The hazards of multitasking

Sunday afternoon I was writing some code on a work machine while logged into Lord of the Rings Online looking to get a group together to run some team-oriented in-game quests, and this usually involves just kind of hanging out for a while and pasting an occasional message into a “looking for group” type channel until something turns up.

I use a great little utility called Synergy to share a single keyboard and mouse across multiple machines; I can change which machine I’m interacting with by dragging the mouse pointer offscreen to make it jump to the other side. It also allows the cut-and-paste of text between boxes. This is a very convenient arrangement, but I’ve found an inherent danger: mis-pasting. When I compiled and ran the application I was working on, I was surprised to see the following:

Dangers of Multitasking

This time PZ Myers has gone too far!

Yeah, it’s been a few months since the last time I put up a blog post promising it wouldn’t be a few months before my next one, but today while reading a blog I normally enjoy, I read something so horrendous that I was inspired to finally try to remember my password to log on to this here site and post something to express my outrage.

PZ Myers, biologist and outspoken opponent of things superstitious, today for the first time since I’ve been reading his blog made a statement that deeply offended me. I am thoroughly outraged.

He writes:

Not only are the paladins of evolution handsomer, wittier, more charming, and with a deeper grasp of the truth than the orc-like hordes of creationism, but even our ancillary skills are wielded with more effortless panache than our opponents’ primary talents.

Yes, he actually wrote that, and apparently stands by it since it’s still right there for anyone to read. I thought long and hard about just how to reply to this… this disgusting piece, and finally realized that I’m just not qualified to address it in the way it truly deserves.

But I know someone who is.

I mailed a link to Prof. Myers’ screed to an acquaintance. As this screen grab from our webcam chat shows, he was quite visibly disturbed upon reading it.

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After he composed himself, I offered to let him use my highly trafficked (my wife looked at it at least twice in 2008… once without me leaving it up on her screen!) blog to issue a reply. So without further ado, please welcome my first ever guest blogger, Kerschplat the Uruk Blackarrow.

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Thank to Don for letting use of blog space. Apologize for bad human words – Kerschplat usually eat people, not talk them.

Kerschplat angry today when read hairy science man compare orcs to creationists. Angry long time, then hurt – even cry little – then angry again. Angry feel more natural.

Orcs not have problem with Theory of Evolution. Easy to believe complex organism crawl out of slime – Kerschplat himself crawl out of slime every morning, then go looking for complex organism to squash and eat. Kerschplat live simple and honest life – he disagree someone, he not make up fact or ignore evidence to support argument – he shoot opponent in back, fair and square.

Kerschplat still too angry for eloquent waxiness in reply, so simply say this: Me demand PZ Myers to issue public apologizing to orc kind – included goblins – for slanderous remark. If no say sorry, Kerschplat not afraid to call on evil forces from darkest depths of underworld: lawyers. If PZ not sorrying, Kerschplat take legal action. Maybe get free camera.

Since have attention, Kerschplat do little self-promotion. Am something of artist – squeeze fluids from fallen foes for paint colors – and make picture of early aquatic life frolick near shoreline before emerge onto land. Attach below – please to give feedback in comments. Kerschplat open to critcism so for people who say bad things, Kerschplat do honorable thing and not use slow, painful kill method.

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Thank muchness,
Kerschplat

There you have it, an emotional reply from someone to whom this grievous insult was directly… uh… directed. Stick that wafer into your fiery pit of despair and smoke it, Myers!

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(Yes, I truly am a master of Photoshop!)

Poe or No?

Rationalwiki defines Poe’s law thusly:

Poe’s Law states:

Without a winking smiley or other blatant display of humor, it is impossible to create a parody of Fundamentalism that SOMEONE won’t mistake for the real thing.

Someone has put up a web site called AntiSpore to protest the new game in which players create life forms which evolve over time – apparently the idea that it embraces evolution and the fact that it’s technically possible to build creatures with appendages that resemble human genitalia is an affront to God and Christians everywhere.

This entire game is propaganda aimed directly at our children to teach them evolution instead of creationism, or “intelligent design” if you go for stupid PC terms.

The object of the game is to evolve from a “spore” into demon-like intelligent space creatures that violently take over the galaxy.

I can’t decide whether this site is for real, or just somebody having a little Poe-inspired fun.

Confessions of a Creep

I admit it: I’m a creep. I love being a creep.

No, no, not that kind of creep, the drunken, bad-pickup-line-using guy at the local bar who won’t stop hitting on you.

(Yes, it’s my first gaming-related post in quite a while.)

I’m talking “creep” in the Lord of the Rings Online sense. During that game’s development it was accepted that there needed to be some form of player-vs-player content beyond simple dueling, but the idea of good guys fighting pitched battles against one another was thought to go against the spirit of Tolkien’s books (though that’s not strictly true, in my opinion). The solution was “Monster play”, a system whereby players could take the roles of the bad guys in a designated area called the Ettenmoors to fight against elves, dwarves, hobbits, and men who dared venture in there. The Free Peoples (“freeps”) battle the orcs, wargs, spiders, etc. (“creeps”) for control of a number of keeps, among other lesser goals.

In the freeps vs. creeps contest the creeps are the underdogs. Individually just about any given freep is more powerful than all but the most accomplished of creeps; they have better healing, better stun/hold/etc abilities, and can do more damage faster. The thought behind this disparity was supposedly that the creeps would have numbers on their side, but out in the real virtual world that’s almost never the case. It’s rare for us to be outnumbered by less than about 1.5 to 1, and fighting against 3-to-1 odds isn’t uncommon. What we lack in power and numbers we have to make up for in tactics and coordination… and let me tell you, plowing into and overrunning a clump of freeps from behind when they’ve twice your numbers is quite a rush.

A rather long while ago, when the non-disclosure for this game lifted, I posted a few pictures and hinted at more to come, but never did bother to post anything else. Well, here are a bunch more, including a few creep-oriented ones. Click the thumbnail to view the gigantic version of any picture.

Freeps and Creeps in the Ettenmoors:
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Other random scenes, including the Rangers of Thintaur kinship house and Gollum’s cave:
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The NDA Lifteth!

I was invited into the alpha of Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar last year and have been itching to post my experiences there for several months. Well, today the Non-Disclosure Agreement was lifted, so I can speak at last! Of course it’s late at night and I’m nearly asleep, so I’ll let some screenshots do the work.

Keep in mind that the game is still in beta so changes may very well happen. In fact, the highest-resolution textures still aren’t in place yet – they would have made the client download even more massive.

If the fancy image viewer in this blog software works, clicking on these resized images should bring up the gi-normous 1600×1200 shots.

Join Druni, my Dwarf Guardian, on a trek through a few of the sites of Middle-earth!

The first group are taken out in the wilderness of the Trollshaws:
Trollshaws

Trollshaws

Trollshaws

Bruinen Gorge, on the road to Rivendell. The water effects are incredible in this game – the surface reflects the surrounding environment, including an accurate reflection of the stars in the sky at night. Not only that, but the reflection appear to move with you as you run across the water!
Bruinen

Heading down to Rivendell.
Rivendell


There were little fuzzy dandelion-seed things drifting through the air when I took this shot; for some reason they didn’t show up in the screen-grab. The area in front of Druni looks a little blurred because there’s a waterfall below him that’s throwing mist into the air.
Rivendell

Rivendell

Imladris, the Last Homely House
Imladris


Elrond’s council chamber, where the Fellowship was formed. Bilbo is down there giving riddle-quests to visitors.
Imladris


Trestlebridge, a town in the North Downs that has seen better days.
Imladris

That’s all for now – more in the days to come!

Left Behind Wal-Mart: Eternal Fracas

So the “Left Behind: Eternal Forces” game mentioned a few times here has shipped, and Wal-Mart is under fire by critics of the game for stocking it. Personally, rather than having it pulled from the shelves, I’d rather see the game fail miserably on its own merits or lack thereof. Wishful thinking, I know – these days, slapping a Christian theme onto a mediocre product is a sure way to boost sales. Just look at the success of Mel Gibson’s “The Jesus Chainsaw Massacre” movie a few years ago.

As one of the responses here a while back pointed out, the initial articles about LB:EF were incorrect: rather than being rewarded for killing non-believers, you do in fact receive a penalty of some sort for killing instead of converting them. How to recover the points lost for the taking of a human life in the name of God? Prayer. Yes, your in-game units have to say their prayers, apparently a time-consuming process which diverts them from other work.

So I was incorrect in implying that the message of the game is “It’s okay to kill infidels.” In reality, the message is “It’s okay to kill infidels so long as you put aside time to pray for forgiveness later.”

From the Dept. of Things I Never Thought I’d Say

As uncomfortable as it is to find myself in something resembling agreement with the fundamentalist-nutjob Jack Thompson/Family Research Council types, I’ll have to give credit where it’s due: even though the “Left Behind” game I mentioned in my last entry is Christian-themed, these groups have strongly and apparently almost universally denounced it. It seems they’ve decided that violence is violence, even when it’s done in the name of that big invisible overlord of theirs. Perhaps that sort of violence is even worse than the run-of-the-mill non-denominational kind, at least when it’s confined to video games.

Just in case anyone besides the search engine bots has noticed that I haven’t posted anything lately, I’ll offer my explanation: I’m in the process of training my replacement at one client site in preparation for my move to a new one on monday. That, plus children’s birthdays, sick family members, and the desire to get outside once in a while have been absorbing my time. Hopefully in the next couple of weeks, things will settle down into a pseudo-routine.

Praise th’ Lawd and Pass th’ Ammunition!

Coming in time for this year’s holiday season is Left Behind: Eternal Forces, a new strategy wargame with a twist: you’re a Christian leading your forces against the infidels, and in the loving, charitable spirit of Christianity, your goal is to kill anyone who won’t convert. Shouting “Praise the lord!” as you smite your enemies, you march down the streets of New York City amid the rotting corpses of the impure.

Violence in video games is of course, nothing new, and games with a religious slant have been around too, though they’re seldom of the high-profile, mainstream variety. I’m not one who’s inclined to believe that video-game violence is responsible for all the ills of our society, but I am one of those who gets a bit disgusted when I see parents buying a copy of Grand Theft Auto for their 8 year old. But I’m wondering how this game will play among the “Focus on Family” type wannabe Taliban-for-Jesus groups who regularly condemn any sort of imaginary violence that might somehow, someday, have an effect on straight white male Christians. Will they defend this game? Will they condemn it for its violence in spite of its religious background? Or will they, as they’ve done so far, continue to remain silent on the subject, realizing that to open their mouths in favor of either solution might cause the public to smell the hypocracy on their breath?

Now, in defense of LB:EF, it does also allow you to play as the bad guys. In the guise of Satan, I suppose, or one of his earthly minions, you’re able to raise demons to fight against the armies of light. Demons which one would presume to be some combination of gay, jewish, liberal, or muslim – you know, to make them really seem frightening and evil to the target audience.

What ratchets up the fright level about this game for me is that it is apparently being backed and promoted by one of those mega-churches. You know, the ones where the preacher flies into town in his private jet, climbs out of his limo, enters a packed arena-sized building, and delivers a sermon to thousands (or millions, live via satellite, or send $29.95 plus shipping for a copy of the DVD!) about how Christianity is under attack in America?

The marketing plan? Send free evaluation copies to churches all over the country. Yes, to Christians nationwide, the message will be clear: Thou Shalt Not Kill, Unless the Victim’s Dogma Differs from Yours.

I described the game to a co-worker who’s big on making bible-based moral stands while he’s not busy surfing the net for porn, a guy who can’t be made to see the little ™ sign alongside the phrases “War on Christianity” or “War on Christmas”.

His reaction to the game? “Good! It’s a counter to all those other games!”

“Other games?” I asked. “You mean ones where the goal is to kill Christians?”

“Yeah, those!”

“Like which one?”

[Sound of crickets chirping]

“Well, I don’t know, but they’re coming!”

At first I wrote his response off as run-of-the-mill paranoia, but the more I though about it, the more I realized he was right. Now that the far-right lunatic fringe of the bible-thumper set has opened the floodgate of kill-the-infidel gaming, what’s to stop the violence-endorsing sects of other faiths from creating wargames of their own?

Many more details on LB:EF are available in Part 1 and Part 2 of an article by Jonathan Hutson.

And no, there’s no word yet on whether the Holy Handgrenade will be available in-game.

Wii3

The internet is abuzz this week with news from E3, the annual get-together that is to the electronic gaming industry what the Republican convention is to gun-totin’ fundamentalist “librul”-hatin’ rednecks named Jeb, or the Democratic convention is to, oh, I dunno, maybe people looking for a market where they can sell replacement spinal columns?

Now, for me, the biggest news out of E3 is the announcement that signups for the beta of Lord of the Rings Online have begun. But what the press seems to be focusing on is the rivalry between the Big Three of console gaming. While I’ve owned a few consoles and currently have a Playstation 2, I’ve always preferred PC games for the most part. All the PS2 has been used for in over a year is to entertain children (and occasional adults, myself included) with “Eye Toy” games. So a while back when the trio of next-generation consoles was announced, I was interested from a detached point of view, but shrugged off questions of “which one will you get”; at the time I figured, “probably none of the above.”

I’m beginning to rethink that opinion. Not because of the possible tremendous strides in graphics and processing power (the PC has or will soon pass the consoles by once again), but because of interface innovations on the new machines. The XBox 360 and the Playstation 3 will both have Eye Toy -like peripherals available. I like the PS2 Eye Toy, but it is limited in resolution, is vulnerable to low or changing light levels in the environment, and has a very limited selection of software to support it. Microsoft has already demonstrated a camera type peripheral for the XBox360 that displays in a higher resolution and recognizes such minute movements as hand gestures, and likely Sony’s product will follow suit if they ever get their act together on the PS3 in general. In any case, it remains to be seen what kind of software support these devices will have, and unless someone figures a way to coordinate 2 cameras from different angles to map a player’s movement in 3D space, they’ll always be limited to 2-dimensional gameplay.

Enter the Nintendo Wii. Dumb name, yes, I agree, but it certainly has drawn a lot of attention to the machine. (I dare Nintendo to produce a portable version called the Wee Wii!)

Way back when the machine, then code-named Revolution, was announced, the pictures of the simplistic, rectangular TV-remote-like controller made a lot of folks scratch their heads and wonder aloud, “What were they thinking?” Since then, of course, we’ve learned that this controller can in fact sense its position in space, so it can be swung like a sword, aimed like a gun, etc, and the game environment will react to the player’s movements through three dimensions. I wonder if there is the possibility of using multiple controllers to say, wield two weapons in-game, or to attach similar devices around one’s ankles so the game could track leg movements like kicks?

The Wii does in fact trail the other two new consoles in terms of sheer raw power, but based on the information available now, it’s the one I’d choose. The fact that the 3d-sensing controller comes with the system means that pretty much every Wii game will make use of it, and it will enjoy much more support than the Eye-Toy-alikes ever will.

Price is also a concern, of course. The Wii looks to be a lot less costly than the XBox360… and for the price of a PS3 (if and when it ever gets here), a person could by an XBox and a Wii!