Jump to content

av_nefardec

WFG Retired
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    4.772

  • Joined

  • Last visited

 Content Type 

Posts posted by av_nefardec

    The Battle for Middle-earth

    in The Green Dragon

    Posted

    I will get some stats for you on Tolkien's sales and some quotes and letters from him on this matter. But let me say now that the Hobbit was hardly popular compared to current things and that, though the Lord of the Rings began as something to appeal to his (limited) fans, he quickly changed it and decided to root it deeply in his existing mythology.

    But it's Christmas Eve and I have family to see. I'll post tomorrow probably.

    My Commercial RPG Generator

    in Gaming Discussion & Match-making

    Posted

    I made this little script (not all of the code is originally mine, I used Seventh Sanctum's tutorial since I know little about PHP) that generates random commercial RPGs that can be quite humorous at times.

    http://www.wildfiregames.com/~adam/rpg.php

    It works best when you limit the results to 10 (more randomization).

    Some good ones I got were:

    American McGee's Wind Ninjas presents: Rain of Pantaloons.

    Microsoft's Blood presents: The Battle of Demons.

    Sweet Tiger Mediasoft presents: Shadow of Pantaloons.

    Murky Eagle Designs presents: Kingdoms of Civil Rights Activism.

    Blue Tornado Inc. presents: The Battle of Worcester Sauce.

    Let me know if you have any suggestions for new words to add to the datafile, as I can keep adding and adding to this to make it richer and richer.

    The Battle for Middle-earth

    in The Green Dragon

    Posted

    If you don't like the game, don't buy it.

    I don't plan on it. You don't think I actually would, do you? :P

    But I think what you are saying between the lines is, If you don't like the game, don't criticize it. TLA is not just a game, it is a collection of principles, ideas, and opinions. Likewise, Battle for Middle-earth is a collection of principles, ideas, and opinions. Everything human is made one way over another due to some logic or reason.

    Unfortunately, the reasoning behind BfME seems to be that the whims of the multitude, the popular idea of what fantasy is, popularized by commercial movies, games, and books with no higher aspiration than increasing the size of a pocketbook should trump Tolkien's original work.

    Tolkien certainly did not write his mythology for commercial reasons. (with the exception of maybe the hobbit). Much of his work was even kept unpublished. Tolkien did make money, obviously - but he set out to write for academic reasons, because this was what Tolkien's interests were. It started with the desire to create languages used my pseudo-mythical civilizations. (Also, if you don't know Tolkien didn't write his work in the order in which it was published. Tolkien's work with language and mythology, his academic engagements and his overriding interests came far before his desire to actually write a book about them. )

    So it disturbs me that the game that claims to be based on Tolkien's work takes the opposite approach. To me, then, BfME is based not on Tolkien's work, but something wholly other, something with a completely different genesis, with the outward appearance of being related to Tolkien.

    TLA is a great project. It's idealistic and motivated by something other than corporate greed -- which is very refreshing. At the same time, TLA doesn't need customer satisfaction to ensure survival. In fact, after TLA is completed the staffers could probably go their separate ways and little would be affected. EA, on the other hand, needs money to survive or a lot of people lose their jobs. Getting the NLC Lord of the Rings license is a stroke of luck for them, and you can't really blame them for wanting to push that luck as far as it'll go. Yes, commercialism can be a problem, but the developers don't lay awake nights thinking of ways to frustrate all good Tolkien fans.

    You're right of course, companies have to make money to give people jobs.

    But it seems that you're missing the point - It's not that EA makes money that is wrong :P it's that EA uses Tolkien's work, something of a non-commercial origin, to make this money - something utterly contrary to Tolkien's intent and his legacy.

    If EA wants to use contrived fantasy worlds with explosions, monsters, death grip gauntlets of the ogre, and secret subterreanean half-elven races that thrill gamers, that is fine. But to use Tolkien's work - to add contrived commercial things to Tolkien's work - that's not right, and we stand against that as TLA. That causes Tolkien's work to lose integrity, and it ends up right next to Dungeons and Dragons, like Pokemon, a cultural fad.

    You know it yourself - that EA's motivation is commercial in nature, is economic in nature. They have to pay the bills. So why then do they have to use Tolkien's mythos in such a negligent way?

    There's only one explanation I can see - Tolkien's mythos is the newest cultural obsession, the hottest thing on the market - the biggest brand name, the fastest-profit-maker. EA just wants to increase it's bottom line. , and that's the only reason why it uses Tolkien's mythos, and that's the biggest reason that it deviates from it too.

    Focus on making TLA into the great game it should be.

    The thing is, "great game" is a very loaded term, quite influenced by the market.

    We will continue to focus on making TLA the noble project it , the humble tribute it should be.

    Progress Quest

    in Gaming Discussion & Match-making

    Posted

    http://progressquest.com/

    You have to download it and run it to know what it's really about, but I'll do my best to explain it.

    You've all played RPGs - they seem to come from the same cookie-cutter mold.

    For instance, I can make up an RPG off the top of my head:

    A fallen paladin is reborn and must battle hordes of evil in order to learn the truth behind his demise.

    That took like a second.

    And magical items are even easier:

    Champion Broadsword of the Wolverine

    Mythical Shield of the Ages

    Black Nemesis Gauntlets

    etc

    And quests:

    Find three components of the forgotten sphere and deliver them to Mukanic.

    Seek out and destroy the seven leaders of the Elugian council and recover their artifcats.

    Ask Torcan about the golden godhead.

    My point is that RPGs all sound the same, etc. Most are just hack and slash and you simply rush through and do the same thing over and over again, getting ridiculous items and what not along the way.

    So what progressquest does is to automate the process. IT's a little 1MB of RAM app that runs in your taskbar and when you restore it you can see your progress in this randomly generated RPG world.

    For instance I just got the spell "Slime Finger", my current quest is Exterminate the Mummies (it was "Deliver this Cookie")

    I just picked up the Gleaming Galoon of Fealty.

    Man this game is awesome.

    An E.T. as your President or PM?

    in Hall of Intellectuals

    Posted

    Hmm, I don't know the laws in other countries, but in the United States, one must be born American to become President. This, in my mind, is not meant to exclude anyone (cough, Arnold Schwarzenegger), but rather to prevent the secret control of America from European powers such as the Bavarian Illuminati (when the country was founded at least), and now the European Union. Though I'm pretty sure that control over individual nations is shared by a worldwide elite now anyways :P

    Anyways, there is no way I would vote for an extra terrestrial for this reason, because of the conspiratorial nature.

    But certainly I would emigrate to its home government to live :P

    The Battle for Middle-earth

    in The Green Dragon

    Posted

    I think you're missing the point...the whole theme of the game, if I understand it correctly, is basically a "what-if" kind of scenario: what if Boromir and Gandalf hadn't died at those crucial moments, what if the Balrog hadn't been slain by Gandalf, etc. The game is being open-ended in allowing you to see for yourself what might have happened had things been different. There's nothing wrong with that, IMO. Haven't any of you ever wondered those kinds of things?

    No, I don't think I am - you see, we have often had this discussion in the development of our own game. While we believe that there is value in counterfactual historical analysis, this should be extremely limited. The level at which BfME makes use of counterfactual situations far exceeds what could be accurately inferred from Tolkien's writing and it becomes no longer about Tolkien's world, but an ideal, commercial fantasy world whose primary purpose is customer satisfaction.

    There's no trace of the type of scholarship that needs to back up a counterfactual investigation - it is not researched, it's not rooted in analysis - it's done arbitrarilly on the whim of commercial developers.

    This is why I call it "sacrilege".

    Anyone familiar with Paypal?

    in Computer Desk

    Posted

    But I would argue that easiness is a double-edged sword. The more it becomes easier for you to purchase items the more it becomes easier for a hacker or phisher to scam you.

    BTW - the only way I can change my account password or to close my account is to put in my credit card number -

    is this normal? (it seems quite obviously corrupt to me)

    Anyone familiar with Paypal?

    in Computer Desk

    Posted

    Like I said - no links or images in the email. From the spoof hotline I got this:

    Dear Adam Vana,

    Thank you for contacting PayPal.

    Thank you for bringing this suspicious email to our attention. We can

    confirm that the email you received was not sent to you by PayPal. The

    website linked to this email is not a registered URL authorized or used

    by PayPal. We are currently investigating this incident fully. Please do

    not enter any personal or financial information into this website.

    If you have surrendered any personal or financial information to this

    fraudulent website, you should immediately log into your PayPal Account

    and change your password and secret question and answer information. Any

    compromised financial information should be reported to the appropriate

    parties.

    If you notice any unauthorized activity associated with your PayPal

    transaction history, please immediately report this to PayPal by

    following the instructions below:

      1.  Log in to your account at https://www.paypal.com/ by entering

    your email address and password into the Member Log In box

      2.  Click on the Security Center at the bottom of the page

      3.  Click on 'Report a Problem'

      4.  Select the Topic: Report Fraud

      5.  Select the Subtopic: Unauthorized use of my PayPal Account

      6.  Enter your question in the 'Summarize your question in one

    sentence' box

      7.  Click Continue

      8.  Follow the instructions to access the appropriate form

    If you have any further questions, please feel free to contact us again.

    Sincerely,

    PayPal Account Review Department

    What I want to do though is to remove my account completely. Only I can't do that because it's under lockdown, which is ridiculous.

    So luckily I don't have much money in my account left anyways :P and I can transfer it out and wait for paypal to close it by themselves.

    Bottom line : paypal is a terrible and corrupt service.

    Christianity and its branches

    in Hall of Intellectuals

    Posted

    Why do people pray saints, instead of god or jesus?

    I grew up in a strictly Catholic, Sicilian immigrant family, who all grew up in a small Sicilian town with a patron saint, and I can tell you that they do not pray to saints INSTEAD of god or jesus, but only in addition to, and that's only the older generation.

    Anyone familiar with Paypal?

    in Computer Desk

    Posted

    Interesting. Well I'm digging a bit deeper:

    THe original email had no images. Subsequent emails' source codes looked authentic, but all a hacker must do is to fool Paypal into thinking my account has been tampered with and then it can intercept a transmission of data.

    Here's the headers for the original email:

    Return-Path: <service@paypal.com>

    Received: from postoffice6.mail.cornell.edu ([unix socket])

    by postoffice6.mail.cornell.edu (Cyrus v2.1.11) with LMTP; Mon, 20 Dec 2004 21:28:58 -0500

    Received: from hermes31.mail.cornell.edu (hermes31.mail.cornell.edu [132.236.56.56])

    by postoffice6.mail.cornell.edu (8.12.10/8.12.6) with ESMTP id iBL2Su4V014532

    for <amv34@postoffice6.mail.cornell.edu>; Mon, 20 Dec 2004 21:28:56 -0500 (EST)

    Received: from filter01.mail.cornell.edu (filter01.mail.cornell.edu [132.236.56.31])

    by hermes31.mail.cornell.edu (8.12.10/8.12.6) with ESMTP id iBL2SqrJ018813

    for <amv34@postoffice6.mail.cornell.edu>; Mon, 20 Dec 2004 21:28:52 -0500 (EST)

    Received: (from daemon@localhost)

    by filter01.mail.cornell.edu (8.12.10/8.12.6) id iBL2Sqim009856;

    Mon, 20 Dec 2004 21:28:52 -0500 (EST)

    Received: from smtp-outbound.nix.paypal.com (smtp-outbound.nix.paypal.com [64.4.240.67])

    by filter01.mail.cornell.edu (8.12.10/8.12.6) with ESMTP id iBL2SovH009746

    for <amv34@cornell.edu>; Mon, 20 Dec 2004 21:28:50 -0500 (EST)

    Received: from dentmail2.den.paypal.com (dentmail2.den.paypal.com [10.191.28.243])

    by smtp-outbound.nix.paypal.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id A111D3CC382

    for <amv34@cornell.edu>; Mon, 20 Dec 2004 18:28:48 -0800 (PST)

    Received: from dennotify1.den.paypal.com (dennotify1.den.paypal.com [10.191.20.21])

    by dentmail2.den.paypal.com (Postfix) with SMTP id 8CA3F21F7CA

    for <amv34@cornell.edu>; Mon, 20 Dec 2004 18:28:48 -0800 (PST)

    Received: (qmail 5772 invoked by uid 993); 21 Dec 2004 02:28:48 -0000

    I did some WHOIS queries on the sender's ip:

    Search results for: 64.4.240.67

    OrgName:    PayPal

    OrgID:      PAYPAL

    Address:    303 Bryant Street

    City:       Mountain View

    StateProv:  CA

    PostalCode: 94041

    Country:    US

    NetRange:   64.4.240.0 - 64.4.255.255

    CIDR:       64.4.240.0/20

    NetName:    PAYPAL-1

    NetHandle:  NET-64-4-240-0-1

    Parent:     NET-64-0-0-0-0

    NetType:    Direct Assignment

    NameServer: NS1.NIX.PAYPAL.COM

    NameServer: NS2.NIX.PAYPAL.COM

    NameServer: NS1.SC5.PAYPAL.COM

    NameServer: NS2.SC5.PAYPAL.COM

    Comment:   

    RegDate:    2003-02-25

    Updated:    2003-10-29

    OrgTechHandle: EBAYN-ARIN

    OrgTechName:   eBay Network

    OrgTechPhone:  +1-408-376-7400

    OrgTechEmail:  network@ebay.com

    Paypal is based at

    303 Bryant Street

    Mountain View, California 94041

    I *think* it is legit, based on this, and the fact that the email I received was in text format and had no tricky code, etc.

    I just need to call them tomorrow.

    Anyone familiar with Paypal?

    in Computer Desk

    Posted

    Yeah the part that has me not completely convinced either way is that there are no links in the email, and I've made sure that pay pal is asking for this on the website on multiple, unnetworked computers.

    The thing is, it seems weird to me that they're forcing me to get verified, and to do that they want me to jumpt through several hoops:

    -add a bank account - subsequently "confirm it" with actual transfers

    -Enter Expanded Use Number - Paypal needs to charge me 1.95 for this :P

    -Papal needs to confirm my location by calling me with an automated message.

    It just seems "phishy" - are these standard things in the Paypal world?

    Anyone familiar with Paypal?

    in Computer Desk

    Posted

    Date: Mon, 20 Dec 2004 18:28:48 -0800

    Message-Id: <1103596128.5772@paypal.com>

    X-country: US

    X-language: en_US

    content-type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1

    X-PH: V4.1@filter01

    From: service@paypal.com

    To: amv34@cornell.edu

    Subject: Notification of Limited Account Access

    X-PMX-Version: 4.6.1.107272, Antispam-Core: 4.6.1.106808, Antispam-Data: 2004.12.20.33

    Dear Adam Vana,

    PayPal is committed to maintaining a safe environment for its community of

    buyers and sellers. To protect the security of your account, PayPal employs

    some of the most advanced security systems in the world and our anti-fraud

    teams regularly screen the PayPal system for unusual activity.

    Recently, our Account Review Team identified some unusual activity in your

    account. In accordance with PayPal's User Agreement and to ensure that your

    account has not been compromised, access to your account was limited. Your

    account access will remain limited until this issue has been resolved. This

    is a fraud prevention measure meant to ensure that your account is not

    compromised.

    In order to secure your account and quickly restore full access, we may

    require some specific information from you for the following reason:

    Our system requires further account verification.

    Case ID Number: PP-059-786-927

    We encourage you to log in and restore full access as soon as possible.

    Should access to your account remain limited for an extended period of

    time, it may result in further limitations on the use of your account or

    may result in eventual account closure.

    Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter. Please understand that

    this is a security measure meant to help protect you and your account. We

    apologize for any inconvenience.

    Sincerely,

    PayPal Account Review Department

    PayPal Email ID PP522

    No fake links, and I accessed the paypal site from multiple computers to get the same "Resolution required" page that the email talks about.

    I just never feel safe with these things - has anyone else ever had this email?

    I just don't like the feel of it. Tomorrow morning I am going to call Paypal, only I know there are scammers who put fake phone numbers on fake paypal sites and then get your account information :P Anyone have any advice?

    Interviews?

    in General TLA Discussion

    Posted

    Yes, he's got email, but hasn't responded to the latest -I had problems with communication earlier - I'd email him after a month or more of inactivity and then he'd make another concept, but it was beginning to take longer and longer, and I knew he was going to never come back soon :/

    Rest assured, we have good taste in artwork :P

    Second in line...Sukkit

    in General TLA Discussion

    Posted

    Could you post something relating to your "reconstructions" of some of the more obscure languages. I'm particularly interested in how you deal with Khuzdul

    We'll actually be releasing all of the Linguistic documents after they're through a few revisions and we know for sure that they are the final versions we'll use for the project. They're quite interesting reads :P I'm currently reviewing Sukkit's latest work with the reconstruction of Tolkien's 1930's Nandorin!

  22. WFG Engine

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    OK. What I meant to say is would you be releasing all textures, eye candy models, etc, for new game developers...,

    We've spent years as "new game developers" making such things on our own... :P

    Game development is not a walk in the park, it's an intense and very long process involving many communicative, dedicated, and passionate (nearly insane) people, and a lot of real life sacrifices. So if I were you I wouldn't expect game development to be sort of something that comes so easily. It takes quite a lot to build a game, as we have learned.

    Christianity and its branches

    in Hall of Intellectuals

    Posted

    I was thinking of something ... if the Catholics were not worshipping the Saints and making images of Jesus et all, and Mary, etc ... what would tourists come and see in Catholic countries (mainly France and Italy) ???

    Well the artwork and architecture itself of course. When I for one, look at Bernini's sculpture Saint Teresa in Ecstasy, I don't worship Saint Teresa, but marvel at the uniquely Baroque technique of concealing dramatic light sources and Bernini's great skill at capturing motion and engaging the viewer.

    Cheat codes

    in General TLA Discussion

    Posted

    I say Ancalagon is a better name. Only the FoD seems to be able to make flying units in random games. BTW: the only reason why we Forces of Darkness lose is because Tolkien had to make the good guys win. Since he can't control how TLA operates, we'll always win

    True, the scope of each game in TLA can vary. It can last an entire age, or just one day. It all depends on what the player chooses and what the map designer creates.

    Remember in the books that the Forces of Darkness had quite a few successes before they finally fell - if the game focuses just on one battle, for instance Dagor Bragollach, then it would be quite a loss for the forces of light ;)

    I proudly present...Enarwaen!

    in General TLA Discussion

    Posted

    Let me also say that a little more than a year ago, we completely overhauled the civilization list because we found it to be out of character with the books.

    We used to have "races" that spanned across the ages, for instance, one Noldor race was playable throughout the three ages, with the same units, etc.

    However, it was obvious that the Noldor changed quite a bit through the ages, along with other civs, namely those descended from the Teleri, and so as a result we "split" up the ages, and created unique civs for each age, with only certain units, buildings, equipment, and techs being shared across ages.

    But it was a massive undertaking ;)

×
×
  • Create New...