Jim_G

George Lakoff’s book “Don't think of an elephant” is an easy and accessible introduction to the area of cognitive science as it applies to “conceptual frames.” I highly recommend it. I think he would say it’s misleading to refer to the brains “logic centers” as if they were independent from the data-processing that comes before. The data-processing itself is in integral part of the decision making process, and as we know subject to all kinds of assumptions and prejudices.

Mind you, Lakoff is a political liberal and he’s writing the book from the perspective of “We have let the conservatives form the public debates on most issues of the day.” I don’t have a problem with this, but some people might find themselves not liking his examples of they go against your political ideas. He argues that if you enter a debate in which the other side has already “framed” the issue you are in for a rough time. You will have a hard time articulating your position because they concepts commonly used to discuss the topic will already reflect the opinions and attitudes of your opponent. You will end up implicitly supporting your opponent simply by using their language, metaphors, and ideas.

Let’s take an example of conceptual framing from this thread:

I completely understand this point and agree. I also think this way of framing the issue contributes to people continuing to believe that are victims. If I argue “I deserve something because of the time I spent” then I am implicitly agreeing with the model that “time spent should correspond to money gained.”

The potential counter-argument is “I work hard at this game and I can’t afford to buy any of the pretty enhancements you guys are able to afford. Don’t I deserve to enjoy this game too? Why should I spend a month saving up 10 million to pay the terrible markup you think you deserve for 5 minutes of crafting? It took me a MONTH and it took you FIVE MINUTES!”

Markets don’t know or care how long it took you to make your money, or how much you have. That information is completely and deliberately stripped out of the CoH interface, as it is in most modern markets. It continues to reside, however, in the brains of the people people who find themselves unable to purchase what they want.

I have tried several times to take someone who was complaining about the market and reframe it for them. “Yes, there are a thousand people with more money than you have. Those people want to give you their money. They want you to take the time to buy the recipe and salvage and make the enhancement for them. They will pay you millions if you can save them a few minutes of effort. Those people with more money are not a problem for you—they are an opportunity!”

One person, amusingly enough, claimed he did not want to do that because “he would just be contributing to the problem.” He really did not seem to get that to somebody who had 2 billion INF on their character, that 10 million actually is worth saving 5 minutes. I appreciate his desire to be fair, but from my perspective he was mainly choosing to remain poor. I think his underlying feeling was that making a profit is somehow, well, dirty.

Personal conclusion? People will be happier if they spend less time focusing on what they think they deserve and more on what they can accomplish.

Here's a link to one of many Lakhoff summaries:

http://blogcritics.org/politics/arti...ephant-review/

You are most welcome. Each person who knows this will contribute to the price coming down slightly, but I see that as a positive thing for the game, long-term.

Now just wait until you start wanting PvP and Purples and you need BILLIONS. I guess I'll be spending a lot of time farming 50s, or sitting in Wentworths.

Honestly, 50 million doesn't get you very much, as I am sure you know. The recent addition of tip missions and alignment merits is the only way I've been able to outfit my current brute. You can do 5 tip missions a day, which equals two A-merits in 4 days. I bought several level 25 LotG +global recharge enhancements this way for two merits and was able to sell them for 120-150 million. That pays for a full set of enhancements that raise your def by a few percentage points. When you have 2 merits check the prices on Numina and Miracle +Recovery enhancements, they also sell for over 100 million. Obtain and sell whatever enhancement has the best price.

Hmm, that's an interesting observation. I am planning on getting my brute to the soft-cap on positional defense, although he isn't there yet. BEFORE he gets to the cap, then the -ToHit is very valuable since it eliminates a large percentage of the damage he would take. But AFTER the cap the value plummets since it is redundant, assuming he isn't debuffed. After he hits 50 I might want more straight AoE damage in which case Fireball is probably the preferred route.

I'll have to check some of the comparative damage numbers. I'll also have to see how much more effort and money it's going to take to reach the soft-cap. I notice that a lot of the people on these boards all seem to have soft-capped characters and treat it as perfectly normal, but it's taking me quite a lot of time and money to get that much defense into a character. I just hit 40% def on melee, and getting that last 5% is not going to be easy but it will decrease damage by 50%. Ranged and AoE are still well below that.

SS/FA is extremely popular for farming because of the great AOE damage. I prefer SS/SD since it farms very well, but is a bit better for actually playing the game.