Ginger_Warrior

If you think Obama's a dirty little socialist, I'd hate to think what names you'd call me. But I won't take it personally.

Meh, good luck to him. Keep plugging away. It might not have happened now but it'll happen one day.

Levels aren't that important. You're acting like you absolutely need to be doing warps only and three binds to be in DG clan. If that's really what you believe, then it's a grossly misinformed opinion. You can quite easily get into DG clans at level 70ish, which isn't that high. The "ins and outs" of clan dungeoneering aren't learnt by doing solo floors and depending on the game to teach you.

You're not disagreeing with me then. By "as we know it" it was pretty obvious I meant 5:5, clan-based dungeoneering.

I meant that in cases of emergent gameplay, it's very hard for Jagex to ensure that everyone in the process receives some kind of in-game reward for their efforts, since emergent gameplay by definition cannot have been planned by Jagex. Certainly, if what we're reading into this BTS blurb is true--and it is only a blurb, very skimp on detail--that the gap in XP rates between 5:5 and solo dungeoneering will close significantly, then there'll be less incentive for certain clans to teach new people about how team dungeoneering works, and as a consequence, that cycle will slow down gradually, eventually leading to the death of DG as we know it. We can completely agree there.

If there's anything more vulgar than politicians using personal catastrophe to further their own causes, and there's been plenty of that by both sides in the past few days, it's people like Kanye West using it as a soapbox. Even if you believe Bush hated black people around Katrina, it's completely inappropriate to express those opinions in that context.

Isn't that a true reflection on life though? Whatever jobs we do, almost all of us will end up working in teams of some description. Most people we'll like, some people we won't like. The beauty about RuneScape is that if you don't want to spend time with people who get on your back, you don't have to. Just spend time with the people you do like, and you'll find DG is a much more pleasurable experience. Believe me, you won't have that luxury in the real world... you work with "pieces of shit" whether you like it or not. Another point I'd like to make about people being [bleep]s in Dungeoneering. It happens a lot more with keyers than anyone else. Keying is an incredible stressful task, especially when you haven't been doing it for very long. It's very algorithmic, which makes it hard to remember on-the-spot, it features a lot of line management, which is incredible difficult itself, and there's also a lot of pressure on you because it's not just you benefiting (or suffering) from your own performance; four other people have a vested interest too, so you have to manage their expectations as well. In those circumstances, some people lose their cool under pressure. Just like a quarterback in American Football will occasionally trade a few words with a wide receiver, keyers are slightly impatient with other members on their team too. It doesn't make it OK, but it does make it understandable, and if the people in the team make an effort to be friends outside of DG, it feels a lot more "human" and you won't take it so personally. That's really why clans are so important. They're not just a loose collection of people who DG in the same way. They're meant to be a community of themselves for people to make friends in, who they will then DG with because they work well with each other, and will see each other as people with feelings and ambitions just like them, rather than "just another player" on a computer screen.

Not long enough, is why. When this generation of "meta" players retire, if there is no one to take their place (go on and ask how hard it is to find researchers) they will start the "dying out" process. If you want to see a similar trend, look at the fansite clan world. The process is one that takes a very long time, but the trend this subsection of the community is taking is slowly dying out. Is another factor simply that, if you're the kind of person that's good at teaching people and you'd enjoy teaching people about Dungeoneering and how to do it effectively, there simply isn't any reward in-game for doing so and no way for other people in the clan to reimburse you for your efforts? You could easily empathise with someone who might want to train a new "meta" generation, but doesn't want to because they'd rather be doing the floors themselves with the fellow clan members they've known for months, years on end. If team DGing is an example of emergent gameplay, then it stands to reason that Jagex won't necessarily reward everyone involved. But even on an interpersonal level, if you're a patient and understanding person who cares about the future of the skill, no-one's going to thank you for it except the ones you're training, and it's not going to get you that next chaotic any time soon.

The same is true for any President. In fact, scratch that, the same is true for any political leader operating in a democratic system and a mass media as developed as the US's. Incumbent governments lose popularity over time? Thanks, Captain.

This "bells and whistles" you're talking about consist of a few downloads which are completely free, a microphone/headphone set which needn't cost more than $10, and a willingness to learn. So, having punched through that excuse, what you're really saying is that people who are better at Dungeoneering as a team shouldn't actually be rewarded for being better because, basically, you don't want to. I'm sure plenty of people will forgive me for thinking that argument holds very little weight. Argue all you want that solo DG should have better XP rates. I'd probably agree with you. Don't argue that this should be accomplished by nerfing the reward disparity between those who don't want to try doing it in a team and those who do, as the skill was designed for.

That isn't a new problem. It featured in the Tip.It Times over two years ago and hasn't really been solved, by Jagex or by players collectively, since.

I agree some DG clans have shot themselves in the foot in that regard, yes, and you know as much as any long-term user how much that issue has been a frustration to myself and others on this board over the years. Unfortunately, when any 'teaching clan' has popped up as the middle man to fill that gap, they've all got a bit dizzy with their own success and gone "pro" anyway, and then systematically closed their ranks off to newcomers wanting to learn.

I don't see why. The biggest complaints people have about it (arguments about whether or not it's a skill aside) are the difficulty in finding people to team with and the low solo xp rates. The best xp/hr will still be in teams of 5, they're just making it a bit easier for the rest of us. Here's why. Effective and prompt teamwork is one of the hardest skills any gamer can learn. The knowledge, the practice, and base communication skills required mean that it's not something any average Joe can read a guide on RS Wiki about and suddenly they're doing it in a few minutes. So far the disparity between XP rates for 5-teams and solos have reflected just how difficult that skill is to learn, and execute efficiently on the floor itself as well as how much time it takes to master. That doesn't only apply in RuneScape by the way; watch professional team-based gaming in just about any game, and you'll realise just how much time they spend on communication and good teamwork. It's a very real skill, which some people are better at than others, and it can be quite a technical skill in the context of something as specialist as Dungeoneering. It's not really good enough to say "Well, 5-teams will have most XP anyway." They should have much more XP because completing a floor in a team of five efficiently is much more difficult than doing the same floor solo. Which is why closing that gap is a wrong move.

I personally think moving DG away from being fundamentally a team-based skill is an unfortunate step in the wrong direction.

OK, sure, but put evidence to that point. What is there to do in RuneScape that doesn't require me to have already ground my skills up to a certain benchmark level in order to ensure a reasonable amount of success?

It was an incredibly historical moment when Obama got elected, and on that basis alone he will go into the books as a very notable President. If we're being more cynical though... what exactly has Obama achieved? Even his greatest 'victory' in the reforms he made to healthcare ended up being very watered down to what was originally intended, and incredibly diluted to what is seen elsewhere in the developed world.

Something that gives me hope about Star Wars... Pirates of the Caribbean. Wasn't much wrong with those films. The first three anyway.

Unless this thing with you and her boyfriend was absolutely terrible, you can usually use humour to take the sting out of issues like that. The friend probably told her anyway. If you know people in your school that well, then I'd take that as a measure that people generally think you're a decent bloke. I wouldn't take it as something to reinforce low self-esteem. In any case, as much as I'm trying to build your ego up, we're skirting around the issue. Next time, stop, say hello, strike up a conversation and see where things go. If it goes badly, no bother, chalk it down as experience so you'll be better at it next time.

No, no, that's fine. Just let me explore one thing though: Why does it matter that her friend was there?

If I were you, I'd ask myself why I avoided the situation. Was there any practical reason for it (like, you're full of a cold or you were pretty sweaty and flustered, that sort of thing) or was it simply not wanting to potentially experience rejection? If it's the latter, then there's not really much advice I can give you, except to say that you won't ever know whether she likes if you don't take that chance and spend time with her. Is it better to avoid the situation and not have any chance with her? You posting on here suggests you don't think it is, but the only other option you have is to talk to her. For what it's worth, almost everyone is nervous when they first get to know someone. Imagine someone walking up to you and trying to strike a conversation... it's pretty intimidating. But I bet you attempted to carry the conversation on, didn't you? Most people will reciprocate because most people like getting on with people around them, and they also like feeling as though someone takes an interest in them, their hobbies/interests and the people around them.

How is alienating practically all of the Middle East by labeling half of the Muslim world as part of an 'Axis of Evil' advancing foreign policy?

For Hallowe'en I'm playing Slender for the first time ever. Fullscreen, no other audio except the game on full volume. God it's so creepy...

That much I can agree with. Unfettered RWTing would lead the game to oblivion, and place quite a few people in significant danger. I can't say I've managed to keep up to date with D3's RMT Auction House so I can't comment on how successful that's been, or how players reacted to it and what problems they encountered along the way. If I had to plot on a graph titled "Issues about RuneScape that Ginger Warrior is bothered about", RWT really wouldn't come that high compared to other things, but I am generally against RWT when used as a way of gaining advantage over other players (for example, the 'Happy Tickets' on Happy Wars completely ruin what was a very promising game, in my opinion). I'm playing Devil's Advocate, and reminding people that simply pointing out the status quo--that Jagex have spent time on RWT already--is not an argument for that situation to carry on.

Nice personal jibe, but I'll take that as meaning you can't find a flaw in my argument otherwise. I can see the other side of the fence, I just don't understand it. Blyaunte said Jagex commited a lot of resources to fighting RWT because it's against the rules. I argued that they no longer would be committing those resources if RWT was not against the rules. If anything, Jagex spending so much time on RWT to the detriment of other parts of RuneScape's development is an argument for becoming more lax on RWT, not more authoritarian. That's not bigotry. That's critical thinking.

Almost all my buildings contain wool and stone slab floors so it's pretty annoying for me too. There's a bug involving passive mob spawns: http://www.minecraftforum.net/topic/1523661-mcxbla-official-known-bugs-list-updated-for-182/ A fix for all the issues in the 1.8.2. update is being made now. They said, one week ago today, it would be released "soon".