Dr_Elephant

I probably wouldn't have posted, but since there's already been a couple of "I don't care" posts, I feel an obligation to lend my support. I found the blog a quick and entertaining read. Of course, I'm always intrigued by tales of poetic justice. :) I'm not even sure what end result to root for though. If he gets the sidekick back now, how anti-climactic is that? I'll check back occasionally to see how it turns out. Thanks for posting it!

Several years ago, when I lost my job, my mother was using the same argument with me. I was a young married man (no kids yet) who had been paying my share of taxes up until that point and my mother urged me to get some assistance until I could get back on my feet. Something in me just wouldn't allow myself to do it though. I didn't have a reasonable argument against her at the time. All I knew was that it didn't seem right. Looking back, I'm glad I made that choice. It has to do with supply and demand (in a bizarre sense, not in the capitlistic sense). If I were to go to the government well and draw from it, it would create that much more of a demand for resources and could evenutally lead to a greater tax rate for myself when my situation did improve (not to mention the people paying taxes before my situation improved). Granted, the one thing I left out of my original post with reference to stealing is intent. I would never call a welfare recipient a "thief" because I know there isn't a malicious intent to take what isn't theirs from an unwilling victim. Frankly, as I re-read my post, I'm impressed that you weren't more offended at the implications I seemed to have been making. That says a lot about you as a reasonable person Gid. Thanks for giving me the benefit of the doubt. I've read Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand. While I agree with many of the ideals she conveys in the novel (the evils of forced charity and government control over private enterprise), she seems to take it a bit further than me. She seems to find (I say "seems to" because it's conveyed through her fictional protagonists instead of her coming right out and saying it) any charity of any kind repugnant. She's a better-than-average fiction writer though, I'll give her that. Plus, to have any famous writer agree with me on this subject - even a little - is a breath of fresh air.

Gid, Good idea to bring this off-topic. I've never actually set [virtual] foot in this part of the forums before. To continue our discussion that was begun on this thread for those wondering http://forum.tip.it/viewtopic.php?t=472350&start=30 Before I begin, I want you to be aware that I am not implying any perception that your father is a thief. I don't believe that by any means. What I'm going to do is use an extreme comparison to make my point. Also, please read all the way through, because even if part of it makes you angry, you may not disagree with my conclusion and suggested alternatives. Personally, I'm a person who was raised with a high ethical standard. I was taught that stealing is wrong. To take it a step further, I was taught that stealing is defined by taking something without asking for it. Now, if I approach you and - at gunpoint - take money from your wallet, that's stealing. Even if I'm a little more high-tech and figure out a way to take a portion of your income before you get your paycheck for the net amount, that's stealing. Finally, even if I don't actually steal the money myself, but get someone else to do the deed for me, it's still stealing. All three individual pieces of this equation amount to stealing. However, in today's society (or at least in my governtmental system of income taxation), adding these three parts does NOT equal stealing. For some reason, it's called welfare. Here's why I draw the comparison. If someone needs government welfare, what do they do? They go to someone else to get it for them (Welfare is funded by the taxpayers, therefore the IRS gets it for them... indirectly). That someone else (again, the IRS) is able to take that money out of the taxpayers' gross pay before we even get our paycheck. Finally, if we (the taxpayer) try to refuse to take part in this, it will be taken from us forcefully (we'll be imprisoned), maybe even at gunpoint, depending how far we dare to take our refusal. Now, I just talked about how I was raised with ethics. Ironically, my parents believed in the welfare system because they thought helping the less fortunate is an ethical thing to do. At it's core, I agree with that statement. I don't dislike welfare because I'm selfish and I want to keep more of what I earn (even though I am and I do). I also don't hate taxation that funds public services for all, like highways, police, military, etc. I do find a fundemental flaw in any system that redistributes wealth, because that's called stealing. Yes, I loved the Robin Hood stories as a kid. No, I don't believe it's right to "rob from the rich to give to the poor." Keep in mind that Robin Hood essentially stole money back from his era's version of the IRS and gave it back to the people it was taken from. Now obviously if I suggest that the entire welfare system be repealed, I'd get a lot of well-meaning people asking a lot of "what if" questions. "What if your grandmother were on welfare?" "What about the starving kids?" I expect that, and frankly, I love that about those who disagree with me. I do truly appreciate your sense of compassion. Before you ask me those questions though, ask yourself this: Are you putting your money where your mouth is? I ask that sincerely and not to be accusatory. Me personally? My conscience is clear because roughly 12% of my gross income (even before Uncle Sam gets his share) goes straight to three of my favorite charities, one of which specializes in helping the poor. That said, I'm not suggesting welfare be ripped away in one painful stroke. That would be political suicide for anyone to suggest and I'm no idealogue either. The first step I'd take is creating accountability. Let the taxpayer see - included with their tax returns - what money is being allocated where. Don't make us look for it in well-spun press releases. How much money that's supposedly for welfare is really getting to the recipients? How much is actually going to tenured beaurocrats who push pencils and get 6 weeks of vacation time every year? My charities tell me how much money actually goes to the people they're supposed to be helping. Between the three of them, roughly $0.90 of every dollar I donate goes to help the poor and most of the remaining 10% goes into marketing campaigns that help find more donors. Can our governmental welfare system say the same? Second step is choice. Even if I can't opt-out of paying into the program right away, let me invesitate the success/failure rate of some of the different existing programs (for God's sake, don't add any more) and let me decide specifically which ones will be getting more of my tax dollars. Third step is a gradual opt-out. If I'm already donating a portion of my income to a certain charity that does something similar to welfare, let me opt-out of contributing that amount to the public version. Eventually, we'd work toward eliminating the government-run version altogether, as more people get used to donating to the private charities and more recipients get used to requesting assistance from them instead of the goverment. With private charities, there is more accountability on the part of the recipients, because there are more stringent qualifications (private charities don't have the luxury of government enforcement to keep the funds rolling in, so they have to be more picky about how the funds go out). This would remove the beer-drinkers you referred to, but still give your father a leg up during rough times as long as he qualifies.

How very considerate of you to introduce yourself in the General forums. I think the way I first introduced myself was by picking a fight in the Rants forums right away! :lol:

While not loving the hostile way in which this was stated, I'd have to agree with the content.

LOL. When I first started playing and saw that scam, I knew right away what they were trying to do, but yet, I just couldn't resist. However, I did it the smart way. I walked to another town, went into a secluded upstairs room and tried it there. It's like the whole "shave-and-a-haircut" routine from the movie Who Framed Roger Rabbit. Many people just can't resist. :lol:

I know this is easy for me to say, considering I don't own - nor do I ever aspire to own - a party hat. However, instead of asking myself if I would have exploited the bug (which I probably wouldn't have, not out of fear of being banned, but because I'd sincerely feel guilty for the other players), I asked myself this: If I were one of the people standing around wearing a party hat in Falador without a care in the world when all the sudden someone came up and trounced me unexpectedly, would I be upset about my losses? I might be a little surprised at first and wonder what was going on, but after reading all the articles here and seeing the hype that was caused by this event, I can honestly say I'd have appreciated the experience. In a few months/years I'll walk away from this game and everything in it. The only thing I'd be able to take with me are memories of the fun I had playing it. Frankly, being a witness to a bizarre day like yesterday would have been a lot more valuable to me than an in-game item. Hey, I managed to get through that whole post without using the phrase, "just pixels!" Oops... I just did.

Even if autoers begin targeting oaks, I doubt it will cause any strife to other oak-cutters. There are plenty of oaks throughout RS, and they respawn quickly so there shouldn't be much competition. Maybe it will bring prices down, but not any lower than they were before Construction was released, so there shouldn't be much to complain about. And for members, it doesn't take long to be able to farm oaks and have them all to yourself. The tree patch in Falador is perfect for that.

I think your heart's in the right place. You understand that gaming should be done in moderation as to avoid obsession. Which is - I'm assuming - why you haven't joined members yet. I don't think it's something that would catch on though. For most people, if the addiction is out of their own control, they shouldn't even be playing anymore. Just like a recovering alchoholic is never truly recovered - at least not to the point where they can drink socially and still avoid becoming hooked again. Some might try your new option with the right intentions, but their addiction is likely to escalate and eventually they'll change their membership settings so they can play as many hours as they want, making that new feature obsolete for the very people it was intended for. Those are the main reasons I don't think Jagex would implement something like that. Now as for you personally, if you really wanted something like that, you may be able to write some kind of javascripting that would close all your browsers after they've been open for a certain amount of time (I'm no javascript expert, so I'm not sure). If you know a good scriptwriter in real life, you might want to run the idea past them. ...of course, never venture into the wilderness if you're going to do that because just closing the browser will still leave you logged in for a minute afterward.

Wow you just really had to post that, didnt you? If you want a bed, go to your room IRL. It does not have to be realistic because the last time I checked, dragons, teleports, and imps were not real. By missing my attempt at sarcasm, you actually proved my point about having avatars sit.

Wow, our society has truly reached the pinnacle of laziness if people want to sit down and play a videogame in order to make their avatar... well, sit down. Now that I think about it, can Jagex add beds to the houses so I can watch my character take a little snooze? I get tired watching him actually exert himself.

No wonder I didn't see it in my search. I confined my search to Help & Advice. Thanks qopitar!

I'm up to level 23 farming and I still haven't been able to get into a decent, comfortable routine. Are there any high level farmers out there that are feeling benevolent enough to put together a short leveling guide? For instance: Level 1-10: Do this Level 10 - 25: Do that Etc... I did a search on farming and I was surprised by how little results came up. Thanks in advance

My question was directed at ortiz9471, who seems to play the game as if he were forced to and derives no enjoyment from it whatsoever.

Why even play?

My first C/C here so take it with a grain of salt. I try not to bring up anything that's already been mentioned. I like the overall "mood". Makes me want to rent an old Clint Eastwood flick. :lol: His skin tone and poncho tones match the ground behind him (not a bad thing) and his hat kind of blends with the sky and because his hat begins at the horizon line, it causes the entire cowboy to fade into the scenery just a tad. My suggestion would be to bring the horizon line down to ear or jaw level so he stands out more. This isn't a big deal. The hat looks a little more like it's sitting on his forehead than the fitting around his whole head. My suggestion here is to simply cut off some of the rear brim so it looks like it's coming down more. My suggestions are only that. Your picture is great as is.

Well I was smart enough not to use my RS password in the Tip.It forums. However, I realized I did use my email password without thinking about it. Both passwords have now been changed and nothing seems to have been touched, but I'd caution anyone else to make sure they change their password for any other site/system that had the same one as their Tip.It password. Especially the email account you used when registering for the forums.

So what you're saying is... Remember to think before clicking a link?

Luckily I still had a secondary account that has a lot of F2P quests started but not completed so I got a chance to try it out. I think it's a good addition to the game. One that will quickly be taken for granted. I look forward to the member-quest additions. Using Tip.It's quest guides always left me feeling a little like I cheated (don't get me wrong, I truly appreciate Tip.It's quest guides). I'm not sure I understand the purpose of limiting the help to 4 times a day though.

Yeah, for a moment I thought I missed an update.

Yes, thank god you're not a part of my family indeed. I'm perfectly satisfied with my appreciative, well-behaved and content children who will grow up to be respectable adults and raise my respectable grandchildren.

I must be a jerk then. I don't let my kids on the internet by themselves. Period. The only computer with internet access in the house is in the living room where anyone can see the monitor from pretty much any angle. I reserve my RS time for the hours after the kids are in bed. While they're awake, we play outside. If weather doesn't permit, they have a computer upstairs and some PC games (not hooked up to the internet) that they can play. I let my son play RS occasionally under my supervision, which he prefers anyway because I'm there to help him through quests and stuff. If he wants to pay for and play online games alone, he can wait until he's an adult.

I always assumed that using Accurate was sort of like taking extra time to aim so that you could hit more accurately and do more damage with one shot, whereas Rapid was simply like flinging arrows as fast as you can so that the target will take more damage in the barrage. As for Defensive, I don't truly understand that. I'm guessing you're giving up a little accuracy and speed in exchange for Defense XP, but I've never paid that close attention.

Most of my real life friends don't even know I play.

As long as the safe spot is still there, you should be able to range it. Ranging is about your only option since you have to make your weapons and armour on Entrana (no bringing your mith). It will take you much longer to kill it off with 20 ranging, but I think it's possible. You may want to train ranging instead of attack. Edit>>> I completely forgot you can mage it and not even worry about making weapons/armour. I chose range over mage because I had much higher range at the time of the quest.