The Bridge

Wipqozn

12:00 AM

You future self taught me well

Although when you went on a crazy rampage and killed all those childre I thought it was a bit overboard.

Just don't tell your future self I'll think that

Mr. November

Mana's a loose cannon

Wipqozn

Basically, yes.

Mana ಠдಠ

@MrNovember 'sup bro :D

sjohnston

@Grace Okay, that took a bit longer than I thought it would.

Question is up.

Mr. November

@Mana sup brah :DDD

Wipqozn

12:13 AM

@sjohnston IT's funny because she's afk

sjohnston

ah well

Wipqozn

well good fellows, I must be off. Toodles.

Grace Note

@sjohnston I answered the wrong question

I prepared for "What do I get after I beat the game". Wargh.

Oh well. I'm going to be out for another hour and a half.

sjohnston

@GraceNote I didn't realize there was a separation between what you get when you beat the game and a + game.

FallenAngelEyes

ok Crayon Physics Deluxe is super fun when you have a drawing tablet

John

12:24 AM

@Fall lucky!

Lazers

1

Q: What does a New Game+ give me?

I hear Recettear has a "New Game +" mode that becomes available after you beat the game. What are the differences between this mode and a first-time playthrough?

0

Q: ArmA II: What is with the coop infatuation?

I've just purchased Arma II/Operation Warhead on Steam and worked through the tutorials. Having played a ton of tactical shooters over the years online, I figured I'd jump in and start playing as I always do with games. First of all, servers are generally empty; thought this game was more popul...

online-multiplayer arma-2

Lazers

12:46 AM

0

Q: How much health does it take for Atma's Impaler to become cost effective?

The item Atma's Impaler has a unique passive as follows: UNIQUE: 2% of your maximum health is granted as bonus attack damage. The item's combine cost is 825, and the total item costs 2355. How much health do I need to make Atma's Impaler a cost effective +attack damage item? That is to say,...

league-of-legends items money

FallenAngelEyes

G'night all

Lazers

1:13 AM

1

Q: Can't comment on a nomination

Over on the elections page, I see a link to "add comment" on every nomination except Arda's. This is in Chrome 13.0.782.112 on Windows 7. Don't know if that's at all relevant, but better more information than not enough. :)

bug election comments

Powerlord

1:30 AM

Moving stuff around while preparing to lay new carpet sucks.

Having said that... I found Conker's Bad Fur Day cartridge for the N64 underneath where my game systems are.

bwarner

Just one more moderator nominee to have primaries...

Although it would kind of suck to have 11 nominees and be the one person that doesn't make it past the primaries...

Lazers

1:47 AM

0

Q: Promotional idea - Stump the Gamers to win a prize

So I'm a big fan of the promotional grant idea, but I think we could also do something that targeted new users. How about a "Stump the Gamers" contest? The goal would be to try to get new users coming in and asking/answering questions. The top prize would be given to the most upvoted unanswe...

discussion promotion

Mana ಠдಠ

@MrNovember Out of curiosity, are you still in this room as well?

guess not ;_;

Kevin Y

Interesting idea @bwarner.

Mr. November

@Manaಠдಠ wow yes i am

Mana ಠдಠ

oh cool

Mr. November

you have an EVO 4G, right?

Mana ಠдಠ

1:56 AM

a what?

Mr. November

your phone

Mana ಠдಠ

oh

...how do I tell? :D;;;

Mr. November

ummm

Mana ಠдಠ

It's a Samsung Nexus S

and there are bars

bars are a good thing right

Mr. November

oh yeah you got the nexus

Mana ಠдಠ

1:57 AM

yeah

Oh, hey, speaking of which, did you hear about the stuff that went on at DEF CON?

Mr. November

no

wtf is def con

i have defcon

hacker con

on steam

no not the game

what happened

1:59 AM

so as is probably to be expected and as was anticipated there were some people from Anon + Lulz there

Mr. November

and?

Mana ಠдಠ

and they put a "beast" on the WI-FI that installs itself on your phone by acting like it's an update

Mr. November

nice

Mana ಠдಠ

and then grabs all your data and basically tracks everything

pretty ugly stuff, but if you're going to go to a hacker con and not expect that kind of stuff... shrug

Mr. November

i have no sympathy

actually i do but maybe not

Mana ಠдಠ

2:00 AM

heh

Mr. November

the EVO and the nexus are the same price with a contract but the EVO is better

Mana ಠдಠ

hm, fair enough

Mr. November

at least, it's got a 5 star average rating and the nexus has a 3 star average rating

and my brother has an evo

which is pretty neat'

Mana ಠдಠ

so, cool things about this chat: notifications, stars, avatars and stuff but it doesn't look like a 5-year old designed it, and quick to load in a browser

Mr. November

yeah i guess it's pretty neat

it's not as good as Xat, though

Xat master race

Mana ಠдಠ

2:02 AM

the main bad thing is that it requires a bunch of stuff enabled including device storage for some reason, so I can't use it on my pho-- cringe

God, let's not talk about Xat.

Even jokingly.

Mr. November

ok

apparently our water is brown

yay

Mana ಠдಠ

What, really? That sucks.

Mr. November

yeah

god damn it

i can't function without a shower

Mana ಠдಠ

such anger

Mr. November

but i don't want to smell like brown

Mana ಠдಠ

2:04 AM

Life choices, man.

Mr. November

important stuff

i'm taking the SAT october 1st

Mana ಠдಠ

Chicks dig brown, I hear.

Mr. November

and then right after i get the results i get to apply to colleges

Mana ಠдಠ

Oh yeah? I guess you kind of have to if you're in the US.

Mr. November

my flip flops are brown

at least on the east coast

west coast likes the ACT more

Mana ಠдಠ

2:06 AM

What's the difference? Format?

Mr. November

SAT is aptitude and ACT is knowledge

ahh

something like that

hm

a lot of people take both but i'm not very ambitious

Mana ಠдಠ

2:07 AM

pfft, you should be

Mr. November

pffft

Mana ಠдಠ

I can tell you what to do with your life, I'm older enough.

Mr. November

i'

i'm going to be an english major

i'll be fine :)))

Mana ಠдಠ

Up to edit previous messages btw.

Grace Note

You should take both

Mr. November

2:08 AM

oh ok

shop.sprint.com/mysprint/shop/…

this looks awful

Mana ಠдಠ

you looks awful

Mr. November

wow um Amanda told me i'm handsome

Mana ಠдಠ

Is Amanda your sister?

Mr. November

no, she taught you how to debt ceiling

Mana ಠдಠ

oh right

Mr. November

2:12 AM

nominate me for mode

Mana ಠдಠ

but I can't it's not possible :(

Kevin Y

@MrNovember Despite the name, nominations are self-nominated.

Mana ಠдಠ

But he even has the perfect name for a candidate in an election.

Mr. November

how am i supposed to be the reluctant leader if i have to nominate myself?

Mana ಠдಠ

Yeah, this system doesn't really fit for making the mods a bunch of dramatic archetypes.

We should rebel, maaaan.

Mr. November

2:15 AM

military coup

i can't wait to run a web store with hours running only from 9-5

Mana ಠдಠ

In the new system mod candidates fight ferociously to the death, chosen randomly by lottery

Oh, that's your job? Are you doing it online?

Mr. November

no i'm joking

Mana ಠдಠ

oh

Well, I'm dumb.

Mr. November

the joke is that it's open the same hours that a physical store is even though that isn't neccesary!!

i hear you guys have a TF2 server

Mana ಠдಠ

it was a good joke

phew, finally back. Stupid router

'sup @Thomas

user30

2:30 AM

@Manaಠдಠ what

Mana ಠдಠ

@Thomas I was just...saying...hi...:(

user30

I was just coughing to death, so I thought I might pull out my laptop and see if there was any good trades going on

Mana ಠдಠ

oh, okay

Hey, do we have a TF2 server?

user30

um, no?

Mana ಠдಠ

oh

@MrNovember whoops :x

Mr. November

2:33 AM

>:

wow Alex

Mana ಠдಠ

I don't even know what to say. Truly a terrible show of site knowledge on my part.

Powerlord

@Manaಠдಠ No. OCReMix has some at blu.ocrtf2.com and red.ocrtf2.com

and by OCReMix, I mean "I run these servers"

Mana ಠдಠ

ahh

Mana ಠдಠ

2:46 AM

@MrNovember oh man, the crowd at the Pitchfork music festival goes nuts when the synth in Bay of Pigs kicks in

kind of hilarious

Mr. November

well i mean

i go nuts when that happens

Mana ಠдಠ

yeah, me too. Total music chills.

bwarner

@KevinY Thanks, looks like Jeff is going to take some convincing.

Mr. November

i didn't expect the productivity se to be so full of jargon

user30

25

Q: How to prevent snail poo?

When a station grows large enough beaming snail poo into the recycler becomes a tedious full-time job since the scuzzers don't care about it. Letting it on the floor is not an option since the floor gets quite littered then. So I'm asking for either a strategy to prevent snails from pooing, pre...

startopia

user30

2:51 AM

this has gone unanswered for 7 months

user30

I would presume this is the sort of hard question you refer to?

bwarner

Yep

Although I'm guessing the real answer to that particular question is "It isn't possible"

I had a separate meta-topic about those kind of question, the ones where nobody is willing to go out on a limb and say "It can't be done" for fear of being proven wrong

Mana ಠдಠ

@bwarner And that's the problem with asking really complex questions. Sometimes the more complex the less likely it is that there's an actual answer. Or when you go into theorycrafting, it's difficult sometimes to get other people interested in the question.

IMO, anyways.

bwarner

Unanswered questions tend to be about more obscure games. But I'm hoping that if we can draw in more people, even obscure games will be covered

Sure, its difficult to get people to try to answer tough questions. Unless you offer them $100 to do it. If I'm in second place, you better believe I'm going to take the time to answer the tough question in front of me.

user30

Aye, anyway, I seem to have regained normal breathing again so I shall reattempt to sleep.

Mana ಠдಠ

2:56 AM

@Thomas glad to hear it. :) good night!

user30

@bwarner I think Jeff wrote a piece about how monetary incentives were bad, and wouldn't work

bwarner

@ThomasMcDonald On his blog you mean?

Mana ಠдಠ

Isn't bounty basically the answer to incentives on this site?

@GnomeSlice Yo!!!!

user30

I tend to believe that as well, if you get $100 for answering a question, why would you come back to answer more without said offer?

GnomeSlice ツ

@Manaಠдಠ slaps

Mana ಠдಠ

2:57 AM

:(

GnomeSlice ツ

FFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU~

bwarner

@ThomasMcDonald Because you realize that its fun. If I got paid $100 to do something, and I enjoyed doing it, why would I stop just because I was no longer being paid?

Mana ಠдಠ

heh. The problem with too much good music; not enough time to get around to listening to it.

user30

@bwarner Because you probably didn't do it for the fun, you did it for the $100.

Mana ಠдಠ

@bwarner That's too hit or miss IMO to rely on and consistently give out monetary awards for.

user30

2:59 AM

Now if it was an unexpected $100, that's another thing

bwarner

The first time, sure. But that's only because I didn't realize it was fun.

Maybe you're referring to this post? codinghorror.com/blog/2010/06/the-vast-and-endless-sea.html

GnomeSlice ツ

Museums: Historically Hardcore.

bwarner

I get what you're saying, and I certainly don't want to make Stack Exchange all about money. But I do think it is a good way to get people to try it out. In the same way that I think you could draw a lot of new members if they knew having enough rep would get them free games on release day.

user30

@bwarner It could be that one, I thought he compared something to how Google Answers used to work

user30

of course it could be a complete fabrication of my mind

Mana ಠдಠ

3:01 AM

I mean like let's take this free games type-deal. I had absolutely no idea that I was getting into this when I signed up on the site and started participating. And while I think this whole thing is really nice, it's still not why I hang around here.

GnomeSlice ツ

@Manaಠдಠ Which thing?

Mana ಠдಠ

I think it's better to award the members who stuck with your site despite having no real monetary incentive for it.

GnomeSlice ツ

Jul 30 at 20:05, by GnomeSlice

Free things.

user30

Yeah, if getting enough rep to get free games is why you sign up/participate, I don't see that being particularly productive.

GnomeSlice ツ

Jul 30 at 19:58, by GnomeSlice

@ArdaXi Free things.

user30

3:03 AM

I guess it could depend on how it's 'marketed'

bwarner

But you guys seem to be assuming that someone's initial motivation for doing something will continue to be their motivation forever. I think that you need to give people a little incentive to try something new, and once you get them past that initial reluctance, they'll become members just like you and me.

Mana ಠдಠ

@bwarner But how would the rest of the community react to that?

GnomeSlice ツ

Jul 24 at 19:31, by GnomeSlice

Free upvotes for the next person who gives me free stuff.

Mana ಠдಠ

I'd be deeply jealous of this one jerk who gets to get paid for answering stuff whereas I've invested an entire year and a month in here and gotten nothing to show for it (let's ignore the Witcher 2 for the sake of argument)

bwarner

I don't know. Would you resent people coming here because they weren't "pure" enough to do it without any incentive? Or would you welcome them because they can contribute to the community, regardless of their motivation?

GnomeSlice ツ

3:05 AM

Jul 24 at 19:02, by GnomeSlice

I need more free stuff.

Mana ಠдಠ

@GnomeSlice <3

user30

I would question how sustainable their community contributions were

GnomeSlice ツ

Jul 24 at 19:05, by Oak

You know what I need? I need more cycles. That's what I need.

Jul 24 at 19:06, by GnomeSlice

stares blankly

Yeah. That happened.

bwarner

@Manaಠдಠ Now who is being driven by money? You've gotten to participate in the site for a year, isn't that worth more than the little bit of money that someone got?

GnomeSlice ツ

@bwarner Are you kidding? I got swag.

user30

3:07 AM

@bwarner If they wanted to become a further part of the community, sure, but I don't think that free stuff will necessarily gain a large amount of members that 'keep going' once they meet the conditions for 'stuff'

bwarner

@ThomasMcDonald That just seems elitist to me. Sure, there will be some people that leave afterwards and never return. But I just don't get the attitude of "Unless you come here for the right reason, you can never be a REAL member"

Mana ಠдಠ

@bwarner It's less that I'd resent them and more that I'd just feel like I could deserve a bit of money too.

bwarner

@Manaಠдಠ And you've gotten it, right? With swag and free games of your own?

Even if 50% of the users gained disappear after the contest because they aren't truly interested in the site, isn't it worth it to gain the other 50%?

user30

@bwarner No, it's not me being elitist, I'm questioning how sustainable their contributions are because I don't think that people coming here with the motive of free stuff will participate with the same level of vigor (?) as those that answer questions on here because they genuinely enjoy it. I feel you're much more likely to get a spurt of activity that tails off once the conditions are met.

Mana ಠдಠ

@bwarner (remember that I'm not arguing from my personal perspective)

GnomeSlice ツ

3:10 AM

4 mins ago, by GnomeSlice ツ

Jul 24 at 19:06, by GnomeSlice

stares blankly

user30

@bwarner I don't know. How much have we paid for new users previously?

Mana ಠдಠ

@bwarner but I just feel like when you throw in actual money into the equation things get different. I have tuition to pay. I'm in university. I want to improve my drum kit. There are lots of things I could do with actual money.

The video games are nice but I would take $60 over The Witcher 2 any day.

bwarner

The people that leave after the conditions are met are users that aren't interested in our site. We never would've gotten them either way. But the users that stay might never have realized the site existed if not for the extra publicity

@Manaಠдಠ I never actually said money, I said $100 of games.

Mana ಠдಠ

Oh.

bwarner

Giving away $100 is just boring

Mana ಠдಠ

3:12 AM

Well...fuck. scratches head awkwardly

bwarner

Sorry, I said that in the question, I guess I was never really specific here.

@ThomasMcDonald The whole point of the promotional grants is to try to attract new users, right?

user30

I still stand by my points, although it's not something I have any evidence to back up

GnomeSlice ツ

I love these people playing Galcon...

Mana ಠдಠ

@bwarner I feel like it's more to attract new dedicated users

GnomeSlice ツ

@Mana Don't say anything about that guy's name... please.

bwarner

3:14 AM

It isn't just to reward existing users, we don't need it. I'm just suggesting that we also try spending money to attract new users in a slightly more direct way.

Mana ಠдಠ

Getting 1500 rep is no easy feat.

Mr. November

bionic beets

GnomeSlice ツ

@MrNovember Shh.

bwarner

@Manaಠдಠ There's a group of people that will never care about the site. Maybe they participate for the contest, maybe they don't. We don't care either way. For the rest, either the site is good enough to turn people into dedicated users, or its not. If it is, they'll stay no matter how you get them here. If its not, they'll leave no matter how you got them here.

@Manaಠдಠ Heh, I'm still at 600 on Stack Overflow and I've been a developer for 11 years...

GnomeSlice ツ

@bwarner +1

Mana ಠдಠ

3:17 AM

@GnomeSlice Perhaps you want me to not say Beets by Dr. Dre?

Nope.

GnomeSlice ツ

@Manaಠдಠ Heh...

Mana ಠдಠ

@bwarner Fair enough.

Mr. November

i got your back eugene

Mana ಠдಠ

ARGUMENT WON

too late joe

we lost the battle

but we'll win the war

bwarner

I choose to believe that the site is good enough that if the kind of people care about see it, they will choose to stay. So I jsut see it as a question of how to get them to come check it out.

GnomeSlice ツ

3:18 AM

@Mana be quiet, gawd.

bwarner

LOL. OK, thanks for the debate. Now I can have Jeff squash the idea for good. =)

Either way, I need to head off to bed.

Mana ಠдಠ

@bwarner That's true. It's damn awkward even messaging my friends who are gamers saying "hey...uh...ask questions and answer things on this site..."

GnomeSlice ツ

Jeff is absolutely no fun at all.

Mana ಠдಠ

Peace man! Thanks for the insight.

user30

@bwarner Just preparing you man

GnomeSlice ツ

3:20 AM

(Did @Mana get that reference)?

Mana ಠдಠ

Then again that's what I did with GnomeSlice and it seemed to work out okay.

user30

Anyway, same, I'm not used to 4am debates

user30

In a bit chaps

Mana ಠдಠ

peace maaaaaan.

So uh. @GnomeSlice, meet @MrNovember. @MrNovember, @GnomeSlice.

@GnomeSlice No, sorry. ;_;

GnomeSlice ツ

@Manaಠдಠ ಥ_ಥ

Mana ಠдಠ

3:21 AM

I'm a disapproved guy who reduces you to tears. Apparently.

Mr. November

I'm Mr. November, i won't fuck us over

That you won't.

Classic song.

Classic Napkin Squirrel.

Mana ಠдಠ

3:23 AM

@GnomeSlice stares

Mr. November

i just downloaded knights of the old republic on steam

GnomeSlice ツ

3 mins ago, by GnomeSlice ツ

(Did @Mana get that reference)?

Mr. November

time to look for mods

Mana ಠдಠ

@MrNovember Man, this is why I love PC games. Mods.

Mr. November

you know what i love

people who want Steam to be the only way to get PC games, making the PC a glorified console

Mana ಠдಠ

3:24 AM

I know.

Mr. November

ahhhh

Mana ಠдಠ

silly Steam people.

GnomeSlice ツ

Dammit, I can't find a napkin squirrel video online anywhere...

Mana ಠдಠ

@MrNovember Wait, I just realized. You told me Recettear was a good game, but you haven't gotten past the 3rd day?

Mr. November

i think i got like a week or two in

Lazers

3:26 AM

0

Q: Does an MMORPG have to have a lot of players?

Can a game still be considered a MMORPG if it only has, say, 20 players?

mmorpg terminology

Mr. November

really big sky's menu transitions need to be faster

it's a fast paced shooter and it takes like 10 seconds for the game over screen to go away

it'd be like Rock Band having an orchestral soundtrack for the menus

GnomeSlice ツ

"Napkin Squirrel, where a storyteller tells the story of a paper (origami) squirrel and what it considers fun — those that harm the squirrel in any way, shape, or form are said to be "absolutely no fun at all"."

@Mana.

Mana ಠдಠ

Man, why does no one talk to @MrNovember?

GnomeSlice ツ

He doesn't capitalize anything.

Sort of like you.

ಠ_ಠ

Mana ಠдಠ

It's all about the style, maaaaaaaaaan.

GnomeSlice ツ

3:36 AM

Anyway, that's the reference.

1 min ago, by GnomeSlice ツ

"Napkin Squirrel, where a storyteller tells the story of a paper (origami) squirrel and what it considers fun — those that harm the squirrel in any way, shape, or form are said to be "absolutely no fun at all"."

13 mins ago, by GnomeSlice ツ

Mana ಠдಠ

Cool.

GnomeSlice ツ

Ever watch 'Planet Sketch'?

Way back when?

Mana ಠдಠ

No.

GnomeSlice ツ

1 min ago, by GnomeSlice ツ

ಠ_ಠ

Mr. November