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5:00 PM
@RonanForman make sure you run any question ideas by me, so I can blatantly stea... I mean, thoroughly check them for dupes :)
 
Yeah, okay. I disabled the 'personal firewall' in my antivirus, since I already have a firewall, and now it works...
Stupid windows.
 
@agent86 I need to play to get question ideas.
 
@RonanForman ... how much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood? :)
 
Gravity Fleet: Indie Dev Accidentally Invents Angry Birds Space http://bit.ly/GJZ09F
Oh man, read the article.
That sucks.
 
I find it hard to tag meta questions
 
@GnomeSlice Haha, and that is why I asked my ME3 question about muting... so sad to see
 
Omegadolon Demo won't load anything for me... =[
 
I remember the days when I could play halo 2 and actually meet good people, but no more. Everyone is either trash talking or without mic
 
I don't know if I somehow have it disabled or what, but I haven't heard a single person speak in ME3 multiplayer
which makes me happy :)
 
5:10 PM
When I've played, I don't see very many with mics
I think I'm going to start wearing a mic and trying to talk to people again... that could go terribly wrong, but I think I'm gonna go for it
 
@Sterno I just heard it yesterday (on Xbox), so I'm pretty sure that at least it's not disabled by default
 
1
Q: How to improve questions about completion time?

SternoI've had my eye on this question for a while: How long is Mass Effect 3 on normal difficulty? I didn't think it was a very good question, but I answered it and pointed to HowLongToBeat.com and tried to explain in my answer specifically why a site like this is needed to provide a good answer to t...

 
Oh man, Omegadolon is awesome.
 
Hello Bridge-mates
 
Hola. Que paso?
 
5:21 PM
Doing well, enjoying sunny, warm weather ... only down side is I'm still at work
You?
 
Un poco consado pero bien. Estoy jugando ME3
@Ktash "A little tired but well. Playing ME3" (for non-spanish speakers)
 
Yo no hablo español, gamigo :)
 
haha, turns out you can ping yourself. That's great
 
Heh, poor man's chat bookmark? Ping yourself while saying good night.
 
Here's the most important phrase to learn in Spanish: Hola, soy un Americano. Por favor me robas y me tocas todos las ropas
 
5:25 PM
@Stephen Doesn't go in your inbox or anything. Just points.
 
@Stephen Lol, I may have to try that
 
@Ktash ...that's not a good phrase at all!
 
@GraceNote Aww...
 
@GraceNote Google translate doesn't get that one quite right (or I messed up my spelling, it's been a few years).
 
@Ktash No, you got it right
 
5:28 PM
Should be todas, not todos, right?
 
Todos isn't an adjective, so I don't think so
 
@bwarner I couldn't remember for sure if todos changed with gender
 
Me neither.
 
...huh, but apparently it does
 
@ktash I'm sure Google Translate didn't quite do that any justice ... but I get the gist. Thankfully I'm Canadian, so I can keep my clothes.
 
5:30 PM
"Hello, I'm an American. Please rob me and take all my clothes" is how it is supposed to translate
@Stephen Canadians are Americans ;)
 
@Ktash Imma gonna let that go (since there's nothing I can do about it)
 
It is true, after all
 
In Spanish, Americano doesn't refer to US citizens, but a citizen of any American country. Norte Americano is for any that are in North America, and if you want to specify US, you have to be explicit about US ;)
 
@GraceNote It might be true that it's how it's supposed to translate ;> As to the other part, there are a number of notable differences ... but this sort of conversation tends to deteriorate quickly :-)
 
@Ktash how is that exclusive to Spanish? :P
 
5:34 PM
@badp US-ians are terrible about "Americans" referring to US citizens
 
@badp Haha, true, it is not. But I only know a bit of Spanish and a bit of Japanese, so I can't speak for other languages
 
@IanPugsley well is is the name of our country afterall
 
@James Also his continent.
As well as someone else's continent.
 
@GnomeSlice Technically, its North Central and South America or the Americas.
 
@James Right. 'The Americas' is like half the world.
 
5:38 PM
 
@James it is?
 
relevant
 
The americas are not even close to half
 
United States of America is the name, not just the United States.
 
@tiddy not by landmass or population, but by continent count. 3/7
 
5:39 PM
@James right, but USA != "America"
 
erm, I counted wrong. oh well :(
 
@DavidB 2/7. Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, and Antarctica are all not America.
 
@IanPugsley Says who?
 
hangs head in shame
 
@James ...
 
5:41 PM
@IanPugsley I would love to see someone call someone from Brazil an American and what their reaction would be
 
0
Q: Is melee effective on fallout new vegas and can someone run me over the basics?

CHUNKI want to start the campaign again using melee and some ranged such as explosives, but I don't know how to use it, what perks to use and the best armour. Is it viable, and, if it is, can someone please give me a quick tutorial and help me with the basics?

 
Same for a person from Mexico and any other country over here.. we have already seen the Canadian response up above
 
@James Geography. America could just as easily mean Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Peru, as it could mean the United States, Canadia, and those central American countries...
 
@Tristan Aye, but we still kinda utilize the name as our own in some societies, since our title as a country is more of a descriptor. Kinda like how we stole English.
 
@Tristan Ok, What is the equalivelent of being a Canadian, french, german, or spanish person for the people who live in the USA?
 
5:43 PM
Oops. <.< In my attempt to watch Green Lantern, I changed the channel to HBOL instead of HBO... So it was Ryan Reynolds speaking spanish!
 
@IanPugsley We call the "United States of Mexico" "Mexico"
 
@GraceNote Not some, in all.. An American while technically can refer to anyone living in an america just doesnt in the common usage of the word.. they are arguing semantics.
 
@James Illegal immigrant.
 
@James There's actually a movement to change the term to something along the lines of "USian", so it's not all.
 
United Provinces of America == Canada?
 
5:44 PM
But seriously, yes they're called Americans. But I've never agreed with just calling the US America. Since we aren't the only "America" on the globe, it just seems like we're dicks.
 
@James common usage of the word to you is not common usage of the word to everyone; we're talking international at this point
 
@Tristan We are the only ones who were initially made up of so many cultures we could not come up with a better name :)
 
continuing the "USA = America" seems particularly insensitive to others who self-identify as Americans
 
Also Ian's point from an external internal point.
 
@IanPugsley I have never heard a mexican who was not having his residency questioned, an american :)
 
5:46 PM
From a Canadian's standpoint, we certainly don't refer to ourselves as Americans.
 
@IanPugsley I just consider myself "human." Or in some, rare cases, "pony." If people want to call themselves Americans, that's fine. But simply referring to the US as "America" will always seem wrong to me.
(Those rare cases are on this site. I'm just rolling with the pony thing in the same fashion that @OrigamiRobot goes with the Robot business.) =D
 
@fbueckert this is likely an effort to distance yourselves from the attitudes I'm suggesting people challenge
 
@Tristan Calling the USA America is just like calling the United Kingdom the UK, its just a shortened name used in conversation and the like.
 
@James Canada's actually called "Canada" though. Mexico is officially the "United Mexican States".
 
@James making assumptions about what people from areas you are not in want to be called can be a mistake, that's what I'm saying
 
5:48 PM
@Ullallulloo Read what I just wrote :) Its just the natural progression along those same lines
 
people within the UK can identify with a country within as well - calling them "UK folks" instead of what they want to be called would be rude
 
@James I don't call the United Kingdom the UK. I refer to the specific country if I'm talking to someone from there.
 
Calling the US America isn't any more wrong than calling the United Mexican States Mexico.
 
you're welcome to say that US-ians are Americans, just don't imply that people from anywhere else in North/Central/South America aren't
 
@IanPugsley True.. I can only speak to people from Mexico, Canada, Brazil, Australia, New Zealand, France and Germany... Hmm. Nah Ive not spoken to people from the netherlands in wayy to long to include them in the list.
 
5:50 PM
@IanPugsley Most likely. My few in-person experiences with Americans (ie. citizens of the US) tends to be mostly bad; the vast majority have entitlement issues like nobody's business.
 
wooOOOOOOOH AMERICA USA USA USA #1!
goes to shoot guns into the sky and yell YEE HAW
 
Is ME3 multiplayer completely broken at the moment for anyone else?
 
@Tristan The UK is a country itself though...it's a country with four countries in it.
 
@Tristan So maybe we should be referred to by the states we are from?
 
Oh, good. Politics.
 
5:51 PM
@Sterno Just grammar.
 
also relevant ;)
 
@Ullallulloo That's how it starts! Before you know it we're talking about entitlement!
 
@James rather, let people self-identify, and try not to make assumptions about someone based on their location
 
@James is it not more arrogant to require everyone to learn the 50 states just to know where I am from?
 
@James I'm fine with that.
 
5:52 PM
also: Georgian is ambiguous
 
@DavidB I always thought it was but apparently thats how it is done everywhere else.
 
@DavidB I think he's suggesting this about US-ians referring to each other
I have to imagine the majority of US citizens learn the 50 states
 
@IanPugsley You give too much credit to our educational system...
 
@Tristan everybody learns the song!
 
@IanPugsley Nah, if people in the UK are refered to as Irish, Scottish or English, why shouldnt I be Californiish.. (haha, cant say that with out laughing :))
 
5:54 PM
@IanPugsley Song? O.o
 
Some US'ians think the world is flat... which is highly ironic given our history.
 
@IanPugsley Learn them, yes.. Retain them.. nah :)
 
@DavidB I miss The Good Guys...
 
@DavidB That is pretty odd really.
 
5:55 PM
@DavidB It's actually a misconception that people around the time of Christopher Columbus thought the world was flat ;P
 
@James my only point is that the polite thing to do is to let someone self-identify (if you want to call yourself a Californian, do it), but don't be exclusionary - "X isn't really American!", etc.
 
@Ktash I'm not talking about those non-americans... I'm talking about US'ians, now.
 
@DavidB I know. I was referring to the comment about our history ;)
 
@IanPugsley Alright, ping number 4, Stop that :P
 
@James I'm sorry, my spelling is horrible today
 
5:57 PM
@IanPugsley Just succumb to it like me :D
 
@James that sounds terrible
 
I dunno man, reading through a few dictionaries and the like and the term American is referred to as as citizen of the united states.
 
@Tristan Aliens!
 
[shrugs] At the end of the day I do not really care. I just have never heard a person from the americas who wasnt from the US call themselves an american.
 
6:01 PM
@Ullallulloo I hate Michael Bay.
 
Now the surprise twist that no one saw coming ...
... the new Mass Effect 3 ending will be directed by Michael Bay
Or not
 
So the 50 million dollars to ruin Thunder Cats was a cover story for him doing TNMT?
 
@James Teenage Ninja Mutant Turtles? Nah.
Surprisingly, as I read that... It still sounds right.
 
@Tristan Pardon my lysdexia :)
 
Wait... Was Michael Bay supposed to do the Thunder Cats movie?
 
6:04 PM
@Tristan I am pretty sure the Onion has yet to report on something actually true :)
 
@James Oh good.
 
@James All I know about Thunder Cats is: "Thunder! Thunder cats! LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL!!!!!!!"
 
@badp Let me see if I can find a clip :)
 
Bah
There is an awesome clip done up where Lion-O uses Sight beyond Sight to peer in on the girl cat, gets caught by that cat thing and asks if it wants to go grab some beers.
But the video is damn near impossible to find any more
 
6:08 PM
0
Q: Post-Story Activities

Emerica.Are there any significant Post-Story dungeons or quest that are worth doing. I feel as though the game is over aside from some quest cleanup. Is there any specific extremely challenging dungeons or quests? For example, in Torchlight the Dungeon went on infinitley and scaled as such. So building ...

 
Neat thing about it was the voices were done by the original cast :)
 
@Tristan Are you implying I am not a robot?
 
@OrigamiRobot Only if you're implying I am not a pony.
@OrigamiRobot Kristen Wiig?
We should just make our own room for this little game. o.O
 
@Tristan Google Images gives varying results.
@Tristan Now that a certain user is back, I'm scared he will join in...
 
@OrigamiRobot ping @GnomeSIice
 
6:22 PM
@Ullallulloo NOOOOOOOO
 
@OrigamiRobot Room made.
 
woo. 18/25 ... still like pulling teeth at this point :-) Wish I could transfer some of the votes from my 10's to the 6 3-4's I have ... oh well, getting closer.
 
@Stephen good luck!
 
@Tristan If I want to chat I can request it, I was just going to listen in is all :)
 
@James Oh. Okay.
 
6:31 PM
@Stephen you might be the only one to win tier 5 at this rate :)
 
@BenBrocka Thanks ... I tell ya ... the longer you wait the harder it is ... the next contest I stay up all night and call in sick to work to get the jump :-)
 
the prize tiers are staggered sort of oddly
@Stephen yeah, way more Qs the first two weeks
 
@Stephen Hahah, I was thinking that myself. ;)
 
I got the Messenger Bag... So I'm happy with that. I want the Xbox, but there's no way I could make the cut for that one.
I just need shares for Captain, but I don't want either of those prizes.
 
It's been a lot of fun ... just sooooo close to quit at this point ....
 
6:34 PM
@Tristan really? Both of those look pretty sweet
I've heard of the magic of mechanical keyboards
 
@BenBrocka I have a laptop, so I don't need the keyboard. And I have a pair of turtle beach headphones.
 
1
Q: Why don't some war assets appear in my list of assets?

StephenI've recently completed the missions on Tuchanka and stopped to review my war assets. I noticed that the Citadel Defense Force, which was updated several times during conversations with the citizenry after Priority:Palaven isn't listed. Now I'm checking everything and don't see Batarian Fleet a...

0
Q: What comes in a Premium Collectible Pack?

CaulynDarrI've seen what it takes to get Premium Collector Pack. But what comes in one of these packs? Do you get special items, or is it like the Victory pack which was just standard items?

 
@Tristan ah
 
@BenBrocka A friend of mine is in love with his mech keyboard ... I haven't tried it, but it's a nice prize ... I have a 5.1 system connected to my PC so the headphones won't do it for me :)
 
Haven't bothered with a 5.1 system for years, a nicer set of surround headphones would be nice...
I just realized tier 3 is either a ~$30-40 comic set or an $80 messenger bag. Wonder if anyone is actually planning on the comics
 
6:39 PM
When I upgraded my living room set I kept the old system for the PC ... 300W isn't earth shattering, but it does make for a nice setup
btw if I haven't said it, thanks to everyone who's been helping with their upvotes
 
@Tristan I don't know that this is general policy, but I picked a prize from a lower tier, so...
 
@BenBrocka The comics are really the only thing on the page that I want, because I don't already own something similar, heh.
I really wanted the rifle (since that's also something I was unlikely to buy for myself), but.
 
@agent86 The contest rules say that the prize has to come from your highest tier. <.<
 
@TimStone That's the same reason I want the headset.
 
@Tristan THE RULES ARE A LIE
Or at least I hope they are.
 
6:42 PM
@TimStone Sell bag. Buy comics.
 
@Tristan I think if you asked real nice, they'd let you take one from a lower tier. YMMV
I think they more intended to say "You don't win the prizes from the lower tier in addition to the prize from the highest tier you achieve"
 
If you ask nicely, or if you take hostages.
 
@agent86 Why would they care? "I want you to give me less money."
 
@Ullallulloo this is kind of my point
I think the prizes are capped primarily so that SE isn't paying out for 1,000 new TVs
 
@agent86 What if I wanted one from a higher tier? =P
 
6:45 PM
@Tristan work harder
 
@agent86 Unpossible. Typing answers from my iPhone is hard. And importing photos can't be done. =(
 
I mean, cmon, you just have to beat out everybody vying for prizes, plus the people who answer every question due to a rare mental disorder called "answereverythingitis"
 
@TimStone Same. It'd be cool to have for a bit, then sell it for what/more than it was worth, buy new TV/whatever I want...
 
@Tristan Hey, you still got the checkmark for that ammo answer ;)
...Which I also need to update with my icons from the other ammo powers. notes
 
@TimStone This is true.
 
6:48 PM
@Tristan you want me to share some more so you can get rank 4?
 
@Blem No thank you.
 
@Blem hah, that would be excellent trolling
HAHAHA I MADE YOU WIN BETTER PRIZES
 
true
 
@Blem You play mass effect right?
 
yea
im afk in it right now
 
6:52 PM
Want to help me make some videos.
 
sure, but i might disconnect at any time, they are doing work on my network today for the next 5h and might have to cut the connection at any time
 
maybe i should have @RonanForman
 
7:01 PM
@StrixVaria No, just VTC... unless links to speed runs are the only valid answers.
 
@Sterno They say adding new content, I would highly doubt they change the ending
 
@StrixVaria If we need to get blood pressures up we can just open a couple questions like "Do we still NOT like game-rec questions here?" or "Do we still NOT like ITG questions here?" every couple of months tongue in cheek
 
@Stephen I almost had a heart attack until I read you were kidding.
 
0
Q: How come EDI can blow things up, but I can't?

KtashSo both EDI and I have incinerate, and I'm currently running through the Rachni Quest line. When I tell EDI to incinerate a Gestation pod it burns in a glorious explosion. However, when I do it, sometimes, but not all the time, it just fizzles and doesn't do any damage. Why is it that EDI can alw...

0
Q: Did Zaeed Massani survive, and was he loyal, if I start a new game?

StephenIn the mission Citadel: Volus Ambassador the outcome depends, in part, on whether Zaeed Massani survived the events of ME2 and if he was loyal. It's not entirely clear from this answer whether he will be present or not as I don't know if his missions were from DLC or N7 missions, having not play...

0
Q: How high does my reputation need to be in order to pick the best outcome in Citadel:Volus Ambassador?

StephenThe mission Citadel: Volus Ambassador has an option that adds the Volus Bombing Fleet, a good war asset bonus or saving the colony which gives you ... well ... a warm feeling inside. It's also possible to get both using a paragon or renegade choice if your reputation is high enough. What is the...

0
Q: What is the purpose of exhausting Galio when he ults?

ToastIn this game, Galio is repeatedly exhausted everytime he uses his ultimate ability. However, Galio's ultimate roots him to one place. What's the purpose of exhausting Galio when he uses his ult? http://www.own3d.tv/clgame#/watch/529435

 
@Stephen I have a shotgun reserved for people who do this. I polish it daily.
 
7:03 PM
@agent86 Of course you do, Texan.
 
Oh god! I thought we got through all the ME3 spam!
 
@StrixVaria >:)
 
@StrixVaria I was gonna ping you saying "Hey look, another question type to hate!"
 
@James Considering someone has filed a FTC complaint about ME3 not living up to its advertising ...
@james I think they could possibly tweak an ending to try to make people happy.
 
@Stephen one person bitching doesnt make them right :)
 
7:03 PM
I call it my "people who annoy me for the entertainment value" shotgun. I was going to call it "Betsy" but that didn't seem descriptive enough.
 
@agent86 Do you have other shotguns?
 
@StrixVaria yes.
 
@james Sorry about that ... I promise not to shoot for level 6 in this contest
 
@RavenDreamer You around?
 
@Stephen haha, No worries, I wish ya luck :)
 
7:05 PM
Guns are so hard to buy in NJ.
 
Actually if you want to be cool, shoot for level 5
You'd be the only one
;)
 
@Stephen At the end of the day whether or not people like the ending I believe its way too vague, even from their advertising, for that complaint to mean anything. They are much more likely to just offer question answering DLC. The guy's blog was very careful to never mention they are doing a new and/or replacement ending.
But if you go and see a movie and do not like the ending... I do not think the FTC is going to give a crap
 
Damn you, @Blem! I was just about to answer that Galio question. =( lol
 
:)
go go up vote i could use a console
my newest console is a PS2 and it doesn't work :(
 
@Blem That only works for questions tagged
 
7:09 PM
@james I agree that it hasn't a snowball's chance in hell of the FTC doing anything, I just thought it was an interesting new level of absurdity in the "ME3 sucks" saga
 
13
Q: League of Legends Contest!

LaurenThe Leaguecraft ggClassic is an awesome tournament filled with professional League of Legends gamers, and we are the official sponsor! To show our support for the players as they do battle, we are giving away some awesome prizes to people who ask and answer the best questions about League of Lege...

 
@Stephen Hehe, I completely agree :D
 
@Blem Well crap.
 
@James Building on their research, Exec Producer Casey Hudson and the team are hard at work on a number of game content initiatives that will help answer the questions, providing more clarity for those seeking further closure to their journey.
 
@tiddy I am at 19/25 and then I'm there. If you want to look through my Q&As rated less than 5 and see if anything deserves an upvote, I would surely appreciate it :)
 
7:10 PM
@James Change might have been the wrong word, but expand, certainly
 
@Tristan i need 1 up vote on this for shared most vote on question gaming.stackexchange.com/questions/56840/…
 
@james @sterno Yeah, DLC seems like a safe bet as their response to this problem, but it doesn't preclude them from saying "oh well now that you've done the dlc, this new ending makes a lot of sense"
 
@Blem awesome, finally a contest that also rewards those who asnwer the questions :D
 
@James The Kingdoms of Amalur contest was the same way. <.<
 
@Stephen could very well make the ending make more sense.. but I do not think you are getting a new one :)
 
7:12 PM
Hmm, the ME3 multiplayer servers seem completely broken for me, but I don't see anything about that on the official forums
 
@Tristan I missed that one :(
Besides, that game is only kind of Meh to me
Played it for like 30min, then went back to Skyrim :D
KoA lost me when I couldnt jump :D
 
@Fabian i cant play the game at night because i get placed in games with people who are from the other end of the earth
 
@RavenDreamer - new avatar: memebase.com/2012/03/21/…
 
@james I don't have the emotional investment in it that others do, I thought the endings were all right but I also felt that the game really shoved you down one path... having not played the preceeding games it's tough to say.
 
@Blem Currently I just get "You lost the connection to the ME3 servers" errors when creating or joining a new game
 
7:15 PM
@Fabian Yea, also get that a lot
 
@Fabian The other day my game just ENDED and I was booted back to the menu with no explaination...
 
I haven't had any problems so far, but today I can't even start a single game
 
@Stephen I do recall quite a few people saying that the Mass Effect series are a very linear game.
 
@james I think it would have been interesting to have played the game from a Cerberus Shepard point of view (of course that could tie the ending tightly to the events of ME2) ... oh well.
 
@Stephen Hehe, Ive not played at all :)
I own 1 and 2, but Ive never played em (picked em up on a sale)
Maybe Ill snag 3 the same way and in a year or two get aroudn to playing them.. but BioWare does not make RPGs I like.. I want to like em, I just never do.
 
7:32 PM
0
Q: How many points does it take to fill the reputation bar?

KtashSo, I keep getting "+3 Paragon" or "+4 Renegade", but how many points does it take to fill up the bar completely?

1
Q: Vote kick after the game has started

Ronan FormanI know you can vote to kick people before starting a game but is this possible after a game has already started? Specifically kicking people for being AFK unless there is a time out type thing for inactive players.

1
Q: Converting Minecraft .lvl to .dat

Vian EsterhuizenIs it possible to import/convert a Minecraft Classic server level to a Minecraft server level? I have a really old server, set up in McLawl r55, that I would like to open and explore in the current version of Minecraft. If so, how can I go about doing this?

 
@Oak, I'm reading the meta thread re: how long to beat game X, and I'm of two minds
 
Oak
@agent86 regarding whether to close, or close reason?
 
one is that it would be nice to collect some of these FAQ type questions and provide generic answers (see mine on playing Windows games on a Mac, for instance)
another is that if we're just going to say "someone else does this better than we do" I don't know how much utility that has
that's essentially saying "(question type) doesn't fit our model well, let me redirect you" which sounds more like a close reason than something we'd want to encourage the proliferation of
 
Just a reminder: It's ok if some stuff doesn't fit our site. We have tons of stuff that does fit our site and isn't going away.
 
@StrixVaria this is kind of my point. helping everyone with everything isn't really the overall goal, as much as we'd like to.
 
7:42 PM
@agent86 I am just not sure 'how long to beat X' is ever going to have a valid single answer.
 
Oak
@agent86 so you're saying we should close them and not offer any "umbrella" question to give a generic answer?
 
@Oak this is where I'm torn
 
Oak
Because I kinda thought the question form I wrote in the comment was doable
It's a question that can get an authoritative answer, more or less
 
I suppose if you took all the answers people gave of how long it took them, you could average them together and put that into a new answer and that would be more accurate... but as soon as someone else added their time to finish the game, the average would shift a bit making it not the answer any more.
 
Oak
It's not just "look there"
@James it's not a good Q&A thread, though, then. This kind of stuff is really much better left to a dedicated site
 
7:44 PM
@Oak which is a strong argument for. the argument against is that we're answering questions that, as a site, we don't really want to answer.
 
@Oak I think having a catch all question to quell future problem questions is very bad practice.
 
@OrigamiRobot Why?
 
@Oak I agree. Ultimately I am not the person asking the question and I can only ever guess how long it will take them to finish the game.
 
@James the question isn't "does this type of question belong" - we've kind of agreed that the answer is no. the question is, what do we do about it?
 
@agent86 Why would we do anything other than say off-topic for the site and close them?
 
Oak
7:45 PM
@OrigamiRobot why is it so bad? Take a look at this, for instance:
24
Q: How to buy a graphics card?

LifeH2OI want to buy a graphics card, currently looking for Nvidia 9500GT 1GB as it is cheap (for me) with big memory (1GB). As there are variety of cards available i dont know which one is better and how that one is better. Should i look for its memory size? (1 GB, 512 MB etc) Should i check for its...

 
@Oak Migrate to super user.
 
@Oak I think that should be off-topic.
 
32
Q: Gaming resources: How can I find new games to play?

BrantWhat resources are most useful in finding new games to play? This question is a place to find websites, forums, and other places that help you find new games to play. Game recommendations are a subjective topic, so consider the Back it up! policy when answering. Please explain why something is ...

 
Oak
ok ok assume it was on-topic :)
I mean, as a general "how to" question
 
@Ullallulloo I'm famous!
 
Oak
7:46 PM
I think Jeff also had a blog about it
Teach how to fish instead of giving a fish, etc.
 
@Oak These kinds of questions are good sometimes.
Asking how to buy a graphics card is a good question (maybe for SuperUser over us, but it's a good question).
 
Oak
@StrixVaria agreed
 
Asking how to figure out how long a game is going to take is borderline at best.
 
Oak
@StrixVaria I'm not so sure... because it's a question I've sometimes wondered myself, and I knew how to get an answer
 
Defining that line concretely is going to be a joy, I'm sure.
 
Oak
7:48 PM
I usually went to read reviews, they often mention that
 
@StrixVaria Aye, seems close to a 'game recommendation' question to me.
 
Oak
So why not write an answer "reviews often mention a ballpark figure"? It's useful, I think
 
Having a catch all is a solution in a world where other close options don't exist.
 
Oak
And of course, mention that site
 
I'm not against a catch-all question for this topic.
The current question sucks though.
We'd need a new one with a better (CW) answer.
 
Oak
7:49 PM
Indeed
But should we close others as a dupe of it? I'm not sure
 
@Oak Ehhh. We don't close game-rec questions as a dupe of the one @Ullallulloo linked before either.
It's hazy territory.
 
@Oak If you do not then what good is the qusetion?
 
I really like the off-topic close reason for stuff that's off topic.
But remembering to link to that other question is not going to happen.
 
@StrixVaria I have seen that done.
 
Oak
@James it's nice by itself, I think
 
7:50 PM
@Ullallulloo It's not the standard case, though.
 
@StrixVaria Yeah.
 
Oak
It's definitely not the standard case
 
@Oak If I search for 'How long will it take me to get through ME3', how likely am I to run into a generically titled question/answer?
 
I think there are problems, like consistency. And what if they ask something specific (ie, I have dyslexia, how long will it take me to finish portal?) which doesn't fit under the "generic" question/answer pair we create?
 
So let's just keep an umbrella question as a backup in case someone gets really irate that his question is closed, but don't close as dupe.
 
7:51 PM
I mean, I have never seen @Ullallulloo's posted question until now...
 
Close as off topic.
 
Oak
@James I dunno. Maybe you will, if it becomes popular enough :)
 
Or not constructive.
@agent86 I hate questions like this anyway.
 
I don't know that a generic question that is about an off topic subject is better than a specific question that is from that same subject
 
Sorry for people with dyslexia or whatever other ailment, but that's not for us to answer.
Questions about games, please, not questions about coping with various diseases.
 
7:52 PM
... @agent86 does Dyslexia really screw with people playing portal? :)
 
I'm trying to come up with an example that would be outside the breadth of the generic q/a
so say, "hey, I've got a slow computer and my loading times are 2x what normal people's are. How long will it take to play Mass Effect 3?"
 
For questions that are off topic and have an umbrella question to cover the general case, specific cases are off topic.
 
or substitute any excuse for why your specific circumstances don't fall under the umbrealla
 
Simple blanket rule.
 
@agent86 Disease is a good talking point but take it to just a generic gamer level. No one plays the same was as other people do. They are in general going to take longer or shorter simply because the listen to every inane conversation or skip every conversation.
Even people looking for the generic average of a game length are only every going to be able to get the specific times it took people to finish them.. then as I mentioned before the best that could be done is to take the average of that.
 
7:54 PM
@StrixVaria imo, it's easier to say "we don't do that here" than "we do that here only in the generic case, and yours doesn't fit the generic case, so... it's off topic"
 
I think umbrella questions are a bad solution for problematic topics. Either allow the topic or don't.
 
it's really hard to say "this question type is not allowed, except for these really highly upvoted ones that we keep around because they solve more people's problems than yours"
 
@agent86 I'm all for killing whole classes of questions. Let's do it!
 
@agent86 Haha I will +1 any comment you post that says that :D
 
Oak
@agent86 that's a good point
 
7:56 PM
@agent86 Historic lock.
Although that doesn't exactly work for this.
Since the answers could change with time and should be CW and all that crap.
Does this mean we're getting rid of the general reference game-rec question?
 
(Is it just me or do the eyes on @StrixVaria's gravatar look more .. bulgy, when his icon gets bigger? :))
 
@StrixVaria I've pushed for this in the past, but there's significant historical precedent that is counter to me :)
 
Okay, I'm confused. Why can't I upload this audio to Newgrounds. The 'preview' button is supposed to advance it, I think. But it does nothing.
 
7:59 PM
newgrounds is still online?
Wo
 
@BenBrocka Priceless!
 
@BenBrocka This is tripping my antivirus.
 
0
Q: How can I aim farther using the keyboard controls in DoomRL?

Mike WelshWhen firing a weapon in DoomRL, you can aim with either the arrow keys or the mouse. When using the keyboard, DoomRL allows me to aim up to 8 tiles away. When using the mouse, I can aim as far as I'd like. This is useful for tactics like blind-firing at a tile out of your vision range, but I pref...

 

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