Maebius

this is pretty much precicely how I picture us fighting the Shades during our first steps in MagicDuel. http://www.zefrank.com/zesblog/archives/2011/02/sword_dance_and.html enjoy!

[quote name='adiomino' timestamp='1297561803' post='78804'] Happy birthday!! [/quote] And warm candle-blown-wishes from me to you. Rhaegar. Happy NatalDay!

[quote name='Chewett' timestamp='1297368879' post='78736'] why would a creature dying many times be a prerequisite? unlike wins its not something you need to work for, and would more be something easily attainable through no real work. [/quote] Not sure how tough that would be to code, but the first thing I thought of was a forked upgrade path. Instead of thinknig as Deathcount greater than X, think Less than X. If it didn't die much, or died exactly Y times, etc. Nothing too fancy, and yes, it is easy to "game" that sort of system, but it's an interesting thought to ponder. If only as a social value, like I am thinking low-ID, or specific "round number ID" creatures may be perceived as having more value than a similarly aged/tokened creature. It's not "game-mechanically valuable", insofar as it is a "personal/emotional" value to consider. Or, probably wasted DB space, and a useless stat. The masses would determine which.

[quote name='Blade Kuroda' timestamp='1297362422' post='78733'] I'm interested in this, though I have the same questions as phantasm. If you're still allowing people, I guess I'd join the resurection side? [/quote] Have similar questions.... but: If I could, Maebius would join the Gravediggers... but he won't leave where he is to RP, sadly. Good luck though!

[quote name='Fyrd Argentus' timestamp='1297302090' post='78714'] Okay, if we're talking game principles, you have this collection of ways that the universe might operate. Doing magic in fantasy, you selectively emphasize one while simultaneously ignoring the effects of the others. In real life, we are trying to figure out what the principles underlying the universe are with the assumption that they do NOT just switch on and off randomly, or at the beck and call of a wizard or a Mur. Obviously, in the game, they can and do. The rules change constantly. In real life, if something like that were to happen, we'd call it a Miracle, (or Hypnosis, or Inception, or the Matrix, or.....) Do I believe Science works in MD? For times short compared to Rendril's programming cycle, yes. Do I believe Principles work in MD? Sadly, only in role play. [/quote] Ahh, yes, I was comparing Science and Principles in this "Malkuth" reality, not specifically the game-ream on MagicDuel. Much different answers there. In game, since it's all in our heads somewhat, Science doesn't work the same, so Principles win be default for me. IOn real life, I stand by my first reply above.

[quote name='apophys' timestamp='1297196164' post='78652'] By your logic, you should be a member of every religion and cult imaginable. Praise Cthulhu! How you believe in everything without conflicting beliefs is beyond me. [/quote] Hmm, see that distracting-with-insectoid-motion forum avatar there? What is it? Is it a bug? Is it a bunch of animated pixels? Is it a series of digital data-values, translated by your computer software into a recognizable object? Is it a forum avatar? Is it a vague representation of apophys on this communcation-themed website? Is it all of these? I think yes. To answer the original post, Science seeks to understand the world, by asking questions, forming testable hypothesis, and recording the reproduceable results of experiments (to be overly symplistic). It describes our world, according to it's own rules and paradigm. The principles do the same, though without an exactly similar method for "testing", because the paradigm presented by them somewhat precludes "experimental data". However I feel it still holds validity in "describing the world", both in MD and 'reality'. It may not answer all the questions, but then again, Science can not either. But they both do a good job in the terms that they are good at. So Both are correct. It is only when you add the (artificual) limitation that "There can be only one right answer" that makes the disctinction break down into an Either-or type of result. What's wrong with a both-And world? Some viewpoints or paradigms may be better at explaining things than others, but each at least presents a valid attempt to codify "The Real". The flat earth, on infinite turtles watched the sun orbit around it quite well for a good long while, after all... so until we have a Grand Theory of Everything, I'll keep my options open.

[quote name='Pig' timestamp='1296753806' post='78416'] But but...oooohhhh.... Can this "dark sucking" be explained at a physical level? Or is it just an other philosophical view that sees "dark" as equal to light and not just its absence? My pig senses tell me that dark is not the opposite of light. [/quote] My little musing from years ago presumes that Light is simply the absence of Dark. Dark is the physical thing, which we saw more as "heavy matter", or Ether that pervaded and made up what was essentially the fundamental fabric of space. (like the "Ether" concept was in centuries past) and the perception of Light was just not having Dark in view. greater ponderings howeve,r could not resolve the paradox of photons being detected and having "force/mass" unless Dark was an attractive Sludge, and having it sucked caused an oppositely vectored force, when the "attraction/tension" was relieved. Was fun to ponder though, as your Original Post also questions....

[quote name='Burns' timestamp='1296749475' post='78412'] Maybe it confuses people that they only attack the tutorial shades right from the map at first, and then have to attack other people from the player-list. It says that you do that somewhere, but people never read things, apparently. And they rarely use the LiveHelp button at an early age. It seems that they rather leave than have the inconvenience of typing out what's worrying them. [/quote] and like Cantr.net and the old FaerieTaleOnline, this seems to serve as an excellent filter to the types of player that may not enjoy hte game. not to say they are "wrong" for the game, as I'd love to see the numbers of active players grow larger and larger, but as some folks like RTS game, and some prefer FPS games, and still others prefer RPG games (yes, that's reduntant I know) there's a certain "mindset" to get into for MagicDuel. It's awesome, but for those who dislike the challenge of "figure it out", that sort may not last here either way, sadly. The initial tutorial works as a filter in that regard, keeping the quality of the realm higher than soem other chat-based RPG games, I think. is merely my 2copper though, and may be subject to further misinterpretation at will.

[quote name='Shadowseeker' timestamp='1296733977' post='78403'] Well, seeing as it is in offtopic.. Why call it "dark" light if you mean the total opposite and as such is not light at all? [/quote] Written with my dad when I was in my early-mid teens as a "sit around at midnight watching dumb USA-Today movies and bored: http://everthorn.net/musings/2009/04/dark-suckers/?p=388 Excerpt: For years it has been believed that electric bulbs emitted light. However, recent information has proven otherwise. Electric bulbs don’t emit light,…….they suck Dark. Thus we should call these bulbs Dark suckers. The dark sucker theory proves the existence of Dark, that Dark has mass heavier than light, and that Dark is faster than light. The basis of the Dark sucker theory is that electric bulbs suck Dark. Take for example, the Dark suckers in the room where you are. There is much less Dark right next to them than there is elsewhere. The larger the Dark sucker, the greater it’s ability to suck Dark. Dark suckers in a parking lot have a much greater capacity than the ones in this room. As with all things, Dark suckers don’t last forever. Once they are full of Dark, they can no longer suck. This is proven by the black spot[s] on a full Dark sucker. A candle is a primitive Dark sucker. A new candle has a white wick. You will notice

My gut reaction would be to consider the nature of an Evergreen. Are there other such plants among the Lands? I would almsot expect this is intentional, keeping the deciduous Trees only, to reflect the Principles of Cyclicity and Balance, and whatever else you may attribute to that concept. but it is a really, really intriguing question to research further. Darn these ever-growing ToDo lists..

[quote name='Curiose' timestamp='1296253005' post='78181'] The Colour of the Birds: -The sad thing here, is that with a very small amount of tweaking this story could have gotten an 8 or 9. Certain parts show that there is real skill, which leads me to believe that this was let down by lack of effort more than anything. - Imaginative, but needs refinement. -too short, too little fleshing out -This creation myth story is somewhat imaginative, but it lacks complexity. I would have liked some layers in the writing. Also the writing itself needs some polishing. PS: split infinitives are not fun (to just fly). Technically not wrong anymore, but it lacks grace.[/quote] To add some additional commentary, (since I was unable to be on for this reading, but did catch the earlier StoryNight at 5:00) The Colours of the Birds was written by my young son, with only moderate editing for typos and ..um... er.. like... ahh and a few minor suggestions from me for changes that he asked "can you say that better?" (he dictated it to me). I'm quite pleased that his story got the praises it did, and will let him know it was enjoyed. I apologize if using essentially "third party stories" was against the spirit of the Night. I did offer one of my own 'telling' to Awiiya earlier.

[quote name='Tarquinus' timestamp='1296235790' post='78152'] If MD is postmodern, it has no need of (and frankly should reject and even mock the very idea of) canon. If MD is symbolic, Fyrd's archetypes are appropriate. If it is a more standard roleplaying adventure game, it needs hard, immutable, canonical history in a form that quest-writers can consult. [/quote] This has been, and will continue to be, the hardest and Biggest question I am trying to figure out in my short time here at MD. Answering "Yes" as some have, to that series of "is it..?" questions has only confused things to me, and judging by the small sample of replies to the original post, others are likewise seeing different facets of Fact. Yet, in everything I've seen Mur write, (the only real "canon-writer" IMHO) he will not answer in specifics, because The Question seems the most important part. So does that make everyone correct, or no one? My unlearned thought is: If there can be Sludge and a Flood that I've never personally witnessed, but apparently happened to others in-game and is "Real", how else can Fyrd progress his own style of play if Chewett's saying "That's not Real"? Who owns the sand to putthe lines on, and who holds the stick to draw it? That's an honest question from a seeking Newbie.

(pre-note: I do NOT know MD script but am intrigued that it exists!) I've made a simple "checkers" type game for one of my programming courses, using a single variable. The challenge was to use a text string, or numeric value to hold the entire array, and for checkers, since it was only one type of "game token" I could use bit-shifting to handle if the space was occupied or not. I never got that working since it requires two types of value (red/black tokens) but did use a text-string to 'encode' the entuire board, with X being black, and O being red, and a - being an epty space. Thus the entire board would be "stored" as "XX--X-O-XX-X-O------O-----X-----, etc." the maths behind movement were simply shifting the single characters around in functions. Good luck with your project though! Im wondering if that sort of thing would work for Chess, using letters (capital or not?) for the various rooks, knights, pawns, etc. Hmmm.....

[quote name='Espartano' timestamp='1296056111' post='78051'] another 48h pass and MD votes droped to 384 (that mean only 128 players or maybe even 64) I cant believe that! [/quote] Boo! I'm clicking,but can only get three votes per day, assuming the page doesnt' get filtered... but switching to an alt, I can't because "You've already voted" (this may be one cause of skewed numbers). Get out there folks, and rock the vote!!! Make Mur, and MD proud!

hmm, if only I had better artistic skills... but I may just try this if I get some free time this weekend! I'll save making my own avatar for later, can't use them yet.

(posted while Burns was posting, so his hit first..) My advice in cliche quotes: Effects is the result and change of something. Affects is the active verb. (ok, "grammer-police off [sic]) Imagination is more important than knowledge. A little nonsense now and then is cherished by the wisest men. Don't dream it, be it. Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive. I can believe anything provided it is incredible. The quality of the imagination is to flow and not to freeze So while I can't speak to the limitations of game-mechanics, the foundation of any Improvisation acting is to repeat, to anything you hear: "Yes, and..." However, I do think Liquid Dust is a rather important concept, not to be trifled with wantonly, without a thumbs-up from the Powers That Be, or Land Kings. *shrugs*

[quote name='Espartano' timestamp='1295882077' post='77954'] At log in page I can see that: As I have noted that some days ago Magic Duel is scoring everytime less votes (last time I checked was 472) and now the diference in last 48h is 450. As every player can vote 3times daily....WHAT is the real amount of players are helping MD? [/quote] Every so often (on my silly school network) I am blocked from voting on that site, but not all the time. Not sure if it has to do with their own banner-adverts tripping a filter on my network, or what... but, I can't always vote 3 times there each day. Sometimes can't even vote once, and definitely a factor to keep in mind for general-helpfulness of players.

quick notes from a newbie... I did not know of Story Night myself except for an accidental overhearing of an advertisement. Sadly, I could not attend to scheduled time as it conflicted with Real Life... Happily, I logged on to vote and discovered there was a StoryEvent happening that very second, and got to participate anyway. A scheduled time, that doesn't seem as shifted-around as this one may help (since I tend to not read every forum post myself, and stay in-game during my limited online time). knowing "Friday/Saturday at 5:00server, or 20:00 server every other week/month/" would be great, so I'd know to try being online if I can. Having two timeframes would be GREAT, since I could not have made the original scheduled one past which was initially at 20:00. note2: Don't give up hope. From what I read, there were other big events like Revanoids memorial that may have sucked up other player's online time (for those with limited scheudles) even if the timing doedn't directly conflict with StoryNight. All things ebb and flow. Perhaps the next story night will be beyond your wildest expectations, as our creative Vitality regenerates. Jsut needed to wait for the next counter to reset or something. Be well, and best wishes for this wonderful activity continuing in some form or fashion.

[quote name='emerald arcanix' timestamp='1294058480' post='76694'] feel free to tell what you think that symbol means, personal ideas have a great value but you must refer to what you see in that symbol [/quote] Oops, I replied to Chewett in-game via PM for my paper here, since I am unable to find Emerald Arcanix in-game to PM? I have copied you on my thoughts now via Forum PM. Quite an interesting little quest-ion to ponder though! Edit: simply wondering if my PM was received I had not heard back from Chewett or yourself, either in-game or forumPM, and can re-send my thoughts on the crest if necessary. Thank you.

[quote name='Metal Bunny' timestamp='1295476330' post='77716'] And sometimes, you won't bother with verifying facts, because fiction is just so much better. [/quote] I am new, and only know of Revanoid's character and contributions through what I've read in the Adventure Logs (which seem rather spartan in some recent months)... but I came to MD, and remain here, for what MetalBunny touched upon. Whether I am right or not, remains to be seen, but I take what I read here on the forums regarding past events, as Myth. Not as falsehoods, but Myth. Stories, to entertain, and teach, and carry the nuggets of Truth forwards to future generations of players. The Legends will survive in their fashion, even if the ancients pass on. That's the great Game of life. I'm having fun playing it, why don't we all?

[quote name='Shadowseeker' timestamp='1295083203' post='77455'] Actually, thats why I weep for Firefox 3- it's way worse than 2, in terms of stability and CPU usage. Your browser probably processed the request but failed to receive the data, and when you clicked on free creds you never saw that you were in the scene. [/quote] Yep, I've managed to "force" firefox to freeze up twice more by opening all sorts of other vote-tabs, and such. Once nothing unusal happened, the other, I made sure to try clicking around where the "arrows" were on the scenes, after "closing" the popup frame such as PM list. That time, when I restarted my browser, I had moved between scenes, even though to my eyes the little PM window was still "stuck" onscreen. So, it's an issue on my browser end, not MD itself. /weeps for not knowing this when he "left" the place he had been in before. *closes the thread, if he could*

[quote name='Vicarious' timestamp='1295371754' post='77598'] But no one has said what the actual problem is. Apparently I am "scamming" people. O.o I fail to see how using my refferal link to recruit people into MD is bad. If it's against the rules, and not just because people are mad that I thought of it first. It's a GOOD way to get people to join MD. Yeah, I benefit from it. But MD benefits from it. Now, tell me a REAL reason why it's wrong, and I will remove it. Not just because you or dst say it's wrong. I want a reason, not just an order. [/quote] Well, I followed someone's referral link here, which made me their Adept. But it's pretty easy to change who you Adept to. ...unless I am totally misunderstanding the bitterness towards using such a link. I mean, in the larger scheme of things, does it matter how new folks like myself joined, if we/they stick around and enjoy themselves enough to spread the word even farther?

[quote name='Chewett' timestamp='1295021880' post='77424'] moved to [url="http://magicduel.invisionzone.com/forum/18-bug-report/"]Bug Report[/url] its under the Game Devolpment section of the forum. Near the bottom If you want your alt teleported out of the maze, send me a private PM Are you sure you couldnt have accidentally pressed one of the buttons? Iv never seen anyone complain of this before. [/quote] I got out of the maze, that's no problem. (*weeps for other*) [b]No worries, though.[/b] I hope the initial post didn't come across too whiney. At first, I considered I may have accidentally clicked something. So on my alt (who was near the maze anyway) I tried just switching between lots of screens. I think the issue is the browser froze up both times so my "click" might have gotten processed on the arrow, which I wasn't seeing "behind" the PM page or Hate-list page (which I had also tried editing, but was on PMs when it froze). Most likely a browser-side issue, where the click happened but the visual screen hadn't refreshed or something. (may be way off, but thats how it seems). I'll keep playing around to see if I replicate it. Both times it was after the flash, or the whole browser, froze up. (Firefox, two tab, forum and MD game the second time I had it lock up).

(unsure if this is the correct forum area. I did not see a "support/bugs" thread. if it's wrong, please move or I'll delete) Has anyone noticed any odd movement between scenes, when they honestly do not think they clicked any arrows or highlighted portions of the Freeform screen? Twice recently, once on my main character, once on an alt I made, I was bouncing between PMs, and checking creatures, and then going to vote, and my browser froze up. When I finally got back into the game (closed and re-opened) I was in a slightly different scene than I had started from. I've tried to replicate it and see if I could figure out what order I did things, but no luck yet, beyond getting it to happen on my alt once. One character, it does not really matter, I was just trying to map out the MDA maze. The other character, I am sad, as I can't get back to where they started. I'll try fiddling with swapping around screens to see if I can get it to happen again and record the exact time-frame, but will need to wait until I can vote again. (Don't know if that made any difference, but...?) Feel free to PM me with/for any other details.

Ahh, re-reading Burn's original, yes, it appears that he said to cap the upgrade. That's what I get for checking the forums LATE at night before bed and having a brain frazzled from esoteric study. Maybe you are right. Those of us who stick around are the ones who passed the "filters" of MD itself and are atypical. Hmm....