I want to assassinate skulls. July 9, 2010 1:01 AM Subscribe
The guys over at Penny Arcade took on the subject of Blizzard + RealID, and said, "If I thought I could top this comment over at MetaFilter, I would do so. I can't."
Heh, it is. That is the most stupid thing I have done in, oh, 5 years.
Brilliant.
posted by jonnyploy at 2:07 AM on July 9, 2010 [18 favorites]
Brilliant.
posted by jonnyploy at 2:07 AM on July 9, 2010 [18 favorites]
That would be really embarrassing if your real name were in your profile.
posted by yellowbinder at 2:14 AM on July 9, 2010 [18 favorites]
posted by yellowbinder at 2:14 AM on July 9, 2010 [18 favorites]
You're right, it would...oh shit.
posted by jonnyploy at 2:17 AM on July 9, 2010 [4 favorites]
posted by jonnyploy at 2:17 AM on July 9, 2010 [4 favorites]
That is the most stupid thing I have done in, oh, 5 years.
I'm jealous.
posted by A Terrible Llama at 3:08 AM on July 9, 2010 [23 favorites]
I'm jealous.
posted by A Terrible Llama at 3:08 AM on July 9, 2010 [23 favorites]
Death is the greatest teacher.
posted by Faint of Butt at 3:33 AM on July 9, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by Faint of Butt at 3:33 AM on July 9, 2010 [1 favorite]
Holy crap. It's like Ethereal Bligh on speed, and he's cornered you at a party.
Is there a Cliff Notes version? Or a haiku one perhaps?
posted by UbuRoivas at 5:17 AM on July 9, 2010 [2 favorites]
Is there a Cliff Notes version? Or a haiku one perhaps?
posted by UbuRoivas at 5:17 AM on July 9, 2010 [2 favorites]
Is there a Cliff Notes version?
Forcing WoW gamers to use real names is stupid and crazy because some of the users are batshitinsane and society in general isn't too right in the head either.
posted by new brand day at 5:44 AM on July 9, 2010 [6 favorites]
Forcing WoW gamers to use real names is stupid and crazy because some of the users are batshitinsane and society in general isn't too right in the head either.
posted by new brand day at 5:44 AM on July 9, 2010 [6 favorites]
Is there a Cliff Notes version? Or a haiku one perhaps?
RealID is bad.
Creepy jerks will track you down;
And it won't stop trolls.
posted by EndsOfInvention at 5:45 AM on July 9, 2010 [8 favorites]
RealID is bad.
Creepy jerks will track you down;
And it won't stop trolls.
posted by EndsOfInvention at 5:45 AM on July 9, 2010 [8 favorites]
Your real name Blizzard wants to monetize
Your ID is not safe from the prying eyes
Of the evil nexus
of racists and sexists
So sadly we say "Blizzard: Fuck those guys."
posted by waraw at 5:45 AM on July 9, 2010 [8 favorites]
Your ID is not safe from the prying eyes
Of the evil nexus
of racists and sexists
So sadly we say "Blizzard: Fuck those guys."
posted by waraw at 5:45 AM on July 9, 2010 [8 favorites]
Stupid Blizzard
Internet's full of lizards.
posted by le morte de bea arthur at 5:51 AM on July 9, 2010
Internet's full of lizards.
posted by le morte de bea arthur at 5:51 AM on July 9, 2010
Blizzard now has Real
ID but it is Real Bad
No thank you, Blizzard
posted by Grither at 5:59 AM on July 9, 2010
ID but it is Real Bad
No thank you, Blizzard
posted by Grither at 5:59 AM on July 9, 2010
Nattie's comment is really great. But to me the wackiest thing about that thread is the Blizzard employee who says that "the amount of abuse that Game Companies or even customer support gets dwarfs that of simple sexual harassment." Won't someone think of the poor Game Companies???
posted by waraw at 5:59 AM on July 9, 2010 [2 favorites]
posted by waraw at 5:59 AM on July 9, 2010 [2 favorites]
Oops, "Blizzard employee" I meant to link to the comment immediately above.
posted by waraw at 6:03 AM on July 9, 2010
posted by waraw at 6:03 AM on July 9, 2010
Waraw, he never said he was a Blizzard employee, he said it shouldn't be relevant. I'm not supporting his argument here, but let's not jump to conclusions.
posted by smoke at 6:11 AM on July 9, 2010
posted by smoke at 6:11 AM on July 9, 2010
Blizzard took a chance with RealID
Which made everyone's real names seen.
"It will cut down on trolls!"
They said over eyerolls.
But now I have some douche calling me!
posted by robocop is bleeding at 6:11 AM on July 9, 2010 [1 favorite]
Which made everyone's real names seen.
"It will cut down on trolls!"
They said over eyerolls.
But now I have some douche calling me!
posted by robocop is bleeding at 6:11 AM on July 9, 2010 [1 favorite]
It was this earlier Ask comment with its use of "our" that led me to that conclusion.
posted by waraw at 6:15 AM on July 9, 2010 [3 favorites]
posted by waraw at 6:15 AM on July 9, 2010 [3 favorites]
Waraw, he never said he was a Blizzard employee, he said it shouldn't be relevant.
It was rather a lot more weasely than that; he said that unless he was in the PR department he would be speaking for himself and not the company. Frankly I've never seen anyone make that convoluted of a non-denial unless the answer was "yes".
In any case it seems rather ironic that he won't just say whether he's a Blizzard employee when he's in there defending Blzzard requiring people to post non-anonymously. It's like rain on your wedding day or whatever.
posted by Justinian at 6:16 AM on July 9, 2010 [4 favorites]
It was rather a lot more weasely than that; he said that unless he was in the PR department he would be speaking for himself and not the company. Frankly I've never seen anyone make that convoluted of a non-denial unless the answer was "yes".
In any case it seems rather ironic that he won't just say whether he's a Blizzard employee when he's in there defending Blzzard requiring people to post non-anonymously. It's like rain on your wedding day or whatever.
posted by Justinian at 6:16 AM on July 9, 2010 [4 favorites]
You'd think they'd know better than to pick on Dwarves.
posted by Artw at 6:29 AM on July 9, 2010 [3 favorites]
posted by Artw at 6:29 AM on July 9, 2010 [3 favorites]
Hmm so it is all about a tie-in with Facebook. Well that's just dumb stupid; people are already up in arms over FB privacy antics; to join in with that lot may be getting on board a sinking ship. In any case, something will come along to compete with FB; not necessarily put it out of business, but some viable network will arise at some point and the current dominance FB seems to enjoy in the social sphere will erode even more.
posted by Mister_A at 7:18 AM on July 9, 2010
posted by Mister_A at 7:18 AM on July 9, 2010
Since we're linking to blogs that have linked to Metafilter, The Morning News noticed the chatty askme thread from a couple of days ago.
posted by crunchland at 7:20 AM on July 9, 2010
posted by crunchland at 7:20 AM on July 9, 2010
In other "famous people recognize MetaFilter news," Felicia Day pointed to the post about the sorry state of Hollywood screenwriting.
posted by jedicus at 7:21 AM on July 9, 2010
posted by jedicus at 7:21 AM on July 9, 2010
She has 1.8 million followers and I've never heard of her (Ms. Day). I'm not being douchey, just remarking on how balkanized internet culture is.
posted by Mister_A at 7:25 AM on July 9, 2010
posted by Mister_A at 7:25 AM on July 9, 2010
Felicia Day is in the Whedonverse because she was in Doctor Horrible and Dollhouse, thus making all Buffy fans automatically follow her just in case.
posted by smackfu at 7:29 AM on July 9, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by smackfu at 7:29 AM on July 9, 2010 [1 favorite]
She also stars in a World of Warcraft-inspired, internet-distributed comedy series called The Guild, which has been posted about on MetaFilter on two occasions.
posted by jedicus at 7:46 AM on July 9, 2010 [2 favorites]
posted by jedicus at 7:46 AM on July 9, 2010 [2 favorites]
Well thank ye, I've actually got Dollhouse in my queue.
posted by Mister_A at 7:48 AM on July 9, 2010
posted by Mister_A at 7:48 AM on July 9, 2010
I'm told that if you watch all of Dollhouse there's one or two episodes near the end that reveal how it could have been an interesting series with some neat ideas, but I really could not force myself to watch that far.
posted by Artw at 7:51 AM on July 9, 2010
posted by Artw at 7:51 AM on July 9, 2010
Frankly I've never seen anyone make that convoluted of a non-denial unless the answer was "yes".
When our CEO had a bit of legal trouble, our corporate lawyer said my favorite non-denial yet, "Knowing what I know about the case hasn't changed my level of respect for XXX at all". In my mind, I saw her in a Groucho-mask, waggling cigar going "Lose respect for him? I never respected him in the first place, ah cha cha cha". I was really surprised no one else started laughing with me.
posted by nomisxid at 7:57 AM on July 9, 2010 [4 favorites]
When our CEO had a bit of legal trouble, our corporate lawyer said my favorite non-denial yet, "Knowing what I know about the case hasn't changed my level of respect for XXX at all". In my mind, I saw her in a Groucho-mask, waggling cigar going "Lose respect for him? I never respected him in the first place, ah cha cha cha". I was really surprised no one else started laughing with me.
posted by nomisxid at 7:57 AM on July 9, 2010 [4 favorites]
She also stars in...
Writes, produces and stars in.
I've only ever seen the first season. I should check it out again.
posted by ODiV at 8:13 AM on July 9, 2010 [1 favorite]
Writes, produces and stars in.
I've only ever seen the first season. I should check it out again.
posted by ODiV at 8:13 AM on July 9, 2010 [1 favorite]
Hoo boy that doesn't bode well...
I thought the series had a weak start, much stronger latter half of the first season, stumbled at the beginning of the second season, and finished very very strong in the latter half of the second and final season. But I'm also a pretty unabashed Whedon fanboy, so take that with a grain of salt.
posted by kmz at 8:15 AM on July 9, 2010
I thought the series had a weak start, much stronger latter half of the first season, stumbled at the beginning of the second season, and finished very very strong in the latter half of the second and final season. But I'm also a pretty unabashed Whedon fanboy, so take that with a grain of salt.
posted by kmz at 8:15 AM on July 9, 2010
Considering that MetaFilter is big enough to crush smaller sites with the attention it brings, it probably isn't likely that we'll get "wanged". I don't recall, is there a similar term for when the collective eye of MetaFilter turning on a small website crushes it bandwidth?
posted by charred husk at 8:18 AM on July 9, 2010
posted by charred husk at 8:18 AM on July 9, 2010
I'm told that if you watch all of Dollhouse there's one or two episodes near the end that reveal how it could have been an interesting series with some neat ideas, but I really could not force myself to watch that far.
If you can, watch the unaired pilot episode, on the DVD release of season 1. The entire first season story arc was originally intended to be told in the first 45-minute episode and works brilliantly at setting up an intriguing universe. Fox liked the idea but insisted that the 45min of plot exposition must be stretched out over an entire season, apparently for fear of confusing viewers or intimidating people who hadn't seen the pilot.
posted by metaBugs at 8:21 AM on July 9, 2010
If you can, watch the unaired pilot episode, on the DVD release of season 1. The entire first season story arc was originally intended to be told in the first 45-minute episode and works brilliantly at setting up an intriguing universe. Fox liked the idea but insisted that the 45min of plot exposition must be stretched out over an entire season, apparently for fear of confusing viewers or intimidating people who hadn't seen the pilot.
posted by metaBugs at 8:21 AM on July 9, 2010
Hey, I sidebarred that! I really feel that the facebook part of it is the smoking gun aspect. I don't know much about WoW, but some people seemed to be saying that just having to use your names in the forums [where you often need to go for tech support etc] isn't the insidious part, though annoying, it's the way the RealID stuff is wrapped into the game itself and not turn-offable in the ways you'd expect it to be.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 8:33 AM on July 9, 2010
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 8:33 AM on July 9, 2010
I'm told that if you watch all of Dollhouse there's one or two episodes near the end that reveal how it could have been an interesting series with some neat ideas,
Interesting thing is that Felicia Day is only in those end episodes (Epilogue 1 and 2). She's not a regular cast member.
posted by smackfu at 8:34 AM on July 9, 2010
Interesting thing is that Felicia Day is only in those end episodes (Epilogue 1 and 2). She's not a regular cast member.
posted by smackfu at 8:34 AM on July 9, 2010
Nattie's comment is great. I've seen it get referenced in a bunch of random little places, this or that forum discussing the RealID thing.
Since we're linking to blogs that have linked to Metafilter, The Morning News noticed the chatty askme thread from a couple of days ago.
Yeah, that's making the rounds on twitter and such as well. Lifehacker picked it up, which is about the least shocking development in the history of electricity-free developments and probably explains part of the wide net.
I don't recall, is there a similar term for when the collective eye of MetaFilter turning on a small website crushes it bandwidth?
'Deleted', much of the time. At which point the linked site recovers, someone emails me to have the post restored, I restore it, the link site immediately collapses again under the return of the firehose, I delete the post...
posted by cortex (staff) at 8:39 AM on July 9, 2010
Since we're linking to blogs that have linked to Metafilter, The Morning News noticed the chatty askme thread from a couple of days ago.
Yeah, that's making the rounds on twitter and such as well. Lifehacker picked it up, which is about the least shocking development in the history of electricity-free developments and probably explains part of the wide net.
I don't recall, is there a similar term for when the collective eye of MetaFilter turning on a small website crushes it bandwidth?
'Deleted', much of the time. At which point the linked site recovers, someone emails me to have the post restored, I restore it, the link site immediately collapses again under the return of the firehose, I delete the post...
posted by cortex (staff) at 8:39 AM on July 9, 2010
I'm told that if you watch all of Dollhouse there's one or two episodes near the end that reveal how it could have been an interesting series with some neat ideas, but I really could not force myself to watch that far.
---
thought the series had a weak start, much stronger latter half of the first season
I thought it had a weak start too, but it seemed like it just got worse and borderline incomprehensible. I didn't see the second season though.
At first it was a show about people who had their personalities and memories suppressed and the supplanted with fabricated and patchwork ones for specific purposes. This was starting to come apart at the seams as the original personalities started reasserting themselves unexpectedly.
Then they inexplicably veer off into some sort of consciousness transferal service for rich people!? It's a whole different idea, and frankly more boring to me. Did they continue with that into the second season?
posted by ODiV at 8:53 AM on July 9, 2010
---
thought the series had a weak start, much stronger latter half of the first season
I thought it had a weak start too, but it seemed like it just got worse and borderline incomprehensible. I didn't see the second season though.
At first it was a show about people who had their personalities and memories suppressed and the supplanted with fabricated and patchwork ones for specific purposes. This was starting to come apart at the seams as the original personalities started reasserting themselves unexpectedly.
Then they inexplicably veer off into some sort of consciousness transferal service for rich people!? It's a whole different idea, and frankly more boring to me. Did they continue with that into the second season?
posted by ODiV at 8:53 AM on July 9, 2010
Then again, The Dollhouse is a corporation of sorts, presumably with management. It's not all that surprising that management would try to branch out into some truly idiotic business practices in pursuit of profit with no comprehension of the actual functionality of their technology.
And it might be that after reading two books back to back with consciousness transferal as a theme/plot device I was sick of it when I saw the show.
posted by ODiV at 9:01 AM on July 9, 2010
And it might be that after reading two books back to back with consciousness transferal as a theme/plot device I was sick of it when I saw the show.
posted by ODiV at 9:01 AM on July 9, 2010
How on earth does every thread on MeFi end up being about the whedonverse?
Not that I'm complaining mind you.
posted by Think_Long at 9:58 AM on July 9, 2010 [1 favorite]
Not that I'm complaining mind you.
posted by Think_Long at 9:58 AM on July 9, 2010 [1 favorite]
Did they continue with that into the second season?
Not really, no. Basically the second season explored what might happen if consciousness transferal became quick, easy, involuntary, and able to be done remotely. As you might guess, it ends very badly.
posted by jedicus at 10:01 AM on July 9, 2010
Not really, no. Basically the second season explored what might happen if consciousness transferal became quick, easy, involuntary, and able to be done remotely. As you might guess, it ends very badly.
posted by jedicus at 10:01 AM on July 9, 2010
Yeah, the jump from being about personality wiping and reprogramming to consciousness transferal seemed really stupid to me. The two techs don't seem to have much to do with one another in my mind. I have a hard time believing people would actually think that scanning your brain pattern onto a hard drive and then copying that into another person somehow transfers your consciousness in any sense that would be useful to you. Again, this might just be because I was burnt out on consciousness transferal as a plot device at the time.
posted by ODiV at 10:41 AM on July 9, 2010
posted by ODiV at 10:41 AM on July 9, 2010
Blizzard has changed it's mind about the use of Real Names on the forums.
posted by Pogo_Fuzzybutt at 11:39 AM on July 9, 2010
How on earth does every thread on MeFi end up being about the whedonverse?
The better question: how did you not notice that you've actually started living in the whedonverse, so anything less than every thread would be impossible?
posted by davejay at 11:53 AM on July 9, 2010
The better question: how did you not notice that you've actually started living in the whedonverse, so anything less than every thread would be impossible?
posted by davejay at 11:53 AM on July 9, 2010
But not for the games themselves :-/
I want to make sure it's clear that our plans for the forums are completely separate from our plans for the optional in-game Real ID system now live with World of Warcraft and launching soon with StarCraft II.
...
Over time, we will continue to evolve Real ID on Battle.net to add new and exciting functionality within our games for players who decide to use the feature.
posted by Lizc at 11:57 AM on July 9, 2010
I want to make sure it's clear that our plans for the forums are completely separate from our plans for the optional in-game Real ID system now live with World of Warcraft and launching soon with StarCraft II.
...
Over time, we will continue to evolve Real ID on Battle.net to add new and exciting functionality within our games for players who decide to use the feature.
posted by Lizc at 11:57 AM on July 9, 2010
"As a result of those discussions, we've decided at this time that real names will not be required for posting on official Blizzard forums."
Woah.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 12:18 PM on July 9, 2010
Woah.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 12:18 PM on July 9, 2010
But not for the games themselves :-/
They could make RealID really cool. Chatting across realms/servers/games would be super handy for keeping up with my friends. Being able to specify which friends could see which toons/games/etc. and under what conditions would be sweet.
I don't mind certain people seeing certain things about what I'm doing at certain times.
I do mind everybody seeing everything at every time. Right now, RealID is broken. But it doesn't have to be. I hope Blizz continues to see the light on this.
posted by Pogo_Fuzzybutt at 12:19 PM on July 9, 2010
At this point I'm fully convinced that anytime I see a Whedon "project" discussion, it is in some way a carryover of people talking about Buffy or at least contextualized/compared with it.
posted by P.o.B. at 12:56 PM on July 9, 2010
posted by P.o.B. at 12:56 PM on July 9, 2010
jedicus: "She also stars in a World of Warcraft-inspired, internet-distributed comedy series called The Guild, which has been posted about on MetaFilter on two occasions"
She's also the elf in Legend of Neil.
posted by Bonzai at 12:57 PM on July 9, 2010
She's also the elf in Legend of Neil.
posted by Bonzai at 12:57 PM on July 9, 2010
Oh! And she was on the last season of Buffy too as one of the Potentials.
posted by Bonzai at 12:58 PM on July 9, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by Bonzai at 12:58 PM on July 9, 2010 [1 favorite]
Unless I'm misremembering, ODIV, I don't believe they ever went into the idea that "consciousness" transferred, and it was just memory transferral.
posted by P.o.B. at 1:00 PM on July 9, 2010
posted by P.o.B. at 1:00 PM on July 9, 2010
Just when I had just managed to get the earworm of "Do You Want to Date My Avatar" out of my head...
posted by crunchland at 2:12 PM on July 9, 2010
posted by crunchland at 2:12 PM on July 9, 2010
Basically the second season explored what might happen if consciousness transferal became quick, easy, involuntary, and able to be done remotely. As you might guess, it ends very badly.
Yeah, Dollhouse lost me when it stopped being about individual secret agent fembots with personalities creeping back into their psyches, and turned into some kind of post-apocalyptic global zombie war, but without actual zombies.
"it seemed like it just got worse and borderline incomprehensible" sums it up quite well.
posted by UbuRoivas at 2:25 PM on July 9, 2010
Yeah, Dollhouse lost me when it stopped being about individual secret agent fembots with personalities creeping back into their psyches, and turned into some kind of post-apocalyptic global zombie war, but without actual zombies.
"it seemed like it just got worse and borderline incomprehensible" sums it up quite well.
posted by UbuRoivas at 2:25 PM on July 9, 2010
It did star Eliza Dushku, after all.
...
...
what?
posted by Justinian at 3:10 PM on July 9, 2010 [2 favorites]
...
...
what?
posted by Justinian at 3:10 PM on July 9, 2010 [2 favorites]
Are we really going to be concerned about comments made on some nerdy gamers website?
As a famous philosopher once said: What men must know a boy must learn.
Wait, delete that. Put in some shit that Des Cartes once said (I don't know, some shit about I think therefore I'm in your face - or something). Or some Plateau ("Shit be flat").
Anyway, where's our professional white background?
posted by panboi at 3:32 PM on July 9, 2010
As a famous philosopher once said: What men must know a boy must learn.
Wait, delete that. Put in some shit that Des Cartes once said (I don't know, some shit about I think therefore I'm in your face - or something). Or some Plateau ("Shit be flat").
Anyway, where's our professional white background?
posted by panboi at 3:32 PM on July 9, 2010
It did star Eliza Dushku, after all.
Touché
Point, Justinian.
15 - love.
posted by P.o.B. at 4:02 PM on July 9, 2010
Touché
Point, Justinian.
15 - love.
posted by P.o.B. at 4:02 PM on July 9, 2010
I'm glad the Bigger Voices out there got noticed by Blizzard along with the avalanche of little voices. I'm proud that the thread was picked up by PA.
(and I'm sure I'll be labeled a heathen, but I really don't care for The Guild as I wanted it to be more about raiding and less about Felicia Day.)
posted by Wuggie Norple at 5:49 PM on July 9, 2010
(and I'm sure I'll be labeled a heathen, but I really don't care for The Guild as I wanted it to be more about raiding and less about Felicia Day.)
posted by Wuggie Norple at 5:49 PM on July 9, 2010
I'd like to think that it was maybe my tweets that brought MetaFilter to their attention, but of course I can't prove it. :)
posted by digitaldraco at 6:03 PM on July 9, 2010
posted by digitaldraco at 6:03 PM on July 9, 2010
I'm not gonna lie, when I saw that Tycho linked to it my pulse shot up for a full, joyous minute. I went to their booksigning in LA earlier this year and I was so overwhelmed to be in his presence I couldn't even say anything when he signed mine.
Anyway, I'm retiring. I don't have to accomplish anything else in my entire life now, and compared to this, everything else will be one decades-long denouement anyway.
posted by Nattie at 6:53 PM on July 9, 2010 [11 favorites]
Anyway, I'm retiring. I don't have to accomplish anything else in my entire life now, and compared to this, everything else will be one decades-long denouement anyway.
posted by Nattie at 6:53 PM on July 9, 2010 [11 favorites]
Dollhouse lost me for good with the "body swap" episode in season 2, where they introduced the remote transfer. That was some of the stupidest shit I've seen on TV in a long time. The whole thing was a setup for the scene with the annoying girl in a guy's body somehow not noticing her body had changed. It was just insulting. I couldn't finish the season after that.
It had its moments in season 1, I guess. I'd never recommend this show to a friend though.
posted by cj_ at 7:51 PM on July 9, 2010
It had its moments in season 1, I guess. I'd never recommend this show to a friend though.
posted by cj_ at 7:51 PM on July 9, 2010
I'm glad that post got noted at Penny Arcade, first because I probably wouldn't have seen it otherwise (the core topic of the post not really applying to me), second because the readership at Penny Arcade is far more standard gamer demographic than you'd ever see hanging around these parts and I'd like to think that more than a couple gamers who are on the fence as far as really getting how crummy things are made for women in that culture. I'm not part of that particular problem but it was nonetheless certainly eye-opening for me.
posted by nanojath at 10:14 PM on July 9, 2010
posted by nanojath at 10:14 PM on July 9, 2010
Yeah, it was pretty much the perfect comment for explaining what it can be like to be a woman and play games to gamer guys who might never have thought about it before: straightforward, calm, and awesome. I'm really glad it got linked.
posted by ArmyOfKittens at 12:51 AM on July 10, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by ArmyOfKittens at 12:51 AM on July 10, 2010 [1 favorite]
Also: today some friends on Vent (a voice client) asked my husband about this, and one of them didn't know what MetaFilter was. His explanation was, "It's like ElitistJerks for IRL." That struck me as incredibly apt.
If you don't play WoW, that's actually high praise and not what it sounds like; ElitistJerks is the tongue-in-cheek name of a famous WoW guild whose forums are known for being well-moderated and having high quality posts. The people there analyze WoW mechanics from every angle and figure out the best possible way to do anything WoW-related. MeFi does seem like the same sort of thing, except for real life.
posted by Nattie at 1:29 AM on July 10, 2010 [9 favorites]
If you don't play WoW, that's actually high praise and not what it sounds like; ElitistJerks is the tongue-in-cheek name of a famous WoW guild whose forums are known for being well-moderated and having high quality posts. The people there analyze WoW mechanics from every angle and figure out the best possible way to do anything WoW-related. MeFi does seem like the same sort of thing, except for real life.
posted by Nattie at 1:29 AM on July 10, 2010 [9 favorites]
His explanation was, "It's like ElitistJerks for IRL."
Hah, yes. That is dead on.
Yeah, it was pretty much the perfect comment for explaining what it can be like to be a woman and play games to gamer guys who might never have thought about it before
Yep.. Me and my girlfriend have played since release and did top-end raiding in the same guild. We eventually settled into a guild full of smart, slightly older players (college age or higher) that had nearly a 50/50 male/female ratio, but the road to that was very bumpy. We were very lucky to have ended up with such a cool group.
We have both gone through phases where we were doing "pugs" (groups of random strangers tackling a dungeon or raid) and the shit she had to deal with is staggering. I won't enumerate all the bullshit because you can just read Nattie's comment for a better explanation than I could ever come up with, only experiencing it second-hand. She had a policy of never speaking in vent (claiming her mic was broken) because the second a player in your group is identified as female, the normal "people just playing games" dynamic come screeching to a halt. You can almost hear the needle scratch sound effect. It's downhill quickly from there. A sizable portion of your group will instantly turn into complete idiots, assholes, or frightening almost instantly.
The fact that Blizzard was willing to sacrifice gender anonymity to integrate with Facebook, while lying about their intentions (as if this was *ever* about tackling the trolling problem they have done nothing to address in the past 5 years), is enough to make me just write the game off. I was going to resub for the expansion, but they've lost me. It makes me said, because I love Blizzard, but this isn't Blizzard, this is Activision, and it's time to throw them in the heap.
posted by cj_ at 3:39 AM on July 10, 2010
Hah, yes. That is dead on.
Yeah, it was pretty much the perfect comment for explaining what it can be like to be a woman and play games to gamer guys who might never have thought about it before
Yep.. Me and my girlfriend have played since release and did top-end raiding in the same guild. We eventually settled into a guild full of smart, slightly older players (college age or higher) that had nearly a 50/50 male/female ratio, but the road to that was very bumpy. We were very lucky to have ended up with such a cool group.
We have both gone through phases where we were doing "pugs" (groups of random strangers tackling a dungeon or raid) and the shit she had to deal with is staggering. I won't enumerate all the bullshit because you can just read Nattie's comment for a better explanation than I could ever come up with, only experiencing it second-hand. She had a policy of never speaking in vent (claiming her mic was broken) because the second a player in your group is identified as female, the normal "people just playing games" dynamic come screeching to a halt. You can almost hear the needle scratch sound effect. It's downhill quickly from there. A sizable portion of your group will instantly turn into complete idiots, assholes, or frightening almost instantly.
The fact that Blizzard was willing to sacrifice gender anonymity to integrate with Facebook, while lying about their intentions (as if this was *ever* about tackling the trolling problem they have done nothing to address in the past 5 years), is enough to make me just write the game off. I was going to resub for the expansion, but they've lost me. It makes me said, because I love Blizzard, but this isn't Blizzard, this is Activision, and it's time to throw them in the heap.
posted by cj_ at 3:39 AM on July 10, 2010
It did star Eliza Dushku, after all.
Sadly, Dushku is what killed the series for me early on. If the whole concept revolves around people having different people put into them, and thus acting like different people all the time, it would have been good to cast someone in the main role who could, even occasionally, act like someone other than themselves. Dushku, in Dollhouse, is always just Dushku. Totally could not maintain my suspension of disbelief.
Now, if VICTOR had been the main character... that guy was amazing and completely believable as a different person every time he was imprinted.
posted by L'Estrange Fruit at 6:12 AM on July 10, 2010 [2 favorites]
Sadly, Dushku is what killed the series for me early on. If the whole concept revolves around people having different people put into them, and thus acting like different people all the time, it would have been good to cast someone in the main role who could, even occasionally, act like someone other than themselves. Dushku, in Dollhouse, is always just Dushku. Totally could not maintain my suspension of disbelief.
Now, if VICTOR had been the main character... that guy was amazing and completely believable as a different person every time he was imprinted.
posted by L'Estrange Fruit at 6:12 AM on July 10, 2010 [2 favorites]
Now, if VICTOR had been the main character... that guy was amazing and completely believable as a different person every time he was imprinted.
I thought he was spot on in the few scenes late in the series when he was imprinted as Topher. His mannerisms, inflections of speech, everything. He was very good.
posted by Justinian at 3:14 PM on July 10, 2010 [2 favorites]
I thought he was spot on in the few scenes late in the series when he was imprinted as Topher. His mannerisms, inflections of speech, everything. He was very good.
posted by Justinian at 3:14 PM on July 10, 2010 [2 favorites]
His explanation was, "It's like ElitistJerks for IRL."
Hah, yes. That is dead on.
In total agreement here too!
posted by Wuggie Norple at 5:20 PM on July 10, 2010 [1 favorite]
Hah, yes. That is dead on.
In total agreement here too!
posted by Wuggie Norple at 5:20 PM on July 10, 2010 [1 favorite]
"It's like ElitistJerks for IRL."
Wow. That really is apt.
You guys haven't seen bean plating till you've seen the EJ thread warriors argue about the secret sauce behind the secret sauce that is behind the secret sauce of how spells fire in WoW.
The Team Liquid Kotick article got me all "What in the world have I been giving my money to?"; I mean, I read the original "Activision - Blizzard" merger thing and thought "meh", but it really struck me that what I thought was Blizzard getting just stupid greedy with their little $$ value ads "Change your name! Change your server! Change your class! Buy a horse! Free epics!" was actually Kotick saying "MORE MONEY, Plebes!"
Anyhoo -- grats Nattie! Server First, I think? Not sure we've had a shout out from Tycho before.
posted by cavalier at 11:06 PM on July 10, 2010
Wow. That really is apt.
You guys haven't seen bean plating till you've seen the EJ thread warriors argue about the secret sauce behind the secret sauce that is behind the secret sauce of how spells fire in WoW.
The Team Liquid Kotick article got me all "What in the world have I been giving my money to?"; I mean, I read the original "Activision - Blizzard" merger thing and thought "meh", but it really struck me that what I thought was Blizzard getting just stupid greedy with their little $$ value ads "Change your name! Change your server! Change your class! Buy a horse! Free epics!" was actually Kotick saying "MORE MONEY, Plebes!"
Anyhoo -- grats Nattie! Server First, I think? Not sure we've had a shout out from Tycho before.
posted by cavalier at 11:06 PM on July 10, 2010
I have spent many hours tinkering with simulations so I can boost my DPS by .05%. Man, that game is crack for math/statistic nerds.
posted by cj_ at 11:17 PM on July 10, 2010 [2 favorites]
posted by cj_ at 11:17 PM on July 10, 2010 [2 favorites]
EJ is so heavy on the math it makes me cry, but it was my go-to place when I was tanking and I never regretted it.
posted by Wuggie Norple at 6:22 AM on July 11, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by Wuggie Norple at 6:22 AM on July 11, 2010 [1 favorite]
You are not logged in, either login or create an account to post comments
posted by jonnyploy at 2:06 AM on July 9, 2010 [8 favorites]