The Water Cooler

@Neo action based third person rpg/shooter in a sci-setting. Small number of character classes (three IIRC) with different skill/equipment builds tailoring to your play style

Neo

@motosubatsu Is there a story line? Do you actually "win"

motosubatsu

2:17 PM

@Neo yep storyline that spans over the first three games (you can import character into subsequent games and it basically "continues")

you can jump in part way through but will get the most benefit starting at the first game

the original trilogy is Xbox360/PS3/PC

most of the "missions" involve using a squad of AI controlled characters as part of your team and you mix and match from your available roster to get the right combo for what you are doing

and various story line decisions you make along the way will dictate you have on your "crew"

Neo

@motosubatsu Sounds like a possibility.

I will do some digging. What is the best way to get the game?

Crossed the river styx

My reflexes are too slow for any real time games.

I always preferred turn based.

motosubatsu

@Neo what platform you aiming to play it on?

Neo

PC Windows 10

I bought a new Gaming PC for my contracting. Tons of horse power.

motosubatsu

@Neo Steam then? store.steampowered.com/sub/18260

@Neo any half-way recent gaming PC will utterly smash running the original trilogy

Neo

2:27 PM

Cool. Are the graphics at least decent?

motosubatsu

@Neo yeah they were considered very high-quality for the era and have held up pretty well IMO

checkout the screenshots on the steam page

Neo

@motosubatsu Will do.

motosubatsu

I've not played it on PC but it's supposed to be the best version, particularly graphically

all this gaming talk has got me in the mood to pickup ye olde Xbox controller over the weekend :) got a few games to finish off

Nofel

I havent played pc games since AC 1

motosubatsu

@Nofel I very rarely game on the PC anymore.. about the only one I play regularly on PC these days is MTGO

and that barely counts

Nofel

2:38 PM

whats MTGO @motosubatsu

motosubatsu

@Nofel Magic The Gathering: Online

Nofel

I see fortnite fever in my outlaws house

madness

I hate online when ur screaming to other person

not knwoing ur in sitting area

motosubatsu

apart from the aforementioned MTGO and Gears of War pretty much everything I play is singleplayer

Crossed the river styx

I hate online gaming. I don't like multiplayer. Then again, the first PC game I ever played was Wizards Castle.

Also LEM and Lunar Lander

Yes, I am that old

I predate Zork

Neo

I used to love Gauntlet

motosubatsu

2:50 PM

@Crossedtheriverstyx tbh my only real foray into "proper" online gaming was WoW.. and that was less of a game and more of a life dysfunction

Neo

I tried WOW, I thought the graphics were too cartoon like for me to take seriously.

@motosubatsu I wish they would do an updated version of that game.

motosubatsu

@Neo you dodged a bullet there... it can quickly become unmanageable in terms of the amount of time it takes up

Neo

@motosubatsu Yeah, I got my Paladin to level 10. I tried to accept the graphics, but ultimately failed.

motosubatsu

@Neo yeah the graphics aren't the best.. I had a lvl 100 Hunter and a 90-something Death Knight

it got insane.. when you get into the higher levels the game is very good at giving you things that you need to check in on multiple times a day.. there were three of us in the house who played together and it used to involve logging on before work, during lunch and then after work as well

Neo

3:08 PM

@motosubatsu Ouch. I don't have time for that.

motosubatsu

@Neo I didn't really.. it was sort of a bizzare coping mechanism we all did during a particularly hellish period at work

Neo

3:21 PM

So I tried a question on the place I shall not name.

And got a really decent answer IMHO

Masked Man

Oh that reminds me, I used to play this game The Battle for Wesnoth. It was the first game I compiled from source. :) It was a fun game but too addictive, so I had to uninstall it.

Crossed the river styx

I still play Civilization 2

Neo

@Crossedtheriverstyx What is that in a nutshell??

Crossed the river styx

@Neo WARRIRO NEEDS FOOD BADLY

Rep capped again....

Neo

@Crossedtheriverstyx Dang it I wish I could

Crossed the river styx

3:27 PM

Looks like we frightened off Magisch. Were we too rough on him?

Neo

@Crossedtheriverstyx no, he is fine I think. I hope... @Magisch

Magisch

I went home

contrary to popular opinion I don't like to stay at work for more then 8 hours :p

Neo

@Magisch SAME!!! I do all overtime when required from home. Check out my question at the other place. I think its pretty good but is not getting much love sadly.

DarkCygnus

@ThatBrazilianGuy related: meta.stackexchange.com/questions/306740/…

Masked Man

wesnoth.org

DarkCygnus

3:33 PM

Morning all

Darkness has come.

Hello, Mr Anderson

@DarkCygnus Hello

@DarkCygnus Hello sir, how are you doing today?

DarkCygnus

Unfortunately, I woke up with a sore throat... think Im starting to get ill :/

Masked Man

3:38 PM

I think we should revisit the "Many Memes of Workplace" some time. It led to some controversy the last time, but we can do better this time. :)

DarkCygnus

Already had a vitamin C pill, and a honey/lemon tea

Crossed the river styx

I live at work, it's the only place I can relax.

Masked Man

@DarkCygnus Take care, get well soon.

Crossed the river styx

The estranged wife gets the divorce papers this week. I'm thinking of relocating to a fallout shelter

@DarkCygnus Ginger Tea helps head it off

Keeps your sinuses open and reduces mucus

Neo

@Magisch Check out my latest question at the other place. I think I made it solid enough now.

DarkCygnus

3:43 PM

@MaskedMan You know, I have also given that some thought lately... I think that we could start with the guidelines part, and then let it grow to more meme-like content (common knowledge/guidelines are memes though).

We could also use the community adds feature we got (and that is not being used at all) to promote or direct new users to that part, so our content from them will increase its quality and it's positive reception from the Community

Thanks :)

@Crossedtheriverstyx that's a great idea! I do have ginger at home to brew one

ginger/lemon/honey will be called now

Masked Man

We should keep the guidelines and memes separate though, otherwise it will likely lead to the same controversy as last time.

DarkCygnus

@MaskedMan yup, agree

Masked Man

A few rules for posting memes should be a good start.

1. Meme should express the behaviour to be encouraged, not discouraged (because double negation leads to confusion). Example: "Keep Calm and Edit Posts" is ok, not "Keep Calm and Vote to Close".

2. Memes about a specific user should either be posted by the same user, or with explicit prior permission from that user. This will avoid lots of comments asking about whether that user is ok with that meme, and so on.

3. No memes about controversial topics, such as the site that shall not be named. :)

DarkCygnus

Which site shall not.... (shhh)

#2 is especially important :/

Masked Man

3:58 PM

I think having such a collection of memes will also help in onboarding new users. We don't want people to feel locked out because they don't understand what's this cookie thing and electric kettle thing we keep talking about so often.

DarkCygnus

@MaskedMan thats also a good point

Make the site more welcoming in general

Crossed the river styx

@DarkCygnus that's an old actors/vocalists cure. And, then of course, there's a shot of Jaegermeister.

DarkCygnus

Another thing, how would we avoid getting tons of memes under the post? Or is that what we want...(provided they all follow the rules)

@Crossedtheriverstyx that Vitamin C shot I took was actually a syrup that had about 20% alcohol content... I think I will be getting sore throat more often

Crossed the river styx

HEY FOLKS, GUESS WHAT I FOUND! HR IS NOT YOUR FRIEND

Feeds

0

Q: The answer author's disagreement is now enough to reject an edit? (an edit rejected after only 1 review)

We have this answer and a proposed edit https://workplace.stackexchange.com/review/suggested-edits/72814 I made this edit to remove offensive characterization of people who take Software Freedom seriously (the question author names them "zealots"), without changing the overall meaning of the ans...

Crossed the river styx

4:18 PM

When I get home, I need to create a proper "HR IS NOT YOUR FRIEND" meme

DarkCygnus

1

Q: Editing answers vrs. editing questions: When should we avoid the former?

I recently wondered about the nature of editing answers and when should one avoid doing so. I believe that editing questions is something really positive that can help OP receive better attention to the post. However, it is my perception that this is done more frequently than editing answers on ...

discussion answers editing

Seems that editing answers is indeed more delicate than editing Questions...

I think that we could benefit from further discussing that meta post I made some days ago

Crossed the river styx

@DarkCygnus I agree

Neo

@DarkCygnus I agree.

Crossed the river styx

@DarkCygnus I edited my answer to your mete question

Neo

4:42 PM

@DarkCygnus I answered it, may the gods look over me. (LOL)

DarkCygnus

Reading it...

I think you wrote Question, instead of Answer

Neo

Nope I meant Question. The OP owns the question and they should edit it, IMO, unless if falls into one of the two buckets I mentioned. My opinion only.

DarkCygnus

interesting point of view

Masked Man

@DarkCygnus I wanted to write a long winded answer (as usual) to that, but haven't had the time to do so having to deal with all this circus that HNQ brings. :)

DarkCygnus

@MaskedMan if it's a circus, I say you can pull out your Whip

Masked Man

4:53 PM

@DarkCygnus That's exactly what I meant by dealing with the circus. :(

Neo

@MaskedMan Welcome to the real world. The desert of the Moderator....

Masked Man

Anyway in brief, editing questions into a somewhat "good" state is important because that leads to more useful answers. An answer doesn't lead to anything else (except arguments in comments, but leave that aside) so it is ok for editing answers to be lower priority.

Neo

@MaskedMan Agree with the priority part for sure.

DarkCygnus

@MaskedMan I hope you work that into an answer when you got time :) no need to give a long winded one, focus your Inner Killisi

Masked Man

Also, IMHO, there is a greater sense of "ownership" of an answer, and in general, the people who stick around here for long post more answers than questions.

Neo

4:56 PM

I think we may have lost @chrisE

DarkCygnus

I would never dare edit a post by Kilisi (if there has ever been such post that needed editing)

Masked Man

@Neo I was wondering the same a couple of hours ago.

DarkCygnus

@Neo how so?

Masked Man

Maybe he retired in restricted mode.

DarkCygnus

Last seen 29/5

Crossed the river styx

4:58 PM

Kilisi's posts are untouchable.

Neo

He hasn't been seen since May 29th.

Masked Man

Oh that reminds me, thanks to all you THIS for putting a spanner in my works, and ruining my retirement in restricted mode plans. :(

Neo

@MaskedMan ???

Crossed the river styx

@Neo I think the mod election must have gone something like this: Chris E was assumed to be a shoe-in, then the nastiness started, so votes migrated to Masked Man as a thumb in the eye to the nasty people, but that ended up going horribly right.

Masked Man

@Neo "THIS" is now an expletive. ;)

Neo

5:00 PM

LOL

DarkCygnus

THIS spelled backwards is almost SITH

Neo

@Crossedtheriverstyx Could be. To be honest I thought Snow and Chris would win. I really did. Then we had a couple additional candidates join in, and that threw things into a tizzie.

Crossed the river styx

@Neo one thing that amazes me is that all of the high-rep people here are fairly reviled elsewhere (you know where)

@Neo the attempted character assassination almost turned into a real one.

Neo

The, um events if you will, harpooned us both.

Crossed the river styx

@Neo yeah, I actually had to get professional help after that.

Masked Man

5:03 PM

@Crossedtheriverstyx That sounds like a strange way to manipulate an election and honestly makes no sense to me. Which is probably par for the course.

Crossed the river styx

@MaskedMan well, as nasty as people were to neo and myself, this likely pushed votes that would have gone to us, over to you.

Neo

Mass Effect....looks like a good game.

A real good game...

Crossed the river styx

speaking of good games, anyone know of any good FRPG games, esp turn based?

Masked Man

@Crossedtheriverstyx Oh I see. I interpreted it differently. I thought you meant votes which would have gone to Chris came to me just because the "good guys" wanted to spite the "nasty guys".

Crossed the river styx

@MaskedMan I think there was an element of that too, if a few people assumed Chris was going to win, they may have thrown a protest vote your way, figuring Chris would win, but at least they could thumb their noses at the nasty ones

Neo

5:07 PM

Any hints on getting started with Mass Effect?

( desperately trying to change the subject )

Masked Man

I agree with the Gone Horribly Right though, I see it the same from my perspective. I nominated myself mainly for entertainment purposes, but people had already run out of fuel, so I didn't have much entertainment. ... and worst of all, I ended up getting elected with the highest votes.

@Neo No, never heard of it. Gotta check it out.

Neo

@MaskedMan That is actually not a huge surprise. You have been around for 5 years.

Crossed the river styx

Anyone know any good RPGs?

Turn based?

Neo

Star Wars the Old Republic

Crossed the river styx

or 4X games?

@Neo after The Last Jedi and Soylo, I can't stomach Star Wars anymore.

Neo

5:12 PM

@Crossedtheriverstyx Wow.

Masked Man

@Neo I did create an account 5 years ago, but I have only been active since 2015 or so.

Neo

@MaskedMan That's fine. Just stating my opinion that you getting elected was not a huge shock to me.

Crossed the river styx

@Neo yeah, a lot was deleted, but it pushed me over the edge.

The funny thing was I was ready to tone things down. Now, I don't have to.

Neo

@Crossedtheriverstyx I urge you to remember this. While this is fun, its not the real world. The events irritated me more that I would care to admit, but in the end its just virtual stuff. Odds are you will never shake the hand or have a beer with anyone here.

Crossed the river styx

@Neo a CHALLENGE!!!!

Neo

5:17 PM

@Crossedtheriverstyx LOL

Crossed the river styx

@Neo the nastiness being said about me combined with what was going on in RL was just too much for me, but I'm MUCH BETTER NOW which is why our "friends" Don't come around any longer

Neo

@Crossedtheriverstyx Oh that makes more sense. RL too....

and who likes butterflies?

Masked Man

@Neo That's the sad reality unfortunately. :|

Crossed the river styx

I actually have made real friends out of online friends and met more than a few. Most notably my SO :D

Neo

I do have one real life friend here. You'll never guess who.

Masked Man

5:21 PM

@Neo Is that a trick question?

Crossed the river styx

enderland?

Neo

Its a change the subject question....

@Crossedtheriverstyx I am a fan of him, he gave me encouragement when I was ready to tell this pace to F off.

DarkCygnus

I would like to have a beer with you guys though...

Neo

@DarkCygnus LOL

DarkCygnus

Are you more into Lager or Dark beer? (Guess which one I prefer)

Crossed the river styx

5:23 PM

@DarkCygnus If you're ever in the NY, NJ area, I'm close to the airports :D

@DarkCygnus Since I'm of German extraction, I have to say Lager. I suspect you prefer the dark?

Neo

@ChrisE and I live within 30 minutes, but he is not the friend I refer too.

DarkCygnus

yup, Dark beer

@motosubatsu also offered me a beer if I ever went to the UK

Crossed the river styx

Anyone near NJ? I mean, I can understand why anyone wouldn't WANT to be anywhere near NJ, but I'm just asking

DarkCygnus

Next time I happen to go to NY/NJ I'll ping you

Masked Man

So, not enderland and Chris, let me guess, Monica?

Neo

5:25 PM

I haven't interacted with Monica much at all, so no. Not Jane either.

Crossed the river styx

I know, you're friends with Idrinkandiknowthings!

Neo

@Crossedtheriverstyx I do like him but no

I think @Crossedtheriverstyx is trolling me now.

Masked Man

Well, it was worth a guess. :)

DarkCygnus

do we know that person @Neo ?

Neo

Yes. He is popular here at TWP.

Masked Man

5:27 PM

~~I hope it isn't something pedantic as a user with 101 reputation. :)~~

Neo

Nope. He is an important member of our community and has less than 50K rep

I know @Crossedtheriverstyx knows.

Masked Man

Oh that narrows it down.

DarkCygnus

Erik?

Neo

Winter is coming

Crossed the river styx

Snow, of course

Masked Man

5:29 PM

Might be a good question for Puzzling.

Neo

@Crossedtheriverstyx Ding, ding, ding!

DarkCygnus

:0

Neo

Damn him he won't share his login so I can see the moderator tools LOL.

Crossed the river styx

Well, as everyone knows, I am in direct contact with Nofel.

Neo

@Crossedtheriverstyx Everyone but me LOL. I knew you were trying to help him though.

Masked Man

5:30 PM

@Neo There is not a lot of stuff to see, I can assure you.

Neo

@MaskedMan :-P

Masked Man

Anyway just bear with it for another year, you can see it for yourself.

Neo

@MaskedMan You keep saying that LOL. But Moto and Darkness drew more votes than I did. And once I get my legendary badge (8 to go) I am not sure I will hang around.

Masked Man

@Neo Excuse me while I upvote all your old answers. :P

2

Crossed the river styx

@Neo I'm hanging around just to annoy my enemies, and will help build this stack with everything I can think to do. The best way to deal with liars is to make their lies obvious for what they are

Neo

5:35 PM

@Crossedtheriverstyx I just don't think I care that much anymore. Perhaps not winning was a blessing in disguise.

@MaskedMan I rep capped, do that tomorrow LOL.

Crossed the river styx

@Neo I found it strangely liberating, after a fashion. If you're annoying people of low character, you are doing something good, and it should continue

Masked Man

I keep coming back from my retirement (in restricted mode) because I miss you guys. Somehow, my online friends tend to be less obnoxious than offline ones. That holds even after the online friendship "upgrades" to offline friendship somehow.

Neo

@MaskedMan Your definitely not retired now sir.

Crossed the river styx

We need to have a huge meetup, maybe at Cronax's house.

motosubatsu

@DarkCygnus indeed.. And the offer still stands :)

Crossed the river styx

5:37 PM

:D

Neo

@Crossedtheriverstyx I think your better at that aspect than I am

Masked Man

@Crossedtheriverstyx Good idea. Although we could also do that at Nofel's place for some cookies and milk.

Neo

@MaskedMan Ahem...STEAMED Milk.

Crossed the river styx

@Neo
If your enemy is hungry, give him bread to eat,
and if he is thirsty, give him water to drink,
for you will heap burning coals on his head,
and the Lord will reward you.

@neo By continuing to do good, you spite evil

Neo

Time will tell. The moderator thing would have given this a new spin....but still the goal is legendary and 50K. After that we'll see.

Have a good weekend everyone. Time to roll..... Maybe one of our MODS could reach out to Chris and check on him. He will be a loss we feel for sometime.

I had a friend help me though the election bul..... errr events. I wonder if he did?

Crossed the river styx

5:50 PM

@Neo be well, and "non illegitimae carberundum"

DarkCygnus

6:19 PM

@Neo Have a nice weekend, Sir

Neo

6:30 PM

Just when I thought I could get away....

0

Q: Why on earth was this excelent answer deleted?

Excellent Answer to the question Can someone explain why this answer with 80 votes was Deleted? I was planning on awarding a bounty on this! There may be one phrase which some might find offensive, but I think its a huge stretch and seems like an over reaction. In my opinion, this needs to ...

discussion specific-answer

DarkCygnus

That was the answer from the Zealot user!! @Neo

Neo

@DarkCygnus If this is really offensive, change Free Software zealot to Free Software Fan.

Holy cow are we into our feelings or what....

AND

this is actually the best answer to the question.

DarkCygnus

Actually, that is why some user wanted to edit that answer :/

Neo

@DarkCygnus This is a good case for editing. Your changing one word....

Zealot to Fan -- done.

DarkCygnus

@Neo look here chat.stackexchange.com/transcript/message/45054200#45054200

that user flagged it as offensive

Neo

6:36 PM

Change Zealot to Fan

OMG

that is such an over reach....

DarkCygnus

seems that other users also overacted: chat.stackexchange.com/transcript/message/45054200#45054200

Neo

SUPER SHOCKED LOOK ON FACE @MaskedMan

This type of actions reminds me of another site on the stack....

Where are all the Moderators when we need them LOL

Crossed the river styx

Attack of the feels!

Well, I got another chat message deleted, no timeout this time, at least. I think that the standard in some places is "we don't like you"

And apparently autism hurts other people.

Feeds

6:56 PM

2

Q: Why on earth was this excellent answer deleted?

Excellent Answer to the question Can someone explain why this answer with 80 votes was Deleted? I was planning on awarding a bounty on this! There may be one phrase which some might find offensive, but I think its a huge stretch and seems like an over reaction. In my opinion, this needs to ...

discussion specific-answer

Philip Kendall

7:48 PM

@Neo @DarkCygnus @Crossedtheriverstyx Thanks folks, you've restored my faith in the community. Was mightly annoyed by that when I got home. Taking time away from SE for the rest of the evening so I don't do anything silly, but thanks.

Mods: if you happen to read this, I'd be happy to change "zealots" to "fans" or something. But Sarge's edit was definitely too far.

Crossed the river styx

@PhilipKendall we gotcha back, man.

aint nobody gonna get in our grill

Philip Kendall

And mods: thank you for being mods. I imagine that post has been a flag magnet all day.

Crossed the river styx

And now a Haiku....

Phillip Kendal Learned
All of us have his back
We won't let this stand

Philip Kendall

For what it's worth, the edit wasn't "zealot" to "fan" which wouldn't have been so bad, but implied that anyone who valued software freedom would feel the same workplace.stackexchange.com/review/suggested-edits/72814

Crossed the river styx

Flagging a good post
For an inoffensive word
is utter nonsense

Philip Kendall

7:55 PM

Anyway, really stepping away now ;-) Have a nice morning / afternoon / evening etc.

Crossed the river styx

Enjoy your time sir
We will correct this nonsense
You will be avenged

DarkCygnus

8:28 PM

@PhilipKendall It's the least we could do :) good luck

DarkCygnus

9:17 PM

0

Q: FInding location of tweets using TwiLoc, how to run this java code?

I am doing a research project. in which i want to find location(long, lat) of tweets. but only 1-2% of tweets have locations. After reading blogs, stackoverflow and research papers. I find this method very helpful to geotag around 60% tweets. This is the paper in which he wrote all the details ab...

research

please, someone show the way to this user

DarkCygnus

10:08 PM

How did you calibrated and characterized your offensotometer? Maybe it's a 3 for you, and maybe an 1 for me... but perhaps I woke up today more tolerant than other days — DarkCygnus 48 mins ago

DarkCygnus

11:18 PM

workplace.stackexchange.com/a/113661/73791

Here you can vote to undelete that answer if you want guys

already edited the Z word

@PhilipKendall the post is now unlocked, already voted to undelete. I edited the Z word out for Fan.... I'll try to give it one more edit to soften the "Your entire post at the moment..." part, which is the only other one that may leave a bad taste for some users. The rest is fine IMHO

DarkCygnus

11:39 PM

Took another edit, I think it is ok now

Have a great weekend everybody :)

Masked Man

11:54 PM

@Neo We had "only" 3 mods to deal with that, including a certain "intern mod" lol.

You are right, that answer has been a flag magnet. I thought the answer was a bit blunt but not rude, so I tried to quell the flames by moving the comments away from the "quality" attention. Unfortunately, that didn't work at all. More comments kept coming in, and the post author rejecting a suggested edit added some fuel to the fire.

The community got it deleted via flags. That tends to happen when our regular users don't go to the review queues often. ;)

Transcript for