clyde

I had never seen it. The original context of the suggestion was my request for cyberpunk that doesn't depend on action sequences, and I think The Conversation satisfied those requirements in spirit. Even the surveillance-equipment-porn was satisfying. The equipment may be dated, but having an array of gadgets in front of an operator who can use the hardware with illicit expertise to unlock secrets is the thing I like about cyberpunk. I actually really enjoyed the aesthetic that allows me to see a managable set to capacitors and circuitry, it's more expressive of the technology's complexity than the touch-device in Minority Report which seems focused on accessibility of information in an established network. The information in The Conversation is unique, authentic, and fragile on the tapes. that makes the brokerage of the information so tense.

This was an excellent suggestion. No joke.

Sean's face during the epilogue was entertaining.

Spelunky has more of a puzzle element than a dexterity requirement. It's about gauging the situation and deciding what to risk and for what. Of course there is some dexterity element that you gain skill in as you play, but it is not the interesting portion of the game. The interesting portion is making bad decisions, fast. Put it this way, Nick should never have tried to jump over there, it wasn't that he pressed the button at the wrong time. Edit: Or, he could have thrown that rock at the bones to make sure it didn't animate.

It's over isn't it? I watched that Kleenex commercial for nothing.

Here's a spot where people exchange gamertags and such. It might be helpful to ya. https://www.idlethumbs.net/forums/forum/21-multiplayer-networking/

I love how Nick embraces it, not as a teaching-moment, but as an opportunity to question his understanding of all things. That was pretty great. Watching that specific video really expresses the concept explained in the quotation posted earlier in the thread: "Spelunky looks like a game of execution, but it's really a game about information and decision making. How good are you at looking at a situation and understanding what it means? You can't memorize, and you can't take time to carefully analyze, you must rely on your literacy of the system..."

That's awesome. I ended up in the haunted castle for the first time today and I really enjoyed that novice feeling of being afraid to move. I hadn't seen a new level in a while.

In response to your last question: If you want to program games then you should go to the interview. They'll decide if you have what they need, that's what the interview is for. If you don't want to program games, I suggest skipping it.

There was a patch for the 360, it works for me now.

Sorry, the idea that some labor is mandatory enough that people have to be forced into it riles me up. I'll be quiet so it can return to the topic of feminism.

I don't want anyone to do dangerous work at all, but I'm not going to stop them. You, on the other hand, want to make other people do dangerous work even if they don't want to. Edit: sorry if that was too harsh, I'd still buy you a beer or coffee.

Why do you expect other people to do dangerous work. If it's so important, do it yourself.

I'm a radical. I don't want anyone to do the dangerous jobs. I won't stop them from doing dangerous jobs, but I would prefer they stop.No, I won't fight to give men more secretarial jobs. I am willing to accept that imbalance.

As a feminist, I do not expect men to do the more dangerous jobs. So, I hope that helps.

Aren't pensions a form of payment for labor? Maybe it's different in England, but typically in the U.S., pensions are offered as a way to pay people less salary while maintaining the appearance of an attractive compensation. Edit: I got good news thestalkinghead, it looks like the U.K. Is phasing that pension inequality out!

I'm glad you are tackling that problem while we feminists focus on what we consider to be higher priorities. Teamwork! I hope you manage to get those pension-requirements equal for both genders, but I'd prefer less conscription rather than more. But. What if the shorter requirement for women is an attempt to encourage more women to enter the workplace? I'd prefer a more equal quantity of women in the workplace if I have to choose. You know, being a feminist and all. If men want equal requirements for years served to get pensions, I recommend they boycott working until they are back in demand, then we can try to bring their numbers back to an equilibrium by offering them better pension deals. This page seems somewhat relevant, though I didn't read it all. http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2011/mar/08/international-womens-day-pay-gap I think some would say that the thing to take away from that first graph is that male secretaries and male social-workers should be making more money. While I think that would be a good idea, I'm more interested in the larger scope inequalities.

Great thread. I've been thinking of how cyber-punk is a first-world fantasy of living in the third-world of the future. I love the idea of playing from the perspective that you know the wealthy have technology far beyond your comprehension. I love the fantasy of having to depend on word-of-mouth from youth-culture to find out which flea-market stall is the black-market dealer so that you can buy illicit hardware that might maim you, just so you can voyeurize an elite class, completely out of context.

My interest in Netrunner has made me start to compare hacking as a mini-game and hacking as a major mechanic. I'm reading William Gibson's "Count Zero" right now (I haven't read any cyberpunk before) and I'm enthralled by the way that Netrunner's mechanics represent the particular take on hacking that Gibson presents. As a runner, the greed and curiosity that initially fuels your desire to install hardware and programs turns into a the desperation of survival. As you poke servers curiously, you inevitably uncover the Corporation's plans to win in a zero-sum game. Cyberpunk narratives seem to have a similar arc. I love that. Anyway, breaking ice on servers is the main game-mechanic for the runner and it demonstrates the potential of a video-game with hacking as a major mechanic. Getting new icebreakers in an open-world has the potential to motivate me more than getting a more powerful gun. I'd love to do a run on a corp using an insider to stealth-in and grab some serious icebreakers and then give it to some wilson so I can find out if it fries his brain; it's better him than me. Oh man, never being sure that you haven't been tagged when you go searching for your contact. If that type of thing was done with systems in a game it would be SO COOL!

This might be off-topic, but does indiecade typically upload videos of the talks? There's one I'd love to hear.

A game of Philosophical arguments via Sententia: http://www.kongregate.com/games/chiefwakamakamu/socrates-jones-pro-philosopher

I'm also waiting for an update. I think they've done all they can without an update and the single-player or Spelunky is a better use of my time. I did enjoy experiencing the brokeness of it's current state once though (Hype).

I agree, they had me laughing and thinking for the entirety of it. It was fun to listen to.

Now that thestalkinghead has provided some reasons to consider not being a feminist, I can say that I have thought it through, weighed the pros and cons and decided (whole-heartedly) that I am a feminist; I want to be a feminist, and I am proud to be one. Thestalkinghead, have you ever read a comic-book called "Cerebus"? I loved it and I think you may also enjoy it if you ever have a hankering to read 300 comic-books that someone on the internet recommended. And "yes", it does have a small amount of relevance to this discussion, especially the portion after Church&State.

I think this is already occuring with mods such as DayZ and DOTA.