English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room

Matt Эллен

16:00

but there are pictures of saints in the stained glass windows

Cerberus

So what things are not done in your churches that are done by Catholics?

Matt Эллен

we don't do confession

Cerberus

Ah OK.

Matt Эллен

originally protestantism was a lot gloomier

Cerberus

Isn't it still?

Matt Эллен

16:01

no pictures or statues at all

Cerberus

Yeah.

We still don't have any, I believe.

Matt Эллен

@Cerberus well, Anglican is meant to be protestant

Cerberus

Pah.

Matt Эллен

and we have pretty stained glass windows everywhere

Cerberus

That's great.

We have some left too.

Matt Эллен

16:03

also, there was no revering of Mary or Joseph at school, only Jesus

Cerberus

Hmm.

Matt Эллен

and The Queen, of course

Cerberus

But if you still have statues of Mary in churches...

Of course!

Matt Эллен

@Cerberus true

Cerberus

She's the chief of the church...what's it called?

Head?

Matt Эллен

16:04

yeah

Cerberus

Right.

Matt Эллен

god's representative on Earth

or whatever

Cerberus

It's plain to see.

Matt Эллен

Which is where she gets her royal we from

time for me to stop speaking. I mean commute

Cerberus

Haha.

OK later!

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

16:07

I think there has been only one Anglican saint added since the split: King Charles the first.

And the Anglican Church recognizes all the same saints as the Catholic church prior to the split, but none of the newer ones.

And the Anglican church was not founded in the same sense of protestantism as the other churches. That was added later.

Wikipedia suggests that they don't so much nominate "Saints" anymore, but rather "Heroes"

Cerberus

Right.

But most of the rites and imagery...

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

In my limited experience with the Anglican church, the basic Mass was very similar to the Catholic church.

The churches are hard to tell apart.

Cerberus

Yeah.

It's mostly a question of loyalty, I think, or was.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

Well, nowadays there are a number of important doctrinal beliefs, for those who care about that.

I don't think all those beliefs were split at once.

MετάEd

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 Such as the King gets to have a divorce. Very important.

It's good to be the King.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

16:19

@MετάEd I think everyone does.

Cerberus

@MετάEd Exactly.

I'm reading this article about what percentage of the Internet is porn.

Of course that is very hard to measure, and even the definition of what figures you actually man when you say that is very hard.

The article suggested that porn was only the 8th most popular search word in Google, and that it was therefore less important than social websites and kitten videos and such.

Then one commenter said:

> Whenever I want to look at porn, I always type "porn" in Google.

Which was of course ironic.

Jon Purdy

Kind of the point of human subcultures/fetishes is that they’re oddly specific, it would seem fractally so.

KitFox

I was just reading some Internet porn.

How interesting.

Cerberus

16:34

@JonPurdy Exactly.

I can see how one may search for "porn big boobies"—but just "porn"?

KitFox

Why not just "porn"?

Cerberus

@KitFox The articles again, huh?

KitFox

@Cerberus Um. If by articles, you mean like "the letters" then yes.

Except no.

Cerberus

@KitFox It is like searching "Wikipedia article" when you want to know something about the Freemasons.

KitFox

No, it's not like that.

It's like searching for Wikipedia when you want to find something that has encyclopedia articles in it.

Cerberus

16:37

Um.

KitFox

Or "cats" when you want to find websites about cats.

Cerberus

It is like searching for "encyclopaedia" when you already know you want Wikipedia.

KitFox

Or that. Sure.

Cerberus

@KitFox More like "animals" when you're looking for cats.

KitFox

No. Like cats.

Maybe you don't want a specific kind of cat.

Cerberus

16:38

So unless you're very indiscriminate in your pornographic interests...

KitFox

And who is, really?

Cerberus

I don't like Siamese cats.

KitFox

And even if you are, do you really want that kind of specificity in your search history?

Cerberus

Well, not for myself anyway.

Google knows everything you do anyway, if they want to.

Most porn users probably don't realise this anyway.

Porn users...

KitFox

Hey, you know how sometimes you're hungry and you don't know what you feel like eating?

It's like that, but with porn.

Cerberus

16:41

Do you think many people have that with porn?

KitFox

I often do.

Cerberus

I see.

KitFox

It's also difficult for me to keyword the things I want without getting stuff that I really don't want.

Cerberus

I think the author meant to say that he didn't think many people were like that.

Hmm kinky.

KitFox

For instance, "nurse porn" is not generally limited to "porn stars in nurse uniforms."

Cerberus

16:43

No?

He asked naïvely.

I really can't think of anything else.

gamerankings.com/pc/920668-dragon-age-origins/index.html

Have you ever played Dragon Age?

It actually sounds good.

KitFox

Hmm. Don't think so.

Cerberus

And it's cheap now, because it's several years old.

KitFox

@Cerberus Well, often it ends up involving certain bodily fluids and other weirdnesses that are not my kink. I'm pretty vanilla.

Cerberus

90 % is very high.

@KitFox Hmm I see.

KitFox

I liked Baldur's Gate...

Cerberus

16:48

Yeah!

KitFox

And of course, Mass Effect is good.

Cerberus

So I heard.

KitFox

Well, I heard. I haven't played it.

Cerberus

Mass Effect got 89 %.

KitFox

What is this GameFAQs ripoff site anyway?

Cerberus

16:49

Neither have I.

Rip-off? I have used Gamerankings for so long. It could be 10 years old.

I remember using GameFAQs long ago. But they only had walkthroughs and such: I don't remember reviews?

Hmm interesting.

Game FAQs is from 1995, Game Rankings from 2000.

They do seem much alike.

KitFox

I had sex with a guy who was a...something important on GameFAQs.

He managed the PS2 section or something.

A moderator, maybe?

Cerberus

The search interface seems easier in Rankings, but FAQs seems faster.

@KitFox So you had a game FAQ. Good for you.

Depending on how you pronounce FAQ.

KitFox

A game FAQtoid.

Cerberus

You are a game FAQtoid now?

KitFox

Speaking of porn. He was hot. I can't remember why I stopped having sex with him.

Cerberus

16:55

Nor can I.

KitFox

Well, greener pastures and all that.

I can't seem to remember his name right now either.

Cerberus

Always them pastures.

ebay.nl/itm/…

Shall I bid on this?

Don't you dare bid against me!

Another one's up for sale in two days.

KitFox

Sure, why not?

Cerberus

Yeah.

My computer is more than capable of running it, so I checked at Canyourunit.com, which automatically checks your PC's specs against a game's.

KitFox

Hearthfire?

Oh.

coughs

Cerberus

17:08

Haha.

So you mistook Dragon Age for Skyrim.

That's not too bad.

KitFox

Yep. Kinda looked it.

Cerberus

It does look quite good.

You can see how they must skimp on the grass when a dragon is present.

KitFox

Yeah. One reviewer made it sound like it was OK. Sounds like a prettier version of Baldur's Gate.

Fun to play for a while, then it gets irritating.

Cerberus

Combat seems to be much like BG. I didn't like Oblivion's combat, so I might like this.

BG just became boring at some point.

And here's some electronic side-boob.

Alenanno

lol

KitFox

17:13

Oh thanks. I'm already sated on side-boob. Watched some Upstairs, Downstairs last night.

2

Alenanno

lol (again)

(without reason)

(why am I talking like this?)

Hello everyone by the way

KitFox

Hello.

Matt Эллен

Hello.

MετάEd

45 secs ago, by KitFox

Hello.

KitFox

What am I, a puppet?

MετάEd

17:17

Polychthonous.

@KitFox Depends on which direction the strings go.

KitFox

tugs gently

MετάEd

tilts slightly

KitFox

huh.

If only my users were this easy to figure out.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

17:32

tilts wildly whoa!

not sure what happened there

MετάEd

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 Your thing is tangled in my string.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

so @Cerberus the combat in Bard's Tale is pretty pedestrian.

@MετάEd I hate it when that happens!

Cerberus

►

Nice prostitution with a funny British accent in Dragon Age...

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 How so?

I don't really remember much about the exact combat in Baldur's Gate. It was OK, but the game always remained somewhat boring, somehow.

This looks much better.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@Cerberus Well, it has two buttons: hit, and block. You have to block, and hit, every enemy, until they die. that is all.

You can summon allies who will aid you.

Cerberus

Huh.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

17:39

You can choose from a handful of weapons.

Cerberus

This is not at all like that.

You lead a party that you can instruct.

As in Baldur's Gate.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

but you don't have, eg, multiple kinds of attacks, or the ability to direct your party.

I blame the tablet UI, actually.

Cerberus

Oh, wait.

I thought a Bard's Tale was something else.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

that game you told me to check out the other day

Cerberus

Right, right.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

17:41

it's a fun-enough game, but not really on account of the combat.

Cerberus

Okay, that doesn't sound on par with good PC games, but then...

So the timed combat is not much fun?

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

but then it only cost $3 and I can take it with me wherever I go.

it's real-time combat

Cerberus

That's the idea, yes.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

but the combat is simplistic.

Cerberus

No fun?

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

17:42

because you can't really hold the device, and move around, AND have complex combat, all at the same time.

well, the combat isn't terrible. but it's not great.

and the AI of some of the enemies could use some work. There are some areas where they are totally stumped by the terrain.

KitFox

Yay for stupid zombies!

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

the good parts of the game are the snarky dialogue and the fact that the narrator seems to hate the protagonist, and they argue.

Cerberus

Heh.

Okay, so what mark would you give it, for a mobile game?

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

Geez, I dunno. I hardly think I've played enough games to be an authority.

puts on opinionating hat

I'd give it an 8/10

Matt Эллен

give it 10

or

8

give it 8!

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

17:45

hehe

There are two things I don't like so far. 1. you have only one saved game, and you can only save at certain places. That's annoying. I may have ruined my saved game by walking too close to an auto-save point during a battle.

2. The combat is more tedious than exciting.

Cerberus

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 That's quite high!

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

The graphics are okay. The gameplay (aside from combat) is fine. About what I expect for an RPG.

@Cerberus Well, I have to bell-curve all mobile games. There is a lot of crap.

Matt Эллен

what age group does tweens represent?

KitFox

11 to 13 ish

Matt Эллен

ah!

KitFox

17:47

Sometimes 10 is included.

Sometimes 13 is excluded.

Matt Эллен

ok, I had imagined it meant people in their 20s pretending to be teenagers

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

I downloaded some games that had fixed-size game areas. So on my 1024x768 tablet, they flip into portrait mode and show up in a 320x400 window at the top of the screen, on a black background. LAME-O! I uninstall those games without even trying to play.

KitFox

@MattЭллен Ah, no. Be'tween' kid and teenager.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

I have played some "casual" games that work very well on tablets/phones. Games that don't overreach the way Bard's Tale does.

But nothing beats, eg, Bioshock. Man that was a good game.

Matt Эллен

@KitFox gotcha. thanks :)

KitFox

17:50

Definitely illegal, Matthew.

Cerberus

That can actually make a game more exciting. I remember I liked the new Pirates a lot less than the old, and then I figured out it was partially because of the tension created by only being to save in port in the original.
It was *so* exciting to be sailing deep in Spanish territory with a ton of treasure aboard, facing a possible mutiny...I had to either risk attacking another Spanish galleon to distract the crew but risk losing my ship + treasure, or sailing home to Curaçao as fast as possible risking mutiny...all while being unable to save! That was great. Otherwise I would simply have t…

KitFox

I don't mind checkpoints, but they have to be well-placed.

MετάEd

@MattЭллен It's 20 through 29.

KitFox

It is something i noticed in replaying Ratchet & Clank PS3 titles. The early ones had ages to wait in between savepoints.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@Cerberus You can have it your way, but I don't like doing stuff over and over. Just don't save as often, if that's your thing. Instead, I have to do it your way, because the game forces me to keep retrying.

Cerberus

17:51

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 That is alas very important. I refuse to play any RPGs or similar genres if I don't like the combat, because it's just such a huge part.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@Cerberus Well, I haven't played many. But honestly, I don't see how this kind of combat can work well on a touch device. It's just too hard to control. Very tricky to hit the right part of the screen when you're not looking at it.

If it were using a regular controller, it'd have only 2 buttons and one D-pad.

Matt Эллен

@MετάEd that's what I had thought, but apparently it (also?) means 11-13

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

Plus, I guess, 4 buttons for controlling your team mates, and two buttons for calling up items/spells. but controlling the teammates in combat is pointless, as they'll be busy fighting already and the controls are coarse: stay here, attack, follow me, come back.

KitFox

Tween (demographic)

Tween is a word that typically refers to a person who is between the ages of 10 and 12 years old (although some say the range is 8 to 12, 9 to 14, or 9 to 13, or 11 and 12), in grades 5-7 or 4-8. The term is often described in popular media as referring to a pre-adolescent (usually female) who is at the "in-between" stage in their development when they are considered "too old for toys, too young for boys". The "tween" stage usually ends with the onset of puberty, though this may vary. Definition Tween is a blend of the words teen and between. Tweens are "in-between" being a child and a t...

Never heard of it as referring to 20-somethings.

Cerberus

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 I completely agree: repetition is the worst sin in any game. However, that does not apply to non-linear games. Pirates is totally non linear. In RPGs, it's different: I do not want to have to fight the same boss battle twice. However, in some semi-random forest, it could actually be fun. However3, it is essential that you don't really die, then: you must have the option of losing a significant amount of money or something but being able to play on.

That was the case in Pirates as well.

And you and I both know not saving as often is not an option!

If you can save, you do it.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

17:55

@Cerberus I don't want to not really die either. What I want is to be able to save my game every 30s if I so choose.

in Bioshock they had an interesting compromise. Scattered throughout the game were these reincarnation stations. Whenever you die, you reincarnate at the one you most recently visited. There is no other penalty, really.

Cerberus

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 Yeah, you may be right. But some games have several buttons ons screen that work like a controller. Like the Nintendo emulations on Android.

Those should work just as well as a controller.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@Cerberus sure, they work "like" a controller. But nowhere near as easy to use.

Cerberus

You just have a smaller screen.

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 But then you cannot be forced into hard decisions, which is the coolest thing about games!

Linear games are just unfit for this.

But in non-linear games, infrequent saving can truly enhance the game.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@Cerberus You can still have hard decisions. Often the consequences of a decision are not known until long after you make them.

Cerberus

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 But then you'd have to replay the same level again...

Or part of the level.

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 Well, you can't press the glass as hard...

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 Then that's hardly a decision. More like a blind guess.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

17:59

@Cerberus No. They do not "enhance the game". They make it so that you cannot even put it down for the day and resume later, because your progress is lost. You cannot experiment at all with the game, because your choices are final. You must play perfectly, or else you enter a cycle of losing because you're losing.

Cerberus

No, I'm talking about the kind of decision I had to make in Pirates.

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