Comments on: MeFi as MMORPG!

MeFi as MMORPG!

thirteen — Fri, 25 Feb 2005 12:34:03 -0800

This is my greatest stolen modified idea today. Metafilter hitpoints! We all get 5000 to start. Once you level up via unattacked thread posting, you can cast healing spells on your favorite, but inexplicably hated MeFi pals, or do double damage with Fireballs. Anybody who reaches zero has their account closed, unless someone ells resurrects you by sacrificing 3/4 of their remaining points.

By: thirteen

thirteen — Fri, 25 Feb 2005 12:36:18 -0800

Who needs WoW?

By: DrJohnEvans

DrJohnEvans — Fri, 25 Feb 2005 12:38:01 -0800

By: dios

dios — Fri, 25 Feb 2005 12:38:15 -0800

I like it.

By: Bugbread

Bugbread — Fri, 25 Feb 2005 12:38:23 -0800

What about loot?

By: Slack-a-gogo

Slack-a-gogo — Fri, 25 Feb 2005 12:38:23 -0800

Do we need those funny shaped 12 sided dice to play?

By: Stan Chin

Stan Chin — Fri, 25 Feb 2005 12:40:08 -0800

I put on my robe and wizard hat.

By: thirteen

thirteen — Fri, 25 Feb 2005 12:41:54 -0800

What about loot?

Wuffie

Do we need those funny shaped 12 sided dice to play?

No, but you will need an internet connection and a Win95/Mac OS8.6 or better machine.

By: ShawnStruck

ShawnStruck — Fri, 25 Feb 2005 12:45:08 -0800

I attack the darkness! [.wav]

By: felix betachat

felix betachat — Fri, 25 Feb 2005 12:45:43 -0800

Great thinking, thirteen. No one here will ever get laid again.

By: Ethereal Bligh

Ethereal Bligh — Fri, 25 Feb 2005 12:47:03 -0800

⟨casts Mind Soothe, Rank Three across MeTa; Heal, Rank Three on y2karl.⟩

By: mathowie

mathowie — Fri, 25 Feb 2005 12:47:51 -0800

I have toyed with the idea of internal economies, in an effort to encourage good behavior without reinforcing negative behavior. This idea has a lot of negative reinforcement aspects, where people can continually bring back troublemakers and people have wars with fireballs.

Anyhoo, interesting, and something worth thinking about.

By: DrJohnEvans

DrJohnEvans — Fri, 25 Feb 2005 12:49:18 -0800

I don't think I got enough sleep last night.

By: eyeballkid

eyeballkid — Fri, 25 Feb 2005 12:49:19 -0800

Huh. I wonder if this has been done before.

By: Quartermass

Quartermass — Fri, 25 Feb 2005 12:50:05 -0800

Great thinking, thirteen. No one here will ever get laid again.

lol!

By: me3dia

me3dia — Fri, 25 Feb 2005 12:50:53 -0800

Wuffie

Should we just wait for the heads-up display implant to arrive in the mail, then?

By: anapestic

anapestic — Fri, 25 Feb 2005 12:51:44 -0800

Have I told you lately that I love you, thirteen?

By: quonsar

quonsar — Fri, 25 Feb 2005 12:51:55 -0800

I put on my robe and wizard hat.

you play keyboards, by any chance?

By: COBRA!

COBRA! — Fri, 25 Feb 2005 12:54:49 -0800

This is the most awesome bad idea ever. Kick ass.

By: caddis

caddis — Fri, 25 Feb 2005 12:55:47 -0800

You are gonna make us feel like adults playing magic cards with anonymous 12 year olds in a comic book/card store. Yikes.

By: eyeballkid

eyeballkid — Fri, 25 Feb 2005 12:57:41 -0800

Ganking mefites would be kinda fun.

By: ericb

ericb — Fri, 25 Feb 2005 12:58:20 -0800

Interesting analysis of "internal economies" in use by some online communities - Patterns for Building Communities in Collaborative Systems [PDF].

By: mkultra

mkultra — Fri, 25 Feb 2005 12:58:27 -0800

This idea would absolutely ruin Metafilter, but I love the idea of doing it somewhere else, from scratch. MMORPB (massively multiplayer online role-playing blog)!

By: thirteen

thirteen — Fri, 25 Feb 2005 12:58:34 -0800

I smell fear coming off of caddis and cast entangle which will slow his posting to once per hour.

By: mathowie

mathowie — Fri, 25 Feb 2005 13:00:55 -0800

I just got slain by an elf.

By: Bugbread

Bugbread — Fri, 25 Feb 2005 13:02:26 -0800

I disbelieve.

(rolls)

By: DrJohnEvans

DrJohnEvans — Fri, 25 Feb 2005 13:03:31 -0800

I'm in charge! I'm in CHARGE!

By: spinifex23

spinifex23 — Fri, 25 Feb 2005 13:04:11 -0800

Can we kill hapless readers and sell their possessions on Ebay?

By: Stan Chin

Stan Chin — Fri, 25 Feb 2005 13:05:11 -0800

I meditate to regain my mana, before casting Lvl. 8 Cock of the Infinite.

By: COBRA!

COBRA! — Fri, 25 Feb 2005 13:06:43 -0800

Would we have to keep track of food and torches and all the boring shit?

By: Bugbread

Bugbread — Fri, 25 Feb 2005 13:06:48 -0800

eyeballkid: Huh. I wonder if this has been done before.

Well, yeah, that's why he says it's his/her "greatest stolen modified idea today".

By: thirteen

thirteen — Fri, 25 Feb 2005 13:08:00 -0800

Would we have to keep track of food and torches and all the boring shit?

No, but maybe completely inactive accounts could starve to death after 2 years.

By: Ethereal Bligh

Ethereal Bligh — Fri, 25 Feb 2005 13:08:26 -0800

Maybe we should try to have a discussion and create a consensus about how to "correctly" make and discuss a critical MeTa post?

I'm thinking that it's unrealistic to expect that people will never get upset or insult one another. We can frown on it, try to defuse it, but we can't mandate it away.

Given that, I think we should think of "callout" posts as divided into two categories: callouts of really egregious disruptive or (by community standards) unacceptable behavior; and criticisms about behavior where there is an honest and well-intentioned difference of opinion.

In the case of the former, I think vitriol is probably expected and should be somewhat tolerated.

In the case of the latter, I think the criticism shouldn't identify anyone personally (unless it's unavoidable) and even though people will likely have strong feelings about, say, what makes a proper FPP, there should be a strong community ethos of respect and politeness when arguing about it.

The subject of the previous MeTa thread is a good example of the latter. I don't think that almost anyone thinks that the behavior being criticized is anything other than well-intentioned and reflects an honest difference of opinion. We should be able to have adult discussions in such cases.

By: OmieWise

OmieWise — Fri, 25 Feb 2005 13:09:12 -0800

Saving throws are the way to go, without saving throws I want no part of this. Plus, we should have some kind of arcane system of word counting that relates the number of syllables you're allowed per post to the number of rhetoric points you originally rolled for + the number you've captured by use of creative html tags that annoy other users.

By: naxosaxur

naxosaxur — Fri, 25 Feb 2005 13:10:15 -0800

This makes metafilter very unsexy.

By: Stan Chin

Stan Chin — Fri, 25 Feb 2005 13:11:51 -0800

The subject of the previous MeTa thread is a good example of the latter. I don't think that almost anyone thinks that the behavior being criticized is anything other than well-intentioned and reflects an honest difference of opinion. We should be able to have adult discussions in such cases.

I spend my mana reserves to cast Mighty Fuck of the Beyondness.

By: BlueTrain

BlueTrain — Fri, 25 Feb 2005 13:12:38 -0800

I'm flagging Ethereal Bligh's post because it's Friday and he clearly hasn't slipped into something more comfortable.

By: thirteen

thirteen — Fri, 25 Feb 2005 13:12:38 -0800

Ethereal Bligh failed to search for traps. He is in a pit taking 4 points of damage from the 10" drop.

By: felix betachat

felix betachat — Fri, 25 Feb 2005 13:13:03 -0800

*casts Cone of Silence at EB*

By: Ethereal Bligh

Ethereal Bligh — Fri, 25 Feb 2005 13:14:02 -0800

By: Salmonberry

Salmonberry — Fri, 25 Feb 2005 13:14:19 -0800

I'm scared at just how instantaneously I got what thirteen was talking about. I really need to go outside more often.

I call dibs on username "orcberry".

By: Bugbread

Bugbread — Fri, 25 Feb 2005 13:14:25 -0800

EB right now is the guy talking about "pulling out his laser blaster" in the middle of a D&D game.

By: Vaska

Vaska — Fri, 25 Feb 2005 13:14:28 -0800

Poster needs food.

By: Bugbread

Bugbread — Fri, 25 Feb 2005 13:16:22 -0800

Poster is about to die...

(Please insert quarters in floppy disk drive)

By: kindall

kindall — Fri, 25 Feb 2005 13:17:39 -0800

Ethereal Bligh failed to search for traps. He is in a pit taking 4 points of damage from the 10" drop.

Not a very deep pit, then, is it? In fact I'd barely call it a pit at all.

By: Johnny Assay

Johnny Assay — Fri, 25 Feb 2005 13:18:09 -0800

I attack the gazebo.

By: Ethereal Bligh

Ethereal Bligh — Fri, 25 Feb 2005 13:19:11 -0800

(Yeah, but there's a Cone of Silence covering the top of it.)

By: thirteen

thirteen — Fri, 25 Feb 2005 13:19:24 -0800

Not a very deep pit, then, is it? In fact I'd barely call it a pit at all.

D'oh! '!

By: anapestic

anapestic — Fri, 25 Feb 2005 13:21:18 -0800

Not a very deep pit, then, is it? In fact I'd barely call it a pit at all.

Yeah, but EB's only 3 microns tall.

By: ewagoner

ewagoner — Fri, 25 Feb 2005 13:23:59 -0800

Lightning bolt! Lightning bolt!

By: me3dia

me3dia — Fri, 25 Feb 2005 13:35:58 -0800

*throws grey ooze at Stan Chin.*

By: mathowie

mathowie — Fri, 25 Feb 2005 13:38:22 -0800

West of House
You are standing in an open field west of a white house, with a boarded front door. There is a small mailbox here.

>_

By: dasibiter

dasibiter — Fri, 25 Feb 2005 13:39:54 -0800

I hated that Gazebo.

By: Mitheral

Mitheral — Fri, 25 Feb 2005 13:40:06 -0800

MetaFilter: No one here will ever get laid again.

By: AlexReynolds

AlexReynolds — Fri, 25 Feb 2005 13:40:48 -0800

Does this mean my request for a Dungeon Master will be met with something other than whips, chains and a gag ball this time?

Oh well, next time...

By: casu marzu

casu marzu — Fri, 25 Feb 2005 13:42:27 -0800

Can someone resurrect mr_crash_davis?

By: Ethereal Bligh

Ethereal Bligh — Fri, 25 Feb 2005 13:46:56 -0800

*failed*

By: jessamyn

jessamyn — Fri, 25 Feb 2005 13:48:38 -0800

eat mailbox

By: Arch Stanton

Arch Stanton — Fri, 25 Feb 2005 13:48:52 -0800

I'm hungry. Maybe Matt could set up a deal with Pizza Hut.

/pizza

By: Stan Chin

Stan Chin — Fri, 25 Feb 2005 13:56:35 -0800

You can't hurry good pizza.

By: keswick

keswick — Fri, 25 Feb 2005 13:59:03 -0800

I cast Lightning Bolt.

By: taz

taz — Fri, 25 Feb 2005 14:00:11 -0800

Throw a triple word score in there somewhere and I'm in.

By: monju_bosatsu

monju_bosatsu — Fri, 25 Feb 2005 14:04:35 -0800

*rises from dead, fishes spell book out of Bag of Holding, casts Level 7 Pizza-and-Beer*

By: BevosAngryGhost

BevosAngryGhost — Fri, 25 Feb 2005 14:11:21 -0800

Okay, so the pizza doesn't work. How 'bout wings?

/wings

By: me3dia

me3dia — Fri, 25 Feb 2005 14:15:45 -0800

Yay! Monju's back!

Please say it's not just for one joke.

By: scarabic

scarabic — Fri, 25 Feb 2005 14:16:14 -0800

Metafilter hitpoints!

Things this brings to mind:

bought indulgences.

companies trading pollution credits.

getting pizza goo in the percentile dice.

By: me3dia

me3dia — Fri, 25 Feb 2005 14:17:58 -0800

(Uh, keswick, I think you meant to link to this.)

By: bitmage

bitmage — Fri, 25 Feb 2005 14:19:27 -0800

It is dark; you are likely to be eaten by a grue.

By: Succa

Succa — Fri, 25 Feb 2005 14:23:05 -0800

xyzzy, all up in here!

By: keswick

keswick — Fri, 25 Feb 2005 14:27:45 -0800

um, i thought i did.

By: me3dia

me3dia — Fri, 25 Feb 2005 14:38:33 -0800

I dunno -- for me, you link goes to this entry.

By: theFlyingSquirrel

theFlyingSquirrel — Fri, 25 Feb 2005 14:45:54 -0800

It doesn't get any more serious than a Stan Chin about to charge your ass.

By: keswick

keswick — Fri, 25 Feb 2005 14:49:18 -0800

weird.

Somebody musy have cast Confusion.

By: Doug

Doug — Fri, 25 Feb 2005 14:50:20 -0800

I just know I'm going to have to be the cleric.

By: jonmc

jonmc — Fri, 25 Feb 2005 15:01:20 -0800

I'm going to need a massive suit of armor. or something.

By: loquacious

loquacious — Fri, 25 Feb 2005 15:04:02 -0800

It's been done. Not that it isn't a good idea.

Well, I don't know if it's a good idea, but it sure is a fun idea. Yes, almost all of the inherent problems with a wuffie-esque XP/HP system that are mentioned in this thread happen, at E2 and everywhere else I've seen it implemented. Gang warfare, popularity contests, stalkers, revenge feuds, indulgences, etc.

But it sure is a nice stick and carrot to get people to try harder and strive for more.

on preview: *loquacious casts a fireball at jonmc. Jonmc is crispy!*

By: jonmc

jonmc — Fri, 25 Feb 2005 15:06:48 -0800

*cough*

By: steelbuddha

steelbuddha — Fri, 25 Feb 2005 15:15:08 -0800

I suppose the different colors of MetaFilter are kind of like a Prismatic Wall. You have to do something different for each one...

Oh crumbs! I'm a nerd!

What is a grue?

By: y2karl

y2karl — Fri, 25 Feb 2005 15:15:56 -0800

It's been done. Not that it isn't a good idea.

Well, how about school uniforms, then ?

By: loquacious

loquacious — Fri, 25 Feb 2005 15:21:05 -0800

I don't think I can fit into a Japanese schoolgirl uniform any more. Can I be a nun?

(And just in case: I wasn't suggesting e2's system is unique at all or anything. I like the idea of adding further userfeedback paths to mefi.)

By: furiousthought

furiousthought — Fri, 25 Feb 2005 15:24:55 -0800

School uniforms don't provide you nearly enough AC, which opens you up to Power Attacks and wet willies.

By: steelbuddha

steelbuddha — Fri, 25 Feb 2005 15:25:42 -0800

Just for the record, I know what a grue is. But for asking, I am likely to be eaten by one...

By: jonmc

jonmc — Fri, 25 Feb 2005 15:26:51 -0800

Well, how about school uniforms, then ?

And if not that, then how about we put on those banana costumes they used to wear in the Bic pen ads? That'd be neat.

What?

By: loquacious

loquacious — Fri, 25 Feb 2005 15:30:32 -0800

I am a banana!

By: aine42

aine42 — Fri, 25 Feb 2005 15:32:59 -0800

/pancakes

Oh, come on. Someone had to try it.

By: jessamyn

jessamyn — Fri, 25 Feb 2005 15:43:18 -0800

how about we put on those banana costumes

it's peanut butter jelly time!

By: DaShiv

DaShiv — Fri, 25 Feb 2005 15:52:18 -0800

MATHOWIE SHOT THE FOOD!

By: bradlands

bradlands — Fri, 25 Feb 2005 16:05:58 -0800

/me takes growth potion

/me challenges Jessamyn to a dance-off

By: MarkAnd

MarkAnd — Fri, 25 Feb 2005 16:12:50 -0800

/pick up baseball bat
/hit peanut butter jelly
/now where you at?

By: y2karl

y2karl — Fri, 25 Feb 2005 16:15:44 -0800

Gee, and here I was going to suggest matching bowling shirts...

By: thomcatspike

thomcatspike — Fri, 25 Feb 2005 16:25:56 -0800

We all get 5000 to start.
Anyone care for a game of craps. Have to tell ya, unless I'm rolling, my bets are Don't Pass Line & Don't Come Bets.

By: Wolfdog

Wolfdog — Fri, 25 Feb 2005 16:26:38 -0800

>rezrov metafilter. enter metafilter. caskly front page.

By: exlotuseater

exlotuseater — Fri, 25 Feb 2005 16:40:19 -0800

who brought the 10' pole?

By: Secret Life of Gravy

Secret Life of Gravy — Fri, 25 Feb 2005 16:54:08 -0800

Would we have to keep track of food and torches and all the boring shit?

Whatever you do, just don't make me go down to the labyrinths. I will cry.

By: eriko

eriko — Fri, 25 Feb 2005 17:04:53 -0800

Mathowie Wins, at least, for Best. Blink tag. Evar!

By: taz

taz — Fri, 25 Feb 2005 17:06:19 -0800

*Opens pack. Tosses Secret Life of Gravy a ball of twine and a cheese sandwich.*

By: eriko

eriko — Fri, 25 Feb 2005 17:10:07 -0800

                               Weapons

                               a - a +0 two-handed sword (weapon in hands)
                               b - a +0 axe (alternate weapon; not wielded)
                               Armor
                               c - a blessed +0 orcish ring mail (being worn)
                               Comestibles

                               d - an uncursed food ration

                               e - an uncursed tin of newt meat

                               f - an uncursed lembas wafer

                               (end)









          ----.---

          |.o....|

          |.......

          |.d....|

          |.@....|

          |......|

          --------



User the N00b       St:18 Dx:17 Co:17 In:8 Wi:10 Ch:6  Chaotic

Dlvl:1  $:-5  HP:15(15) Pw:2(2) AC:8  Exp:1

By: eriko

eriko — Fri, 25 Feb 2005 17:10:43 -0800

Aagh. I wasn't done!!!!

(-57 hp on me)

By: shmegegge

shmegegge — Fri, 25 Feb 2005 17:14:18 -0800

If someone made a site that did this, I'd join in a heartbeat. For Mefi? dunno.

I'll tell you what, though, if we had done this this past week, there'd be a lot of closed accounts for people who didn't deserve to be closed just because of those y2karl gang bangs. Then, mathowie would have to do some kind of DM ressurrect and drastically reduce the general population's ability to cast fireball spells, all while giveing a speech similar to the "plague on both your houses" speech from Romeo and Juliet.

By: eriko

eriko — Fri, 25 Feb 2005 17:23:12 -0800

Welcome to MetaFilter!         Weapons
                               a - a +0 two-handed keyboard (weapon on desk)
                               b - a +0 Google Bomb (alternate weapon; not wielded)
                               Armor
                               c - a blessed +0 fireproof longjhons (being worn)
                               Comestibles
                               d - an uncursed pancake
                               e - an uncursed tin of Pepsi Blue
                               Scrolls                               
                               f - a scroll called WHAT. THE. FUCK. MATT?
                               Tools
                               g - a MetaFilter Password
                               (end)





          ----.---
          |.o....|
          |.......
          |.d....|
          |.@....|
          |......|
          --------


User the N00b       St:18 Dx:17 Co:17 In:8 Wi:10 Ch:6  Chaotic
Dlvl:1  $:-5  HP:15(15) Pw:2(2) AC:8  Exp:1

By: XQUZYPHYR

XQUZYPHYR — Fri, 25 Feb 2005 17:24:53 -0800

Fortune smiles upon thee.

You found a GEM!

(L)ook for something to kill
(R)eturn to Town
(Y)our Info

By: wendell

wendell — Fri, 25 Feb 2005 17:27:26 -0800

*wanders into MetaTalk, looks around, checks to see if he somehow misspelled the URL*

Did somebody say "Cone of Silence"?

"What did you say, Max?"

By: sciurus

sciurus — Fri, 25 Feb 2005 17:35:12 -0800

I love you fuckers.

By: exlotuseater

exlotuseater — Fri, 25 Feb 2005 17:42:50 -0800

Secret Life of Gravy:

You are in a maze of twisty passages, all alike.

>_

By: loquacious

loquacious — Fri, 25 Feb 2005 17:45:23 -0800

*loquacious pilfers monju's bag of holding and turns it inside out*

By: squeak

squeak — Fri, 25 Feb 2005 17:46:47 -0800

clueless as to what this is about but I hope it doesn't involve spandex, a cape and magical spells ...

By: loquacious

loquacious — Fri, 25 Feb 2005 17:49:27 -0800

It does indeed, Trebek. It does indeed.

Approach so that you may learn.

*boot to the head*

By: furiousthought

furiousthought — Fri, 25 Feb 2005 17:57:43 -0800

FURIOUSTHOUGHT empties a clip into some enemies...

You hit the Nuke Pooch for 12 points of damage.

You hit the Nuke Pooch for 10 points of damage.

You shoot the Nuke Pooch for 11 points of damage.

You hit the ParisParamus for 86 points of damage, spraying him into a fine red mist.

(press any key)

By: goodnewsfortheinsane

goodnewsfortheinsane — Fri, 25 Feb 2005 17:57:55 -0800

"This, dear little Mefite, is the Fish of Doom. At first glance, it appears pretty generic, but if you look closely you'll notice a slight amber glow. For ages, it was believed that it had been lost forever to the Blighs of Etherea, but now it appears to have resurfaced during the War of the Influx. It is your task to venture deep into the lands of Quonsor to return this dreadful thing to whence it came: Mount Pants.

Fear not, for you shall find deep wisdom within the ancient libraries of Jessamynia, and Lord Mathowye will bestow you with many ponies to help carry this heavy burden. Beware of the cursed pancakes, and seemingly ordinary objects that suddenly start to vibrate. Now, off you go, lil' Mefite, and don't forget to put on your robe and languagehat."

By: Secret Life of Gravy

Secret Life of Gravy — Fri, 25 Feb 2005 17:59:29 -0800

exlotuseater:

I've been there. For hours. In the dark.

(grumble, grumble...some damn game or another)

By: Lizc

Lizc — Fri, 25 Feb 2005 18:29:22 -0800

This makes me so happy.

By: iconomy

iconomy — Fri, 25 Feb 2005 18:32:52 -0800

Remember when I cast Berserk on that guy from Portugal, and he made all those MetaTalk posts and no one could stop him until the spell wore off?

Remember how it took about 2 years for the spell to wear off?

By: five fresh fish

five fresh fish — Fri, 25 Feb 2005 18:40:52 -0800

Worster. Idea. Ever.

(although I do find the idea oddly compelling. It'd wholly change MeFi, but it could be a fun experiment!)

(I think I'd like that new MeFi. I vote "Aye!" for this pony!)

(It's still the Worster. Idea. Ever. Possibly the Worstest.)

By: five fresh fish

five fresh fish — Fri, 25 Feb 2005 18:43:50 -0800

I think Bradlands just 404'd himself...

image URL: http://www.bradlands.com/dontHotlink.gif

My browser is cycling fast, doing continual requests for the image. It ain't getting it. Something amiss...

By: Secret Life of Gravy

Secret Life of Gravy — Fri, 25 Feb 2005 18:47:54 -0800

West of House
You are standing in an open field west of a white house, with a boarded front door. There is a small mailbox here.

Look under the doormat

By: bonaldi

bonaldi — Fri, 25 Feb 2005 18:53:35 -0800

I roll 20s.

By: Juicylicious

Juicylicious — Fri, 25 Feb 2005 19:01:55 -0800

I'm with taz on the triple word score. All this spell casting and cursing is beyond my mere human powers. Though it maybe fun watching the rest of you shrink and burn each other. Wait, you can't banish me if I'm not playing, right? Shit.

By: graventy

graventy — Fri, 25 Feb 2005 19:22:59 -0800

*weilds Hammer of Bannination +4*

"Eat hammer, Juicylicious!"

By: Ryvar

Ryvar — Fri, 25 Feb 2005 19:53:44 -0800

Not to detract from the ongoing shenanigans, but:
I'm thinking that it's unrealistic to expect that people will never get upset or insult one another. We can frown on it, try to defuse it, but we can't mandate it away.

Given that, I think we should think of "callout" posts as divided into two categories: callouts of really egregious disruptive or (by community standards) unacceptable behavior; and criticisms about behavior where there is an honest and well-intentioned difference of opinion.

In the case of the former, I think vitriol is probably expected and should be somewhat tolerated.

In the case of the latter, I think the criticism shouldn't identify anyone personally (unless it's unavoidable) and even though people will likely have strong feelings about, say, what makes a proper FPP, there should be a strong community ethos of respect and politeness when arguing about it.

Holy fuck, I completely agree with EB on something in MeTa!

By: loquacious

loquacious — Fri, 25 Feb 2005 20:26:09 -0800

We could make "MeFi: The RPG-ing!" an entirely voluntary excercise. Opt-ins may only affect other opt-ins. Stats may or may not be viewable to opt-outs, depending perhaps on personal/community preference.

By: Cyrano

Cyrano — Fri, 25 Feb 2005 20:26:24 -0800

EB right now is the guy talking about "pulling out his laser blaster" in the middle of a D&D game.

Well, if he's gone on an Expedition to Barrier Peaks, he might just have one...

/out-nerd that, bitches.

By: Jim Jones

Jim Jones — Fri, 25 Feb 2005 20:57:47 -0800

West of House
You are standing in an open field west of a white house, with a boarded front door. There is a small mailbox here.

Look under the doormat

L doormat

You look under the doormat.
You are fighting the Doormat Monster.
You are fighting the Doormat Monster.
You are fighting the Doormat Monster.
You are DEAD!

By: loquacious

loquacious — Fri, 25 Feb 2005 21:01:32 -0800

ATTENTION ALL TROUBLESHOOTERS!

Citizen Cyrano has been demoted to security class infrared and revealed to be a Mutant Commie Traitor! All Troubleshooters security class red or better have been asked to assist The Computer assist Cyrano in the task of finding the nearest DocBot for a mandatory Happiness adjustment. The Computer is your friend! Happiness is Mandatory!

By: sad_otter

sad_otter — Fri, 25 Feb 2005 21:19:23 -0800

Sounds like Pyroto Mountain.

By: five fresh fish

five fresh fish — Fri, 25 Feb 2005 21:52:28 -0800

Pyroto was much, much more ... esoteric and complex.

A simple hitpoint system would be an interesting experiment.

You get 1 point for each post.

You can use your points only you have 100 or more points.

You can use your points to remove points from someone else. You do not gain their points: it costs you 2 points for every point you remove.

You can use your points to give points to someone else. It costs you 1 point for every 2 points you give.

What do you think would happen? There'd be a real big burst of activity as people try to get to 100 points. There'd then be a big flurry of punishments meted out, perhaps with rewards being given to some of those punished.

Hmmm... and then probably the posting levels would remain highish as people try to get more points so they can continue to participate. I suspect a trusted corp would have to have a bajillion points, to downgrade those who are posting for the sake of getting points...

...so in the end it probably wouldn't work.

By: exlotuseater

exlotuseater — Fri, 25 Feb 2005 22:07:29 -0800

Cyrano: Barrier Peaks was awesome. I completely forgot about that. And now I'm feeling a little bit nostalgic.

By: blacklite

blacklite — Fri, 25 Feb 2005 23:53:23 -0800

haha.

Somewhere, someone with some bandwidth needs to put up a server somewhere and invite a bunch of Mefites to go and beat it up. I mean, test it out.
I would volunteer to code it. I just have nowhere to put it.

By: blacklite

blacklite — Fri, 25 Feb 2005 23:53:52 -0800

Also I used the word 'somewhere' twice. I am in a cone of redundancy cone.

By: Pretty_Generic

Pretty_Generic — Fri, 25 Feb 2005 23:59:27 -0800

MetaTalk has redeemed itself with this thread. I love you people.

By: languagehat

languagehat — Sat, 26 Feb 2005 06:06:59 -0800

Hey, where's Leisure Suit Larry?

Portugal?

By: Chuckles

Chuckles — Sat, 26 Feb 2005 06:41:22 -0800

We need to add some incentive for people to keep using existing threads instead of creating new posts. So, 2 points for anybody who posts to a thread after 3 days! (If it actually worked you would probably have to drop it back to 5 days after a while...)

By: jokeefe

jokeefe — Sat, 26 Feb 2005 07:23:53 -0800

I had to ask my 18 year old son to translate some of this stuff for me.

*hangs head in nerdly shame*

By: longbaugh

longbaugh — Sat, 26 Feb 2005 08:27:46 -0800

Thankyou furiousthought for reminding me of that.

/me wonders if it's too late to register the name Snake Squeezins...

The pamphlet contains two tips for the wise: "
Buy an AK-97 assault rifle.
If there's someone hanging around your neighborhood you don't know, shoot him."

By: Cyrano

Cyrano — Sat, 26 Feb 2005 08:45:58 -0800

Citizen Cyrano has been demoted to security class infrared and revealed to be a Mutant Commie Traitor!

I've got five clones left. Bring it!

By: lia

lia — Sat, 26 Feb 2005 09:26:23 -0800

~~best~~ dorkiest metatalk thread ever?

(thirteen is, as always, my hero.)

By: pyramid termite

pyramid termite — Sat, 26 Feb 2005 10:57:13 -0800

*casts zombie twin of karl rove, awaits inevitable victory*

By: andrew cooke

andrew cooke — Sat, 26 Feb 2005 11:18:18 -0800

fff - you system can be trashed by a collaborating pair once they're both above 100. they just give each other points until they have more than anyone else, then wipe everyone else out. so you'd get groups of people racing towards that.

By: eriko

eriko — Sat, 26 Feb 2005 11:31:27 -0800

*inevitable victory shows up, crushes pyramid termite with a winged victory of samothrace and a wooden nickle.*

Dude, when you invoke that, you need to say "Zombie Twin of Karl Rove™".

It's those picky details that nail spell-jockeys all the time.

By: Secret Life of Gravy

Secret Life of Gravy — Sat, 26 Feb 2005 11:43:31 -0800

I woke up this morning to discover I'm dead. As usual. Oh well.

By: five fresh fish

five fresh fish — Sat, 26 Feb 2005 12:10:52 -0800

Oops. Right you are, AC.

By: graventy

graventy — Sat, 26 Feb 2005 13:22:14 -0800

I had to ask my 18 year old son to translate some of this stuff for me.

Ha ha! Your son's a nerd!

*realizes I understood everything in the thread*
*hangs head in nerdly shame*

By: shmegegge

shmegegge — Sat, 26 Feb 2005 13:39:40 -0800

There should totally be a "KillMefi" page. The hitpoints, etc, would be influenced by your behavior on the OTHER mefi pages, but that would be the page where you either a)allowed yourself to be part of the game, b)declined to join. Then, once you're in, you could register your various actions against other participants on that page.

And a corollary! We could cast spells that affected the posting ability and posts of other participants!

Example: an "other word" spell that removes every other word from the post of a mefi dude thus affected (but only seen by other participants. No need to fuck with what non-participants see).

But I'm going too far.

I still think this is silly but way too fun not to try.

By: pyramid termite

pyramid termite — Sat, 26 Feb 2005 13:56:26 -0800

eriko ... i did not want to do this, but you've left me no choice

*casts my pal foot foot aural spell of doom on mefi*

*winged victory of samothrace shatters*

*wooden nickel splits*

*hundreds of mefi readers have to go to therapy*

*pyramid termite laughs and laughs, gets +10 utter bastard level*

By: thirteen

thirteen — Sat, 26 Feb 2005 15:47:49 -0800

Metadual.metafilter.com could be a red page. 2 people enter a thread, one person leaves. A random table of questions to the participants could posited, and the combatants will answer them essay style over the course of 10 minutes. nonparticipants will vote thumbs up or down in the fairest way the universe allows for.

We could say things like "Meet me in the 'Red', N*f*ndy, if you aren't yellow." and he will be all "No, no I am scared!" and his honor loss will put him at a -2 to defend. Myself, being an ancient, would have access to the artifacts "Hand of Kottke (+4 credibility)" and "Rebecca Blood's Gauntlets of Spelling (saving throw against words not in the spellchecker)"

If Darwin were alive, he would be crying real tears over the beauty of this plan.

By: graventy

graventy — Sat, 26 Feb 2005 15:55:28 -0800

thirteen, the proper way to say it will be
"I'll see you in Metadual, asshole."

By: ericb

ericb — Sat, 26 Feb 2005 15:56:15 -0800

thirteen - I like. Kinda like Point-Counter Point ("Jane, you ignorant slut!"), but with the ability to participate in the melee!

By: drezdn

drezdn — Sat, 26 Feb 2005 20:50:20 -0800

Can I be a Ram Python?

(Wrong Game?)

Fine, Fine

I'LL USE MY BROADSWORD

By: darukaru

darukaru — Sun, 27 Feb 2005 09:42:18 -0800

By: grouse

grouse — Sun, 27 Feb 2005 13:26:32 -0800

eriko wins. Well he lost first, but now he wins.

By: stavrosthewonderchicken

stavrosthewonderchicken — Sun, 27 Feb 2005 19:11:39 -0800

thirteen: Prior art, sorta. I recall suggesting something similar too, but I can't find the damned thread now.

Also, shouldn't that be 'duel'?

By: Bugbread

Bugbread — Sun, 27 Feb 2005 19:51:43 -0800

'Course there's prior art, that's why thirteen calls it his "greatest stolen modified idea today".

By: John Kenneth Fisher

John Kenneth Fisher — Mon, 28 Feb 2005 01:48:43 -0800

I'm a level 12 vice-president.

By: thirteen

thirteen — Mon, 28 Feb 2005 12:03:15 -0800

DUEL! Right you are, but my gauntlets mean you must over look that while grading my performance.

By: Kafkaesque

Kafkaesque — Tue, 01 Mar 2005 09:37:52 -0800

*climbs into Bag of Holding*