micool62

So I woke up early this morning, feeling really good (and not in the sexual sense). It was a little weird, because I wondered why dreaming of playing a video game would make me so happy. I figured out later that I must have been dreaming of playing it with my best friend.

Anyway, I had the weirdest (but good!) feeling... there was no way it was physically possible for anything more than an insect to have gotten into my room, but I felt like I wasn't alone (in a good way). I would certainly not choose those words or phrasings, but I suppose some might even describe it as 'feeling loved'. The sensation kind of reminded me of a fictional character, who became a Goddess of Hope of sorts.

Don’t forget.

Always, somewhere,

someone is fighting for you.

As long as you remember her,

you are not alone.

- A quote 'describing' the character and what she became.

Then I realized... this is also the very same feeling that Christians associate with their God. It reminded me of the sensation of having a 'connection with God' which has been described to me by a multitude of Christians. But I know it isn't real, not in any materially relevant/empirical sense, especially since my first connection with it was a fictional character. A fictional character who explicitly became the living embodiment of a concept.

See, it's 'just' an emotional concept. It's very real in that way, and its importance is not to be denied, so I suppose calling it God is as good as calling it anything. Having felt it so purely and clearly, I certainly don't plan to just discard it and deny it as unimportant just because it's not empirical. But it's not alive, it can't talk to us, it can't think, it doesn't exist outside of each and every one of our intelligent minds, and it certainly didn't send its son down to Earth to die on a cross, let alone create the universe. How could a mere concept do all that?

Also, do you really think that if our whole universe was created by the embodiment of 'love'/'togetherness'/'hope', we'd have half the rubbish we do right now? Wars and fighting, hate, pain and suffering, starvation, death? Wouldn't the rules of the system be a little friendlier, if it was all about 'being together'?

You can argue that this is because of free will, of the sinful nature of humanity, etc etc, but guess what? If there was an all-powerful creator... Why couldn't the very rules of the universe have been totally different? Maybe with pain written out of them, but still with free will?

No loving creator would choose to inflict pain on their creations, and make no mistake, if there was a Creator, they did. If God created everything, He created pain. Even if I knew for a fact that there was a God, I would not worship the bastard who created pain. If there is a God, he is responsible for every single instant of pain and suffering that has ever been, and ever will be.

Have a think about that, and have a look at what you're really feeling.

Or don't. Block out my point with an iron wall of faith. Continue to believe what you choose, and I'll continue to believe what I choose. That works too. I won't try too hard to force my beliefs down your throat; that's not how I roll ;). But I hope these words and thoughts eat away at you; because I see sense in them, and I hope you will too, even if you try to deny it.

The sensation you feel isn't the love of God. It's the love of your fellow man.

Now bring on some well-reasoned rebuttals. I look forward to it.

Or maybe you won't be able to. Maybe not with the truth echoing away inside you. I challenge you to try.

I've been playing games like Team Fortress 2, Halo 4, Battlefield 3, etc. but I've been getting a little bored and frustrated with them, because almost nobody even puts in a mic, everyone is faceless and silent. Depending how you play, you can easily forget you're playing with and against humans, not just AIs that aren't stupid. I want to play a game where people actually talk and you can find in-game friends, but there's also still gameplay objectives, unlike "3D Chat Rooms" like IMVU, Habbo and similar. RuneScape used to work for me as that sort of a game, but now it's just BotScape, and they're... not very good company.

So any games like that? Where people actually talk (more than tactics) but there are still gameplay objectives?

I play TF2 and I enjoy the concept of the game and the gameplay, but it gets really frustrating sometimes playing in public games with no-one I can talk to and coordinate directly with. Sometimes, when I've tried to coordinate or make basic strategic suggestions ("can we have a teleport/medic/more front-line classes") I've been shot down with "this is a pub, stop being serious/it's just for fun". What's serious and un-fun about trying to work together and help each other out?

I don't necessarily want to play competitive, I'm not so much into "to win, or die" it's more that I want to play more socially, with people who actually talk and coordinate, people who don't feel faceless and disconnected. I don't mind losing with a smile on my face when my team gave their best effort. What really pissed me off was being shot down for trying to help and make the game better for everyone.

Okay, I'm sick of grinding. I'm sick of "numbers wins". I'm tired to death of "can't do this? your character sucks too much. grind more". I want to play games where it's MY skill that matters, not my CHARACTER's.

Having said that, I'm also getting a bit tired of FPS. I know it takes skill, I won't deny that. I know it's got all the twitch-based action and skill-based competition I want. But somehow I'm just getting tired of hide-and-seek with guns. I'm bored of sees first - shoots first - wins. I want to test a different kind of skill.

So what other types of multiplayer games are there besides MMO and FPS? What other genres? What are the most popular games/headliners in those genres? I know about RTS, but it seems like the only big one there is Starcraft 2.

I'm not that interested in games like Halo/CoD, where the cooperative modes feel tacked-on and you really need friends to have a satisfying experience in them. I'm after games where every game has strong elements of teamwork, even in pick-up groups, and you have to (or at least it's more beneficial to) work together to win.

I like the Suppressor. Loads of ammo, sweet fire rate, decent precision... what's not to love?

Boltshot is pretty awesome too, but it's kinda bullshit how only higher ranks can get it and newbies are stuck with nigh-worthless human pisstol.

Since I don't have the rank for either of those, I'm using Storm Rifle, which is definitely my second favourite gun. <3 no reloads, good damage. Precision sucks but I play CQB so don't mind, and I have the human pisstol for longer ranges.

Mine would be Paul Stanley's Live To Win

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mPwTMYCHWRM

He's turning 48, and I'm 17 (so I don't have a huge budget). He's already requested something fairly small, and I'm going to get that, but I also want to add something else to show that I care and that I'm not being lazy about it.

Anything (sensible) but "give it to me". I would consider selling it if you gave me a reliable way to do it. I want to give it back into the game in some way, so that instead of being tied up in an inactive account, people who still actually care can use it. Seriously considering just dumping it all in the Falador Party Room. Is that a good idea? Any better ones?

South Australia has an adjourned bill. Bob Brown intends to bring in a bill to allow the territories to legislate on euthanasia. Anything else currently open?

Can you also link me to a credible source? I need a reference, it's for a report.

NO GRINDING RPGs. Action/skill games with RPG elements are ok. Multiplayer preferred.

Been playing Call of Duty and Halo for quite a long while now, and they're getting a bit old. Have Gears 3, not that into it. What are some good multiplayer-focused Xbox games? Don't mind the genre so much.

Glare/Gaze/Stare of the Eagle/Hawk

Or Hawk/Eagle's Glare/Gaze/Stare

Now whenever I try to open anything from a shortcut icon it goes into a glitch loop.

I've just started watching Ranma lately and I've noticed that in some of the later episodes some characters have energy based attacks and named attacks. Now I'm not sure what Ranma (or various other characters from his universe) are capable of. Can someone briefly, and preferably with minimal spoilers, explain roughly how these energy attacks work and what are their limits? Also, what other named attacks are there besides the Chestnut Fist and the Breaking Point?

Need to have a "realistic" job for a maths assignment.

Would you do her (if she were real)? Why or why not?

http://images4.fanpop.com/image/polls/738000/73828...

It's 20-something characters long and has a link to an (appropriate) picture in the additional details. It's a typical "is this girl hot" kind of a question. It does not show up as deleted in my recent activity, but when I click to it it has no answers even though it should have some by now, and when I either manually or through the search function look for it, I can't find it no matter what I try. WTF?

If so, is it unique/rare enough that it would be impossible to get a copy, like Seto Kaiba's Blue-Eyes or some of Yugi's cards? Or otherwise restricted to that character? Or could another character have a copy?

Also, what about Tragoedia? I heard it was in the GX manga, is that true? Is it unique/rare in that way?