Profile for Thuryl

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Field	Value
Displayed name	Thuryl
Member number	869
Title	...b10010b...
Postcount	9973
Homepage	http://thuryl.desperance.net/blades.html
Registered	Saturday, March 30 2002 08:00

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Author	Recent posts
Developer's Update in Blades of Avernum
Thuryl ...b10010b... Member # 869	written Wednesday, January 7 2004 19:07 Profile Homepage #11 Passwords were never a foolproof system anyway, and some designers already choose to release scenarios without a password so bugs can be more easily fixed and players can see how the scenario was created. -------------------- The Empire Always Loses: This Time For Sure! Posts: 9973 \| Registered: Saturday, March 30 2002 08:00
A rumor about me has been brought to my attention... in General
Thuryl ...b10010b... Member # 869	written Tuesday, January 6 2004 21:25 Profile Homepage #12 As the one responsible for starting this rumour, I guess I owe you an apology. I made certain assumptions based on your posts, and it seems those assumptions have turned out to be unfounded. Sorry, MSW. Posts: 9973 \| Registered: Saturday, March 30 2002 08:00
Why? in General
Thuryl ...b10010b... Member # 869	written Tuesday, January 6 2004 15:20 Profile Homepage #78 The term "utilitarian" can be used to describe any consequentialist ethical theory in which the greatest good is regarded as the maximisation of some universal "utility function", where that which is good produces positive net utility and that which is bad produces negative net utility. There are, of course, non-trivial difficulties involved in defining and quantifying the utility function. One of the best-known modern utilitarians, Peter Singer, espouses "preference utilitarianism", in which positive utility is defined as the fulfilment of "preferences", in a broad sense of that term (in his usage, it basically boils down to the same thing as "interests" when referring to animals, in the sense that it's assumed animals would prefer not to be violently killed and so forth, but it's a little less ambiguous than "interests" when referring to humans). I won't deny that utilitarian philosophies, like all other philosophies, have led to a few moral disasters by almost anyone's standards -- Jeremy Bentham, after all, was responsible for the Panopticon -- but utilitarianism is still a valuable and influential ethical system. The field of medical ethics in particular is strongly influenced by utilitarianism. Posts: 9973 \| Registered: Saturday, March 30 2002 08:00
Free Will in General
Thuryl ...b10010b... Member # 869	written Tuesday, January 6 2004 14:58 Profile Homepage #8 I think what Messiah is trying to say is that while we can do what we choose to do, we can only do what we choose to do. Hee hee, choose is a funny-sounding word when you say it enough times. Choose choose choose. Ahem. Anyway, he has a point. Whenever we do something, either we do it for a reason, in which case our reason for our action may as well be considered the cause of it, or we do it for no reason, in which case whether we have free will or not is irrelevant since our choice is of no significance anyway. Posts: 9973 \| Registered: Saturday, March 30 2002 08:00
Why? in General
Thuryl ...b10010b... Member # 869	written Monday, January 5 2004 18:09 Profile Homepage #67 Actually, if by "respecting the interests of all others" you mean striking a balance between acting in the interests of others and avoiding acting against the interests of others, that's pretty much what utilitarianism is. If that's not what you mean, I apologise; feel free to clarify yourself. Posts: 9973 \| Registered: Saturday, March 30 2002 08:00
BoA Arena? in Blades of Avernum
Thuryl ...b10010b... Member # 869	written Sunday, January 4 2004 19:51 Profile Homepage #15 Well, obviously we'll have to root out and disallow anything unbalancing, but we'll have to do that with the regular arena anyway. Posts: 9973 \| Registered: Saturday, March 30 2002 08:00
Why? in General
Thuryl ...b10010b... Member # 869	written Saturday, January 3 2004 17:37 Profile Homepage #55 Maturity. It really isn't such a bad thing, you know. Posts: 9973 \| Registered: Saturday, March 30 2002 08:00
BoA Arena? in Blades of Avernum
Thuryl ...b10010b... Member # 869	written Saturday, January 3 2004 17:29 Profile Homepage #12 Perhaps we could have an AI arena running alongside the regular arena, where everyone is given the same or similar monster design but has to do the AI scripting for it themselves. Posts: 9973 \| Registered: Saturday, March 30 2002 08:00
Why? in General
Thuryl ...b10010b... Member # 869	written Saturday, January 3 2004 15:50 Profile Homepage #52 Sir David, if you think children are happy, either you had a very fortunate childhood or you have a very poor recollection of it. I look back on when I was 4 or 5 years old and remember being constantly dissatisfied and frustrated by things I couldn't achieve or control. Children are falsely led to believe they can do anything if they just try hard enough, and that just sets them up for disappointment after disappointment. Why do you think children cry so much? Things are much better for them once they know their limitations and stop expecting more than they can possibly achieve. Posts: 9973 \| Registered: Saturday, March 30 2002 08:00
Why? in General
Thuryl ...b10010b... Member # 869	written Friday, January 2 2004 18:47 Profile Homepage #46 Sir David, if you look at why knowledge has that effect on you, you may find that it's because those extremes of emotion were produced by unrealistic expectations which would only have caused you harm in the long run. Knowledge need only shield you from those emotions which have no basis in fact, which are emotions you're better off without anyway. Posts: 9973 \| Registered: Saturday, March 30 2002 08:00
Why? in General
Thuryl ...b10010b... Member # 869	written Tuesday, December 30 2003 14:06 Profile Homepage #28 It seems to me that even from some religious perspectives, our purpose is to reproduce. Think about it; do the souls of aborted foetuses go to heaven? If your answer is no, then this argument doesn't apply to you. But if your answer is yes, then why is abortion wrong? After all, it's guaranteeing all those souls a free ride to heaven. The only answer I can think of is if God wants more of us to exist than can be produced in one generation. -------------------- I believe there are 15 747 724 136 275 002 577 105 653 961 181 555 468 044 717 914 527 116 709 366 231 425 076 185 631 031 296 protons in the universe, and the same number of electrons. -- Sir Arthur Eddington Posts: 9973 \| Registered: Saturday, March 30 2002 08:00
Rankings in General
Thuryl ...b10010b... Member # 869	written Tuesday, December 30 2003 11:16 Profile Homepage #14 quote: Originally written by Gremlin Chief: Again, it can be found somewhere in the General forum. But I believe that Thyrul was at one time banned, and when he came back, he didn't want the title to be "BANNED" So he got it changed to that. No, you're thinking of Motrax, whose title is now Senile Reptile (and the initiative in giving him the title was i's, not Motrax's). I doubt I could get myself temporarily* banned if I tried. I got my title on account of being a finite state machine (technically I'm not a Turing machine, because a Turing machine has to have infinite memory). And "This side toward enemy" is supposedly printed on the M-18 Claymore, a land mine that fires a spray of shrapnel in one direction. [ Tuesday, December 30, 2003 11:22: Message edited by: Thuryl ] Posts: 9973 \| Registered: Saturday, March 30 2002 08:00
Why? in General
Thuryl ...b10010b... Member # 869	written Tuesday, December 30 2003 11:10 Profile Homepage #20 SD, unless you believe the afterlife has no purpose, don't you have to believe in infinite purposes if you believe in an afterlife of infinite duration? -------------------- I believe there are 15 747 724 136 275 002 577 105 653 961 181 555 468 044 717 914 527 116 709 366 231 425 076 185 631 031 296 protons in the universe, and the same number of electrons. -- Sir Arthur Eddington Posts: 9973 \| Registered: Saturday, March 30 2002 08:00
idea for an annoying obstacle ... in Blades of Avernum
Thuryl ...b10010b... Member # 869	written Monday, December 29 2003 23:06 Profile Homepage #16 It can if we can script a reliable way to distinguish day from night. -------------------- The Empire Always Loses: This Time For Sure! Posts: 9973 \| Registered: Saturday, March 30 2002 08:00
Why? in General
Thuryl ...b10010b... Member # 869	written Monday, December 29 2003 15:36 Profile Homepage #5 Talking doesn't usually help much. Why not go skydiving or something instead? There's nothing like being in fear for your life to help you see things in perspective. -------------------- I believe there are 15 747 724 136 275 002 577 105 653 961 181 555 468 044 717 914 527 116 709 366 231 425 076 185 631 031 296 protons in the universe, and the same number of electrons. -- Sir Arthur Eddington Posts: 9973 \| Registered: Saturday, March 30 2002 08:00
Why? in General
Thuryl ...b10010b... Member # 869	written Monday, December 29 2003 15:17 Profile Homepage #2 Just because the board is called General doesn't mean your questions have to be that general. Frankly, I don't get the whole existential-angst thing. I like to at least have something concrete to whine about, even if it's trivial. [ Monday, December 29, 2003 15:18: Message edited by: Thuryl ] -------------------- I believe there are 15 747 724 136 275 002 577 105 653 961 181 555 468 044 717 914 527 116 709 366 231 425 076 185 631 031 296 protons in the universe, and the same number of electrons. -- Sir Arthur Eddington Posts: 9973 \| Registered: Saturday, March 30 2002 08:00
idea for an annoying obstacle ... in Blades of Avernum
Thuryl ...b10010b... Member # 869	written Monday, December 29 2003 15:08 Profile Homepage #13 The best way I can think of is to put a timer in every town and outdoor section that increments an SDF, and a scenario timer that checks that SDF, provides warning messages about the party needing to sleep when the SDF reaches certain values, and eventually kills them if they don't get some rest before it hits, say, 100. But how you'd prevent people from standing in place like you did in Revenge is beyond me, short of using yet another scenario timer that increments yet another SDF and kills the party if it gets too high, and giving every single type of floor terrain a "calls scenario special when stepped on" property that resets the SDF to which the timer is attached. Of course, you always seem to find more elegant solutions to scenario design problems than I do, so you probably did it some better way. -------------------- The Empire Always Loses: This Time For Sure! Posts: 9973 \| Registered: Saturday, March 30 2002 08:00
idea for an annoying obstacle ... in Blades of Avernum
Thuryl ...b10010b... Member # 869	written Monday, December 29 2003 12:22 Profile Homepage #8 If it's anything like the timers in BoE, it'll run at different speeds in towns compared to outdoors, which is no good at all if we want the day to keep coinciding with, well, daytime. -------------------- The Empire Always Loses: This Time For Sure! Posts: 9973 \| Registered: Saturday, March 30 2002 08:00
The fourth scenario. in Blades of Avernum
Thuryl ...b10010b... Member # 869	written Sunday, December 28 2003 13:52 Profile Homepage #18 Johnny Favourite is a scenario with no combat and no puzzles. Whether it counts as a good scenario is a matter of opinion. Posts: 9973 \| Registered: Saturday, March 30 2002 08:00
Accomplishments in General
Thuryl ...b10010b... Member # 869	written Saturday, December 27 2003 14:41 Profile Homepage #4 - Introducing the brain-eating meme to SW in the first place. Posts: 9973 \| Registered: Saturday, March 30 2002 08:00
What did YOU get for Christmas? in General
Thuryl ...b10010b... Member # 869	written Saturday, December 27 2003 14:29 Profile Homepage #23 Books. Music. Shoes. Socks. Chocolate. Money. I'm not complaining. Posts: 9973 \| Registered: Saturday, March 30 2002 08:00
buying and editing geneforge in General
Thuryl ...b10010b... Member # 869	written Friday, December 26 2003 15:09 Profile Homepage #5 Daggers of Geneforge? Claymores of Geneforge? Spectral Dirks of Geneforge? Posts: 9973 \| Registered: Saturday, March 30 2002 08:00
Scripting in Blades of Avernum
Thuryl ...b10010b... Member # 869	written Monday, December 22 2003 17:16 Profile Homepage #35 It's called a bayonet. As for how you'd implement it, hmm. Not sure if this will be possible, but you might be able to make a ranged weapon that can be turned into a melee weapon and back by using it. Or maybe a melee weapon that can be used to fire a projectile? [ Monday, December 22, 2003 17:17: Message edited by: Thuryl ] -------------------- The Empire Always Loses: This Time For Sure! Posts: 9973 \| Registered: Saturday, March 30 2002 08:00
Artistic ambitions in General
Thuryl ...b10010b... Member # 869	written Sunday, December 21 2003 12:20 Profile Homepage #35 I read nothing but medical journals for the first ten years of my life. That probably explains quite a lot about me. -------------------- I believe there are 15 747 724 136 275 002 577 105 653 961 181 555 468 044 717 914 527 116 709 366 231 425 076 185 631 031 296 protons in the universe, and the same number of electrons. -- Sir Arthur Eddington Posts: 9973 \| Registered: Saturday, March 30 2002 08:00
Help! How do I make a web page show up in search engines? in General
Thuryl ...b10010b... Member # 869	written Sunday, December 21 2003 01:33 Profile Homepage #21 And that's not because he's a radical feminist. -------------------- I believe there are 15 747 724 136 275 002 577 105 653 961 181 555 468 044 717 914 527 116 709 366 231 425 076 185 631 031 296 protons in the universe, and the same number of electrons. -- Sir Arthur Eddington Posts: 9973 \| Registered: Saturday, March 30 2002 08:00

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