Morning Discussion

I would, inspired by the launch of the Dawn of War II: Retribution beta, declare that this will definitely be the time I start properly practising multiplayer strategy games, but I've made that vow a dozen times before and it never seems to catch. One of my earliest video game memories is playing Doom II with a friend, him handling moving and me on aiming because neither of us could do both at once. First-person shooters are what I cut my teeth on and played heavily ever since; I can happily skip from game to game, knowing essentially what to do.

Strategy games, however, are something I've dabbled in from time to time, and do enjoy, but never really put the time into properly understanding. It's the constant multi-tasking and need for a long-term plan that get to me. I make stuff and send units places and see what happens. From the shallow waters of Command & Conquer to Civilization and into the deep, deep depths of terrifying historical grand strategy games, I mess about a bit and bungle through from minute to minute. While this is fun, it's rarely truly satisfying.

I would like to change this but it'll take so much time. So very much time. With no guarantee of success. And I have so very much other things I am, or should be, doing. Perhaps I'll try in a few decades, when my cybernetics are crippled by a nanobot attack and I'm left a wizened, housebound old crone.

From The Chatty
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    February 3, 2011 5:17 AM

    Thursday Morning Minecraft Thread!
    too lazy to tag Edition!!!!

    Multiplayer Servers!
    MercFox1 : mercfox1.sytes.net / 75.101.148.242
    foo1 (PvP/PvE) : foo1.sytes.net / richcunts.sytes.net / 216.139.192.52
    Shadowdane (PvE) : shadowdane.shacknet.nu / sd.shkn.ws / shadowdane.shkn.ws
    m0rfus (Full Unrestricted PvP) : morfus.dyndns.org / morfus.shkn.ws
    Haxim (TNT) : asplode.dyndns.org / haxim.shkn.ws

    Teamspeak : ts.shackbattles.com:9987

    Server Renders & Stats!
    http://www.shacknews.com/laryn.x?id=24937945#itemanchor_24937945

    Guides and Utilities
    http://www.shacknews.com/laryn.x?id=24698112#itemanchor_24698112

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      February 3, 2011 5:29 AM

      I bought the game months ago and haven't played it. I feel like I've let everyone down! :(

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        February 3, 2011 5:36 AM

        notch holds that honor

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        February 3, 2011 5:41 AM

        I've been keeping it updated, and I do the same thing after ever patch: Start a new world, create my shelter, create my initial mine, get steel tools and potentially a diamond pick, realize that six hours have passed, stop playing until the next update.

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          February 3, 2011 5:49 AM

          That's the best part of the game by far. If Notch would realise this and create objectives that extend that feeling into the late-game, I feel like his sales could double.

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            February 3, 2011 6:07 AM

            I don't know if you've read the Postmortem article in the latest issue of GDMag, but it's about the alpha version of Minecraft. Notch mentions something about having a "final" version of the game in the near future so they can finally stop calling it a beta, but gives no concrete details as to what that will be. (He also says that content will still be added to the game after this version, it just won't feel like the game proper is under development anymore.) I'm assuming in this final version will have some sort of optional mission structure or objective system, but that might just be wishful thinking. They're working on another project concurrently at Mojang, so who even knows how far off any of this is.

            I'm happy with Minecraft the way it is, but it'd be nice to see something for players looking for a more complete experience.

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              February 3, 2011 6:18 AM

              It's stupid, he's rushing through the development 'tags' because he somehow feels like they're holding him back or something. I feel like he's missing the point by a mile -- people are fine if you call something a beta for years (see Gmail) as long as it feels like it's moving forwards. We haven't seen much in the way of new content for almost 4 months now.

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                February 3, 2011 6:27 AM

                hell, all he has to do in increase mob strength day by day. Make their numbers more and make them more tolerant to light and just see how long you can survive. This and the obvious 'build forever' peaceful mode. Bam you've got a full release.

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            February 3, 2011 6:38 AM

            Another way the game could be improve is to allow people to log on to a minecraft server and be a mob instead of a regular player.

            I mean, the model works well for Left 4 Dead (and L4D2).. I'd think it would improve multiplayer aspect of the game if you could be a mob griefing players.

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          February 3, 2011 6:38 AM

          I will...soon.

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      February 3, 2011 6:12 AM

      [deleted]

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        February 3, 2011 6:31 AM

        MY TEMPLATE

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        February 3, 2011 7:09 AM

        We need to just get rid of the shkn.ws addresses, none of them work anymore. Who ever registered them hasn't updated the hostnames.

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          February 3, 2011 7:10 AM

          [deleted]

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            February 3, 2011 7:22 AM

            I honestly liked seeing the colors. They made the chatty more fabulous than usual, which is saying a lot.

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      February 3, 2011 6:17 AM

      I approve of this colorless edition.

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      February 3, 2011 6:41 AM

      [deleted]

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      February 3, 2011 7:57 AM

      Oh shit there is competition, which thread will win!

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