Outrage of the Week

<gibbler> pants are made for every day wear, not potato saq races

But what ends with the symbols shatter?

Hi

I put off updating for a long time because I wasn't sure how I meant to address the matter of language filtering which recently came up. The notion that work was "needed" to block out words like a$$h0l3 and so forth irritated me to begin with, and I was shocked to learn that the language filter was being turned on by default, but when I found out the modifications will now allow sysops to force players to have the language filter on, I was beside myself. Since then I have dreaded this update, because it seemed such an incredible chore going over the whole thing.

Then I realized, it's not. It's really a simple matter. Whatever this new "feature" may inflict on the game, however much I may care about it, I'm not going to dignify it with a response. My feelings on the matter are obvious. They probably mirror the feelings of most Subspace players, as well as those of nearly anyone who either used the internet before it became a corporate sewer or loves it enough to have learned what it was like.

In short: if you don't get it, you never will--and I have nothing to say to you.

Should something be done, though?

Of course something should be done. But what can be? I'm certainly open to suggestions. But I am shut to any argument that the people in this game who have power will make decisions based on any factor besides than their own personal wishes. They never have, and they will start doing so only at the point of a gun. You go ahead and stage an insurrection if you like; I give up.

Hallu and random damage

A clarification about my previous update. Hallu in fact does not wish to see random damage removed from the game. I'm not sure how I got the impression that he did, but I apologize for it just the same. You can go back and insert the name of just about anyone else who has ever been associated with the leagues, because there is a strong sentiment that players have a right to certainty and to a false reassurance that they live in a world where everything makes sense and everyone gets what they deserve. Alas we do not, but I'm sure the SSC will arrange for a simulation of such a world sometime soon.

The princesses formerly known as artists

If you use napster at all and have been following the ongoing orgy of PR disasters and disgusting legal maneuvering, you probably know about Gnutella and have at least entertained the idea of starting to use it. What you may not know is that these programs are easy as hell to install. In fact with most of them you don't actually install anything. You unzip them to a folder, run them, and start counting fatal errors.

There are a few of these programs that are pretty good. ToadNode, as recently pimped out at Zeropaid, is not one of them. I've tried most of the popular clients and found Gnotella to be the most enjoyable to run but also the most unstable. Gnucleus is the only one I've come across so far that is totally stable and functional and actually operates like a normal, functioning Windows program not written by a retard. For instance, the scrollbars work properly and it isn't missing minor features such as not connecting at all.

It's also worth pointing out that almost every day or two sees either a new client or a new (usually worse) build of an existing client. Some of these allow you to connect to a Napster server while you are on the gnutellanet. Kind of cool, or it will be when it's fully functional.

Yazour sent out an ICQ email spam to about 500 people, and although the size of the Cc: list was daunting I felt compelled to respond. Since I stopped using email in 1995, I didn't do it right, so everything got returned and I'm going to post what I have to say on this page, because this nonsense position people have about artists and CD prices and the big bad record companies is dead wrong not to mention a TOTALLY inappropriate response to what has been happening and who is responsible for it.

    Yazour wrote:
    > http://linux1285.dn.net/napster/ - Boycott RIAA    >    > I personally don't like buying CDs from major record labels.    > CDs cost about a dollar to make, and they're ripping us off..    > and ripping off the artists too.
    Let's not forget that it's the artists who are suing people left    and right and attempting to turn the internet into a surveillance    state. The record labels, while not saints by any stretch, are    not responsible for the legal harassment and other scare    tactics we've seen in recent months.
    Keep in mind also that of all the money raked in my album    sales, a great deal of it goes to the development and    promotion of artists who do not sell records. If artists are    done wrong by the 18% (read: more than $1 per CD) they    can make from record sales, it is only because a great deal    of it has been spent on advances, studio time, promotion, etc,    for lesser known bands who are in the same position that    today's successful artists were likely in some years back--just    starting out and in need of help from their label. If you were to    get rid of those things, it would become far more difficult for an    unknown band to succeed. If you think it's difficult now to get    interesting new music played on the radio, try doing it after    your promoters have all left for another label (or another    industry) and all your artists have to pay for their own studio    time and production talent.
    I am all for small labels, and in fact buy records almost    exclusively from them, but no one forces an artist to sign onto    a major. Artists and fans who embrace this stereotype of the    record label as robber-baron do a disservice to the argument.    The arrangement is voluntary, and though it is sought after for    good reason, thousands of bands have chosen not to go that    route and lived happy, unoppressed lives enjoying well over    18% of not much.
    > "For all the years of hit and run, for all the piss broke bands    > on VH1... where did all their money go?" - Fat Mike

Cocaine. That's where most of it went. And rehab.
einexile

Anyway, while I'm on my rampage, here are some fun record labels that don't wage war on their fans, don't spend weekends logging people's IP information, and appear to have some clue as to what a web presence is for--populated by artists who don't use the music press to display their ignorance, and who tend not to write songs about how pissed off they are or how hot their boyfriends are.

    Warp
    Kranky
    Ninja Tune
    Manifold
    Simulacra
    Soleilmoon

ICQ and EGN - important

Cybrid recently sent word to the SS Council mailing list that very early EGN accounts have been hax0rd and the passwords appear to have been compromised. If you make a habit of using the same password over and over again, first of all, SMART MOVE. ;) Second, change your other passwords if you know what's good for you. I don't use EGN anymore, so if anyone hears from an einexile on that service, have fun talking to my stalker cuz it aint me. :)

And a note on what is happening

I'm honestly not sure. I have pretty much lost interest in computer games, to be quite honest, although I am dying to dive into things Hyperspace. One of the main reasons I haven't been updating here is I feel it has to be a certain kind of page, and that unconscious assumption on my part is to the detriment of the page. So expect a better updating schedule, but also expect a lighter tone and lessto do with gaming. I still love the game, but contemplating it ad writing about it causes me only distress. And maybe if I stop worrying about it I'll learn how to enjoy it again.


<cov> i would offer some sagely advice at this time, however, i am kaboozled.

I have swum those raging seas

washed up by an ocean who had tired of me

how I survived I will never know

but this wreck's got a home and a whole lot of hope

N e w s  o f  t h e  D a y
26 August 2000

Boo!

Part of the problem is I've kind of run out of song quotes. This happens when you don't listen to any pop music for a long long time. Oh well.

I'm hooked on Fallout. What a masterpiece of a game. I decided I wanted to spend the summer playing a nice, atmospheric chillout game, so I dug that one out--I'd started it when it came out but didn't get far--and it has dominated my time since mid-July. It's an odd game, really. You have to have a soft spot for the post-nuclear thing but without that Road Warrior twitch stuff. It's a very ambient game and there's a lot of wandering around looking for answers, but that makes for all the more satisfying an experience when it comes time to take on some desert raiders or otherwise kick some ass. Damn good music too, including a couple of unapologetic Aphex Twin homages. And I don't think I've ever felt more free to blaze my own trail in an RPG and still maintain a sense of purpose and quest. You can pick this game up for $10 just about anywhere; in fact the list price is officially $13, if I'm not mistaken. It was developed at Black Isle and is about three years old, so it pretty much looks like a primitive post-nuke Icewind Dale. Have a look here for the official sales pitch. Actually, screw that; feast your starving eyes on these beauties from the upcoming Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel.

Subspacewise, my proverbial Monster in a Box is up for testing in the SCF. The more I play it the more I enjoy it and yet the more I realize how much work it needs. I've been at work on this thing on and off for the past two years and there are some very strong areas but also quite a bit of that improvisational path-of-least-resistance nonsense that is in every map. Some vicious criticism would be helpful if you're in the mood. There was no Slayfest II (that's what I'm calling it) this week, since Mine GO BOOM had to work tonight, but maybe next week. Either way, I'm planning on spending Saturdays in there from now on so there should definitely be something going on no matter who is orchestating it. I'm switching the map each weekend and maintaining a constant score and permanent config for the main arena so that the zone is actually useful just for messing around and fighting in. Last week we had a kick ass map up by our in-house poet laureate Anna-Puma, whose work will probably be a regular staple of the zone. Special thanks to the vangels of Chaos Zone for ensuring that. ;)

Rest in peace, Carl Barks--creator of Scrooge McDuck and one of the all time great cartoonists. He was 99.

    Yahoo
    The New York Times
    BBC
    The Comics Journal