Profile for *i
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Displayed name | *i |
| Member number | 6 |
| Title | The Establishment |
| Postcount | 3726 |
| Homepage | |
| Registered | Tuesday, September 18 2001 07:00 |
Recent posts
Pages
| Author | Recent posts |
|---|---|
| Judging: Next Phase in Blades of Avernum | |
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The Establishment
Member # 6
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written Sunday, December 17 2006 18:38
Profile
Unfortunately, others were a bit too forgiving, in my opinion, leading to an overly generous distribution of scores. I've decided to go with the 90% tentatively, and I've also layed out a basic rubric for what score range means what. Hopefully these will be a little more consistent. -------------------- Your flower power is no match for my glower power! Posts: 3726 | Registered: Tuesday, September 18 2001 07:00 |
| Merry Christmas! (Statistics 2006-12) in General | |
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The Establishment
Member # 6
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written Sunday, December 17 2006 12:32
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quote:Hahahahahahahahahahaha! :D -------------------- Your flower power is no match for my glower power! Posts: 3726 | Registered: Tuesday, September 18 2001 07:00 |
| Cairn Gates in Geneforge 4: Rebellion | |
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The Establishment
Member # 6
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written Sunday, December 17 2006 09:52
Profile
You sound like you are in the correct area. But to go back to be more clear, start where the caravan is, take the passage on the right (not the one with the pylons). You will fight some Thahds there. Before you get to the mines, look south and you will see a door there. Inside of there is a switch that shuts off the pylons. -------------------- Your flower power is no match for my glower power! Posts: 3726 | Registered: Tuesday, September 18 2001 07:00 |
| Judging: Next Phase in Blades of Avernum | |
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The Establishment
Member # 6
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written Sunday, December 17 2006 09:22
Profile
As for the question about who wins what, this relates to the initial round. Of course, this decides who advances to the final round, so it affects who gets to participate in that. I doubt it would change the winner, to be honest, but it would change the number of scenarios judges need to play in the finals. Either the 90% or the 95% does a decent job of cutting things off, nobody, as the scores stand now, is really close and cut. Again, the numbers I put are subject to change based on how judges reallocate their scores. [ Sunday, December 17, 2006 09:23: Message edited by: *i ] -------------------- Your flower power is no match for my glower power! Posts: 3726 | Registered: Tuesday, September 18 2001 07:00 |
| Judging: Next Phase in Blades of Avernum | |
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The Establishment
Member # 6
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written Sunday, December 17 2006 07:43
Profile
All scores are now in, so begins the discussion phase. Before I go ahead and start this, I want to put something forth. I looked through the scores without doing any rigorous analyis and it appears that almost every scenario stands a good shot of advancing to the finals. Now, I don't care if this be the case as if every scenario is very good, all should advance. However, my fear is that there may be a shortage of judges. So, before I post scores, I want to get feedback of the judges and scenario authors. We have a few options: 1) The status quo. Most scenarios will probably advance, we accept this, and whatever judges we can find, we accept their scores. Again, this may lead to few judges making decisions that do not reflect a consensus view. 2) We raise the cutoff to 90% of the top score in the category. This will ensure less scenarios advance, but it would involve changing the rules which is not desirable, but may be helpful. 3) In our discussion phase, the judges agree to try to separate out the scores a little better. Foreseeing this, I proposed that a score of 5 be an average, yet it seems people are still following the old CSR scale. This would require no rule changes, but would require the cooperation of the judges. 4) Some idea I have not thought of that neither significantly changes the rules nor requires judges to refine their scores in a large way. As judges and authors, what are your thoughts on this? UPDATE: Regarding option 2, I did, crunch the numbers (I figure they will be out soon enough anyway) and here are the general resultsfor scenarios advancing versus cutoff assuming I got everything right: 80% -- 10/11 scenarios advance 90% -- 7/11 scenarios advance 95% -- 5/11 scenarios advance I'd lean toward a 95% cutoff or option 3 outlined above. [ Sunday, December 17, 2006 08:54: Message edited by: *i ] -------------------- Your flower power is no match for my glower power! Posts: 3726 | Registered: Tuesday, September 18 2001 07:00 |
| killing a shade in Avernum 4 | |
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The Establishment
Member # 6
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written Sunday, December 17 2006 07:21
Profile
You need to wait until very late in the game before you can kill them. You will find an item in the main villain's fortress that will prevent them from healing themselves. -------------------- Your flower power is no match for my glower power! Posts: 3726 | Registered: Tuesday, September 18 2001 07:00 |
| Reviews Received in Blades of Avernum | |
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The Establishment
Member # 6
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written Saturday, December 16 2006 22:46
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All scores received save Kelandon. Bain, you may disregard the previous message. Kel, if you have any scores with comments, could you send them to me so we can at least get started? -------------------- Your flower power is no match for my glower power! Posts: 3726 | Registered: Tuesday, September 18 2001 07:00 |
| Reviews Received in Blades of Avernum | |
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The Establishment
Member # 6
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written Saturday, December 16 2006 20:36
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Sorry for the double post, Bain, if you read this, you have a PM. :) -------------------- Your flower power is no match for my glower power! Posts: 3726 | Registered: Tuesday, September 18 2001 07:00 |
| I Have A Beef With You All in General | |
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The Establishment
Member # 6
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written Saturday, December 16 2006 14:24
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I went back and reread the entire Synergy thread, or what was left of it. Aside from Alec and a few other scattered posts, I found nothing to be horribly condescending or outside the norms of a standard debate. The only thing that made this one particularly seem worse is that it was one person versus everything else. Anyway, this discussion, I feel, has outlived much of its usefulness. I would have killed it immediately upon giving a response to the initial thread post had Synergy not posted in it. Be that it is devolved beyond much substance, I think it is time to leave this one be. If anyone wishes to continue it, you may, of course, do so in a private venue. -------------------- Your flower power is no match for my glower power! Posts: 3726 | Registered: Tuesday, September 18 2001 07:00 |
| I Have A Beef With You All in General | |
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The Establishment
Member # 6
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written Saturday, December 16 2006 14:07
Profile
Yes, overall value and contribution to the community is one of the primary concerns when deciding the severity of the penalty. Those that have contributed a lot I will give more (although not infinite, see TM and Alec) leeway to. If you have contributed more here, it would make the difference between whether I decide to apply a warning or a more severe punishment. This is primarily for community management reasons, older members tend to be more receptive to simple warnings and a ban really would not be all that useful. I prefer to avoid permanent bans unless things get really bad. I will reiterate, this has nothing to do with the content of the arguments themselves. Yes, there were things said in the Synergy topic that were beyond the scope of things. But there has been nothing really, in my judgment, to merit substantial punishment yet. Remember, just because nothing was done in terms of disciplinary action (other than telling Synergy to watch himself near the beginning), I have noted the conduct there and if things accumulate to a point, I will take action. -------------------- Your flower power is no match for my glower power! Posts: 3726 | Registered: Tuesday, September 18 2001 07:00 |
| Reviews Received in Blades of Avernum | |
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The Establishment
Member # 6
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written Saturday, December 16 2006 12:18
Profile
All right, I'll move back the deadline until then. You still there Salomon? -------------------- Your flower power is no match for my glower power! Posts: 3726 | Registered: Tuesday, September 18 2001 07:00 |
| Reviews Received in Blades of Avernum | |
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The Establishment
Member # 6
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written Saturday, December 16 2006 12:15
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I still need to mail myself my reviews. I also still need them for Salomon and Kelandon. [ Saturday, December 16, 2006 12:17: Message edited by: *i ] -------------------- Your flower power is no match for my glower power! Posts: 3726 | Registered: Tuesday, September 18 2001 07:00 |
| Physics Background in General | |
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The Establishment
Member # 6
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written Saturday, December 16 2006 10:41
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While you do not necessarily need extensive coursework in physics (or related disciplines) to achieve a mastery, it sure helps out a lot. As for your example, you point out the extremely rare exception, not the rule. You can read popularized books on physics all you want, this does not make you an expert in the field. The only way to do this, is to open up and learn the material textbooks and research papers that give the subject a rigorous treatment. Reading Fabric of the Cosmos does not make you an expert on spacetime. While Brian Greene's depictions are elucidative in concept, they can only take you so far. Since the English language (or any other "spoken" language) is a bit lacking in explaining rigorous and abstract scientific concepts, it is impossible to get the full story and hence there can be some basic errors made on the part of the reader. To rectify this, a reader that is more interested need only to pick up a textbook on string theory, general relativeity, etc. that gives the mathematical details and hack his/her way through it. I tried it once many years ago, without any real success, primarily because my knowledge of calculus was quite lacking at the time. One classic example is entropy and the Second Law of Thermodynamics. This is often misunderstood by those who have only read popularized descriptions of entropy: entropy is disorder and disorder increases on average. While this is true, there are many subtleties to the second law requiring a mathematical description. Read up on a vortex tube, seems to defy the second law, but when the calculations are done, it really does not. Common misunderstandings from simplistic descriptions lead to incorrect and often non-sensical arguments. But I digress, the best way, for most people, to learn the material correctly and in a rigorous manner is through coursework. While it is possible to do otherwise, it most often leads to serious conceptual flaws. [ Saturday, December 16, 2006 10:42: Message edited by: *i ] -------------------- Your flower power is no match for my glower power! Posts: 3726 | Registered: Tuesday, September 18 2001 07:00 |
| Monarch in Geneforge 4: Rebellion | |
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The Establishment
Member # 6
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written Saturday, December 16 2006 10:14
Profile
Yes, with magic it is doable albeit very difficult. As has already been said, you need to go to the Rebel camp and recruit help. -------------------- Your flower power is no match for my glower power! Posts: 3726 | Registered: Tuesday, September 18 2001 07:00 |
| help with online order in Avernum 4 | |
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The Establishment
Member # 6
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written Friday, December 15 2006 18:58
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I wouldn't worry too much, if you don't see anything by Tuesday, I'd give them a call. Remember Spiderweb Software is on PST. -------------------- Your flower power is no match for my glower power! Posts: 3726 | Registered: Tuesday, September 18 2001 07:00 |
| Reviews Received in Blades of Avernum | |
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The Establishment
Member # 6
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written Friday, December 15 2006 16:50
Profile
*bump* Scores are due soon! -------------------- Your flower power is no match for my glower power! Posts: 3726 | Registered: Tuesday, September 18 2001 07:00 |
| Essence Orbs Q in Geneforge Series | |
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The Establishment
Member # 6
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written Friday, December 15 2006 13:27
Profile
Apparently the damage cap was not in this game. -------------------- Your flower power is no match for my glower power! Posts: 3726 | Registered: Tuesday, September 18 2001 07:00 |
| Essence Orbs Q in Geneforge Series | |
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The Establishment
Member # 6
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written Friday, December 15 2006 12:31
Profile
I believe there may be an overall damage cap of 200 from attacks. I don't know for sure for this specific game. -------------------- Your flower power is no match for my glower power! Posts: 3726 | Registered: Tuesday, September 18 2001 07:00 |
| Physics Background in General | |
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The Establishment
Member # 6
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written Friday, December 15 2006 12:28
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I agree, part of being a knowledgable person is being familiar with things outside of your specialty. As a scientist, it is important, I feel, that scientists take non-science courses as there is a world outside of science that any educated person should be aware of. Conversely, I feel, non-scientists should have to take a science class (particularly a lab class) so they are at least familiar with the scientific method and some of the fundamental concepts in science. Be that science, in the current time, shapes our lives in too many ways to count, a person cannot both be ignorant of the basics science and well educated. -------------------- Your flower power is no match for my glower power! Posts: 3726 | Registered: Tuesday, September 18 2001 07:00 |
| Serviles and Canisters...??? in Geneforge 4: Rebellion | |
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The Establishment
Member # 6
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written Thursday, December 14 2006 21:36
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quote:While this may be true, as we have been able to explain a lot of stuff with the Avernum timeline, often the best explanatioin is the simplist. I'm not saying that what has been said is wrong, but it is inherently speculative either way. Call me cynical, but I just don't expect perfect continuity in Jeff's games. -------------------- Your flower power is no match for my glower power! Posts: 3726 | Registered: Tuesday, September 18 2001 07:00 |
| I Have A Beef With You All in General | |
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The Establishment
Member # 6
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written Thursday, December 14 2006 21:08
Profile
Basically my approach to locking things is when I make a judgment that further discussion on the topic will produce only destructive results. This can be the result of an extensive flame war that has got out of hand, or in the case of Synergy's topic, one where the primary person has decided to stop arguing and all future posts will only either rehash what has already been said or devolve into unresponded bashing. Further on the Synergy topic, I thought the debate was vigorous, but still not outside the normal bounds of what we have seen here. This is not to say I do not feel some of the posts were a bit out of hand, but I don't like having to kill a topic because of a small number of people said some things they should not have. As had been said, well educated people are not in short supply here. They tend to know things very well and I do not blame them for trying to correct misunderstandings in their disciplines. This helps the general reader who is not as informed and I do not consider this nitpicking. Incidentally, I don't think anyone said quantum mechanics (or the uncertainty principle) is proven, as it is impossible to do so. However, there is so much theoretical and experimental evidence for it that denying it, or its results, is as foolish as denying the existence of gravity. The uncertainty principle is really a poor example as it is well founded both theoretically and experimentally. Read up on Bell's inequality and the EPR Paradox for more information. What I just did was not nitpicky, but it served to correct a misunderstanding. While I didn't go into the arguments here, as is beyond the scope of this thread, I told you where to read up on things. As for chat speak and stuff, personally I'd prefer people to communicate with plain, vernacular English, as is the custom in this community. I do think here we tend to respect people more who can communicate well. I don't consider this to necessarily be a bad thing, as communities will inherently form their own identity. Either way, I don't lock/punish people for not writing in clean English. There are times where it goes overboard into incomprehensibility, I will ask them to do it as it is much easier to follow. As for the recent topic, it comes down to the same thing I said before, I felt, based on past exprience, it would only lead to a bunch of bashing which would lead to a locking. Perhaps it was an over-cynical lock, but either way, the result most likely would have been the same. EDIT: Why your topic was locked, Garrison, is that I didn't want the inevitable pile on when Synergy had indicated that the issue was dropped. Be that Synergy himself has now posted to discuss, that reason is now gone. [ Thursday, December 14, 2006 21:17: Message edited by: *i ] -------------------- Your flower power is no match for my glower power! Posts: 3726 | Registered: Tuesday, September 18 2001 07:00 |
| Serviles and Canisters...??? in Geneforge 4: Rebellion | |
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The Establishment
Member # 6
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written Thursday, December 14 2006 11:16
Profile
Also remember that Jeff is not known for his adherence to continuity. -------------------- Your flower power is no match for my glower power! Posts: 3726 | Registered: Tuesday, September 18 2001 07:00 |
| JEFF U R DA BOMB in General | |
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The Establishment
Member # 6
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written Thursday, December 14 2006 11:14
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*whistles sardonically* -------------------- Your flower power is no match for my glower power! Posts: 3726 | Registered: Tuesday, September 18 2001 07:00 |
| The Future of Blades of Avernum in Blades of Avernum Editor | |
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The Establishment
Member # 6
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written Wednesday, December 13 2006 21:25
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It would be logical to assume that all the games have been cracked. I mean, realistically, no game is immune to being pirated. Game designers are at the mercy of people being somewhat honest. I don't think VoDT was terrible, on the contrary, it is fine, but I think allowing more basic play to demonstrate things would have been better. However, I think Blades of Avernum was not marketed as well as it could have been (the editor not packaged with the application). Beyond that the scheme for making scenarios is pretty cumbersome in BoA versus BoE. So there are a lot of things that made BoA a flop. -------------------- Your flower power is no match for my glower power! Posts: 3726 | Registered: Tuesday, September 18 2001 07:00 |
| Item editor. in Avernum 4 | |
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The Establishment
Member # 6
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written Wednesday, December 13 2006 21:10
Profile
Define item editor. Theoretically, if you really want, you can change the basic data scripts to make things do what you want. -------------------- Your flower power is no match for my glower power! Posts: 3726 | Registered: Tuesday, September 18 2001 07:00 |