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That's aided by the fact that COH has the lowest average customer call rate per user I know of in the industry, specially for it's young age. Either we have good, simple design or the smartest users, take yer pick.


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Or there's been another cable-cut at the long lines switcher site.

(Sorry, couldn't resist (g))

If you are a minor, or are accepting a living from the family, you will find you have little choice.

If not, then you can refuse to participate.

It's that simple.

If you are pathological, you will self destruct. If you are not, you won't.

It's that simple.

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Or, of course, for the Discworld heroes: "GOOD EVENING. I WILL BE YOUR TEACHER. SIT."

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Nah... Death would make a horrible teacher... he's like Time... kills all of his students... (Avoiding getting kicked now)... Make Susan the teacher...


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Good point. Susan is a teacher already (no sane hero will try and get into the supply closet of course). And she can to The Voice too.

But in CoH, at least we get a chance to profit from Death's instruction :-)

And the history monks suggest that not all of Time's students die, at least not permanently. Though it can sting.

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Personally, I'm more worried about the Supergroup becoming replaced by the SuperFRAT.

I mean, can you imagine what superhero hazing would be like?

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The late and lamented live-action The Tick show (not to be confused with the equally outstanding cartoon series) had en episode where Tick and Arthur were invited to join a prestigious superhero club (turned out to be a bunch of jerks). The initiation included lengthy paddling, with the gag of hero after hero getting exhausted trying to paddle the Tick hard enough for him to notice.

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I just have a terrifying image of a lecture hall filled with hulking freaks in body armour with flames roaring from their hands and electricity crackling across their bodies. That's not a class I'd like to teach.

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Nah, just limits the professorial pool a bit.

"Hello, I'm Prof. Galactus, and I'll be your teacher in Cosmic Superscience 101. Please take your seats. Now."

Or, of course, for the Discworld heroes: "GOOD EVENING. I WILL BE YOUR TEACHER. SIT."

Nooooo problem.

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That's one of the best quotes, from one of the best movies of all time, IMO... if you're gonna use it, use it right...

"WHOA! WHOA! WHOA! Ok, you are now firing a gun at your 'imaginary friend' near 400 GALLONS OF NITROGLYCERINE!"

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Even better, thanks for shoring up my failing memory.

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So did Tyler from Fight Club.

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Whoa! OK! Now you're shooting at your imaginary friend!

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All I ask is SHARKS with frikkin LASERS on their heads.

Or ill-temepered sea bass.

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OK, but they add Jabberjaw and I am OUT of here!

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It can be a little trickier than this but it's like what Justice Stewart said about pornography -- "...I know it when I see it."

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That's fine advice for the average player, but if you plan on enforcing this, you MUST come up with something official about what is and is not griefing. You can't send people emails that say "you did something not very nice that seemed like griefing to me. Sorry, your account was banned for it."


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And herein lies one issue. In actuality, of course you can. And should. Honest error followed by apology and (if possible) amends is clearly distinguishable from bullying behavior. Motive, demeanour, and behavior determine griefing in games just like in life.

Parsing griefing too tightly under specific rules leads to the (roughly) seven-year old mentality that "You told me not to put the puppy in the washer, but you didn't say not to put it in the dryer."

Problem is, the warning-suspension-ban process by a staff of GMs in a hundred player MUD isn't feasible in a 200,000 player MMOG. Policing is stretched too thin. But judging people by their actions and their demeanour when challenged about those actions will, when it can be brought to bear, distinguish the griefer from the hardcore player quite clearly.

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Shiver me timbers! It's Long John Nyarlathotep!

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Captain Cthulu!


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Oh wow, crossovers that should never happen. Puts me in mind of that great kid's game, Fungi From Candyland.

hmmmm....or thinking about it, the actual RPG, Pokethulu.

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Someone remind me of the name of Issue 1?

Nevermind... Through the Looking Glass.

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Right, which was also already mentioned by someone else, I believe, as a reference to Alice in Wonderland who fell through the rabit hole (Portal Corp portals) into another world (dimensions)...

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And where everything is looking-glass reversed (Axis Amerika, the Praetorians, etc).

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Hey, I spotted the Treasure Island thing yesterday. Ain't I 'stute too?

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Bah! Prove it!

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Posted in two other Issue #3 threads - one with a clever reference to pirate and barrels (if I'd put in the roole of cabin boys in Equator ritual CuppaJo would have had to delete the post).

PS - and if the reference is, as others noted, to a chapter in one of P.G. Wodehouse's novels about Bertie Wooster and Jeeves (Love Among The Chickens), that may still be a scarier option.

Hey, I spotted the Treasure Island thing yesterday. Ain't I 'stute too?

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They realized that a lot of high lvl heroes were just idiots who grinded and had no idea of team mechanics, so they decided to end it all by raising the difficulty right from the start!!!


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The funny thing is that the change seems to have "ended" soloing (ie. made it more difficult) AT the start, but has had no measurable effect on soloing in the upper game. Lvl 27 BS/regen scrapper and lvl 35 MA/SR scrapper are not feeling a pinch at all (though the higher xp for missions are nice, they are feelnig that, to be sure). Heck with the new MA animations, she is blazing through mobs at an increased rate, and made her last two levels this past weekend, which is far faster than I could advance the character until Issue 2.

The lvl 17 Emp/Dark defender is fine, but she was built for group play (can solo pretty good if careful, though).

The level 13 Blaster is insanely boring trying to claw his way to 14 so he can Fly. The lvl 10 Katana/Inv scrapper is doing well, so it may be that Scrappers are just the new uber class, though I will say he would not tackle the Outcast bases mission alone.

It was a palindrome. Wait, I mean a pun.

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PG Wodehouse : Love Among the Chickens : Chapter XIV. A Council of War
William H. Duquette: Through Darkest Zymurgia! : Chapter 12. A Council of War
Charlotte Perkins Gilman "A Council of War" (short story)


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Treasure Island, Chaper 12: Council of War.

Not sure if that is scarier than the Wodehouse possibility.

Villains are notorious rebels, and thus will ignore your vote.

Pity.

I am sorry that powerful opponents like the Leads and Elites kill your immersion (and if you are not careful, your hero too). Superheroes of course always face villains whose powers and capabiltiies are equal to or less than their own. Every time I see that, I just lose my immersion in the story line, myself. Damned writers - what do they think they are doing?

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I have programed features that resulted in bugs... In my business we call it Unintended Consequence.


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I am in tech support. When development does this, I call it job security.

Now officially fed up with the "if you like to solo why do you play this - or any other MMO - game?" response.

Answers (pick all that apply)
- None of your business.
- The option of grouping or soloing should be at the players sole discretion. It is pleasant to have both options.
- Why does your taste in playstyle dictate my choices in game?
- Really none of your business.
- I understand that you don't get it. You are not required to get it.
- Constant updates, ineresting settings and plots, the superhero genre, and yes, I loved Freedom Force and have played it through several times. If you don't get the difference between that game and this, you weren't paying attention.

And of course: really, truly none of your flicking business.

"The correct way to punctuate a sentence that starts: "Of course it is none of my business but --" is to place a period after the word "but." Don't use excessive force in supplying such moron with a period. Cutting his throat is only a momentary pleasure and is bound to get you talked about." -

-Robert Anson Heinlein

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but it's a different country, just like Scotland or Wales.


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If you really want to get picky technically Wales isn't a country, it is a principality. Hence no representation in the Union Flag.

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There needs to be a leek placed on the Union Jack at once.

Just refreshed my memory...Wales isn't represented per se on the Royal Arms either, except insofar as various Welsh charges appear on the arms of the Prnce of Wales, along with the label, as differences from the monarch's bearing. Yep, boned again.