[Jatsie]

I like Chinese.
I like Chinese.
They only come up to your knees,
Yet they're always friendly, and they're ready to please.

[RLacey]

Why won't this Thread™ just DIE?!!!

[stepurhan]

Originally Posted by Jat316sob

They only come up to your knees,
.........and they're ready to please.

Do you consider these two facts to be related jat?

Originally Posted by RLacey

Why won't this Threadâ„¢ just DIE?!!!

It appears to have an overwhelming desire to live. Shouldn't we admire such determination in a world that seems so lacksadaisical?

[Jazhara7]

Originally Posted by Giligan

No machine guns? Too bad.

Actually, I think I might have one of those too...Like I said, I hardly know anything about weapons, and I have forgotten some of the details about the different ones my character has that our GM told me.

Wow. That's... old-school.

Yup. Yet it doesn't get old. I love it. The good thing about the P&P games is that you can actually roleplay. Sure, there's computer games based on these systems, but it doesn't work that well. In any single player CRPG you will end up railroading the player in some way, because it's impossible to program the game in such a way that it could respond to every possible player action appropriately. So instead you give some options for actions that fit the basic characters: Good, Evil, Chaotic, Lawful, and different classes. However, even that can be tricky. Especially evil is too often written as if every evil character is characterised by kicking puppies and eating children, while insidious evil characters, that know how to play people the right way, so that they don't realise that the guy they're asking for help is actually not interested in their well being. That kind of evil character might agree to fight the orcs to get the merchant's stolen goods back, but what they might not say is they will keep them. They might agree to basically do good things, but see how they can gain the most for themselves from it. No evil person goes around shouting to the winds "Oh, I'm so evil! MWUAHAHAHAHAHA!!". They'd not live long that way, and it's just cliché. Sadly, the only one who has long since figured out that yes, Villains and evil characters *can* be smart, is Disney. Many game developers however are still stuck on the cliché evil guy kicking puppies left and right and sporting a silly moustache. Except the guys from Black Isle, that are luckily now to a large part at Bioware. They have it figured out well.

Yet even if you do that kind of thing, you will never manage to please everyone, as there's just too many factors you have to pay attention to.

Anyway, what I meant to say is, it's much easier with P&P games. You don't have to program a computer, as you already have the best programmed, and most adaptable computer in your heads. Roleplaying can only done really well if you don't have any given options when replying, and just make it up as you go. One day you might be able to program a computer to be able to replace playing with actual people, but it's far in the future, if it will ever happen. And personally, I am happy talking to my friends as we play.

No, no, no. I didn't mean you when I said about the person that went on and on about nothing. I meant that other dude who hangs around a lot.

On a more serious note, a friends of mine has ADHD, and he's basically what you described. However, if you hadn't said anything now or previous times you've mentioned your ADHD, I would have never known that you had ADHD. After all, it takes quite a bit of attention to have perfect spelling and grammar, and write out fairly long posts as you do.

Well, it's a bit more complicated. On one hand, people with ADHD have difficulty focusing, especially if they are underchallenged (as ADHD often comes hand in hand with a high IQ, meaning that you understand things pretty quickly, most of the time. However, the other people might not have understood the same thing by that time, and you get bored, and get distracted by an interesting cloud formation, for example. Teachers interpret that as simply not paying attention, yet when they ask you to explain what was just taught, they might find you can do that perfectly. But most teachers don't bother with that, and just mark it down as misbehaving and not paying attention right away. Of course, *some* ADHD kids are doing that anyway, but the same can be said about "normal" kids. ), or if they consider something not interesting (like Math, for me, much of the time. If it's presented in a slightly different way, I find it interesting too, though.). However, at the same time, people with ADHD are able to "hyperfocus". That means they can get so focussed on one task, that they don't notice what goes around them. That can happen with any activity, if it catches the interest enough. You should see me doing a puzzle - a 1000 piece puzzle is done faster than you can imagine. Or doing art. Or during Archery practice (gods, be thankful for it during archery practice! Distraction and arrows don't mix well. Also, Archery practice itself often helps to calm me down a lot when I'm extremely nervous.) You really hardly notice anything happening in your surroundings, you just see the task before hand and all your thoughts circle around that.

However, in class hyperfocus can be interpreted as misbehaving too, as teachers might think the student is intentionally not responding or working with the group. Even though you get the stuff done perfectly, and fast, it's not something welcome in class.

So yeah, even if often we have difficulty focusing, if something catches our interest, we can be so focused on it that nothing can distract us (that's how extremely long posts by me, that took only a few minutes to write are created. If a post takes longer, the topic didn't catch my interest as much, most of the time.).

Not at all. I have few enough friends as it is, taking no interest in the interests of those with whom I associate would get me nowhere.

*hugs* ^_^

Originally Posted by Squinky

Well, Sex can make your pants no longer fit too, if you don't watch out.



By the way, Gilsie, I recently realised that you remind me a bit of !Duke_Commando! of Elf Only Inn. But only a bit.


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[Jazhara7]

Originally Posted by stepurhan

It appears to have an overwhelming desire to live. Shouldn't we admire such determination in a world that seems so lacksadaisical?

Maybe we should rename the thread "Mystra" - it wouldn't survive to see another day, that way.



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[stepurhan]

I think we should rename it "Captain Jack Harkness". That seems much more appropriate in the circumstances.

[Giligan]

Originally Posted by stepurhan

It appears to have an overwhelming desire to live. Shouldn't we admire such determination in a world that seems so lacksadaisical?

Indeed. I, for one, am inspired, and am determined to help it live.

Originally Posted by Jazhara7

Yup. Yet it doesn't get old. I love it. The good thing about the P&P games is that you can actually roleplay[...] No evil person goes around shouting to the winds "Oh, I'm so evil! MWUAHAHAHAHAHA!!". They'd not live long that way, and it's just cliché. Sadly, the only one who has long since figured out that yes, Villains and evil characters *can* be smart, is Disney. Many game developers however are still stuck on the cliché evil guy kicking puppies left and right and sporting a silly moustache. Except the guys from Black Isle, that are luckily now to a large part at Bioware. They have it figured out well.

Yet even if you do that kind of thing, you will never manage to please everyone, as there's just too many factors you have to pay attention to.

Well, yeah, but you have to sacrifice great graphics, expansive terrain, and immersion in a virtual world if you want realistic baddies. If I was ever bitten by the RPG bug - unlikely - I'd have to go with an online RPG.

Originally Posted by Jazhara7

Well, it's a bit more complicated. On one hand, people with ADHD have difficulty focusing, especially if they are underchallenged (as ADHD often comes hand in hand with a high IQ, meaning that you understand things pretty quickly, most of the time. However, the other people might not have understood the same thing by that time, and you get bored, and get distracted by an interesting cloud formation, for example. [...]But most teachers don't bother with that, and just mark it down as misbehaving and not paying attention right away. [...] However, at the same time, people with ADHD are able to "hyperfocus". That means they can get so focussed on one task, that they don't notice what goes around them. That can happen with any activity, if it catches the interest enough. You should see me doing a puzzle - a 1000 piece puzzle is done faster than you can imagine. Or doing art. Or during Archery practice (gods, be thankful for it during archery practice! [...] However, in class hyperfocus can be interpreted as misbehaving too, as teachers might think the student is intentionally not responding or working with the group. Even though you get the stuff done perfectly, and fast, it's not something welcome in class.

So yeah, even if often we have difficulty focusing, if something catches our interest, we can be so focused on it that nothing can distract us (that's how extremely long posts by me, that took only a few minutes to write are created. If a post takes longer, the topic didn't catch my interest as much, most of the time.).

I see. Not a whole lot to say about that, interesting to know though.

Originally Posted by Jazhara7

By the way, Gilsie, I recently realised that you remind me a bit of !Duke_Commando! of Elf Only Inn. But only a bit.

Ooh, a gun-toting mercenary tough guy? I approve. Except for the "not the brightest apple in the basket" bit, of course.

[Jatsie]

Originally Posted by Jazhara7

Well, Sex can make your pants no longer fit too, if you don't watch out.

You're doing it wrong...

[Squinky]

Originally Posted by Jazhara7

Yup. Yet it doesn't get old. I love it. The good thing about the P&P games is that you can actually roleplay. Sure, there's computer games based on these systems, but it doesn't work that well. In any single player CRPG you will end up railroading the player in some way, because it's impossible to program the game in such a way that it could respond to every possible player action appropriately.

I had someone recently comment that Chivalry is Not Dead played more like a P&P RPG than an adventure game. Pimpage aside, however, I think it depends on the quality of the game's writer(s), or in the P&P case, on the creativity of the players. I don't think you need to take into account every action, so much as take into account every meaningful action.

Originally Posted by Jazhara7

Anyway, what I meant to say is, it's much easier with P&P games. You don't have to program a computer, as you already have the best programmed, and most adaptable computer in your heads. Roleplaying can only done really well if you don't have any given options when replying, and just make it up as you go. One day you might be able to program a computer to be able to replace playing with actual people, but it's far in the future, if it will ever happen. And personally, I am happy talking to my friends as we play.

I dunno. Some AI researchers will argue that the brain makes for a terrible computer; there are some things a computer really does better than most humans (e.g. really fast calculations, huge capacity for memory) just as there are some things humans are a lot better at than computers (e.g. natural language processing). So, I don't think it's a matter of computers replacing humans so much as it is a matter of using the strengths of a computer to enhance already-existing human interactions.

This is why I prefer author-driven narratives in games rather than procedural/emergent ones. True, we've never seen a good example of a procedural narrative yet, but somehow, when an author actually goes through and develops characters and a plot of sorts, you can really notice the humanity present therein. The reason I'm a game designer is not because I want computers to replace humans, but because I want to "play" with a broader audience, if that makes any sense at all.

Hence, what I'm really trying to say is, play my games, if you haven't already.

P.S. I've never been diagnosed with a mental disorder, but I know I possess too many quirky mannerisms to be "normal", so I occasionally wonder whether I fall somewhere on the autistic spectrum. I don't think I annoyed too many of my teachers as a kid, by dint of mostly being quiet. Fellow students, on the other hand...

[Jazhara7]

Originally Posted by Giligan

Ooh, a gun-toting mercenary tough guy? I approve. Except for the "not the brightest apple in the basket" bit, of course.

Yeah, the "gun-toting mercenary tough guy" was the part that reminded me of you. The "not the brightest apple in the basket" was the bit that didn't fit you.





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[SSH]

Originally Posted by Squinky

P.S. I've never been diagnosed with a mental disorder, but I know I possess too many quirky mannerisms to be "normal", so I occasionally wonder whether I fall somewhere on the autistic spectrum. I don't think I annoyed too many of my teachers as a kid, by dint of mostly being quiet. Fellow students, on the other hand...

Its all too popular these days to brand anyone less than a complete extrovert or slightly precocious as mildly autistic. While I'm sure some of this is genuine diagnosis due to greater public awareness of the condition, you don't fit the poor prosody, tangential or hyper-verbosity patterns in your posts, at least, Ms Kiai!

[Squinky]

Point taken. I'm curious as to whether people who know me in real life would agree, though. For instance, around family members, I REALLY feel eccentric.

[RLacey]

Um... DIE, THREAD™!?

[stepurhan]

Originally Posted by Giligan

say Retriever.

I'm sorry. The answer was Tabby (ganuinely too)

[RLacey]

Dunno.

[stepurhan]

Maybe you'd have better luck trying to kill one of the threads here Robert.

Or possibly you could use information from there to try to kill this thread. It could work. There's load of rip-roaringly exciting stuff like the thread (article with comments really) I linked to that you can choose from.

[Merricat]

Originally Posted by Squinky

Point taken. I'm curious as to whether people who know me in real life would agree, though. For instance, around family members, I REALLY feel eccentric.

Well, sure. I feel that way about my family, although I love them (sort of ) in spite of our differences. My sisters used to tell me that I was a changeling; I was also told that I was dropped off by a gipsy caravan. Both stories seemed believable to me. It's the price you pay for a creative nature.
I don't know you well at all, but I do know that you don't have to have ADHD or autism or anything else in order to be brilliant. I think you don't suffer fools gladly. In my opinion, that's not such a bad thing. Saves time, in my experience.

Ummm...die, thread?

[Giligan]

Originally Posted by Merricat

Ummm...die, thread?

Fail.


I'm also considered somewhat of an oddball by my family, incidentally.

[Squinky]

See, this is why I love the internet so much. It makes me feel so normal!

[SSH]

In Soviet Russia, you make the internet feel normal...