. There are still people playing Star Control 2!

Where did it all go so wrong?

So, any of you ever play Space Empires III, IV or V?

Want a game?

Whee, I think I'm turning just a little bit bipolar.

EDIT: Or maybe more than a little. Man, I shouldn't read about this stuff; it only makes me worry.

Because I've been in the mood for cheap photoshops lately:

I'm sure you all get the reference.

I was reading through TV Tropes (as you do) today and came across the concept of nightmare fuel. To summarise, it's stuff in TV shows or other media that give people nightmares. The common theme is that of horror - people are given nightmares by things that scare or otherwise repulse them.

I've never found this to be the case for me. That said, I don't get many nightmares at all. Perhaps I don't have the right mindset for it. Interestingly, on the rare occasion I do have them, I find them to be triggered not by horror but despair. Curious.

So I made a nice, new icon. I actually made this one rather than cropping it from someone else's image. It's simple, but it works. It fits my personality but, ironically, not my current mood.

And in a couple of months, when I've deleted the new Laser Eyes icon, this post will make no sense.