Adam

There was a very addictive game I used to play in the early 2000s, and I wish I could find it again. I'm pretty sure the title had "Dragon" in it, but that's not very helpful.

Basically you had a certain amount of energy per day, to spend on quests. If you died you lost all your energy. When you rested at the end of the day, the amount of money you spent on your acommodations determined how much energy you regained.

Most of the monsters had a 'trick' you could use to get past them. For example, if you gave the Unicorns a silver apple, they'd give you a buff and then leave without fighting.

Oh, I also remember that one of the first types of enemy you would fight would be a vole.

I'm about to leave the nest and rent my first apartment. I'm wondering if y'all can share some good tips and advice, things you learned the hard way, or information you wish someone had shared with you before you started renting. What questions should I ask the landlord before I sign the lease? What red flags should I be watching out for? Thanks.

Howdy folks. I'm looking for a new MMO to play, and I'm hoping you might have some suggestions. I played wow for 8 years or so, and my favourite part of the game was tanking. I really enjoy being the spearhead of a group, the first one in and the last one out. I like protecting my team, and I enjoy controlling the positioning of enemies. I also like all the planning and preparation that goes into being a tank.

WoW has made their game simpler and simpler and simpler, to the point that any idiot can call themselves a tank and succeed. I'm wondering if anyone knows of any current MMOs where tanking is still a challenging and rewarding experience.

Thank you.

I'm looking to expand my collection of comedy albums, and looking for some ideas. I often have long, boring stretches of time at work, and stand up comedy albums are a great way to pass the time with a smile on my face. I know there are a lot of standup comedians out there who put out DVDs, but the albums often aren't as good.

Here are some of the comedians whose albums I already have (and enjoy):

Mitch Hedberg

Steven Wright

Bill Cosby

Dane Cook

Chris Rock

Richard Pryor

Thanks, folks!

I recently quit wow, and I've been looking for a new MMO. My favourite part of online group play is being the group tank, the guy who stands in the front and takes the hits, and controls the positioning of the enemy. I'm not particularly interested in dealing damage or having flashy effects, being survivable and having to hold threat are my primary interests.

Can anyone suggest a game where tanking is well supported? I don't want to be a DPS with high aggro, and I don't want to be chasing mobs around because the developers misbalanced threat tables.

I quit wow a while back, because they've simplified it to the point that it's pointless to play. After having played some console games, I remembered how great a levelling experience it was back in burning crusade, when the game was super hard.

What I'd like to do is set up a private world of warcraft server, that I can then set to a Vanilla patch. I can play through to level 60, then maybe upgrade to BC and play to 70.

Does anyone have any links to a good tutorial on how to do this? I've been doing some google searches, and most of the information is either old, incomplete, or sketchy.

I'm looking to expand my music collections, I love hed kandi, cafe del mar, and buddha bar, and I'd like to collect some more compilations. Share any names you know. Thanks.

Hi! I'm an atheist, and I'd like to change that. I'd like to join a religion and worship one god (or multiple, I shouldn't discriminate). The question is, which do I choose? How do I decide out of the dozens (if not hundreds) of religions in the world which I should join? Can I compare two religions and decide which one is right? It seems like a pretty big choice, and I'd rather not get it wrong.

So I figured I'd ask. Are you a religious person? Should I join your religion? If so, why? If you could provide me with a set of reasons that explain why your religion is the correct one to follow, as opposed to other competing religious views, I'd really appreciate it.

Note: Please avoid using circular arguments. For example, "My religion is the best religion because the text my religion reads says it's the best" doesn't qualify as a reason. Any claim that a rival religion could make with an equal amount of evidence is automatically disqualified. :)

I've been watching a lot of old movies from the 70s, and most of my favourites are the ones where the hero doesn't win. The movies have good action and suspense and plot, but then at the end the hero loses, usually because the villain was just smarter and better prepared. It's not anti-climactic, because it's a good ending. And it's not sad, because it totally fits.

I want to look for lots more movies like this, but I don't know the actual term to search for.

I'm a recently graduated computer science student. I'm thinking of embarking on a project to keep my skills sharp, and to entertain myself. I love turn based RPGs (FF6, FFT, ChronoTrigger, etc.), and I think it would be a fun hobby. I'm under no delusions that it will be easy or quick. ~_^

I'm humming and hawing over which language and libraries I should be using, though. I'm not fluent in any one language, I just have a passing familiarity with several, and this will be a good way to really dig into one. The options I've seen so far are:

C++: The defacto language. Seems to have the most in depth libraries.

C#: Has access to XNA, which apparently makes Xbox development easier.

Java: The language I'm most familiar with. Also, I believe this will allow any games I make able to run on both windows and mac (never a bad idea to be cross platform).

All I really want is something that gives me a screen and lets me move 2D sprites around.

Any input or ideas are welcome.

Does anyone have any suggestions for an MMO that has a really solid levelling experience? I don't mean a grind, really. I mean a bit of a story, a bit of a challenge, and a feeling of progression. I'm not concerned with endgame as much, or with pvp at all.

Some background. When I started playing MMOs, I started with World of Warcraft. I played it for a long time as basically a single player game. I'd log in, quest for a big, get some gear from drops, maybe a bit of gold, and log out. It wasn't a grind, it was just an online game.

Most MMOs these days seem to have turned into mindless point and click games. There's no challenge, and levelling up is seen as a necessary evil. I'd like to find an MMO where levelling is actually entertaining and fulfilling. Getting to the next level should feel like an accomplishment.

This is a pretty embarassing question, I know. And I'm fully prepared for the trolls that will be dropping by shortly. But I'm a really shy guy and I'd like some help getting over it.

There's a girl that works at the bakery across the street from my office, and I really like her. I'd like to ask her out, but every combination of words I come up with sounds intrusive or creepy, in my head. I mean, she's working. She has to deal with a hundred people a day, and I can't imagine she feels particularly attractive when she's tired and half covered in flour. She is, but I doubt she feels like it.

So how should I approach this? Do I act shy and kind of embarassed? Do I act like a douche? Do I try to strike up a conversation? Do I ask her out of nowhere?

I'm rambling now.

I guess I should put it this way: If you're a girl and you're at work, how should a guy ask you out?

Thanks.

I'm trying to make a shift in my diet to be healthier. I'm relatively addicted to hot chocolate, and I figure if I can transition from hot cocoa to tea I'll be able to cut out a lot of calories from my day.

The problem is, I don't like tea very much. I've tried several blends (the bags they have at the office), and they all leave a bitter taste on the roof of my mouth, like I've been chewing on tree bark. The smell is nice, but the after taste is just so unappealing.

I know there are zillions of types of tea out there. Can anyone suggest some that are maybe sweeter or smoother?

I should mention that I'm trying to cut out more sugar and dairy from my diet, so simply making tea and adding sugar and milk isn't really what I'd like to be doing.

Thanks.

Hi there. I'm trying to figure out a number of permutation problems for a project I'm working on. I'll try to word my question as precisely as possible, while sharing my progress.

I'm trying to figure out the odds of success in a game of chance, depending on the rules and dice used. For example, the rules could involve rolling two six sided dice and trying to have both dice be a 4 or above. Or, the rules could be that the player rolls three ten sided dice, and at least two of them have to be a 6 or above.

Here's what I have so far:

If a player rolls a single six sided die, they have a one in six chance of any number coming up; 16.67% chance. So there's a 16.67% chance of success if the target number is 6, 33.33% chance of success if the target number is 5, and so on.

Now, if the player must roll above the target number on ALL dice, I simply multiplied the odds off success together. If a player has to roll two six sided dice, and achieve a 5 or better on both dice, their odds off success are 33.33% x 33.33%, or 11.11% chance of success. I don't know if this is right, so confirmation or correction would be great.

Now, here's where my grasp of permutations fails me. If the player has to roll four six sided dice, and achieve a roll of 5 or above on two or more of of the dice, how do I calculate that?

Once I have a formula for the above example, I figure I can use it to work out the odds for the rest of my possibilities.

Thanks.

I am a recently graduated computer science student. I'm looking for a fun project to occupy my time, and I'm intruiged by the idea of building flash games. I recognize that I won't be able to produce a polished product for some time, but we all start somewhere.

Can anyone recommend some good resources for a beginning flash game developer? It could be books, magazines, websites or video tutorials. Something that will walk me through the starting steps and introduce me to the platform, tools, and basics. Once I have an understanding of the syntax and whatnot I'll be off and running, but I need that starting boost.

Thanks.

Hi there!

My girlfriend and I are confirmed wow addicts, and have played together for several years (levelling, raiding, pvping, and general achievement chasing). There isn't much left for us to do in the game, and so we're looking for some other multiplayer games we can play together.

So, if you know any games that fit the following criteria, please share!

- Can be played for the most part by a team of 2.

- Are light hearted.

- Action oriented (hack and slash type games might be fun).

- Relatively easy to obtain online (steam is a great idea).

- Not necessarily an MMO (we don't want another game to steal our souls).

Thanks in advance!

There was a flash game I used to play, many many years ago, and I can't for the life of me remember the name of it. I'm fairly sure the name was "Dragon" something. Dragon's nest, Dragon Quest, something like that. Here are the details I can remember:

- You only got a certain number of turns per day, and if you were defeated in battle you lost most of your turns for the rest of the day.

- If you rested in an in, you healed, but that was the end of your day.

- When you started, you were fighting things like field mice.

- As you levelled, you could explore other areas of the map. But if you went into other areas too early, you'd get your *** kicked and lose your turns for the day. Also, moving to a new zone took a certain number of turns, so you didn't travel very often.

- I vaguely remember that there were certain items you could use to 'skip' fights and get experience.

- When defeating enemies, you could earn items that you could use later. For example, killing a unicorn could give you a unicorn horn, to prevent poison later.

A little background. I'm a 32 year old caucasion male, 5 foot 8 inches. Over the last 5 months, I've lost about 35 pounds, bringing my weight down from 190 pounds to 155. This was mostly just through change of diet. I stopped drinking pop, eating poutine, chocolate, chips, etc. The only exercise I've put in is walking everywhere instead of taking the bus.

While I've lost a lot from my waistline, my overall body shape hasn't changed much. I still have a bigger gut than I'd like. I'm wondering if there are any exercises, methods, or dietary changes I can make that will lead to a flatter stomach. Or, is this just the shape my body is meant to be in, even at a healthy weight?

Note: I'm not looking for an overnight fix or a line of diet pills or something. I expect this kind of change to take at least six months. Any help is appreciated.

I'm hoping y'all can suggest some anime mini-series for me to watch, because it's been a long time since I found anything good.

What I really like are series that have a definite beginning and end, in the 10 to 20 episode range. Read or Die, Berzerk, and Earth Girl Arjuna are some of my favourites. I have no real interest in shows like Naruto and Pokemon that just go on and on forever. Episodic anime I've heard it called.

Anyway, give me some suggestions. Thanks!